Turning (or Spinning) Tables

The tables have turned in our sleep-deprivation home. It used to be the children who were depriving the parents of much needed sleep, thereby turning us into zombies. Now that school is in session, afternoon naps have pretty much vanished (except for the weekends, and even then rarely). Those nice two hour siestas have gone adios, with some tough results.

J's school runs from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. By the time he gets home, he has hardly an hour to nap before dinner. He's already a bit high-strung from a long day at school. So naps don't happen for him. We fill in the time with some activities before we sit down to our evening meal.

Dancing instead of napping!

L's school is only half-days, from 9 a.m. to noon. I pick her up, we have lunch. At first, she was taking afternoon naps. That meant I had to wake her up to pick up J from school. This arrangement made L very cranky. Sometimes she would fight it by falling back asleep in the car, so I had to carry her back and forth from the parking lot. Those were the good days. On bad days, she'd fight walking; she'd fight carrying. After a while, she too gave up her afternoon naps, but not her crankiness.

L falls for J's trick moves!

The situation isn't really a win for the parents, as you might imagine. At best it's a Pyrrhic victory. When the kids deprive us of sleep, we become the classic slow, shambling, brainless zombies, like in the old black and white films. When the kids are deprived of sleep, they become the new fast, hyperactive, manic zombies, like in 28 Days Later. They bounce off the walls. They have massive mood swings. They constantly want snacks. They are fairly high maintenance and show no signs of stopping. Even on weekends, they refuse to nap!

Even though the tables have turned in our house, I fear they've pulled a 360 rather than a 180. The burden is back on us parents to manage the new, crazy situation that's been thrown to us. The kids are still quite loveable, so we are glad to do it. We look forward to vacations where we don't have to run back to the hotel every afternoon for nap time. They are going to bed earlier, so we parents are getting some of our evening back. There is a silver lining.

Writing Exercise: How to Add Depth to Characters

Last week, our writing exercise was to build a character using one emotion as the center of the character. The character should be well rounded, showing various dimensions. The exercise specifies four dimensions:

1. First dimension--the photograph: Physical appearance and characteristics, the stuff that makes a first impression.
2. Second dimension--the video tape: What the character does, allowing the reader to infer some characteristics.
3. Third dimension--the stage play: Traits that come out when the character interacts or reacts to different circumstances, showing the character's intelligence, sensitivity, social type, general outlook and educational background.
4. Fourth dimension--participatory theater: Traits that are private, such as motivation and internal voice.

For more in depth description of these, see this post.

I chose the emotion of wonder, and wrote this...

Jim's eyes widened like the pale moon that hung in the sky. Again the adventure, again the adrenaline, again the anxiety. The race to the top is exciting every time and that night was the perfect night. 

He'd been racing to the top of the mountain for years. Find the best trails had been an adventure that had even greater edginess with the nocturnal change he had made. Following the trails in daylight had become old hat; the new challenge made the experience almost a new race, as if he was starting over from the beginning.

Old, easy obstacles became new delights. Shimmying up the 35 foot crack was easy when the moonlight landed right, but often the inky shadows wouldn't show the best toe holds. One night the moon was sitting at the top of the crack, making him feel as if the mountain would take him there.

He began his run up the easy incline wondering if the moon would be there again. Was that in the spring of the fall last time? He wasn't sure. The rush of running and remembering and anticipating shifted his concentration from all those thens to the here and now.

A new spice had been added recently. He'd found some competition. Another hill runner, Bob, had discovered the wonders of this mountain. Bob had been finishing a twilight struggle when Jim was just getting ready to ascend. They had a nice chat and thoughts of Bob vanished during that run. Until Jim came back to his car and found a note with contact information on it. What such an acquaintance had in store he did not know but Jim was thrilled to find out. They ran the hill together a few times until competitiveness had got the better of the relationship. Now they raced each other to see who could be the fastest.

Another newness had been laid on the mountain trails, like new fallen snow waiting for footprints in the morning. "Now there's an idea," thought Jim. "If only there was a moonlit, snow-covered night!" Jim smiled at the thought of something else to look forward to.

So I completely missed the physical description of Jim, which should have been easy to fit in. Otherwise, I feel I did alright. I might work on this story some more, like working out why Jim and Bob fell out.

Eiffel Tower

The most iconic image of Paris is the Eiffel Tower or Tour Eiffel as the locals call it. Built from 1887 to 1889 for the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889, it was supposed to stand only twenty years. Several people, including the author Guy de Maupassant and the architect of the Paris Opera, thought it was an eyesore and protested its construction. With the advent of radio, its usefulness as an antenna tower guaranteed its continued existence. The tower has survived a lightning strike in 1902 and a demolition order from Hilter in 1944 when his troops had to retreat from Paris (the German general refused to destroy the tower and other iconic monuments as he had been ordered).

Eiffel Tower

The tower is 300 meters (985 feet) tall and the tallest structure in Paris. It was the tallest structure in the world until 1930, when the Chrysler Building in New York City was completed at 319 meters (1047 feet) (which was then surpassed by the Empire State Building the next year).

We approached it from the Champs de Mars metro stop along the river Seine. We had a nice view of the Palais de Chaillot across the river.

Palais de Chaillot

At the base of the tower we had some fine views of the structure. We also had to wait in a long queue for tickets to ride up to the observation floors. We saw a bust of Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), the architect for the tower.
 

Closer to the tower and the line

The tower from underneath

Gustave Eiffel

J and L were very excited to ride the elevator up once we finally made it through the line.

Riding up

Happy children

Three levels in the tower offer visitors the chance to look over Paris. The first elevator ride takes visitors past the first level at 57 meters (187 feet) and lets passengers out at the second level, 115 meters (376 feet) up. Another queue for the other elevator leads to the very top. We stayed on the second level and explored a bit. The kids found it terribly windy and cold. Their favorite discovery was the snow globe in the gift shop that had a mini-Eiffel Tower with gold snowflakes.

My wife and I enjoyed the views of Paris, even though we were separated by keeping the kids in shelter. My camera died and I had to switch to my cell phone camera, the lens of which must have had some smudge on the left side. Here's what I saw.

Paris with Montmatre and Sacre-Couer in the distance

Palais de Chaillot again

View south along the Champs de Mars

The shiny Seine

I was surprised to see our old friend, padlocks from romantic couples, on the tower. I guess that tradition is all over Europe.

Lovers' Locks

We did not go all the way to the top because we thought the kids would not enjoy another long line and we were starting to get hungry. Rather than eat at the expensive and swanky Jules Verne Restaurant on the second level, we took the elevators back down. They stopped at the first level in case anyone wanted to get off but we stayed on to the end.

We loved our visit. I'd probably go back again if we ever visit Paris to see it lit up at night. They have a special light show on the hour after dark which would be great to see as well. There's always more to see!

Book Review: Palestine by Joe Sacco

Palestine by Joe Sacco

In 1991 and 1992, Joe Sacco spent two months in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip gathering stories from the Palestinians living there. He met hundreds of people and visited camps, prisons, schools, homes, markets, etc., documenting the conditions he found and the stories he heard. He returned to America where he published a nine-issue series of comics telling the tales he'd gathered from the Palestinians living under Israel's government. This book has the entire collection in a single volume.

The book is not an easy read. The people's descriptions of their hardships, including incarceration and abuse from Israeli soldiers, is shocking and depressing. He meets with a group of men, one of whom is ashamed because he'd never been arrested or imprisoned just for being a male Palestinian, like the other eight men in the room. A mother describes how her son was shot in the head and died forty hours later because the ambulance could not get him to a hospital where he would be admitted and treated. It makes a very grim picture that is not seen in most Western media. Only the riots and the terrorism (which certainly happen and assuredly are wrong) get time on news shows. People organizing schools and activities for their children while in a relocation camp; providing hospitality to their guests like all civilized people do; quickly celebrating an upcoming wedding before the curfew starts; all the things normal people would do under such circumstances isn't noteworthy to the media but shows the humanity of an oppressed people.

The book does present one side of the story, but it is well recorded and mostly unheard in the English-speaking world. Sacco explains the history from 1948 to the present and fills in the details by talking to young and old alike. The book is a striking testament to the resiliency of the Palestinian people and the the unsure future that they face. The final few pages show Sacco's bus ride to the airport. The bus gets lost as it tries to avoid dangerous areas on its way to the Egyptian border. They get directions several times but still can't find the right way forward. It's a great summary of the frustration and seeming futility of the Palestinian/Israeli situation.

Some Sample Pages:

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Book Review: Doctors of the Church by Benedict XVI

Doctors of the Church by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

As part of his ongoing Wednesday catecheses, Pope Benedict XVI discussed various important figures in the history of the church. Some of these figures are known as the Doctors of the Church. The sense of the word "doctor" here is not the medical one; rather these men and women are great teachers (as in the Latin docere, to teach) and witnesses to the truth of the Christian faith. Their writings and teaching were not only important in their own time, but continue to enrich Christian life. This volume collects Benedict's words on 32 of the 35 doctors officially recognized by the Catholic church. When the volume was published, Benedict had not yet presented on Peter Chrysologus; also, he had not yet declared Hildegard of Bingen and John of Avila doctors. His catechesis on Hildegard is available in the Holy Women volume of Benedict's catecheses.

The book is a valuable resource, providing brief biographies and overviews of the major works and theological contributions of these holy men and women. Reading it is inspirational without being difficult, and has pointed me to further reading, i.e. what the doctors themselves wrote.

It also points out the historical challenges of the church which always seem to return again. St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan in the 1200s, had to deal with the "Spiritual" Franciscans, who assumed that St. Francis had ushered in an entirely new age of the church where the old, hierarchical structure should be abandoned as a new utopia begins. One immediately thinks of modern people who are "spiritual" but not "religious," because they don't want to be tied down to any doctrines or obligations.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to catching up on Hildegard in Holy Women.

Sample text: on St. Jerome, who lived in the late 300s...

Moreover, an aspect rather disregarded in ancient times but held vital by our author [i.e. Jerome] is the promotion of the woman, to whom he attributes the right to a complete formation: human, scholastic, religious, professional. [p. 77]

The Walking Dead Ep. 314: Prey

The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 14: Prey

TV rating

TV-14

ZPAA rating

Teens and up

Gore level

7.0 out of 10--Zombie kills dispersed throughout the episode with the usual gushes of blood, particularly nasty was one dispatched with a shovel where we see the zombie head being bashed up; some burnt up, still moving zombies; some bruised up people (though not Glenn).

Other offensive content

Several menacing scenes including an extended chase scene; lying.

How much zombie mythology/content

Nothing new this episode.

How much fun

I didn't laugh at all this episode. In related news, Mark Shea posted this on his blog:

Synopsis & Review

Rick only makes a brief appearance in this episode. The focus is on Woodbury and what they are doing to get ready for the coming meeting. The Governor is getting ready for Michonne, laying out torture equipment that reminds me of the worst in the comic books. Andrea gets wind of this and decides she needs to split. The Governor goes after her to bring her back.

Meanwhile, the group that Rick kicked out of the prison is trying to adjust to life in Woodbury. Tyreese has a lot of doubts and some back story is hinted at, but where they will finally come down is anyone's guess.

This episode was very tense. A lot of the characters are making subtle shifts that will make for a chaotic final two episodes to this season. 

Our Paris Hotel

For our recent Paris trip, we stayed in what was probably the most eclectic apartment we have experienced. It's called Paris Circus and follows the circus theme quite a bit, with life-size stuffed animals on the walls and a gaudy color scheme. Our children's favorite part of the place was the truck in the main room, one of these small vehicles for hauling cargo through narrow downtown streets. The headlights still worked and the kids could get into the cab, which they did on a regular basis.

Looking for the light switch

Rough morning commute

They even watched Cars 2 on our iPad in there!

The bed of the truck is the dining table, which we used for meals and for playing games at night.

Less fun than the truck but still a blast was downstairs. A disco ball, colored lights, and black lights made a fun dancing atmosphere. Again, the iPad was an invaluable resource, providing music for dancing.

Getting their groove on!

L, dancing or surrendering?

The toilet has a zebra head on the wall, which was cute but a little disturbing. He's always watching whatever you do! The separate room with the sink and shower had a bunch of old video game characters (like the ghosts from Pac-Man) decorating the walls. The towels were kept in old post boxes that were painted yellow.

We had a great time. The children's only complaint was the lack of a pool, but our next trip will fix that complaint (we're going to Crete!).