Looking Out My Window

I just wanted to share a picture of what Mr. Random and I have been seeing outside of our windows these days. The construction of townhouses on the empty lot behind us is proceeding apace, and in a few months we will have the joy of being to look directly into someone else’s kitchen and bedrooms.

For a while, we actually had a pretty good view of the horizon, but that is gone now. I am trying not to get depressed about it, but it is hard – especially when I am working at home, listening to the sounds of construction. For three years we were very lucky to be able to look out at a forest of old growth trees, where lots of birds would congregate during the day.

Mr. Random and I went to a open house of one of the model homes for this project and they are truly beautiful inside, just the right size townhome if Mr. Random and I were so inclined, but the costs – oh, it was WAY too expensive, even with the market downturn and all.

Today has been rather overcast and drizzly, which isn’t helping my mood. I am going to teach tonight, which is always a joy, and I am well prepared for tonight’s class. Preparing lesson plans are always such fun – it’s like a puzzle, trying to figure out what activities and exercises will reinforce the evenings lessons, figuring out how much of class should be interactions between groups of students rather than just me leading them in exercises, trying to figure out how to keep the evening interesting for both the class and for me. Sometimes I am successful and sometimes I fall short, but I love the process of it all and wish I could hurry up and figure out a way to make a living at something like this sooner rather than later. Although, I think part of the fun of it is that there isn’t any pressure as a volunteer, so I just need to keep on keeping on and get what joy I can out of it for as long as I can.

The weekend was very laid back, which was good. Next weekend, we will spend Super Bowl Sunday visiting my grandma, which is fine by me since I’m not a huge football fan. Saturday will be my usual forays into creating art and hanging out with friends, which I always heartily enjoy.

Hope your days are going well . . .

Mid-Week Random Mind Dump

I have been trying and trying to write a proper blog post about what I’ve been up to over the past week. As I am dutifully accomplishing other tasks, beautiful paragraphs flow from my brain, all wanting desperately to be put down on paper.

Now that I actually have the time to do so? Nope, nuttin’ coming out. My brain is clogged – clogged I say! How very disappointing, since there are very cool things that went on last week. I shall try my best to impart to you some of what happened as best I can . . .

Item One: Back in the Saddle! I started teaching my ESL class last night and I am very pleased with the lively group that is in my level. I had 7 students in my class last night, all very advanced for our program, but still eager to learn and hone their English skills. I will definitely have to do more interactive conversation activities with this group and get in a lot more reading and writing practice than in other levels. I will have to get myself to a library to see if there are some DVDs that I can show in class to help supplement discussion – make the class more lively. The students I have are from all different backgrounds – from South Korea and Japan, from Venezuela, Columbia, Chile and Nicaragua, and one from Ghana. This is great because no one language really dominates and everyone is fairly comfortable trying to converse with each other in English. Yay!

Item Two: A Random Shakespeare Experience. Last Friday night, Mr. Random, J and I went to see a friend of ours in a play that had been enigmatically titled “The Christmas Show.” All we knew about the play is that the audience was restricted to 15 people and that we would have to dress warmly. Dress warmly? Huh? So we get there and everyone is sitting around the lobby (which was decorated like a living room at Christmastime, complete with lights and tree and Christmas records playing), and actors are passing out cups of hot chocolate to members of the audience as they arrive. (yes, the cocoa WAS tasty.) After everyone arrived, the play, just sort of began in the middle of the room. And shortly thereafter we realized that “The Christmas Play” really was . . . Hamlet! A very innovative portrayal of Hamlet yet, with us following the actors all around the theater building - through storage rooms, to the back alley, and even in the men’s room – to follow the action of the play. It was very cool and interactive and made the play come alive a bit more than usual. As J said, “It’s something to have Hamlet emoting while standing right next to you.”

Item Three: Super Bowl Hopes Dashed. My friend J almost got to go to the Super Bowl, but unfortunately the Packers lost. Big bummer! It was going to be ridiculously expensive though, so J is slightly relieved not to have to spend the money. So now I have no idea who to root for . . . I just go to the parties for the food and the hanging-out anyway.

Item Four: More Theater on the Horizon. In February, planning on going to see Hedda Gabler, then Macbeth in April (this version directed by Teller, of the magicians Penn and Teller). Yay! Things to look forward to!

Item Five: Mr. Random Rules! Mr. Random had his first performance review at the Random Publication and it seems that he is doing smashingly well. They didn’t know what to expect when they hired him, so mostly anything he does is considered an improvement on what they had before. This is also Mr. Random’s last semester in Grad school before he graduates in May. He wants a party of some sort, so I have to figure out what to do for that.

Item Six. Econ Class Countdown. Our final Econ paper will be due on May 2. There will be no final exam. Yay! I just have to get through the semester. The professor is waaaaaaaay left of even being a Marxist. I’m pretty liberal but even I have to cringe at some of his ideas. At least the class discussions are going to be lively . . .

So right now, that’s me in a nutshell. Hope you all are doing well – I’ve been lousy about blog visiting, but know I’m thinking of you.

Waving and smiling . . .

Two Quick Notes

(1) My Microeconomics class this semester, at first glance, is going to kick. my. butt. Seriously. But it will be in a good way, and if I complete it successfully I will be well set up for future economic study - I am quite sure of it. At least I'm being optimistic to start out . . .

(2) I've fixed the e-mail address attached to this blog so it will be much easier to check that mailbox daily. My old e-mail was a pain to check, so I would only check it, oh, once every month or two . . . or three. Ooops! Especially oops when people would ask me questions, so if I've taken forever to get back to you, I promise that I will never do that again, to the best of my ability. Mea culpa!

There might be more changes to the blog this year, but it will be dependent on how much time I can spare and whether I feel like learning WordPress . . .

I'm waving a cheery hello to you all!

A Foggy Day in a Virginia Town

This morning, I look outside my window and all I see is a white/gray cloud of fog. No trees, no buildings, just a white/gray cloud that seems to go on forever and ever. The whole day is gray. It could be quite a downer if I let it, but I’m trying not to let it.

Have I said how happy I am to be going back to teaching? On Tuesday night, I volunteered to help with registration and placement testing for the ESL classes and the whole thing was just so energizing to me. I had the opportunity to talk to amazing people from Chile, Venezuela, Ghana, Honduras. I love hearing their stories of where they grew up and what they did in their home country and why they are here. We get a lot of people who work for their home country’s embassies or military and are stationed here for a while and they want to improve their English while they are here. These are people who have been here 2 months, 6 months, speaking better English than I could ever speak Spanish after being in a strange country for 6 months. I also talk to others who are not so well off, people who left their children behind with relatives to come to this country and try to make some money so their kids can have a better life. I am humbled in their presence and I want to teach everyone as best I can.

It has been a long week, but next week classes begin again and my life will get much, much busier. I think I like being busier – I feel like I’m out in the world DOING things – and just being a home after a full day at work is just . . . depressing in a way. I’ve certainly got enough sleep these past few weeks, that’s for sure.

So tomorrow will be a day of art for me and of grad school class for Mr. Random, Sunday will be a day with my grandmother out in the Boonies, and then next week the fun begins in earnest.

I will take a deep breath . . . then dig in.

Trying Not to Carbo Load

I’m feeling rather needy today. More stupid stuff going down at the Random Non-profit – some other people are leaving, which will leave huge holes in the organization – and I am just getting tired of dealing with it all and having it infiltrate my brain. I’m just kind of numb. I’m trying to do my job, but it does seem that no matter how much a person does or how hard one works, it all comes for naught in the end. It is very, very discouraging.

I need a hug or three . . .

In happier news, I got a B+ in my Econ class for last semester, which I guess is pretty good, but I’m aiming for an A this semester, that’s for sure!

I start teaching ESL again next week. Yay! I’m teaching a different, more advanced level this time, so I’m a bit nervous about that. I’m hoping to get some of the materials ahead of time so I can start planning my lessons this weekend. I can’t wait to have students again – no matter how crappy my day is, at least by teaching I’m trying to make a little difference in the world. It can be frustrating, but it is still a wonderful feeling to have . . .

It also turns out that Mr. Random may be going to one of the political conventions this summer for the Random Publication. That’s such a great opportunity for Mr. Random! I won’t be going because I won’t have a press pass and I don’t want to just sit in a hotel room for umpteen hours a day . . .

My friend J and I are going to do a self-paced art course on Saturdays, which should be fun. I get to be an artist again! Also, it should keep my creative juices flowing and give me something else to look forward to during the week.

I am doing better with my eating so far this year, but the stress at work is really threatening my willpower. I’m trying to eat less starchy carbs and more veggies and proteins. If I eat a lot of bread, pasta or chips, I can feel my mood change quite a bit, so I’m trying to stay away from all that as best I can. However, if I’m stressed, I tend to go directly towards the salty chips, the quick bowl of pasta or the mound of mashed potatoes . . . and I need to watch that. For example, last night for dinner I had nachos – which are not at all healthy, but they were darn tasty after a crappy day. I have to minimize my stress eating a lot more . . . I’m not perfect, but I am trying . . .

I hope everyone is having a good week. Many happy vibes to you all!

My Theory of Primaries

OK, Mommanator just commented that she wished that all of the primaries would be held on one day, so all of the states have a say in who they want as the main candidates. It is a commendable goal, and I understand the sentiment, but I can see why that may not be the best idea for several reasons.

Let me again preface this by saying that I used be really involved in politics and am speaking purely from my own experience and observations, so my views may be different from someone else who worked on a campaign. I think everyone should work on a campaign once or twice in their lives, to (a) get the experience and (b) be able to tell the BS from the truth in how things are reported. If you know anything about how campaigns are run, half the stuff you read in the newspaper about presidential electoral politics is overblown crap. Things that don’t mean anything or are normal kinds of campaign blips and errors get blown up way out of proportion to their importance. Just my $.02 . . .

Money: If you think that there is a ton of money being spent on campaigns already, just imagine how much would have to be spent by EACH primary candidate to campaign in each state SIMULTANEOUSLY. Some candidates count on good showings in early races to be able to generate enough support to be able to run in other states. That’s why Biden and Dodd dropped out - these early losses, coupled with a projection that they might not do so well in the next few races – they were not going to be able to generate enough support and funding for their campaigns to continue. Television, radio and newspaper ads cost money. Disseminating information (brochures, posters, bumper stickers, etc.) costs money. Travel costs money. Having enough staff to cover the country, costs money, even taking into account large numbers of volunteers – you still need someone to give them marching orders and be able to control what’s going on. Which leads to . . .

Staffing: During the general election, you notice that candidates don’t campaign in all of the states, they only campaign in key, battleground states. Why? Because there is only so much of one candidate to go around and a campaign wants to expend its resources most efficiently. The state parties can help, but a lot of times having the candidate there can make or break a state’s turnout. For example, in past years many Democratic candidates did not bother too much with Virginia because we were pretty much a pretty reliable red state, so it would have been silly to waste too many national election resources here. However, with the recent change in demographics here (growth in urban/suburban areas) making us a bit more purple, I think that the Democratic nominee would spend a lot more time here meeting and greeting and cultivating supporters. Now, think what would happen if all of the primary candidates had to cover all of the states at the same time. There will still be Wyoming situations where places get ignored for whatever reason . . .

Also, to effectively cover states, there has to be experienced, capable campaign staff stationed on the ground there. In a 50 state scenario, that staff would be spread pretty thin, whereas in the rolling primary scenario staff moves from state to state as a primary election is completed. You may not think it is a big deal, but you also have to think in terms of control – campaigns try to have as much control over information going in and out about a candidate as they can. You also notice that in general elections there lots of special interest groups sponsoring ads, hosting events, putting out negative information and otherwise running amok without the coordination or consent of the candidates or their campaigns. Just think if this was happening for 8 or 9 or 10 candidates, instead of just two! Oy!

Learning the ropes: Early primaries also serve as sort of “training wheels” for candidates. These allow the candidates to get their organizations up and running, get the volunteers and staff trained, and get the big mistakes out of the way early. It allows everyone to learn how to run an efficient and a responsive campaign, to learn how to interact with the public, and to learn which messages work and don’t work. Throwing all the candidates into a 50 state situation right off the bat would just be ugly and confusing.

OK, now that I’ve pooh-poohed the “one day – all states” primary idea, what would I be happy with?

I think that we should still have a few “warm up primaries,” with a mix of a few large and small states, and then maybe 4 regional “Super Tuesday” primaries, each held one week after another. This would allow campaigns time to ramp up and get their feet on the ground, allow candidates to cover a certain region prior to a primary, and allow most people to have their say. It may still suck to be one of the last primaries, but part of the race does have to do with viability, and if you can’t get people to vote for you when you’ve been practically living with them for months, staying in the race for an extended period of time is only going to hurt – both personally and financially.

That’s enough of my political ranting for today! See, that’s why I try not to discuss this stuff too much on this blog, since I get so overly passionate about it . . .

Please feel free to share your own ideas in the comments!

Watching Paint Dry in Iowa

Since Mr. Random now works for a Random Publication, watching the Iowa Caucuses is now kind of part of his job. Last night we settled in for a cozy evening of C-SPAN and C-SPAN2.

Thoughts about last night:

**I must preface this by stating that I was involved in local Democratic politics for a bunch of years, so watching the workings of one of the Des Moines precincts gave me flashbacks to too many long party meetings and caucuses. It’s funny that all the casts of characters for the local Dem parties look AND sound the same, no matter where you are in the country. Watching the Des Moines people gather and organize and persuade and count and go over resolutions, I was like, whoa! I knew exactly what types of resolutions would be offered and how people would respond pro and con. It was scary . . .

**I know that us Dems are all about inclusiveness and making sure that everyone gets a say, but you know, you can be inclusive AND efficient. Watching people try to count off once they were in their little interest groups was just painful. Couldn’t people take a number when they decided on a group, just like a deli, and the last number be the count? “23, 24, 24, 25, 26 . . . oops, wait, let’s start again! Count off one by one . . .” The hand-raising thing was only slightly better.

**I felt really bad for the Richardson people. At the precinct that was being filmed, the groups needed at least 57 to be considered “viable” and at one point the Richardson group had 47. The woman who was one of the organizers for the Richardson group was a master to behold in the art of persuasion, but some of her other helpers didn’t seem to be as committed as she, and their group started losing people as soon as it was obvious that Clinton, Obama and Edwards were going to be the more viable choices. At the end of the evening, C-SPAN interviewed her and she looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment. My heart went out to her – I have been in her place SO often – it breaks your heart to work for so long for someone, giving up your life for months and months, staying up for hours on end, knocking on doors, talking to all sorts of people, doing all sorts of mindless grunt-work, all for a candidate you believe in . . . and then to lose at the very end, all of your work seemingly for naught, by a really close margin – they just needed 10 more people! – it hurts SO much, I can barely describe it. I was happy to see that she remained uncommitted at the end because she really didn’t want any other candidate. It takes a while to process what just happened and figure out what to do next – I wish I could have reached through the screen to give her a really big hug and some support. I do hope some family or friends were nearby . . .

**Good luck to the people who volunteered to be delegates to their county-level Democratic Convention. I’ve been to those before. That’s 8 hours of your life that you’ll never get back again . . .

**Its great that Iowa had much higher turnout of new people for their caucuses this year, even though the process is a big pain in the butt and isn’t even representative of all Iowa’s voters. What I hate about the caucus process as practiced in Iowa is that it isn’t a secret ballot. It can be intimidating to show your preferences in front of everyone you know, and maybe if it was a secret ballot and people weren’t so caught up in being seen with a winning group, there might have been a different outcome.

**Did you know that Wyoming is having its caucuses this Saturday? It wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t because I didn’t know either and hardly anyone is campaigning there – all the energy is going towards the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday . . .

Oy, this is going to be a very long election year. I’m probably not going to watch all of these primaries and caucuses – I’m probably going to end up holed up at my desk with homework or a book or something, thank goodness . . .

Auld Lang Syne – A Random Look Back at the Blog in 2007

I couldn’t resist doing this meme and today I actually have time to do it. You know the rules – slap down the first paragraph of the first post of each month of last year:

January: There was a meme going around for a while where you posted the first sentence that you wrote on your blog each month for the past year. Today seemed a rather appropriate day to do so . . .

(side note: Yup, I did this last year. That month I also went to view Gerald Ford’s casket at the Capitol, played a bit with my new camera, went to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, and queried about using cell phones in restaurants.)

February: Well, actually, I’m not one of those people who bite their nails – mine usually just break off at inopportune times. My nails grow to be long pretty quickly, so unless I am hyper-vigilant about trimming them regularly, they start to get really annoying. I am at a loss to understand those folks who have the big press-on-nails – how can they type? Or rip open a box? They just seem so dainty . . . and I am so not dainty . . .

(side note: That was the month I started getting nervous about a medical problem, went to a Super Bowl party, did some Scribbling Challenges, continued to teach ESL, had my 300^th post, got hooked on Gilmore Girls reruns, saw the Capitals and the Wizards in the same week, played in the snow and first got wind of possible layoffs at the Random Non-profit.)

March: Finally got the results from the doctor yesterday. Mr. Random was right there by my side as the doctor said . . . that the tests showed about what he thought they would, and that I have no reason to worry – things should be OK.

(side note: Big sigh of relief, there were layoffs, did a book meme, found out my sister was going to Iraq, was feeling pretty low.)

April: As promised, here are all of the books that are stacked up by my bed at the moment. Mind you, these are just the books sitting BY MY BED and not in the living room, den, guest room, and elsewhere in the bedroom that are also begging to be read - such as Mr. Random's major stacks.

(side note: Also took my first spinning class, did the Easter thing, dealt with the fallout from the layoffs, had a visit from the Random Mom-in-Law, started on the Shakespeare Project and went to see Edward III, celebrated the 2 year anniversary of the blog, briefly celebrated Poetry Month.)

May: It’s May already! April went by so quickly . . . too quickly. There was a project that I meant to finish last month, which I had not yet started on. I definitely have to finish it this month or else I won’t have certain options available to me in the Fall . . . options that might be able to get me away from the Random Non-Profit sooner, rather than later . . .

(side note: Started visiting my Grandma at her new location in the Boonies of Virginia, saw more Shakespeare plays, got the new vanity for the bathroom, Mr. Random left the Random Non-profit for the Random Publication.)

June: Last Friday night, Mr. Random, my friend J, and I went to see Love’s Labors Lost at the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Northwest DC. The play is this year’s Shakespeare Theater’s “Free for All” performance.

(side note: Got a new iPod, had family issues, ESL subbing, had more angst.)

July: On Saturday, I went to see Tom Stoppard’s play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at DC’s Studio Theater. This play fit in very well with our ongoing Shakespeare project, since the main characters are two minor characters in Hamlet who aren’t mentioned often but do have something integral to do with the plot. They are old friends of Hamlet’s who are sent to keep him company and find out why he is behaving so oddly. They play delves quite a bit into the nature of life and death, while giving a backstory of the types of characters who are usually just afterthoughts in plays.

(side note: Also saw Hamlet and the nude Macbeth, Fringe Festival and lots of kvetching.)

August: That’s today’s New Yorker daily calendar cartoon caption and I feel like that’s what the last few days of this blog have been – The blogosphere is a big cocktail party, and the hostess has to pull people aside and say to them, “Would you be a dear and sit with Random Kath? She’s seems a bit cranky lately . . .”

(side note: August was “spend no money” month, took pictures at a comedy open-mike, AC died at the Random Condo, went back to college, very excited but very anxious.)

September: Yup, school has started and I am trying to get into the swing of things. I am still overwhelmed and freaked out, but at the moment it is the usual Random Kath level of overwhelmed and freaked out, so things are semi-normal.

(side note: More open mike pictures, did a 5K, Mr. Random and I had an anniversary.)

October: I have two exams this week so in theory I shouldn’t be writing anything at all until after they are over on Friday afternoon.

(side note: Got a 97 on both exams, did some touristy sightseeing, bought new shoes, saw Michael Clayton, more Random Non-profit angst, my sister came home for R&R, saw another Shakespeare play.)

November: I have a 4 page paper due for my International Relations class this evening and, of course, I put off writing anything until last night. I HAVE been doing research for the past week or so, so I’m not a total slacker, but for some reason I just could not get myself girded to write anything until last night.

(side note: More Shakespeare, Grandmama drama, crashing bookcases, slogging through school.)

December: My word! It’s December already. Here’s my update on stuff so far – I’m going to start with the happier stuff first.

(side note: More layoffs, more angst, letter for a Newborn Girl, memes, ended being optimistic.)

Whew! That one took a while to do. Glad that’s over for this year . . .

Happy New Year!

Today turned out to be a busy day, since the lunch I went to turned into a rather lengthy excursion to the Thrift Store and to the Mall, to help a friend pick out some stuff for a project they are working on . . .

When I got home, Mr. Random was watching the "Biggest Loser" marathon and then we watched tonight's Couples episode and got a bit inspired.

I took tomorrow as a vacation day to allow myself a little more breathing room before I get back to the work-a-day grind. It's just one way I'm trying to start off the year with a healthy, non-stressed perspective on things . . .

I hope your first day of 2008 went smashingly well!