More Snow

We had a ton of snow fall on Wednesday throughout the day. Since classes were canceled for Wed and Thu, I decided to head down to Va Beach early, especially since more snow was due for Friday and Saturday. Before I could leave, however, I had to dig out my car. I shoveled the walkway and then had to shovel snow off my car - the brush could not handle the sheer volume of snow. Ridiculous. Thankfully, my neighbor is a saint and used his snowblower to clear my sidewalk and my driveway from the back of my car down to the street. It took awhile to get my wheels clear enough to get traction and Indy was none too pleased about walking outside only to be in snow up to his chest. When shoveling, the snow was up to my knees.

Oye.

If I was going to be living in the state longer than one more winter, I'd invest in a snowblower, but since next year will be my last NY winter, it doesn't really make sense. Now, if the snow in Va Beach decides to start falling at those levels, that's another story entirely. I don't mind the snow, I just don't like being in pain from shoveling. I don't even mind the cold as much anymore and I take great joy in sunshine, even when it's cold. Funny how you adjust.

School and Birthday

So today was my first day of Golden Age of Islam. It's going to be an interesting class. Lots of papers, but I'm pretty good at those. More interestingly, the teacher (who is known to be a little...odd) speaks fluent Arabic (and several other languages if I recall). I think she was a little started that I knew the root of the words Islam and Muslim (SLM, which means peace through submission). I'm going to dig out my military terminology book from language school and loan it to her since she's interested and it will be useful to bring my dictionary so I can look up roots. Really excited about this class.

The weekend was phenomenal. The food was good, the conversation was great and it was overall an amazing time. I'm not sure there was more I could ask for my birthday than to spend it with friends eating and playing. The only thing that could have made it better is if Kyle was here.

Early day tomorrow - Calculus 2 at 10:20!

Summary of a Wonderful Weekend

I had the most amazing weekend. Yes, it's Tuesday (okay, Wednesday) already, but the weekend went through Monday so I'm justified in being a little late.

Kyle was in this weekend, which means it would have been amazing if we had stayed in the house. We did not, however. Now, among my boy's many charms is his utter detestation of the snow. Not to mention he has no natural defense against it at all. I would not have been surprised if we hibernated this weekend for although we had sunny, clear days, the temperature peaked at about 30.

But no, we braved the cold! On Saturday, we saw Black Swan, which was fantastic. Haunting is a great word for it. They mean it when they call it a psychological thriller. Amazing, truly amazing. Everyone was really great in it, but Natalie Portman gave a truly thrilling performance. She also did all her own dancing except for the long shots that required her to be en pointe for an extended period (it takes years of training to be able to stay en pointe for long lengths of time and though she trained for a year, I'm glad she didn't risk breaking her feet). Even hours later, we were still talking about it. It sticks with you. Wow. Just wow.

After the movie, we grabbed dinner at The Melting Pot, which I always like. Kyle, who is not a fan of cheese, braved a cheese course and liked it. The chocolate course is always amazing and we shared an outstanding bottle of wine. He is dedicated to his pursuit to get me to like reds. Afterwards, we caught another movie, this time True Grit. Completely different and truly fantastic. I like westerns since they have a lot of what I like in movies. We already knew Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges could act and Josh Brolin was unsurprisingly captivating for his few minutes on screen. But hands down the movie was owned by Hailee Steinfeld. What a debut. I think it's tragic the way it was shut out of the Golden Globes, but this girl has some future ahead of her.

We came home and watched Social Network, which we both missed in theaters. It was good, I certainly enjoyed it and it was interesting. Justin Timberlake was really good - he's got some chops and I'm glad to see him getting bigger roles. However...I don't understand why everyone thought it was so groundbreaking. Maybe it's because it's the topic that was fascinating - we all use facebook, even if we hate it, and seeing how it started, and how young they were, is really interesting. Maybe it's just because we saw two really phenomenal movies earlier, but it didn't wow me. I'd watch it again and I enjoyed it, but eh.

Sunday we ventured into the city and saw Avenue Q. Everyone knows I'm a Broadway fan, but Kyle is not the biggest musical guy. I thought swearing puppets might be a good intro and, thankfully, he really seemed to enjoy it. I was disappointed that the understudy for Kate/Lucy the Slut had such a weak voice. Kate has some great songs and, more importantly, an important vocal line in the harmonies, so the performance was missing something without a strong vocal. Maybe the girl got called in at the last minute - it was the matinee. But the show was fun, regardless. We followed with the thing Kyle had been truly looking forward to - dinner at Brasserie Les Halles, Anthony Bourdain's restaurant before he became a chef at large. The menu hadn't changed since he was there and it was to die for. We had clams for a starter, then I had scallops in a champagne sauce while Kyle had steak tartar. Spectacular. The food tasted so good, I couldn't even describe it. For desert Kyle had profiteroles, which were new to him, and I had the most amazing creme brule I have ever tasted. The sugar was so thick, I had to take a good whack at it to crack it. The bourdeoux was had was eh and definitely did nothing for the scallops, but the port we had with dinner (and shared with our neighbors on both sides) was divine. Truly a fantastic dining experience. I really want to go there for breakfast...

As if the weekend couldn't get any better, Kyle gave me the most beautiful earrings for my birthday. Simple, elegant and classy, they will be added to the staples of my jewelry collection. The man has excellent taste (though no surprise there). And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. His parents gave me a really lovely charm bracelet, which came with a puppy print (Indy), a horse (I ride), J heart K, a garnet (my birthstone) and a mortarboard (for school). Not only is it beautiful and utterly versatile, it clearly took some thought and time to put together, which I appreciate even more.

So, a week before my birthday and I'm already feeling utterly spoiled. I have 2 lab reports and a final this week - but at least I'm going into it with a smile.

Shootings in Tuscon

I've been following all weekend the horrific shootings in Tuscon, AZ. I've read the suspect's Myspace and the reports on his behavior from school. I've listened to Keith Olberman's call for a change in political rhetoric and call for politicians and commentators to repudiate* their previous statements involving violence, even if it was unintentional and heard him apologize for his own such comments. Lots of political commentators have weighed in.

I posted last year my own disgust at the tone that politics has taken. I am so very tired of the shouting, the over-the-top rhetoric, the hysteria. Our country was designed to have multiple political standpoints and the entire point of a democracy is to have a bloodless change of power as a reflection of the will of the people. We're supposed to disagree. We're supposed to discuss and argue. But I never thought politics would reach the point where it is now.

I don't know if the shooting was politically motivated. I don't think that you can blame anyone for the shooting but the shooter. However, I do think that the politicians and pundits who have let the conversation reach this fever pitch have got to bring it down. Maybe this shooting wasn't about politics, but do you think we're going to always be that lucky? I don't. And we don't know where the gun will be pointed next.

This is not a call for gun reform or change and I've been happy to see sparingly little call for that. It's not the gun's fault. It's not Palin's fault, though I think her irresponsibility has finally been called into question on a large scale thanks to this. It would have been nice to see her grow a pair and say something meaningful in response, but so far she's just dug in her heels and proven to us, yet again, that she has no business being a politician.

Mostly, I'm just very tired of our elected officials behaving badly. I am so very tired of the poor manners, the name calling - actions we wouldn't accept from children are running rampant on the Senate floor. The refusal to work together is childish - it's taking your ball and going home. And the disgusting use of violence in our political atmosphere is disturbing. There is nothing wrong with supporting guns (I do) and being proud of your military background (I am). There is, however, something very wrong about turning political rallies into gun shows and using incendiary language in political ads and campaigns. I am very tired of it. And I'm really done.

Over the next few days I will be writing my Representatives of both parties and asking them to demand a return to a sane political landscape and to expect the same from their colleagues. I will write the same to the Speaker of the House, the Minority Leader, the Secretary of State and the President. I don't think for a moment that my letters will have much effect on Washington. But I can hope that someone will read them and know that there are citizens who care very much about the tone that Washington has set...and that I don't like it.

*He used repudiate at least a dozen times in that broadcast. I have to wonder if it's an attack on Palin's inability to use the word correctly.

"We are really just downright afraid of sissy boys"

I was listening to NPR on my way home from doing serious damage at Barnes and Noble (courtesy of Angel who gifted me a wonderful gift card) and I heard the story Letting 'Princess Boys' be...Themselves on Tell Me More. The topic is little boys who dress like girls and why it freaks people out. The term Princess Boy was coined by one of the women's 5-year-old son. In Cheryl Klodavis' own words....She

He's very comfortable being a boy and he actually coined the term My Princess Boy. He said he wanted to be a princess, and having not one of my great-mother moments, he basically said I'm a princess. And I said girls are princesses not boys. And he turned to me and looked me square in the eye and said I am a princess boy.

She talks about people who make fun or laugh at her son and at her because he likes sparkling things and dresses. His comment on the matter is that they can't be his friend unless they can be his friend while he's wearing a dress. When the interview asked if she thought her son was gay, her response was that she thought her son was 5.

We're okay, of course, with women dressing as men at all ages and doing "male" things. We label them strong women and speak highly of them. Or we don't notice because it's becomes so commonplace. But when a boy dresses like we think a girl should or otherwise rejects what we tell him he should be, it's a scandal! It's an outrage! It's a bestseller!*

Another really interesting point made was that the child's brother and father were comfortable with the whole thing way before the mother was. She admitted she still struggles with it - who wants their child to be different and go through the pain and struggle of being different in a society that strives for normal? She has to ask herself what her motivations are when she is bothered by her son's behavior. But she is trying to be a good mom and let her son be who he is. She says that her job as a parent is not to control but guide him.

It was an interesting article and struck me, so I'm writing. The full thing can be found here.

*I am actually really interested in reading her book and am not criticizing her for writing it in the first place - it's an interesting issue that doesn't get enough conversation and thus remains feared.

School Starts

Class started again today. It's not much of a break, less than two weeks between my last final and my first class. But it will all be worth it to graduate next Spring, a year ahead of schedule.

I was supposed to take a gen ed this cycle that I was actually interested in (a rare occasion), but the class was canceled due to a lack of students. Made me sad, not to mention put me in a position of having to choose a new class 3 days before classes started. However, I found a psychology class I hadn't noticed previously and that is being taught by a professor I know. It's as close to a win as I can make happen.

Dr. L (as we'll abbreviate him to) is an interesting professor. He's a statistician, which I like, and I took my Research 2 class with him over the summer. The struggle in that class was the abysmally slow pace, which was his attempt to not lose someone in a class where the most difficult math was taking a square root on a calculator and even that caused stumbling. However he didn't begrudge me playing Sudoku in his class, so I like him. Also, he made a point to talk to me all of the Fall semester and ask about my Research project, as well as offer to talk to a conference director on my behalf so I can present. Pretty good guy. His sense of humor can be a little...quirky, but he does make me laugh from time to time and is especially good at teasing students who aren't smart enough to understand what he's saying. I appreciate subtlety.

The class is Learning and Motivation. No surprise that a lot of the students are educational psych majors. They also seem to be relatively early in their course work, as the class only requires Intro to get into. There's a lab component using a virtual rat, which is neat, and the subject matter is generally interesting and applicable to my own future work, since basic training is nothing if not behavioral modification. He and I chatted about that a little after class.

I had forgotten that his course load is often tough. We meet a total of 13 days (we're off for MLK) and in that we have 3 lab reports, a midterm and a final. Ouch. My winter session last year had 1 paper, that was all. Funny enough, that class meets next door. Dr. L. also has a very strict attendance and lateness policy, so I have to actually go to class. But it's only 13 (12 now...) classes total, so it's not that bad.

I'm interested in seeing how this goes. We started out with basics today, reviewing different factions of psychology so that everyone is clear that learning is a behavioral, environmental area of psych. I think it will be interesting, and I'm pretty good at taking notes while keeping up with email and Google Reader or playing Sudoku. My iPad just became an invaluable resource. And the 30 minute break he gives is plenty of time to get to Starbucks and back. Should be fun!

So long, 2010.

It's the New Year. I don't make resolutions because if I want to change something, I start when I think about it rather than wait, otherwise I lose my motivation. However, there are a few things I try to do every year.

Every year I try...

..to be a little healthier than the year before.

..to learn to do something new.

..to be a little more financially secure.

..to be happier in my relationships.

Just four things, not all that much. In 2010, I think I succeeded in all of them. I got my Fibromyalgia diagnosis, which means I've been able to be treated. I learned to knit and to write APA styled research papers. My debt continues to be chipped away without accruing new ones. And I am happier in my relationship with family and in my love life than I have been in my adult life. Not too shabby.

Though, I will say that 2010 flew by at warp speed. I think back to the milestones of the year and can not believe that they were 6, 8, 10 months ago. This holiday season was one of the least stressful I've had in a long time and I really got to enjoy it. So thank you to everyone who has been part of my 2010 and moves with me into my 2011. I can't wait to see what's coming!