Ramblings

David and I got to go out like real grown-ups tonight. We went to the Huntington Theatre in Boston, to see "To Men of Florence", about Galileo and Pope Urban. I can't remember the last time I was at the theater - definitely many many years. And yet I STILL knew someone in the cast (worked with him on a show years ago). And several people in the audience (which is only weird in that I live at least 45 minutes away; it took an hour and a half to get there during rush hour this evening).

Boston's a small community, no matter which "community" you belong to. The theater community, the Jewish community, now the DS community. And since I have a really really abnormally good memory for people's names, I can usually find some connection no matter where I am. Which is kind of cool. And kind of odd.

The play was interesting. David and I are both Galileo "fans", but I did spend much of the play really angry about how much death and destruction was caused by the organized Church for so many centuries. It was interesting how they portrayed the Pope - he started as a "kindred spirit" for Galileo, and as his madness overcame him, you could see "absolute power corrupts absolutely".

For the record, I'm with Galileo. The more I learn about the vast universe, the more I find evidence of G-d. Science does not detract from faith, it expands it (for me). But I could see how the organized human powers would be threatened by a thinking, reasoning approach.

On the drive in, I got to listen to the last Podcast for Battlestar Galactica. The podcasts were done by the Executive Producer, and I had listened to every one of them over the years, always after I had already seen the episode. It was interesting to hear what the writers and producers were actually aiming for at each point in the show.

For those of you who were not BG fans, it was more than just a SciFi show. It was a drama about relationships, and it was also a very vibrant theology piece. So it was interesting to juxtapose some of the theological and philosophical thoughts from BG with tonights play.


In other news, I got to work with my study partner on our class project, which is exploring the pros and cons of having a child with a cognitive disability attend a Jewish day school. Hmmm, who could I be thinking of? Really, our project is supposed to be "generic", although obviously it has very definite real-world application for me. So we decided that I will have to argue the "con" side, in hopes that this will better prepare me to fight those arguments should they arise in real life.

I'm really enjoying taking this SpEd class, and delving more and more into the field. Maybe I'll be able to turn this into some sort of career one day.

Did I mention that I'm working on the Yearbook for the day school again? Once again we are selling "Boosters" - you can place a single-line (80 character) booster for only $9, 1/8 page for $18, 1/4 page for $36, 1/2 page for $72 and a full page for $120. Let me know if you want to purchase a Booster!

We're trying to get Sofia to put on her shoes and socks by herself more often. She CAN do it, I've seen her do it. But she wants MOMMY to do it for her. And she stomps her little feet and pouts and yells if I won't do it. So now I'm using rewards - and punishments - to entice her to be more self-reliant. Today, she was begging for a cookie, but I wouldn't give her one unless she put on her shoes and socks. And when she still refused, she was put in her car seat barefoot. She continued to ask for a cookie for a few more minutes, but then realized that I was actually serious (so then she fell asleep).

Yesterday morning she was also put in the car barefoot, but when we got to the boys' school, another friend was playing on the playground, and Sofia was willing to do the necessary work in order to get to play. Of course, she put the shoes on the opposite feet, and argued when I tried to tell her otherwise. Then when she stood up, she kept shaking out her feet, trying to figure out just what was wrong. It was pretty funny.

I got my bike back from its tune-up, but the front wheel is still crooked. I have to try to figure out how to adjust it, since the guys at this particular store aren't all that good. I bought the bike last year, along with a 3 year extended service plan, so the tune-ups are free, but that doesn't seem like such a great deal if the service is lousy. I might have to take it to the Real bike store to get it fixed, which will be annoying because then I'll have to pay them for the same thing I already am supposed to be getting for free. Sigh.

But I'm looking forward to riding again. Now that both boys have nice bikes (I got Micah a new one last weekend), and Sofia LOVES to ride in her seat on my bike, I'm hoping we can do more family day-trips. But that will also mean getting a better bike rack, since my old rack only holds 3 bikes, not 4.

Passover cleaning and cooking on the schedule for this weekend. Cleaning ladies come tomorrow, and then I can get serious. David already put all the Passover dishes and things into the garage, so I have easier access (instead of the basement). As long as the garage is too stuffed to put the cars in, I might as well use it as my "staging area" instead of my living room.

It's waaay after midnight already. I keep getting bad headaches because of the lousy rainy weather we've had this week, so at intermission I bought a can of Coke. Which means too much caffeine too late at night. But it helped the headache.