In the cool of the day

Teaching, then.

I have two classes to teach for the month of September. One is a physical science class of 20 eighth graders. It's going to be interesting. My grasp of the content is less than I wish it were. I don't doubt my ability to impart the knowledge to them, whether I can actually teach them anything is a different story. The other class is 3 high school juniors in physics. I think I will be able to do this better. I hope. They're decent kids, but again, I know I need to try to stay ahead of them. We'll see.

I also have a lot of other to get done. I still don't have the computer lab completely ready, although it is fairly ready, and is mostly usable. I'm hoping I can get the rest of it squared away in the next couple days. I probably should have done more work on it tonight, but after working at least 5 hours every day in the last 10 and putting in three days in a row over 11 hours, I decided that I could not push today to 12 hours. So I came home. I'm kinda tired of work right now, but lots of that also comes from being overwhelmed. I am hoping to be out of this season soon.

And D COMES BACK SOON! :) :) :)

Scot free

Yay.

I've been working way too much trying to get the new computer lab finished before school starts. I say way too much because I was hoping this would have been done by now. Oh well. At least I still have one more day. I'll need it.

I have not been doing the best at socializing with our new staff. I need to do better at it. I'm just not putting enough effort into it right now, I guess.

I miss D a lot, and can't wait for her to get back.

I want to be where He abounds.

Trials to fit

Today. This was a good day. I got a good chunk of work done, I still have a daunting amount to get done before school starts, but that's OK. We do what we must because we can.

There's a kind of simplicity in what is happening here right now. Do not mistake me, the situation of the country I live in is far from simple, and I am not so naive to think that it is easily explainable. However, as I look back in history across our world, this is a situation that has played itself out half a thousand times in the last fifty years. Not with all the nuances and not as though one could look at history as a simple guide for how to navigate the waters. No, I did not say the situation is simple, just that there is a kind of simplicity in it. I think what it comes down to is thus: how important is all of this 'history' we let ourselves get caught up in?

What else should we expend our lives on?

This simple thing is a far cry from what I see around me.

I chose to open myself to being poured out daily, and if I burn at both ends, I burn twice as bright and do my best to be joyful for the opportunity.

Amnesty, please. Amnesty from all that drags down, amnesty from the pettiness I let myself become steeped in, amnesty from the ashes that steel me, amnesty from the words and the lies and the threats, amnesty that I don't deserve.

Song sound so much sadder when you realize the hope behind them has given out. I refuse to drown in that sea.

Not much

Well. We made it through yesterday. I am Thankful.

I'm sorry for not posting more. I've been pretty busy with meetings, set up of new equipment, and trying to socialize. Yesterday, I played soccer with my fellow staff members for a couple hours. I am now sore. I am out of shape.

D comes back soon. I like talking to her, but I wish she was here.

It's hard to know what to do in this place sometimes. I just walk as I feel led, and hope that if I'm going the wrong way, I will get directed.

Don't worry now

So. Electricity here is 220. Computers just arrived from the U.S.? 110. PSU go pop. My ears struggle from compression wave. I need to get PSU repaired.

Nose has been bleeding a lot. Dry air plus my bad nose... not a good combination.

I have a great sense of peace about being here now. That's been huge for me lately.

I was right

I finished Hunters today. Or maybe it was Sandworms. Either way, the book discussed in the earlier post.

And I was right. My gosh. It's like the writers didn't read DUNE or decided that one of the things which seemed to me to be Frank Herbert's ENTIRE POINT in writing the series was not worthwhile. Major characters and their deaths were totally wasted, instead of treating them like FH did (end of Children of Dune, Emperor of Dune, or Chapterhouse, anyone?), the characters are just... wasted. And why did you lobotomize Teg and Duncan? Or Sheeana. Or even Bellonda and Murbella, for that matter? I'm sorry, but FH's characters were not that stupid. Argh. I guess I'm just not the audience for the book, but that was a waste of my money. I should have just read them from the library.

Sigh. New people got here today. We played some ball. I am out of shape.

Disappointments in literature

Frank Herbert's DUNE is one of my favorite books. Yes, there is some crazy stuff in there, but when you combine it with the next two books, it becomes more and more brilliant. Personally, I enjoy all of the first six books in the series, and don't have the distaste that some DUNE fans do for 4, 5, and 6.

I'll even say about some of the new series that Frank Herbert's son Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson, that it wasn't bad. The "House" prequels and the Butlerian sequence weren't bad. They weren't Dune and they messed around with some of the mythos, but they were not bad, if read as adventure novels set in the Dune universe, not Dune books.

The latest series, Sandworms of Dune and Hunters of Dune? I'm sorry Mr. Herbert and Mr. Anderson, but I think they are rubbish. Now, I admit that I haven't finished Hunters yet, so maybe I'm judging too early, but, is this really what Frank Herbert intended? I'd pay good money to get a released, unedited copy of *his* notes for Dune 7 to find out how much of this you've invented to use characters from your other books, and what exactly his ideas for the Enemy and the Face Dancers, Futars, and most importantly to me, Idaho, Bashar Teg and the No Ship crew were. The only part that I can see that would have come from FH is the explanation of the Honored Matres, that sounds FH. The rest of it, with Omnius? Erk. The Teg/Idaho/Teg parts of Heretics and Chapterhouse were my favorite, and you've failed to recapture that in Sandworms and Hunters. And what's up with Murbella? She's so far from Odrade or Jessica that I have no idea how she would possibly hold this merged organization together, because she's one dimensional and transparent.

Sigh. I got that off my chest. I feel better now. I can't wait to finish this book so I can find out how you tie the Overmind into the Golden Path.

The beautiful word of saving face

So I think there is an impending correlation between disenfranchised supporters of Henry the VIIth and the near-apocalyptic literature coming from Laotian fishermen. Perhaps there might also be a smattering of monochromatic Stygian paintings with supply-side economics circling the sidecar.

I've been kind of busy, trying to get my IT stuff started running well for next year. We haven't had lots of people on campus so far, but that will change soon. My jet lag isn't too bad, compared to other times. I got 6.5 hours of sleep last night! Yay!

I'm trying to think of mean things to do for hazing for the new people. Does this make me over the top?

I've been Reading and wondering some lately about how do we pursue that which we have an intellectual knowledge of but don't seem to quite have the visceral understanding of.

John Wayne's Safety

Ah.

I'm back in the 'Stan.

I told D this morning that every other time I've come into the country after a summer or xmas break, I've been freaked out or stressed out about coming back in. This time I was excited. I am so excited for what is going to be done this time around. I'm really going to miss D for the first month while she's still in the U.S., and there are some other things to be uncertain about, but I'm really excited to see what is going to happen here. Not just with the political situation, but in the lives of people I know.

Jet lag is making me fuzzy, so I'm going to try to do some physical projects, moving and rearranging things various places, mainly so I stay awake. Because I can feel that state being... slippery right now.

Oh, and I want to lose 5 pounds of fat in the next month. I'm hoping to get myself into some kind of routine.

Back again. No more detours.

People.

I find watching people in airports interesting.

I also find the third watch of the day intriguing.

Storification

So, I'm in Hot-lanta. And it is hot!

I'm on the way out. I fly to Athens first, then on to Dubai, then the 'Stan. My last leg should be quick. Lots of great things from the U.S., but I won't bore you with lots of out-of-context stories. Yesterday, I left my family and today, I left my girlfriend and then I'll leave my homeland. That's what happens in life, I guess, so I guess I have to get used to it. But I know that my Home is somewhere I'll never ever leave.

I think the truth of the life I live is this - I am to be used where I am to go. So I just look for the way to be used.