Esha's profileBlob BlogPhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
Blob BlogThe Bloblog June 10 I might add an entry here occasionally, but meanwhile, I'm on Facebook....
href="http://tkfiles.storage.live.com/y1pUx5rmVMXmBJoQB3vbaIMO6J1WKIenTvz3gKf4TzuP_eugu_ArOZ0YfaboGCSxKtK_-emAob7Ws8" target=_blank> May 28 Gearing UpThe week after I went to the Big Island, I went to Maui--another weirdly short flight. I attended a meeting of the Hawaii Association of Music Societies followed by a meeting of Performing Arts Presenters of Hawaii; then I played with the three viol players on the island. Two of them are a couple who have an artistic house including a bathroom that's entirely painted like a Monet piece--walls, floor, counter, everything is watery with sunrise colors and clumps of lilies.
More recently, I spent the weekend at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival, wearing three hats--two literary and one musical. (How many underfunded non-profit organizations [registered charities] can one person be involved with?) I distributed a flyer for the upcoming viol event, showing how the viol and the 'ukulele descended from the same early guitar. I feel as if I need several other flyers for different audiences--modern string players, European history buffs, traditional music jammers, etc. Of course, I also have to write information for attendees and presenters, prepare the final schedule, specify the website updates, and enhance a grant application (at which point we'll get $2,500). I have a vague memory that I used to like to write. . . .
That weekend, I also went to a Scottish fiddling performance by Alasdair Fraser, accompanied by young cellist Natalie Haas. http://www.alasdairfraser.com I was astounded to see around 400 people there! I had no idea there'd be that big an audience here for that kind of music. OK, it's not early music exactly, but there's got to be a helpful tie-in somewhere. So many things to do in gearing up for the viol event! The Celtic Pipes and Drums of Hawaii (part of the pre-show) were excellent too, and somehow both impressive and funny when they marched Alasdair and Natalie through the auditorium and onto the stage.
Now I'm off to an early dinner with friends followed by some big floating-lights event at Ala Moana Beach Park (I hear parking is already filling up).
Some of the pictures on my musical family-tree flyer (from Wikipedia, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, thecipher.com; the Jordi Savall one seems to be on many websites). I can't seem to arrange them in any order--maybe I have to rename them so they go alphabetically?
May 05 ContextThe jet lag was mild on this trip. I went to bed very early and woke up very early for a few days, but that soon slipped later (as it tends to with a night person). Only a few days after I got back, I was on a plane once again, this time for the Big Island to play continuo in a Handel recorder sonata at an evensong service. Very strange, taking off, just barely settling in, and then right away landing again, all within about half an hour. My ability to be inactive definitely helps with the longer flights; I can nap or read and pretty soon they're done, just like my occasional hibernation days.
Not long before I left London, I heard a few seconds of American TV, and the accents sounded very strong. In transition on the planes and in the airports, the American accents still sounded very strong. Here, my brain's shifted into the new context and they sound completely normal. I think, though, that the types of American accents I noticed in transit are the same types I've always noticed as "other," and the types of specifically American behavior that I've not felt connected to are the same ones I've never felt connected to. The difference is that now, when I'm in another country, other people are likely to associate me with both the types of American I am and some types I never was.
Maybe that's related to why I have some Hawaiian things around the London house when I'm less likely to do so in Honolulu. In London, I can actually claim my Hawaii residency as part of my identity more easily than I can in Hawaii, because it's relative. I did grow up in Hawaii, so it is part of my background--but I've always felt a bit outside of it, since I didn't come from any of the major cultural groups that make Hawaii distinct from other parts of the U.S. Nor did I ever learn to speak "pidgin," though I can certainly get some kind of local intonation to my voice--and "Tiny Bubbles" and other Don Ho songs are part of my childhood memories without much of that sense of outsider distance.
I watched part of Don Ho's funeral live on TV today (May 5, 2007). I'd been thinking of him as an entertainer of tourists, but now I see how much he did speak to the local culture and how accurately he symbolized it. There hadn't been such a big public Hawaiian-style funeral since surfer, Olympic contestant, and entertainer Duke Kahanamoku died in 1968 (it was funny to see clips of that one with men wearing jackets and ties on the beach). I guess there isn't always a hard line between touristy and authentic.
Don Ho was in the military, so after the ashes were scattered in the ocean (a quarter-mile out from shore) an F-15 fighter jet flew over and dipped alternate wings. Seconds after I saw this on TV, I heard the jet! That definitely took away any TV effect of watching something distant or only semi-real.
Photo: Don Ho and Duke Kahanamoku, http://www.donho.com (no, people don't ordinarily share a lei like that!)
November 15 Doing So Much More . . .. . . than I almost ever do in Honolulu. Is it because of attitude, temperature, or availability of resources? Anyway, here are several recent activities that deserve blogging in more detail (we'll see if they ever get it):
- Early music concerts and modern dance performances (several each).
- Playing sessions at people's houses: Johanna's, Tal's, John's, Ibi and Jen's, Barbara's, Dorothy's, Jill's, and (a new experience) mine, mine, MINE!
- Adventures with furniture, doors, and small creatures.
- Trip to Austria for workshop.
- Trip to Devon to dodge flaming tar barrels.
- The Greenwich International Festival and Exhibition of Early Music, http://www.e-m-s.com/exhib/exstart.html , at which I bought a pile of music that comes almost up to my knee.
- Various other visits, dinners, photo sessions. . . .
Coming up: instrument maker's visit from Japan; trip to Bath to see Baroque opera performed by the English Touring Opera, http://www.englishtouringopera.org.uk . October 30 Not AbandonedNo, I haven't given up posting here yet. Life has just been so busy, and my perfectionistic tendencies mean I put off writing about it until I think I can do it justice, which isn't very often. For only two examples: I just got back from a workshop in Austria, and an instrument-maker from Japan is coming to visit and bring me an instrument. I don't believe my own life--except for the parts where the airports are boring or people talk around me in a language I don't know, since those have happened numerous times in the last few years.
Learning tablature in Austria: October 17 Silly StoriesTo be edited (if I get to it).
The Mouse Sometimes I don't get out of bed right away in the morning, and after a while I find that I'm hungry, which makes me feel too tired to get up and get something to eat. So, I brought a jar of peanut butter and a spoon upstairs into the bedroom one night for a quick morning snack. The next morning I was listening to an early music program on the radio, perfectly positioned between my two speakers for stereo effect, when I noticed in the corner of the room, under my computer desk, a brown mouse. I didn't want to get up and miss the radio program, so every time it ventured in my direction, I waved my hand at it and it retreated. Finally it went away altogether and I haven't seen it since (probably because I put the peanut butter away in the kitchen). I'm told that these old houses (mine was built around 1860) have an underground network, literally, and the mouse probably moved on to someplace smellier. The Spider I thought I'd escaped large crawly things when I left Hawaii! There are big black house spiders here, though, that are enjoying the unusually mild autumn after a long hot insect-filled summer this year. This is their mating season, so the males wander in search of females. I don't know why I never saw this when I was housesitting in Mile End--newer building? No garden? Anyway, I was on one of my numerous tuffets (see previous entries about sofas) when a big spider charged me from across the room. It had a cheerful air to it--not just scurrying across the floor, but I'd say scampering! It was moving bloody fast, so I vacated the tuffet and didn't go back in the room for a few days, and then only with shoes on so I wouldn't feel it if I got crawled on. (These spiders seem to stay on the floor--I hope.) I doubt it thought I was a mate--probably just a tree. Yes, I know, spiders are good and eat insects. I'd just rather not have close encounters with them. The Slug Silver trails across my living room floor.... I saw the slug once and thought it was dead, so I went away for a bit, but when I got back it was gone. I think it came in through the cat door left by the previous owner. The cat door isn't supposed to work except if the cat has the right magnetic collar on, so either this slug has a very small collar or the seal on the door isn't so good any more. Additional trails yesterday--how is this thing still alive, or do I have more than one? The Door The survey done before I bought this house said that the front door (modern) is really an interior-strength door. It's also been worrying me because it has one big glass pane in it--shatterproof, but surely a determined burglar could push through it. So, the other day I was walking along a nearby street and saw someone putting a new door on their house. The old one was right there, looking like an honest-to-gosh Victorian door in OK shape. (The owner told me later that it was original to the 1840s house--even older than my house.) The carpenter said the owners were just going to "chuck it away," although a door like that fixed up and installed would cost several hundred pounds. (I guess they didn't want to take the trouble to fix it for themselves or sell it.) I measured it and rushed back home--I was pleased to find that it was an inch or two too tall (easy to fix) but the right width for my front door. It was very heavy and I had to get to a concert, so the carpenter said he couldn't guarantee someone else wouldn't take it first, but he'd leave it out for me. When I got back that evening, it was already gone, to my annoyance. On the off chance the owners had stored it somewhere, I put a note through their new door (all these doors have letter slots). I also knocked on the new door (still knockerless, hard on the knuckles, ouch, such dedication I have) a few times during the weekend, but no answer. To my surprise, come last Monday I got a call--they'd been away over the weekend, did still still have the old door, and were happy for me to cart it away so they didn't have to. It took me a week to find "a man with a van" to get it up the hill for me, but he did that tonight...and then pointed out that it was an inch and a half too narrow. How did I measure so badly?! Aarrgghh!! September 13 Situation Normal (whatever that is)Arrived without incident. Slept a lot, but seem to be getting onto this time zone remarkably quickly. Still feeling spacy, though. It's supposed to take at least one day per time zone for the body to adjust, so I have a way to go. Nice to have a lovely housesitter (http://jenstrings.livejournal.com ) still here to change sheets and offer me videos to watch, etc.--just have to be quiet when walking around at odd hours of the night.
September 10 If I should die before I wake . . .So I'm due to leave tonight, unless I panic about all that remains undone and change my flights (paying a painful fee to the airlines, of course). The first leg takes me overnight on the 10th; the next is a day flight on the 11th (yes, 9/11); the last is another overnight on the 11th, so I get in on the 12th. That's what happens when you have 11 hours time difference! I'm not really flying for a day and a half, but compressing the time by flying east, or something like that--anyway, with stopovers and such, it still takes 24 hours this time. If only one could avoid stopovers and long check-in times! At least my return flight only has two legs instead of three. For this outward flight, I'm hoping that September 11 will mean that security is tight but fewer people are flying and thus queueing.
I chose this date with awareness of the anniversary, though before people started making as much fuss about it as they are right now. I forgot it was five years ago. Now, if the planet moved a little differently and our days or years were slightly different in length, we wouldn't be marking this exact moment in time as an anniversary (see my earlier entry about New Year's and having six fingers)--but people must have their anniversaries. I just hope no terrorist tries to commemorate it by repeating it. At least none of my flights go to any major city (until London, that is).
See you on the other side, I hope. If not, remember that I went out at a high point of my life. . . . August 15 ReturningGot back to Honolulu yesterday, after about six weeks away. Will try to return to blogging regularly, in case anyone is still reading! (It might be more interesting to blog during these trips, but I don't usually have sufficient time or Internet access.)
Picture: Cathy cartoon about trip blogs August 02 A New LookUgh--why has MSN changed the look of this page? The Conclave was fabulous. Good conversation and playing, articulate and friendly teachers with whom I felt strong connections, enjoyable compliments on my improvement, and exciting expressions of interest in the Hawaii 2007 gathering. So, said gathering is indeed on, and it seems that that creating it will be the next phase of my life. Sir Winston Churchill: "To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour." In other words, I need to stay in competent mode for the next year as I work on bringing viol players from around the world to the place where I grew up out in the middle of the ocean/nowhere. Scary--but much more exciting and comfortable now that others are contributing ideas and time. For the next couple of weeks, though, I'm still traveling and seeing friends (wishing I could see others, but enjoying the ones I can see this time around). Recent discovery: I'm much more interested in Victorian houses and items now that I own a house built around 1860 (I call it 1861 so that it's a round 100 years older than I am). For example, http://www.watertownhistory.org/octagon.htm July 22 Small AccomplishmentsPulled weeds off the wall near the drain and out of the drain itself--they came off easily, like a carpet, and smelled of wonderful fresh salad greens or sprouts. (Were they REALLY "weeds"? I guess so, in that they were blocking the drain.) Established "guest account" on computer. Almost packed. Feet don't hurt too badly!
Now off to the VdGSA Conclave: http://www.vdgsa.org/pgs/conclave.html
Picture: "Gambas and Bracchios" Conclave logo. July 21 Mega-Blog, LondonNotes about the last couple of weeks in London:
W 5th: Arrived--at Gatwick instead of Heathrow for the first time, which was actually easier for getting to the house. Ate at Pizza Express. Slept!
Th 6th: Received delivery of memory-foam mattress . . . ahhhh. Saw a musical called Dancing in the Streets, which just couldn't come up to the original Motown artists to which it referred. Ate at an Indian restaurant called Spice Bazaar near Leicester Square (which area is home away from home when friendly ex/family member Todd is visiting, because of the half-price booth for play tickets). F 7th: Received delivery of extremely bright floor lamp, which Todd put together with much grumbling about parts that didn't fit accurately etc. (Hey, I'm not a stereotype; I put everything else together back in the spring, including my bed.) Ate just down the street at The Hill, a new restaurant made from an old pub. Went shopping at Lewisham Centre for household necessities. Played and talked at Barbara's--wonderful to be back with Bowzone again. Sat 8th: Went to a matinee of See How They Run (an enjoyable wartime farce that ends up with four real or fake clergymen squeezed together on a couch [which would never have to happen in my house of sofas]). Ate at Spice Bazaar again--classic korma and tikka masala dishes; mmm. That evening saw Canterbury Tales part 1--very well done if long and neckache-producing (seats in the front row up against high stage). Sun 9th: Drove out to Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge with Ingrid and John--Ingrid's group played in a recorder day being held there. The four of us went to a concert by Emma Murphy at the Purcell Room that evening. M 10th: Shopping at the Victoria and Albert museum gift shop: woohoo! (Poor Todd got a bit impatient.) Ate at another Indian restaurant near Leicester Square--Maharaja, not as good as the other. Saw The Rocky Horror Show--I'd never seen the movie (though I'd heard a lot about it when it had its original midnight showings at the University of Hawaii) but could tell the musical was disappointing in comparison. T 11th: Ate lunch at Pret a Manger near Leicester Square. Saw a matinee of another enjoyable farce called Donkey's Years (middle-aged people have a college reunion), had dinner at Spice Bazaar again (why mess with success?, plus we seemed to give the staff a thrill by returning). The evening play was an interpretation of Jane Eyre in which the madwoman in the attic was a repressed part of Jane--extremely good indeed, but the seats were extremely uncomfortable indeed (beware Trafalgar Studios with its inadequate cushioning, armless seats, and vertiginous slope which is great for sight-lines but will surely kill an elderly audience member someday). W 12th: Developed a cold; achoo. I suppose it was a good day to feel bad, since I had to wait at home all day for my broadband to be connected--which it wasn't. Since I'd had to let the engineer in when the phone line was connected in the spring (and he also had to spend ages up the pole across the street--definite problems with the line or interchange or connections or something), I felt I should be there for the Internet hookup. Sure enough, they claimed the delay was because of a problem at the interchange, which last time had led to their needing to come in--but they managed to fix it (if indeed there was ever a problem) about a day and a half later without my being there to let them in. Sigh. Ate dinner at Pizza Express not far away, after which Simon dropped by for his first visit to my place and put me through my pathetic tea-making paces (but he was tolerant). Th 13th: Moved furniture around in the living room to try and make more space in the "music room" end of it. Had expected the couch from Peter and Amanda not to fit in the same area as the chaise longue and the coffee table, but it did! (OK, you have to sidle in to sit down, but at least the couch doesn't shift around like the small bamboo one was doing, and it's much plushier.) Got lunch at Pret near L Square, bought hiking boots at Timberland (my right foot has a chronic strain and needed more support), mooched around Stanford (a great map store). That evening, drove to Chichester with Ingrid and John to visit Mary I. (hooray for John--he likes to drive!). F 14th: Went to West Dean to drop off Ingrid's bow and Simon's treble viol for twiddling by Roger Rose. Then toured the Weald and Dowland Open Air Museum with Mary and daughter Rachel--it was an absolutely lovely day (in utter contrast to the last time we were there), so most of us took naps on the grass too. Dinner at Mary's, then playing with Mary and Ingrid while Todd and John walked around Chichester or conversed in the other room. Everyone seemed to get along very well! Sat 15th: Train all the way to Oxford; met Todd's friends/colleagues Chip and Charlene (there from Hawaii to attend a conference); lunch at a collegy place called the Buttery. Walking tour of Oxford with theme of Inspector Morse books and television show (which I've never seen). Good thing I had my boots--we walked over lots of cobblestones. Train back to London; could have gone to a play but decided to rest. Sun 16th: Voices and viols at Jill's--Gibbons verse anthems. What a nice group of people, and what a sound! We were too strong for the room--people kept saying to pull back, and I kept agreeing, but it took me a while to realize that *I* needed to pull back too. As they say, duh! Mon 17th: Another brief visit to Lewisham Centre for household shopping. Lunch at TGI Friday's near Leicester Square (the food wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered). Shopping at John Lewis, mostly to look at rugs for the music room--nothing struck me much, though I might get one called Jetstream, which has a good name and also has five subtle parallel lines through it like a music staff. Saw the musical The Producers--much fun and well performed despite one major role being done by an understudy. How did the female lead get so elongated and articulated?! T 18th: I rested; Todd wandered around Greenwich and went to the Maritime Museum and the Observatory (or at least their gift shops). Went to the National Theatre that evening for a slice-of-life play called 2000 Years; to our vast surprise, saw Ingrid, John, and Tei (sp?) in the lobby beforehand, so joined them for dinner. W 19th: Went back to Timberland (in this heat wave, they could have charged a pound for ten minutes standing under the air conditioning vent on the lower floor), then to a matinee of Sunday in the Park With George, a rather tuneless non-pop musical with video projections of the art in process. Chip and Charlene arrived in London (after the conference in Oxford and surfing for Chip in Cornwall) and we ate with them at Spice Bazaar, then saw an American play called Fool For Love which portrayed the macho pigheaded stereotype of rural American man (the publicity variously said it was in the West, the Midwest, and some completely different third area of the U.S. which I can't remember but probably also has "west" in it. Well, so, the country was settled from the east, so each new part of it must have seemed like the west at the time). Th 20th: Todd walked around Greenwich Park and went back to previously visited museums/gift shops. Can't remember what I did--probably rested. Then we went back to the V&A and saw the exciting and educational Modernism exhibit, plus bought a thing or two more in the gift shop. We ate dinner at Cafe in the Crypt in St. Martins-in-the-Fields (yes, once again near Leicester Square). The play that night was an American musical called Avenue Q--it combines humans with Muppet-like puppets and is like a children's TV show except that it's about the issues and learning experiences of young adults. For example, the songs included "My Life Sucks," "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," and "The Internet is for Porn." Hilarious and well-written; the highlight of all the play-going this time around. Keep an eye out for the Bad Idea Bears in your own life. . . . F 21st: Dinner at the Founders Arms, then the Globe with Ingrid, John, and Simon. The play, Under the Black Flag, was dreary even for those of us who do like pirates (me, not so much, nor vampires, nor other scarily costumed characters that go BLAH-ha-ha-arrgh). Photos: Our tour group in Oxford (Chip and Charlene not visible). Me and Todd (not looking entirely like himself) on a London street in the theater/theatre district. Both taken by Chip.
July 10 JetlagI can never decide whether it should be "jet lag" or "jetlag"--but then, when one has the condition, one doesn't care and can't think straight about it anyway. It's that feeling of having been up all night, maybe even for two nights. See, now I can't even remember what else I was about to say! July 03 Meal of the MonthThe smoothie! Yes, it's a pattern--see the May 26 entry at http://communiceshan.spaces.msn.com/blog/cns!C3CBDC1BE07AA0D1!157.entry
and numerous other days. Today is the last day I'll be able to get the peanut butter one until I get back to Hawaii or some state that has Jamba Juice.
Photo at http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/education/images/birdfood/peanut_butter.JPG, in the context of feeding birds. Wouldn't the peanut butter glue their beaks together? July 02 PackingI'm into the last 24 hours before leaving on my next trip. I HATE PACKING.
- Did I bring these vitamins, cold medicine etc. back from London because I wanted to keep them here as my Honolulu supply or because I wanted to carry them back and forth as my travel supply? After all, I do make stopovers and visits between Honolulu and London sometimes.
- Where is my neck pillow? I think I left it in London. Maybe I can buy a new one at the airport so I can sleep on the plane . . . planes, that is.
- Should I take my winter things back to London now or wait until I'm actually going there on a trip that includes winter? They'd be good padding for stuff now, but might take up too much room. I could pack in order to find out if they'd fit, but if they don't, that means packing twice.
- Should I bother cleaning up the piles of stuff or dust that might disgust the cat-sitter but not actually be in her way?
- How do I prevent the shrimp chips (something like prawn crackers) from getting pulverized before I can give them to my friends in Wisconsin after London?
- Should I stay up late to do my paperwork, bills, etc., thereby starting the jet lag early, or take it all along under the delusion I'll give it a single thought once I'm out of here?
- Should I make one last attempt to visit one more potential venue tomorrow before I have to meet the planners of the 2007 Hawaii viol gathering at the VdGSA Conclave in Minnesota, or will I be too tired (see early jet lag above)?
- Will Penny, the one remaining cat, maintain her current calm with just a little sniffing around, or will she start racing around in protest and threatening to pee on the pile of clothes to be packed, like Ginger used to do whenever I went away?
- Should I try to "blog" about my all-school reunion last night, so that my blog entries will go chronologically, or should I do it in the middle of the London trip, or (more likely) not at all? Does anyone care?
- Why didn't I buy some new pants (trousers)?
- What have I forgotten?
Etc., etc., etc. (as my mother used to say).
Photo: Penny, unperturbed. June 30 OuchI was sitting calmly here in front of the computer, on the phone inquiring about bus shuttle hire for on-campus summer conferences, when the right side of my lower back spasmed. How lovely to be a physical creature . . . arrgh.
Dinner at Betty's upper middle-class Asian-Pacific kitsch-decorated retirement facility. Nice small portions of everything from filet mignon to a vegetarian omelet. Dessert options didn't include my usual coffee ice cream; the pineapple macademia nut scone was rather dry. Went up to Betty's apartment afterward--she's done a very classy job of arranging the furniture and other things that used to be in her house. Much conversation about politics, education, Japanese honorifics, etc.
I should be paying bills, writing up final venue options and budget for the planning committee of the 2007 Hawaii viol gathering, or packing, but my back hurts, so I'm going to bed!
Photo: the lobby. June 28 ElephantsI was actually ON an elephant when I bought this T-shirt. I'm sure that one and only ride led to the following dream some months later: I was on the back of an elephant, trying to parallel park it. I couldn't steer it very well, so its back leg kept going up on the curb (kerb). It was getting annoyed at me for that and was about to bite me. I don't remember the rest . . . and I don't know why it couldn't park itself! Had it forgotten how? Aren't elephants supposed to remember everything? (AH ha ha.)
My dreams are either so entertaining or so poignant--I'm always pleased when I manage to remember one. (Line from a heavily plodding hymn at a memorial service I went to today: "Time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all our years away; they fly, forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day." Cheery thought.) No More Pencils, No More Books . . .. . . no more teachers' dirty looks (or so the ditty goes). A building at my old school burned down on June 13--it housed the elementary school and, among other things, the orchestra program. All those cellos I played on--gone. I saw the fire from a mile or so away but didn't realize what was burning.
and
and numerous other articles. As I said to Ted, I also saw some television news video of the early stages of the burning--more affecting than still pictures or even than looking at the rubble firsthand. The person in charge of our alumni webpage and mailing list went and watched the building burn, and he hasn't sounded too good in emails since then. List of orchestra instruments gone, quoted from one of his emails:
<< 58 Violins
12 Violas 10 Cellos 3 String Basses << The school's instrument inventory included quite a few vintage instruments that can never be replaced. According to the orchestra teacher, replacing the instruments alone with entry-level, student model string instruments would cost well over $45,000. Other items lost in the fire include: 1) Strings valued at over $7000 2) Bows valued at over $3000 3) Wenger Music Chairs 4) Manhasset Music Stands 5) 3 KORG Chromatic Tuners 6) Spinet Piano 7) Sheet music All in all, it would cost upwards of $80,000 to replace everything in the orchestra room that was lost in the fire. >> And that's just one room--overall damage was about $6.5 million, and they say the fire was intentionally set! An all-school reunion had already been planned for July 1--I hadn't been intending to go, but changed my mind after the fire. Unfortunately, factoring in travel time and sold-out flights etc., this means that I now don't arrive in London until the morning of July 5. Still have to leave on July 23 for the Conclave, but hope to get back to London by September and stay until January--or February--or March if I can push it.
Photo from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin (URL above), taken from a spot where I often waited near the road for my mother to pick me up after school. The tree didn't burn! I think the wind was blowing the other way. June 25 Post-Mortem PotluckPart of the reason I haven't posted much here since the conference is that I haven't figured out how to write about it while remaining unspecific enough for my own online security. I suppose the chances aren't very high that a crazed blog-reader would put the pieces together and track me down, but it's still something to consider. Add to that the fact that I talk to different people in different ways about different things, and I'm surprised I've managed to write as many all-purpose blog entries as I have.
That said. . . . This is a very throughly evaluated conference. We make attendees take the last five minutes of each breakout session to fill out (or in) a half-sheet response form, and we offer them a chance to win a prize if they turn in an all-conference evaluation at the end. This week, I typed up all the comments, which ran to about 25 pages, 12-point type, single-spaced. My hands and wrists are sore! The whole report with crunched numbers (demographics, attendance figures, session ratings, etc.) was 33 pages. The comments were mostly very favorable. The conference audience has varous constituencies with different interests; I think some ended up in sessions not designed for their interests, but I don't think we should cater to only one set of interests either. I was disheartened to see so many ungrammatical comments from people in the teacher constituency, but if they were getting inspired (a word used frequently in the evaluations) and having a good time at the conference, I suppose that will trickle down to help their students in areas other than grammar. I attended sessions in all time slots for the first time, and felt some moments of inspiration myself, though have no specific ideas to hang the creative impulse on (that's the blobbiness of perfectionism for you). Highlights: featured artist talking privately to dyslexic child and family about his own dyslexia, featured writer in tears after a dramatic reading of her work, and various insights during presentations (I should have taken notes, but I always think I'll remember).
I've recovered from the panic of trying to cover more details than possible at any given moment of the conference (I still had some of this despite not being conference director). As usual, the only rough spots were behind the scenes and unnoticed by the attendees. Tonight the organizers and some presenters met for a potluck dinner (each person brings some food--is it called a bottle and plate dinner in the UK?) and talked about how the conference went and what could be done next time. Despite some fears that those not in the know would make many enthusiastic suggestions or criticisms but not offer to help, tonight was a positive occasion with lots of thanks all around. It's a fabulous, hard-working, thoughtful bunch of people. I got a ginger lei for helping the new conference director take on the job (the lei is of white perfumed flowers, not the flat band of long buds as in the picture below with the ti leaf background, but open flowers as in the picture below with the blue background, except the ends of the lei were connected). Good food, too--lasagne, noodles, salads, fruit, tofu, homemade desserts.
Well, I'm boring myself now, so I'm going to stop here!
Photos (sorry, without permission): http://www.rainbowweddings.com/images/wht-ging.jpg and http://www.flowerleis.net/ginger-w-k.jpg June 21 GadgetsThe conference went well, but I'm still resting and gathering the energy to write about it! In the meantime, I'm shopping for gadgets as my post-conference celebration. The digital camera is indeed a moving target--people's recommendations are different from the listings in the latest Consumer Reports are different from what's in the stores are different from. . . . I saw an Epson photo scanner but want to do a bit of comparison shopping. I did, however, buy a laser color printer! It's big--it's on a low room divider and I think it's blocking airflow between parts of the room. So far I've just printed out a set of photos of the London house for Todd (the friendly ex), who is chomping at the bit to visit there again and do his English professor things. I must say it's nice to have time to think about the house again. I never thought much about furniture etc. before, but now that I have a little money with which to play, I'm getting all materialistic. I'll be heading to John Lewis for a rug when I get back to London!
The printer: HP Color LaserJet 2600n, http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/18972-236251-236268-15077-f51-446153.html
Today would have been my mother's 83rd birthday. As my father used to say when I was a baby and some colleague complained about feeling old: we're all getting older, even Esha.
Off to be a consumer some more now!
June 10 PetsMore about the birds pictured in the Honolulu photo album: A mynah bird adopted us when I was a teenager--they're wild here and not supposed to be kept (or bred or sold), but this one insisted on hanging around (it must have been raised by humans). Common mynah birds don't talk as much as hill mynahs, but this one said hello, whistled, and eventually learned to bark from the dog (see May 26 entry, Smoothies and Procrastination, http://spaces.msn.com/communiceshan/blog/cns!C3CBDC1BE07AA0D1!157.entry). We also went through a phase of finding baby bulbuls that had fallen out of the nest--they're very sweet, but I don't recommend trying to raise them and let them go, because they end up half-tame and weak flyers. Mynah birds are amusing--they stand around in circles of half a dozen or more, talking and bowing to each other, and they never fly across the street if walking will do. Ours had a love-hate relationship with my mother, not entirely unlike in the sketch below. Birds in general seemed to have strong feelings about her--once in a pet shop I let a large macaw or parrot-type thing get on my arm, and then it refused to get off (and it was heavy!), but it had its head on one side eyeing my mother the whole time as if to say, "I've got your child!" Then the store owner came in and the bird immediately went back on its perch. Naughty!
From Ted, from a Monty Python sketch (surely copyrighted):
(See http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode21.htm#11 for the whole thing)
. . .
Second Pepperpot . . . I bet Mrs Reginald Maudling doesn't have to put up with all this drudgery, getting up at five in the morning, making a cup of tea, looking out of the window, chatting away. First Pepperpot No! It'd all be done for her. Second Pepperpot Yes, she'd have the whole day free for playing snooker. First Pepperpot She probably wouldn't go through all the drudgery of playing snooker, day in, day out. Second Pepperpot No, it would all be done for her. She wouldn't even have to lift the cue. First Pepperpot She probably doesn't even know where the billiard room is. Second Pepperpot No, still, it's not as bad as the old days. Mrs Stanley Baldwin used to have to get up at five o'clock in the morning and go out and catch partridges with her bare hands. First Pepperpot Yes... and Mrs William Pitt the Elder used to have to get up at three o'clock and go burrowing for truffles with the bridge of her nose. Second Pepperpot Mrs Beethoven used to have to get up at midnight to spur on the mynah bird. First Pepperpot Lazy creatures, mynah birds,.. Second Pepperpot Yes. When Beethoven went deaf the mynah bird just used to mime. The picture begins to wobble as in flashback; appropriate dreamy music effect. First Pepperpot (looking at camera) Ooh! What's happening? Second Pepperpot It's all right. It's only a flashback. Cut to Beethoven's living room. A model mynah bird is opening and shutting its beak. Beethoven is sitting at the piano. Beethoven You don't fool me, you stupid mynah bird. I'm not deaf yet. Mynah Just you wait... ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! (Beethoven pulls a revolver and shoots the bird which falls to the ground) Oh! Bugger... Beethoven Shut up! Mynah Right in the wing. Beethoven Shut your beak. Gott in Himmel... I never get any peace here. He plays the first few notes of the fifth symphony, trying vainly to get the last note. Mrs Beethoven enters. Mrs Beethoven Ludwig! Beethoven What? Mrs Beethoven Have you seen the sugar bowl? Beethoven No, I haven't seen the bloody sugar bowl. Mrs Beethoven You know ... the sugar bowl. Beethoven Sod the sugar bowl... I'm trying to finish this stinking tune! It's driving me spare ... so shut up! (she leaves; he goes into opening bars of 'Washington Post March ) No, no, no, no, no. . . .
Photos: bulbuls, mynah birds (not mine; pictures probably from a University of Hawaii website) [Guest Book/Bulletin Board][To say something general about this website, to "sign the guest book," or just to chat, add a comment here. To find this spot again, click on the guest book "module" that's on the homepage with the other lists and modules.] June 08 Where I ShopPer request!
The supermarkets in Honolulu are Safeway, Times, Star Market, Foodland, and maybe a few others. I most often go to Safeway, either on Beretania Street on the makai (oceanward) edge of Makiki or at the Manoa Marketplace. It's hard not to run into someone you know, especially in Manoa where the older university faculty members live who knew my parents.
Car shopping is different from shopping on foot--I learned this after a number of times wrecking my hands in London carrying too much in plastic bags back from the "corner" store, which wasn't that close. Must remember to buy less but shop more frequently when the mode of transport will be walking!
More comparisons to come on the minutiae of life near the dateline vs. life near the prime meridian . . . if and when I get a digital camera.
Photos: The Beretania Safeway as photographed for Japanese shoppers? Between the generations of local Japanese Americans and the frequent tourists from Japan, it's not a surprise. http://www.hawaii123.com/smarket/oahu/safeway.html June 07 Organizing the Grains of SandThe office hard drive crashed (on 6/5, not 6/6, by the way); a spare computer didn't have all the right fonts on it and closed Word on me in mid-edit today; the graphics designer for the conference Humanities Guide messed up a LOT of things in the text (how?!). Business more or less as usual, a week before the conference. It's very nice not to be the one ultimately responsible for everything, but it's still anxiety-producing, since I'm so used to tracking it all and since the new conference director is, well, new. She's good, though.
If the people who volunteer at the conference for at least three hours get money for parking and lunch, but the people who volunteer for only a short time get only parking, then who will track how long they stay and when they get their money? Simpler to just give them all the same amount of money in their volunteer packet when they first show up? But then more expensive and not fair? Well, anyway. . . .
Back to the last topic, the arbitrary significance of dates: I do like New Year's. It's a "clean" holiday because of that very same arbitrariness. Not much religious about it, just the counter ticking over, people calling it a new start by mutual agreement, drawing a line in the sand.
Meal of the day: smoothie (see previous blog entry, May 26, http://spaces.msn.com/communiceshan/blog/cns!C3CBDC1BE07AA0D1!157.entry ).
Pictures:
Fireworks for (Chinese) New Year - http://neo95.ifrance.com/chinese%20new%20year%20fireworks,%20hong%20kong.jpg
Line in the sand - http://blueye.org.uk/index.php?showimage=29
Hourglass - http://www.mathpuzzle.com/18Nov2003.html June 06 06/06/06Some people get very alarmed about certain numbers, especially dates. I'm pretty cultural-anthropological about most things, but I tend to scoff at this one. When was Christ really born for us to start our calendar from? Why wasn't that called Year 0? What if we hadn't made various adjustments to the calendar such as Leap Days to make it more accurately reflect the speed of the earth's rotation around the sun? All the scary numbers would be different. Today's assigned numbers could not be boiled down to 666.
And if we hadn't had five fingers on each hand, our whole counting system would be different and those scary birthdays (40, 50, 60, 70) would fall at different times in our lives than they do now.
Counting on different hands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_(mathematics)
Base converter: http://www.cut-the-knot.org/binary.shtml
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
