Summertime, and the living is easy
Yeah, I know I haven't posted in a while. I do apologize. Life's been pretty busy. August has proven a pretty busy month for the libraries, and I'm trying to get the high school library in order before those precious little teenagers arrive. So, if you feel like reading on about some more exciting Lang-Wa adventures, click on.
As I said, things have been busy on the library front. Nancy and I have either been conducting or preparing for programs all month. This week we had a great program where kids painted handmade puzzles of popular storybook monsters (Wild Things, etc.). Yesterday, an Oregon author named Monte Killingsworth gave a booktalk/folk concert that was surprisingly good. Controversy seems to surround his books despite the relaxed tone of most of his stories. I've mainly occupied my time teaching basic computer classes at the high school computer lab. Thanks to our area's demographics, the class is all senior citizens. I'm really glad to have the opportunity to teach these as I am garnering a wealth of information on pedagogical technique, particularly in teaching a group where skill levels differ drastically. The service is proving to be quite a valuable one, too; the libraries will be offering computer classes for quite a while yet, I suspect.
After being landbound by my surgery for a month, I finally got to go swimming, and oh how marvelous it was. A couple of miles from my house is a great hole on Floras Creek. Really, I think Floras is too large to to be a creek; it's more of a small river. I once asked my friend Joseph, a student in Fisheries & Wildlife, what constitute a river and a creek. He told me that it is in fact a quite scientific distinction: whoever finds it first calls it what they want. To think that we could have had the Mississippi Creek!
Anyway, it was so refreshing and wonderful to go swimming. A few old friends of mine were up there, too, which only added to its greatness. Because we receive so much rain here, the topography of the rivers changes drastically from year to year. This year was no different. One of the best parts of swimming in the Langlois area is investigating how new and different your favorite swimming spot is. Pools don't hold a candle to rivers, in my opinion. Really, if you don't come away with cuts and bruises on your legs from climbing rocks and diving to the river bottom, you haven't truly gone swimming. I got my obligatory scar this time, too: a large gash out of my shin from climbing a tall rock to jump. I also reopened a scar from a wound afflicted by a rogue cheese grater. Damn kitchen utensils!
I finally saw Fahrenheit 9/11, as the small theatre in Port Orford decided to show it. I was thoroughly disappointed. Watching it was not unlike reading one of those shitty political books by the likes of Michael Savage or Al Franken: partisan to the max. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's entertaining to see your thoughts espoused in such a thoroughly black-and-white way, but the film certainly didn't deserve the Palme d'Or from the Cannes. I thought the only particularly compelling part of the "documentary" discussed the connections between the Bush family and Saudia Arabia, very damaging yet strangely absent in mainstream media. The rest of it was merely a poorly-argued indictment of the Bush administration. As with the Heston interview in Bowling for Columbine, Moore included a scene which I found thoroughly despicable: footage of Bush reading with children immediately after being notified of the attacks while Moore discusses what he was thinking, as if he has any idea. Really, I found it depressing to see someone who has done such wonderful work in the past and someone with whom I agree frequently stoop to making a 2-hour political attack ad. All this being said, I am glad the film is out there - I'm all for getting people's voices being heard - I just wish he had presented his arguments in a bit more compelling fashion. And the film is worth seeing if only to see John Ashcroft sing.
I feel like I'm having a Russian renaissance, too. A patron recently came into the library who's teaching himself Russian, so he comes in periodically and we chat (and oh, how rusty I am!). I also watched a couple of Russian films: Burnt by the sun and Prisoner of the mountains, both excellent movies. Despite their decidedly depressing content, they made me long to return to St. Petersburg just to wander the streets. Despite the hustle and bustle of the city, I felt such an inner peace there as I explored the alleys and roads. Perhaps it's all the history surrounding every nook and cranny. Someday, I will return. But first, I need to bone up on my Russian. Like I said, the rust is starting to develop at a rather alarming rate. I can't imagine why, though; Langlois has such a vibrant community of Russian immigrants. Oh, wait . . .
We have a new addition to our ever-changing family: a tortoiseshell kitten named Ruby. She came to us rather fortuitously, actually. For a couple of days, I had noticed a small kitten running around the post office, clearly a feral kitten. I tried to catch it, but to no avail; she was much too fast. However, somebody later dropped off a kitten at the local feedstore. My mother, being known far and wide as the "animal woman," was naturally the first person they called. She fell in love with the kitten when she first saw it and brought it home, and it just so happened that it was the same kitten that I had been chasing around the post office. It took a few days to tame her down, but she came around. Now she's almost too friendly . . .
I had an exciting car experience last week. As I was driving home from Bandon, I heard something fall off and hit my car. I turned around to check, but I didn't notice anything. I even stopped to see if anything was missing but didn't notice anything. When I got home, I checked more closely and found that my fog light was missing! It had fallen out during a previous incident, and I replaced it as best I could (one fo the screws was missing). I went back and actually found the light, but it was cracked and quite unusable. Now poor Cora looks like she's had her ear bit off or something, as the fog light wraps around the front of the car. I did buy her a new one, though, so Cora will soon be as good as new! Ok, maybe not, but at least she won't get teased as much when she's on the road.
Anyhoo, that's all for now. I hope that you all have a pleasant Labor Day weekend. Is there a proper salutation for Labor Day? If not, there should be. "Workers of the world, go take a picnic!" or something like that. Anyway, until next time.
Oh, and here's one of the best Get Fuzzy comic strips in a while:
I haven't laughed that hard in a while.
Current Book: My life with corpses by Wylene Dunbar. An interesting book written by a Philosophy Ph.D. about just what the title implies: living with corpses. It's not the most well-wrought story, but it is interesting.
As I said, things have been busy on the library front. Nancy and I have either been conducting or preparing for programs all month. This week we had a great program where kids painted handmade puzzles of popular storybook monsters (Wild Things, etc.). Yesterday, an Oregon author named Monte Killingsworth gave a booktalk/folk concert that was surprisingly good. Controversy seems to surround his books despite the relaxed tone of most of his stories. I've mainly occupied my time teaching basic computer classes at the high school computer lab. Thanks to our area's demographics, the class is all senior citizens. I'm really glad to have the opportunity to teach these as I am garnering a wealth of information on pedagogical technique, particularly in teaching a group where skill levels differ drastically. The service is proving to be quite a valuable one, too; the libraries will be offering computer classes for quite a while yet, I suspect.
After being landbound by my surgery for a month, I finally got to go swimming, and oh how marvelous it was. A couple of miles from my house is a great hole on Floras Creek. Really, I think Floras is too large to to be a creek; it's more of a small river. I once asked my friend Joseph, a student in Fisheries & Wildlife, what constitute a river and a creek. He told me that it is in fact a quite scientific distinction: whoever finds it first calls it what they want. To think that we could have had the Mississippi Creek!
Anyway, it was so refreshing and wonderful to go swimming. A few old friends of mine were up there, too, which only added to its greatness. Because we receive so much rain here, the topography of the rivers changes drastically from year to year. This year was no different. One of the best parts of swimming in the Langlois area is investigating how new and different your favorite swimming spot is. Pools don't hold a candle to rivers, in my opinion. Really, if you don't come away with cuts and bruises on your legs from climbing rocks and diving to the river bottom, you haven't truly gone swimming. I got my obligatory scar this time, too: a large gash out of my shin from climbing a tall rock to jump. I also reopened a scar from a wound afflicted by a rogue cheese grater. Damn kitchen utensils!
I finally saw Fahrenheit 9/11, as the small theatre in Port Orford decided to show it. I was thoroughly disappointed. Watching it was not unlike reading one of those shitty political books by the likes of Michael Savage or Al Franken: partisan to the max. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's entertaining to see your thoughts espoused in such a thoroughly black-and-white way, but the film certainly didn't deserve the Palme d'Or from the Cannes. I thought the only particularly compelling part of the "documentary" discussed the connections between the Bush family and Saudia Arabia, very damaging yet strangely absent in mainstream media. The rest of it was merely a poorly-argued indictment of the Bush administration. As with the Heston interview in Bowling for Columbine, Moore included a scene which I found thoroughly despicable: footage of Bush reading with children immediately after being notified of the attacks while Moore discusses what he was thinking, as if he has any idea. Really, I found it depressing to see someone who has done such wonderful work in the past and someone with whom I agree frequently stoop to making a 2-hour political attack ad. All this being said, I am glad the film is out there - I'm all for getting people's voices being heard - I just wish he had presented his arguments in a bit more compelling fashion. And the film is worth seeing if only to see John Ashcroft sing.
I feel like I'm having a Russian renaissance, too. A patron recently came into the library who's teaching himself Russian, so he comes in periodically and we chat (and oh, how rusty I am!). I also watched a couple of Russian films: Burnt by the sun and Prisoner of the mountains, both excellent movies. Despite their decidedly depressing content, they made me long to return to St. Petersburg just to wander the streets. Despite the hustle and bustle of the city, I felt such an inner peace there as I explored the alleys and roads. Perhaps it's all the history surrounding every nook and cranny. Someday, I will return. But first, I need to bone up on my Russian. Like I said, the rust is starting to develop at a rather alarming rate. I can't imagine why, though; Langlois has such a vibrant community of Russian immigrants. Oh, wait . . .
We have a new addition to our ever-changing family: a tortoiseshell kitten named Ruby. She came to us rather fortuitously, actually. For a couple of days, I had noticed a small kitten running around the post office, clearly a feral kitten. I tried to catch it, but to no avail; she was much too fast. However, somebody later dropped off a kitten at the local feedstore. My mother, being known far and wide as the "animal woman," was naturally the first person they called. She fell in love with the kitten when she first saw it and brought it home, and it just so happened that it was the same kitten that I had been chasing around the post office. It took a few days to tame her down, but she came around. Now she's almost too friendly . . .
I had an exciting car experience last week. As I was driving home from Bandon, I heard something fall off and hit my car. I turned around to check, but I didn't notice anything. I even stopped to see if anything was missing but didn't notice anything. When I got home, I checked more closely and found that my fog light was missing! It had fallen out during a previous incident, and I replaced it as best I could (one fo the screws was missing). I went back and actually found the light, but it was cracked and quite unusable. Now poor Cora looks like she's had her ear bit off or something, as the fog light wraps around the front of the car. I did buy her a new one, though, so Cora will soon be as good as new! Ok, maybe not, but at least she won't get teased as much when she's on the road.
Anyhoo, that's all for now. I hope that you all have a pleasant Labor Day weekend. Is there a proper salutation for Labor Day? If not, there should be. "Workers of the world, go take a picnic!" or something like that. Anyway, until next time.
Oh, and here's one of the best Get Fuzzy comic strips in a while:
I haven't laughed that hard in a while.
Current Book: My life with corpses by Wylene Dunbar. An interesting book written by a Philosophy Ph.D. about just what the title implies: living with corpses. It's not the most well-wrought story, but it is interesting.