A Voyage Long and Strange, by Tony Horwitz
Founding Brothers, by Joseph J. Ellis
The Lincoln/Douglas Debates, Unabridged, by BBC Audiobooks America
(all audio-books)
The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
(paper edition)
(Note: this "meta-review" has been languishing in my drafts folder for a few years - some settling of facts and opinions might have occured during storage)
Serendipity led to this combination of titles - which have become part of one long intertwined narrative. I hadn't expected to embark on a history of slavery in America, but in truth you can't really avoid it if you're going to read any books of general American history from 1492 to 1960, and beyond, for that matter.
Most of these were audiobooks I found on the shelves the library by chance while I was looking for things to while away the hours on the trip to Dragon*Con 2009. I borrowed Horowitz because I loved his previous work Confederates in the Attic, Founding Brothers because of my interest in 1776 and all that, and the Lincoln/Douglas Debates because you always hear about them but I never had the chance to actually find out what they really said.
I listened to A Voyage Long and Strange first. Like his previous work, it was a combination history and personal travelogue. His goal was to explore the expeditions that took place from Columbus to the Pilgrims landfall. His personal journey was to explore not just the history, but also the myths that had arisen from these explorations. The time between Columbus and Plymouth covers a lot of the fits and starts of the exploration and colonization movement. It also covers the slow decent of race relations in America and the intersection of myth, race and history. The echoes from these events persist to the present day as people struggle with who is what and how does your race impact you and the world.
The example I remember most clearly was the "Pocahontas Exemption." In Virginia you were considered an Indian if you had one drop of Indian blood in you. The exception was if your Indian blood came from Pocahontas: not only were you still considered white, it was a distinction worth remembering by joining Pocahontas groups. On the other hand, there would be struggles among Indian tribes to protect their rights by discriminating against blacks. It seems once ethnic purity has real world benefits, it's hard to stop.
The book was good for shining a light on the areas of American history that gets short shift, such as the Spanish. With the exception of the major Conquisidors and stories of the Fountain of Youth, the Spaniards travels across this country are mostly forgotten, though perhaps not as much as the French.
After that I moved along the timeline to Founding Brothers. This book mostly concentrates on the rifts that will become the initial political parties of the early Republic. While a lot of it turns on matters of finance and the dissolution of the "Pax Wasingtonius," slavery was never far from the narrative. I believe most of the founders had at least a little misgiving about the intersection of freedom of slavery, but many of them were able to studiusly ignore it, especially when personal profit and regional power was concerned. However, slavery had become the fault in the foundation of the U.S. and it was going to come back to haunt them.
This brought me to the Lincoln/Douglas Debates. Good Lord, they were long! They were interesting on many levels: besides the famous debate over slavery, there was also the running converstions that carried from one debate to the next. Due to the nature of the debates and the transcripts that appeared in the paper afterwards, a lot of time was spent spinning what had gone on before. While it was refreshing to listen to candidates that didn't have to speak in soundbites, it didn't mean the level of the meeting was that much higher than nowadays. Several time there were exchanges like, "Mr Lincoln likes negros so much he wants to marry one!" "Do not!" "Do too!" (a paraphrase, but not much of one). Also, Abe wasn't the full throated defender of liberty we'd expect in much of the debate. Illinois was a Northern state that dipped its toe in the border, so southern areas of the state didn't share the same views of Chicago. Still, by the end Lincoln came out pretty strongly on the matter of slavery and why it was wrong.
I think you could probably listen to the last one and do pretty well for it. Considering each debate was 3 hours long, it might be for the best.
Finally, I read The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant while I was deployed in CA in 2010. Like most deployments, I had time on my hands (the mismatch between my work schedule and the rest of the world precluded much of a social life), so I tried to fill some holes in my reading and I figured my Civil War repertoire could use some first hand accounts. Grant was a good writing, especially considering he was facing the end of his life and trying to get this out as a financial legacy to his family is pretty amazing. Admittedly, it doesn't stray much from Grant as a general, but he tells the story as best he can, without a lot of gilding the lily. Definitely worth a read.
I'll close with a quote of Grant's. He lived long enough for the "Lost Cause" mythology to take root, watching as Lee and the South became storied - a story still deeply rooted in the subconscious of America. It enshrined a group that attempted to hold a people in chains by the mass slaughter of their own countrymen. He wrote:
"I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and who had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse."
When the military started to look at the big picture of IEDs, they began to describe the IED chain as a timeline (I know, I know, wibbly-wobbly, just go with this, OK?) which traced the IED from designer, to builder, to emplacer, to detonation, to aftermath. Most of our prior defensive activity was slanted to the right of the timeline - defeating the emplaced IED and coping with the results of the detonation. They decided to start working on defeating the IED long before it was in the ground ready to explode. The farther up the timeline they could stop the process, the better. This is called "moving left of boom."
Now, a similar argument can be made as far as abortions, at least those involving accidental pregnancies. The best unwanted pregnancy is one that never happens. This is why most people would prefer that actions would be moved farther up the timeline, "left of bang," as it were. When it comes to cost, difficulty and life disruption, moving leftward (emergency contraception, regular contraception, family planning), all undergirt with an effective foundation of sex education, would make things easier on everyone and reduce the abortion numbers. A win for everyone, right?
Well, no.
The Religious Right doesn't believe that this is a good idea at all. They believe, in theory, that any solution that is not "abstinence until marriage, faithfulness after marriage" is just as bad as abortion. Anything - education, family planning, birth control - that might encourage sex outside marriage is wrong. They not only want to stop abortions, but anything else that would encourage sex. If a woman has sex, she should be forced to bear it to term, regardless of the consequences.
You may have noticed a shift there. While sex that produces babies requires one of each gender, the attention mostly seems to center on women and their baby making parts. Often the primary weapon of these groups is "slut shaming" holding up the woman as not only the visible evidence of the sin, but also the major sinner. That is why I inserted the "in theory" in the paragraph above.
There are two possible major reasons for this. One is the simple fact that we can tell the mother of an unborn baby while its much more difficult to figure out the father. But I think the fact that most of the organizations involved in slut shaming are either male run or exclusively male organizations cannot be ignored. Often times these are organizations that hold that the male is the authority in a relationship. That shifts the definition of slut to "woman who has sex outside of submitting to their husband in marriage." As an American, Unitarian and father of daughters, I find this unsatisfactory.
There are two possible major reasons for this. One is the simple fact that we can tell the mother of an unborn baby while its much more difficult to figure out the father. But I think the fact that most of the organizations involved in slut shaming are either male run or exclusively male organizations cannot be ignored. Often times these are organizations that hold that the male is the authority in a relationship. That shifts the definition of slut to "woman who has sex outside of submitting to their husband in marriage." As an American, Unitarian and father of daughters, I find this unsatisfactory.
I find this "unsat" because this is less a question of morality than a question of control. A belief that not only can they enforce this among their worshipers, but thet they can make it the law of the land - their morality/worldview is a rule for all. There are other groups like this around the world. The one that comes to mind first is the Taliban, though there are Slafist echoes of them around the Muslim world. I have a disturbing feeling that, in a "blind taste test" with the Islam removed, many of these American groups would find themselves in fellowship with the Taliban.
Another problem is the "scorched earth" tactics - getting rid of Planned Parenthood and all the good it does in order to save us from the evil abortion/birth control, and the fighting against HPV vaccine because somehow protecting people from dying will just encourage them to have sex. We'd rather have the risk of death to deter them from sex, even though history and prehistory shows us that you might as well try to command the tide as stop people from having sex.
I also find it disturbing because it is a constant reach backward - an effort to return us to a time where we were all less equal. The past may have its moments, but I'm sure I never want to live there. Also, I guess it's a personal thing, but I don't want to be an adult standing in charge of another adult, not all the time, anyway. I'm glad that I had the honor of parenting children, but I have no plans to do that with a life partner.
When we were getting ready to come over here a couple of months ago, we had to process through medical. One of the things we picked up was doxycycline - which is the only doxy I've picked up this trip, truth to tell (archaic slang humor - your mark of quality blogging). Besides ending up with a ziplock bag of pills, I had to read and sign a notice telling me that doxy didn't cause dreams or other odd things.
Of course, for reasons either medical or psychological (saying "this won't cause odd dreams" may be self defeating) I've had some pretty vivid dreams here.
One that I think was a side effect of reading "Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium" and "Ciaphas Cain: Defender of the Imperium" back to back (Note: there are two more books - find them when I return). My dream was of a ship docking with a space station that I was on and having the sure and certain knowledge that something bad was on there and we were going to be dealing with it real soon now. I remember going on board with an "all ashore that's going ashore" message, but I was mainly there to gather any of the useful weird talents wandering about the ship, and had really little care for the "sheeple" that would soon be monster chow - a fairly Ciaphas opinion of the situation.
I had a few others, though much more prosaic - one of those revenge theft movies where you never know who's playing whom - most notable for my making out with a redhead I feel I should have known while thinking about another woman I also feel I should have known. Others, while pretty vibrant, didn't leave as many details or they've faded since then. I should probably make some notes upon awaking, but I don't think I've had one of those dreams in a while. I think the wear of the "Groundhog Day" existance might be damping down the dreams.
Application/Character Request - By and large, I didn't have any big problems with the questionaire they used, except for the fact that John Cleese was my favorite character in Tombstone. Not just for the "What's all this, then?" but for the fact I have a leaning for the characters that are trying to keep the peace the best they can, which summed up Sheriff Langston. As a "personal note for future character requests," I need to remember to put in that I prefer to have a partner or team, and/or be the person people come to, rather than be the proactive person out making new friends.
Pre-game Issues - Hoever, I did have major problems with the other pre-game materials. I am still pretty incensed with the Civil War part of their background story, which I felt bordered on "lost cause" idiology. When I got my character, I felt that a lack of media hints was a real problem. While they had a list of movies my character appeared in or was drawn from, I could have used better hints on what movies were important. I watched two of the movies (well, one and a quarter, anyway - one of the movies was so bad I wouldn't waste my time on it) and didn't see anything that applied to my character as written. Likewise, I think a short list of movies to watch in order to get a feel for the game would have been really useful.
Game Issues, Personal - I found that a lot of my plotlines were of the unfortunate "keep things secret" variety. While this might be a valid plot for a Western, esp. since there were so many secrets in the game, it is not an encouragement to interaction. Talking to people meant that you could give away a pile of secrets over a poker game or bottle of whisky. While secrets are the currency of the game, I was reluctant to put myself in a position to hand out other people's secrets that I was given in trust, as I didn't know how much that would screw with their game. Some of my other plots were pretty much DOA to me, such as the poker game (I don't like card games and dropping all that money for little or no return just didn't make any sense).
For me, I ran into the problem that there wasn't much that made me the "go to" guy for other players, which can be a problem. The exception to this was my sudden popularity on Saturday night due to my being one of the few known "Cowboy Gumshoes." This had the advantage of keeping me occupied as I tried to puzzle out a few of the various crimes that took place. Unfortunately, I ran into the "velvet flocked wall of silence" and was never able to bring and of the mysteries to a conclusion. Perhaps a detective character might have been able to do it. Oh, well - "Forget it pardner, it's Tombstone."
Game Issues, Meta - With a lot of time on my hands, I endevored to spend a little time doing some analysis of the game itself and especially the flow of activites. Prehaps the biggest problems seemed to be a general lack of enemies. Why this happened I'm not sure, but I suspect part of the problem was the lack of black hats to provide antagonists for the bulk of the game. I think it would be difficult to have enough opponents for a game if they have to be "bad guys." One thing I'm not sure about was how much "good vs good" fighting they expeced. The West was full of events where groups that don't fit the black hat mold still come to blows - sheep vs. cattle, that sort of thing. However, I think the mindset of gamers to avoid violence makes it very difficult for two sets of "good guys" to go to war with each other - as a chat with any "Torch of Freedom" GM would colaborate.
Likewise, it is very hard to simulate either the historical or classic films attitude towards race and gender. Probably that's a good thing as a civilization, but it does make trying to have a game based either on the historical west or the movies difficult.
Another problem is the GM's planned "Scheme of Maneuver" for the weekend. The arrows all seemed to point to a climactic confrontation on Sunday to wrap up the game. Problem was, the Cowboys power was broken Sat night, but the "Date with Destiny" (DwD) superpower (which meant you couldn't die until you met your nemisis in a showdown at end of game) delayed the final resolution for certain characters until Sunday. For those not so blessed, Sunday morning was about as exciting as you'd expect a Sunday morning to be.
This brings me to a personal hobbyhorse - the Set Pieces for DwD. Each of the Hero/Villain pairs gamed out their encounters out of sight, then playacted them out for the game. Now, scenes like this can be good theater or they can be bad pantomime, depending on the players involved, but can't be interactive. It might just be my Obama-loving, socialist little heart showing here, but I can do without the "privilege" of watching other players having "exclusive fun."
Note: Here is where I end most of my game review and return to personal blogging
Having sat through the end game (with more then the usual amound of "I did cool tings" speeches, but without the "Shameless Plugs" that used to be a tradition in the old days, so I guess that's a wash) it was now time for socializing. Problem was, having not had a boffo time at the game, I was unwilling to inflict the other players on me or vice versa ("I'm not getting you down at all, am I?"). Frankly, I was borderline fit company anyway. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have lunch with a small group who also didn't want to go to the main Dead Dog Party. Being with a bunch of people I liked talking about things other than the game, mostly, was the first step along the road to my recovery.
For the rest of my recovery, I have the traffic on I-270 and Lawrence Schick to thank. Since I saw the traffic back up almost from the exit from I-70 to 270, I bailed off to the shopping center right off the exit to ponder the map and my options. Fortunately, there's a My Organic Market in that shopping center so I could stop for some munchies. Then I decided I had no place to be anytime soon so I would get onto the back roads and see what Maryland between 270 and the Potomac looked like.
I also had a mixtape, courtesy, of M. Schick. It was a compilation of several old country songs and various parts of western movie sountracks. Strangely enough, the mucis went really well with rural Montgomery Co (there really is one!). There is a lot of farmland, some with cattle, interspersed with small towns. I suspect there are probably a few B&Bs out there that would be good places to gat away from the city with a less than a hour drive to get there.
So, what does it mean? I guess I'm not totally turned off by gaming, though it no longer rates as high as it used to (ah, those heady days when you could LARP one a month or more). I believe under the right circumstances I would go back to another game, though I would require a team or at least a part that would bring the game to me. I also accept that if I don't game it won't kill me. William Wildfarer once said you know you've been in the SCA too long when the only thing worse than going to an event is not going to an event. I'm no longer there as far as LARPs are concerned, though I do have a twinge of regret at the thought.
"...of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."
However, sometimes they fly the Splitflag, which is the Danish flag but with swallowtail ends. The thing is, with the swallowtail the cross becomes much more balanced. I wonder if the flag was designed with the swallowtail in mind and "filled in" later? Wikipedia doesn't say, but a reading of the page doesn't rule it out, either.
I like the Splitflag over their camp - gives the place a medieval look.
I'm trying to figure out the best way to pick up a couple of sets of Army multicam uniforms.
They're an authorized uniform and a lot lighter that the ones I brought with me. We should have had them, but between our logistics people and the people downrange the ball was dropped multiple times.
Now that we're here the only way to get them is from base DRMO, i.e. send a rep to pick through the discarded uniforms and see if anything's wearable, along with everyone else on this base. Kind like a Christmas Eve thrift store sale.
So my choices are:
- Wait to see what DRMO turns up. It's free at least, except for the hats, boot and patches I bought because they don't provide those.
- Go off the rack. Problem is, making stuff out of multicam is a licence to print money. Since I don't go outside the wire I don't really need the fire resistant stuff - it's not like what I'm wearing now is very fire resistant.
- Try my luck on e-Bay. I've done ok on it, but it's a time sink and I don't have a surfeit of Internet time that I want to spend a lot of it on this.
Well, whatever happens it'll wait until tomorrow. Goodnight!
So my choices are:
- Wait to see what DRMO turns up. It's free at least, except for the hats, boot and patches I bought because they don't provide those.
- Go off the rack. Problem is, making stuff out of multicam is a licence to print money. Since I don't go outside the wire I don't really need the fire resistant stuff - it's not like what I'm wearing now is very fire resistant.
- Try my luck on e-Bay. I've done ok on it, but it's a time sink and I don't have a surfeit of Internet time that I want to spend a lot of it on this.
Well, whatever happens it'll wait until tomorrow. Goodnight!
2011 was a "treading water" sort of year. While work has gotten a lot better, and I have 20 years with the Guard now (which means I can bail if I ever feel I need/want to) the domestic front was pretty static.
I've moved into a new job at work. I work a lot more policy than I did and on the whole it's been fun. My general malaise is still not getting me into the office all that early, but they seem pretty cool about that. It's nice to have a boss that I don't feel is ready to leave random cutlery in my internal organs, though I still get a little twichy at times. On the up side, I'm building systems and processes that hopefully will provide a foundation for what comes after it, which is nice to know.
A lot of my prior year with the Guard had to do mostly with getting ready for this trip. In many ways it feels like my last trip, which it might be. The unit has been on the short end of a lot of changes from Big AF, and this year is no exception. There's talk that they may give up the aircraft to become an Intel unit, which would be a win for me at least. I'm still looking for that last promotion before retirement, though it's hard to say if the opportunity will ever come. Whatever road, I do have enough years that I can drop my papers and walk away. I don't think I've reached that point, not yet anyway.
Didn't get as much done on the house or other domestic matters as I wanted, but the girls survived another year, so that's something.
On the good side, with a lot of help from my friends, my house is show-able while I'm on my trip. Now we just need to get a buyer. This living with your possessions in storage has gotten old a long time ago. I'd like the opportunity to look at all my stuff and really get rid of it, not just put it out of sight.
Otherwise, work continues. As usual during these trips, things become a lot easier. If I'm not in the office there's very little I have to do, though I still have some "should do's" - writing letters and hitting the gym. However, the number of hard deadlines is very small. I've started reading The Hobbit into a video recorder - the USO will send back mini DVDs to the girls. Hopefully I'll make the read-along worth their while.
However, I do need to spend more time thinking about home, if for no other reason than I'll be be getting back to it sooner than originally planned. If the shadows of what might be become the shadows of what must be, I will be getting home in the neighborhood of Independance Day. I must admit that I have mixed feelings about it: I did come out here to do a job and feels churlish to go home early, though it isn't my decision. OTOH, it's not like this is a great place to hang out and I have things to do when I get home. There's only so much "olive drab lotus eating" I can allow myself.
I moved into my permanant housing a few days ago - still getting settled in. It's nice enough, only 4 people to a room, though right now I only have one other person in my room. The good news is we're closer to the laundry drop off/pick up spot and the USO. The USO is nice: they have free wifi (though only in 30 minute chunks) and a place to record books to send home. I'm hoping to record The Hobbit and send it home for the girls in installments.
The downside is we're closer to the "poo pond," which is where all the camp's waste goes. I suspect when the heat goes up and the wind is right it will be truly awful. More importantly, we're too far away to make use of the AF's Morale Net, which is a real shame. I could get wifi in the room through the cable TV vendor, but even their low end service is 30 bucks a month, which seems a lot not to walk to the USO or Air Force Camp. Maybe if the house sells I'll treat myself to it.
Unfortunately, I don't know when/if the house will sell. Our first buyer fell through and while there was another potential buyer in the wings I haven't heard anything for a few days. The market in DC is as good as it's been in years, I just have to hope for the best.
Today appears to be Friday - though since I work 7 days a week it doesn't make whole bunches of difference. The big thing I worry about is time zones. I'm 8.5 hours ahead of the East Coast, which means there's a window to talk to the girls and otherwise interact with home when I get off of work at Midnight local. Most days here are "Groundhog Day," as there is very little to seperate them from each other.
Gettinng to bed at 0200 to 0300 means I usually miss breakfast, which is a shame as I really like breakfast. I'm thinking of getting up long enough for breakfas and the odd errand and taking a nap through lunch instead. Dinner is something I get on shift, so it helps to break up the work day. I seem to have the quiet shift. There's stuff to do but I don't find myself under much of a time crunch, unless someone else goes and bollocks things up. I picked this shift mainly because I knew the Captain would want the day shift and working until Midnight is usually less stress on my system them coming in at Midnight. The down side is if there is some entertainment showing up here I'll most likely miss it. Toby Keith was here last week, though I don't feel the less for missing him.
The time from when I wake until I head to work (around 1530) is some mixture of food, shopping, dropping off/picking up laundry, looking to see if there's anything new in the BX and surfing the web. Later I hope to add some exercises to my daily pattern.
Work is from 1600-2400. There's not too much to say about it except there are more hours than tasks, at least right now.
I'm still awake when we cross the line between today and tomorrow - since I'm 8 1/2 hours ahead of the East Coast, this is the best time to look to see what people are doing. Because of that, I tend to stay up until 0200 .
I'd say more, but I'm crashing hard right now so it'll have to leave it here - more when I can.
I'm on a sprawling airbase in the middle on nowhere, at least to me - I suspect the locals might not agree. The atmosphere is a lot like VBC during my vacation to Iraq. There is a general sense that if something isn't actively a hindrance, you leave it alone. It leads to a place that is pretty down at the heels.
I've only been away from home fr a week, though it feels like forever. The trip was the usual collection of petty annoyances: traveling steerage in a contract airliner, tents with too many people, food of varying quality. Now I'm starting work. The big concern right now is not being in long term housing. Our tent has only 15 or so people in it, but they work the whole gamut of shifts so it's not a place to do much beyond sleep. Having a little more privacy would be nice. I also need to ponder better stress relief, otherwise my postings and sFB comments might lose me friends.
Considering how long it has been since I last posted, I'll leave it here for right now. I'm working on a summation of the last few months, but it's taking too long.
Here are the details:
House - 4 Bedroom, 3 Bath
There is a lot of living space in this Bowie rambler with full finished basement. 3 bedroom and 2 full baths on main level. Eat-in kitchen andseparate dining room, with hardwood floors throughout upper level.
4 more rooms and a half bath in partially finished lower level. Walk-out basement. Huge storage area. Central air with digital thermostat. Naturalgas heat and hot water, Washer and dryer, newer vinyl windows on 10,000 square foot lot. House is sold as is, but seller will provide 1 year AHShome warranty with pre-existing condition clause.
Price isn't fixed, but I'm thinking the 239,000 range with a bit of flexibility if we can do this without R.E. Agents and their 6% fee.
Car - 2010 Honda Fit (4 door hatch) auto trans, air conditioning, cd - otherwise a basic car. All maintenance done, one small fender bender(repaired).
Cost is a little over 13k (the cost of the note).
EDT: from the originator:
"Can you edit that to say that the blankets are fleece instead of knit, but they are 50"x60" and bright orange!
The knit ones are a BITCH to find and WAAAAY expensive."
http://shaddicted.tumblr.com/post/101391
I liked the con, all in all. I'll do most of this in bullet statements under either pro or con lists, because it's late and I'm trying to get back into posting more often.
Pros:
- this is a friendly con, the crowd is really nice
- there was a lot of the type of dancing that I like: contra, vintage and even a class or two.
- they have a robust con suite - you can usually find some real food most of the time there
- very friendly to costumers. I got a lot of attention for costumes that often wouldn't get a first glance at D*C
- good faux Irish pub in hotel
Cons:
- Boston + January = cold!
- location. While I'm glad the con is downtown (it's ultra easy to get there from the airport and SWA was practically giving away tickets) it's remote from places to shop or, more importantly, eat. I miss the Park Plaza.
- food. Besides the hotel food (good but pricey) and the consuite, food choices are pretty slim in the area. Big props to the con for having a shuttle to take you to the local food/shopping area
- nice to have more of a posse to hang with, esp. the dances. Having a group gives you some flexibility in dance partners.
- My Memory. I danced with someone I recognize from somewhere, but have no idea where. I hate when that happens.
All in all, I hope to get back next year.
Thanks!
I'd prefer space at the con, though local to Cherry Hill might do in a pinch. Schedule is set in Jello right now, so I can always bail if it doesn't work.
Thanks!
Doctor Beverly Crusher: Is there any special arrangement you would like for the body?
Captain Korris: It is only an empty shell now. Please treat it as such.
For me, I want them to harvest useful stuff from it if possible and either use the rest for research or cremate/freeze dry (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4
Burial is right out. Though I can understand the need/want for a place to commune with a particular departed, I don't want that to be a field of death, even Arlington or another National Cemetery.
I'm thinking of endowing a tree or brick someplace I like and let that be the place to be with me if such a need arises. Not sure where that will be off the top of my head - the only place I know that my name is engraved is The American Air Museum in Britain (http://aam.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00
Saturday. Let me know if we should keep an eye out for you.
(I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, “Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours.” He said, “Not in a row.”)
Day 2: Nine Loves
- My Children (I know, easy out but it's not like I could leave them off the list)
- My Country. I like to think I possess the sort of love that sees the faults even as it loves but you'll need to take that with a grain of salt.
- The Military. Being in the military has been both a vocation and a calling. Like working as a government employee, it requires a measure of acceptance of bad things my country does. I still haven't figured out how my connection with the military will change as I get closer to the end of my career.
- Autumn. My favorite season of the cycle. Besides the turning of the leaves and the general relief that is the first spell of "sweater weather," there's Halloween, apple cider and women wearing sweaters, wool skirts and knee boots - always a winner in my book.
- Ice Cream. I tend towards the hard ice cream over soft serve, though I truly miss the egg custard from the old Horn and Hardart's back in Philadelphia. Well made flan can be an acceptable substitute, but the best flan I had was in Oman and I don't ever expect to be there again.
- Dancing. From my start in SCA dancing up through the vintage dancing and contra dancing which is my usual lot nowadays, dancing has been a big part of my life. It helps that I seem to be pretty good at it, though in a more perfect world I'd have more time for lessons.
- Tea. My parents were coffee drinkers who thought coffee was an adult beverage but tea was OK. I tend to drink tea the British way - mostly black teas with milk and sugar and occasionally some biscuits on the side. There's nothing like that first cuppa in the morning.
- Star Trek. I like a lot of SciFi shows, but ST is my first love. Like most liberals, I lean towards the triumph of the common man, as opposed to the worship of midichlorian-fueled wizards. I also believe in the continued ascendance of humanity, though I know there's a lot of evidence to the contrary. I suppose even Linus had his delusional faith.
- The Internet. Whether it's deployment-based loneliness, being snowbound for 5 days, or just the usual "hanging on in quiet desperation," the ability to reach out to friends over the wires has been a great comfort. Having access to the collected wisdom of people with peculiar hobbies has been really nice as well.
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/s
Every little bit helps!
lj - here's hoping.
In the interest of providing content, I'll talk about Sun night contra dancing.
I really like going - even when I'm not dancing, which happens a
little too often as I haven't gotten down the habit of asking for the
dance after next. The dance floor is filled with people having a good
time. There's very little negative energy in the place.
Also, it's a workout. This is especially true if your partner/corner
is of the 'once more, faster!' school of spinning. There's a lot of
UnderArmor in my future if this keeps up.
To make sure I keep going, I splurged on a Folklore Society of Greater
Washington membership. Not I just need to make that back by the
savings on dance admission.
More later (if this works)
In theory everything came over. In reality? Who knows?
Anyway, the username at dw is the same if you want to friend me over there.
whirl in the "(not quite) Friday Update" sort of way.
HEALTH
Things are good, though not perfect. I'm still coming down from the high of
having someone speak to me those magical words: "Your teeth look fine - see
you in six months." Still dealing with the shoulder problem, though. I
don't know what caused it, but it happened while I was in California and it
tends to limit some activities though not a day to day thing. I've just
finished 4 weeks of physical therapy and while my range of motion is much
improved, the pain is still severe if I put my arm in the wrong position.
I'll meet with the ortho to see what to do next.
EXERCISE
I have been pretty good in my exercise regimen, thanks in part to the new
Battlestar Galactica. I have been on the elliptical machine every M/W/F for
about 43 minutes (about the length of an episode on the TV placed in front
of the exercise machine). I'm also doing sit ups and push ups (using the
Perfect Pushup handgrips) on the same schedule. For the most part, the
problems with my shoulder don't interfere in my exercise routines.
I've also been trying to track and improve the amount of walking I've been
doing to add to my fitness, which has been going pretty well, though the
heat of the season is making walking outside of the mall or similar outdoor
locations difficult. For the past few years, I have been tracking my
walking using a website that compares your walking mileage to the distances
walked during The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. However, I have run out of
Middle Earth.
By the end of June I had walked as far as Samwise walked in Middle Earth
(Sam does a lot of extra walking, including a final trip to the Grey Havens
to take the last ship into the West). While I'll keep making entries as a
way to keep track, along with my monthly spreadsheets to try to figure out
trends and best months, I'm not sure if there's a replacement. I wonder if
the Chinese has a "Long March" app for their (knockoff) iPhones?
HOUSE
I'm listlessly scraping away at the pile of stuff in my house, but I need to
do a lot more to get it to showable state. Since houses are moving in the
DC area, I need to get it together and get it done. Since I've got some
short trips coming up, I'd like to have the house showable during those
times. I'm pondering having some work done, so if you know good sources for
the following I'd love your input. I'm looking for the following worker
types:
Handybeing - someone who can do touch up painting mostly, with a side order
of gutter cleaning/repair (does not have to be the same person)
Plumber - need to fix a couple of leaky valves
Concrete - I might need to redo the driveway and front walk for sale (not
looking forward to this...)
Local plant maven - I have someone to deal with the lawn, but a few of the
boxwoods(?) have died and I'd like to know why before I rustle up another
set of shrubbery
Maids - looking for cleaners willing to do a job on the place: sterilize the
kitchen and baths and generally make the place look sellable
Strong lads/lasses with a taste for destruction - there is a shed and a
playground set in the background that needs to be turned into the occupants
of the fabric dumpsters I'm getting. Willing to pay for tool rental if
needed
Appliance Store - the dishwasher is inop, and I suspect a new fridge would
be a wise investment
DRAGON*CON
Finishing up work on costumes right now - there may be other things I do for
D*C, but most of the heavy purchasing/modifying is done. The projected
list:
UNIT stuff - besides The Brigadier (the outfit I'll wear for the parade -
we're hoping to have more Brit SF there then 501-ies) I'll have a UNIT
trooper (a spare for putting more bodies in the parade) and hopefully a Sgt
Benton outfit. I'm building up quite the supply of Cold War UK kit.
Dr. Horrible shadowcast - I play a few bits and pieces during the show. The
Mayor is the only named person I do and really costume for not much call for
suit jacket and tie otherwise. There have been rumblings as to does the
shadowcastings get into unfair use of the work, Hopefully everything will
go off OK.
Other - Outfits in the bin include: a couple of steampunk things, my BSG
BDU's, my ST:DS9 outfit (in case they try for the record again), most of a
Dr. McNinja, and a couple of other things wandering around the back of my
brain. It seems like a lot, but D*C is a little costume intensive. My
tendency to wear outfits that are more like clothing wars with my urge to be
an attention whore. Since I'm a guy, my only chances of becoming a photo
magnet is to either come up with a killer costume or powerlift my way into a
"300" style body. Both are pretty low prob hits at this time.
WORK
My day job is being the usual difficulties any large bureaucratic
organization can be when they take extra dysfunctional pills in the
morning. Still waiting to hear about a lateral job move, which makes it
very difficult to plan for things. Add in the usual coworker weasels and it
can make the "get up and go" get up and leave.
GUARD
I'm on the hook for a few week long trips in the next few months. I'd
rather push these back into the fall, otherwise I'll have to either burn a
bunch of vac time or go leave w/o pay from my day job. Neither of those is
a thrilling prospect, but at least double dipping will help cover house prep
expenses and since I'm told Guard trip are practically vacations it only
makes sense.
I need to figure out where my future in the Guard lies. My unit seems to be
slowly sliding downhill, though that may be as much my disillusionment with
the unit as their decline. Also, my impulse to get that last promotion
before I retire almost guarantees I need to find another job or unit. In
the longer term, I need to ponder the concept of what my post-Guard life
looks like. I have my 20 and I'm finding I'm not as motivated as I once
was, though a lot of that might be for the reasons given in the first part
of this para.
Well, longer than an ExSumm but not a full coverage of the last few months
either. I'll try to make these things a little shorter and a little more
often.
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