Full Moon

The other night when I turned the lights off to go to bed I paused, thinking I had missed turning a light off somewhere. The room was a lot lighter than normal. It took me just a moment to realize that it was because of the full moon outside. The next morning on my way to the bus the full moon was still hanging relatively high in the sky.  When I came into work I learned that several of my co-workers didn't sleep well last night. One of them suggested that it was because of the full moon last night. Doing a little bit of research shows that the words lunacy and lunatic are both from the Latin word for moon. There are plenty of other things blamed on the moon or its phases from sleep to fertility.

Regardless of what is attributed to the moon and what actually is caused by the moon (like tides and such), I've always felt a bit of a pull towards it (pun intended). There is a song by the Russian group Любэ (Lyube`/Lube`) called, Луна ("luna" - Moon). The song is the story of an old wolf who is facing the end of his life and his cry to the moon to come and take him. I have always been drawn in by the chorus - starts at 1:38 in the video in the link. The song concludes with a rather intense instrumental that seems at first rather at odds with the story in the lyrics, but how else would you expect a wolf to leave this world? (I particularly enjoyed listening to the song on my way home late at night. I would roll down the windows and turn the volume all the way up - one of the reasons my hearing may not be what it once was.)

Silver window in a pitch black wall

Silver window in a pitch black wall
Letting in the light of another world.
What can you see?

Mercury light radiating from the depths
Calling me to look into the beyond.
What will I see?

Radiant harmony and calm and peace
Shinning as a beacon for those who observe.
Where do you lead?

The maiden. The wolf. The dreamer. And me.
Your court. Your gang. Your admirers Your children.
Lead on and we follow.

J.I.C. (Just in Case)

"Be Prepared" Boy Scout Motto

"Весгда Гатов" ("Always ready") Communist Youth Pioneer's Motto

I always thought that the similarity between these two organizations' mottos was interesting. Perhaps it was just the shared goals of both, or perhaps the Pioneer's was based on the Boy Scouts (since the Boy scouts were organized first). Regardless, they both embrace the idea of Preppers - a community that looks at being prepared for anything. This is not necessarily the people that believe that the zombie apocalypses is coming, but people that are ready minor, everyday inconveniences to major disasters. The Survivalism wikipedia page it mentions multiple types of survivalists scenarios ranging from everything from Nuclear Winter to problems associated with global warming or overpopulation and the collapse of society. It also includes safety enthusiasts and wilderness survivalists. They also trace the movement back to the 1930s which makes sense considering the depression and threat of war, which rapidly grew into the threat of nuclear attack. Various disasters (both natural and socially created) have kept preppers' fires banked. With the disaster movies which have come out (with San Andreas being the newest one), not to mention the zombie movies and other films that feature End of the World scenarios that are spread across the genres it's not hard to see that popular culture has also kept preppers stocked with reasons to be prepared.

Interesting enough, Both the Boy Scouts and the Youth Pioneer's existed before the 1930s. It is possible that the youth who where always told to be prepared led the charge as adults. My own father has worked in the Scouting program for longer than I've been alive, or at least pretty close to it. He has trained hundreds of boys of many ages to be prepared and he lives what he preaches. He has emergency gear in his cars. He's carried a knife since he was my daughter's age (which as of this writing is 7), and his first aid kid could probably rival most EMT kits. Now that my sister is about to become an EMT I'll have to ask for an official comparison. In addition my parents have always maintained food storage and several years ago got their 72 hour kits finalized. However, these preparations were all taken without any membership in the "survivalist" community. They are actions promoted by his experiences with the Boy Scouts, their church, and their community. Perhaps they could be called preppers, but to me it is just part of life. While they are more prepared than I am, it is because they've had longer to to stock pile, learn, and employ survivalist principles.

There are so many different sites and resources for people interested in prepping. They all have their own take on the basic essentials of life: food, water, shelter, and health. Some break it further down into cooking, hygiene, security/protection, transportation, and other sub-categories, but the four main ones tend to stay the same. Each of those come in different forms and each prepper has their own method to ensure them. My goal here is not to discuss all of the possibilities. As a backpacker I know the importance of having food, water, shelter, and being healthy and I can also appreciate the amount of space and weight of those things. The most difficult aspect is knowing when to stop. It is not possible to be prepared for anything and you have to balance preparedness with practicality. You cannot carry your Bug-out-bag "BOB" (think supped up 72 hour kit) everywhere you go. You have to think about it.

A big part of being a prepper, it appears, is the mindset. I mentioned my father and scouting. When he leaves the house he looks at what he's planning on doing, where he'll be, and what he might need. The common outcome of this decision making process is that he tends to always have a coat or jacket with him just in case it rains. It means that he also has a pair of walking shoes and some basic food at his desk at work just in case he has to walk home. It means that he has basic tools, water, and a wool blanket in his car just in case it breaks down or he has to spend the night in the car. It means that he throws a extra tent in the car when they go camping just in case he needs it - which he has twice. For me prepping and survivalism is having a Just-in-Case (JIC) mentality. Yes, it can be taken to extremes, but it's just thinking about what you are likely to need and making sure you have it - just in case.

A movie with unresolved issues

Last night my family went and saw Hotel Transylvania 2 and while I enjoyed it, I was discontent with it. It may be the influence of the "media smarts" class I took in college, or the time I've spent listening to the Writing Excuses podcasts. The following blog contains spoilers.

First, the idea that "Human, vampire, unicorn. I'll still love you" a.k.a. love you for being you. Drac, wants Dennis to be a vampire and tries everything he can to help Dennis' fangs come in. Just as Drac accepts Dennis for being human Dennis gets his fangs. While I'm glad that Drac had accepted Dennis before his fangs, Dennis' transformation pulls the teeth out of the whole "accepted for who you are" message - We love you even though you are not special but it turns out you're special so no problems." See what I'm saying.

And this idea of special. Dennis is a cute kid and I would have to say pretty normal. We see that he is picked on a little by his cousins. Nothing that I wouldn't expect from ignorant kids who are interacting with a younger relative who is a different and who they don't see often. He gets into danger when one of Vlad's minions comes after him and Winny. And as soon as his fangs pop in everything is fixed. The cousin's respect him and he is able to beat his captor but lays waste to him and all of his friends. This is a common theme in movies and books - the transformation fixing all problems. I don't have a huge problem with it, but it does get monotonous and predictable. What's more, it's just lazy story writing.

Continuing the idea of being special, the human characters were all portrayed as boring, slacking, insulting, and insensitive. Johnny was practically no-existent as a character and his problems weren't ever taken seriously (more on that later). His family was so two-dimensional that if they turned sideways you wouldn't see them. For all intents and purposes they could have been removed from the script and nothing would have changed. So the message is, be special or be invisible. Special people can protect others. Special people can do anything. If you're special everything will be okay. Great message for kids especially considering the "Human, vampire, unicorn" message they were trying to build the movie around.

While Dennis' transformation seems to solve his problems, there were other issues that weren't resolved and weren't addressed. Mavis and Johnny for instance. Johnny has clearly been booted to the back seat with the arrival of Dennis and while he loves his son, he craves attention from his wife. Yet, despite acknowledging this, as some kind of joke, they focus on his desire to stay at the hotel. They brush what I consider the greater need, under the carpet. It is never resolved but everything appears fine between him and Mavis at the end when Dennis gets his fangs. This is strange considering that the first movie focused on their relationship and on Drac's loss of his wife.

Another issue that I think they could have taken a lot farther was Mavis' over protectiveness of Dennis. They could have easily done a scene where Drac accuses Mavis of being just as overly protective of Dennis as he was of her. Maybe it was one conflict too many, but it seemed an important part of the plot, maybe even critical, and yet was unresolved.

Again, I enjoyed the film. Yes, I would watch it again. I won't lobby for it to be added to the collection, but if it ends up there, I'll be okay with it. I just couldn't help thinking about these things. With all this said there are some pretty big flaws with the movie 10,000 BC but I still really like watching it.

Ready for School?

As I work in education the month of August is very, very busy for us. In fact, if I had known that I couldn't take vacation days in August (because of how busy it is) I probably wouldn't have gotten married in August. As it is, I'll be celebrating my anniversary in October, but I digress.

The institution I work at has open enrollment which means that we don't have admissions standards that students need to meet (other than completing high school/GED and paying the admissions fee). We also don't have deadlines for admissions or registration - although we always recommend doing it before classes start. Classes are starting on August 31st this year and it always seems that as soon as August hits, everyone who thought about going to school, but hasn't done anything yet, suddenly panics and starts the process of getting admitted and registered.This translates into a very busy advising office with lots of students asking what classes they need to take and why they aren't able to.

This is strange to me because it was not the kind of  student that I was. My roommates and I would log on to the computer at midnight with our classes all chosen and would be registered in less than two minutes. I always bought a copy of the schedule (this is when they printed it like a huge magazine), and would eagerly look through the classes with a pen, circling the ones I wanted and comparing days and times. Then I would sit back until the start of classes and not have to worry about it.

I know (because I am constantly reminded of it every August) that this is not always possible for some students. We always have a large number of returning LDS missionaries or current/former military service personnel that are anxious to get into classes, but may not be available until August. We have first generation students that don't know how early they can apply and register. While it can be draining to work with any student who is anxiously trying to get into a class, it is easier to be patient and helpful to these students.

The students that really get to me (although I do everything I can to keep from showing it) are the ones that are returning and know how registration works and just didn't do anything until August. Many times they will also come in to our office, often aware that we work on an appointment only basis, and ask to meet with an advisor to "sort out their schedule." We had a student in last Friday, 10 minutes before we closed, desperate to meet with someone. He confessed that he had slacked on his classes and hadn't checked his E-mail about his waitlist classes until it was past the opportunity. I was glad I wasn't at the front desk because I would have found it difficult to keep my impatience with him out of my voice. With that said, I feel that I'm generally pretty good and not letting my impatience or dislike impact my interactions. It is something that I actively try to prevent.

With all that said, with as busy as life gets, and with the hectic nature of my work at this time of year, I really enjoy the start of school. I've always enjoyed school and the excitement that comes from starting a new year with new subjects and new teachers. My kids are excited to start (2nd grade and kindergarten). At back-to-school night my son's teacher asked him what he was excited to learn about in kindergarten. He said, "Science! Like volcanoes and space!" She gave a small grimace and said, "Well, we don't actually study science in kindergarten, but I bet you could teach me about volcanoes." Which prompted him to start sharing what he knew about volcanoes. It made me proud.

So, all in all, when people ask me if I'm ready for school to start, Yes. Yes I am.

To my daughter's future dates/boyfriends

I saw this "application to date my daughter" on Facebook and it got me thinking. I've had a variety of ideas on what I'm going to do / how I'm going to act to my daughter's dates. My sister-in-law's friend's father required all of his daughter's dates to write their name on a shotgun shell and kept them in a basket in his room. For a wedding gift he gave them to her husband. Angel says I can do that if I want and I am sorely tempted. I've also thought that if one of her dates picks her up by honking the horn from the driveway I would simply walk out and ask him to try again. I had a Young Men's leader who would introduce his daughter's dates to "Jaws," a cast iron nutcracker with inch long teeth. You can bet what he threatened if anything untoward happened.

The idea of the protective father and "little princess" has been around for a while. The more I think about it, I would be happy to play that role and I'm sure I would enjoy it. However, rather than threaten my daughter's dates with a shotgun I would rather that my daughter know how to handle herself and inspired her dates to treat her well. I don't want her dates to be afraid to treat her wrong. I want them to want to treat her right. This will mostly be her responsibility.

She will need to the sort of person that brings out the best in others. That means kind, gentle, fun, witty, and intelligent. She'll need to have an interest in others and be able to convey it. I want her to be someone that is good company, someone that is "good people." She will be a force unto herself, but a force for good.

She should also be astute enough to seek out like minded people to date. If my daughter is going on a date with someone I object to, I'm going to wonder what was her part in the decision. Why is she with someone I (or she) has an issue with? I want her to have a fine sense of other people and make good decisions about friends.

This doesn't mean that if something goes wrong that it's her fault. It is more than possible that she, her mother, or I make a bad call on one of her dates and he tries to take advantage of her. While I would want the guy to know that if anything happens should he do anything to hurt my daughter, I again would rather that she can take care of herself. My daughter will be armed on her dates. Like my father before me, I believe everyone should care a basic pocket knife and the one I get for my daughter will be sufficient to deter any one with an intent to harm. I'd just as soon she never have to use it, but I want her to have the option. There may even be a time when she may have a conceal carry weapon. In short, any violence that I threaten her dates with will be nothing compared to what I want my daughter to be able to inflect if the need arises. If I really wanted to mess with someone, I would have them write their name on a bullet and then hand it to Kanga who should then load it into a gun she is taking on the date. That is how you encourage good behavior on a date.

In short, as much as I want to protect my daughter, and as much as I will do everything in my power to protect her, the best protection I can provide is by teaching her how to protect herself and then be there to back her up.

Don't you know who I am?

I read this Facebook post last week.

Howard was having difficulty with a company fixing an order of his. This post made me want to write some musings I've had for a while about social media and it's influence.

The is a common image of famous people getting things their own way. If they don't get good service, everybody knows about it and the business may suffer bad consequences. It's not uncommon for them to get special treatment where ever they are. This is because these people hold the public's attention. Look at the interest that is netted by people such as the Kardashians and other reality TV stars and it's not hard to see that a word or action from them could have some impact on the a business or person targeted.

It's a bit of a cliche on how important someone thinks they are if they say "Don't you know who I am?" when interacting with someone else. You see it happen in film and T.V. and with little variation the person who says that is someone of little importance just trying to enforce their will. However, in today's world of social media and international reach you never know who a person can be. There are lots of bloggers out there that have wide reach, not to mention Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. There are channels that I subscribe to on YouTube that have as many as 9 Million subscribers. If you are an online retailer and you do something bad to one of these people, you might find business impacted as word spreads.

I think the biggest lesson people should learn from social media is that you never know if the person you are talking to has an audience of social media minions. If you are a business, it is in your best interest to treat every customer like a VIP. In social interactions, it is best to be polite. If people choose to abuse that and take offense and persecute others, that is their choice and condemnation.

To the troll on War Thunder...

Ninth grade. You must be in ninth grade at a junior high. You aren't? You fooled me. You're acting like you're at the top of the pile, but you don't realize that it's a pile of crap. I bet your report card says, "doesn't play well with other." You are screaming profanity laced insults at your team members because we are losing. You threaten fellow team members because you do not approve of their location on the battlefield. We all know your threats are empty. You obviously care more about winning than other people and you are not going to go out of your way from trying to take the capture point "punish" those that are not doing what you want. That and friendly fire subtracts penalizes you. You really need to worry about people like me. People who, if tired of your tirades and annoying behavior, will put an 85mm shell through your tank without warning because we would rather fight a losing battle without the commentary than try to win with a self-important prick.

Sincerely yours,

SU-85

Why New Year

This time of year is one of reflection and goal setting. Many people make resolutions. Last year I made one myself - to get healthier and work out. I've been pretty good at it. I've lost some fat and put on more muscle. I feel better about myself - physically and mentally - and I've come to enjoy exercise. I got to thinking though, why now? Obviously the throwing away of one calendar and the putting up of another marks a boundary. And clearly the tradition has been around for quite a while. But it seems that New Year is "the time" to make goals and I guess my musings are why only now?

Interestingly enough, if people only reflect and plan at the start of the new calendar there are multiple times that they can do that. My occupation has to observe three calendars: solar (January to Dec), fiscal (July to June), and academic (May to April). Technically that last one could also be August to May depending on if you relate it to usual time students attend classes or the catalog year of the institution. It is certainly true that pondering, reflecting, and planning happen at the start of the academic year, but I would have to say that the end of the fiscal year is when those activities tend to happen. There is also Chinese New Year which is celebrated by many people, some that aren't even Chinese. My daughter's school throws a Chinese New Year party (which has gotten bigger ever year) as they have a Chinese immersion program. Anniversaries and birthdays also mark the end of a solar year.

Perhaps New Year is seen as "the time" to reflect and make goals because, as a holiday that is the tradition. People often reflect and make goals on annual occasions (some are mentioned above) but as there are often other traditions associated with those celebrations the goal making and reflecting are not noted. Regardless of it being overt or covert, I think that reflecting and making goals is something that can only be beneficial.