10 December 2008

Dickens Warmed Over

My bf took me to the Dickens Christmas Fair, where we met a friend of his from collage, on Saturday. I really enjoyed it. Most of the people there seemed to be in costume. There were lots of booths with things for sale, and lots of side shows. My favorite booths were the craft ones, pottery and weaving and such, and my favorite side show was the statue-man. He was all white, and could pose as still as a statue, but he also had this ball that he could roll around with his hands. It looked weightless and sometimes even motionless as he moved his hands around it. It was really cool.

The other really cool thing (or should I say hot thing) that happened, was that I got my heater pilot light turned on for the season. Yay! Now I have a warm house to come home to. :) It was so nice this morning to step outside and actually feel how much colder it was outside than in. :)

05 December 2008

Too Much Time

I've got time to blog--I'm at work and the baby is sleeping like, well, a baby. But I've got nothing to blog about! Except that I am royal grouch right now. Don't feel like doing my grousing and complaining on-line. 'Nuff said.

04 December 2008

Christmas Cheer

My week is going well so far. It's been light in terms of work. The really exciting thing is that the people I work for found out that I have a lap top and said it was o.k. for me to bring it along and use their wifi while the baby is sleeping. So I'm getting on-line a bit more often now.

I'm working on re-organizing my living room. For one thing, it's getting cluttered with stuff I either want to post on-line to sell or don't currently use but want to keep, and for another, the lay out could be better, in terms of flow and use of space and stuff . . . I created a new arrangement yesterday that, with a bit more tweaking, will have room for a couch--something I've been missing since I moved in. I didn't originally want one, because they encourage bad posture, but now I have a boyfriend, I'm starting to re-think it for other reasons. :)

I'm really enjoying the Christmas season so far. It's one of my favorite times of year. I know a lot of people find the holidays stressful, but I love all the corny decorations and sappy music. Plus I'm looking forward to going home to see my parents.

01 December 2008

Power to the Kids

I've had nearly a week off from work, and tried to make good use of it. I was unmotivated for the first couple of days, but since then, I've been quite productive. I'm feeling pretty good about myself. :)

I'm also starting to look forward to my trip back "home" to visit my parents. My BF will be coming with me this year, and there are lots of people and places I want to introduce him to . . .

I'm also really excited about an organization I've been hearing about for a little over a year now, called KidPower. They teach people safety skills to kids. These skills are also relationship building skills because they are boundary setting skills. I wonder what my life would have been like if there had been a KidPower center in the town I grew up in . . .

22 November 2008

HD Met

On Wednesday, my bf took me to see an opera broadcast in HD from the Met. It was a re-play of a live broadcast. Apparently this is something that the Met does for most of their operas. It was pretty cool--the best of both the movies and live performance. It had all the creative solutions to how to portray things on a stage that you don't get in movies, but it had all the close ups that you don't get at a play or opera.

And the story was really interesting, too. It was called Dr. Atomic, and it was about the days and weeks leading up to the first test of an atomic bomb in New Mexico. I was fascinated by all the moral and social and political issues that it brought up and explored. I particularly enjoyed the way the main character's wife was expressing her concerns about her husband's work. I also learned a lot about nuclear technology, and about how little was known before the test about what would happen.

10 November 2008

Good Endings Make Good Beginnings

Had a great weekend. On Friday, I was worried that it was going to be awful, as I was feeling stressed out from too long of a work week, but sleeping in on Saturday seemed to dissolve all my frustration and so I was able to enjoy myself.

On Saturday afternoon, my boyfriend took me to the Tech Museum in San Jose to see an exhibit about Leonardo Da Vinci. It was really fun and interesting. I enjoyed seeing all the models of the mechanical inventions and trying to figure out from looking at them how they worked and what they were supposed to do. Later, we went into the main part of the museum and enjoyed some of the fun exhibits that are meant for kids--but are really just fun for everyone.

On Sunday we went to the early service at our church, then shopping, and them back to my place to make lunch and have a long, serious talk. It was really good in a different way. I always feel better when problems get aired, instead of being held inside, even if the airing process can be emotional.

Today, I was worried that there would be weirdness at work, due to my being really pissed about stuff the last time I was there, but somehow, things must have cleared for them too over the weekend, and so it was o.k. I'm optimistic about life right now. :)

07 November 2008

Too Much

O.K., there is so much to say since I last posted.

First, my wonderful BF took me to the movies and when our first choice sold out before we could get to the ticket window, we took a chance on one we knew nothing about--The Secret Life of Bees. We both enjoyed it--although for different reasons. You can read his review here. I didn't take issue with the black nanny/white girl deal, but I did wonder how three black sisters could afford such a luxurious house and property back in the 60's. Never the less, I enjoyed the emotional drama, the cinematic effects, etc., and most of all, the chance for a good cry. :)

Next, our new president-elect. One of the really cool things about being on the west coast for this election was hearing the returns live, and not too late in the evening. I was listening to NPR when they called the election, and I got to hear both McCain's concession speech, and Obama's victory speech and still have my light out well before 10 pm.

Third, Prop 8 passed and I am really disappointed, but also glad that it was such a close race. It just saddens me that people would want to prevent people who love each other from getting married.

Fourth, Measure B, which would have brought BART to Santa Clara County, missed it's 2/3 majority approval by .26%! Ugh! It got 66.41% yes votes and still faild because it needed 66.67%. So close! I used to live in the East Bay, where we have BART, and it is so much better than the commuter train system (read CalTrain).

I'll sign off now. I'm working this evening and I want to meditate and still leave plenty of time to not fight traffic on the way there.