Blackout

I've gotten really sick of all the Michael Jackson press. I liked the Jackson 5 and his work in the 80's but I was never obsessed.

This level of frenzy is just too much. The suspicions of his child molestation are mentioned as are some of his other neuroses, but they're just sort of strange sidebars so they can keep this media fire blazing. It's draining and annoying. There is more important news that is neglected.

So yesterday and today I've tried to do a personal media black out. I have changed the channel whenever there's a story about MJ. I haven't looked at the "newspaper." Still it's so hard to avoid hearing the broadcasts my dad's watching (my mother is also blacking out and that's were I got this idea). He's not watching the news for Jackson stories it's just that if you watch the news that's what you primarily get.

I've decreased my facebook and yahoo use as well. He's just everywhere. Apparently now they'll exploit or over-cover "his" children.

It doesn't seem like this will stop soon. I expect books by kids whose parents prostituted him in time and a lot of family drama.

Amusing

My friend in Korea received this email from a student who questioned a grade. I admit I wondered if it was plagiarized. Wouldn't that be ironic?

Dear Professor B-----.

Forgive me sir for speaking in rhyme.
The strees (sic) has made me go out of my mind.

A sense of rhythm, I do not possess,
this well-known secret I here now confess.

In my heart, there is great despair.
Though mine can be said it is fair.

But I know not why my friends and foes got a B plus.
All of us are uttering dreadful cuss.

I beseech thee sir, please explain.
Or else our insane pain will forever remain.

What was bad and what was good.
And I pray with all my heart that I am not being rude.

Grateful I am for a wonderful course.
I end this letter with "Sincerely, Yours"

PS my student number is XXXX I just wanted to know why we and I (sic) got a B plus not A-.

Retreat or Reload?

Retreat. That's my take on Sarah Palin's resignation. American's don't like quitters. She probably does have greater ambitions, but I think she's misread voters if she thinks a woman who quits the biggest job she's been elected to, that she's only held for a year, would get anyone who isn't just like her to give her their vote.

While she claims she's sick of the media attention, that doesn't ring true since she's courted it after November 2008, when she could have disappeared. And the needs of her family haven't changed, as far as we know, since last summer when she was willing to hit the road and let them fend for themselves as best they could.

My instincts say she's got something to hide and wanted to escape between the Michael Jackson media frenzy and the holiday weekend. I think she's taken Steven Colbert's advice and done something crazy when no one's likely to notice. Or care.

Funny how Mark Sanford won't loosen his grip on his office or the microphone when I bet many South Carolinians wish he would.

Brilliant Colbert

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Michael Jackson's Media Attention
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

Word of the Week

Found this in the New York Times: (academic) sitzfleisch comes from German from sitzen (“to sit”) + Fleisch (“flesh”).

It's the ability to endure or carry on with an activity like a chess match, opera or academic lecture.

Usage:

1947, Frank Vigor Morley, "My One Contribution to Chess", Chess Notes, Faber & Faber (1947):

Sitzfleisch: a term used in chess to indicate winning by use of the glutei muscles--the habit of remaining stolid in one's seat hour by hour, making moves that are sound but uninspired, until one's opponent blunders through boredom.

Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop, Evanston

Yesterday I tried the Evanston location of one of Barack Obama's favorite restaurants, Dixie Kitcheen & Bait Shop. It's easy to get too from the Davis St. train station and offers Cajun and Creole cooking at good prices. They've got eight lunch specials for $6.25 everyday and you can order breakfast until 2 pm. As promised as soon as I sat down, I got a basket of warm johnnycakes and butter.

I had a spicy Southwestern salad with grilled chicken, beans, lettuce, salsa, and strips of tortilla chips. It was tasty, though rather too spicy for my palate. I just can't do hot and spicy no matter how I try. My friend ordered a French toast breakfast that came with two eggs, bacon or sausage, and Cajun potatoes.

The decor is fun with lots of old metal signs advertising Coke, potato chips or what have you. It's an over-the-top local color look, but it works. You do always realize that you're in someone's idea of a bayou eatery rather than in a real bayou eatery.


For Obama's review.

Helpful Website

Repair Pal is a welcome tool for car owners. You can input information on your car and what's wrong with it and it will give you a price range for the repairs. Also, it explains how different car parts work and the signs that something may be going wrong. You can find reviews of mechanics in your area. So far there are few reviews, but in time, as the list grows, it should be pretty helpful.

I'll be overwhelmed till my car is fixed.

Poem of the Week

The Effort
Billy Collins

Would anyone care to join me
in flicking a few pebbles in the direction
of teachers who are fond of asking the question:
"What is the poet trying to say?"

as if Thomas Hardy and Emily Dickinson
had struggled but ultimately failed in their efforts—
inarticulate wretches that they were,
biting their pens and staring out the window for a clue.

Yes, it seems that Whitman, Amy Lowell
and the rest could only try and fail
but we in Mrs. Parker's third-period English class
here at Springfield High will succeed

with the help of these study questions
in saying what the poor poet could not,
and we will get all this done before
that orgy of egg salad and tuna fish known as lunch.

Tonight, however, I am the one trying
to say what it is this absence means,
the two of us sleeping and waking under different roofs.
The image of this vase of cut flowers,

not from our garden, is no help.
And the same goes for the single plate,
the solitary lamp, and the weather that presses its face
against these new windows--the drizzle and the
morning frost.

So I will leave it up to Mrs. Parker,
who is tapping a piece of chalk against the blackboard,
and her students—a few with their hands up,
others slouching with their caps on backwards—

to figure out what it is I am trying to say
about this place where I find myself
and to do it before the noon bell rings
and that whirlwind of meatloaf is unleashed.

Fifteen Books

This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose...

1. The Flounder by Gunther Grass
2. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
3. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austin
4. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Our Town, Thornton Wilder
6. Wild Sheep Chase, Murakami Hiruki
7. American Dreams Lost & Found, Studs Terkel
8. Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
9. The Procedure, Harry Mulisch
10. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
11. In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust
12. Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton
13. The Enchiridion, Epictetus
14. Seven Story Mountain, Thomas Merton
15. The Bible, a whole slew of folks

It's really hard to think of just 15. Fifteen authors might be easier. This list just gives you a feel of the scope of things I really like. And I tagged more than 15 people since I know a lot of readers.

Too much?

I went to church at Techny today and they had a sign posted saying that due to swine flu they would only have communion in bread form and at the sign of peace you didn't have to shake hands.

People did shake hands for the sign of peace. I'd be fine with just bowing. Whatever.

Wait!

The problem I have with this guy's thesis is that I'm excellent at delayed gratification and while I'm okay with my niche, I wouldn't say I'm a "success." Since I've never liked marshmallows, I could go half an hour or half a day in this test. With chocolate, I'm not so sure . . . .

Just Saw the Apology

So SC governor Mark Sanford did admit to having an affair. The emotional explanation over the stimulus was bologna. Now he's become a "bottom line kinda" guy, who had a mistress. He was running off with his mistress. His apology seemed like it was coming from someone completely cut off from reality. He blathers on about morality and letting people down, but he doesn't come across as contrite, just as an arrogant man who knows the rules and how to spin something. The only reason he's apologizing is because he was caught.

Governors

Seems that you need to be weird to be a governor. Weird and arrogant. We here in Illinois had Blagojavich, who for what he lacked in ethics he made up for with hubris.

Now there's the mysterious governor from South Carolina, who told his wife he needed time to write in quiet, and told his staff he was hiking part of the Appalachian trail, but now states he went to Argentina to clear his head. Who goes all the way to Argentina of all places to clear one's head. Get a cabin.

We're expected to believe this because he was so upset about having to take stimulus money. I understand that he disagreed with this particular policy, but is it that upsetting? Having lived through governing that made my blood boil for eight years prior to January 19th of this year, I just think he's overreacting in the most bizarre way. Also, I think there's something else going on.

Perhaps

You See the World Through Blue Colored Glasses

You live your life with tranquility. You have faith that things will work themselves out with time. You judge all your interactions through the lens of hope. You try to get all the facts before forming your opinion. You face challenges with wisdom. You know that all bad things pass, and you have the confidence to see problems through. You see love as the utmost expression of trust. Your relationships tend to be peaceful and stable. At your worst, you can be cool, melancholy, and detached. You sometimes have to step back from emotionally charged situations. You are at your happiest when you are able to reflect and relax.

What Color Glasses Do You See the World Through?

Great!

I dealt with several problems today including mailing the check the Japanese Cultural Affairs office was in such a snit over in March.

I also found $230 cash in a suitcase. Must have been there for two years. I nice bonus

Home is

where the problems are.

I got back to the US on Saturday evening and have been getting over jetlag since then. I've also been sorting through loads of accumulated problems. First my car is dead and I need to get it fixed. I need to find a reliable, trust worthy mechanic and get it towed there. I had thought I'd get that started yesterday, but inertia took over as I can't find my motor club card, so I've ordered a new one and will wait. Maybe the first one will turn up.

I did successfully order a new contact lens and it wasn't too expensive. I may order another pair just in case. Yet the thought of that expense with the car isn't thrilling.

Next as I went through all my mail, I found a letter from a lawyer's office. What? Turns out its a "pay up" letter for a traffic violation that I do remember paying before I left. I remember because I added a snotty note to the form. So now I'm hunting for proof of that payment. I thought I had paid with a credit card. I checked my statements but didn't see anything. Maybe it's on an older statement so I went online. Then I discover that I can only see the last 90 days online so I had to call to get the earlier statements. That will take a week to 10 days.

So there hasn't been loads of fun yet. More like dealing with four months of problems in two days.

Jenny's in Jinan

Adrienne and I took Emily, my Chinese tutor, to dinner tonight at Jenny's, a Western restaurant in Jinan. Great ambiance and good food, whether you want pasta, pizza, steaks, fish or sandwiches. I'd been there before with Adrienne and the place was deserted at lunch time. Tonight they had a good crowd and even - shocking as it is eight foreigners.

When you live in Jinan and know all the people in the area who don't have dark hair and eyes, it's just an absolute shock to see that there were more such people hiding somewhere on the east side of town.

How's my Mandarin coming along?

That's a dreaded question, but since I've been in China shorter than my colleagues and their ability isn't real high, I don't feel too bad.

One problem is that it's just a tough language with its tones and writing system. Also, like all adults I do have a full time job that's demanding if one's going to do it well.

Lastly, though my tutor is sweet, she lacks teaching experience. Or should I say communicative teaching experience. The lessons consist of her reading a sentence in the text and me repeating. Once we do that, we move to the next one. I've tried to direct her to other methods, but they're just something outside of her experience. A learner needs to practice language in meaningful chucks till she really has the hang of it. Moving through a book to "finish" if the student doesn't know what's been happening for the last several chapters is futile.