Bearshorty's musings

My parents went on vacation to Aruba from Saturday September 2 to Saturday September 9, and Bear took last week as vacation week as well, to help me out and to just have a nice staycation.

Good thing my parents love Aruba so much and not another Caribbean island, as this was not the week to pick another one. As it was Aruba was too far south from Hurricane Irma and the weather there was all sunny with really warm water. My Mom said it was the best water temperature from any time they went and they been six or seven time already, I lose track. (I went once with them in 2009).

I'm just happy they were able to have a good vacation. It is so terrible what all these islands are suffering through. And waiting for Irma to hit Florida was just stressful and I don't even live in Florida. We do know people in Miami and they are ok.

Other than the news and the hurricane, we did have a nice little vacation at home. Bear was home from Saturday night to Thursday morning last week (and I really needed him to come back that Saturday because I was alone with two kids all day and Tanya was not in cooperative mood in the afternoon), and then he took Tanya to Long Island to visit his parents from Thursday to this past Saturday for 3 days. My parents stopped by on Sunday to give us some presents - lots of dresses for the girls, another Aruba doll, this time for Olivia,( although Tanya took it to compare to hers and is now playing with both, since as she put it "Olivia is too small to play with it"), lots of nice t-shirts and a light sweatshirt for me. And of course, chocolate. Real Cadbury.

My Mom also cooked a bit on Sunday. Bear was home on Monday as well and just left for work for his half week away on Tuesday, September 12. Before he left, we all walked over to the school two blocks away so I could go vote in the Primary election. Tanya came in with me, while Bear was with the stroller outside, and she saw me vote and helped push the ballot into the machine. She got "I Voted" sticker too and was very happy about that.

Two cute things these last 10 days:

1. Next to our pharmacy a few blocks away, there are two kiddie rides. For 50c, there was a helicopter and a horsie that played music. We would occasionally go there since Tanya loved the helicopter. She could also stand there for 20 minutes petting that toy horse. Well, I went with her on Saturday, Sept 2, and we discovered that the helicopter was replaced by this gray unicorn. She was a little upset about the helicopter and at first afraid to touch the unicorn.

She didn't know the word for unicorn before, so when Bear came home and she started telling him all about it, she used the word 'popcorn'. Hee. Now she's obsessed with this unicorn. She wants to stop by when we go to the playground. She will sit on it but doesn't want to ride it with the quarters. She just wants to ride the horsie. But that unicorn is featuring in more play now. 'Stinky unicorn' as she calls him.

2.Last week I spent a day in YouTube land, mostly watching React videos, like 'teenagers react to 90s music' or 'parents react to modern music" etc. (I don't really know modern music at all. ). I rarely do this but it was that sort of day. At some point they mentioned Weird Al, which of course meant going to Weird Al channel to watch my favorite videos. I love Weird Al. As I watched "Trapped in the Drive-thru", which I find hysterical, Tanya came to watch it. She really liked 'the cartoon' and the next day asked me to watch 'the cartoon' again on my phone. Who am I to say no.

Last night Olivia was laughing so loud when we said the word "katatsa" which means 'to ride' in English. Something about it was super funny to her. Baby laughter is very infectious.

Post on movies and books to come soon, probably this weekend. I watched "Fantastic Beasts" and "Sing" and read 'Obelisk Gate', 'Stranger than Fanfiction ' and 'Men Explain things to Me'. I'm working on RS Games story this week in the small time I have to write. I need to finish it first since it is due next week.

I'm going to do a list since that seems to be the easiest way to catch up. So here are my October highlights


• Medusa visiting - I haven't seen her in person in about two years so it was really awesome that she moved much closer to New York and could come visit. We watched silly TV and it was like no time has passed. Great Columbus Day weekend.

• Marianna’s bday - and Adama's too. He turned 40 while Marianna turned 32 and we celebrate at the Indian buffet in Queens we all like. Bear and I took the subway there and had a nice monthly friend gathering. Yeva, Janna and I got them a joint massage gift certificate as a present.

• Battling a cold – now a fun highlight but I did have a big cold for like half the month, I even stayed with my parents one night so I wouldn't have to take the train with the cold when my carpool person was on little vacation. I'm better now but that was not fun.

• Grading and grading and folder review - I did another marathon grading session before my folder review. The review itself went well. But now that I live with Bear, I can't go to sleep at 12 and wake up at 6 to grade. I even slept in the living room so I could let him sleep more. So I need to actually break down my grading so that I could go to sleep like a normal person at these times.

• Ikea and Coney Island Halloween of Horror - October 20th and 21st was a really great weekend. First Bear and I went to IKEA to pick up a living room lamp and a side table (and we ended up with $100 worth of little things). We went to the Brooklyn IKEA in Red Hook, right next to a community farm with a Halloween Fest, so we picked up a little pumpkin for Bear to carve. He later made a vampire face. And in the evening we went to Luna Park in Coney Island for their Halloween of Horror evening. We got discount tickets from LivingSocial. I loved the haunted houses/mazes while Bear loved the rides. I just went on a baby coaster and mild rides - I'm not a fan of rides and turn you upside down. I did cheer Bear on with a cup of hot cider.


• Pea soup and tuna-pasta casserole and cleaning and awesomeness of domesticity - The other great part of that great October weekend was just being at home and cooking and cleaning. I made a pea soup with beef - a first for me, and it came out great. It was just a very relaxing day. Bear and I made the casserole together and cleaned together too and even the chores were fun to do together.


• “Emma” - I finally finished it. I do like Mr. Knighley quite a lot, maybe even more than Mr. Darcy (blasphemy, I know). He is just so practical and says what he means and I love that quality in a person. And I love his relationship with Emma.

• RS Games - October was the posting month and fairy-tales and legends was just a great theme. And the mods are putting together an ebook, which is going to be like 1000 pages. Pure awesomeness.

• Hurricane Sandy - of course, all our plans for the end of October went out of the way because of Sandy. Bear and I did get an unexpected week at home with no work but it wasn't like a vacation or anything. We went to see my grandparents a few times - they are ok, they just don't have an elevator, heat or phone right now, but their home attendants do check on them and bring them food. We did go grocery shopping for them and Coney Island is getting a bit better and less apocalyptic looking. Going to their building last Wednesday was a bit scary.

• Halloween - since we couldn't really have a proper Halloween and I couldn't go out like I originally planned, Bear and I had a mini-halloween by getting some candy, having the pumpkin and watching "Halloween" on DVD. It is actually the first movie we ever watched together, in that one week in the beginning of college where we were just friends before we started dating. It is once of Bears favorite movies and maybe six years ago, when it was briefly in movie theaters for Halloween, I made sure to get tickets. It was really great to watch it on the big screen.

We still have power, so I figured I should update my blog. October got a bit too busy for me but I will try to do a catch-up post.

Bear and I got off easy with Sandy. We stocked up on food and had flashlights and everything but the most we got is heavy, heavy wind, horizontal rain and occasional flickers of power. This morning we went to check on Bear's car. We tried to park it as far from big trees as we could and it was alright. The back of his passenger side mirror got blown off, but that was about it. There were at least three trees lying across the side streets where we parked, so we were very, very lucky. Our cell phone service is a bit crappy right now, but at least we could call my parents a bit earlier. So compared to many, we rode out the storm well.

My parents, on the other hand, are having an adventure. They live in New York's Zone A, which had mandatory evacuation orders. Last year, during Hurricane Irene, when I lived with them, we evacuated. But this year, they decided to stay. Mostly, my Dad didn't want to believe it would be that bad. They did stock up on food and water. Mama just wanted to be able to control the situation and not worry about it. So even as I argued with them on Sunday, trying to get them to come to my apartment (which is in Zone C), they didn't want to leave. I also tried to convince them to move the books in the ground floor library to the second floor but Papa only did that when they actually saw the waters.

They lost power sometime last evening and their community did get flooded. My parents lucked out. The water came 5 inches to their door and in the backyard it was knee high. My Mom put a lot of old jackets under garage door, which did get all wet but the water did not get into the garage. The row of houses across from them got flooded in their studio apartments, still has power but no gas. So there will be a lot of neighborly sharing. They won't have power for maybe as much as ten days.

We can't even get in contact with Bear's parents. Most of Long Island is without power so they probably don't have it and their cells just go to email. We got in touch briefly with his brother but that's about it.

Tomorrow morning we will also go check on my grandparents who live in Zone A in Coney Island. I talked to them Sunday and they did have enough food and water. Their phones are probably flooded. We couldn't drive there today since the conditions were still uncertain and too many emergency vehicles (and trees) in the roads.But I definitely want to try tomorrow.

My friend Yeva's apartment was flooded, she lost a lot of stuff. Good things is that she is Ok and was able to leave and get to her parent's building even as she had to walk in moving water waist high. And she lives in Zone B (in the apartment where we waited out Hurricane Irene last year).

I have no work the whole week - I just read that the University decided to just cancel classes for the whole week and Local College is also off tomorrow. So it is like a mini-vacation just with worry. Public transportation is shut down - well, the buses are back in limited way, but we don't know when the subways will be back. New York is just too quiet. They even cancelled the Halloween parade.

I went to sleep late again, I can’t seem to want to go to sleep earlier than 1 or 2 lately which is not good. And today, since we are in Yeva’s place and my parents usually go to sleep at 10pm, that will be a problem. Maybe, I’ll read Kindle with my night light.

Yeva actually woke me up after 8am when she called to make sure we remember to bring pillows and other things since she moved most of her stuff to her boyfriend’s this summer. I finished packing, added a pillow, took a shower, ate breakfast and then helped Papa put garbage bags over books. He is not worried about TV or anything breaking or flooding – he is just really worried about his books. I also took my big cross stitch paintings off the walls and put them face down on the floor in case the windows blow in or something. Basically, many precautions that I hope won’t come to anything.

We left about 10am and the sky was already gray and it was raining a bit. Got the keys from Yeva and settled in to her place. She just has antenna TV so it was basically news about Irene on all the time. I can’t believe some people actually think the hurricane is great for surfing. I’m just glad we have power today so I can use my computer. There is internet and I can watch Netflix too.

I did work this afternoon and figured out my syllabus for the writing classes. (Which involved read many many articles from the new textbook.) I’m going to start with Kristof and WuDunn’s “The Girl Effect” (which is an intro to one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read in the last few years), then go to Gladwell and his pretty erroneous thoughts on Twitter and revolution, then on the Sherry Turkle’a “Alone Together” and robots and sex and whether we lose authenticity is attaching ourselves to technology and forming connections with and through technology. (I have a feeling my students might like it.) The fourth reading will be Slater and the ethics of brain implants for physiological problems and the fifth reading will be the one I taught before: Lisa Belkin’s “Made to Order Savior” about the ethics of having a child to be a genetic match and donor for a sick older sibling. I will figure out the final exam reading at the end.

I also put together the first day writing sample, which is basically to see if the students can understand what they read. And the reading guide for the first reading. I’m set for next week.

In the evening I also caught up a bit on National Geographic and read the article on Cleopatra and the search for her tomb in the July issue.

One thing the hurricane Irene is preventing is me watching the new episode of Doctor Who. I did look at some spoilers, though. And I found that someone already made a hilarious YouTube video of Hitler rant about the latest Doctor Who episode “Let’s Kill Hitler.”

Orientation day at my writing program. Mainly it is a chance to see other instructors from the program and for the coordinator to mention any changes we need to put on the syllabus. And this year we get a new textbook to teach from, so I also picked that up. And we got a nifty folder with a teaching guide with lots of samples and other fun stuff. It was nice to see everyone especially since I’m going to be on a different campus this semester and won’t see most people I’m accustomed to seeing.

One unusual thing about this orientation – we got to share earthquake stories as we waited. And talked about the upcoming hurricane Irene.

It already rained really heavily today and I wore sneakers and therefore socks. Wearing socks is weird for me in the summer. Mostly I wear sandals of various kinds, so wearing socks is reinforcing the fall is coming. Next week I get to put on stockings and adult shoes and wear professional teaching clothes. But we need to get through this weekend first.

Mama and I stopped back in Costco on the way back from my orientation since we needed to stock up on water and get food too, the kinds that can keep without too much refrigeration, in case we lose power. I was also pretty hungry and I was really glad Costco has all those food samples from an oreo cookie to lobster ravioli. Our kitchen is on the second floor and it is my job to carry all the food up - I always get a workout from going up and down stairs after a Costco shopping trip.

So our main concern now is this weekend and the hurricane. Already there are some changes to my schedule because of it. I start teaching next Wednesday instead of Monday since classes at Local College are cancelled on Monday due to Irene. University doesn’t start until next Friday, so that is good.

The thing is, we live in zone A in New York City, which is the first evacuation zone if evacuation is called for. This is still uncertain but possible. We will find out by 8am on Saturday if we have to evacuate. So the next few days are uncertain. But I should probably pack a backpack just in case. I’m saving a few books to take with me like “Gilgamesh” which is the first book I’m teaching in my Global History class this semester. We also need to move some books from Papa’s 1st floor library up to the second floor. (There are three floors in our house – the first is the garage and library, the second is kitchen and living room and the third are the bedrooms and computer room.) I’m not really that nervous about the hurricane – I don’t get nervous about these things – anything you have no control over, there is no point worrying about. But my brain is full of things we should do to prevent damage. Hopefully, the storm will not be too strong and will pass with the minimum damage.

And we are still not sure what is going on with the play this Saturday – maybe it will be cancelled?