Having seen nothing posted from him in months, I can only assume that Sir Barry is dead. My evidence is as follows:
On his most recent record album cover, he was wearing no shoes.
He failed to make his scheduled appearance on American Idol.
Before going into seclusion, he indicated that he would be taking "personal time."
Owen Wilson's recent problems - depression resulting from Barry's demise?
Curt Kobain, Richard Jewel and Barry: things like this do come in threes.
Tuesday's lunar eclipse - at least here - a sign that Barry was taken up in the mother ship?
Just last week I stepped on a crack.
I think I read something about it in Revelations.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Because lists are easier than thinking...
Hoping to get some of you blogging again, so let's start with something easy: Fives.
(*This idea shamelessly stolen from Tanya who didn't tag anyone when posting her response to her sister's tag.)
1. List five jobs you would like to tell people you do for a living even though you don't.
- "I save lives." (Then simply walk away.)
- "I design personal libraries in the homes of wealthy individuals who have neither the time nor the compulsion to read."
- "I'm a balloon safari tour guide."
- "I run a foreign-language bookstore."
- "I teach English in developing countries."
(I may actually be writing this from my basement in Pekin, Illinois.)
2. List five things you no longer have but wish you did.
- That polyester planet shirt. (Pete, do you have it?)
- Any of the glass heads I once collected.
- A copy of the movie Bob Roberts.
- My youthful exuberance.
- Risk, the board game.
3. List five things you were doing about ten years ago. (Stolen directly off Tanya's sister's list.)
- Recovering from my internship in Kenya.
- Gearing up for another year of graduate school and trying to figure out how to pay for it.
- Trying to figure out what will happen between me and a friend I had become smitten by.
- Looking for a place to live in Charleston.
- Thinking about moving to a country not found on any of the maps in ISU's map room.
4. List five "unnecessary" indulgences you sometimes give in to.
- Staying on "executive floors" at hotels.
- Cold Coca-Colas in glass bottles.
- Staying in the shower until the hot water runs out.
- Buying DVDs I probably won't watch more than once or twice.
- Buying certain books mostly so that someone else might be able to borrow them.
5. List five things you enjoy doing that you didn't when you were younger.
- Grammar
- Trying new foods (and, yes, I'm still easing into this one).
- Talking with strangers.
- Playing baseball.
- Walking to the grocery store or to a restaurant.
OK, here's the pitch: If you haven't posted five blog entries in the last five weeks, consider yourself tagged. If you haven't had an in-person conversation with me in the last five years, consider yourself tagged. Or if you're reading this and you are over five years old, consider yourself tagged.
Now get writing.
(*This idea shamelessly stolen from Tanya who didn't tag anyone when posting her response to her sister's tag.)
1. List five jobs you would like to tell people you do for a living even though you don't.
- "I save lives." (Then simply walk away.)
- "I design personal libraries in the homes of wealthy individuals who have neither the time nor the compulsion to read."
- "I'm a balloon safari tour guide."
- "I run a foreign-language bookstore."
- "I teach English in developing countries."
(I may actually be writing this from my basement in Pekin, Illinois.)
2. List five things you no longer have but wish you did.
- That polyester planet shirt. (Pete, do you have it?)
- Any of the glass heads I once collected.
- A copy of the movie Bob Roberts.
- My youthful exuberance.
- Risk, the board game.
3. List five things you were doing about ten years ago. (Stolen directly off Tanya's sister's list.)
- Recovering from my internship in Kenya.
- Gearing up for another year of graduate school and trying to figure out how to pay for it.
- Trying to figure out what will happen between me and a friend I had become smitten by.
- Looking for a place to live in Charleston.
- Thinking about moving to a country not found on any of the maps in ISU's map room.
4. List five "unnecessary" indulgences you sometimes give in to.
- Staying on "executive floors" at hotels.
- Cold Coca-Colas in glass bottles.
- Staying in the shower until the hot water runs out.
- Buying DVDs I probably won't watch more than once or twice.
- Buying certain books mostly so that someone else might be able to borrow them.
5. List five things you enjoy doing that you didn't when you were younger.
- Grammar
- Trying new foods (and, yes, I'm still easing into this one).
- Talking with strangers.
- Playing baseball.
- Walking to the grocery store or to a restaurant.
OK, here's the pitch: If you haven't posted five blog entries in the last five weeks, consider yourself tagged. If you haven't had an in-person conversation with me in the last five years, consider yourself tagged. Or if you're reading this and you are over five years old, consider yourself tagged.
Now get writing.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Out of the loop
I just heard that one of my brothers and his wife are in Hawaii right now. Which brother? I've no idea. And that's my point. For the last few weeks, really since we've entered the post-Potter era (PPE), I've basically been running to keep up. I haven't watched much news, I haven't talked with many people unless it involved my language homework. And my last two attempts at sending out a mass email update to people apparently didn't go through. (Did any of you get our last update, sent about a week or two ago?)
So here's the update from my end:
Just finished my first week of the new language unit and am scraping by. I enjoy it since it's one on one and there's more thinking involved rather than just repetition. And I understand the material but there's a new component that's a bit more challenging: read the material, then summarize what you read in your own words. Well, my words are usually in English...
Celebrated @'s 3rd birthday last night with gifts from grandmas and grandpa as well as a few from us. I bought him a t-ball tee with a nerf bat/ball. Like with most kids, the real fun comes from sending the T flying. If the ball moves, that's ok too. He got great books, new DVDs (four hours of things we haven't watched a thousand times!) and some clothes that will fit him through his 10th birthday.
I did buy a few books while we were in Singapore but not nearly as many as I'd intended. Everything was so expensive, even at the used book shops, that I made a point of limiting my choices to things that I really knew I'd read within the next six months or so
I'm reading Kazou Ishiguro's "The Unconsoled." I know I've made a pitch for him before but, seriously, if you haven't read at least something by this author you need to. "When We Were Orphans" or "Remains of the Day" are the safe choices but "Never Let Me Go" or my current read are really what shows his greatness. It does require work to read him but this is one of the few contemporary authors I've picked up in the last five years who will will have college lit courses named after him in the future. (Of course maybe, I'm just spending too much of my time reading good writers and need to start reading more good authors.)
Not many new household projects. I hung a new spicerack for Amanda and Ibu. I think the house is in as good of shape as it can be before the rainy season starts. Then everything will start to drip, swell and warp again.
I'm putting of writing an essay about how people in this culture express disappointment. I did the interview but just don't want to write about it...in any language.
I really don't like our lizards anymore. On any given day I'll see no less than five or six in various places around the house; the bathrooms, the office, the kitchen. I know that they eat misquitoes but they don't seem to take care of the spiders or cockroaches. Amanda had me release two that were trapped in our water pitcher that was left out one night. Several have simply died while on the curtains or walls. A few have met messier fates.
My wife continues to amaze me as she meets people, grapples with the language and just pushes through the daily complications of life. I think it's the fact that she has a level of discipline I lack. She does things that have to be done while my first reaction is to look for a way not to do them or put them off (thus, this post when I should either be writing my essay or studying for my test). That, and I just think she's a neat person.
I'm trying my hand at some creative writing again. Gretchen did a poem (???) about where she comes from. I'll try the same model with @. I've been dwelling on the concept of "legacy" (a concept I'm still trying to define) for the past few months and it might be an interesting way to look at the legacy we are creating with our three year old.
So here's the update from my end:
Just finished my first week of the new language unit and am scraping by. I enjoy it since it's one on one and there's more thinking involved rather than just repetition. And I understand the material but there's a new component that's a bit more challenging: read the material, then summarize what you read in your own words. Well, my words are usually in English...
Celebrated @'s 3rd birthday last night with gifts from grandmas and grandpa as well as a few from us. I bought him a t-ball tee with a nerf bat/ball. Like with most kids, the real fun comes from sending the T flying. If the ball moves, that's ok too. He got great books, new DVDs (four hours of things we haven't watched a thousand times!) and some clothes that will fit him through his 10th birthday.
I did buy a few books while we were in Singapore but not nearly as many as I'd intended. Everything was so expensive, even at the used book shops, that I made a point of limiting my choices to things that I really knew I'd read within the next six months or so
I'm reading Kazou Ishiguro's "The Unconsoled." I know I've made a pitch for him before but, seriously, if you haven't read at least something by this author you need to. "When We Were Orphans" or "Remains of the Day" are the safe choices but "Never Let Me Go" or my current read are really what shows his greatness. It does require work to read him but this is one of the few contemporary authors I've picked up in the last five years who will will have college lit courses named after him in the future. (Of course maybe, I'm just spending too much of my time reading good writers and need to start reading more good authors.)
Not many new household projects. I hung a new spicerack for Amanda and Ibu. I think the house is in as good of shape as it can be before the rainy season starts. Then everything will start to drip, swell and warp again.
I'm putting of writing an essay about how people in this culture express disappointment. I did the interview but just don't want to write about it...in any language.
I really don't like our lizards anymore. On any given day I'll see no less than five or six in various places around the house; the bathrooms, the office, the kitchen. I know that they eat misquitoes but they don't seem to take care of the spiders or cockroaches. Amanda had me release two that were trapped in our water pitcher that was left out one night. Several have simply died while on the curtains or walls. A few have met messier fates.
My wife continues to amaze me as she meets people, grapples with the language and just pushes through the daily complications of life. I think it's the fact that she has a level of discipline I lack. She does things that have to be done while my first reaction is to look for a way not to do them or put them off (thus, this post when I should either be writing my essay or studying for my test). That, and I just think she's a neat person.
I'm trying my hand at some creative writing again. Gretchen did a poem (???) about where she comes from. I'll try the same model with @. I've been dwelling on the concept of "legacy" (a concept I'm still trying to define) for the past few months and it might be an interesting way to look at the legacy we are creating with our three year old.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Heading out
I'm not sure who to blame. Maybe it's dad and the family vacations we went on but never flew to. Maybe it's Heyworth - a town I blame everything on like it's a mean stepparent. Or the books I read as a kid. Or the cultural exchange programs I never participated in but was always surrounded by...
In any case, despite my anxiety, I really love to travel and as I get older I'm finally getting comfortable with it. I enjoy a nice plane ride (as long as the plane is large enough to have a bathroom on board), I understand taxis and I'm even willing to attempt a bus for short trips. Amanda doesn't know this yet but I think we'll try a subway next week to get us to or from the zoo!
Tomorrow we leave for Singapore to get some passport things done and I can't wait to explore the city a bit. It will be our first extended visit to the city but thanks to our previous overnights there, we're beginning to feel comfortable there despite the crowds and the novelty of everything. We're learning the main roads and the layout of the airport. We'll attempt shopping and touring the local cutural sites. We'll eat at restaurants other than Subway (it's safe travel food for me) and might even find an Indian or Ethiopian. I even think that both Amanda and I will get an afternoon alone to explore what the other isn't interested in.
So yeah, we'll be gone through the 10th.
In any case, despite my anxiety, I really love to travel and as I get older I'm finally getting comfortable with it. I enjoy a nice plane ride (as long as the plane is large enough to have a bathroom on board), I understand taxis and I'm even willing to attempt a bus for short trips. Amanda doesn't know this yet but I think we'll try a subway next week to get us to or from the zoo!
Tomorrow we leave for Singapore to get some passport things done and I can't wait to explore the city a bit. It will be our first extended visit to the city but thanks to our previous overnights there, we're beginning to feel comfortable there despite the crowds and the novelty of everything. We're learning the main roads and the layout of the airport. We'll attempt shopping and touring the local cutural sites. We'll eat at restaurants other than Subway (it's safe travel food for me) and might even find an Indian or Ethiopian. I even think that both Amanda and I will get an afternoon alone to explore what the other isn't interested in.
So yeah, we'll be gone through the 10th.
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