Bearshorty's musings

Tanya and I were visiting my parents from last Wednesday to today. My Dad came home from work at 5 today and we got ready to drive back. It started raining but we figured it would be fine. We got very, very lucky as the rain eased in the 30 minutes it took to get to my place and we unloaded the car. But when Papa went to park the car, lighting and thunder came crushing down. Bear was still driving home from work on the highway and my Dad ended up sitting in the car, once he parked, for a while for a torrential rain came down. There was lightning every two seconds and thunder and sheets of rain. The street in front of our building, a big street too, turned into a river for a while. I don't think I have ever seen the rain like this, with so much lightning. I was mainly worried about my Dad and Bear but they are fine. Bear really enjoyed all the lightning, since he is weird like that, and was able to stop by the grocery store and do the weekly shopping too. My Dad sat in the car and when rain eased was able to cross the street river. And in another half an hour my parents were able to go home.

The giant thunderstorm is not really going to easy the really hot July we've been having. Friday looks better with 83F. But it has been hovering in the 90s for the last few weeks. I had to go to the bank this afternoon and I was chugging water. It was humid and very, very hot. The morning at least had a little wind.

On Thursday to Sunday, in the mornings we would go to the beach. My Dad had off Friday so he came too and on the weekend. We would go from 8 to 10:30 before it got very hot. At least there was a nice breeze by the beach. The water was not too warm to great to wet the feet and walk along it, although Tanya loved being dipped in the water and "swimming". In Florida, it was a hassle to drag her into the water, but here, even with the water much cooler, she just wanted to play by the shore! I didn't really go swimming, but on Sunday when the water was a tad warmer I did dip in. I do prefer warmer water. But otherwise it was nice to be by the beach. It felt like a vacation. Tanya also got to enjoy a shallow baby pool in the backyard in the afternoons to get out of the house just a little when it was hot.

I finally backed up all my photos (my Dad has a back up hard drive) so it was time to finally give in and update to Windows 10. The free update is expiring on July 29 so it was time. I wish I done it sooner. I love it so far! It loads and shuts down super fast, it doesn't have the annoying "tablet" screen, and everything is familiar but slick. So great so far. I did have to opt out of bunch of scary "share all the browsing and calendar and your whole life with Microsoft for better performance" things. Those are personal preference. I do find that creepy though.

And my Dad got me "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell" miniseries, which I started watching when I had a bit of time. I watched two and a half episodes so far. I'm loving it very much. I think this is a fantastic adaptation. I love that it introduces both magicians together. And it makes the pacing work more. Norell is more likable in the TV version too, at least in the first two episodes, and I continue to relate to his love of books. The actors are great. And the tension works well especially the creaking music when the gentleman appears. Great visuals on magic. And I love seeing Arabella and Lady Pole more. From almost the first scene I realized that I have been mispronouncing Norell, or rather pronouncing it like Drawlight in the miniseries. I would put the stress on the second syllable and not the first. Well, at least I can say it properly now. (It was the same for Hermione when I read the first book. It was the movies that taught me how to pronounce it properly and then 4th book). My Dad started to read JSMN but I think he is going to just watch the miniseries because he finds language a hindrance. For me, since I'm used to 19th century style, the language was pretty easy but I can see that others can find it difficult. I told him that the miniseries is really good at capturing the books (at least so far) so he might just watch it first.

I also finished "Master and Margarita" and I'm about to finish "Hothouse." My feelings about both books are complicated. I liked "Master and Margarita" for example but there was a lot of bizarre and weird in there. I'm going to do a separate book post this week once I'm done with "Hothouse."

I want this cold weather to stop following me already. First, Grand Canyon and Arizona were unnaturally cold with 18F highs and now New York had a big cold week. I love warmth and heat and I’m not used to this cold anymore. When I was a kid in Belarus, winters were like this and I was used to it and I had a fur coat and warm clothes. I have a fur coat now, and I’m actually not cold in body but my face and hands and my throat hate this weather. I got a cold again on Wednesday night. This time my throat was yelling at me. Getting sick twice in one month, and all because of the weather, is not my favorite thing. At least I had a flu shot in October, so I don’t worry about that too much.

On Wednesday, the classes started in Local College. I’m teaching two sections of “Global History to 1600” and my classes are full of jocks. Like a third of each class is jocks. That should be … interesting. They either slack or they do well, depending on how their coach is pushing them. We’ll see how it’ll go but the dynamic of this semester will certainly be different.

On Wednesday night, Bear and I had dinner with Yeva at our favorite Japanese restaurant. All-you-can-eat sushi is a really great invention on a cold night, right after a work out. Yeva, as usual, had a boy dilemma which is always interesting to listen too. Neither Bear nor I have very much dating experience since we met when we were eighteen, so it is fascinating to listen to Yeva’s dating life. She wants so badly to settle down and I really hope this new guy works out for her. At least she definitely got over her June breakup.

Since Rosemary and I teach on different days now at University, we can’t carpool this semester, which I will miss. On Friday, was my first go at getting there by public transportation. I have to take a subway, train and bus and it does take a long time. But at least I can work on a train and I will make myself grade papers there. I’m still figuring out the best time to leave the house and I think I can actually wake up at 6:30, not 6am.

Today, I figured out my first paper assignment for the writing classes – the question will sound more complex since I have fancy words in there like anthropomorphism and anthropocentrism – but they should be challenged anyway. I also went to see my AP history kid whom I tutor. The subway to his house wasn’t running at the time so I had to get Bear to drive me – good thing there is a car.

Bear and I were thinking of going to a Broadway show since there is a promotion until February 7th of get one, get another free – but most shows are too much even then. He was wondering about “Mary Poppins” and even half price, it would be $77 each. I’d rather see more movies and go out to dinner. And coincidentally, my friend Olia just moved to New York from Miami and we are meeting for dinner on Tuesday – so I’d rather do that.

Today’s storm played havoc with my head. We don’t have anything like what is going on in the South (those poor people) but today’s skies were dark and threatening at many points. And in the afternoon, around eleven thirty, I was getting some lab work done for a doctor’s appointment next week, when I started to feel off filling out the paperwork. My head got full and heavy and I just didn’t feel stable. Since I got so used to this few years ago, I don’t immediately freak out but half an hour later when I was having a conversation with fellow teachers and eating pizza, my head felt like someone was squeezing it pretty hard. My blood pressure was doing something and reacting to the storm. I went and got water and paced mostly, since I feel better if I move and not sit still. As soon as the rain started my head began to feel better.

I had to give final exams today in my writing classes, and I’m glad the rain started when it did, so I felt relatively ok to give the test and sit at the desk. I graded my history quizzes and a few history papers while proctoring. I gave more "C" on the papers than usual; I just got mad at bad writing. Topic sentences are not that hard. And I read some National Geographic May issue.

I’m going to get more sleep tonight and hopefully my head and balance can get back to normal.
I did wear a suit to work today, I love my suit.

In the evening I watched “Community” and then “Bones”. The good thing about not caring that much about “Bones” anymore is that I just sat there and cross stitched. I didn’t really have to pay attention to the screen too much. I did a little more than hour and a half of cross stitching since I really have to finish that blanket in a month and last two month I didn’t have much time to work on it. So lots of May cross stitching coming up.

Cross-stitch: tan, tan, tan – I’m going to just work all tan color until I do all of it – middle bear’s head and paws and some on Big Bear.