Sunny and in the 80's (Fahrenheit, of course. About 25 C for all the Canadians out there).
But before that, the weekly round of activities. Bridge with Alex on Monday. Usually, my brain is fried after an afternoon of bridge, but the convertible ride revived me enough so that I thought I would try a movie - remember, I have all those Oscar nominees to get through. This time, I went to see Phantom Thread. It's gotten a lot of buzz, and everyone has been saying that Daniel Day Lewis is, as usual, fantastic. Well, once again, I am an outlier. Oh, it was a pretty movie, all right, and his performance was good. Maybe I am just too stupid for movies these days, because I'll be damned if I understood what they were getting at. Can someone out there help me?
Tuesday was my first (I missed last week due to playing bridge with the boys and all) class called Disturbers of the Peace, about people who have indeed, disturbed the peace by introducing new ways of thinking. The class I missed was on Confuscius and Bhudha. This week, we did Socrates and Jesus. Next week, Copernicus and Galileo. You get the idea. As usual, I have taken classes with this instructor before, and (as I no doubt have said before), I would take a class from him if he were billed as reading the phone book. He's fabulous!
This was followed on Wednesday by Behavioural Economics, which is all the rage, don't you know? This is a new instructor for me, but someone who I have seen around town - at Palm Springs Art Gallery events and at the bridge club. (Palm Springs is a small town that way...... much like Vancouver used to be.) He is also very knowledgeable, and the subject fascinates me anyway - I like the idea of being able to become aware of how (usually badly) we made decisions, and the ability to recognize our ignorance. Take away messages from this week: "The groups of which we are a part amplify our voices and narrow our vision.". It is going to be a great quarter - always assuming that my head doesn't explode!
One of the many things I love about the desert is the sky.....
Wednesday night they were playing the encore performance of the Metropolitan Opera in the Movies performance of Puccini's Tosca. Now that's a plot I can understand! The Met went all out for this new production: really, grand opera in the grand style. I loved everything about it: the sets, the staging, the costumes, and, of course, the singing. Both Tosca (Sonya Yoncheva) and Cavaradossi (Vittorio Grigolo) were new to the roles, and both rose to the occasion in my opinion. Scarpia (Zeljko Lucic) was suitably evil. Altogether, a great night at the opera!
And so on....more academic classes, more bridge lessons.....
(This is Alex, my usual partner, both here and in Vancouver)
.... more bridge....and, finally, on the weekend, the pool.....
.....a mere 50 steps from my front door (yes, I know, I have told you all that before....)
So, another wonderful week in paradise.
What else? I am busy ready all the old Economists John brought me. Aside from the New York Times, this is my news source of choice, not least because it broadens my view out from North America. Best article read this week: one called Vladimir's Choice, in the December 23, 2017 issue. The subtext is that the belief that nationalism could fade away was always naive, and the real question is what form it will take. (See economist.com/nationalism17 for a bibliography). Great article.
New book on my reading list: Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, by Kieran Setiya. Sounds to be a fun book - note this quote about the author's own midlife crisis. He finds himself afflicted by "a disconcerting mixture of nostalgia, regret, claustrophobia, emptiness, and fear", beneath which lie "questions of loss and regret, success and failure...mortality and finitude", with the bedrock problem being "the irreversability of time". Does this not sound familiar to you?
And, the final quote of the day: "I am not a princess. I do not need saving. I am a queen. I got this shit handled... (Harriet Morgan). (I try to remember this when I am going through one of my "Everyone hates me, nobody loves me, I'm going to go eat worms" stages....
Next week, a long awaited visit from friend Arlene from Seattle. More news anon.
But before that, the weekly round of activities. Bridge with Alex on Monday. Usually, my brain is fried after an afternoon of bridge, but the convertible ride revived me enough so that I thought I would try a movie - remember, I have all those Oscar nominees to get through. This time, I went to see Phantom Thread. It's gotten a lot of buzz, and everyone has been saying that Daniel Day Lewis is, as usual, fantastic. Well, once again, I am an outlier. Oh, it was a pretty movie, all right, and his performance was good. Maybe I am just too stupid for movies these days, because I'll be damned if I understood what they were getting at. Can someone out there help me?
Tuesday was my first (I missed last week due to playing bridge with the boys and all) class called Disturbers of the Peace, about people who have indeed, disturbed the peace by introducing new ways of thinking. The class I missed was on Confuscius and Bhudha. This week, we did Socrates and Jesus. Next week, Copernicus and Galileo. You get the idea. As usual, I have taken classes with this instructor before, and (as I no doubt have said before), I would take a class from him if he were billed as reading the phone book. He's fabulous!
This was followed on Wednesday by Behavioural Economics, which is all the rage, don't you know? This is a new instructor for me, but someone who I have seen around town - at Palm Springs Art Gallery events and at the bridge club. (Palm Springs is a small town that way...... much like Vancouver used to be.) He is also very knowledgeable, and the subject fascinates me anyway - I like the idea of being able to become aware of how (usually badly) we made decisions, and the ability to recognize our ignorance. Take away messages from this week: "The groups of which we are a part amplify our voices and narrow our vision.". It is going to be a great quarter - always assuming that my head doesn't explode!
One of the many things I love about the desert is the sky.....
Wednesday night they were playing the encore performance of the Metropolitan Opera in the Movies performance of Puccini's Tosca. Now that's a plot I can understand! The Met went all out for this new production: really, grand opera in the grand style. I loved everything about it: the sets, the staging, the costumes, and, of course, the singing. Both Tosca (Sonya Yoncheva) and Cavaradossi (Vittorio Grigolo) were new to the roles, and both rose to the occasion in my opinion. Scarpia (Zeljko Lucic) was suitably evil. Altogether, a great night at the opera!
And so on....more academic classes, more bridge lessons.....
(This is Alex, my usual partner, both here and in Vancouver)
.... more bridge....and, finally, on the weekend, the pool.....
.....a mere 50 steps from my front door (yes, I know, I have told you all that before....)
So, another wonderful week in paradise.
What else? I am busy ready all the old Economists John brought me. Aside from the New York Times, this is my news source of choice, not least because it broadens my view out from North America. Best article read this week: one called Vladimir's Choice, in the December 23, 2017 issue. The subtext is that the belief that nationalism could fade away was always naive, and the real question is what form it will take. (See economist.com/nationalism17 for a bibliography). Great article.
New book on my reading list: Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, by Kieran Setiya. Sounds to be a fun book - note this quote about the author's own midlife crisis. He finds himself afflicted by "a disconcerting mixture of nostalgia, regret, claustrophobia, emptiness, and fear", beneath which lie "questions of loss and regret, success and failure...mortality and finitude", with the bedrock problem being "the irreversability of time". Does this not sound familiar to you?
And, the final quote of the day: "I am not a princess. I do not need saving. I am a queen. I got this shit handled... (Harriet Morgan). (I try to remember this when I am going through one of my "Everyone hates me, nobody loves me, I'm going to go eat worms" stages....
Next week, a long awaited visit from friend Arlene from Seattle. More news anon.
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