Bearshorty's musings

This week, which started so dramatically with the snow and the commute from hell ended up being pretty good overall.

I got rough drafts on Thursday so I've been commenting on those (and they are mostly terrible since it's the first draft of the first paper but promising). But I also managed to get a good chunk done this weekend so I'm not too overwhelmed with work.

I even managed to watch "Supernatural" and "Grimm", finish a book, clean and cook, which feels luxurious for a grading week. I liked both shows this week too. Supernatural has been on the roll this season and Grimm had characters communicating with each other and being upfront and apparently I dig that.

And I finished my book: the 9th Tomek book. I want to make a separate book post of everything I read im January, but overall it's not my favorite of the series but the second half picks up well.

I cooked beef stroganoff in my slow cooker yesterday, which went overy egg noodles. I love the slow cooker, just throw everything in, fast and easy. I used cream cheese and fresh mushrooms too. It was much tastier on the second day. A keeper recipe.

Today, I actually went into the city to have brunch with my friend Janna. Going out is such a treat for me lately because I'm either at home with Tanya or at work. I don't get out much lately. But Bear was good to watch her (although nap time was a struggle) and I got some freedom time. Janna is eight months pregnant with her second daughter, so she wanted some time to get away too. We had a lovely brunch. I had chicken and waffles, which was weird but really works. Yum. And I had a coctail too. And I commented on rough drafts on the subway and got some uninterrupted work done.

There is a new Remus/Sirius fest and I'm really tempted to sign up. I love the people and the community. But yesterday, I took a realistic stock of the free time that I have and I realized that I really can't during the semester. I've had a good and productive January, I'm happy with meeting goals I set for myself this year. I have limited free time and I want to read, write and catch up on my few shows. So I will pass but with some regret. I will join RS Games again, though. That I must.

Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate!

We lit the electric candles today (didn't want to risk actual fire around a toddler), listened to Hanukkah songs on the radio party the classical station had, and I made potato pancakes or draniki (it's a Belorussian word for potato pancakes or latkes, one of the few Belorussian words I still use). They were pretty delicious. Draniki with sour cream is one of my favorite foods. I don't make them a lot - grating is annoying - but I sure love to eat them. Tanya had one today too, although she mostly wanted to lick the sour cream off.

I finish my semester on Friday, so this week will be pretty busy as I need to finish all the grading. My students are writing a two day final exam and I already put together the question, so I will just have to sit there and grade. I should have graded more this weekend - I only managed a few papers - but my mind was just not cooperating. I'm hoping to have about 5 or 6 done tomorrow. Maybe even up to 8.

Last week went by pretty fast. We put together the mortgage application on Thursday - I spent all Thursday morning photocopying. So many documents. The Board Application next month will be even more paperwork. On Saturday, my parents, Tanya and I went to visit the apartment we are buying again to take some measurements for the possible renovations. There are just so many hoops to jump that I'm not getting excited or planning until we get approved by the board but my parents want to pick a lot of stuff now like possible appliances and tile. The board might decide we don't make enough or something and turn us down, although we have no problem paying our rent now, and the new amount will be pretty much the same. Because our Realtor lives in the building and know the president of the board, it will probably be fine, but still I don't want to overthink it. I was very good about contacting people for references as soon as I printed the board requirements - I usually get anxiety when I have to ask and put it off, but not this time. Yay.

I wrote my fanfic story for RS Small Gifts - right on time for my extension, so I do feel I had a productive week overall.

I did get to watch a bit of TV last week. I watched first three episodes of Jessica Jones, and episodes of Supergirl , Supernatural and Grimm .

TV

( Jessica Jones S1E1-3 )

( Supergirl S1E5-6 )

( Supernatural S11E8 )

( Grimm S1E5 )

On Monday, Bear's Dad had back surgery (he's doing well, home already) and it rearranged our whole week. This week was a rare week during a semester where Bear had a regular schedule and didn't have to work evenings or Saturday. So he was just going to be home every night. But with his Dad's surgery, his Mom didn't really want to be home alone at night.

So we decided that he would just stay over there all week, while Tanya and I went to my parents in an unscheduled visit. My parents came to get her while I went to work on Monday and just drove us back this morning.

Monday for me turned out more tiresome too. Originally, I was just going to go straight to my parents's house after work. But the government was too efficient for once, since it was jury duty related. I filled out my questioner on Saturday and by Monday afternoon they sent me an email with instructions to send proof of past jury service, since I was claiming it as an exception.

The trouble was that I had to send it within 5 days and the proof letter was at home. So I had to go all the way home and then take trains and a bus to get to my parents. I was travelling for over 4 hours from work to their house when I only could have been travelling for 2. Well, at least I got to read my book before I got too tired.

I'm almost done with 'Fun Home'. I'm really loving it. After Chapter 2, most other chapters use classic literature like Fitzgerald and Wilde and Joyce to present this relationship between the author and her father. It is such an erudite book. I want to get the sequel too. I keep showing this book to my work colleagues and recommending it.

On Thursday, I stayed at work later since my Dad was picking me up. I opened the time to my students to come to special office hours by appointment, and in between had a good time chatting with my colleague Larry, who is really well read and we often talk about books and classical music. I also, it seems, watch new episodes of Supernatural on Thursday morning during my actual office hour, since no one usually comes that early. Works for me.

( Supernatural S11E3 )

I also managed to watch 'How to Train Your Dragon 2" yesterday. It was a cute movie but the big reveal in the middle of the movie which provided the emotional beat of the film was revealed in the trailer so I think that spoiler actually ruined the impact of it. And I really couldn't sympathize with Valka at all - I think her son and husband forgave her too easily.

Today, we also finally got our new futon for the living room. It got delivered right on schedule too. Our old couch was all flaky and really needed to be replaced for a while. I like this new one that Bear picked. It's green and soft and quite comfortable.

Other than Monday and finishing up grading midterms, I have no grading until next Thursday. It's so nice. I feel like I'm on vacation. I love having small classes. I mean, I still have to prep the class and answer emails about drafts and hold office hours but it's so much less stressful. I had time to write a fic.

30 Days of Me Meme

Day 23: Your life now compared to three years ago

Three years ago Bear and I just got married and got an apartment in Brooklyn. Now we have a toddler, so life is very, very different. My life very much revolves around my daughter right now. Work wise, I'm still at the same job teaching writing but three years ago I also taught two history classes, which I don't do now since it didn't pay high enough to pay for childcare. So I'm working part time now.

30 Days of Fanfic Meme

23 – When you post, where do you post to? Just your journal? Just an archive? Your own personal site?

When I started posting I would post to my Dreamwidth and to FF.net. Then I started cross posting to LJ too. In 2012, I switched to AO3. I post there and then I make a link in my Masterpost on Dreamwidth.

TV

( Supernatural S11E1 )

For the first time in over a month I have a weekend (Thur night to Mon morning) free from grading. After grading Paper 3, commenting on Rough Draft 4 and grading Paper 4, I handed everything back and won't need to grade until Monday when I get the final Paper 5. Well, I do have a couple of Paper 4th next week from students who fudged formatting and I gave them some wiggleroom on the important Paper 4, but still it was very nice to just sit with my laptop last night and watch the latest "Supernatural" episode instead of grading by flashlight.

It does get a bit tedious grading 40 papers of the same variety because only maybe 4 people would say something original. Thesis looks pretty much the same in the rest of the class. Original thought and looking at authors critically is hard - it is much easier just to parrot back the argument of the authors without questioning. Also students were pissing me off by messing with margins. Seriously, you submit your paper online too - I am capable of pulling up your online copy and checking your formatting. I read gazillion papers, I can tell when it's Times Roman 13 instead of 12. Also, when I say that I will hold extra office hours from 2 to 5, which I really don't have to do, don't email me to ask if you can set up an appointment for 1:45. I do love teaching and I love seeing my students really learn something over the course of the semester - most can now organize their paper and there are a lot of Bs - but sometimes I just want to shake my head.

I signed up for final Folder Review today, which will be the official end of the semester for me when I submit all the grades. I'll be done on May 11th. Very excited. I can focus on the job hunt more then. I can come back to teach in the fall, they want me back and I'm already on the schedule - but I really do need a full time job with a shorter commute.

Job hunting is such a frustrating process. More so since every online "helpful" article pretty much says that only 10% get the job from online job adds, the rest from networking and referral. I am terrible at networking. I did set up a LinkedIn profile but I still need to figure out how to use that better. I want to switch fields too, so that seems also almost impossible. I know I need to be positive and keep searching but the whole process does not feel that optimistic. At least, I would be able to give it more of a fair shot once the semester is over.

One more personal front, I finally managed to go to my hairdresser to get my hair colored with highlights and get a haircut. In my family early gray is common and I was tired of my graying roots. I didn't color my hair until I was 32 but now I do it periodically. I keep as close to my natural brown color as I can. And when I get my haircut, the hairdresser does a blow out and my hair looks nice and straight and normal sized for a few days and not giant and unruly. (I have lots and lots of big poofy hair and I rarely have patience to style it. I usually just pull it up into a bun. And for a few days after a haircut, I wear my hair loose).

Also, as of a week ago, I finally stepped on the scale after a few months, and I'm back at my pre-pregnancy weight! I don't have to get a new wardrobe at all and that feels good because I hate clothes shopping. I don't usually care much about the scale or my weight, just as long as my pants still fit.

When I was looking up mondegreen on Wikipedia when writing my last post, I realized that I always misheard Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know" song. Instead of "cross I bear" I always heard "cross-eyed bear," like I genuinely thought the guy gave her a bear and it held sentimental meaning she is reminding him off.

On a more silly news in TV and book world:

TV

The idea of a Full House sequel on Netflix makes me happy. I know that show is super corny and ridiculous at times but the very first episode of American TV I saw when we came to New York (we immigrated 22 years ago yesterday! on April 23rd)and bought a TV was the episode where Steve took DJ to his prom. We didn't really understand much dialogue in the episode but we did understand "I love you". And that show was one of the first shows I watched here - I learned English from it. So I will watch the sequel for sure.

Grimm continues to have a nice season. I'm not sure if I like the Evil Juliette story overall nor her downward spiral, but I do like that she has her own storyline and she's allowed to feel things about it and not let men to tell her how she should respond to the upheaval in her life. It is certainly better than her non-presence in the first season. And as long as the show gives me happy married Monroe and Rosalee, I'm happy. I think Trouble and Nick's Mom will come back in the finale, so I'm looking forward to that. Not sure what is going on with Renald at all.

Supernatural in the last few episode started to gain momentum again. I even liked Rowena in the last episode and she was getting annoying before. And it was wonderful to see Bobby and now Benny again. And Charlie always rocks. I'm looking forward to the cliffhanger of the finale. I do think Crowley will die this time for real.

Books

Among my intense grading spree and limited time, I did manage to finish Oliver Sacks' An Anthropologist on Mars I liked it less than The Minds' Eye but it still had a lot of interesting moments and made me think a lot. It is a book of seven case studies that make the reader think of self and how we construct it and what happens if our brain works differently. The seven case studies were: colorblind painter, guy stuck in the 60s due to tumor and inability to form memories but who likes and responds to music, a person who was able to see practically for the very first time in his life, a surgeon with Tourette's, a painter whose brain made him remember and relive his childhood hometown in vivid obsessive detail, an autistic savant, and a woman with Asperger's.

As with many other work by Sacks it just makes you think about your own brain and construction of the world and what it means to see in color, form memories, see, be emotional and it lets you get into the mind of people who don't respond 'normally.' Its creepy, scary and fascinating. My favorite chapter was about a man named Virgil who was blind since very early childhood and after the age of 40 gained the ability to see for pretty much the first time in his life. It wasn't magic - bandages off and you understand the world. It was really hard to figure out what he was seeing because the brain needs to learn to interpret shapes and distances etc. He was well adjusted blind and now with vision he felt he had more of a disability while learning to use it. Like correlating and identifying shapes visually. It is just interesting to realize the whole process behind seeing that we don't even realize because we just take those brain connections for granted.

I am over this winter. It's snowing again and it's cold and we haven't really been able to take outside walks for a while. And another week of cold approaches. I really can't wait for spring.

My main grading for Paper 1 is done (just 4 late ones left) and I can breathe a bit with work until Thursday, when I get Paper 2. Until then, I'm enjoying a low stress weekend. It's Oscar weekend too, which I have to remind myself off since I keep forgetting. I don't know how much I will get to watch. Tanya has been having sleep trouble, needing me to sit with her more in the evenings and sometimes even at night (like 2am last night). I just remind myself that this stage won't last forever and one day she will sleep through the night. One day.

Yesterday, she fell asleep quickly at 7:30 and just needed a pat on the head at 8:30, and I though maybe. I waited for the Glee wedding all week - it was a very slow moving week because of the anticipation - I was not missing it. But right on cue, 9pm, wah, wah. She doesn't settle if Bear goes in, not since month 3. He tries but she just wants either me or Grandma. Luckily, we had a plan. I don't usually do this but I turned all living room lights off except the TV, muted the TV, put my TV wireless ears on and held her in my arms in the swirling computer chair through the whole show. After a bit, she settled in and slept on me and I got to watch my show and squeal in delight, internally, of course. She woke up when I went to put her in the crib and I fed her to settle her in, of course. Still, Glee is the only show I watch live and I got to watch it.

Other shows like Grimm or Supernatural or Downton Abbey are online the next day. It is really annoying to wait 8 days to see a missed episode, especially since then you can't really appreciate the next aired episode (I like to watch in order). I stopped watching a lot of ABC shows when they moved to 8 day system. I don't want to pay for free TV other than Netflix and I don't want to download illegally.

Here is my music/books/TV recap for the week:

Music
With the whole Hedwig news (and Bear totally got tickets for June 13th, even if he is not directly telling me about it! Yay!), I wanted to listen to the music. So I got the original cast recording on iTunes and has listened to it at least 5 times now. When cooking (mashed sweet potatoes are so tasty), as dinner music, with Papa in the car on the way back from work etc. It is definitely a lot of fun. I did not get Neil Patrick Harris version even though I adore him because I do think the original is better. I actually like the country feel of "Sugar Daddy."

Books
Only one book really. With the grading, I don't have a lot of time to read right now. But I did finish Isaac Asimov's Foundation . I didn't really like it that much. Maybe three out of five stars at best. There were parts that were interesting in the beginning but the second half of the book, in particular, dragged and didn't interest me that much. It was a bit boring, especially the parts about trade. But mostly the lack of women took me so much out of the story. I know this book was written in the 1950s but it was still too much. There are only two female characters that come in at the last quarter of the book. One is a handmaiden who just tries on jewelry and says "oh" and the other is a wife of a political leader who nags him on behalf of her father. Her motivations are not even hers. I like a lot of Asimov other stuff - I adore his short stories. But I am not going to read the rest of his most famous series.

TV
Supernatural S10E14 That was a very, very good episode. Good emotional beats, especially from Dean. Great job by Cain and a very disturbing prediction for the storyline. I don't think they will actually kill Cas, but Crowley - perhaps.

Glee S6E8 I was spoiled for the storyline - for the whole season really. And I'm very glad for it, because knowing the arc and when reconciliation would happen made me enjoy the angst. I watch this show mainly for Kurt and Blaine. I'm so heavily invested in them emotionally that last night was such a delight. When they broke up in Season 4, with no timeline for getting back together, there was actual heartache. Fic was the way of survival. Season 6 is much better. Their storyline got room to breathe (except last night, which was a bit fast paced), we saw growth and development in both characters in every episode and there is happiness in their happiness. So many things were handled well by the writers this season. And this wedding was lovely. I just like seeing my OTP happy. I want more than was shown on screen, of course, but that is what fanfiction is for. All those missing conversations.

Yesterday, for like 4 hours, we had to make a decision that we went back and forth on. My parents were hanging out with me most of the day, since my Dad had a day off and I have someone on baby/drive to the hospital duty most of the time. My doctor called around 11:30. He has to go out of town for most Saturday eve/Sunday/ early Monday for whatever reason and while he lined up a substitute doctor, since I'm pretty dilated already and can really go at any moment, he offered for me to come to the hospital that evening and he can break the water and let my labor start, etc.

It had the appeal of controlled drive to the hospital in Manhattan, which with traffic, is going to be tricky enough. And both my aunt and cousin, who is a doctor, thought it would be a good idea (my aunt had to have her water broken to start labor with one of hers). But it is still a week to due date, it is not like she is late. And my thought was, what if breaking the water won't immediately start labor and will lead to more intervention, which I really want to try to avoid.

My parents and I were both ambivalent and so was Bear - but Bear was pretty much letting me decide. So we consulted many people and thought about it and finally I went with my gut, like Yeva suggested and decided to wait for labor to start naturally. The only reason to do this is doctor's schedule really, not medical necessity. The baby is doing ok and she is not ready to come out yet. And it is not past due date. And, ultimately, I'm ok with having a different doctor do the delivery, if it comes to that, and if she want to come out before Tuesday.

So now we wait some more.

And this morning, after waking up at 6, as usual, I watched the final episodes of Season 8 of "Supernatural" which means I have now seen all the episodes and have officially caught up. Season 6 was my least favorite, the show started lagging then and didn't pick up for me until a little into Season 7. I did like Season 8 overall. So now I'm done with this project. I started in October, according to this blog, so this was a long project. Now I'm just watching the original Star Trek episodes with Bear when we eat dinner and SYTYCD on Wednesdays. I feel pretty good about stepping away from TV, which is not something I thought I would say even 4 years ago. But every year I watch less and less. I want to focus on books more and with the baby I won't have much time anyway.

I was all ready to post in the evening about the delicious Ethiopian Cabbage Dish I was making for dinner. And how I finished the third season of "Supernatural" and finally got to Castiel. Or watching "Rent" and "Pacific Rim."

But all of that is pretty trivial. Bear's Grandma died yesterday. She was 96 years old, one month shy of 97. This wasn't unexpected. She wasn't doing well in the last month. But it is still sad. She had a long life. She was one of nine siblings. She raised a daughter. And her grandchildren have good memories of her. She was very religious (Catholic) so I hope that brought her peace and comfort. Rest in peace, Carolina.

We are going to head to Long Island on Monday to say goodbye. I will go to the wake after work, but I will have to head back to work on Tuesday morning and won't be able to make the funeral itself. Bear will go to both, of course. At least that is what we are thinking right now.

I went to Park Slope this morning to have a late breakfast with my friend Rosemary. We were supposed to have lunch last week but Rosemary felt under the weather, so we rescheduled. We went into this cute diner called Dizzy's with very delicious food. I had an omelet with baby spinach and peppers, toast and home fries. Lots of home fries. Just the way I like it. And unlimited tea. So it was really good and it was very nice catching up too. I haven't seen Rosemary for a while. We work together but she took the last semester off to produce her play. This semester we are going to have a limited commute together because of the schedules but still it is better than no commute at all.

After breakfast and catching up with walked up to Prospect Park where we parted and then I walked around the park for a little bit. The weather was very nice: crispy and not too cold.

My afternoon was pretty boring. I mostly watched "Supernatural." And I read a little - I picked up the autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt again.

I do have a link to share. Papa sent it to me this morning. The Top Ten Books People Lie About Reading
(Out of that list I actually read Tale of Two Cities , 1984 ,and The Prince and I'm working on Victor Hugo. I will not touch Ayn Rand books with a ten foot pole.