Bearshorty's musings

I was finishing 1st week of history classes lectures today. And I set up Moodle more for the online part of the class. I still need to scan things in for them to read but I can do that once the school starts.

I watched JK Rowling’s “Who do you think you are?” episode on YouTube. It is always fascinating learning about people’s ancestors and what they went through. And English version of the show is always pleasantly so much less dramatic than the American one.

Papa and I watched “Burn Notice.” I liked Michael playing crazy stalker.

Another Friday, another day I wanted to work but really couldn’t. Yesterday’s grading shut down my brain.

No “Gender and Sexuality” class, it has been recently taught. So I need to come up with something else. My brain is not thinking right now, maybe this weekend I’ll think of something.

So watched a bunch of Season 2 “Grey’s Anatomy” episodes – I need to use my Netflix for something. “Who Do You Think You Are” had a Rosie O’Donnell episode - I liked it.

Mark Watches blog is finally up to Season Four of Doctor Who, so I’m just so excited about all the reviews because Donna! I adore Donna and Season Four.

My throat started feeling itchy and uncomfortable in the evening; I really hope I’m not getting sick, although 3 day weekend might be the best time to get sick if I have to get sick at all.

Cross- stitch – blue and light blue to finish the book and pumpkin for big bear’s paws

Another Friday, another easy day for me to rest my brain. I really should do more rough drafts but I can’t bring myself to think.

Mama and I cleaned out my room of all the clutter by finally shoveling all my boxes of kitchen stuff into my grandmother’s old closet in my room. When I moved back home, that closet was full of my grandmother’s clothes and permanently locked. Mama just could not bring herself to empty it even so many years after my grandmother’s death. Finally, last year we did empty it. But only today we made it my closet. And my room looks was big and empty with no papers and boxes and books on the floor. All this empty space is actually really weird. I was very amused when Papa got home that it took him a few minutes of talking to me to even notice it and only when I was laughing at his observation powers. It is very very noticeable.

Last article in January National Geographic was on Cahokia, the first North American city in Illinois built by Native Americans from 1000 to 1300. As the article points now, not many people really know about this Mississippi culture that left gigantic dirt piles and towers. It was very interesting and new.

I cross stitched as I watching “Who DO You Think You Are?” This week it was about Vanessa Williams. As I love genealogy and archives and history, I enjoy this show. And thankfully the editing this year was much better – there was much less recap and a lot more connections to the history of the period.

The Daily Show is back on Hulu. That is great news for me as I can watch the show more again. Comedy Central’s buffering always sucks. Jon Stewart’s discussion of the congress’ new ‘definition’ of rape in their ‘no federal funding for abortion’ bill was mocked so well.

Cross stitch: light yellow and green for the cube.

Woke up after six, looked back at the clock and went back to sleep until eight. I’m bringing my sleep patterns back to normal.

This morning we went to the cemeteries – first, North Cemetery Gate 2 for Aunt Lucy (Sveta’s Mom who died tragically six years ago at the age of 50 and was Mama’s good friend). It took a bit of wandering to find the right plot, we even consulted the map at the front. We left flowers there and then drove to Gate 1 for my grandfather’s grave. The tree there grew very tall. My grandfather died pretty young too in 1978 so I never knew him. After Mama cleaned up and visited we went to find the grave of our California relative’s father. We knew the right section number but it took a bit of searching before I finally spotted the hardly visible letters of his last name. We took a picture to send to him. The morning was cold and rainy, and even as the rain stopped before we got to the cemetery, the ground was still wet. The place closely resembles a forest, much more than American cemeteries so my shoes got wet too. (Well, I figured out that my sneakers are not really waterproof for walking in wet grass.)

After a visit to the North Cemetery, Aunt Vera and Uncle Tolya dropped us off at Moscovskoye cemetery where my father’s grandmother is buried. There was a cool computer system by the entrance that shows who is buried where and gives a convenient map. We found our California relative’s mother’s grave easily using it – which I don’t think we would have without this computer. Nine years ago, Papa and I searched for a hour to find my great-grandmother Fanya’s grave. There is a new stone on it now. This cemetery also has graves of famous people, writers and politicians – so we looked a bit at those too.

After all the visits, which took up the whole morning, we took a Metro to Kastrychnenskaya to the city center. All the metro stops and announcements are now in Belarusian. Metro still looks ridiculously pretty with all the marble and it still smell the same (the train smell, still familiar after so many years away).

Papa wanted to try McDonalds here to compare – he thought the products should be tastier here, made of local ingredients. I haven’t had a Big Mac in four years (there only thing I get at McDonalds now are ice-cream and hash browns) but I got it now. It all tastes exactly the same. Hopefully, he got it out of his system so now I could just have Belarusian food – like more potatoes.

After lunch, we went shopping at the a sort of Russian mall, with a little bit of everything. I bought two little notebooks and a planner that every schoolchild uses (it also records grades and parents have to sign it every week). This dnevnik (or ‘daily’) is in Belarusian now too with national anthem on the inside cover. I bought a little owl for Marianna, Russian Tarot cards for Medusa, and a Minsk magnet and a city coat of arms magnet for myself. Papa also saw a cross-stitch kit of a monkey with a banana which I bought to make for him. I might buy some Russian theme cross-stitch later.

Then we walked to Nemiga street – it is a shorter walk than I remember – and went to the store there. (Mama loves shopping, Papa and I not so much but a little shopping must be done). I got two pencil cases for Kid and her brother and I found the robe I liked at Katya’s the night before –one with a zipper and no sleeves. We ran into a girl who was with us on a plane to Minsk. I also bought napkins and table cover in traditional design with “Minsk” written on it in Belarusian for Bear’s parents. And I saw a teatowel with polar bears with a big heart and love written on it – which I just had to get too. It was very very hot in the store and my parents still wanted to do a bit more shopping, so I took our big bags of purchases and went to Katya’s apartment a minute away. I started my monkey cross-stitch there. It is very small and I want to finish it here.

Then we took the Metro to Aunt Vera’s. Mama went to get a manicure and Papa and I went home to eat. Once Mama got back we went for a walk to our old neighborhood. We went through our yard to a local grocery store. The design is the same, there is just more food. The bread is in the same place. Then we passed my old kindergarden/day care and crossed to the corner of Pushkin street. We were too tired to walk all the way back so we took a trolleybus.

Tried calling Bear, couldn’t reach him. He did write a nice long email though. I’m walking a lot again, I do like that but my feet hurt nicely. I watched a bit of History Chanel with my Uncle once my parents went to sleep - Japan was signing a treaty on “Missouri” to end WWII – and also a bit of British version of “Who Do You Think You Are.” That was kind of fun.

The skies are grey and all morning it threatened to rain. The rain should last for a few days. Just before it rained I walked to the bank to deposit a check and to the children’s store to start buying presents to take to Minsk. I suspect it is my last walk outside for a while since this rain is supposed to last a few day minimum.

Sometimes people suck . Stars on Ice Tour did not invite Johnny Weir to skate on their tour because he is not “family-friendly.” Johnny Weir has great routines, people love when he skates, he has a fun TV show on Sundance chanel and his not being “family-friendly” is such stupidity and discrimination. I do like GLAAD’s response.

Caprica S1E7. Good show. I really would prefer watching it on DVD since there are many scenes that I’m sure will fit into a story with all episodes this season. Once a week is just slow to watch a sequential show like this. DVD is a better experience. But again, the show is building really well and this is a really clever sci-fi.

I also caught American version of “Who do you think you are” – a genealogy show. Family history and tracing ancestors was always interesting to me, after all I love old documents, so it is a good show. But compared to the British version, the music here is too schmaltzy and they try to build unnecessary drama. This is probably because in England you can watch the show without commercials, and the tone is just different. Still genealogy is cool and I can never understand Bear’s complete disinterest in his own family history.