I bought an iPod this spring and now I have it in Britain, but I'm not sure how to charge it. Can I just put an adapter on it and plug it into the wall or do I have to use a transformer?
I have arrived and am currently in beautiful Thurso, Scotland, which really is the edge of the world. It's wonderful being here, but I've noticed whenever I come here I get somewhat linguistically confused because I used to have a Scottish accent when I was little and when I come back my brain always wants to pick it back up but my tongue is no longer able to fit around the syllables. This is my first time being back since I was seventeen and I'm realizing I'm much more conscious of my surroundings this time. It seems strange being out of America for the first time in years. Hearing what everyone else thinks of us hasn't been very pleasant, though. I love Scottish houses with their fireplaces in May, definately makes up for the fog outside (which I'm used to, of course, being at Covenant for four years). What I'm enjoying most is the food. Had my first dinner here at a pub in Culbokie(?), near Inverness. I had beef and ale pie and it was so good. The beer here also seems to be cheaper than it is in the States, which is a definite plus since everything else is much more expensive.
Leaving today for Britain. Oh the mad excitement of international travel. First there's the endless night of crossing the Atlantic and then Customs. For some reason I really get into that whole "nothing to declare" "something to declare" thing. I think I watched Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown too many times as a child. Then comes the crazy adjustment to a new time zone where midnight feels like the middle of the afternoon. It's like going down the rabbit hole.
I don't want to overstay the Star Wars welcome. I realize I've already mentioned this once, but I think it deserves a fuller discussion, and my first blog post did not fully reflect my opinion on Revenge of the Sith.
First of all, I liked the new movie better than Episodes I and II. The major flaw seems to have been to base so much of the plot on Anakin's emotional instability. The political plot was interesting. It was quite amusing when Padme gained a brain for long enough to voice her opinion and try to show us why she was elected senator. In my opinion the political reflecting and strategizing was the best part after the bizarre new scenery and interior decoration. I didn't feel emotionally involved in the plot, so the politics were a nice break from the chiding voice of George Lucas in the back of my head, trying to get me to identify with two people with no brains. What caught me off guard was that part towards the end when some Jedi (I think it was Obi-Wan) said that they were fighting for democracy. I mean, if they were fighting for humanity, yes, I could understand that, fighting for good, more abstract, but probably more fun, but democracy? I mean, give me a break, why do we have to limit ourselves to systems of government? Is this all the Jedi are about, democracy? I thought they were into bringing the people of the world together in a great life Force. I felt rather betrayed there. It seems like there should be a greater good.
Oh, also, at the beginning Anakin kills Count Dooku, even though it is "not the Jedi way," but later the Jedi were killing people right and left. So are they just not supposed to kill important people? How does that work?
I'm not sure what to think of these new names, Grievous, Sidious. I rather prefer names that are more allusions (like Tarkin) than producers of gut-reactions (like Maul). But I think I do like the new names, in a way, especially Grievous and Sidious, they're words and parts of words that have fallen out of everyday use, but still have clear connotations connected with them. They're definately pointing toward a meaning, but the meaning doesn't get in the way of the name and I like that.
Anakin: You are so beautiful.
Padme: It's because I'm so in love.
Anakin: No, it's because you have no brain.
The search continues. I walked around the Old Market/downtown area for forty-five minutes this morning before finally finding a decent coffee place--13th St. Coffee Company. It was a nice homey place, most of the customers between thirty and fifty, but some young professionals stopped in on their way to work. There was a nice loft area with beaten up, but comfortable chairs. The most promising place I've found yet. The rest of the downtown/Old Market area seems aimed mainly at tourists and is not trying to invite regular customers. Also, the buildings are low and many are empty. It's not well organized for pedestrians, either. I guess I can't ask Omaha to stop being Omaha and become Chicago or something . . . but it would be nice.
I discovered in my early morning wanderings that most places, including the library, don't open until around ten. I probably should have known that. I guess I've lived on a college campus too long.I also discovered that Omaha has two main music venues, The Ranch Bowl and Sokol Auditorium/Underground, both of which have mainly young bands with pictures of blood and/or skeletons on their posters.
After my coffee I wandered around a bit more and found a nice used bookstore with piles of books in odd corners and comfortable chairs placed in strange, but aesthetically pleasing places. I also discovered a couple of decent record stores. They mainly sell vinyl. Makes me think we should get a turntable for our Boston house. I felt kind of out of place browsing through the CD's. The prices for used CD's were rather exorbitant, though. The atmospheres were encouraging. The better of the two seemed to be The Antiquarium, which is also a used bookstore and an art gallery. The other one (I forgot its name) seemed to have the younger, hipper clientele.
So that was discovering Omaha this morning. I came home at lunchtime and watched Sideways, to make the experience of Omaha's cultural side complete.
I just found this poem in my old Riverside Anthology of Literature. I realize that it would have been more appropriate a couple months ago, but I want to put it up anyway.
"On His Baldness"
At dawn I sighed to see my hairs fall;
At dusk I sighed to see my hairs fall.
For I dreaded the time when the last lock should go . . .
They are all gone and I do not mind at all!
I have done with that cumbrous washing and getting dry;
My tiresome comb is forever lain aside.
Best of all, when the weather is hot and wet,
To have no top-knot weighing down one's head!
I put aside my messy cloth wrap;
I have got rid of my dusty tasselled fringe.
In a silver jar I have stored a cold stream,
On my bald pate I trickle a ladle full.
Like one baptized with the Water of Buddha's Law,
I sit and receive this cool. cleansing joy.
Now I know why the priest who seeks Repose
Frees his heart by first shaving his head.
by Po Chu-i
I'm getting around the writing this when I'm about ready to take my comb up again. I shaved my head at the end of February for no real reason except that I've wanted to for a long time. It was an interesting experiment. Of course it was accepted as pretty standard Covenant behavior, but going out into the world felt a little strange for a few weeks. I started thinking a lot about what connotations hair and the lack of hair have in society. The lack of hair is drastic, several people asked me if I had made a vow, and apparently the Covenant volleyball team was convinced I had a friend with cancer. In some ways shaving my head made me deal with my femininity more consciously than I had before. Gender is in such flux, it's almost hard to hold onto without hair. And I think Po Chu-i is right to a certain extent. There is a freedom that goes with the loss of hair, if not a repose.
Okay, I'm getting fed up. I've been here in Omaha for so many school breaks and for two years before college and I have never gotten a hint of the Omaha of Bright Eyes and Tilly and the Wall. Where do these bands come from? Where is this mysterious Omaha, nest of creativity? It's not a huge city. I don't get it.
I had so many good titles going around in my head for this blog, but all of them have now gone out of my head. I graduated on Saturday and my brain is still numb to it all. I feel like I should elaborate on this graduation event. To make the whole thing feel more epic we took Infradig's tour RV to graduation, that is me, Elk, Courtney, Earl, Todd, Keri, Tami, and Brae, with Hope driving the thing. It was crazy. Graduation itself went as was expected. Hope's speech went really well (she talked about the Christopher Harold Cleveland Game, for those of you who know what that is), we walked across that stage to the musical sound of Camille Hallstrom's voice reading our names, then I wandered around in that Convention Center hallway forever looking for the English department. One of the saddest things for me was finding out that Dr. Wildeman (aka Wildemania) didn't even come because he was visiting his mother, so I never got to say goodbye to him. After graduation we drove the RV (aka Sunland Express) to Coolidge and picnicked with families and friends.
I said goodbye to more people this past week than I ever remember saying goodbye to at one time and I still missed a few (like one of my roommates, as she just pointed out to me, my other roommate, Laura Cricket's last words to me were, "Take care of butt-man." That was at six in the morning.)
Now I and my beautiful diploma and all of my worldly possessions (besides the ones that, I believe, have taken up residence with other members of Fifth North) are residing in Omaha, preparing for a holiday in Britain and then another move to Boston (and as Eb pointed out, probably BostonBlogs, which is very beautiful and includes the word "beantown," gotta love it.) Right now I'm feeling jobless and carless. I've applied to a few places, but haven't heard back from anywhere. Oh well, lots of time to catch up on reading.