I is for Infidel - a book review

I is for Infidel is written by Kathy Gannon, correspondent for the Associated Press from 1986 to 2005 and working mainly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This book gives outstanding background information about two countries which have become so important to the United States after having been ignored for so long. As a "non-embedded" press correspondent, she brings a level of objectiveness to the Afghan war that we saw little of in the popular press. Also, being a woman reporter in Taliban controlled Afghanistan, she is able to relate the politics and ideology of the Taliban in a way that few others can.

However, like so many stories now circulating, she speaks mainly of mistakes made and opportunities lost. How, the Afghans looked to America to free them from the Soviet occupation and hoped we would stay long enough to establish a stable government. How we were too distracted by Iraq and therefore turned the reigns of government over to the Northern Alliance whose governance had led to the rise of the Taliban in the first place. And how Pakistan's opportunistic government plays both sides against each other.

Probably the story that fascinated me the most was Gannon's description of how bin Laden was able to drive a relatively moderate Taliban into extremism and cause them to do things that polarized the country and alienated the rest of the world. This led to isolation and sanctions, reinforcing the growing persecution complex in the Taliban and driving out the moderate element in that movement. This is a pattern we have seen with other movements such as Jim Jones and the Branch Davidians. The difference this time being that the Taliban were able to seize control of the Afghan power structure.

I highly recommend this book. At 186 pages, it's not a long read and it's well worth it.

Building the set

One of the essential parts of community theater is getting everyone involved. At the Davis Musical Theater Company this takes place during work days that are specifically designated as set building and painting days.

We first gathered pieces of the set from storage under the seating risers. Then with expert help, we pieced together and fastened tightly the various pieces of the set. Some were platforms others were backdrops which will indicate where the action is taking place.



We were certainly not as efficient as we would have been if everyone were a professional set builder.

But we had a lot of fun and almost everyone got involved if only to check out the platforms to see that they were sturdy enough.

The Apple Hill gang

My wife recently informed me that our local church ward has a tradition of visiting Apple Hill and asked if I wanted to go along. I thought it would be a fun thing to do. The "Apple Hill" part I understood since Carolyn and I had gone up there two or three times in the past five years. Apple farmers in the area sell some of their recent harvest to people such as us who enjoy a day in the country, often with a picnic at one of the farms. Artists and entrepreneurs hawk their wares at booths set up at many of the farms. It is all a festive atmosphere sort of like a state or county fair without all the noise and dirt of a fairgrounds.

What I didn't understand was that the "tradition" in our ward was pretty much a tradition involving the women only so I was the lone man in the group. If people had known we were Mormons it would have just reinforced the stereotype of the Mormon patriarch with his many wives.

It was such a beautiful day though, that I certainly can't complain. Conversation rarely got off onto purely "women" things and the company was quite delightful. Besides, by being along I got a chance to influence the purchase of a couple of potential gifts for me this coming Christmas.

"Trunk" or treat?

One of the practices that certain neighborhoods and churches have adopted to keep alive the tradition of "trick or treat" in today's uncertain and often dangerous world is modifying the practice of going from house to house. Instead, the little kids go from trunk to trunk. The neighborhood or church group arranges cars in a parking lot in such a way that the little ones can go from car to car (or more likely RV to RV) showing off their costumes and either getting a treat or playing a simple carnival game.

The parents know who is participating and giving out the goodies and the kids don't have to walk their feet off. Everyone wins.

This year we got together at our son's house to have a little pre-party with the hope that the kids wouldn't gobble down too much candy if they had already filled up on hot dogs and potato salad.

Give me (civil) liberties or give me ...

Patrick Henry wasn't specific about why type of liberty he would die for but I think it's fair to say that civil liberties were included. The ACLU was founded and continues to exist to fight for those liberties. Sometimes this fight is an uphill battle to be sure. This has been emphasized in my part of the country lately because Congressman Doolittle has been acusing his opponent of being a member of the ACLU, as if that were a bad thing. It seems Doolittle is all for protecting civil rights of his friends but not his enemies. Even Jesus argued that there was no virtue in loving your friends. The trick is to do good to those who "despitefully use you". The ACLU defends even those it disagrees with.

A good friend recently reminded me about some of the small, insidious ways that our civil liberties can be compromised. She shared with me this video clip produced in 2004 by the ACLU to get people to think about all the data that is being collected on us. Many of us say, "I have nothing to hide," or "if it will stop one terrorist, the government can collect all the information they want". Check it out at http://www.aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf

Another end

Back a couple of years, I spent quite a lot of time on planes, mostly on business and mostly going to Sacramento as that was a convenient meeting place for California regional centers, two of which I worked for for the past 21 years. Moving to Sacramento reduced the flights as it was then a commute downtown or to a local hotel for many of the meetings which are still located for the most part in Sacramento.

Now the administrator's group, of which I have been a part since 1985, has arranged a farewell reception for Carmen Villegas and me as we have both recently retired. And wouldn't you know it? The meeting is in Los Angeles. So I'm off to my last regional center administrator's meeting. Perhaps it is fitting that I have to fly to the other end of the state as that certainly represents what I have been doing for so long.

I intend to travel light so my next post depends on availability of a computer and Internet connection at the hotel in Los Angeles.

Pick, pick, pick, pick....

Carolyn and I got interested in this whole library volunteer stuff about three years ago when she saw an notice in the local newspaper that the library needed volunteers to repair damaged books. There was to be a class in how to do this as well as an orientation to volunteering time to the library to actually repair the books.

We called but the class was full. "But," the librarian continued, "we do need volunteers for other activities." She suggested they really needed re-shelvers badly as the volume of traffic in the library was overwhelming their staff. Still interested in helping in some way, we agreed to meet Jane for an orientation in shelving and soon found ourselves spending every Tuesday evening from 6:30 to closing time putting books back onto the shelves that other patrons had checked out and brought back or simply had taken off the shelves. There were lots of signs asking library patrons not to reshelve their own books. That was left to the "experts" like Carolyn and me.

Our local branch library closed for remodel after we had spent a little over a year volunteering there and we've had to be content with serving on the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library in a totally different capacity.

Well, the local branch is once again open and the call for volunteers has once again gone out, especially to those who were volunteering before. Today, I was trained in a new task - picking. And Jane again was my trainer.

Our county library system allows patrons to request books from any library in the system to be delivered to their local library. So even if you live near a very small branch, you have access to the capacity of the entire system. These requests are routed through the computer to the branch where the requested book sits on the shelf. Then the librarians or trained "pickers" like me find the book and start it on its way to the person who requested it. It's just the reverse of the shelving operation. Instead of looking for the place a book belongs and putting it there, we look for the place a book belongs and pull it out if it's there. If it's not there, we become little private investigators trying to track down where it could be. Even that is fun.

So the next time you request a book that is in the Carmichael Library, I just may be the person that retrieves your book.

Born to Kvetch - a book review

Born to Kvetch by Michael Wex is a book about Yiddish. But that means it is about Jewish culture, Jewish history, Jewish sociology, in fact about almost anything Jewish. Professor Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady” could tell where a person came from by their accent and Wex does an absolutely amazing job of describing Jewish life through the ages by the words and phrases captured in Yiddish.

Jewish culture has almost always been one suffering from (and seemingly relishing in) constant exile and discrimination. They have made it an art form, Yiddish being one way to encode their communication to exclude gentiles. After all, gentiles might find out something that Jews like and keep it from them or something they don’t like and force them to live with it. So they talk in doublespeak, contradictions, and nonsense phrases.

Using words borrowed from surrounding cultures (German is probably the most prominent example), applying a healthy dose of dialect and accent, then saying the exact opposite of what you really mean. That is the secret of Yiddish.

Things learned along the way: The Jews have a prayer for successfully using the toilet. Racism and sexism are built into Yiddish – you literally CAN’T be politically correct in Yiddish.

Retirement, Resumes, and References - Oh My!

Now that I've been officially retired for two weeks, I finally am getting down to the business of collecting information on various volunteer opportunities. And I'm finding that it's not all that unlike hunting for a job. You register at various places that coordinate volunteer opportunities. You fill out and mail in applications. You prepare a resume that includes both your work experience and your volunteer experience. You ask people to provide you with personal and professional references - with the emphasis on the personal. And you worry about which positions you should accept and which ones you'd like to think about for a little while.

Already, the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library are putting slightly more pressure on me to become more active with the Book Den, our outlet for used books that always needs more people to help with the weekly sorting of new donations. And, of course, the time commitment for the play Oliver! is also increasing as we come closer to the opening night.

I want to get things in place but don't want to overcommit and find myself as stressed as if I were still working full time.

Work on the Play and the Playhouse

Our play in up in lights! But it's still a long way until we're ready for opening night.
Last night's rehearsal was delayed until a substitute accompanist could arrive to help with the musical number and choreography review of "Consider Yourself". But of course when you have 20 people with time on their hands, you give them something to do. So our song and dance ensemble were mustered into the duty of reorganizing the storage area under the seating. Lumber, set pieces and panels had been stored without much organization making it difficult to find pieces that could be reused for future plays. Even banister railings needed to complete the seating area were discovered among the set pieces.

The adventure continues.

I should have gotten a PbD - doctor of plumbing

When we moved into our house, we were surprised to find a garbage disposal in the laundry room. It's not like we have a lot of stuff that needs to be ground up and flushed down our sewer. Even the kitchen disposal doesn't get used that much.

Yesterday, the laundry room drain was going very slow so I flipped the disposal switch only to hear the hum of a jammed unit. This unit has gotten jammed several times so I'm pretty good at getting the Allen head wrench out to jiggle it loose. But this time it just wasn't coming free. It was turning like it had swallowed a quart of asphalt which had congealed in the gears somewhere. And to make matters worse, I tried for an hour to undo the connection mechanism and drop the disposal from the drain so I could replace it. Nothing seemed to work.

I contacted Rescue Rooter through the Internet and got a prompt reply with 2 business hours just as they promised. The repairmen showed up on time as promised. And the work was completed within 30 minutes of his arrival. We did elect to just eliminate the disposal and saved ourselves another $100 at least. Even so it was a $270 repair job.

Illegal to die of old age - a book review

In his book "How We Die" Sherwin B. Nuland describes how the U.S. Government in its annual "Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics" neatly tabulates all the deaths by cause. And nowhere in the report is "old age" listed as a cause. In fact, this attitude is echoed by the World Health Organization - it is illegal to die of old age. There are many other wonderful facts and descriptions in this book. Now that it is 12 years old, I'm not sure if the statistics need to be updated but I would guess that how we die changes very little over the years.

Nuland, a practicing surgeon, has detailed the major causes of death - from sudden heart attacks to more lingering strokes to the very lengthy dying process of Alzheimer's. He describes the physiology, the pathology of disease in its relentless attack on the human body and how, despite all the advances of medical science, the disease always wins.

The descriptions aren't pretty. Nuland pops our bubble that dying can be done with dignity. But somehow, knowing the possibilities takes away some of the fear and dread. The stories are told sensitively as one would expect from a medical practitioner who has had some years of experience but also as one would expect from a brother or son or friend. Some of the more poignant descriptions are very personal.

Now that 80% of our deaths in America occur in the hospital, we need a book like this to remind us of the reality of death and to help us cope with that reality.

Blocking

I am learning so much with this role in "Oliver!". Although sometimes it appears that things are disorganized and constantly in flux, the director and her staff are really quite methodical. Having gotten all of the musical numbers off on the right foot, so to speak, she's now turning her attention to the scenes in between the musical numbers, those scenes which are so important in moving the plot along. This activity is called "blocking". We actors are positioned on stage approximately where we will be during the actual performance. Often we might have to imagine that we're on a platform six feet in the air or descending a staircase which, for the moment, is non-existent. But in the process we get the general feel for whether we're upstage or down, left or right. And we get a bit of an idea where the movement is going to be if there is any.

But most important, we get to rehearse our lines with the other actors, getting a feel for the facial expressions and the body language which will become important in learning our lines for their intent and meaning, not just the words. And, yes, the director yells at us to "show more anger", " show more compassion", "remember, you're really mad at this point". Two women are to share the part of Nancy, alternating performances I suppose. I found it amazing how good they both were but how different my reaction was to each in our shared dialogue.

The adventure continues.

Approaching winter

One of the signs of approaching winter, along with leaves turning yellow, and gusts of wind rattling the windows, is the nip in the air, the feeling that you never quite get warm enough during the daytime to believe the sun has done his job properly.

It used to be a family ritual to see how long we could wait before lighting the pilot lights in all the heaters around the house. We'd try to hold out until Halloween but we rarely did. Now the pilot light is in the attic and much more difficult to access. I hope I don't have to inspect and light it annually. Now the ritual amounts to merely sliding the thermostat setting from "cooling" to "heating" and waiting for the familiar sound of the blower to kick in - not to make the house warm exactly, but more just to take off the "nip in the air".

Theater Work Night

Real community theater involves the community so this evening cast members and friends of the Davis Musical Theater Company gathered at the theater for a night of clean-up, painting, carpeting, moving and organizing of props, and other duties as necessary.

With the West Side Story and Grease runs over, the sets and props from both those plays had to be taken apart and stored away. Then the pieces that will go together to create the sets of Oliver and The Velveteen Rabbit have to be retrieved.

In the meantime, carpet runners for the aisles had to be cut, glued and stapled. Walls that had gotten dings had to be painted, tape and dust had to be cleaned from walls and ledges. There was indeed something for every age to help with.

The only problem was that there just wasn't enough time in the evening to get it all done. I suspect we'll have mini-work parties every night of rehearsal for the next four weeks.

New work clothes

After just a week of retirement, I realized that there is a consequence of my action that I hadn't expected. It's not really surprising but I hadn't thought that far ahead. When you get a new job, often the first thing you do is get some new clothes for the new position. Not only do you want to make a good impression but the dress code might be slightly different from what it used to be.

When I worked at the hospital suits and sports jackets were expected. I rarely left my office without a coat on. And going without a tie would have been unthinkable. When I began work at Harbor Regional Center I didn't think my position warranted any different sort of clothes but I was told rather quickly by several people including my boss that I was "overdressed". Shedding the coat was no problem except that I quickly discovered that I needed more than just a shirt and tie in the air-conditioned offices of the regional center. Thus began the tradition of my trademark cardigan sweater.

When moving to Sacramento with the very same job, I discovered again that I was overdressed. I could have gotten away with wearing a tie every day although people would have thought me "stuffy". Besides, I decided I liked the more relaxed atmosphere of Sacramento business casual.

Now, in retirement sweaters and button-down shirts look just a little too dressy again. And I find that I just don't have enough pocket polo shirts, shorts, and chinos. I had to search my closet for a tie to wear to my retirement party. I'm so far from the suits and sports jackets that I can't even imagine going back to that as everyday dress.

But I'm not ready for the bathrobe and jumpsuit of the nursing home either.

Corporate Identity? What Identity?

I'm sure I must be the kind of person that ad agencies just hate. I don't recognize corporate branding when it's staring me in the face. I had to have someone point out to me that the Nike "Swoosh" was particular to Nike products. I just thought it was a cute, stylized check mark. The first time I saw a cute young thang wearing shorts with B.U.M. prominently displayed on the rear, I thought, "Well, duh!"

So it was with some headshaking that I read the article in today's Sacramento Bee describing the tiff between In-and-Out Burger and the city of Placerville (formerly known as Hangtown). I&O planted a pair of palm trees so that they crossed, this configuration supposedly being important to their corporate identity. Placerville objected because (1) In & Out hadn't asked "Mother, may I"; and (2) palm trees are not part of Placerville's "corporate identity.

I thought long and hard to see if I could remember seeing the crossed palms at other In & Outs I've visited. I could remember palm trees ringing their drink cups but I couldn't remember if they were crossed or not. But actual trees didn't stick in my mind. A visit to their web site didn't help. No crossed trees show up except on a map link icon that looked like an Interstate sign with the crossed palms on it. I clicked on several store sites and saw some palms but nothing I could identify as crossed palms. If it's part of their identity, they're due for an identity crisis.

Understanding Iraq - a book review

Understanding Iraq by William Polk will make your blood boil, your head throb, and your stomach turn. You'll either be so mad that an author like Polk could be so good with history and so bad with current events or mad that he could write so passionately about history and be so level-headed with current events. You'll love or hate this book but its pretty hard to be neutral.

Polk covers thousands of years in just a few pages which I find delightful because I really don't want to know the details of all the Ottoman dynasties or Arab Bedouins who have crossed the land we now call Iraq. But Polk tells enough that you certainly are left with the impression that Iraq has always "belonged" to someone else; they've never really had a chance to be their own - until Sadam, that is. For hundreds of years it was their location that people coveted, certainly not the desert. For the past 100 years it is exactly the desert that is coveted, or at least the oil underneath that desert.

The most interesting thing learned from the book is how the British almost exactly 80 years ago felt "mandated" to take over Iraq and "teach" them how to govern themselves. There were plenty of pretexts to the takeover, none of them the real one that Great Britain wanted control of the oil fields and potential oil reserves. And for the next 28 years, Great Britain was involved in a never ending war of insurgency and sectarian violence. Those of us who never studied this history will just have to repeat it (although I certainly hope not for the next 28 years).

There is no love lost between Polk and the current "neo-conservative" administration in Washington, so the final chapters of this book read like worst review ever of the current war in Iraq. But his description does make sense in context of history and it does echo many of the news reports we hear daily.

It's a short, easy to read book. It's dealing with the contents that is difficult.

Life Expectancy

Carolyn and I have recently had several serious discussions about whether the amount of money we have put aside for retirement would last long enough. Of course we could both die in an accident this week and there would be no problem, but that certainly isn't our first choice. We found ourselves, instead, thinking of the ages of our parents when they died. My mother died at 59 and my father at 76 while Carolyn's parents both died at age 89. I've already outlived my mother. Based on the average or our parents, I have about 6 more years to go and Carolyn about 30 years.

I came across some web sites offering to take a little of the mystery out of the guessing. This one based in Denmark, give me 17 years, 351 days or long enough to reach the age of 79. This is based on life expectancy tables by country. Currently, it only has data for Scandinavia and the U.S. I find the detail of minutes and seconds rather nonsensical but fun. This longevity calculator, like comparing to our parents, simply uses the average of all people at a certain age.

More useful, are calulators which look at behavior such as Living to 100. I was a bit put off by the need for registering in order to use the calculator knowing that it was part of a marketing ploy so you could be sent all sorts of advertisements. But the survey obviously considers important data such as your smoking and drinking habits, your weight and exercise regimen, and a little of your family history and current health status. So I was delighted to see my "score" putting my life expectancy at 91 or another 29 years. Maybe there are a few more years left in this old body after all.

Fortunately, our retirement calculations were based on our living to age 90.

Back to work??

One day away from the job and already I'm questioning my retirement. Oh, I love the retired part enough, I'm just not sure how the arrangement is going to work out that was suggested when I left. They want me to come back 2 to 3 days a week for particular projects that can be done on an "as needed" basis. But there's a real tendency to get caught up in whatever else is going on.

Like today, I went in to work just to drop off Thank You cards for those who had participated in my retirement party or contributed to my going away gift. But since I was there I was asked to join a meeting discussing the progress of a particular project that I thought I had turned over to others. My former boss and soon-to-be contractor contact also wanted to discuss details of the contract and get me started on some of my potential tasks. So I spent half a day at work.

However, it was also good to set up my workspace, get a key to my new office, and start getting people used to seeing me in my new role.

Wardrobe call

At the first meeting of the cast of Oliver! following auditions we were told that from time to time we'd be called out of rehearsal to work with the wardrobe manager Jeannie Henderson. Last night while they were rehearsing a number that I'm not in, Jeannie asked me if she could have a few moments of my time. I said "Of course" and followed her into what I had previously thought was a small closet.
Up a tall stairway and back toward the front of the building there were rows and rows of clothing racks along a long narrow room that appeared to double as a utility room. Hundreds of shirts, coats, dresses, vests, etc. were hanging in neat arrangement allowing easy access. On another wall there were shelves full of clear plastic boxes for scarves, pants, socks, things that don't lend themselves to hanging up. Again, everything was labeled neatly.

Because I have two parts - one as Mr. Brownlow and the other as a street vendor in the Ensemble, I will have two costumes. Jeannie wasn't able to find everything I'll need but we got a good start on the street vendor costume and the measurements for Mr. Brownlow.

The adventure continues.

Another quiz - who should be allowed to marry?

As cases wind their way to the varioius state supreme courts and ultimately to the U. S. Supreme court, I found this link rather interesting. I know it isn't high on most people's concerns right now but I sort of expect it will come in for one last airing during the mid-term elections. After all, it is just too good a wedge issue to leave out. Besides if President Bush and the U.S. Senate can take time from their busy schedules regarding the war in Iraq, nuclear developments in Iran, a shaky economy, global warming, and numerous natural disasters, to debate who should be allowed to marry whom, then I can too.

Actually, this link is to an interesting little quiz with several quotes. Each quote is either over 30 years old regarding racially mixed marriage or a recent quote regarding same-sex marriage. You're invited to decide which topic each quote refers to.

As usual, I welcome your comments.

The Year of Magical Thinking - book review

It’s hard to review a book such as The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion because one doesn’t wish to make the trials and heartbreak during the year referred to in the title. I have nothing but heartfelt sympathy for someone who, while dealing with a hospitalized, comatose daughter, sees her husband of forty years die of a massive, instantaneous heart attack. That she chose to write a book chronicling the events immediately before that event and for a year afterwards is a courageous act. And probably very therapeutic as well.

The title could almost as easily have been “The Year of Wishful Thinking” as Ms. Didion did wish so strongly that she could rewind and run the tape of life again from before the heart attack, before the fever that attacked her daughter. Maybe the results would be different the next time. Or maybe she could pause the tape at the right moment and would never have to see her husband leave so suddenly without so much as a good-bye.

The book doesn’t detail the stages of grief and coming to terms with reality as much as it opens up a stage on which you see Didion coming to realize that her life doesn’t pause, doesn’t stop or rewind, that in fact she continues to experience joyful moments and deep sorrow, stress and anxiety, friendship and support. The world doesn’t stop at the loss of John, nor can Joan stop living, as much as she wants to from time to time.

The book had a powerful effect on how I now anticipate my last days or that of my wife. A lingering illness before death is a burden on the dying as well as the caregivers – painful but lightened by the sharing. A sudden death leaves a burden to be borne solely by those left behind. Now I’m not so sure I want to go quickly in my sleep. Not that any of us really have a choice in the matter.

Serving size

I recently received a HUGE container of snack-sized Hershey's candies from some dear friends in Southern California. I hope they won't take offense that I'm not about to eat all 12 pounds myself. I need to share the wealth (and the weight gain).

But I was intrigued by the food label that came packed in the tin. Like all the other food labels we've come to expect, the font size and contents were all standardized. This is an instant clue that the labeling is not voluntary, that it is mandated by some government regulation - which we've also come to expect more and more. The label was absolutely shocking in stating that one "serving" would represent 22% of my daily fat requirement. I'm thinking one or two pieces of the snack-sized candies - either a Hershey's kiss, a Reese's peanut butter cup, or a Mr. Crackle, for example. But it turns out that a "serving size" was a whopping 40g or 7 pieces of candy.

Of course that got me to wondering who picked 7 pieces of candy as the serving size. And as you have certainly figured out by now, it is the federal government. There is a complete table of "serving sizes" comprising 6 pages of fine print in the Code of Federal Regulations - Title 21 Part 101.12.

Fascinating reading, too. I learned the serving sizes for the following foods were:

spices 1/4 teaspoon
nuts /snacks 30g
hard candies (breath mints) 2g
hard candies (roll, dispenser ) 5g
other candies 40g
waffles 85g
pickles 30g
olives 15g
chewing gum 3g
salad toppers 7g

Can you imagine we're paying federal employees to think up, publish, and police this stuff!

The Exit

I shouldn’t have even tried to spend a full day at the office on my last day of work before retirement. Even with the exit interview in HR, packing up all my personal effects, and the final luncheon with my close co-workers there just isn’t enough to do to justify staying the whole day. Besides, I already have my final paycheck .

I thought of walking around the building saying goodbye but that would just interrupt everyone else’s routine and bring office productivity down, not to mention cause me to use up several boxes of Kleenex. I did compose and send out the final goodbye email to All Staff. And then I took the final steps...




It’s the end of an era. And the beginning of a new, exciting, wonderful one.

What a way to go!

It was the perfect retirement party. There were current co-workers, former co-workers, friends, and family members. There was lots of desserts (chocolate and otherwise), ginger ale, and milk. There was pleasant background music and slides of me at various stages of life. There was a table for signing “best wishes” 3 x 5 cards and a poster-sized invitation for well-wishers also.

A dozen current and former co-workers had agreed to “roast” me although I’ll have to say that the roasts were about as kind as a person could expect. But the humor of the roasts diluted what could have become an overly emotional time. The last thing I wanted was something sounding like my funeral. Actually, I can only hope my funeral can be as upbeat and enjoyable as this party was.

Dance? with my feet?

I must have misunderstood somewhere. Dance? You've got to be kidding.

I discovered that the Ensemble for Oliver! has to dance certain numbers as well as sing. However, an evening of rehearsal for the "Consider Yourself" number convinced me that some of us are much better singers than dancers. Fortunately, the director also sensed that and provided for some of us to be further upstage and therefore more in the background. She positioned the pretty young things and the handsome up front where they will generate more interest.

Still, I discovered that I could move faster and with more steps than I had expected. We'll just have to see if I can do that for all the performances.

Fooled by Randomness – a book review

Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is one of the weirdest books I have had the pleasure of reading. And yet I can’t get past the idea that there are many wonderful truths within. Taleb is a securities trader as well as an adjunct professor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University. His writing style is both disjointed and complex bringing elements of math, statistics, ancient mythology and history together. I could rarely follow his train of thought even though each sentence making up that train seemed to make sense.

The overwhelming theme of the book is that life (including the stock and bond markets) is overwhelmingly influenced by random effects that we ignore at our peril. However, we must also not attribute any real meaning to these random events or try to find trends in them because they are, indeed, random. He posits that the human brain is wired to interpret events as causing and caused by other events whether that is the case or not. When we are lucky we ascribe it to our skill at interpreting events. When we are not lucky, we ascribe it to bad luck or others “out to get us”.

Even science and scientists take a hit from Taleb when he emphasizes that a theory is either (1) currently disproven or (2) not yet disproven. It will never be proven correct as no amount of observation can ever prove there are no black swans. (That last sentence is a good example of the book’s style.)

The text is thick with irony and sarcasm. It is best read with the attitude that the author is trying to be humorous or at least doesn’t wish to be taken too serious. Then you’ll understand just how serious he is – and funny.

One of the best parts occurs at the end of the book when he, against his own best judgment, gives this piece of unsolicited advice:

Dress at your best on your execution day (shave carefully); try to leave a good impression on the death squad by standing erect and proud. Try not to play victim when diagnosed with cancer (hide it from others and only share the information with the doctor – it will avert the platitudes and nobody will treat you like a victim worthy of their pity; in addition the dignified attitude will make both defeat and victory feel equally heroic). Be extremely courteous to your assistant when you lose money (instead of taking it out on him as many of the traders whom I scorn routinely do). Try not to blame others for your fate, even if they deserve blame. Never exhibit any self pity, even if your significant other bolts with the handsome ski instructor or the younger aspiring model. Do not complain. … The only article Lady Fortuna has no control over is your behavior. Good luck.

Ensemble: Yes or No?

Last night was the first rehearsal for the Oliver! ensemble. We rehearsed three numbers from the play, numbers which require more voices than just the main roles in the scene. The pracice was sort of like a choir rehearsal except a lot more relaxed and raucous (well, you can hardly expect a bar crowd to sound like a church choir).

When I auditioned for a part in Oliver! I was asked to complete an audition information form. In addition to the usual name, address, phone, email, etc. there was a question about which role I was trying out for and whether or not I'd accept being in the ensemble. I thought it was an interesting question and, of course, answered Yes. (I had also listed "any" as the role I was trying out for.) But I had missed this interesting bit of information about the ensemble on the DMTC website:

When you fill out an audition form for any DMTC show, whether it be a Main Stage or a Young Performers production, you will come across the question, "Will you accept ensemble? Yes or No." There are only two acceptable answers to that question:

1. Yes, you will accept a spot in the ensemble if the director offers it to you. Or...
2. No, you will not accept a spot in the ensemble if the director offers it to you.

Please answer that question honestly. Do not say "yes" unless you mean it. Do not say, "Yes, I'll take ensemble," and then, upon having it offered to you, turn around and say, "Oops, I'm too busy." Now the director has to look for someone to fill the slot she or he offered to you based on what you wrote on your audition form. That takes up time the director really does not have.
Reasons to say "no" to ensemble

The best reason: You have years and years of acting experience behind you, even formal training, and years of experience playing principal roles. If that is the case, these next paragraphs are not directed at you. If you have that kind of talent and experience, it will show, and, chances are, the director will only consider you for a principal role, anyway.

Other reasons: If you are not that experienced an actor, but, for whatever reason, you do not want to do the show unless you get a particular role, say "No" to ensemble. Please be honest with yourself. If you will feel too miserable to do the show if someone else gets the part you want, please, just say "No" to the ensemble question before you audition. We don't want you to be miserable. It is okay to say "no" to ensemble if you really do not want to be in it.

While you will be given equal consideration for the roles you are interested in playing, regardless of whether you state particular preferences or say you will accept any part including ensemble, please remember: The fewer roles you indicate you will accept, the fewer the director's options for casting you.

If you really are too busy for a part that a director might offer you, please do not audition at all. Do not waste the director's time and the time of everyone else who auditions. If you are too busy to do the show, you are too busy to audition. Do not audition just because your best friend is auditioning if you, yourself, do not have time to take part in rehearsals and all the performances.
Reasons to say "yes" to ensemble

* You want to do the show because you love it (it is your favorite show or the score features your favorite song or the show is based on your favorite story).
* You love performing in general.
* You want to get more stage experience.
* You want to work with the show's director, music director, choreographer, etc.

Remember that you have a far better chance of getting cast if you are willing to accept any role or ensemble part offered to you as opposed to only wanting particular roles. Only one person can play "the lead," but two or three dozen can be in the show in other roles and ensemble parts.

The fun continues.

Never ending yard work

If you look carefully at this picture you will see a black sprinkler head submerged in gurgling, slightly murky water. This is the result of trying to move the front lawn without taking into account that I replaced this head a couple of weeks ago. Many trips by our neighbor with a wheelbarrow while working on the fence broke off the sprinkler head in the first place. Now I'm working on it again. And that's the story of yard work.

We had a garbage strike a few weeks ago. The county garbage collector's union refused to pick up garbage which included materials to be recycled as well as green waste. We've been back in service for two weeks now but we're still behind in green waste. This is when we could definitely use a larger composter like we used to have but only if we also had a chipper/shredder like we had in Long Beach. Then we wouldn't have a trash can looking like this with still 10 more days until the next time it's due to be emptied.