Deck the Halls!

Happy Ceramic Tree Christmas to you!

By my count this will be my third Christmas with Mandu, cream and brown spots, and Chingu, the tuxedo terror.  I'll be spending Christmas Eve with my sister and her family.  No airports, just a short drive!

I hope you have a great Christmas as well, wherever you may find yourself!

Delight and Instruct

Substitute teaching is going pretty well.  Half of the game is signing up for gigs at schools that are run well or, of course, avoiding the bad ones.  It gets easier over time, and I've dipped my toes into things like P.E. and Special Education and enjoyed them greatly.

This last week before Christmas break a young elementary student threatened to kill me though.  Per training, I called the Behavior department four times and they didn't even answer.

Again, avoiding the poorly run schools is part of the game.

RIP Rickey Henderson

He was always fun to watch.

"that can never be arranged"

"Of course, he's right, your dear old dad:

The world is poor and men are bad.

An earthly paradise might be arranged

If this old world of ours could but be changed

But that can never be arranged.

Your brother might be fond of you

But if the meat supply won't do

He'd cut you down right where you stood.

(We'd all by loyal if we could.)

Your good wife might be fond of you

But if your love for her won't do

She'd cut you down right where you stood.

(We'd all be grateful if we could.)

Your children might be fond of you

But if your pension would not do

They'd cut you down right where you stood.

(We'd all be human if we could.)"

-- Bertold Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

"the wine-dark ivy, / dense and dark"

 "Here, stranger,

here in the land where horses are a glory

you have reached the noblest home on earth

Colonus glistening, brilliant in the sun --

where the nightingale sings on,

her dying music rising clear,

hovering always, never leaving,

down the shadows deepening green

she haunts the glades, the wine-dark ivy,

dense and dark, the untrodden, sacred wood of god

rich with laurel and olives never touched by the sun

untouched by storms that blast from every quarter --

where the Reveler Dionysus strides the earth forever

where the wild nymphs are dancing round him

nymphs who nursed his life."

-- Oedipus at Colonus, trans. Robert Fagles

"likely never read well without explicit instruction in sounding out words⁠"

I've been teaching for nearly 20 years now, albeit in some unconventional places and spaces, primarily 12 years teaching ESL in South Korea.  These days I'm a substitute teacher at all grade levels and many subjects (including P.E.!).  Anyhow, the debate over phonics or not-to-phonics kind of escaped me while I was living in South Korea, and this article (while seeming a bit biased) was fascinating to me:

"In first grade, these 'independent reading' hours were torture for my kids, who, I would eventually learn, were among the roughly half of all children who, research shows, will likely never read well without explicit instruction in sounding out words⁠. My kids’ reactions to being expected to sit quietly each day pretending to read ran along stereotypical gender lines. My daughter silently berated herself for not being able to read; my son acted out, once attempting to push over a bookshelf."

The whole thing is downright amazing.  All I have to add is that graduate school education programs struggle to justify their own existence every ten years or so by developing entirely new paradigms and approaches, even when existing ones seem to work pretty well.  That's true for other departments as well, but only Ed Schools use children as guinea pigs.

Anyhow, I teach a fair amount of reading intervention classes and phonics and blending are definitely back.  I guess I didn't realize they'd ever gone away.

Really?

So the right-wing president of South Korea thought he could declare martial law and rally some support to a sinking presidency?

I emailed my former boss, a political moderate, and he told me Yoon "lost his mind."

South Korea?

What the hell is going on in South Korea?

Mr. Blue Sky

I'm not nuking my Twitter, but it's no longer active.

You can follow me at wet-casements.bsky.social , however.

Bread and Pets

I had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with my sister and brother-in-law.  I made bread from scratch, which is something I used to do quite often but stopped for a while.  It doesn't take much time or effort, just a bit of commitment and clean-up.

I also did my Christmas shopping, online of course.  I bought myself a new computer since I'm still running Windows 10 and that'll be unsupported next October.  With the Trump Tariffs coming it seemed like a good idea.

And that's one of my sister's puppers, Rollo.

It's cold in Maryland!

All The Nomz

Happy Thanksgiving and belated Chuseok!

Tomorrow I'll be visiting my sister and making the garlic mashed potatoes and fresh bread.

"far above our poor power to add or detract"

 

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

My sister, my nephew, and I drove up to Gettysburg last weekend for an annual event where they read the names of the Union soldiers who died in battle.  In addition to being super pretty, the event provided a bit of perspective on recent events.  Are we facing literal Civil War?  Probably not!  Are we facing four more years of rule by a criminal rapist clown who couldn't define sacrifice even with a dictionary?  Very much yes!

In any event, it's worth checking out if you're ever in the area.  Hearing a mix of proper names mixed with "Unknown, unknown" is a real gut punch.

And Lincoln was right -- we owe the dead who fought to save this country from slavery so much more.

The Scream (Cat Version)

Frederick, Maryland

"as though it were forbidden"

"The rice fields here stretch almost to the edge of the jungle.  A couple of water buffalo are wallowing in a pond, submerged up to their backs in the muddy water.  Every so often one waggles its ears.  On a field track is another, solitary, buffalo harnessed to a two-wheeled cart, his head so low he looks to be asleep on his feet.  A small group of rice farmers, dressed in wide-brimmed straw hats, shirts, and loincloths, is bending over and toiling away, calf deep in water.  Each time one moves his feet there's a smacking sound, otherwise complete silence; they do their work in silence, planting the new rice shoots in the mud under the water.  Other than a sense of the day coming to an end, there is no indication of the time. It's as though it were forbidden -- there's not even a real sense of present because each performed action is already in the past, and each ensuing one is future.  All here are outside history, which in its taciturnity will not allow present.  The rice is planted, harvested, planted again.  Kingdoms fall into decay.  Stillness.  In the silence of eternities, shots ring out.  The peasants flee."

-- Werner Herzog, The Twilight World

Everyone's An Authority

 

Husker Du, "In A Free Land"

Prescient!

I don't blame Kamala.  She ran a good race.  I do blame decades of FOX News basically telling people to be afraid, to be scared of their neighbors, to want daddy back to solve all our problems.

A Goodbye In Full

It's been a year and a few days since my dad died.  He was 94 and lived an incredible life involving travelling around the world (literally!) as a scientist.  In the end, my older sister and I did our best to keep him comfortable, along with some amazing nurses and the Frederick County Hospice.  He died in his new home here in Frederick, Maryland, with his family and friends all getting a chance to say goodbye.

Taking care of him was hard at the end.  Dementia had taken over, and it was hard not to be upset with him when he cursed at a nurse, or even at me or my sister.  The anger came from his own knowledge that he had lost and was losing control of the simplest things, and I don't blame him.  I guess I find myself a year later dealing with my own anger at -- what exactly?  Human biology?  Aging?  These are hard, immutable facts that we all have to deal with in our own way.

I'm substitute teaching now, but still looking for something full time.  I think he'd be pleased though.  He grew up dirt poor, and education was his pathway to having an amazing and fulfilling life.  I think he'd appreciate all my stories about the good days and the bad days.  I'm also missing simple things like watching college football with him, or having a meal or some coffee.

We're all deeply complicated as people.  And I think we generally do our best, and try to learn from those moments when we're not at out best.  I wish I'd given him more hugs, or been a little more patient with him.  At times it was so hard to know exactly what he wanted, and I hope just being there was usually -- certainly not always -- enough.

We miss you a lot Dad.  I know you can still hear me, sometimes, when I talk to you.  And if you're napping or busy in the garden, that's also fine.  It can wait.

Vote!

Last Saturday I worked as a poll judge for Maryland early voting.  I'll do it again this Wednesday and Thursday (Halloween!).

It's interesting, but also exhausting.  We go from roughly six in the morning until nine at night.  No phones.  We cannot leave the building 

On Election Day, November 5th, I'll also be working.

I'll admit, it's a nice pay day.  I'm still substitute teaching as well but I'd be crazy not to work as many days of early voting as possible.

For what it's worth, Saturday was extremely busy.

"that is the last they see of one another"

Where Babies Come From

Many are from the Maldives,

southwest of India, and must begin

collecting shells almost immediately.

The larger one may prefer coconuts.

Survivors move from island to island

hopping over one another and never

looking back. After the typhoons

have had their pick, and the birds of prey

have finished with theirs, the remaining few

must build boats, and in this, of course,

they can have no experience, they build

their boat of palm leaves and vines.

Once the work is completed, they lie down,

thoroughly exhausted and confused,

and a huge wave washes them out to sea.

And that is the last they see of one another.

In their dreams Mama and Papa

are standing on the shore

for what seems like an eternity,

and it is almost always the wrong shore.

-- James Tate

North Korea Enters Ukraine

North Korean troops are apparently about to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine.

I don't see how this changes much.  Do they get thrown into the meat grinder, or kept back as reserves?  Do they speak any Russian re: integrating into the larger forces?

If anything, it strikes me as desperate, or a stunt at best.  And Kim Jong-un will expect to be paid handsomely.

Mellow Fruitfulness

I think Fall is finally here.  I even wore a jacket today.

Then again, this being Maryland, it could be 90 next week.

Lazy Sunday

 

Frederick, Maryland.

Eyes on the Prize

Han Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

I've only read The Vegetarian, but I enjoyed it.  Be advised that it's incredibly dark.

"a color in its own right"

"The colors of the autumn in the garden were now brown and black.  I had learned to see the brown of dead leaves and stalks as a color in its own right; I had collected grasses and reeds and taken pleasure in the slow change of their color from green to biscuit brown.  I had even taken pleasure in the browned tints of flowers that had dried in vases without losing their petals; I had been unwilling to throw away such flowers.  On autumn or winter mornings I had gone out to see brown leaves and stalks outlined with white frost.  Now the hand of man had been withdrawn from the garden; everything had grown unchecked during the summer; and I felt only the cold and saw the tall grass and the wet and saw black and brown.  On these short walks in the ruined manor garden, going a little farther each time, past the aspens, then past the great evergreen tree, then approaching the big white-framed greenhouse, after all this time as solid and whole-looking as it had ever been, on these walks brown became again for me what it had been in Trinidad: not a true color, the color of dead vegetation, not a thing one found beauty in, trash."

-- V.S. Naipaul, The Enigma of Arrival

The Agony and The Agony

For two straight years the Orioles have made the playoffs and then totally disappeared, offensively.  (They are a hitting team, not pitching wonders.)

And I'm really not feeling football this year, maybe because I miss watching it with my Dad.

So, thank you for reading this pity-party of a post.  I'll root for the Dodgers and Shohei I guess.

Beef'n Buns'n Paradise!

 

I drove past this place many a time (east side of Frederick) and finally stopped in.  It's a weird location, and you don't really appreciate the beach shack vibe until you pull into the parking lot (only outdoor seating).  I got, of course, the club sandwich and it was pretty good.

Well, there's a glaring problem here.  A club with no chips or fries simply doesn't provide a sufficient level of starch goodness.  It's my fault really, because I could have ordered fries for just a few more bucks.

O.K., still a little sad but improvisation nevertheless.  What I really liked about this sandwich were the tomatoes -- juicy and fat and definitely in season.  Everything else was nicely put together.

Everybody else waiting in the takeouts line got milkshakes, so I need to go back and try one of those.  But I'm looking forward to it!  And yes, that's the real name.

"Geezus Chrise"

"He started a fire with some chunks of pine he got with the ax from a stump.   Over the fire he stuck a wire grill, pushing the four legs down into the ground with his boot. Nick put the frying pan on the grill over the flames. He was hungrier. The beans and spaghetti warmed. Nick stirred them and mixed them together. They began to bubble, making little bubbles that rose with difficulty to the surface. There was a good smell. Nick got out a bottle of tomato catchup and cut four slices of bread. The little bubbles were coming faster now. Nick sat down beside the fire and lifted the frying pan off. He poured about half the contents out into the tin plate. It spread slowly on the plate. Nick knew it was too hot. He poured on some tomato catchup. He knew the beans and spaghetti were still too hot. He looked at the fire, then at the tent, he was not going to spoil it all by burning his tongue. For years he had never enjoyed fried bananas because he had never been able to wait for them to cool. His tongue was very sensitive. He was very hungry. Across the river in the swamp, in the almost dark, he saw a mist rising. He looked at the tent once more.  All right. He took a full spoonful from the plate.

'Chrise,' Nick said, 'Geezus Chrise,' he said happily."

-- Ernest Hemingway, "Big Two-Hearted River"

Good Stuff

 

Chingu is stoked for some European free jazz that just arrived.  RIP, Peter Brotzmann.

Vietnamese

 

Chicken curry noodles at Pho An Loi in Frederick, Maryland. Spice level was perfect for me!

Frederick!

One thing I really like about substitute teaching so far is how it gets me travelling all around the county.  This week I'm off to some pretty remote places, as the majority of my teaching has been close to or inside Frederick city proper.  (I live on the west side of town.)

I need to take more pictures.

Ah, 50

Put my MP3 player in the washer tonight and bricked it.

My short-term memory is crumbling to dust.

At least I didn't lose a cat during the dryer phase, but I did have to double-check.

Super Toys

 

Frederick, Maryland.

Wonderbooks is always a good time.

The Kids Are Alright

 

Frederick, Maryland.

Sub!

Substitute teaching is going really well, much better than I expected.  Basically, you're teaching but not having to prep or assess, i.e., grade, which are the two biggest time-sucks in education.

Am I a great big target for student harassment?  Yes!  But as long as the teacher has left behind a reasonably coherent lesson plan I feel confident and have thick enough skin to make it through.

I've worked with a severely autistic kid for entire days.  One day I was basically a glorified study hall monitor.  At the end of last week I taught biology.  In one week I got two different offers to go "long term" with the schools -- this would mean a slight pay-bump, and honestly I think it's a trap.  If you really like the position, that's great.  But that's not nearly enough pay to get back into lesson planning and grading.

The variety is great.  Not forming relationships with students is a downside but honestly not something I'm too worried about.  Right now, it's a paycheck among other things and not a bad one.  I finish the day somewhere between two and four p.m. and take nothing home.

Teacher James

First day of teaching went well!  Granted, it was a pretty low-intensity job for the day but I'll take it.

The Trouble With Ernest

I've mentioned that me and my nephew did some summer reading together, including The Nick Adams Stories by Hemingway.  I figured short stories would be nice as opposed to something longer and heavier.  Additionally, I have fond memories of reading it on a suggestion many years ago in college.

Anyhow, I guess it's my own fault for forgetting just how many times Hemingway uses -- relies on! -- the n-word.

I won't bother to quote, but there's a story called "The Battler" about an aged and senile former boxer.  It's a good distillation of EH at his best and worst -- sublime pacing, subtle character details, etc.  The problem is how he describes the boxer's black caretaker.  If it was as simple as "he was an n-word" it wouldn't stand out too much for a story first published in the 1920s.  But it's an obsession with him, describing black bodies with the ugliest of words -- "his n-word legs," "his n-word hair," "that n-word smell."

Do I regret choosing this book?  A little!  I think a better approach would have been just to focus on a few of the stories -- "The Killers," "Indian Camp" at the very least -- rather than have to hash out the language debate every half page.

Literature, man.

Welcome to 50, James!

Last night at home I was watching a movie and noticed something wet on my upper lip.  Since I am a Disgusting Person, I just licked at it thinking it was some kind of nasal drip.  Turns out, it was blood!

Basically, by the time I got up to grab some wet wipes my right nostril was gushing the red stuff.  I ruined a good hoodie (unless I want to walk around looking like an ax murderer, but you never know).

I got it under control but while sleeping last night I coughed up a ball of something hideous, part blood and phlegm and cranial fluid I think.

Anyhow, I'm 50 now.  Guessing it isn't cancer, but quite possibly leprosy.

In my defense, Maryland has gone from 95 degree, humid days, to more respectable 80 degrees and relatively dry.  I think that's why my mucous membranes are withering.

Good times!

Deadpool & Wolverine: What I Thunk

I find myself at a point in life where both my nerd tolerance and my meta-referential tolerance are both quite high.  But short of a Ph.D. in Fox versus Disney shenanigans this might not be the movie for you.  The performances are fine, the villain is iffy, but there are some laugh out loud moments amidst the carnage.

Probably a good place to stop both franchises.  Earned.  Done.  Go home Ryan Reynolds, you're drunk.

Delight and Instruct

This Wednesday I've got orientation for being a substitute teacher for the county.  Honestly, I was trying to get away from teaching but job-wise it pays well, it opens paths towards full-time teaching, and I applied for every damn job I was qualified for since my Dad died last November.  As mentioned, I was tutoring for a really terrible company for a while but it did pay a few bills.

There is a really wide range of schools around here.  I've heard actual subs tell me everything from you're basically a warden to much more positive experiences actually teaching and building relationships with students.

We'll see!  But it's nice to finally have something full-time lined up.

50

Fishmans, "Go Go Around This World!" live

I turned 50 today.  To very roughly paraphrase David Lee Roth, "I don't feel tardy."

It's been a hell of a year so far, since the passing of my Dad last November at 94.  I've been working part-time but actually had to recently give that up since I realized I was working for a truly horrible company.  My next job starts in late August, so I've got a few weeks to relax and enjoy the torrid summer.

I've gotten back into Maryland.  There are some things I love about the place, and maybe just a few I don't.  But I see a lot of my family, and that's great.  I'm walking 45 minutes almost every day, which in this weather is not always easy.  My shelter cats are healthy, and one remains a bit of a terror.  I'm obsessed with a Japanese 90's indie-rock band called Fishmans.  As far as I can tell, they did indeed do all their promotional photography either fishing or wearing ridiculous fisherman smocks.  The Orioles may or may not fall apart before the season is over.  Me and my nephew are reading Hemingway's The Nick Adams Stories together, and I'm probably convincing him I'm a death-obsessed weirdo.

Possible!

But in general, I've got a lot and I can only try to appreciate it all as much as possible.

Varsity Tutors Is A Horrible Company And You Should Not Work For Them

I've lined up full time employment for the first time since my Dad passed away last November.  Good for me!  It was tougher than I thought it would be, but Frederick, Maryland is a very competitive place in no small part because there aren't many big employers here beyond the county and city itself.  (My understanding is that the largest employer in Frederick County is -- wait for it -- Frederick County.)

At one point I took a part time tutor job with Varsity Tutors.  It was decent, but also very scammy.  I remember asking if I should contact the parents of one student who wasn't showing up for Zoom sessions and was basically laughed at.

Long story short, I applied for a position which required a Sexual Abuse background check for any jobs in my past ten years involving minors.  A good policy and not a problem!

Well, Varsity simply refused to sign off on this form.  I understand that I was a contractor, but they still wouldn't lift a finger to help me out.  Not to mention, if you have a situation like this there is no HR department.  They will simply give you a dummy email address, and they won't respond to your issue(s) unless you are very, very lucky and/or raise enough of a stink.

I understand people want to boost their kids' chances, but you're better off finding a local company that will provide you with at the very least a phone number and email to talk to a real person.

But it's over, and soon enough I'll update you folks on my new job.

Do You Remember The Summer of 24?

I'll come clean -- I thought Joe should just stick it out.  But it's clear the decline is real, and as I know from first-hand experience with taking care of my dad, old age creeps up on you then attacks like a tiger.

The good news is that the Dems are lining up behind Kamala, and there won't be a messy convention spectacle (to the great disappointment of the New York Times and Washington Post.)

The election was always going to be close.  And frankly, Harris is now the underdog, albeit a much younger and energetic and coherent one.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden should and will go down as one of our greatest presidents.

Let's do this!

LOL Nothing Matters

Of course a Trump appointed judge follows the Supreme Court's Trump appointed judges paving the way for a literally lawless presidency.

Maryland Horse Trials 2024

My nephew (above) participated in the Maryland Horse Trials this past weekend.  It was blazing hot, but a lot of fun.  And he did a great job!

Patrick the horse, who happens to be a very good boy.

Summertime

I'm doing some summer reading with my nephew.  First up is Candide, which I haven't read for ages.  It's easy to forget just how hilarious it is (Byronesque) but turns on a heel to analyzing the moral bankruptcy of Enlightenment Europe.

Lots of Moral Bankruptcy going around.

Anyhow, long walks and literature and still looking for full-time employment, although the tutoring is going well.

Yawn

I didn't watch the debate.  I'm genuinely terrified of another Trump administration, but I also can't spend my mental health on this stuff any longer.

To paraphrase, people get the government they want in a Democracy, and they get it good and hard.

I can say with authority none of this spectacle stuff matters on election day.  Register, vote.

Was I The Karen?

This afternoon there was a knock on my door, and a young man in a polo shirt and wearing a lanyard told me he was from my electric company and wanted to put insulation on my water heater.

This was weird on many levels.

My electric company never contacted me.  A water heater seems more like a gas company thing.  It's 2024 -- my phone number and email are pretty easy to find, why not contact me ahead of time?

Anyhow, I called my electric company and was told there would be a 45 minute wait.

I went back to my front door and asked him about his car -- a white Jeep, civilian -- not a work car by any means.  Then his partner arrived, and he showed me a canvas bag that seemed to be filled with light bulbs, and that I'd already paid various surcharges for what was supposed to be an eco-upgrade to my fixtures, or something like that.

Quite honestly I snapped at that moment, told them both to fuck off, and told them I was calling the police.  Before I did that though I told them I was going to take a picture of their car and license plates.  Nothing ensued, but I got a snarky comment along the lines of "I guess you don't read your electric bill."

No, sir, I don't.  Have never read an Apple customer agreement license either.  I live dangerously.

Anyhow the guys drove off and I filed a police report through the non-emergency line (Frederick, Maryland).  To their tepid credit, my electric company also called back and I filed another report with (I think) customer service.  The guy I spoke with said he had no knowledge of any sub-contracted, non appointment work going on in the area.

So I feel like garbage if I overreacted, but how the hell do you expect to enter a house these days without some sort of an appointment being made through the company involved?

The more I dwell on it, the more I think they were trying to pull off a "green" sales pitch but instead of just asking for me to buy shit, they wanted an "in" by getting into my house and pointing out how old and decrepit my light fixtures are.  (They aren't.)

Who knows.  I hate to yell.  I certainly hate to be an a-hole.   But these guys set off a lot of alarms.

Weird.  Be careful!

The Apaches Are Coming!

"We talked to the screen too.  When feather headdresses loomed over a horizon in the Munich cinema, we would warn the settlers in their covered wagons: 'Watch out, the Apaches are coming!'  Then in one of the Dr. Fu Manchu films, I noticed something the others hadn't seen.  In an exchange between goodies and baddies, one egregious villain on Dr. Fu Manchu's side was picked off on a rock.  He tumbled down into the depths, turning over and over.  Twenty minutes later, something peculiar happened: in another fight, we saw all kinds -- good and bad -- meet their ends.  A few had taken refuge in a gulch between rocks, and I saw the same villain plummeting to his doom.  It was maybe done a little quicker and took only a couple of seconds this time, but the man took off into the air in exactly the same way, with one foot out.  No one else saw it, but I was convinced it was the same shot.  For me, that was the moment I understood there were shots and cuts in a film.  From that time on, I watched differently.  How was a story told, how was suspense created, how was a film constructed?  To this day, I can learn only from bad films.  The good ones I watch in the same spirit in which I watched when I was a kid.  The great ones, even when I see them many times, are just an enigma."

--Werner Herzog, Every Man For Himself And God Against All

Summer In Baltimore

Of course the Orioles having an amazing season coincides with the Yankees having an even better one.

Furiosa: What I Thunk

Furiosa (let's be honest, FURIOSA) is great.  Performances are excellent with the exception of Liam Hemsworth who isn't terrible, but who never can decide if he's Chaotic Evil or Chaotic Good.  And the script is very polished, with actual character development and everything that kind of lacked in FURY ROAD.  At 79, George Miller can make whatever the hell movies he wants from now on (BABE 3?).

But I can't shake the feeling -- FURY ROAD is a better move, even though FURIOSA is terrific as well.

You Shall Not Pass!

 

Chingu and Mandu on guard duty.

Optimism?

Recent polls don't look good for Biden!  Then again, we all know 2024 is going to be close no matter what.

Here's two reasons I'm still optimistic that Biden will prevail though:

1) Trump taking over the RNC as his own piggy bank is going to really hurt GOP candidates all down the ballot, including himself.  That money is going to pay off bills, not buy advertising.

2) It's somewhat clear that Trump never expected to win in 2016, and maybe didn't want to.  Standard disclaimer -- we all have to vote, donate, and do our part.  That said, if I was Trump and now staring down the debt incurred with losing multiple lawsuits (not to mention paying lawyers), what would be better than losing closely this November, then spending yet another four years fund-raising off of that for a 2028 run?

Totally hypothetical I realize.  But to put it another way -- Trump makes a lot more money out of the White House than he does inside of it.

Who knows.

Poll Judge!

Last Tuesday I spent the day (6 am to 9:30 pm) as a poll judge for the Maryland primary election.  It was a great experience that I obviously can't say too much about, other than to say that the full-time elections board folks I was trained by and worked with are really dedicated public officials.  The idea that they would try and cheat any election is risible.

That said, there's a lot going into the security protocols to make sure every ballot cast is counted properly.  There's simply no easy way to count the vote of hundreds of thousands of people either perfectly or quickly.  Working as a very small cog in the machine made this beyond clear.

And yes, I was paid.  And I'd like to do it again depending on how my schedule shakes out for this November.

RIP Steve Albini

I'm late to the game, but a great musician and -- provocateur?  theorist?  righteous asshole? -- of creative independence is now gone.

To have worked on The Pixies' Surfer Rosa, PJ Harvey's Rid of Me, Songs: Ohia Magnolia Electric Company and, I don't know, Nirvana's In Utero is incredible, and just the tip of the iceberg really.

He's also a guy who managed to grow up a bit and reflect on past mistakes, and that's something we should all strive for even if we manage to never buy a Taylor Swift record.

Damascus, Maryland

 

Never Alone

Frederick has some charms that I'm discovering as they come.  The downtown area is swell, and the west side of town where I live, while not much to look at, has some good restaurants and shopping (H-Mart!).

I'm still looking for a full-time job.  It's tough.  Being a bedroom community for both DC and Baltimore, there are a lot of smart, well-educated cookies out here.  As far as I can tell, Frederick County is the largest employer in Frederick County.  Now, as a Biden-loving liberal, I'm all for taxation and quality government services.  But it sure would be nice if some more private companies moved into here.  (It's highly reminiscent of Bellingham, actually.)  I've interviewed for some good things though, but just haven't managed to seal the deal yet.

So I've been doing online tutoring, which could be worse.  Next week I'll be a poll judge for the Maryland primary, which should be fun as well (and it pays!).  And we're making good progress on my Dad's estate -- almost done, actually.  He took the time to set his finances up meticulously and safely, so that's another thing to be grateful for.

And here I was trying to write an upbeat post.

So things are fine as we enter summer.  The Orioles are playing brilliantly.  I'm killing lots of dandelions.  I have incredibly vivid, mostly good dreams about both my mom and dad.  I talk to them sometimes, if I'm being honest.

My cats remain the goofiest sentient beings on the East Coast.

I'll take Kendrick over Drake any day.

Princess In Repose

 

Princess Mandu is meditating right now, but please return later with Churu and skritches.

Brunswick, Maryland

 

Some random shots in and around Brunswick, Maryland, right on the border with Virginia.  It's a very funky town -- MAGA flags fly freely next door to purple houses with rainbow flags.  The tank is party of a very strangely placed World War II memorial.

Civil War: Wut I Thunk Of It (Minor Spoilers)

Alex Garland is responsible for some of my favorite movies ever -- 28 Days Later, Never Let Me Go, Annihilation.  Hell, I even liked Men.  (That was a comedy, right?)

But Civil War is something I can only describe as actively stupid.  It's the filmic equivalent of a college freshman realizing that the media is only interested in violence, man!

There is political violence, drained of all politics.  There are bizarre decisions made by the characters -- let's take an aging man into a war zone, just for lulz!

And in an age where journalists are routinely targeted by militaries around the world, there are many naïve scenes where the characters grasp their little PRESS cards and are all of a sudden adopted by different military units, or invited to witness atrocities that they would more than likely be trying to cover up.

And why are they, sometimes, still shooting on film?

This movie is awful.  It makes no sense.  The ending is not nearly as clever as it seems to think it is.

Best Life

 

Chingu finished his taxes early this year.

Point of Rocks Station, Maryland

 

As my job search continues I've had some extra time to explore the area around Frederick.  Point of Rocks, Maryland, is an actual town named after a geographical spot where the mountains come down to the Potomac River.  Lots of interesting Civil War era skullduggery took place here!

Today Point of Rocks is a very small town, as a newer and more useful station was built a bit to the north in Brunswick.  The station building itself remains though, and it's a beautiful Victorian thing that's only used for storage.  The building is defunct, but it's still a working light rail station that will take you to Silver Spring, Maryland (D.C., basically) or the other way up into West Virginia.

On The River

 

Little Potomac River, Brunswick Maryland.

Dune 2: Wut I Thunk Of It

It's definitely better than the first one.  It gets weird, especially on the Harkonnen home-world, in a very good (and disturbing) way.  Paul's character develops well and believably, which was an issue for me in the first installment.  I still feel like one long-ish film could tell this story instead of three, but overall it was good.  Also, while Christopher Walken is a great actor, it's hard not to just see a walking meme at this point.

Safe In Their Alabaster Shake It Offs

 Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson, BFFs:

"Dickinson and Swift are sixth cousins, three times removed. Dickinson, born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, is regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson lived as a recluse in her family’s home and only published anonymously while she was alive."

This is fine.  Charming, really.

Maryland Diners: Mountain View Diner, Frederick Maryland

One thing I'll always miss about living in Bellingham was the abundance of diners in and around the area.  Hell, I reviewed every single one of them!  For whatever reason diner culture isn't nearly as strong here in lovely Frederick, Maryland, but I am going to do my best to cover what's available.

Behold!  The Mountain View Diner!  1300 W Patrick Street, Frederick!

It was a snowy Saturday, and I got there right after the lunch rush started to die down.  The staff were exhausted, and I don't blame them.  And rather than my traditional Eggs Benny, I was hankering for something different -- my other diner go-to, the club sandwich. The club sandwich being among other things, the Exhibitionist of All Sandwiches.

And it was delicious!  Let's break down this little slice of 50's rock and roll nostalgia!

The Zone of Interest: Wut I Thunk Of It (Minor Spoilers)

I'd heard enough about this film to know that the less you knew going in, the better.  I was surprised to find out that the big reveal actually happens in the second scene, about five minutes in.

I feel like it paints itself into a corner, so to speak.  The first half is gripping, but then struggles to come to a satisfying conclusion beyond the fact that the father and the mother are monsters.

I'm guessing it will win the Oscar for sound design, deservedly so.

It's a film that deserves credit for taking chances, but comes to an unsatisfying conclusion.

Games People (And Cats) Play

 

Chingu and Mandu are living their best life.  Chingu, on the left, the brassier and more wild of the two, has a new game called "tip over the water dish."  It's a metal water dish designed for dogs, with a rubber ring around the bottom.

I thought cats hated water.

Anyhow, I'll root for San Francisco this weekend but I think the Chiefs could actually win by two touchdowns or more.

This is why I don't bet on sports, or anything else for that matter.

Deep Catological Questions

What happens when your two kitties have been sent to the doghouse?

The Birds Have Been Bought

 

The Orioles have new owners.

They're coming off a pretty miraculous regular season, then couldn't win a single game in the playoffs.

Change is good.  But they're still the Orioles until they make some substantial progress in the playoffs.

Interesting to watch at least.

Magnificent Mandu

 

Meet Mandu, AKA Mandurita, Little Hunter, Little Tiger, Princess Mandu.

A few nights ago I went to my back patio to lift up some furniture that had blown down during a pretty heavy wind / snow storm.  Mandu and her brother are indoor cats, so going outside for them is a big no-no.  So I closed the patio door behind me and picked the furniture up all in about 45 seconds.  As I returned to the door and tried to re-open it I realized it wouldn't budge.  This furball had managed to lean on the locking door handle and pushed it "down" into the lock position.

I was locked out.  In the snow.  With no shoes.

I managed to get back in after actually going to a very friendly neighbor and calling a locksmith.  In the end I managed to get back inside my house without the locksmith's help, but it was all a saga nonetheless.

Mandu has always been pretty well behaved compared to her brother Chingu, but lessons have been learned.

Cute kitties are dangerous.

For The Dogs

South Korea has banned the consumption of dog meat, and it's welcome news:

"Despite the horrors highlighted by campaigners, few politicians appeared willing to act. Consumption has been in decline for decades and is now largely confined to older South Koreans who want a fix of culinary nostalgia. But the industry is no financial minnow. There are about 1,150 farms, while 1,600 restaurants sell dog meat dishes, according to the agriculture ministry. Activists say as many as 1 million dogs a year are slaughtered."

No doubt an underground trade will remain, but it took South Korean activists to accomplish this locally and organically.

Good news!

"curled zinc sheets with their puddles of rainwater"

"There is a time of day immediately before dusk when the outlie of every object becomes sharply delineated.  It was just that moment.  The lacerated edges of wooden beams in the wreckage, the freshness of the rents in the shredded trees, and the curled zinc sheets with their puddles of rainwater -- everything appeared almost unpleasantly vivid.  In the extreme west only a horizontal line of scarlet was to be seen in the sky between two or three towering black burned-out buildings.  Flecks of scarlet were also visible through the windows of the ruined structures.  It was as if someone had turned on a red light in a deserted and uninhabited house."

Yuko Mishima, The Temple of Dawn

"Erasing every mark you make"

 

Fugazi, "Guilford Fall"

For no particular reason I listened to Fugazi's End Hits all the way through for the first time in about 20 years.  I remember being disappointed at the time with a few great songs, but also some experimental stuff that just didn't work for me.  I wouldn't say it's grown on me, but it holds together as an album better than it used to.  I can't tell if the band was running out of ideas or had too many of them.

So, a good album but I'm glad it was their second-to-last and not their last one.

Belated New Year!

Happy New Year to one and all!  This blog remains slower than it should, but things are warming up.  Days are getting longer.  Still no snow in Maryland, but fingers crossed.

I've been going to the movies a lot, obviously, and that's not the worst way to enjoy 2024 so far.