Blog Archives - The Land of the Weird

The Land of the Weird

Anchorage Trip

9/30/2017

As Janelle didn't have any obligations today (unlike many Saturdays) and I wanted to make a Costco run while the fall colors were still in full glory, we decided to make a trip up to Anchorage today. We only recently finished unpacking from the experience. Aside from Costco, we also went to the Fred Meyer up there (as they have items not found down here and Janelle's discount still works), Michael's (because Janelle cannot help herself), and Toys R Us (because we promised the boys and Janelle needed to experience what I felt like in Michael's).

Trevor stayed behind with the dogs because he also had an online D&D session planned. Connor wanted to come because he says he likes shopping. Rowen didn't really want to come and said the only reason he was willing to was because he wanted to see friends (the Jacks).

The drive was nice as it was a beautiful day. The sky was almost completely clear with patches of fog rising up from the rivers and lakes. The birch yellows and golds stood in stark contrast to the spruces' dark greens. Even the way back gave us a spectacular sunset and moonrise.

As always, it was good to spend time with friends. At some point we need to start one of these outings on a Friday and spend a day or two up there so we can have more time with friends, get some more specific shopping done, and simply spend some time getting to know the area better. For now, we had a pleasant trip.

Having Fun

9/29/2017

For all of the stress that I have been under starting at a new school, I have to say that I'm starting to enjoy myself. I'm not sure when, but recently I found myself letting go of the continual dread that I had that I was going to screw something up (which I did) and allowed myself to just run with it. Now, the fear of failure is still hovering over my head; however the shadow is simply not as dark as it was.

At least one reason is because I can see that the point system that I am using is making more sense to more students. I know that this has been a trying time for them as well, so it is nice to see them relax a bit as they have a better understanding of what they can do. This has also allowed me to breathe a little easier as I have better figured out how to show the students their progress on PowerSchool.

It has also helped that we just started the Crucible in my junior English classes--which have had the most complaints--and some of the students who have complained about our other readings have been seriously getting into it. This is what I love the most about teaching: sharing things that I love and getting into interesting discussions based on them. I hope that this is a sign of things to come.

Cub Scouts

9/28/2017

Earlier this week, the boys received flyers advertising an upcoming Cub Scout informational meeting (which was held today). They have been begging me since then to join. After going to the meeting today, they were even more convinced (the Pinewood Derby and camping being the main selling points). It does mean that we won't be doing the ice skating lessons. Due to the time of the meetings, ice skating lessons are not a viable option, but the boys seemed to be getting tired of them towards the end of last season anyway.

I like giving them the opportunity to get out of the house and learn new things. Despite the money-sink that scouting seems to have become, it provides them with opportunities and activities that we generally do not think to do on our own. It also appears that Connor has friends who are will be in the Pack/Den (the Pack meets weekly due to the small size) with him. I certainly like giving them a greater chance to socialize.

I enjoyed many of my scouting experiences (and hated others). I hope that they primarily have the good ones.

Tickets Booked

9/27/2017

Due to a special that Janelle found online, we booked tickets for Katrina and Peter to come up for a visit during winter break. They will be up after Christmas, but will be here for New Years. All of us are quite excited about this as there had been a chance that we wouldn't get to see Katrina for over a year.

While the boys and I will have time off during their visit, we are not as sure about Janelle's schedule. Hopefully, we will be able to work it out so that we all of plenty of time together. Katrina has already expressed interest in seeing fireworks for New Year's Eve (anyone know where and when they put on a good show?) and the Aurora (although that might be harder to schedule). I think that Peter is mostly interested in seeing for himself what winter is like up here.

This certainly gives us all something to look forward to.

Ready Player One

9/26/2017

Crammed to the brim with 80s nerd-pop culture, Ready Player One takes the reader on a journey through a dystopian future that is filled with nostalgia. The basic premise of the story, that an online universe has been created which humanity escapes to in order to avoid the crumbling reality of their daily lives, is certainly relevant to today's culture. The journey of the protagonist as he tries to find the "Easter Egg" imbedded in the system by the creator pulled me along at a breakneck pace.

This is not to say that it is without its faults. Like most dystopian stories, the antagonists are tremendously two-dimensional and there are plot holes that one could fly a starship through (and there are plenty of starships--virtual ones--in this story). I also found some of the underlying philosophies disturbingly pessimistic with some ideas that are a presented in a bit to "preachy" of a manner. Yet my largest issue was the from the gaps in the geek culture of the time. While the author probably had these omissions as a way to avoid litigation, I could feel their absence clearly as I was reading.

All told, it was an exciting story that was thought-provoking in ways that made me both look forward to the future and back to my own youth. As messed up as our future world is portrayed, I also enjoyed my time in it. I recommend it to anyone with a love for science fiction and fond memories of enjoying geek culture in the 80s.

Dreams

9/25/2017

In an effort to get a little more rest, I've made an effort to go to bed earlier than normal for the past several nights. Unfortunately, I have found myself waking up again and again throughout each of these nights. Whether this wakefulness has been due to my dreams or my dreams are more memorable because of my wakefulness, they have filled my mind with unease.

I only remember fragments of them, and I won't bore anyone with the details, but many of them have involved me getting lost on an unfamiliar multilane highway with multiple turnpikes despite seeming to be in a strange wilderness. Meanwhile, my GPS is useless because long stretches of the road are under construction with detours that seem to loop back upon themselves. I suppose that it's an apt metaphor for how I'm feeling lately: I know where I want to be, but I'm overwhelmed with the many distractions and detours on my path to get there.

It's a disconcerting way to start a morning.

The Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

9/24/2017

How big is God? Most Christians would immediately answer that God is infinite, that there is no limit to His presence and power. Yet so often we try to fit God into our own God-sized estimation. We believe that His love only extends to people who believe exactly as we do. We limit God's love to the form of a business contract with the understanding that if we go to church so many times or say so many prayers that we will be saved. Meanwhile, we try to shift God's gaze from our own sinfulness by pointing out the sins of others.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts." God loves us all unconditionally, but is clear that He is not limited by our petty ideas. In today's Gospel, Jesus tells of the landowner who generously gives a full day's wages to everyone who worked his vineyard, no matter how long. Those who had worked longer are incensed by this lack of "fairness," but the landowner rebukes them for being envious of his generosity.

How much better would our world be if we were not obsessed by pettiness? We continually complain about "fairness" when we are full of envy, yet ignore true fairness when others are left out. We bicker over whether it is proper to stand, sit, or kneel at God's table, when we are blessed to be invited to it at all. God wants more for us, but by limiting our view of God, we limit ourselves as well.

Armistice

9/23/2017

[spoilers for the movie Wonder Woman] I want to start by staying that I genuinely enjoyed the movie Wonder Woman. However, one part bothered me the moment it happened: the reveal of the big bad, Ares. It turns out that, rather than being General Ludendorff*, Ares has been posing as Sir Patrick, the British politician who was promoting peace and who funded the expedition to stop Ludendorff--what a twist!

... Wait, what? This was a villain twist that was only surprising because it does not make any sort of logical sense in the movie. It's confusing that he would be supporting an armistice (although he suggests in his dialogue with Diana that it was just to make the British drop their guard). It also makes Ares responsible for putting Diana in the perfect position to end all of his plans, making him seem extremely short sighted.

Or was he? I was upset with the Hollywood twist of having the man who is proposing an armistice turn out to be the god of war. However, then I remembered that the armistice would lead to one of the more lopsided treaties in history: the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty would blame the Germans for the entire war and put such crippling restrictions on it government that a generation later would see the rise of the Nazi party, and thus the even more destructive World War II, as a direct result. Suddenly, Ares' hands in the armistice makes a great deal more sense. Sure, he was bringing about the end of one war, but in doing so, he was creating a war much more terrible.

I suppose the twist actually makes a lot of sense.

*There was an actual General Ludendorff in history. Like the movie, he was in charge of developing chemical weapons (and promoted the use of mustard gas in combat). Unlike the movie, he did not die in WWI having been impaled by Diana. Rather, he recommended the armistice (under more favorable terms), was blamed for how it turned out, and forced to go into hiding. He later came back into power by blaming all of the changes to the treaty on the treachery of Jews, Christians, and Freemasons. He would support HItler and influence some of his political ideas, but would later distance himself from him because Ludendorff did not feel that Hitler had the military acumen to actually conquer the world. He died a couple of years before the invasion of Poland.

Don't Cancel Your Reservations

9/22/2017

A surprising number of my students were concerned that the world is supposed to come to an end tomorrow. Some religious numerologist came up with the date September 23, 2017 (which was misidentified as the autumnal equinox) as the day that Nibiru (or Planet X) will collide with the Earth. Supposedly, the hurricanes, forest fires, and flooding are all symptoms of the nearing presence of this malevolent planet. Yesterday, the man behind the claim started some backpedaling, claiming that he was misinterpreted and that the 23rd will be the end of the world, but rather the beginning of seven years of chaos that will directly precede the end of the world.

This is not the first time that such rumors have been spread. Somehow we survived the Mayan calendar, and before that the turn of the millenia. I remember Nostradamus predictions being quite popular back when I was a high school student. I know people who try to cross-reference the world news with the Book of Revelation. Yet somehow we are still here (with the exception of those of us who aren't).

Despite my reassurances, some students remained adamant. They noted Bible verses that predict the end times with chapter and verse numbers that matched the dates of recent hurricane landings. They said that the recent earthquakes in Mexico were on the anniversary of other devastating earthquakes (the odds aren't all that astronomical). Even an acquaintance of mine predicted today that Alaska would be seeing an earthquake of 7.0 or higher in the next sixth months as a reaction to these other natural disasters.

In the end, I told my students that they should do their homework anyway ... just in case we are still here on the 24th.

His Majesty's Dragon

9/21/2017

I just finished the first book in a series by Naomi Novik which is set in an alternative history where humans live and work with dragons (of many different sizes and abilities). Set in the Napoleonic era, the story follows an English naval officer who suddenly finds himself bonded to a rare breed of dragon with an interesting sense of humor. Although I have only a limited knowledge of the Napoleonic era, it is quite entertaining to see how that time period might have been with this one (albeit large) twist.

Trevor had been gifted the first three books last year and loved them. It was on his recommendation that I picked the first one up while I was waiting for my copy of Ready Player One (which I just started reading) to arrive. This is the first time that he has recommended a book to me rather than the other way around.

The book isn't perfect, but it was enjoyable and I look forward to reading more in the series--which is nine books long now. Considering that not all fantasy series have been able to hold my interest, I'm glad to find a new one that seems to be worth my time.

Controlling Information

9/20/2017

In one of my group discussions, I was asked what I might say to the UN about the role of leaders in trying to control either the access to information or its interpretation (which I had identified as a characteristic essential to leadership). What follows is my response:

I would begin my address to the UN by explaining why North Korea should ... What? That's already been done? Oh. Never mind.

We are already seeing the problems nations, and even individuals, are facing with the massive amount of information that is available on the Internet. Some nations are going to extreme lengths to firewall their entire country in an attempt to control what their citizens do or do not have access to. In our own nation, politicians spend a great deal of time, money, and energy not only trying to control the news cycle, but even going out of the way in an attempt to discredit information that is in disagreement with their political stances.

Meanwhile, as individuals, we are self-censoring without being fully aware that we do so. Social networking sites and browsers not only keep a record of what we search for or "like," but they even keep track of the amount of time we spend looking at a particular post and what keywords can be found in it. They will then provide similar posts at the top of our searches and even news feeds. Thus, people who are seeing a lot of articles about natural disasters have probably been spending a lot of time reading such articles. Me? My news feed is filled with amusing cat and dog videos, Firefly references, and memes that involve bacon.

There is more information out there than we could possibly sift through on our own. Computers are getting more and more adept at feeding us that which we are attracted to viewing because that is what gets their companies the best advertising placement. What I would warn the UN is that we are not just in danger of people using information to influence us, but that the information feed itself is creating greater political divisiveness and political unrest simply for the sake of profit.

Some Mowing

9/19/2017

As we had our first sunny day in a couple of weeks, I decided to mow the most overgrown section of the lawn. It was still a great deal wetter than I would have liked, and it took a while to get the lawn evenly mowed. I definitely need a new blade next year; thankfully, I already bought one.

For the most part, I've been pretty happy with my electric mower. I now have a second battery, so I can charge one while I'm mowing with the other. It's quiet enough that the noise doesn't bother me and I can even listen to podcasts while mowing (something I could not do with my old mower no matter how loud I had the headphones). My primary complaint would be the blade itself as the company (EGo) designed the locking mechanism so that only their blades can be attached to the mower. Unfortunately, I do not feel that their blades are of the best quality, and they have a strange formation that makes them very difficult to sharpen. All told, the mower is light, easy to use, and has worked well on our yard.

It was getting a little cool and dark (which is a little weird after a being used to a brighter summer) and the neighbor dogs started barking at something, so I decided to end my mowing before getting to the entire lawn. Considering that it turned out that the dogs were barking at a moose and her baby, I feel justified in my decision and not at all lazy or cowardly (like I kind of did before I saw them). Oh well, the rest of the lawn doesn't look that bad anyway.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

9/18/2017

Having stopped watching after the first season, and then stopping again after having tried the first few episodes of the second season, I thought that I would not return to watching the ABC show again. It's not that it was bad; it just wasn't good. Now that the boys and I have made it to the beginning of season 3, I have to say that it is a much better show.

Although I still like the Netflix Marvel shows better (with the exception of he who shall not be named), the stories and characters of Agents have become quite compelling. The boys often beg to watch the next episode after the inevitable cliffhanger or teaser at the end of the episode we just watched. Sometimes, I am just as eager as they are to continue with the series.

I am disappointed to find out that the TV show characters will not show up in any of the movies (at least, not under the current plans). I suppose that it would not make too much sense if they did; however, I keep wanting the Avengers to find out that Agent Coulson is still alive and (mostly) well. For now, I have to content myself with watching the show continue to improve.

Lows and Highs

9/17/2017

This cold has really done a number on me this weekend. I don't really trust myself to write something pleasant about today's readings as even the coursework that I completed took on a darker tone that reflected how I currently feel (I thankfully edited out a comment I was making about Hitler for the paper I had to write about leadership). At present, I have a dull, but persistent pain between the bridge of my nose and my right eye that no amount of nose-blowing has cured. I know that a good portion of this is due to the lack of sleep I have had, so I plan on going to bed soon.

The high note is that the lack of sleep I mentioned was due to how late Trevor and I were at the Homecoming dance yesterday. Both of us had a great time. I loved getting the opportunity to see my students dressed up and enjoying themselves. Many of my students (present and former) came up to say how glad they were to see me there, a large number of them even gave me hugs. Meanwhile, Trevor was not only dancing, but dancing with a girl ... all night. This from the young man who only the day before was talking about how he didn't plan to dance with anyone.

It was a good evening. I just wish I could convince my head of that.