Downriver, Detroit, Michigan.
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Commentary on the State of the Union address.
Mom was real sick yesterday. Probably that flu-like problem my nephew had.
Yesterday was sunny, clear, and warm 28 degrees. After a couple weeks below 20, it was enough to inspire a short neighborhood walk. Besides, the house was feeling like a den of sickness.
S [11:42 AM]
Happiness.
I received a check today from a friend repaying what I had loaned him over the past few years. I'd long ago written it off, without much regret. So to see it returned in one fell swoop is a welcome surprise.
S [5:19 PM]
Watched the Superbowl at the church's party. The big screen was there but I looked up from my book mainly during the commercials. Fried chicken, mostaccoli, kielbasa & sauerkraut, buttery-smooth mashed potatoes, corn, and salad were the offerings at the buffet table.
I heard there were 65 people paid for dinner. The pre-teens played GameCube and Nintendo on mini-tvs set up for them. The middle teens were initially part of the game-playing but left to wander the hallways or swat a little rubber ball around. The latter they did over the wood dance floor. The ball would bounce into the kids playing video games or, less often, onto the tables of grandparents watching football. The boys would smirk and skulkily retrieve the ball. It rolled once under the risers where the head table normally is, but today where the main television is stationed. A couple of the boys shimmied under the riser in search of the ball: to no avail. I retrieved a MagLite from my car, wanting them to be able to entertain themselves and for me to be in their good graces, as they're my present or future catechism students. It wasn't the last time that evening they needed the light.
S [1:21 PM]
I was geeked to hear Pas/Cal play last night at Frankie's in Toledo. I was pretty certain I'd like them based on the mp3 they make available on their site and the song WDET played a couple weeks ago. Their sweet, literate ("Or we can sing strange romantic airs/ Like those that flow through Aeolian harps/ That caught Shelley's ear like...") 60s-ish pop fits my love of Belle and Sebastian. They're getting favorable reviews whenever attention turns to them. After the show I bought their EP, which I've had trouble locating locally.
The stage was decorated with pink carnations left over from a wedding in Taylor. Handfuls were thrown back and forth from the stage to the crowd. The lead singer was embarrassed by their presence, "Who f*kin' heard of carnations at a wedding?" There were at least 60 people there, with perhaps a third being friends of the band. Cover was just $5. I avoided the other two guest bands, they didn't seem promising or all that good a match with Pas/Cal.
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Arabic class has met for two sessions. It seems it will be less structured than I'd like. I also disagree with introducing the alphabet right off the bat. The one of for Arabic is a bit intimidating. I now believe in becoming familiar with a language's sounds before mapping them to their graphical representation.
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Last Saturday I went to a dance program at Eastern with Terri, Dayla (her daughter) and Dayla's boyfriend. It was only the second time I'd attended one. I must say I'm more tickled to see a theater production than dance, but it afforded a pleasant change of entertainment.
Beforehand I turned over to Dayla the balance of books on Japanese from my collection. Since returning from her year abroad (senior year of h.s. the Rotary Club sent her to Turkey) she's gotten infatuated with the language and culture, even to the point of flirting with Buddhism, a change from her religiously indifferent up-bringing. She began teaching herself the language and tested into the second semester when she got to college. She's a smart one, she is.
By the way, the program states, "This concert, which is part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration at Eastern Michigan University, is dedicated to Mr. Mohammed Khoradadian, and Iranian-born American dancer currently under house arrest in Iran for corrupting youth by teaching dance classes." Although I regret Mr. Khoradadian has been punished for merely teaching an art form, I'm amused how departments respond to a university administration's mandate to "celebrate" MLK day. It can be a real stretch for some.
S [3:32 PM]
Spent a couple afternoon hours at The Grind sipping a tasty but poorly made cappucino. I prepped the first "book" of St. Agustine's Confessions for catechism. Took quick strides over to the Wyandotte Public Library; a visit without purpose, though I dutifully returned a stray flyer found by the copier to the librarian. I believe it belonged in a local history file. In Bishop Park, gazed across the partly-iced river until I was solidly frozen. Headed home so as not to miss dinner time, but disappointed not to get haircut during the cheaper after 6 period. Should try again in the morning.
S [7:06 PM]
Some retrofilling:
SATURDAY - Went to the Carpatho-Russian Society's pot-luck at St. Nicks. Good crowd, most the tables were filled. The multi-talented Nagrant family had an hour and a half program of musical entertainment. There was rakia (apple and peach flavors) from the old country to try. Despite the stock Nikolaj and I brought, we drank moderately. Afterwards, Nikolaj, Andrew, and Andrew's friend Mike went downtown to the little cafe Mike is opening. He made us mochas and we explored the sub-basements of this venerable building. I didn't fall asleep until 3am due to the caffeine.
SUNDAY - After Divine Liturgy there was a Guild meeting with a surprising amount of discussion on what our next fundraising meal should be--toasted bagles, with butter and cream cheese available. Subsequently, I picked up my friend Mark, ate at a coney island, checked to see if the Border's nextdoor had an untorn copy of this (the dust jacket has text on the inside). We went to the overly-expensive Star Theater Southfield ($6.00 matinee ticket!) for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which I liked better than the first. Maybe due to the ents.
S [8:06 PM]
I filled my car's gas tank yesterday. I've driven 98 miles and the fuel indicator reads five eighths left. This is a decrease in efficiency of a third.
Also, it's been stalling out. It periodically leaks radiator and transmission fluid.
I need to move where a car is unnecessary.
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I signed up for an Arabic class through Dearborn Community Ed.
I picked up my second and final paycheck from the department store. It was larger than I expected because of holiday pay and more hours worked than I had mentally totaled.
S [5:13 PM]
Yesterday I spent nearly the whole day at the hospital with Grandma, who was there for a cardiac catheterization. Her doctor kinda jerked us (and the other patients) around by first postponing for a few hours, then saying it might be cancelled, then going ahead with it. The best thing was that she didn't have to spend the night, which she would have had to at the other hospital.
The nurses were very attentive and friendly. She was checked on every 10 minutes to make sure the insertion site didn't develop a problem.
S [5:42 PM]
So we got around 5" of snow. Everything was running smoothly by morning.
I saw the most beautiful film today. It was a 35mm print (*) but I wanted to see it on the big screen, having once caught it on cable. It's glorious.
I called a friend to wish her happy birthday. She was at her parents and the cell phone connection was too choppy to converse, so I was only able to offer birthday greetings. We should have time to get together before she returns to Germany for work.
* It had to be a 70mm print. There was a discrepancy in the theatre's flyer that threw me. Others write of a "new 70mm print" being made for this release. Besides, Ron Fricke _shot_ it in that format, why would a shrunken version be made?
S [8:41 PM]
The first flakes started around 2pm. It's almost 4 and we have an inch of powdery snow. We may end up with 7".
I got the main part of my errands done but the snow's effect on traffic deterred me from continuing on the Y's blood drive. I hope they still make their quota.
Niki and Matt took Piggy (our dog) to their house for a visit last night. They took one bowl of dog food, anticipating a return this evening. Now I'm not sure if they should make the trip, even though it's just a 12 minute drive.
S [4:03 PM]
In Notepad there's a function to autostamp the time & date into the text. It was a discovery made in boredom at my last job where I used to occasionally note happenings of the day.
That little textfile served me today as I was annotating some photographs taken two years ago. The photos were of our snow-bound workplace. The meteorologists had foretold such a heavy storm that the boss let us go after it had started falling. I was one of the few to make it in the following morning. The boss-man thanked us by ordering breakfast from Silverman's.
I figured this would have made it into the "kleine taegliche schreiben" and, in sooth, it did. I found a couple entries on a Zip disk.
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I'm not scheduled to work next week. I suppose they're through with me. I'll still have to check when they post the schedules next Wednesday as there's a chance they might want me on a sale day before the 15th.
I neither went out last night nor made it to church in the morning.
S [10:45 PM]
Downriver, Detroit, Michigan.
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Pas/Cal
Soviet
Found Magazine
Boing Boing
Alma Mater
Alma Mater (Secunda)