Blog Archives - The Land of the Weird

The Land of the Weird

Trip to Seward

9/30/2019

Last Monday, Janelle took Rowen to a doctor's appointment in Anchorage and back. On her return, she remarked that the fall colors were in full effect, making the drive--sans the devastated fire zone--quite beautiful. I realized that this past weekend would be Chloe's best (and perhaps only) chance to see the fall colors in the mountains.

The problem was in Janelle's work schedule, which has had her working Saturdays for quite awhile now. A Sunday trip considerably shortens the time available, but it was our best option. Unfortunately, Sunday was forecasted at 100% rain showers. On top of that, both Chloe and I had homework that we still needed to complete (despite working most of the day on Saturday).

Still, Chloe was interested, and this was our best chance. Thus, we packed up for a road trip. Despite the boys' protests that they had been to Seward more than anyone (due to their field trips), we brought them along with us.

Rain, fog, and clouds obscured much of the view for most of the trip in. We still stopped by the bridge in Cooper Landing and took some pictures in the same area that Trevor had his senior pictures taken. It was there that I realized that Connor brought his jacket, but was wearing shorts. He did not appreciate the rain and the wind.

It was still raining in Seward, but we drove to the waterfall outlet and then over to the rocky beach. We could hardly see the nearest mountain across the bay, but Chloe still seemed impressed. We then went to Thorns for dinner (Connor was obsessed with the "Bucket of Butt" [halibut]) at the recommendation of a friend. The halibut and steak combo was great, Connor and Janelle enjoyed the seafood chowder, Chloe ordered a salad and sweet potato fries, and Rowen boasted that he nearly finished the adult-sized bacon cheeseburger even though most of us thought that half was too much.

The good meal was the real turning point of the trip, for we walked out of Thorns to find that the rain had stopped and the mountains were visible. We immediately went back to the shore, explored, and took pictures. Everyone was fascinated by the massive number of jellyfish that had recently washed ashore. Connor, of course, managed to get one on a stick and started chasing Chloe with it ... well, she now knows what it's like to have little brothers.

Although it was getting darker on the trip back, the scenery lived up to its hype now that the clouds had lifted. It was a truly gorgeous drive. The only frustration was being stopped for construction and then stuck behind a long line of 40 mph traffic all the way to Sterling (Seriously, there are even passing lanes on the flats now, but the offenders sped up in those zones only to slow down again when the zones ended). By the end of the trip, even the boys were glad that they came along. I'm just sorry that it was so rushed.

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

9/29/2019

I was quite angry and bitter during mass today--truly not in a state of grace. Thankfully, a trip to Seward later helped to leach the poison that was running through my hot-blooded heart, and I feel that I can write about today's lessons without giving into the frustration and wrath that I was experiencing earlier.

Today's Gospel reading makes my conscience burn as I pass the homeless and needy on my way to the various activities that make up my life. In the reading, a rich man (whose name is never given) ignores a poor man (who is given a name--Lazarus) who dies at the rich man's door. Lazarus is rewarded in death and the unnamed rich man is tormented.

The Gospels are filled with Jesus warning that the rich will be tormented and the poor will be rewarded. Now, I like to point at the amazingly wealthy and lay judgement upon them (seriously, they deserve such judgement; billionaires, in particular, are reprehensible), yet I live a generally comfortable life, especially when compared to the majority of the world. In fact, my comfort often comes at the expense of those people who are most in need. Sure, I justify this by telling myself that I am just a speck in the larger system, that my life faces enough challenges as is, and that the sacrifices I do make are more than most people I know; however, I know that these are empty attempts to assuage a guilt burrowed deep within me.

Even if I were to go on mission trips and build homes and clean irrigation systems, or spend every evening in soup kitchen or helping the old or neglected, as long as I returned home to my comfortable house, I would still fall short of filling that endless guilt. Some people, many of the saints in the Catholic Church, give everything up in the attempt to bury that guilt, yet reading their stories shows that they never fully find that peace. So I ignore these uncomfortable reflections and go about my life doing the little bits that I do, hoping that God's mercy truly is infinite.

Rainfall

9/28/2019

I'm not a huge fan of rain, especially when having to work while out in it. In general, I prefer snow as snow doesn't always soak through my clothing and it's just prettier to look at. Still, snowfall doesn't come anywhere close to making as comforting of a sound as a nice, steady rain.

I especially like the sound of rain while in a moving car. I suppose that this comes from all of the road trips that we took when I was little. It's during rainstorms when the car felt the most comfortable, and it was easiest to sleep. As I am now the primary driver, getting that dozy feeling while driving is probably not safest thing, but it still brings back fond, nostalgic feelings.

In a close second comes the sound of rain pattering away on a metal roof. Most of the rooms in our house are on the bottom floor or have an attic space above them. However, our living room (my favorite room) has a ceiling that stretches to the rafters, and the sound of the rain can be softly heard while sitting in there. Just sitting and listening to it fall fills me with peace. In fact, I just about dozed off doing just that before I started writing this post.

We are closer to our snow season now, and I'm looking forward to it. However, I'm enjoying the present rainfall and its lulling percussion.

Too Much on My Mind

9/27/2019

I've been sitting here, staring at the screen for seventeen minutes. I don't know what to write. It's not that I don't have anything to write; it's that I have too many things that are floating through my head at the moment to give any of them the attention needed for a halfway decent post. Meanwhile, controversial topics that I would rather avoid keep bubbling to the surface, obscuring my view of the more innocuous possibilities.

You see, I'm wondering if we should go to Seward on Sunday and give Chloe a chance to see the fall colors around Cooper Landing even though there's a hundred percent chance for rain that day. I'm wondering how I'm going to get the cabin cleaned, homework graded, next week's classes planned, and still work on my prospectus and mid-term plan for Walden tomorrow so Sunday will be free. At the same time, I'm trying to avoid topics concerning whistleblowers, impeachment, horrifying Presidential spelling (among other unPresidential behavior), legal abortion as a major factor in the decline of public education, manipulation of left-leaning media, military funding syphoned to a poorly conceived and un-American wall, the historical dangers of disarming a citizenry, and others that I probably shouldn't mention at all as they are probably too offensive.

None of these scattered thoughts are letting me focus, and this is starting to cut to deeply into my sleep. Instead of agonizing further over this, I wish you all a good night, and I hope that you enjoy your weekend.

Dark Phoenix

9/26/2019

This is not a review as I have not watched the movie yet ... because I am terrified of it. To be clear, I am not afraid of any of its scary scenes or devices which are meant to generate a fear response. Rather, I am terrified that it will truly be as horrible as I fear it will be.

Now, full disclosure, I bought the movie anyway. Just as the notorious X-Men 3 sits on my shelves of movies, this one will as well ... once I get around to watching it. I certainly fall into the obsessive collector category when it comes to completing movie franchises (thus I also have a copy of Batman V Superman).

Why am I scared of this movie? Is it the critical reviews? No. There are plenty of poorly reviewed movies that I actually quite enjoy. Is it because of negative comments about the movie from friends and family? No. Actually, I haven't heard anything from any of them about this film ... which I suppose isn't a good sign either. What is it, then? It's the writer.

For those who do not know, the Dark Phoenix saga is easily one of the best stories in the X-Men comics. It balances tragedy and loss with hope and love. The repercussions of the events in the comics have ripples that would affect all X-Men stories after it. Even the 90s X-Men cartoon did an amazing job capturing the story and its nuances.

It was for this reason that the ending of X-Men 2 had so many fans, such as myself, waiting in agony for X-Men 3 to come out and finally put the amazing story on the big screen. Except it didn't. X-Men 3 not only failed in every aspect of the Dark Phoenix story, it was so terrible that it almost killed the entire franchise. It was so very bad that a later movie (Days of Future Past) would erase its events from the movie series timeline.

So why? Why for all that is holy? Why would Fox have the SAME WRITER pen the screenplay for this do-over? Worse, they gave him full directorial control as well. Who, exactly, is Simon Kinberg screwing (aside from X-Men fans) to get to ruin such a great storyline not once, but twice? [Sorry. I may have gotten a bit personal there. I'm certain he's a nice guy, and I like the films he produces (The Martian, Logan, Deadpool), but PLEASE keep him away from the keyboard.]

I almost want to watch it just to see how bad it is, but I'm too scared (and scarred) to do so just yet.

Chipped

9/25/2019

I only had a pristine windshield for a little of a month. I finally replaced it after several years of watching a crack spread across the center of the driver and passenger sides. Unfortunately, I have a clear view no more as a pebble was hurled at Mera from a car going the other direction, creating a double impact crater.

Like the first crack, I was surprised at this one's arrival. The roads have been relatively gravel-free for months. This rock seemed to come out of nowhere.

I don't think that I can wait to get this one repaired as it is not just a divot, but rather a small fracture zone. I certainly do not want it to spread. Hopefully it can be fixed with little hassle and cost.

Political Ugliness [controversial]

9/24/2019

President Trump has joined the ranks of Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, and Andrew Johnson as Presidents who have had official impeachment inquiries started about their fitness to be in office. At this point, he has not been impeached--which would put him in the company of just Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson, neither of whom was removed from office due to their impeachments (although it was close with Johnson). While these sorts of hints and suggestions of impeaching President Trump have been in the air for a while, this is the first official step in the actual process.

In other words, it just got real.

I fully expect that the ugliness we have seen in political discussions is going to escalate dramatically as this process continues. I've heard from several people that they have never seen politics this bad before. As a student of history, I can say that it has been a great deal worse, but this is certainly as bad as it has been for decades. I feel that this plays into the hands of anyone who wants to tear the United States apart.

Don't get me wrong; I'm all about debate. I believe that different people should hold differing political beliefs and not be afraid to say them. I believe that by having those sorts of discussions, we come to a better understanding of the multiple facets of our world.

What I have a problem with is the tone that those "discussions" have started to take. Disagreement should not be an "all or nothing" situation. Certainly, there are areas which have lines that cannot be crossed, but refusing to discuss even those sensitive areas can lead us to dangerous places. Instead of discussion, we are cutting ourselves off from avenues of communication, leading to further bitterness and bile.

I ask that everyone try to keep a respectful tone (which is difficult for my default sarcastic manner) as the inevitable division begins.

Upcoming Election

9/23/2019

I had never really known people who ran for office until coming to Soldotna. This year, I have three friends running for local positions, none of whom will be on my local ballot. Good luck, Jesse Bjorkman, David Carey, and Tyson Cox. I deeply admire the drive that each of these people have in stepping up to make our city and borough a better place.

Today, we saw Dave waving at people from the corner of Marydale and Kenai Spur. Chloe remarked that she had never seen anything like that in France. She was more impressed when I pointed out that he was someone she had met at church yesterday. I mentioned that early voting was currently open, and would be until election day on October 1st. She wondered if he was going to be out there all week.

Meanwhile, I pointed out the myriad signs that Tyson has put around the area. She said that she had noticed them already because they are everywhere. As we talked about it, I realized that I don't know if I would have the same tenacity when it comes to trying to get elected.

I also don't know if I could deal with some of the negativity and outright lies that have been spread about these good men. I understand disagreeing with someone due to political differences, but personal attacks and false attacks are some of the worst parts of our politics. Everyone seems to hate these sorts of things, but they must work, because we keep seeing them time and again.

I hope that each of them succeed in their endeavors to get elected.

2019th

9/22/2019

Normally on Sundays, I would write a reflection on the day's readings. However, today had a once in forever ocurrance (although, I suppose that everything technically is) that I wanted to acknowledge. This post is my 2019th post on my blog (which now gets reprinted on my Facebook page). It will be the only time that the number of blogs and the year will line up. I'd like to think that such an event would herald something greater, but this has been a pretty normal day.

At the moment, I'm working on getting grading done. I had a stack to get through, but I'm nearing the end. I really need a solid day or two to really work on getting ahead, as right now I am struggling to keep up.

Still, all-in-all things are going well for me and mine. In fact, I would say that things are better than they were when I started writing this blog all those years ago. I'm just surprised that I keep coming up with things to write about.

New Furniture

9/21/2019

We noticed during last year’s Christmas that our dining room table, which has served us so well through the years, does not work well with a full house. Even with its leaf in, which is in perpetually, there just isn’t enough space. Our Carcassonne expansions have also indicated that we should probably go bigger, especially since our dining room has the space to do it.

Thus, when we were told about Sandler’s Labor Day celebration, we took the opportunity to look for a new dining room set. Now, technically, we were looking for a reading chair for our bedroom to replace the uncomfortable one that Satin had claimed as her own. However, after sitting in the chairs of one set in particular, we decided to get the new table as well.

With both leaves on (not shown) the table can comfortably seat ten people—twelve if they like each other. The chairs are wider than normal and have back cushions, making them quite comfortable. The only downside is the inlay in the table; its crumb-catching feature has pushed Janelle into investing in table cloths.

The reading chair is also comfortable. It rocks, swivels, has a leg rest, and reclines. Connor says that he will be spending a lot more time in our room now.

I should also note that the picture of the table includes a glimpse of our new French daughter, Chloe. She likes the furniture too.

Liberal Teachers [controversial]

9/20/2019

In order to justify their continual attacks on education, a number of politicians have claimed that teachers are indoctrinating their students with their socialist ideology (the modern equivalent to accusations that Socrates was corrupting the Athenian youth). Recently in our area, many of these attacks focused on the fact that our local educators were banding together with their union ("Union? You mean like the Soviet Union?!") to advocate for their contract--you know, rather than just working for free like everyone else in our capitalist system (I'm using hyperbole). Clearly, this is all a part of a socialist plot to take over our nation.

Now, I'm not going to spend a lot of time pointing out that many of the teachers at our school have conservative political leanings. Nor am I going to go into detail about those teachers I've known who were so conservative, they refused to teach evolution even when they were biology teachers. I'm hardly going to mention those teachers who consistently vote for candidates who clearly hate teachers because of those candidates' conservative rhetoric. I even avoid a debate about how the "leftist" and "socialist" labels are being overused when describing ideals that are actually more centrist.

Instead, I'm going to say "Duh!" Teachers in our current educational system tend to lean to the left because that is how capitalize works. Teachers have been undervalued and underappreciated. Most conservative minded people would seek out jobs that pay better for their educational level. If conservative politicians truly wanted the educational system to lean more to the right, they would PAY TEACHERS MORE. Otherwise, the job attracts those who believe in sacrificing their time for the good of the community--a socialist ideal.

Using the "leftist" slant as an excuse to defund education is ironic and counterproductive. Those politicians who do so are clearly not interested in educating anyone.

The Grading Bag

9/19/2019

Nearly every day, I carry home a bag of papers and assignments that I need to grade. Today, they range from short paragraph responses and tests that need to be added up, to a stack of essays that I am continually too tired to tackle. As normal, other life events have filled most of my day and the pile goes ungraded.

It did not help that I was not able to spend last Saturday catching up on grading. With the eligibility grade check due this coming Monday, I will not only have that which is in my bag right now, but all of the panicked assignments that my students will pile on tomorrow. Yet still, my grading bag went unchecked this evening.

I think that I just carry the bag as a kind of arm exercise.

Preparing

9/18/2019

In just about half an hour, we are packing into Navi (our Honda pilot), driving to the Kenai Municipal Airport, and picking up our new daughter (on loan from Lyon, France for this school year). It won't be long before Chloe Desbois joins that Marks clan. We have her room ready and having been getting the rest of the house presentable ... that way she will not know how messy we are at first.

She has been on various flights (and a train ride before) all day. However, we don't plan on letting her rest tomorrow. She and I have to be up earlier than normal to get Rowen to school for his field trip before we then make our way to the high school to get her registered for classes. Not only does she start her first day of school in America, she will also have her first day of rehearsal for the school musical.

We are all quite excited. The boys and Janelle are currently working on her welcome sign, adding decorations to it. We're letting the boys stay up past their bedtime so we can greet her as a family.

We can hardly wait to meet her.

iPhone Issues

9/17/2019

Ever since the iPod Touch came out over a decade ago, and I got one for Christmas, I have been a fan of Apple devices. That first iTouch (as I called it) revolutionized the way that I read my emails, dealt with online documents, checked the weather and news, and even played certain types of games. When we moved from a flip phone to a smartphone, it made sense to join the iPhone club.

We arrived a little late in the game as our first iPhones were the 4s version. When their battery life dwindled, we passed them on to our girls (who later passed them on to our boys) and moved to the 6 and 6 plus. Last year, we moved on from there to the X. Aside from some screen issues with the 6 plus, we really haven't had complaints about our Apple experiences.

This changed in the past few weeks. Don't get me wrong; the phone is still fine and works as it has in the past. The issue is that I tried to expand my use of it and discovered some odd limitations. When I looked for solutions, I found that Android phones were able to do what I was looking to do (consolidating contacts, creating contact groups, placing direct links to online documents to one of the main screens). Meanwhile, my iPhone required serious workarounds that resulted in only limited success. For the first time, I understood the knowing smugness that some Android users have when they talk about their phones when compared to Apple products.

I don't plan on switching devices again for another several years (at least). Still, I think I might start looking at a different line of products. That's, of course, assuming that computers and phones in the future will look or work anything like what they do today.