Apple Foot

Band Director Dead

My mother sent me a news clipping--the obit for my high school band director. He was 59, and when I do the math I realize that when I was in high school, he was about the age that I am now. This is astonishing to me. Of course, adolescents tend to think folks in their thirties are "old", but I think it was the man himself, too. He stuck his chin forward, like a turtle from its shell, he had a sad, orange mustache, he was round-shouldered. Frequently there was a dried spot of spit on one knee of his polyester pants. He looked like what he was--a saxophonist with bad posture--and he had a hangdog personality. Plus, by the time I was his student, he'd already been working at the high school for some years.

Like many public high school music teachers, he had to be jack-of-all-trades. He taught me to play the oboe and the saxophone, my friend to play the drums, my sister to play the bassoon. When the music wasn't quite right, he'd do some arranging. None of this leaves much time for teaching the finer points of music, and now that I'm taking private lessons, I'm astounded by all the musical knowledge I didn't have then, even though I think I played better than I do now (or maybe I was just ignorant and confident enough then that I thought I was better).

Band was the center of my life in high school. All my friends were in the band, a lot of my daily schedule depended on rehearsals and trips and football games. Strangely, though, I don't have any particular memories or feelings about the man holding the baton. Orange hair aside, he seems mostly colorless in my memory.

I Hated Judd Winick...

Over on Dance of the Puppets, Marionette points to a new set of icons made by looking2dastars: "I Hated Judd Winick before it was cool." I'm displaying the Deathstroke icon here, and I can't explain why any better than looking2dastars does:

"Are you a Deathstroke fan who is disappointed that the once moral mercenary has been transformed into yet another generic ninja villain with no code of honor at all? We have an icon for you!"

Last week when I went into my Local Comic Shop, the manager looked over my books and, seeing Birds of Prey, wondered why I hadn't picked up the Canary/Arrow Wedding Special (read the Only Review the GA/BCWS Needs at Comics Worth Reading for the short version; Designated Sidekick's slightly longer review; or Karen Healey's discussion of the big issues). Then he told me about the final page, describing it as "the most reprehensible thing I've ever seen" and telling me that reading it had made him not want to read anything else, ever again. As he was describing the plot to me, he mentioned Slade leading the assault on the wedding, and I interjected, "Another character that's been completely ruined," and he agreed it was a terrible shame. Somehow, though, I didn't realize that Slade Wilson's mutation into a fully one dimensional ninja could be laid at Winick's feet. [ETA: This means that I didn't hate Winick before it was cool.]

When I spent a semester in Spain, I didn't have a regular comic shop, or anyone I could ask to pick up my comics for me, so I picked some "must read" titles and got them through DC Direct. One of these was Deathstroke the Terminator. I remember my mother saying, "My twenty year old daughter reads something called 'Deathstroke the Terminator'" in something like a despairing tone of voice. It was a damn fine series, with excellent characterizations.

Recently Misinterpreted: Written Word Division

From a Reuters story (via Yahoo!) about a correlation between lack of sleep and cardiovascular disease (you can see why I stopped to read that):

"Previous research has highlighted the potential health risks of shift work and disrupted sleep. But the study by Cappuccio and colleagues..."

What I read: "...the study by Cappuccino..."

What I thought: "Weird. Why did the coffee industry fund a study arguing for better sleep?"

Dell Geography

I got a catalog from Dell in today's mail. On page A16 is a list of their kiosk locations. None in Massachusetts, but there are five in New Jersey. Listed as the "Newark Area" is Rockaway Townsquare. I grew up on the western edge of Morris County, and spent many idle hours of my adolescence at the Townsquare Mall, so I can safely say: NEWARK? Rockaway's the Newark Area?

Dell lists five locations under four "area" categories, as shown below. I've added the actual town the mall is located in, and the distance from that town to the city of Newark (as given by GeoBytes).

1. Bergen Area: Westfield Garden State Plaza, Paramus (15 miles)
2. Middlesex Area: Bridgewater Commons Mall, Bridgewater (24 miles)
3. Middlesex Area: Woodbridge Center Mall, Woodbridge (13 miles)
4. Monmouth Area: Freehold Raceway Mall, Freehold (35 miles)
5. Newark Area: Rockaway Townsquare, Rockaway (22 miles)

So two malls of the five are closer to Newark than Rockaway. I'm not sure why Dell wouldn't just call Westfield GS Plaza the "Paramus Area", since Paramus is one of the busiest retail districts in the nation, and probably more recognizable than Bergen.

In other news, there's a Wikipedia category for New Jersey shopping malls.

Musical equipment for sale

The consignment shop in town often has musical instruments in the window (mostly guitars), and I always look, because someday they're going to be selling a professional grade oboe for pennies, and I don't want to miss out. Anyway, this week I see a clarinet in the window. It's got two reeds fanned out on the black velvet, and when I look closer I see a reed still attached to the mouthpiece. The display of the reeds suggests they're considered a selling point: act now, and you get--not one--not two--but THREE reeds of unknown provenance! Ick.

More Sleeping

Tuesday I saw the sleep specialist. The technician had told me that she needed to record me asleep for at least two hours (for insurance purposes) before trying the CPAP, but I hadn't understood that she meant two hours asleep in the clinical, EEG sense, not just two hours I don't remember being conscious for at all. Lights out was at 10:30 and I didn't fall asleep until about 11:30. Between that time and slightly after 3AM, I was only actually asleep for 127 minutes. The little chart on which my sleep and its interruptions are displayed looks rather strange, but among other things apparently tells the doctor that I'm getting virtually no REM sleep. Doesn't that mean I should be psychotic? Apparently not. I averaged 120  "events" (apneas or hypopneas) an hour, and dozens of these were accompanied by at least a 4% reduction in oxygen saturation. The doctor managed to tell me in a fairly non-hurtful way that weight loss would likely improve the situation. She also said it would be "exciting" to see what changes I experience once my apnea is treated.

I got my CPAP machine that day as well. Tuesday night I spent rather a lot of time fussing with the straps on the mask, which I was sure was either leaking or too tight. The second night was much better, though. On the third night I snapped the earpiece off my glasses when I forgot to remove them before putting on the mask.

I asked my psychopharmacologist about sleep debt. Specifically, I recall reading a few years back that sleep debt accumulated indefinitely, over a lifetime. This theory has now been discredited, and it's believed that you accrue a week or two's debt, no more.

Up With Autumn

Yesterday the (seasonal) pumpkin muffin reappeared at Dunkin' Donuts. The pumpkin muffin is one of the consolations of the end of summer, along with the beginning of school marching band.

Healthy Dining

Last month my mother and I stopped by a Burger King in eastern Pennsylvania. In the drive-thru, I noticed advertisements for a triple-Whopper with cheese and "cheesy tots" (deep fried tater tots stuffed with cheese). First, I find these foods unappealing. On a broader level, though, they're prime examples of what nutritional doomsayers have been shouting about Americans, obesity, and the Super-Sized Meal. I have mixed feelings about all that, since I think that Americans' increasing weight issues are leading to a public health crisis, but I'm also fat, so step off, bitch.

The piece de resistance, though, was affixed to the windows and doors of the fine establishment: "We're listed in HealthyDiningFinder.com" (no, I won't link to it.) Naturally, I had to look up this web site to see what sort of group lists Burger King, home of the triple Whopper with cheese, as healthy dining. Silly me: it's a link farm, of course.

Recently Misinterpreted

What was said: "She [the property manager for a recreational facility for children] hasn't got her weed whacker yet."

What I heard: "She hasn't got her weed back yet."

Madeleine L'Engle

ETA: Full text of the commencement speech online.

Madeleine L'Engle has passed away. She was the speaker at my college commencement. Of course, I don't remember a whole lot of what she said. I do remember her talking about being an awkward child, and some of her teachers thought her stupid. One teacher who encouraged her interest in writing and to whom L'Engle was always grateful was Margaret Clapp, who went on to become president of Wellesley College. The library at Wellesley is named for Clapp. L'Engle went to Smith.

L'Engle's books are among those I want to share with my sisters' kids. I started a mental list of such books while the first child was in utero.