Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Wednesday, November 5 "A New President-Elect and Report Cards"

We listend to KPLU on our internet radio this morning and heard that they had already called the election in favor of Obama. I was relieved to hear it, but I feel so distant from it right now that I also feel a bit out-of-sorts that I didn't witness the history first-hand. My dad called to let us know and it was good to hear from him. I could tell that people must have been pretty excited about things, as he reported that all the phone lines were jammed up and it took quite a while for a call to get through. I did hear on the radio (KMTT morning show) later in the day that Marty Reimer cried while watching the speeches Tuesday night. At least I know how Marty reacted :-)


Becky graciously agreed to watch Aeden while I went to meet with the director at the International Preschool about working there. I took a cab all by myself and got there all in one piece, chatted with the director, and made it home without any catastrophes. Aeden was just going down for a nap when it was time for me to leave and he didn't even wake up while I was gone, so I think it was pretty easy going to Becky. I was amazingly (and overly) proud of myself for making the contact, setting up the meeting, and heading out on my own in a taxi. I was riding high on that feeling of accomplishment for the rest of the day. The "can-do" attitude resulted in my opening and assembling the TV stand that arrived on Monday instead of waiting for someone to come and assemble it. It felt great to move that set of furniture around and make things look more like they're supposed to.


We received our first non-junk mail: from mom and Aunt Kaye in the same day! We were on our way out to take a taxi to Cepa to grab some dinner and there was real mail in our box. Yippee!


We went to Cepa for dinner (actually ate at a Turkish food place in the food court but I can't remember the name) to celebrate the accomplishments of the day, including Lacey's and Maren's report cards. They're both doing great. Aeden was quite a ham during dinner, so he got all the photos from today.







I finished reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. On loan from Nancy, a book my American Lit teacher from high school would be proud I've read!

I especially liked these two sections, partly because they were unexpected and partly because they rang so true to me and are so nicely worded. Francie is an 8-year-ol living in Brooklyn in 1912. She is describing her local public library. The description is even longer, but the high point (for me) was this:

"Yes, when I get big and have my own home, no plush chairs and lace curtains for me. And no rubber plants. I'll have a desk like this in my parlor and white walls and a clean green blotter every Saturday night and a row of shining yellow pencils always sharpened for writing and a golden-brown bowl with a flower or some leaves or berries always in it and books...books...books..."

Then, in 1917, she starts summer college courses. I don't actually remember a moment when I decided to pursue chemistry, but this captures a bit of what drew me into it. Very passionate and caring professors on top of wonderful content makes a good major :-)

Francie came away from her first chemistry lecture in a glow. In one hour she had found out that everything was made up of atoms which were in continual motion. She grasped the idea that nothing was ever lost or destroyed. Even if something was burned up or left to rot away, it did not disappear from the face of the earth; it changed into something else--gases, liquids, and powders. Everything, decide Francie after the first lecture, was vibrant with life and there was no death in chemistry. She was puzzled as to why learned people didn't adopt chemistry as a religion.

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