Bearshorty's musings

I'm watching the Golden Globes right now. I used to follow the award season closely but for the last few years as I watched fewer movies and TV, I kind of stopped caring. Unlike last year I can watch some of it tonight, since bedtime has gotten a lot better, but I find that while I'm enjoying it, I'm using the time to write this blog with the show in the background. Some of the dresses with open boobs are not that attractive and make me fear for accidents. I can't recognize most familiar actresses because of such heavy make-up on their faces - like Amy Adams, Melissa Benoist, Felicity Huffman and Eva Langoria (I did love Eva Langoria's dress). It's fun to see Sylvester Stallone, Matt Damon, Lady Gaga and Inside Out win.

I spent this week - well, evenings - mostly reading - for fun and for work, and writing (yay) and I actually watched a movie in one sitting, which has been a long time for me. I'm trying to make the best out of the improved bedtime before the 18 months sleep regression hits at the end of the month (Tanya has hit every one of the sleep regressions the books described to my utter 'joy'). But I am making the most out of my work break and I feel good about it.

The week itself was pretty ordinary: I was home with Tanya; had naps; I cooked dinner, including a cottage pie with ground turkey and with Tanya helping me by washing a carrot and 'mashing' the potatoes (a mix of regular potatoes and yams); I even managed to work out on our exercise bike this morning (I only did 15 minutes to ease into it after a very long time, still it's something).

Reading
I have orientation for work this coming week so I started reading some articles from our textbook to figure out what themes I want to focus on and to figure out my sequences. So yesterday and today I read Andrew Solomon's "Son," which is the excerpt from his book Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and Search for Identity. He focuses on what he calls "horizontal identities," identities that children don't inherit from their parents, identities that are different and often challenging for parents to understand and are often equated with illness or otherness. like deafness, or dwarfism, or disability, or being gay or even prodigies. I don't agree with some ideas - I don't want Tanya to be exactly like me- but I understand the premise that it might be hard to understand and not want to just cure otherness. He talks about children who are born deaf to hearing parents and the parental choice to put in an implant, which might kill the horizontal deaf culture. He focuses on what diversity adds as well, on why difference matters.

I forgot how wonderful, rich and challenging the articles in our textbook are. As a 35 year old I can really appreciate them and get most of the references but it is understandably challenging for 18-19 year olds. It's hard for them to focus on complex twenty pages. But it is certainly fun to challenge them. "Identity" and its construction and meaning is one of my favorite themes so I think I will use this article this semester - I just need to figure out how. I think I have it too but I will finalize this week. I decide to do all prep at the orientation days since they are forcing us into two full days of it (still bitter about that).

For fun, I'm almost done with Hamilton - I'm up to the duel. I'm reading faster as I'm nearing the end as it usually happens. I kind of love listening to "Hamilton" soundtrack in between reading - great confluence of events for me.

I read the short article about Stephen King praising J.K.Rowling's detective novels that she writes under Robert Galbraith and I realized there was the third book out there. I really loved the first two. I went to my library website to put it on hold, but my library card has expired for some reason. So I will have to make it to the library soon. I really want to read that book.

TV
( Supergirl S1E9 )

Movie: Avengers the Age of Ultron
( Avengers 2 )

I just finished watching the Golden Globes while Bear practiced piano and drew. (We don't have cable just a TV for Netflix/DVD viewings, but we do have a digital antenna on Bear's commuter and he graciously gave it up to me for three hours.) It was entertaining. Favorite opening joke - George Clooney one. I loved how so many people were drunk and the speeches were fun because of it. And there were many surprises. I adore Brooklyn Nine Nine , it's my favorite new show of the season, so I was very happy it won. That show is hilarious. I barely seen any nominated movies, but I made a list about those movies I want to catch up on. Local College has a nice movie borrowing in their library with many new movies, so I will take advantage of it this semester, if I can.

Today, as per usual on Sunday, Bear and I went grocery shopping. Then my parents came over after lunch and I went for a nice walk with them. Mama really liked our new magnetic darts and also re-potted Bear's aloe plant.

And I finished Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It only took me two days to read it - he books are really easy to read. I did enjoy it very much. We are all a product of our culture and time and it was interesting to see how that influences success.