I was going to post this on Facebook...

 But, I thought better of it.  This is one of those things that might be downright offensive to some people and I don't need an 87 comment debate on my page.  Here, it's a little less in everyone's face.

But...

I can't be the only one who has a problem with this song.  It turns my holiday joy into rage.  I mean, I get the message, in fact, I like the idea of the message.  But, the ridiculousness of the statements "There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas." "Do they know it's Christmas time at all?" really overshadow the whole business.

Here's the original:

It was the Glee Christmas special that forced me to think about the song again. Luckily, I haven't really heard it much on the radio.

Here are the lyrics, complete with notes on why I find them troublesome (and, sure, I'll admit that I'm putting too much energy into this):

It's Christmas time

There's no need to be afraid

At Christmas time

We let in light and we banish shade

light= good, shade= evil, as we get further into the song we learn that if Africans knew it was Christmas, they would have a better standard of living

And in our world of plenty

We can spread a smile of joy

Throw your arms around the world

At Christmas time

2But say a prayer

Pray for the other ones

Again, the "otherness" of the Africans seems to be the problem we're combating with our overpowering Christmas love

At Christmas time it's hard

But when you're having fun

There's a world outside your window

And it's a world of dread and fear

Where the only water flowing

Is the bitter sting of tears

And the Christmas bells that ring

There are the clanging chimes of doom

Well, tonight thank God it's them instead of you

Feed the world

Let them know it's Christmas time

Feed the world

Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Considering Africa is largely Christian or Islamic, the answer to that question is a resounding "yes." 2000 years ago?  Probably not.

And there won't be snow in Africa

This Christmas time

Wikipedia says, "Snow is a rare occurrence in South Africa, with snowfall having been experienced in Johannesburg in May 1956, August 1962, June 1964, September 1981, August 2006, and on 27 June 2007, accumulating up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in the southern suburbs"

The greatest gift they'll get this year is life

That is the greatest gift anyone gets every minute of every day

Where nothing ever grows

No rain nor rivers flow

Madagascar is still Africa, and it's not even the only region that gets rainfall

Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Feed the world

Let them know it's Christmas time

Feed the world

Let them know it's Christmas time again

BRIDGE:

(Here's to you) raise a glass for everyone

(Here's to them) underneath that burning sun

Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

END: Feed the world

Let them know it's Christmas time

********

Seriously.  Rage.

O Christmas Tree!

We got our tree up today!  It's a live tree, so we had to wait to buy it because they can't be inside for too long.

Also, about a week ago, we went downtown to make a swag and check out the big tree in Pioneer Square.  It's almost 4am, so I'm going to keep this brief, but here are some photos of our Christmas festivities so far:

Swag branch!

Pioneer Square.

Ava would not allow us to put the hat on her.

Satch let us, but he cried a bit.

We took our pictures for our Christmas card (to be sent out on Thursday!) tonight and when I put the kitties' sweaters on them, they both flopped on the ground and seemed to lose the will to live.  Go figure.

Trimming!

Ian expertly puts our snowflake-star atop the highest bow.

Crooked lil' tree.

Goodness 'sakes.  Good night!

1 Down, 30+ to Go

I've written (the first draft of) the first chapter of the Jecheon novel.  Chapter one is called "Arrivals," but I have no overall title for the book.  That probably won't come to me until much, much later.

It's 3,215 words (six pages in MS Word). So, it's about the normal length for a modern chapter.  I'm beginning to get concerned about the length of this book, though.  Here's my working outline (I'm outlining three chapters in the future, so each time I finish a new chapter, I'll be updating the outline):

·         Chapter 1 (Arrivals): airport to bus ride  3,215 words (drafted)

·         Chapter 2 (Florals): picked up in Wonju by Mrs. Cho & Diane, Family Mart, Apartment unpacking, phone call home, not sleeping and staring out the window

·         Chapter 3 (Procedures): hospital visit, "Italian" lunch, visa pictures and photo-shopping, electronic store

·         Chapter 4 (Lessons): 10 hours making plans under Julia, home for an hour, welcome dinner

Four chapters and we haven't even taught a single class.  There's a good chance things will speed up in the middle, though, when we start getting more accustomed to things (just like in real life).  What do you guys think? 

 Let's say it's a longer novel and ends up at about 40 chapters... roughly 3,100 words per chapter... that's 124,000 words total... about 350-400 words per paperback page... so, 310- 355 pages.

Alright.  That's about normal.  I'm just worried about whether I can end the year 350 pages.  I'm probably going to have to be a little creative.  How does one market a book that's 90% memoir and 10% fiction or so?

I'm thinking that I'll make a Google document of the chapter to post on here as soon as I have a couple of folks read it.

I'm pretty excited.  But, at the rate I'm writing it'll take me 2.4 years to finish it.  I'd better work a bit harder.

There's a lot of math in this post.

Just for fun, here's a picture of folks protesting at the Chase bank on Hawthorne:

The white dog's sign says, "I'm more of a person than this corporation."

New Camera, Same Old Life

I am really starting to get into the seasonal/holiday spirit.  It's been a few years since I've been so excited for this.

I finally picked up my new DSLR: a Canon Rebel T2i.  I got a pretty darn good deal on it, too.  Now, I'm trying to learn how to use it.  So far, the camera is doing all the work in Full Automatic or one of the many auto options.  I figure that once I know the camera better I'll switch to Creative Auto and then transition into the manual modes.

Here's what I've (read: the camera) done in the few days I've owned it.  All of these are "straight out of camera," meaning that I haven't tried to fix them in any way.

Kitty portraits:

Satchmo

Ava

The last of the autumn leaves:

Pizza Oasis life:

Making dough gives Ian rage.

Pretty nice camera, am-I-right?  Considering I frame a shot and it does the rest, I'd say so.  I can't wait to learn more.  

I have a camera that can take photos of things that move and things at night!  Hey, Ian, let's go back to Vietnam and retake the picture of this pagoda at night.  Sorry, I don't have our original picture on this computer.  It will be on our wall, though, in all of it's subpar-focus glory.

Well, I'm supposed to be working on the Jecheon piece and I have to be at work at 3, so I'd better get to it.

Life Since...

A lot has happened in the month since I last posted.  I've decided that I'm going to post here when I have something concrete to say/show. That way, I'm not scrambling to try to blog I have nothing of interest to say.    I'm still writing, however.  I have put down the first few pages of the draft that will eventually be the Jecheon novel.

Pictures from the past few weeks:

Ben and Amy had a baby!  Piper Rylee Nanney!

This family moment brought to you by Ian creepily leering in the background.

Audrey and I playing at Grant's soccer game.

Grant is the man!  I think this is the game where he had his hat trick.

Audrey turned THREE!

Her party was at a pumpkin patch in Olympia.

Lovely family!

Oh, and we had an incident a the shop.  Long story short, there was a flood in one of the apartments and our ceiling got the worst of it. You can see that 1x4 section where there's no longer a ceiling at all. Woo hoo!  Luckily, we have insurance.

I'll be getting a camera soon.  And we're hosting Thanksgiving this year.  So, good things ahead.  

Burt-Day

Ian planned a super fantastic birthday for me.  He didn't tell me anything in advance, either.

First we picked up our lunch from Sweet Pea (my favorite vegan bakery/delicatessen in town) which Ian had called in.  Then we drove down the freeway...  I had no idea where we were going, but we ended up at Multnomah Falls.  It was pretty fabulous.

Here are some pictures:

Perfect weather, lovely surroundings.

One of the things Ian got for me was this adorable owl apron.  This photo is so unflattering it makes me giggle.

You can't have any of Ian's sandwich... or soup.

Falls!

Falls!

Party photo!  I need to relax my face in pictures!

Ian ponders the falls.

Fall(s)!

This is what it looks like if you turn your back to the waterfall.

Mt.  Hood is naked.

After that we went to the Portland Art Museum (where I respectfully took no photos).  I think our favorite exhibit was Adam Sorensen's APEX.

Here's a picture of Sorensen in his studio from the Willamette Weekly:

We had dinner at Rob and Danie's where we watched the 1980's Transformers movie with Grant and Audrey and played "Imaginiff" (a board game).  It was a great ending to a fantastic day.

Good night!

Super-Awesome-Fantastic Sunday

(Remember, if it's orange, you can click on it...)

Yesterday Ian planned a sort of "pre-celebration" for my birthday.  First Amy, Ben, Ian and I ate lunch at the food carts downtown and then we headed over to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Industry and Science.  The featured exhibits were Game On 2.0 and Narnia.

The Game On exhibit walked you through the history of gaming technology and culture and gave you a chance to play over 150 consoles.  It was pretty rad and Ian made some 11 year old boy cry when he beat him at Bomberman.

They did not have a VirtualBoy on display or for demo, so that was disappointing.  They were such a market failure, according to Wikipedia that only 800,000 units were shipped worldwide, making them valuable.  I wish I still had mine.  I wouldn't sell it.  I'd just play a lot of Mario's Tennis.

The Narnia exhibit was definitely more intended for small kids, but we still had fun playing around in it and looking at the costumes from the movies.

After OMSI we met Justin, Richelle, Phil, Charlotte, Heidi and Jesse and had dinner at Le Bistro Montage.  It's a trendy place with a sort-of Cajun vibe to the menu.  I had linguine with veggies (chopped collard greens in pasta!) and it was fantastic.  Ian had gumbo.  It was lively and fun.

Ben, Amy, Justin, Richelle, Ian and I concluded our evening over at the Kennedy School where we played pool and shuffleboard.

Here are a few phone pictures (forgot my camera) from throughout the day:

Ava's ears are clearing up and she's back to meowing at my face until I wake up in the morning.  Yay!

OMSI also had an exhibit on fetal development (oddly appropriate).  Amy was the same size as the model cut out.

Ben, Amy and Ian going through the fetal development exhibit.  The exhibit included a week by week growth timeline with plasticized human fetuses (whom all perished naturally or accidentally according to a placard).  It was done by the same folk who do "BodyWorlds."  It was intense, but awesome.

Killing time with a coin whirly thing between OMSI and dinner.

Montage makes your leftovers into animals and other fun things.  Charlotte got a giraffe!

Amy's baby belly prevented a decent shot, so she improvised.

It was a great time.  We had to say goodbye to Ben and Amy this morning, which was a huge bummer, as we completely adore them.  I'm still recovering.  But, we will see them soon.  And in a few weeks, there will be another Nanney!  Yay!

Good night!