Time is but the stream I go fishing in

The title of this post, oh gentle reader, is a quote from Henry David Thoreau. Time does seem to move like a river, or better stated, recollection seems like a river that one can travel back on. Time traveling if you will. Bends in the river obscuring what actually has already passed.

Being with a 93 year old man makes me realize how odd memory is. Our memories can make us better at what we do, but a lack of memory doesn't really prevent one from being alive.

I am asked by my grandfather if I have my aunts' dog with me. He comments that I have grown a lot, which I finished doing 20 years ago.

So is there really only now? Reality seems to unfurl itself continuously in a single moment. It is just our finite cellular structure that decays, all in this one contantly morphing and moving moment.

I need to go back and read what Edgar Cayce said about time. Be right back....

Still Patiently Waiting

So it is now the end of September and I am still waiting on the documents I need for my visa. It is difficult to stay enthusiastic about something when you fret about bureaucracy rather than preparing lesson plans. I have posted some of my grammatical research to this blog.  In many ways that is all there is to really write about some days.

I had a chance to go see the new, unauthorized biographical movie about L Ron Hubbard, The Master. It is a very well acted and well put together film which is based loosely on L Ron Hubbard and his inner circle during the period between the end of WWII and the establishment of Scientology.   I have had a chance to read Dianetics and an unauthorized history of Scientology. The film is a very well made fictional biographical sketch of L Rom.

The film does not dissuade me from my regard of Scientology as a misunderstood group that has a lot of problems. I actually kind of like Scientology in several regards. I respect their fight for recognition as a religion, for the furious legal battle they waged against the IRS, and for some of their cosmological ideas. I also think they are kind of too reactionary in their views and sort of, we'll, a cult.

I suppose I could walk away from this China thing and become a scientologist. Weird that the spell check on my iPad does dot recognize Scientologist as a word.

So, here's to continuing my aberrated existence as a non clear thetan. The skies have been grey and there has been a lot of rain over the past several days. I will make some more posts tomorrow.

Adjective Clauses

 From the Internet:

Using Adjective Clauses (#1)
  Adjective clauses (relative clauses) are like "sentences
inside sentences." The "job" of adjective clauses is to
modify (describe, identify, make specific) the noun
phrases that they follow. In their full forms, adjective
clauses have several parts: a relative pronoun (or, in
some cases, another kind of connecting word), a subject,
and a predicate (a verb and, often, other types of
words which follow it).
In adjective clauses, the relative pronoun is a kind of
connecting word: it joins the information in the clause
to the noun phrase that it follows. Without the adjective
clause, the meaning of the modified noun phrase (and
of the sentence) is unclear and incomplete.
Examples (full forms):
I know a person who / that can help you.
I know a person who(m) / that you can help.
I know a person whose advice I can trust.
I know a person to whom I can refer you. /
I know a person who(m) / that I can refer you to.
I want a car that / which gets good gas mileage.
I can't afford the car that / which I really want.


______________________________
 
Types of Adjective Clauses
 

1.		"Subject Pattern" Clauses In this type of adjective clause, the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause. Subject pattern clauses can, however, modify both subjects and objects of sentences: The man who / that talked to us was very friendly. Do you know the man who / that talked to us?
2.		"Object Pattern" Clauses In this type of adjective clause, the relative pronoun is the object of the clause (but an object pattern clause can modify both subjects and objects of sentences): The people who(m) / that we met seemed very friendly. The people to whom / that we were speaking seemed very friendly. / The people who(m) / that we were speaking to seemed very friendly. I recently saw the people to whom / that we were talking. / I recently saw the people who(m) / that we were talking to.
3.		Clauses Showing Possession Here, the relative pronoun is possessive and is attached to another word in the adjective clause: The people whose names are called will work the first shift. Do you know the student whose brother won a gold medal in the Olympics?

Another of Boston Esplanade

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Back Bay Fens

Prepositions - IN

The material below is from about.com:

For discussion of the preposition ON see http://esl.about.com/od/prepositions_intermediate/a/Preposition-On.htm

The preposition 'in' has many uses in English. This page summarizes the uses of 'in' as a preposition and provides examples for each type of use. Important prepositional phrases with 'in' are used to introduce and connect ideas are also listed with appropriate examples. These are also known as discourse markers.

In as a Preposition

In - Time

'In' is used as a preposition with various times. Use 'in' with specific months of the year:

Let's get together in June.

Tom's birthday is in September.

Use 'in' when referring to specific years:

Jack was born in 1986.

I was hired for this job in 2005.

Use 'in' when referring to a period of time in the future.

We will be finished with the project in two weeks' time.

I think I'm going to study Russian in three years.

In - Time Expressions

'In' is used with specific time expressions referring to the morning, afternoon or evening. NOTE: Use 'at' with 'night':Let's discuss this issue in the afternoon.

They usually have breakfast early in the morning. 

BUT: I generally go to bed early at night.

In - Places

'In' is used with cities, regions, countries and contents.

They live in Canada.

I've never lived in London. In fact, I've never lived in Europe.

In front of

The prepositional phrase 'in front of' is used to refer objects and people that are placed in front of another object, building, landmark, etc. The opposite of 'in front of' is 'behind'.

Tom is standing in front of his house.

There are a number of benches in front of the municipal court house.

Important Phrases with In

There are a number of important phrases with 'in' used to introduce and link ideas in English.

In addition

'In addition' is a way of introducing another topic, idea, object to what has already been stated.

In addition, we will need to purchase a number of appliances for the home.

In addition, Tom felt we should seriously consider hiring a new assistant.

In all / most / many / few cases

'In all / most / many / etc. cases' provides a reference to how many instances in a certain situation is true or false.

In most cases people choose their profession in their twenties.

In some cases, patients experience discomfort.

In any case

'In any case' is used to move forward with a topic after considering other ideas.

In any case, let's decide where we'll stay on vacation.

In any case, we finally bought the car after much consideration.

In case

'In case' is used like 'if' to indicate a condition.

In case you need me, just give me a telephone call.

He brought his umbrella along in case it rained.

In conclusion

'In conclusion' is used to summarize a discussion, or to suggest a final action.

In conclusion, I would like to suggest that we take a vote on the proposal.

In conclusion, we're interested in working with you on the project.

In fact

'In fact' is used to present factual information. 'In fact' is often used to emphasize certain information.

In fact, she left work earlier than was allowed.

I really like your idea. In fact, I think we'll put it into action!

In general

'In general' is used to introduce a general idea about a given topic.

In general, teens enjoy spending a lot of time texting.

What do you think in general about his ideas?

In my opinion

'In my opinion' is used to introduce personal opinions.

In my opinion, I think we should stay in this house rather than move.

In my opinion, it's important to hire a consultant for this job.

In order to

'In order to' is used together with a verb to state a purpose.

We need to make some cement in order to complete this job.

Tim hired an assistant to help him with daily tasks around the office.

In other words

'In other words' is used to restate something.

In other words, let's spend more time researching this idea.

In other words, I'd love to find another job.

In particular

'In particular' is used to highlight a specific point in a discussion.

In particular, I think we should focus on finding new clients.

In particular, Tom wants us to speak to Peter about the issue.

In short

'In short' is used to quickly summarize.

In short, we need to hire a few assistants.

In short, we decided to stay home this summer.

In spite of

'In spite of' is used as 'despite'.

In spite of the weather, we went for a walk. 

She got married to Doug in spite of her parents reservations.

Special Case: In time vs On Time

'In time' indicates that you have done something within the appropriate amount of time. 'On time' means that you have arrived somewhere at the agreed upon time.

I finished the report in time for the meeting.

Janice gave her recommendations in time for us to make an informed decision.

BUT

I arrived at the meeting on time.

She picked us up at the airport on time.

Grey overcast day

Today up here in G-Vegas has turned to an overcast grey day. It's rather gloomy.

The past couple of days have been productive getting ready to go overseas. I would very much like to start practicing Chinese using a comprehensive course, rather than the add hoc way I have been trying to learn using various apps. Some of the Chinese in free apps is not standardized mandarin, instead it's Cantonese or another regional dialect.

Learning to speak Chinese is the biggest draw I have to this job. Language and travel are the main reasons.

I heard from someone who plays hockey in Beijing and hopefully I can skate when the ice freezes at a park in Beijing. I will have to content myself with pond hockey until I can get closer to a bigger city that has an ice rink. I am not without hope that Handan may have a rink somewhere, it is after all a city of 9 million souls.

It is pretty evident that I need some conditioning. I have not been getting fat, but have lost a lot of the tone I had before I was semi disabled after my finger injury.

Hopefully, I will do some skating, hiking and some ab crunches over the next couple of weeks.

Sitting at the BPL in Back Bay

Today I came to Boston to do some errands. Still waiting on the paperwork I need to go get my work visa.

I tremendously enjoy the old section of the Boston Public Library, especially the reading room as seen above.

Charles Follen Mckim and Philip Johnson designed the BPL main branch across copley square from Trinity Cathedral which was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson. These buildings are from what I kind of consider the golden age of American culture in the late 1800s. Great buildings from that era were all paid for by philanthropy rather than state funding. So strange that the state has an enormously difficult time building things that are functional and good looking.


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Southern View from Mt. Wachusett

I went for a drive up to the summit of Mt. Wachusett here in lovely northern Worcester County, Massachusetts.
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European Capitals -Q/A

Europe

What is it?

What comes to mind when you hear the word Europe?

What are some famous European images? (Show some images of Europe)

What are some famous European sights?

What things from Europe do you like or admire? What do you hate about Europe?

Is Europe the most important continent in the world?

Have you been to Europe?

What are some differences between Europe and China?

How has Europe influenced China?

Has contact with Europe been a good thing for China?

What European things do you see in Handan?

How has Europe influenced Handan?

Do you have any European things in your home?

Have you eaten European food?

What is the greatest thing Europe has done for the world? The most evil thing?

Is Europe a place of high culture?

Are Europeans good or evil?

Who are some famous Europeans?

Tell me ten famous Europeans. Why are they famous?

Who is the greatest European? Who is the most infamous?

Can see any differences between Americans and Europeans?

Is the European Union a good idea? Is the Euro currency a good idea? Why? Why not?

Is Europe a strong continent or a weak continent? Has it strenghtened recently? Has it become weaker?

Will there ever be an United States of Europe like there is a United States of America?

Would you like to live in Europe? Why? Why not? Where would you live?

European Country Race:

Have students race to write the names of ten European countries on the white board.

Assessment Criteria for Spoken English

Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very personal and family information, shopping, local geography, environment). 

Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters.

Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters of immediate need.

Testing Oral English

The following is posted from another TEFL blog, I am not sure who the author is. I am posting again here:

By George

To accurately test my students, I give them oral exams which are recorded on tape. These exams have two parts. The first part is Q&A covering things we have covered in class. They almost always have a memorized response for the basic questions. I tend to ignore these. I focus on their responses to the followup questions. For example, I've told them that we might discuss their grandparents, soI might ask

"Are your grandparents alive?" "How many children did they have?" How many boys and how many girls.? "Do you know your aunt's and uncles?" "O.K let's talk about your youngest aunt" Here is where they begin to breakdown because they didn't think to prepare for a discussion about their youngest aunt. I've also begun ba asking about a favorite middle-school teacher and them focus on the teacher they liked the least. Once I gotten to the real subject I'll begin with what is the persons name, age etc. and gradually lead to more complex questions. Then I start looking for syntactic, grammatical and vocabulary failure. In many cases the exam has ended in 2 or 3 minutes and some have gone as long as 30 or 40 minutes. In all cases I use subjects they are familiar with. Family, School, Friends and Hometowns. If I knew more about sports I would dwell on that. I have been know to ask a student to explain what a mid-fielder, a striker or a goalie does if they play those positions in football or the role of Guards, the Center or Forwards in basketball. I've even asked guitar playing students to explain how to play a particular son. In short they give me a guitar lesson.

To test for middle school, determine what is grade appropriate and start from there.

Again, start simple and progress to the complex. At what level do they abandon an answer or the topic entirely. The second part is a short oral reading which incorporates most of the english phonemes. I sometimes give the samples to practice with but they get a new reading for the exam. The must read cold.

Also, I've just begun developing a set of reading passages tha will begin at about fifth or sixth grade level for native speakers using Flesch-Kincaide RGL measures and which become progressively more advanced. This way I can determine the level at which they begin to break down, identified by their rate of word abandonment. In the first year I will be mainly concerned with phonetic identification and production. As we progress, stress and intonation will become more of a factor.

Oral exams can be quantified, but I don't like using them as the basis for a grade. I tell the school that grades shoud be considered as a report of a student's speaking level and how much they have improved. In my classes, the only one's who acutally fail are those who only show up for exams and the rare film. Those who come to class but aren't there count as absent. Our school weeds them out pretty quick. Last term eight of my students flunked out including two who were pretty good english speakers. Six were expelled for cheating on Chinese teacher's exams.

Trip to Quebec

Taking my first trip to Quebec last month was very interesting. Quebec, specifically the quaint old city and military fortress, are remnants of a bloodier and less certain age. I wonder if the savage fighting between England and France is well understood by most people from this region today, but my visit there brought a lot back to the forefront of my mind.

What is of particular poignancy to me is my own French Canadian, or to be more succinct my Acadian French, ancestry in light of traveling to Quebec. I have pondered the role of my ancestors in the unfolding of history and know some things from genealogical research.

What follows are excerpts from Wikipedia about Acadia and the violent history of the region.  I will include something about the forced resettlement of the Acadians by the British during the 1700s.

The history of Acadia was significantly influenced by the warfare that took place on its soil during the 17th and 18th century. Prior to that time period, the Mi’kmaq lived in Acadia for centuries. The French arrived in 1604, and Catholic Mi’kmaq and Acadians were the predominant populations in the colony for the next 150 years.

A number of years later, Acadia was plunged into what some historians have described as a civil war in Acadia (1640–1645). The war was between Port Royal, where Governor of Acadia Charles de Menou d'Aulney de Charnisay was stationed, and present-day Saint John, New Brunswick, where Governor of Acadia Charles de Saint-Ettienne de la Tour was stationed. In the war, there were four major battles. D'Aulnay ultimately won the war against La Tour. 

During the next seventy four years, there were six colonial wars that took place in Nova Scotia and Acadia (see the French and Indian Wars as well as Father Rale's War and Father le Loutres War). These wars were fought between New England and New France and their respective native allies before the British defeated the French in North America (1763). After the New England Conquest of Acadia in 1710, mainland Nova Scotia was under the control of New England, but both present-day New Brunswick and virtually all of present-day Maine remained contested territory between New England and New France.

The war was fought on two fronts: the southern border of Acadia, which New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine. The other front was in Nova Scotia and involved preventing New Englanders from taking the capital of Acadia, Port Royal, establishing themselves at Canso and founding Halifax.

So, unlike the present status quo, the history of the northwest Atlantic has been fraught with violence, which reached it's apex about 250 years ago. The French Canadians, who were the defeated people in the struggles here, became in many cases second class citizens who had to deal with lower pay for the same work as Anglos, etc. 

It is so odd to think of the Kennebec River as the front in a war. So distant in time seems the armed conflict of that era. 

In reading In The Devil's Snare, by Mary Norton, those accused of witchcraft were likely really guilty of aid to my ancestors. Although the witches in Salem are best remembered, there were actually more witch trials north of Salem along the Massachusetts frontier towns of Andover and Haverhill. The Puritan society sought to protect itself against the French and Native forces fighting against the British. The witch trials actually came after devastating raids on English settlements in southern Maine. The society of the Puritans identified those who aided the natives as witches, rather than spies or traitors. Somehow I identify more with the Indians and accused witches than the Puritans.

In my own family, there are phenotypic manifestations of native Canadian ancestry. I am quite interested to know how that worked in earlier times.

More later...

Past king Lear stage

I hate to say it, but my grandfather is past fiery King Lear stage of gerontological development. He is very much like a little kid. It is startling how difficult the human condition is. The rampages of ages have failed to take him down, but the fraying of the string as it nears its apogee lend to a general malaise of mind where time seems to have fragmented around a breaking body. Grim is the best case scenario for us all.

Patiently Waiting

I have thrown two consecutive i-Ching for Xu, patiently waiting. The last time there was a moving line at 5 changing to Great Power or Da Zhuang.


The i-Ching has often been relevant to something on some level of my life.

Kusari Fundo

The Kusari Fundo is a weapon made by weighting two ends of a chain. It can be thrown or swung to great effect. The Kusari Fundo must be drilled and practiced rigorously to prevent the user from self injury through use.

Skating and my gimp finger

I went skating for the first time in a couple of years. The last time I played ice hockey was in 2010. I hope to be able to play in China. There is an adult lague in Beijng, wich leads me to the conclusion there may well be ranks where I am moving.

Perhaps I could start a league, if there isn't one in the city where I will be.

In June of tis year I broke my finger while walking a dog. He is a big 90 pound Rhodesian Rodgeback. Only 10 months old, he thought my attempts to get him on a leash were a game, and he jumped at the same moment I reached for his collar,  inadvertently catching the tip of my left ring finger in his harnes.

All of the ligaments and tendons in the tip of my left rng finger were torn and the bone fractured. I had surgery on my hand that left me with 2 months of rather painful rehab and the tedium of wearing a finger brace.

I find the choice of my left ring finger to be broken as somewhat mystical. In many ways it felt cathartic to have an injury to the same finger upon which I wore a wedding band for less than a year. The dog n question was and is one of my favorite dogs. So intelligent, willfully disobedient, like a child.

One day I had him with me in the car. He came up to sit in the front seat, which is barely big enough to hold his enormous, muscled frame. At a stop light I looked and him, and he looked at me and closed his eyes. A brief eddy in the flow of time occured for a few moments, and the afternoon sun shone like reddish gold off his face. I felt like his huge lineage of dogs, stretching back generation smiled at me. It is difficult to explain language that has no words, but I felt he was happy and was a friend.

I feel like my fractured finger was a blessing that would have been a more serious injury. This dog had interceded to prevent my negative karma from manifesting n a worse way. Perhaps because we were friends, but perhaps because dogs do things like that for people. Dogs don't ask for much, they just do what needs to be done.

I miss that dog a lot. Funny, but I miss him more than a lot of people I know. Broke my finger, but I would never hold it against him, yet there are people who have done less who I would gladly filet and feed to buzzards.

My new name in Mandarin is 约翰 猸子

The first name is yuehan, which is a sino-tized pronunciation of John. I then took my middle name and found a homonym mei zhi which means mongoose. So my name is John Mongoose. Or John of the mongoose family. Works for me at the moment.

Taxes and First View of Handan No. 1

So, your humble narrator has prepared of his tax reports due to two states and the federal government. In spite of being in a rather thrifty financial situation at present, I owe about 5,000 for 2011.

Fortunately, it's not all due on one return. Also fortunate is I had witholdings on my w-2 job and investments.

Anyone who has been successful working on only one job at a time certainly has a leg up on me. I have worked for over ten years and usually had at least two jobs at the same time. At some points I had two jobs and was completing a degree.

Self employment is so stressful, at least it has been for me. It is like typing while seated in the maw of some sort of ravenous beast that feeds off what you are doing while seated in same maw. I think it feeds on paper; that and hope.

All I have wanted my entire life is a single job I could have for years and years. A place I could be friendly with people and have them be friendly back. After about 15 years of looking around Massachusetts and elsewhere, I have been, for a variety of reasons, unable ever to find a single job that would support me and be fulfilling in a way that makes hard work feel worthwhile, without that feeling you get at 3 am which compels you to a computer to get some more paper ready to be shoveled down that gaping maw, one step ahead of oblivion.

I have sort of compared my professional career to a death march. Don't get me wrong I love the practice of law (and will practice at it again), but the amount of work I had to do teaching and practicing at the same time left me so isolated that I finally needed to stop before I got irreparably sick.

So I have the honor of paying my government a lot of money for money I earned to pay debt, two years ago.

Let's see, I am not upset or low about owing money to the government. That's an unavoidable consequence of being human. Marmots and emus don't have to worry about tax.

While impatiently waiting on my visa today, I also managed to find the class schedule of the school I am to work at. Rise and shine at 6 am, breakfast at 6:30. The day of the kids at the school reminds me of attending MiltonAcademy. I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life in the Middle Kingdom of China.

Below is the daily schedule for the school:

The Students’ Typical Daily Schedule at Handan No. 1 High School:

• 6:00———————Wake up
• 6:30———————Breakfast
• 6:45-7:30————Morning reading
• 7:40-8:20————-Class
• 8:30-9:10————-Class
• 9:20-10:00————Class
• 10:10-10:50———-Class
• 11:00-11:40———-Class
• 12:00-2:00————Lunch and afternoon rest (for napping, studying, or anything else they choose)
• 2:00-2:40————-Class
• 2:50-3:30————-Class
• 3:40-4:20————-Class
• On Wednesdays students have “club time” at 4:20 instead of an additional class.
• 4:30-5:10————-Class
• 5:30-6:20————-Dinner
• 6:30-6:50————-Evening reading in classroom (often all students read aloud together in English)
• 7:00———————Exams (different subjects on different days of the week)
• 8:10-10:20————Study Hall (in classroom)
• 10:30———————Back to dorms
• 10:50 PM—————Lights Out

Saturdays and Sundays the high school students have some variations in their schedules. In the mornings they wake up at 6:20 and have to be in their classrooms for morning reading at 7:20. Classes still run from 7:40 to 11:40. Saturday afternoons they have class from 2:00 until 3:30 and then they have “club time” until 10:00pm, during which time they can either participate in club activities, study, or relax a bit, but they can’t go back to their rooms until 10:00pm. Sundays are almost exactly like M-F, except they wake up a bit later and they have a “meeting” with their class’s head teacher from 5:40 to 6:40. During this time the head teacher lets them know what to expect for the upcoming week.

Taxes

Doing my taxes for 2011 today. In spite of having no money from 2011, and having spent everything gained on paying credit card debt, I still owe. It's funny how I am presently waiting to make money, but have none and owe for money I spent a year ago. Funny that.

So you see, my gentle reader, your narrator must attend to the requirements of the taxing authority today rather than preparing posts for your edification.

Two halfs

One statistic I am always quick to go to is one of dubious actuarial science, yet is so good that I find it hard to resist. I heard about it years ago, and now am happy to use it to make a point about people who think they are better than they really are.

Basically, there was some study, I forget the criteria or who did it, that found that 85% of Americans think that they are above average. I recall my glee upon reading about this one. So many times I have been confronted my clearly inferior beings, yet they do not immediately prostrate or kowtow before me. I am not really much for prostration anyway, but I have wondered why so many idiots go about masquerading as intelligent people.

So based on my skewed statistics of nebulous origins and accuracy, 35% of people who are below average think that they are above average. Doesn't this present a problem, or is it okey dokey?

I wonder if this is an American issue of severe reality dysphoria. It would be fun to see in which cultures above average people think they are above average. I wonder if the 15% who think they are below average are really below average,

Oh my gentle readers, I need to ascertain the validity of these statistics. Your humble narrator will seek to verify same.

Nonetheless, it does seem to me that no one in America admits to being below average. Either they are pretty much average or there is someone op
Resting them.

Your humble narrator, for example, is pretty oppressed by the man.  In fact, the primary reason why I wish to go teach overseas is to get away from oppression by the man.

The "who, what, when, where, and why" surrounding the identity of The Man, his motives are unclear. Simply put, The Man oppresses us, for unclear reasons and unclear motives. What is clear in my life is that The Man is causing me some strife.

All jive talk aside, I am inclined towards a belief that Americans are a pretty mentally looney group overall. The percentage of sociopaths and narcissists is higher in our country than elsewhere. Again, I make that broad pseudo scientific point based on some book I read by some psychologist.

Supposedly, according to some psychologist, thee are approximately one sociopath for every twenty Americans. Of these sociopaths, maybe 40 percent are in jail, while most are living among us. Sociopaths by definition have no real empathy, or remorse.  I imagine true sociopathy blends with narcissistic behavior types on a scale. According to my dim recollection of the book I read, sociopathy is not inherently criminalistic, but is simply a lack of normal human emotions.

Many members of the military are examples of what great things sociopaths can do. If you don't have fear and have no remorse ordering others to die, you make a perfect warrior. That is probably how European and hence American society has such a high percentage of sociopaths.

Meditating on Z

So another day among the beasts of the south Gardner wild.

I received my employment contract for China and it is almost 3 times more than originally discused. I believe that is because of their pressing need for someone to get over there. I have thus far been stymied by difficulties procuring a work visa. The work visa is known as a Z visa. An interesting twist of reality in G-Vegas is that the town is full of campaign signs that have a giant Z on on them. You see, my gentle reader, one of the candidates for the aforementioned state senate seat has a last name that begins with Z. His campaign signs start with Z, and hence he has campaign signs with a giant Z.

The great trickster of the universe is no doubt pleased that I am stranded in G-Vegas, which is full of signs with a giant Z, while waiting for my Z visa.

Gentle reader, rest assured, your narrator will endeavor to post a picture of the Z signs. It is an example of life providing a constant reminder. Further, it shows how random things can be poignant reminders due to nothing more than context.

Far be it for me to say that the great trickster, or god, or whomever actually coordinates things, has an odd way of letting me know I am in the right place in the cosmos. stranded in G-Vegas, meditating on the letter Z. The omega.

Each day I see my grandfather, who at age 92, is pretty much in the threshold to eternity. Something about the letter Z.

Stranded in G-Vegas

So for my first post, oh my gentle reader, I will start with where I am. As of right now, your humble narrator is in G-Vegas, better known, or perhaps less infamously known, as Gardner, Massachusetts.

Gardner is an odd place. Presently, the state senatorial race for this district is between a 22 year old and the incumbent whose most significant job description has been that of a substitute teacher. Nothing wrong with being 22 or being a substitute teacher, but I think the present race for state senator speaks volumes about how little there is to fight for around here.

Gardner (a/k/a G-Vegas) is not without it's charms. But that is not saying much. There is a big state penitentiary. There are FOUR dunkin donuts. Three, count Em, THREE traffic lights. I believe the high percentage of devoted law enforcement officers accounts for the population of donut shops exceeding the traffic light quota

There is a giant chair that is like 15 feet tall. The chair symbolizes that G-Vegas is Chair City. It is also the furniture capital of New England. Home furnishings were big here until after the civil war when furniture went south to places like Tupelo, MS.

My mothers family is from here. In the early 1900s my great grand father bought a dairy farm in south Gardner. He had saved his money working in the mills of Lawrence, Lowell, etc. Straight from Lithuania, he spoke Lithuanian, Polish, German, Yiddish, and a little English. He had two sons and a daughter: my grandfather, great aunt and grand uncle. My grand uncle died in northern Italy 2 weeks before the end of WWII as a staff sargeant in the 10th mountain division. My grandfather is now 92 and still living on the farm, after a career as an educator and professional football player. But I digress...

I have crash landed here in the land of donuts and three stoplights after giving up my apartment in Boston in anticipation of going abroad to teach. I arrived up here in G-Vegas in the beginning of September and expected to be departing for overseas by the 15th, alas, I have not received paperwork for my visa.

So I have been navigating the tedium of this ville, counting the political signs of the 22 year old candidate and the signs of the incumbent ex-substitute teacher.

I hope I get my visa soon...