12:42 a.m. - 2004-03-29
Walls
The cats decided to join me during my exercises. The second belly dance tape is a fusion of eastern techniques and latin rhythms. They like that sound apparently. About five of the darlings followed my footsteps closely - so closely I had to keep tiptoeing and plie-ing, so as not to step on their paws or tails. Ms Ficus - the warrior princess - even wrapped herself around one of my legs in order to follow the beat more closely. Then Mr T found their play mouse and the whole group was playing cat soccer, using my moving legs and chain stepping feet as their goalpost - just to make their game more interesting, of course.
I wandered over to the grocery store mid afternoon. First time this year I have been able to wear street shoes instead of boots - yes! Why the caution? Well it's all those people sporting leg or ankle casts in January and February. Get too careless around here and the consequences are fairly significant. It was a bit odd in the store. There was almost no meat available for customers and none of the regular staff were anywhere in sight either. It was as though they had come in to work at their regular time, but had all been called away after lunch. Puzzling. I came home feeling really grateful for the variety and quality of the foods available to us, though. Some of it is really pricey - especially fresh fruit and vegetables - but at least we don't have to wait for our own gardens to produce, as was the case less than a century ago.
I must admit that lately I have had this overwhelming urge to go out and splurge a bit. I can't figure out where that impulse is coming from. My left brain knows perfectly well that there is no money in the bank, but the non-rational, intuitive right side keeps insisting that Bounty is about to arrive. Maybe so, but the logical half of the brain is well acquainted with the intuition's little eccentricities. My intuition is rarely wrong, however, the ability to predict timing of an event is less than stellar, to say the least. We'll wait until we actually see that ship of ours anchoring at the pier, before we get too carried away. What is piquing my interest? Nothing really expensive in the bigger scheme of things. We really need houseware items, like bath towels and various household repairs have been pending forever. The other pull is the books, don't you know. I only have closets full of them, but then I see a new one out, like the one Tom Harpur is offering now - The Pagan Christ - and I want to read it now, instead of waiting until some copies find their way to the second hand book store. Patience Grasshopper.
Education seemed to be the theme of most interest in the e-zines today. It isn't computers that students need most to learn. This story gave a glimpse into what the ideal learning atmosphere should be, especially for those children who struggle a bit. Success Right now only those families who are well off can afford the expense, but can a society really afford to have so many potential contributors to the quality of our lives marginalized before they even reach adulthood. Every child can learn, if they are given that extra boost early on. One conservative estimate is that for every dollar invested in a child by society, the payback is five dollars to the community in productivity and creativity when they reach adulthood. It also means less expensive remediation programs - like prisons, and less social disruption from people frustrated by under-employment and poverty. This story out of Harvard indicates that at least that university understands the idea of a short term investment in education for the long term gain to our society after a student graduates. Harvard.
This last story was instructive in another sense. Read John Hersey's "The Wall" for a more thorough historical analysis of the likely results of this type of social engineering. The_Wall "All In All, You're Just Another Brick in the Wall." Pink Floyd
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