The New Musings of a Quiet Geek

As many of you know, for the past 5 or 6 years, I have been actively pursuing Social Security Disability.  It has not been an easy road. It was hard for even my lawyer to wrap his head around the fact I have a Masters degree in Library Science.  Never mind that there was little wrong with the left side of my brain. I, like many with disabilities, have been able to beat the odds and overcome adversity. My parents were told I was blind and would never walk. Sure, both are issues for me but I can still do them!  And then my dream job at the seminary happened. How can I prove I can't work when I in fact am and am now reasonably able to pay most of my expenses? Should I have turned down? Maybe. Have I ever pondered saying "No?" Hell, no. Two months later, the seizures happened and simultaneously, I experienced the darkness months of my life (Much of that time I don't actually have memory of...) but my case, morbidly gained new life. Recently, I've been mentally, ps...

The whole Donald Sterling controversy is surely blazing inferno in our society and I must put my thoughts down for posterity. Conservatives pounced when the NBA cracked down on it.  "We're allowed to be assholes!" a friend commented on Facebook. Like fuck you are! In this particular case, as owner, Sterling was the face of a NBA franchise which, theoretically, should be a family friendly thing.    "If you don't agree with his policies, just boycott." Yes, you could, still, for that matter, but the NBA still did the right thing for removing the reason for doing so. I have never been to LA so I couldn't tell you how far apart where the Clippers play from where the Lakers play but let's assume the NBA aren't just money grubbing whores and LA needs both teams for the greater good. "But he's been a racist since he bought the team back in the '80's." We didn't have the internet so info didn't travel as quickly.  The Cl...

Maybe you wish I had...  Busy week. Probably mentioned a choral group that has rehearsed at my church before to some but may not have blogged about it.  Anyway, this year in addition to 6 Sunday afternoons in a row, this year, they used the church for a week as well. Longer days.  Much extra money for me. Yay!  I know I blogged about the prima donna pianist that accompanied the string quartet years ago. Well, this group had a harpist. (Or a "harpie" as I came to refer to her. )  Anyway, long story short, she got me in trouble with the sexton and managed to piss off the director himself with her antics.  Did I mention the extra money was good? Speaking of money, I officially sold another copy of my first novella, Winter Storm . You can't buy a candy bar (at the "high school price" for that matter) with the amount of money I made but how many books have you published?  So the health drama continues.  Clearly, mid-next month is longer than thre...

I'm back! I guess. We'll see how long it is before I don't want to do this any more and take another long hiatus... I could have just scrapped this blog and started afresh but then I would have had to change the signature thing in my e-mail and who's that ambitious? Though, my life is somewhat different now as my cousin now lives in Alaska which he had a blog about but I can't remember the address so you'll just have to take my word for it... I have a new roommate now who's a student at the seminary I work at... Oh, and the seminary finally hired me after 5+ years as Assistant Librarian. They're effectively going out of business as a seminary in June and becoming a continuing ed/support system for "ministry in the 21st century." It's really hard to describe. "You'd have to be there" is is an overused, and possibly too inaccurate, a phrase but but we'll go with that... Anyway, this new identity won't include a lib...

My regular readers, if you're still around, may remember that at least twice in the past I've gone into my "I'm going to die poor and alone" mental state. It happened again about a month ago now. In the past, as you may remember, this feeling coincided with getting dumped or rejected from a job. Sure the latter has happened but, truthfully neither event coincided with the feeling this time and that really bothered me. (Still sort of does...) This may lead to real psychoanalysis later down the road but, for now, I've started vocational-related, but not vocational-specific, rehabilitation. So far, it's revealed a handful of things I never realized about my choices, which does not suggest they were bad choices but that they were simply done without me being aware I made them; like going to college. (Sure, grad school was conscious decision but college? Who knew?) I also, apparently, do not like the fact I'm only above average in math...Also my couns...

It's been awhile since I did a full CD review on here so let me tell you about Kelly Clarkson's new All I Ever Wanted . It's more and more awesome with every listen. It's not as good as her previous two albums. She has less writing credits with this album so it's less personal or "personally personal" as it contains genuine emotion but in the more generic sense. The sensible side of me wants to say the songs she actually did write are the best but I really can't say that. My favorite tracks are "All I Ever Wanted", "My Life Would Suck Without You" (Which she didn't write) and "Already Gone" (Which she co-wrote with one other). I know this can't be the first example of an album that combines phat (which is in Firefox's vocab apparently) beats touching lyrics throughout the entire album but it's the first I've thoroughly enjoyed. Yesterday, our final movie was The Spirit . It was very good but the che...

While doing two stints at church this week unlocking doors, etc., first at the dance group and domestic violence group on Wednesday then for the final string quartet concert of the season just yesterday, I finished reading Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou for this afternoon's book group. Today due to vacation schedules and possibly naps, I was the only male among four women; all of whom are over 50. (I don't think that last bit's important but maybe...) The book had it's moments but, frankly, aside from all the name dropping, I've seen better Lifetime movies because "men are evil and they will hurt you." The book basically deals with her life between like '57 and '62. Several instances were interesting and amazing that one woman actually went through all this but it simply was not a "guy's book."

1. My boss at the library is on vacation this week though was here on Monday anyway. Yesterday, it was fine. The semester is over so, besides the workstudy students, we had only one come in who needed help with the copier occasionally. The biggest problem lately has been our computers are totally crappy. We have 4 and it really seems like I have to go to each one to perform a specific task and it involves much rebooting. Today, I walked down as usual to find the seminary closed today due to the elevator project my church has been involved in. (You knew it was the same building, correct?) Was I called? Nope. The secretary called me once so I don't know why she wouldn't have my number... ::shrugs:: 2. Though thinking back I know when it happened, we discovered a couple nights ago that we no longer have BBC America as they moved it to the digital cable level. This was the cable system I've encountered where it was expanded basic but still... Epic Fail. 3. I heard through Fac...

Wednesday was the Seminary's end of the year party. Despite no homemade feast this time, this was more fun to me than the last Christmas party. Once again, graduating students rang the bell for every semester they attended. This year, we had two 16s! But, Josh, you work on Wednesday night. Yes, I was working I just didn't get the money I'm used to. The dance group was canceled so we could use the space. The seminary gives more money to my church in terms of rent so there you go... The family crisis group still met so I had to give directions. To both groups actually. My mother and aunt came down to visit their mother as my aunt was on vacation this week. I went over for dinner on Monday and then they took me, my cousin and my other aunt out to lunch. (Well, actually, only me and my roommate hadn't actually eaten yet but whatever...) While they were down, their brother's cat was very sickly so they offered to pay to have him (the cat, not my uncle) put down. It wa...

JJ Abrams has taken the mantle of God, if you will, from Rick Berman. Starting with Alias , I can't think of anything that guy has done that hasn't totally rocked. (Didn't watch Felicity and don't want really want to...) His vision for the new Star Trek universe is scary cool. Almost every nitpick I may have had was wiped out from the opening scene. Every review I read say the same thing about the casting: Eerily close but slightly different. I agree with this assessment. Exact quotes were even used. Abrams said, probably more than once, that he wanted Star Trek to be more like Star Wars . So, he blew up Alderaan. I don't think I would have had the balls to obliterate the planet they did but, reading interviews with writers Kurtzman and Orci, I understand why they did. They wanted to show that this universe isn't the one we know and love. Because I can't do a review without nitpicks, here they are: Kirk's older brother's part apparently ended ...

With the discovery of the time-waster that is Facebook, I find I no longer need to waste my time here. This is mainly why I haven't done any quizzes or other memes here in a cat's age. (I'm not a dog person...) They're all over there. Also why tell you all about what's not going on in my life when I can better waste time by making fake money off Lindsay Lohan's hi-jinks? Added to that, you can regularly follow the mundaness that is my life on Twitter. I don't want to say I'll never blog again. Frankly, this site and I have chronicled much over the years and I'm not ready to give it up fully. Every so often, something comes up worth sharing. Case in point, Thursday night, there was a retirement celebration for our outgoing OT professor complete with a guest lecturer from Boston, dinner and a vesper service designed by the professor herself. It was good Thai food, though admittedly not my favorite Asian cuisine, and saw many people I knew. My parents c...

Some of you may be interested in knowing what's new in my life. A couple weeks ago, I finished reading Ernie's Ark which is a collection of short stories written by Maine author Monica Wood. Recently, I read on fellow Maine author Tess Gerritsen's website that she felt the short story format was dead. I agree it's dying but I'm not sure it's totally dead as this book, put out only a couple years ago, proves. The important factor here, I think, is that the 9 stories are connected; moderately in some cases, tightly in others. I enjoyed the book overall. Of course, given the format, I enjoyed some stories more than others... I enjoy accurately described Maine. We've been reading a lot of non-fiction in my book group so I was pleased someone else picked a fiction book. I think I missed it... Remember I mentioned the seminary was searching for professors in both Old Testament and New Testament? The appointments have been officially announced. In OT, they we...

Though it snowed a lot yesterday and it looked like every class was canceled, the seminary had the final New Testament professor candidate make his presentation. Since no one answered the phone when I called three times, I assumed they were closed so I didn't go. Here's what I know. Candidate One was a woman who admitted she just turned fifty. (Age I think is less of an issue here but there you go.) During her presentation I thought she was a bit shy and I freely admit her "introduction" to her topic was more interesting than the topic (Cleansing in Luke and Acts) itself. When I saw her again, at our weekly chapel service, it happened to be Ash Wednesday, she was much more relaxed and, to be brutally honest, I liked her more... Thursday was our visiting professor's turn to be permanent. On paper he's more qualified than the first one. He seemed very nervous and I was very bored. His topic was connecting the Psalms to the Gospels; mainly Mark. One of the profe...

This is a time of change at the seminary where I volunteer. By the end of the month we'll have new professors in Old and New Testament. This week, we were treated to a lecture and Q & A over pizza with finalists for the position vacated by our retiring OT professor. Without getting into too much detail, both are women aged mid-30's to mid-40's and "of color." I choose to believe this is a coincidence but it sadly may not be. (The age thing in particular.) Both got the question of winters in Maine and both lived in New England for 3 or so years. Both are also ordained in some form of the Baptist church. The first one, a native of Cuba, had her PhD but no practical teaching experience and a very thick accent but very dynamic. Her topic compared her upbringing to the OT, particularly a couple of the women. It was impressive. This wasn't well attended by either students or faculty. Today, the second one, a "military brat" from the south, who is sti...

1. Yeah, so no eventful bus rides. It was kind of close making the bus home and for some reason the Metro bus driver didn't give me my free ride from the station. Maybe they dumped that arrangement due to the economy or maybe there's limits... 2. Wrote 10 pages. Actually, I wrote 16 but thanks to the cat, six were lost. She also managed to turn the display on my mother's laptop completely upside-down. Totally weird... I'm at about 75 pages now and have ideas on how to finish. I'm not sure how long it'll end up but will probably be comparable to the last one... 3. Watched many a TV movie but I will discuss 13 Going On 30 with Jennifer Garner. I think she is a much better actress than people give her credit. She acted like a 13 year old to me; at least one from the more innocent '80's... (Comparatively!) I loved her imitation of the "Thriller" dance as well as the dance she did to "Love is a Battlefield." 4. Susie was fine with it jus...

I guess we'll start on Saturday. I had an alumni Homecoming celebration downtown. As usual, nobody from my class came but I was surprised as I entered that a friend from high school was there. It turns out that her sister is the director of Alumni Relations at my college. Somewhat weird I think although I didn't go that far way to college so that may explain it... Sunday we were supposed to go out to eat with family as some of my aunts and uncles were going to be up but lunch was scheduled too early for us so my other aunt and I ended up getting our food to go before heading over to my grandparents. This turned out fine in the end. We started a book group at my church that afternoon. I guess we'll be meeting monthly. I discuss the first book after I finish it which shouldn't be much longer. Monday, my cousin/roommate, my aunt and I met my aunt and uncle who had been up visiting from Jersey. This went well until we got talking politics against my better judgment but what...

Yesterday because our apartment was being fumigated, I was downtown a lot. After work and lunch, I went the local bookstore and they finally agreed to put the copy I left on the shelf and then we'll see how that goes! I've alerted my friends in town so it should go well. Now if Borders agrees to a similar deal, I'll be all set... After that I went to see Kung Fu Panda with Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan to name a few. While the movie wasn't " Shrek funny," it still had me laughing pretty hard in places. There was this girl about 4 or 5 years old you was laughing hysterically during most of the film... Last night was my church's pot luck and Annual Meeting which meant no dance group and no money for me but I did get dinner. For the most part, the meeting was straightforward until the end when we discussed the new capital campaign and whether to allow alcohol in the church. The former issue was settled fairly well (The goal am...

Recently, I finished an "autobiography" of sorts. I read John DeLancie's I,Q , written with Peter David. To me, it was as if Dave Barry wrote a Star Trek book. This was easily the funniest book of the genre I have ever read and I enjoyed it immensely. On Thursday, I went out to one of the few nearby towns on the busline to a job interview. Because the street, I was told to get off at wasn't clearly marked, I missed my stop and took a tour of the town. But the interview itself was fairly laid back and we spend awhile discussing my book. (They wanted me to know they already ordered a copy.) The director mentioned she thought she'd read a review somewhere either in the big city paper or one of the local weeklies. I was flabbergasted but I think now she was mistaken. (Sidenote: one of the weekly publications she thought she might have seen it in not-so-coincidently told me today they haven't but want to!) Due to some shit that went down after I came home from the...

I can't believe I didn't discuss this in detail but about a week ago now, the seminary had their end of the year party. This included a reception and then dinner. The graduating seniors were recognized symbolically by each ringing a bell for the number of semesters they attended. Some had to ring it as much as 12 times! Friday, I went up to Ellsworth with my grandmother and uncle. The trip was long but I did enjoy being able to discuss and listen to music with my uncle. That night, the five of us, including my parents, went to see two of my second cousins in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown! at the Grand. I discovered later that this was not the original production that starred Gary "Radar" Burghoff but the 1999 revival with Kristin Chenoweth as Sally Brown. (She won a Tony for it...). The difference is that the original version had a character named "Patty" which is not to be confused with Peppermint Patty. This character was replaced with Charlie'...

I probably haven't mentioned it but my Wednesday nights have become more complicated. I have the dance group as usual but for the past three weeks, a family counseling group was added and two weeks ago, the day of the alumni thing, there is also play rehearsals but that should be over at the end of the month. While all this was going on, I finished a book. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper is book one of the Dark is Rising sequence. Overall, I liked it very much. Given that this book was written less than a decade after the Narnia series by another Brit, I wasn't too surprised at the similarity in the writing. There were a couple confusing scenes such as Barney being captured and then, suddenly, he had an out-of-body experience and then was physically with his siblings and safe...Also, there really wasn't enough fantasy elements in it for me but as a piece of YA fiction, I did like it. Last night, I went to an "art-sharing event" at my church. It was a smal...