more on the Kalamzoo visit, etc.

I was very tired last night while I was typing, so will finish up the story and add some details now...

I have not been the only one who has been sick with the fever/cold/sore throat thing. Steven has also been sick, and missed school on Friday. He went back to school today, and I haven't gotten any phone calls from school yet, so hopefully he is doing OK. I hated leaving him him on Friday, and it made me feel horrible. I was trapped between the needs of my two children, and the needs pulled me in two directions. But Dan reassured me that he was working nearby, and he would drop by the house frequently to check on the little man, so I did go with Bill. It turned out that Dan indeed did stop by several times, and kept a pretty close eye on him, so it was all right.

The weekend now seems to be a blur of sleepiness, but Bill did seem pleased by the campus and its facilities. They have a state of the art fitness center for the students, which made Bill really smile. The engineering school was state of the art. They are building a new chemistry building. And the food was good and fresh. One of the cafeterias has a sub sandwich shop, where they bake their own bread and make you a sandwich to order. Another lets you pick out the ingredients you want and then stir fries it up for you, like a Mongolian barbecue restaurant. So the food made Bill happy. A lot of the big classroom buildings also have little coffee and tea shops were they have snacks like bagels, along with hot beverages and smoothies. The campus itself is very hilly, so you would get a pretty decent workout just walking around between the dormitory and the class room buildings all day.

I got a good night's sleep last night and am actually feeling a bit better today. I will try to go in to work tonight, and hopefully my coworkers will not chase me (and my germs) away this time.

 

a new week begins; Kalamazoo/WMU visit

I have been sick lately. First came the tummy bug; then came the fever/bad cold/sore throat bug, which I have now had for about a week. I missed work on Thursday, and my coworkers begged me to leave tonight after a couple of hours, as they did not want my germs.

Nonetheless, I did manage to (somehow) get to Kalamazoo on Friday and Saturday with Bill. I mostly slept; he did nearly all of the driving (which is no hardship for a teenager!). On Friday we went on a campus tour of Western Michigan University and ate lunch in the cafeteria of one of the dorms. I can see why they included it in the tour; the food was actually good. We also headed out to the campus of the engineering school, which is three or so miles away from the main campus (frequent free busses connect the two campuses). There has been an engineering school at WMU for decades, but this campus is only three years old - all shiny and new and state of the art. The campus also has many high tech research facilities from a variety of companies, who give internships and summer jobs to the students. It is a win-win relationship for the companies and for the school.

After the day at Western, we checked into the hotel and I collapsed. After a long nap (greatly needed) we ate dinner (at the hotel, which tells you how tired I was - hotel restaurants are generally pretty bad  - luckily the one at the hotel where we stayed had good food!), I had a hot shower, and then I collapsed again. Luckily, Bill was tired and so was not in the mood to want to go explore the campus or the city.

On Saturday we ate breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and went to WMU for the Medallion Scholarship competition. The kids went off and wrote essays and then did group problem solving. They had informational meetings for the parents, then a hearty lunch buffet. We walked over to the Honors College and visited with those professors and advisors for awhile (if he goes to WMU, Bill would be enrolled in both the engineering school and the honors college). Bill then drove home and I crawled into bed.

The weekend went well, all things considered. Bill was happy to learn that one of the meal plans  includes up to 99 meals/week. As an honors student, he can live in a dorm with extended quiet hours and an emphasis on studying. Since he is anything but a partier, he likes that idea. He is also pleased that he can have his little truck on campus, for an annual parking fee. He seems to need to know that he can come home if he wishes to whenever he wishes to. That seems to be a security blanket of sorts for him.

So he has enjoyed his visits to Ball State, Northwestern, and Western Michigan Universities. Two of the three have offered him huge scholarships, and he has a decent chance of getting at least one of two smaller local scholarships as well. We are planning one more trip to Ball State in March, before the deadlines for making his final decision loom. I think it will be a difficult decision - he has been blessed with an embarrassment of riches in his offers.

I am pleased with the new medicine I am taking this female cycle. I got the prescription for it when I had my gyn exam. It is to cut down on the torrential bleeding, cramping, and back pain. So far it is working very well, and this period is the least painful I have had in years. That is definitely something to cheer about!

 

midweek

It's been a bit of a rough week so far. On Monday I either got a new cold, or the old cold (which I got just before Christmas and thought I was nearly rid of last week) started hitting me very hard again. My head in awash in a sea of mucus. Bill got the nasty vomiting thing on Monday and was miserable. The healthy diet with lots of vegetables did not agree with Dan, and he was unhappy enough about it that he has gone back to eating junk food. At least Steven is doing very well - the school district trainer is amazed at how quickly his knee has been bouncing back, and credits the long walk we took in Chicago (which I thought was a disaster at the time) for loosening things up and making for a quicker rehab for him. And yesterday the weather was funky and I got to drive home on icy roads, which really stressed me out.

Hopefully the weekend in Kalamazoo will go well. Bill will be competing for a Medallion Scholarship :

http://www.wmich.edu/finaid/Publication/scholarships/Freshmen.html

But, just as importantly, it will be nice just to spend some time with him. Because of my weird work schedule, and the schedule of the kids' school and athletics, we see very little of each other during the school year. I miss the children so much, I often forget that they miss me just as fiercely. It meant the world to Steven to have that afternoon exploring Chicago together: I think Bill will equally enjoy the time exploring Kalamazoo.

Well, it's off to the grocery store now. We are out of canned cat food, and the poor spoiled kitties cannot make do with just dry cat food! Also, we are having a group dinner at work tonight and I am assigned to bring a salad or two, which I must go pick up. And then off to work...

Dune chapters four & five

We have slowly been doing a group read of the classic science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert. Here is a dissection of two chapters.

Dune chapter 4

You have read that Muad'Dib had no playmates his own age on Caladan. The dangers were too great. But Muad'Dib did have wonderful companion-teachers. There was Gurnsey Halleck, the troubador warrior. You will sing some of Gurnsey's songs as you read along in this book. There was Thufir Hawat, the old Mentat Master of Assassins, who struck fear even into the heart of the old Padishah Emperor. There were Duncan Idaho, the Swordmaster of the Ginaz; Dr. Wellington Yueh, a name black in treachery but bright in knowledge; the Lady Jessica, who guided her son in the Bene Gesserit Way, and - of course - the Duke Leto, whose qualities as a father have long been overlooked.
~ from "A Child's History of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan

In the fourth chapter we learn more of the inhospitable planet of Arrakis. We learn that the Atreides think that there are many more native inhabitants, the Fremen, than there is usually thought to be there. The Fremen hate the Harkonnen, and the Atreides hope to make an alliance with them. Paul mentions the prison planet of Salusa Secundus, which was once the Corrino homeworld before it was ecologically destroyed in an act of war. Paul thinks that Arrakis sounds even worse than the notorious prison planet...it sort of makes you wonder if the tough-as-nails peoples of those two worlds would make good soldiers, doesn;t it?

More importantly, we meet two of the top Atreides aides - Thufir Hawatt the Mentat and Gurnsey Halleck, a warrior. It is made clear that each would be willing to do almost anything to keep Paul safe. That in fact, they are completely and nearly obsessively loyal to House Atreides. Halleck lost a sister to the Harkonnen, and bears a terrible scar that he received in a slave pit on the Harkonnen home world.

Paul tries to talk to Thufir about the things the Rev. Mother said to him, especially about how she thinks his father is doomed. But he finds he cannot speak freely about his interactions and discussions with her. He can talk about some of it, but he realizes that she has put some sort of block on him...which in turn made me wonder yet again about the Bene Gesserit and the odd powers these "witches' seem to have over mind and body...

Dune chapter 5:

YUEH (yu-e),Wellington (weling-tun), Stdrd 10,082-10,191; medical doctor of the Suk School (grd 10,092-10,112); md: Wanna marcus, B.G. )Stdrd 10,092-10,186?); chiefly noted as betrayer of Duke Leto Atreides. (Cf: Bibiliography, Appendix VII (Imperial Conditioning) and Betrayal, The.)
~from "Dictionary of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan

Chapter five is a very short little chapter, which is important in that it shows who the betrayer of the Atreides is, and his motives in doing so.

Dr. Wellington Yueh is a physician, one who is considered so trustworthy he would be able to treat even members of the Imperial family. He is a graduate from a wekk known medical school, the Suk.

He is one of Paul's teachers, and comes to talk to Paul and tell him that he has assigned Paul some lessons for the crossing of interstellar space to Arrakis. He also talks to Paul about the Fremen, and answers some of Paul's questions about them.

He also gives Paul a gift of a precious old Orange Catholic Bible, designed to be used by space travellers - a priceless gift.

He also hates himself for what he knows he will do to the Atreides, and for his hypocracy in still pretending to be a loyal Atreides servant, and for the sheer waste of the loss of lives such as Paul's. It is clear that the betrayal has been brought about by the Harkonnen, whom Yueh passionately hates...the Harkonnen whom he hates as much as he loves his lost wife...

I've been thinking about this chapter in the back of my mind all day.

It is sheerly and horrifyingly evil the way the Harkonnens twist Yueh's love and concern for his wife into an instrument of betrayal.

That's just sick and wrong...to take what should be someone's strength, someone's goodness and turn it into a weapon of grief, death, and despair. To turn one deep loyalty into the destruction of another loyalty...

some book reviews

Well, I just woke up with a very sour stomach, and need to kill some time before the antacid kicks in...so I thought I would copy and paste and edit (a little bit) some of the book reviews  I have posted at Ahira's Hangar. That way I have a record of them should that discussion board ever be hacked again!

About a month ago I started reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It was a pretty good read.

It begins telling the story of a teenaged diplomat's daughter who finds a mysterious book and papers about Dracula in her father's library.

When she asks about it, it turns out that the father's PhD dissertation adviser (and leading historian) had also once mysteriously received such a book and checked up on Dracula when he was young. He came to believe from his research in Turkey that Dracula still lived.

The father slowly tells the historian's story, as well as his own. In addition, the daughter begins her own research, leading to what could be called three generations of historians going through the dusty archives of Europe in three very different eras of the twentieth century hunting desperately for information on Dracula and his possible whereabouts. The three stories and time lines are very skillfully interwoven.

In a way this book does remind me a bit of Dan Simmons's excellent vampire novel, Children of the Night in the way the authors did a lot of research on the historical Dracula, and interweave the history with their stories - and both show that the real world Dracula was much worse and more terrifying than any vampire mythos.

Actually, this would be a great vampire book for people who do not care for standard vampire books. It is as much as a history quest as anything, and the tension slowly and masterfully builds.

Kostova's book is quite wonderful. She has elegant language and pacing, and skillfully interweaves the story of three generations of historians on the trail of Dracula, primarily through historical documents and interviews. However -- if you are looking for fast paced advanture or buckets of blood-- this is not the book for you! It interweaves the story of the Balkans for hundreds of years, from the time of Dracula to the time between the world wars, to the Soviet occupation, to the present day. Like Simmons, Kostova demonstrates the extreme monstrous qualities of the real life Dracula. Lots of history, well presented, well drawn main characters, elegantly told -- but again, might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Susanna Clarke ~ Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

I picked this book up a few months ago, due to its near universal praise and its various award nominations.

Unfortunately, it is the size of a doorstop or a cinder block (800 pages or thereabouts in hardcover) and I simply haven't had time to pick it up and start reading it.

I have decided that the time has come.   Tomorrow I will begin my journey through an alternate history of a Europe where magic is used during the Napoleanic Wars!

I am actually looking forward to it ~ I have been told by various people that this is a book to savor and slowly enjoy.

***

Well, I read the first few chapters this morning and so far I am very pleased. It is set in Napoleanic War/Regency Era Britain, and the author writes as if she is working within that time period.

She is charming and witty, and it is filled with footnotes filled with all sorts of interesting little side stories.

It might be a difficult read if you are not used to the language used in that era, but as a long-time Jane Austen fan, I am completely delighted.

I feel very lucky - two unusual and first rate fantasy books in a row for me now, between this and the last one I read (Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian which I started a thread for down in the horror forum).

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is just plain charming. Though it does help if you have a familiarity with the manners, cultural mores, and important historical figures of Regency Era England...or just familiarity with the sort of language in use then, with Jane Austen being the foremost example.

To get to the meat of the discussion -- I tracked down The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell due to the recommendation by Taras.

I have not finished it yet, but so far it is a wonderful book, though I have a feeling it might be emotionally devastating before Russell will be finished with her story.

It tells the story of a Jesuit priest, from two intertwined time lines. In one, he is man who has survived some terrible thing (not yet known what) and is broken both mentally and physically. He is a seemingly ruined man, being cared for by his fellow Jesuits in Rome. In the other, he is an intelligent, caring, and good man, and we see him before whatever terrible thing has happened to him.

The mystery is, of course, how such a good and devoted person can be so broken, and how he could come to do the criminal acts attributed to him.

All that has beenmade clear so far is that what ever terrible thing that broke him took place on another world, inhabited by nonhuman intelligent beings, when he went there as a part of a Jesuit scientific mission of exploration. It is made clear that he is a linguist of great skill, who knows many languages, and who has a gift for learning new languages quickly. I would presume to guess that is part of why he was chosen for that mission?

Taras mentioned the two intelligent species...I do not want to get too spoilery but they are very different from each other and from humans. One seems to have originated as a vegetarian herd species. The other started out as carnivores. I think that this ties them both to cultures we as humans have a hard time getting a handle on...

R. Scott Bakker -The Prince of Nothing Series

Well, I have heard an awful lot of good things about this writer and have finally begun reading the first book in his Prince of Nothing trilogy, called The Darkness That Comes Before.

The opening prologue was certainly gripping, and Kelhus shows great promise of being a very interesting character, though perhaps not a particularly sympathetic one.

I am now bogged down a bit, as the author just begins showing us how interesting Kelhus might be, then abruptly changes locations and cast of characters to what looks like a Prophet-led religious war. So far this part has not caught my fancy, though I will patiently wait until he ties it back into Kelhus and his story line.

Bakker certainly shows great promise as a writer. He has a very nice way with words.

***

Well, I actually had some reading time this morning, and it is now official. Halfway through the first book, Bakker has me seriously hooked.

He is quite a gifted writer, and I can see why he is sometimes compared to Herbert, as both writers use a large number of factions jostling for power in an Imperial setting, as well as religion as a force in society. I can also see why Syl compares him to Zindell, as he has a very elegant writing style, and includes both religion and philosophy in the story, and he brings it in through the characters' thoughts and experiences. Like Zindell, he can very brutal to the characters when the story calls for it.

So far its great stuff. And you guys say it gets even better in the second book????

***
Well, yesterday I ended having the flu and was throwing up a lot. One benefit of that was a nice big block of reading time.

I finished the second book Warrior Prophet.(I had posted this after finishing the first book as well, obviously). It really was, as claimed, better than book one. Since it began with most of the main characters together, there was not all of the set-up needed as there was in the first book, so the second book flowed much more smoothly.

I have been so impressed by Bakker I have started googling around a bit for some background on him. He lives only a couple of hours from me, over in London, Ontario. That makes me wonder if Shakespeare is one of his influences, as there is a wonderful Shakespeare festival near London in a little town called Startford, where the theater is world class. I know he credits Tolkien and Herbert, but I cannot help but wonder about Shakespeare as well.

Bakker must be every bit as intelligent as his writings indicate, as he is working on a doctoral degreee in philosophy and he apparently studies ancient languages.

I thought this was a good interview about him and about the inspiration for his world:
www.sfsite.com/10a/sb185.htm

There is also a discussion board for his work at:
www.princeofnothing.com/

a love supreme

I was feeling better today. I was able to keep down a bit bread and water this morning, and a bit more bread and juice for lunch, so we went on to the concert.

What do you get when you combine fourteen of the world's best jazz musicians, one of the all-time classic pieces of jazz music, and an enthusiastic crowd of thousands? You get the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra playing John Coltrane's A Love Supreme in Ann Arbor, along with a first half of the program playing songs in tribute to Detroit jazz musicians.

It was a wonderful night to be a jazz fan! The performance was just fantastic.

After the concert, we walked to a little deli near Hill Auditorium called Cosi, and had hot chai and hot apple cider, along with a tray of fresh fruit, warm pita bread, and brei cheese; then when we were still hungry a try of cucumber slices, warm pita triangles, and hummus. It was all healthy and quite good, and so far my stomach is happy with it.

When we got home, I talked to Bill about his cap, gown, and graduation announcement order, filled out the forms, and wrote the check. I guess the time is getting close to his graduation...January is nearly gone, and he will be done with school in may and will graduate the first weekend of June...

Back to work tomorrow...four nights, then off to Kalamazoo for the weekend...

a sunny Saturday spent throwing up (yuck!)

Well, the big snow storm passed to the north of us. We got many hours of heavy rain, but only a dusting of snow. I am very happy we went to Evanston last weekend, when the weather was lovely. Evanston reportedly got a huge snowfall last night...but today was chilly but beautiful here. The sun was out for most of the afternoon, and that was most welcome!

I did not go to either of today's wrestling tournaments. I was told that the trainer cleared Steven at the last moment this morning, and he had three matches that he won with pins. I was told that Bill wrestled very well, including a very tough win in overtime.

I spent the day throwing up. It has been going around the high school wrestling team, so one of the kids probably carried the germs home to me (though I am very happy neither of them has had it). But having the house to myself gave me a chance to get a lot of housework done, even though I spent part of the time leaning over garbage cans. So it was OK.

I also finally found the time to finish my Mahler quest, with the Fourth Symphony, which was quite beautiful - and also his Tenth, unfinished Symphony. I truly enjoy all of Mahler's symphonies, but my heart is especially taken by his Fifth, First, Second, Sixth, and Ninth. I also really like the lovely first movement to the Eighth. Perhaps I do not have quite enough patience for his slower and more melodic efforts, as most of my favorites are his more passionate and fiery ones. Given time, perhaps I will grow into the more quiet and thoughtful works.

Right now, I am only hoping my stomach calms down in time for tomorrow afternoon's jazz concert. It is something I am very much looking forward to.