i can't help it if i'm lucky

Flying snowman!

posted by momula @ 7:02 AM 0 comments

What I Do Every Day: Today

I had set my alarm clock for 9 AM, but woke up a few minutes before that. John had already risen and went downstairs.
I brushed my teeth, put on jeans and a shirt and a sweater. And socks and slippers. (Yesterday’s financial aid letter reminded me that the thermostat stays on 67, no higher.)
Drank coffee, ate a small tortilla with egg and bacon. (This breakfast did not materialize out of thin air, and I did not make it. John, as predictable and timely as sunrise, made this breakfast.)
Sat on the couch, flipped between “How It’s Made” on the Discovery channel, the Weather channel, and the Chris Matthews show on NBC, and read the Courant on line. (McEnroe’s and Curry’s columns, and various news articles) (Why didn’t I read the actual newspaper, lying on the floor next to John’s chair? I’m still playing with my new toy – not my laptop, that’s from work – no, it’s the wireless router I bought last week at Best Buy, the same model as Melanie has. It’s awesome, although watching TV and going on line at the same time takes some getting used to.)
Woke Stella up. Not as simple as it sounds. Folded and hung up a bunch of her clothes while talking to her, to wake her up.

“How It’s Made” just showed how wine glasses are made, and I was riveted. In the last few years I have decided that I would like to learn how to blow glass, so this 5-minute overview of the process was interesting to me. It looks like a somewhat physically taxing activity, which I’m ready for, like you have to be able to coordinate twirling the long metal stick with the glob of glass on the end, while blowing into the end of it, and holding your hand steady with a shaping tool of some kind against the molten glass: part muscle control and part creativity. After the glass was made, including the stem and base, and it was fired in a kiln overnight, it went to a craftsman who etched designs into the side of the cup, and the base. The design was called “Titanic” because it was based on a design in the lights on the famous, doomed ship.

Once again, for the record, and for no apparent reason, my crackpot rant of the day: I AM AGAINST (MORALLY REPULSED BY) PEOPLE GAINING FINANCIALLY FROM THE TRAGEDY OF THE SINKING OF THE SHIP TITANIC. I understand wanting to name the design of the wineglass “Titanic” because it was in fact based on the lights on the ship, but I would advise the wineglass company that naming a glass after a TRAGEDY IN WHICH ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN PEOPLE DIED is not a good marketing strategy.

I aim this mainly at James Cameron and the cast and crew of the 1997 movie, not the glassblowers. Don't get me going.

posted by momula @ 3:27 PM 0 comments

More things to think about:

Once again, Colin has deftly uncovered another little nugget of truth.
To do: read more about Dionysian and Apollonian.

posted by momula @ 5:22 AM 0 comments

Regarding Henry

There are many favorite stories in the naked city . . . . that is our past, our history.

I ate a lean pork chop with potatoes and a large salad for dinner on Monday night. I have been very good on my diet in the last week or so, and I'm sure it will pay off come Thursday. Then I watched "24", which has been criticized quite a bit this season, for various shifts and tangents that it is taking, but to my mind, who am I to criticize? If I was a writer on the show, and had suggested a different story line, and they went with something else, then I could criticize, but as a passive audience, it is my "job" to watch the show and follow the story, and be either entertained or not by it. I am entertained - Jack Bauer's brother (a very evil weasel) and father (equally evil, not quite so weaselly - he's a very tall man who I think played a senator or something in West Wing for a few shows - maybe a Repub?) are in the last few episodes, and last night the dad killed Jack's brother, even though they're both on the same (evil) side. . . . wickedness!

I dozed off, unable to remember what I usually watch on TV at 10 PM on Mondays, then woke up & helped S finish off her history project - a scrapbook recalling the Industrial Revolution, and (take your pick of ) 2 revolutions from Europe and 2 from Latin America. S chose France, Poland (a feeble attempt to learn something about her heritage, she said), Venezuela, and Haiti. I thought it was quite a mishmash of an assignment, but she did all of the research (mostly yesterday) and I just swooped in at the last minute to help (speed up) formatting the Word document, and making a fabric cover for it (unbleached muslin, soaked in coffee, glued to a manila folder). Near the end of the process, S asked me to sign Henry Ford's name on the reproduction of a posted notice at the Ford Motor Company plant back then, regarding children working and safety, etc. I googled Ford's signature, and there it was, and I suggested that we put it in the document and print it out, but she said no, just sign it! So there I was, at 1:30 a.m., forging Henry Ford's signature to a "safety first" document from the turn of the (previous) century. It occurred to me that I have never done that before, I will probably never do that again, and there are many people who will live their entire lives without forging Henry Ford's signature. . . . I love my life!

posted by momula @ 5:30 PM 0 comments

Start again

It finally really snowed. Not that much, though. I took this picture from my bedroom window. I had to actually open the window and take it, because the glass distorted the picture. I took about 45 pictures from my bedroom and the bathroom window, then spent about an hour playing with the color and brightness, etc. I can't decide if they look better in more saturated color, or in black and white.

posted by momula @ 11:20 AM 0 comments