By msiduri in Personal April 28, 2015, 9:18 AM 28-04-15

Journal 04-28-2015

Good morning or whatever part of the day it is for you. Today is Monday April 28, 2015. The temperature is 57.6°F and the humidity is 39% at 4:42 a.m. PST (-8 GMT). Weather Underground shows sustained winds at 0 with gusts of 0.7 mph. It was clear when I stuck my head out. Saw the handle of the Big Dipper. The scoop was hidden behind a tree. Didn’t see the moon. Maybe it set already. Weather Underground is predicting a 0% chance of precipitation and a high of 91 today. Oh, goodie. Take the chill and rain any day.

Watched Gremlin snag a lizard yesterday. Mr. Siduri remarked on the “skill” with which it was done. I said he’s had a bit of practice. Gremlin brought his catch over to us to show off. Poor lizard. Just going about his lizard business and THWAP for no good reason a cat pounces on him.

It’s been almost two months now that my part time starvation wage job has called me. The only way I know that I’m still contracted with them is that the job I had lined up for the end of May hasn’t disappeared yet. I’ll have to keep calling them to let them know I’m available for assignments. At the end of February, I had the gall to ask for a copy of the renewed commercial liability insurance. No one seemed to know what I was talking about. I refused any new assignments until I received it and cancelled the ones that I had until I did get it—late in March. They’ve stopped calling. The starvation wages are just about enough to cover the medical and dental insurance I’ve got for myself and Mr. Siduri. Maybe not enough if I actually use it, but—

We went up to Exposition Park in Los Angeles to see an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Museum of Science and Technology on Sunday. It was quite well done, I thought, but also quite crowded. The McDonald’s we’d been joking about is no longer there, only some grill that wasn’t open when we got there and a muffin/doughnut shop.

The Museum of Science and Technology is aimed at kiddies, so we got there about the time that is opened to avoid the kiddie stampede. There are interactive exhibits aimed at teaching kids conservation and some basic scientific principles, but one I played with one was so devoid of content I nearly screamed. Pushing buttons, I dropped electrodes in an “electrolyte” to get power to spin a fan. Didn’t say what the electrodes or solution were made of, didn’t mention chemical energy or electron flow. There was no diagram illustrating what was going on. Who designs these things? Anyone with mechanical or science understanding? Teachers or corporate do-gooders? But enough curmudgeonly crumbling.

Before our timed entry into the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, we went to see a 3-D IMAX film called “Jerusalem 3-D.” It featured a lot of shots of the Old City of Jerusalem, lots of aerial shots as well as interior shots of places like the Dome of the Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and so on. The photography was fantastic. It was narrated in turn by three you women, one Jewish woman, one Muslim and one Christian, each describing a little bit about their respective background and “their” Jerusalem. I noticed a striking similarity in the physical appearance that could not have been accidental. The violence among the groups was not ignored but it was minimized. “We live so close together, yet we know nothing of each other,” one of the narrators said. “I wonder if they are as curious about me as I am of them.” At the very end, there was a shot of the three of them seeming to almost meet in a street. “Maybe someday we can all meet,” the narration said. “Just not today.” The message was, of course, that the three groups are more alike than not. How sad that so many would like to kill each other.

The Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit itself occupies the third floor. All photography is forbidden. I think it has to do with copyright issues. A pity, too, because some of the exhibits would have made great pics. It is self-guided, but they rent one of the little audio guides. There were many physical artifacts, lots of large clay pots and mosaics, a couple of small reconstructions of what a home may have looked like in the first century BCE. There were things like cylinder seals and coins, oil lamps, etc. The scrolls themselves were arranged in a large circular table, the bits (and I do mean bits) of scroll in a pocket under a dim light. Next to it was an enlarged copy with notes on where it was found and date of composition and a translation into English. Much to my surprise, in a book titled, to the best of my recollection something like, The Book of the Giants, was an old familiar name: Gilgamesh. It was unclear whether this was the same Gilgamesh, but I’ll have to do some reading to find out.

At the very end, just before you got to the gift shop, was a little section where you could, like people as the Wailing Wall, write prayers on little pieces of paper, and stick them in places area made to look like the Wailing Wall. I didn’t, but if I were to do such a thing, I’d write, “People, please stop hating and killing each other over religion.”

Other than the crowding, this was a great exhibit. If you’re in the Los Angeles area and are at all interesting in going, I heartily recommend seeing it.

And I got my Examiner review up! YIPPEE! If anyone is interested (I think it’s OK to post the link. If not, let me know and I’ll remove it), the review is here .

Thanks for reading. Hope you and yours are all well and happy. Hope the day brings you good things.

Writing schedule:

1. Continue reading Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction.

2. Continue researching and rewriting chapter 1 using critique group’s suggestions.

3. Read and review a section of Greek poetry.

4. Review the Van De Mieroop book on cuneiform for Examiner.

___

FOPP