Growl

Haven't been blogging lately bc I've been in a grouchy mood and haven't felt like typing about anything.  I haven't any good reason for being grumpy; things have been going well; nothing's going badly.  I think I'm nervous about grad school.  I'm thinking about the what ifs: What if I get in again but w/o any funding?  What if I don't get in again at all?  Do I apply for a master's?  Do a master's and then reapply for the PhD?  Gaaaaah.  I shouldn't think about that stuff!  I know that worrying about it won't change anything.  I should just see what happens and go from there.

It may have been good to let out some worry, though.  I've been pushing it to the back of my mind and focusing on the here and now instead.  That can be very productive and positive, yet the worry's bound to come out at some point.  I discuss it w/few people bc most people I know are not in or into academic stuff; they're in other careers and/or raising kids; and the idea of going back to school, for a graduate degree in philosophy, of all things, doesn't resonate.  I have to admit, too, that sometimes I just don't feel like explaining, yet again, why it's not helpful to just go anywhere, like the school down the street, for a graduate degree.  At least not if I want to actually use the degree and get a job someday.

So. I've let off a little worry and feel better for it.  Speaking of degrees, when I decided to apply to grad school, I also decided to take some undergrad courses iot (a) get some more recent coursework on a transcript and (b) get letters from people who taught these courses.  I figured I'd take a few courses on a non-matriculated basis, but ended up taking quite a few.  At one point I realized that I just happened to pick courses that satisfy various requirements for the undergrad degree there.  Now I'm looking into whether I can just get a bachelor's, based on credits from BU and these most recent courses.  Obviously, I don't need two BAs in philosophy - who does?  most people do fine without any - but I figure that I've taken all those courses, perhaps I can get a degree out of it.  I have the feeling that some bit of bureaucracy will nip that idea in the bud, but it's worth looking into.

Speaking of courses, the Madison Library, in conjunction w/Drew University, offers mini-courses of one weekly meeting for five or so weeks.  I was thinking of taking one, Varieties of Early Christianity.  I can't seem to link directly to it, so I'll quote the description:

Early Christianity developed very differently in different areas and among different groups of people. The notion of a unified early Christianity still persists but is rendered problematic by historical evidence of the variety. The course will focus on the variety within early Christianity or on different early Christianities. Topics will include: the "historical Jesus", early Jewish Christianity, the contribution of Paul to early Gentile Christianity, selected documents from Gnostic Christianity including the much-publicized Gospel of Judas.

Then the course will treat the consolidation process in early Christianity, the movement toward "orthodoxy", including the selection of writings to be included in and excluded from the New Testament, the development and purpose of creeds, and the development of an institutional structure with the power to enforce orthodoxy and punish dissidents.

William Stroker is emeritus professor of Biblical Studies at Drew. His primary areas of specialization are the New Testament and the history and literature of early Christianity, including that of heterodox or non-orthodox movements.

Doesn't that sound interesting?  I've often wondered about how Christianity got going.  It all sounds very fishy: a bunch of guys getting together and deciding what ends up in the Bible.  I don't like the smell of it; the whole thing seems very odd.  I'm not sure that I'll take it bc it's, like, $85!  Holy crap!  And there's recommend reading, too!  Used copies wouldn't cost much, but...$85!  I still can't get over that!  I'm used to seeing these extra-curricular, personal enrichment courses going for $25 or so.  So, it'd be interesting and fun to just listen and read w/o having a paper due at the end of things, but I dunno....

In other news, we got snow overnight!  It's not much and it's melting already, but it was real snow.  I wonder if that's it for winter for us.  It would be kind of weird to get through a winter w/o having to shovel even once.  Some days have been so nice that I've opened the front porch up to the cats in the afternoon, when the sun heats things up out there.  A couple of weeks ago, people were walking around in shorts one exceptionally mild day.  Crazy.

Kevin's going away for a week next week.  He's visiting his brother, Chris, in London.  So he'll see a bit more of London, and then they'll chunnel over to Paris for a long weekend.  I know they'll spend at least a day in Chartres, which should be a lot of fun, very interesting and very beautiful.  Chris and his family do not plan to stay in London permanently, so Kevin's taking advantage of their being there now, visiting w/them and bopping over to France.  So, it'll be just me and five cats next week.

A client of our vet is also going on vacation during roughly this same time and I'll be caring for their eight cats while they're gone.  I did this about a year or so ago and I don't think I ever saw all of them for sure.  And they're all in one room, too; they hide so well!  She has two large dogs, one of which would eat any cat it found in the house.  That's why they stay in the one room.  She pretty much adopts hard-to-place cats and dogs: the ones w/behavioral problems, unsocialized strays, physical problems, etc.  I went over the other day to see if anything's new since last time and I only saw three of them.  More will probably make themselves known once they associate me w/dinnertime.

Hmm, hmm, hmm, what else is going on?  We're getting a new garage built soon.  When we bought the house, the garage was 'as is' and it was a wreck.  We're finally getting around to having a new one built.  It'll be nice to actually have a garage for my car, especially since I got my cute new car.  It was difficult finding a contractor.  I started looking last spring.  Most places didn't even bother returning my call.  One place did call back and the owner said he'd have his project manager work w/me on getting a quote - twice he said this - and his project manager never called.  One other guy called back to say he was booked up for months and gave me a referral (to the guy who never called back).  I eventually ended up calling this guy back and getting on his list and he was finally able to come look at the project in October.  We were hoping to build the new, slightly larger garage on a new foundation on the same space as the old one, but ended up having to move it in five feet from two neighbors' properties bco zoning requirements. Right now it's very close to the property line.  Oh well, we'll figure out something to do with that space.  They're scheduled to start in March, about a year after I started trying to get this thing going, but might start earlier if the mild winter continues and it's warm enough to dig.

I just realized that we'll need to decide on paint colors.  We could have them paint it to match the house, but the house needs painting in the not too distant future and I want to change the colors to something darker.  Maybe we'll try out new colors on the garage, live with that a while, and see how we like it.  The house also needs a new roof in the not too distant future.  And it might need work on the heating chimney in the not too distant future.  And we'd like to eventually redo the world's fugliest kitchen evah and make some structural changes to the back porches (basically, make them the width of the house and provide for sliders/French doors from the dining room to the porch).  If I were to do it over again, I would still buy an older house (I like the look and feel), but I'd definitely buy a smaller house.  The house isn't a McMansion, but it's certainly big for two people, even with five cats (although Clara seems to think it isn't big enough for her and Dolly, she's so mean to Dolly).  I almost included pix in this post, but decided that the kitchen and garage are just too ugly.

I'm very pleased to have reached an important Weight Watchers milestone: 15 lbs.!  I've been on WW countless times, that is, so many times I can't even begin to tell you how many, and I never got to 15 lbs.  I always bailed before getting that elusive third star, never stuck w/it.  So I'm very pleased about that.  I usually go to the Monday noonish meeting.  I already knew MaryEllen, the meeting leader, through some former neighbors and from work.  Every meeting leader has a different style and different things to recommend them.  I enjoy MaryEllen's style and I think it's made a big difference.  Fifteen down, seventy-five to go!

Speaking of work, we have the Socrates Cafe there Wednesday nights.  I bring the refreshments.  When I saw these cookies, I just had to get them for this past week's Cafe (even though there was no chocolate in them).

Well, I reckon I'll end here for now.  Toodles!

Comments

[sage]

I've always wanted to join a Socrates Cafe, but there isn't one here. Any info on how to get it going? What do I say to start it off? What if nobody says anything??

[Annie]

Hi Sage,

Here's the Socrates Cafe website:

http://www.philosopher.org/

It gives all kinds of info and advice about the Cafe: starting one, facilitating it, location, etc.

When I started it and also when new people show up, I go over what the Socrates Cafe is all about. I give them the flyer that we post at the library. Much of that is cribbed from the Cafe website.

I give examples of the kinds of things we can talk and have talked about. I encourage people to come with topic ideas: things they've been wondering about; some experience they had or witnessed that left them curious about something; something they've read about in the newspaper - a story or an opinion piece; etc. If there's multiple topics proposed, take a vote. You can also decide to, say, spend 1/2 the time on one topic and the other 1/2 on the other topic. I find people are more interested and invested in topics they themselves have suggested.

I do keep in mind possible topics in case no one has any. These might be taken from current events, something I read recently, or some of the fundamental philosophical questions.

If no one says anything at first, I'd use a personal experience. The one I used was about being in a restaurant, seeing a father do something wrong, and not doing anything about it. Here's a post where I talked about it:

http://anniemiz.typepad.com/anniemiz/2006/05/eh.html

Our group is kinda small: right now we have about 4 regulars. Be prepared for it to grow slowly! Ours is held in the library bc it's a library program, but I think it might be better to hold it at a coffee shop, diner, etc. If you do the latter, you want to make sure the place gets some business out of it so you'll be welcome there. There's a coffee shop that's set to open across the street from the library; I'm thinking we may move there.

Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck!

Annie