Rambling with Words

Saturday, September 7, 2002

Class and shopping

I finally started the 2nd level of ASP (Active Server Pages) this morning. They've cancelled it twice because not enough were enrolled and just six showed up this morning. We only stayed half the time since there were access problems to a database we needed to use and only a student was there to unlock, etc. It was nice to leave early but this means we'll be there next Saturday for 8-9 hours, which is going to be mind numbing.

After I went shopping. I needed a long sleeved white blouse and some decent black shoes, that is something besides walking shoes or tevas, which are the only black shoes I currently own. It was horrible. I never really remember how I look so when I try something on and see myself in the full length mirror it's such a shock. I know I weight more and my waist is somewhat non-existent, but I dont' feel overweight or remember that I am till I see myself in a mirror. I don't have a full length mirror at home so I can se only part of me at a time which is still a bummer but not quite such a shock. I just do not remember how old I am and how not like I was in my 20s.

The shoes are another issue since I don't care for most flats. Heels aren't an issue since I just don't wear them. The problem with dress flats is that my big toe nail always hurts since it seems to sticks up more than the shoe designers make allowance for. After several hours I gave up and came home. I'll try again tomorrow because I have them by Wednesday when I sing in the Rolling Requiem and Monday night is practice till 9:15 and Tuesday night is dress rehearsal till 9:30 so I can't really get to the store after Sunday.

I finished reading "An Echo in my Memory" by Alan Weisman. This is Weisman's story of his family who fled the Ukraine after his grandfather was killed in a pogrom. His father becomes a controlling angry man who, while not physically abusive, is mentally abusive to his wife and children while becoming as american as he can. He also become strongly anti-communist while his son protests the war in Vietnam. Alan takes us not only back in time as he searches for answers but through his own life as it relates to his father and to the violence that so many people have to live under. As an NPR writer that goes to Columbia and other hotspots and troubled areas he realizes that he is lucky to live in the US but it isn't till he goes to the Ukraine for a story on Chernobyl that he gets close to the reason for his own family history. Excellent book.