I finished drafting my writing about Evangelical hermeneutic activity, something I have been working on for a month. A month of writing got me about 4,000 words, which is really not a good pace as I go forward, but I suppose it’s a start. It’s pretty dense though, something I needed to get better at in the early stages of drafting. So we’ll see how it is taken by my supervisors. But finishing it feels good, and now, on to the Langauge@Internet article. I have a self-imposed deadline November 31st for that one.
Mei, in one of her less cute, more annoying moments, pulled Yoko’s glasses off her face on Friday, resulting in a broken left ‘arm’ on the glasses. I know the word ‘arm’ now because I have been spending the last five days trying to solve this problem. The first solution was getting them replaced at the store where I went to ask about the warranty, but we were about four months too late. Cost of new frames £124 (these were the expensive side of the buy one get one free deal). The second, and most obvious (and obviously wrong) solution, involves gluing them. Every time I have ever had broken glasses, I think I can glue them. Well, I can’t, and here’s why: there’s so damn small and there is never any surface area. I had them glued well a couple of times, but they snapped both times after a marginal amount of use. I also almost ruined the lens when I squeezed the glue, shooting out globs in front of and behind the lens, but miraculously missing them. went online and e-mailed everyone I could find selling these frames (like eight different dealers) and just got an e-mail saying that one could help me out for £24.95. Not as good as gluing them, but hey, I’ll take it.
And speaking of broken earthly goods, I was sitting in Starbucks on Friday when I got an e-mail from Yoko saying that the car remote key was dead and could I pick one up on the way home. She described the car as not having any power and I thought, that damn key and it’s damn immobiliser. Once the electronics in the key don’t work, everything fails. So I got the battery and when I replaced it on Saturday morning, I still got nothing. The car was completely dead. I called out landlord and he came over with a jumper box and when he put it on the battery all the doors unlocked and the radio came on, but the car wouldn’t start still. A new car battery, I thought, that’s no problem. To be expected. What are those like £20? No, it was £75. And those things are heavy as hell. I had to walk a mile with it. Anyway, problem solved, car running, money out like water.
This, of course, happened in a context: a context of family life. Although I thought we had avoided the ‘morning sickness’ this time around, we have not. Yoko was out of the game on Saturday, leaving me to do my typical shitty job of taking care of the house and getting annoyed with the kids. I do my best, but I’m so impatient with them and frustrated that I am losing my weekends again for the next… three years? I had tried to forget about this when we were making the decision to have Baby #3 because, to be honest, I don’t think I am strong enough to handle it and there are times, especially with the pressures of work and school, that I am not sure I’ll make it. I’m not sure I’ll make it. My dad, I was recalling as I carried the battery up the hill to the house, never showed much sign of weakness , but I know now that it probably wasn’t the case that he had it altogether. I wonder if my kids think I have it altogether…
It also meant that on Saturday morning I couldn’t run or spend anytime on the rowing machine. The whole day was full of fidgeting. Finally, after dinner, I got to exercise and felt much better. My body sort of expects it now, I think, and wonders where it is when it’s gone. This is the first November I have been healthy. When I was dating Yoko, I did diet and exercise in January, but other than that, I have mostly spent the winters hibernating. If I get to March and don’t feel like I have to drop 5-10 kgs, I’ll be very, very happy.
Finally, on Sunday we went to a Japanese friend of Yoko’s house for afternoon tea with a bunch of friends of Yoko’s friend (and some of Yoko’s friends too). I was happy to be back into the Japanese environment again. It takes me about 20 minutes and my Japanese is firing on all cylinders: I can communicate about anything that comes up without any problem. I can understand, I explained, about 90% of the words that everyone is using, but the context and the grammar makes it possible to hide that I don’t know 10% of the words. You stop thinking and you start speaking. The people were all very nice and we had a good time.
But it’s Monday now. Already Monday afternoon. Article proofing then handouts for class on Friday. Nothing: piece of cake.