Inside a Ring Cycle

One interesting theme I wanted to report: We seem to be stuck in a Wagner Ring Cycle of sorts. It all started when I bought Valkyrie Profile 2. We decided that it was likely we wouldn't be able to find Valkyrie Profile (the original - it's very rare), so we went ahead and played it anyway. When we finished, we thought it was so good that we just had to find the original, somehow, even if it meant emulating it.

An aside: The Valkyrie Profile games (just 1 and 2, 3 seems to be an oddball) are incredibly interesting because in each the main character is a valkyrie who recruits dead heros for Odin's holy army in a fight against the giants at Ragnarök. The 2nd game takes a different twist on this idea, by encountering spirits of already-dead heros and recruiting them well after their deaths. In the 1st, however, you witness the events that lead up to their deaths and then recruit them. It's quite a unique idea, as well as the gameplay.

Emultation of Valkyrie Profile failed miserably, since there seems to be a perhaps intentional software design that breaks the emulation at the very beginning. So I started a quest to find the game online for cheap (as opposed to eBay's usual $100+ price tag). I eventually found it from someone who may not have known the value of what he was selling, but in the end I got the game for a reasonable $10! We finished that game, and I said to Kyra, "We should really watch Wagner's Ring Cycle [a series of operas], since these games are based on it." Kyra replied, "No, that will be too boring."

Well, to our amazement, a few weeks later, PBS aired the Met's production of the Wagner's Ring Cycle, and we were floored. The stage design is simply amazing, and it really allows for the set to express a great deal of emotion. Seriously, it's incredibly unique, and you just have to see it: here's a sampling of staging designs.

We watched a little of each opera except for the last and were simply entranced. We had to buy the DVDs and watch the whole thing. Since the operas are so long, it wasn't practical for us to start watching before the kids were in bed and stay up so late to finish it. Further, one or the other kid woke up, so one of us missed something on each broadcast. Still, thank you WPT for showing it! We would have never known about it!

Kyra eventually bought the DVD set for my birthday, and we're just getting around to watching it now. We have all but Götterdämmerung ("Twilight of the Gods") left. The series is fantastic. I highly recommend it for not only seasoned opera lovers (who I am not) and people who never thought twice about opera (basically me). It is amazing and possibly a "gateway" opera - Kyra is talking about watching other operas "just to see" if she's entranced by Wagner or the Met's production, or if she really does like opera.

(Oh, and now that I've watched Das Rheingold, the battle cry "Nibelung Valesti" from the Valkyrie Profile games makes a lot more sense. Essentially, it would mean "Worthy of the Nibelung" or "The Nibelung was Worthy" or something like that. Interestingly, Google Translate provides "Nibelung Founded" as the translation - perhaps it meant "Created by the Nibelung". The "Nibelung" is the dwarf Alberich who forged the Ring, and in the first game, Valkyrie is wearing the "Nibelungen Ring", and it is an important plot element to remove it. No, not that Ring. The original Ring.)

Additionally, for Christmas, LP and Nick got me a book called "Mozart in the Jungle" - about classical music and drugs, apparently. On page 2 of the prologue, two guys are doing drugs and talking about Siegfried, the 3rd opera in the Ring Cycle. One of the guys says something like, "They think Star Wars made up this stuff - it's just Siegfried, man!" Further, I started playing a game series called Shadow Hearts, and in game 2, one of the characters oddly enough learns new sword moves by reviewing scenes from Wagner's Ring Cycle that the character finds randomly lying around!

All in all, this is a bizarre series of events all closely related to one monumental cultural touchstone, and it's just strange!

Oh, and one other thing, The Lord of the Rings is all ripped off of The Ring Cycle!!! (More about that later.)

The Excuse

I LOVE the poetry of Ogden Nash. I recently got two half-century old books of his poetry. I thought I'd share one with you, entitled "Little Feet":

Oh, who would live in a silent house,
As still as a waltz left unwritten by Strauss,
As undisturbed as a virgin dewdrop,
And quiet enough to hear a shoe drop?
Who would dwell
In a vacuum cell,
In a home as mute as a clapperless bell?
Oh, a home as mute as a bell that's clapperless
Is forlorn as an Indian in Indianapolis.

Then ho! for the patter of little feet,
And the childish chatter of voices sweet,
For the ringing laughter and prancing capers
That soothe your ear as you read the papers,
For the trumpets that blow and the balls that bounce
As you struggle to balance your old accounts,
For the chubby arms that encircle your neck,
And the chubby behinds that your lap bedeck,
And sirens who save their wiliest wooing
For the critical spot in whatever you're doing.

Shakespeare's, I'm sure, was a silent house,
And that of Good King Wenceslaus,
And Napoleon's dwelling, and Alexander's,
And whoever's that wrote The Dog of Flanders.
Yes, Shelley and Keats
And other e'lites,
They missed the patter of little feets,
For he who sits and listens to pattering
Will never accomplish more than a smattering.

Then ho! for the patter of little feet!
Some find these footfalls doubly sweet,
Subjecting them to the twofold use
Of paternal pride and a good excuse.
You say, for instance, my modest chanteys
Are not so fine as Pope's or Dante's?
My deeds do not compare with those
Of Nelson, or Michelangelo's?
Well, my life is perpetual Children's Hour,
Or boy! would immortal genius flower!

And that, my friends, is why I haven't blogged in a while.

Randomness

Chris has been criticizing me of late for not having much of a presence on our blog. I blame him, he's just too darn efficient in posting about the stuff that we do. Leaves me little to write about. Anyway, since I have started my new blog, Image in Stone, I have made a commitment to post at least twice a month to it. I'd like to do the same for this blog, essentially one post per blog every other week. I'm hoping that will be a minimum and I will actually get around to it more frequently, but we'll see, it's all determined by the three foot tall overlord who rules my existence.

Since Chris already wrote about our trip to Minnesota, it doesn't leave me much to write about lately. So this post isn't about anything in particular, just a random observation I made during Chris and my "Sherlock Holmes" night last Thursday.

Every Thursday night "Sherlock Holmes" (the Jeremy Brett version) airs on PBS. For those of you that don't know, I am a total Holmes nerd. I read the massive anthology Barnes and Nobel publishes in the last weeks of my pregnancy. I read them again to Luca the first few months after he was born to rock him to sleep. And our bedtime book is currently the "Children's Classics" edition of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". So every Thursday Chris and I sit down to watch "Sherlock Holmes".

Another series I am fond of is Agatha Christie's Poirot. I've read most of these as well, and up until recently, PBS broadcast them on Sunday nights. However, much to Chris and my disappointment they stopped running them through most of the summer. But last Thursday, we were delighted to find that they resumed showing Poirot, and put it on right after Holmes! My two favorite detective shows all in one night!

As we sat down to watch both shows, what struck me was the huge differences between the two. Not so much in the characters; though their appearances are nearly diametric opposites, their methods and eccentricities are quite similar. What fascinated me was the contrast between the two worlds in which the characters lived:

The intro to "Sherlock Holmes" is a horse and buggy clipping through the noisy, cobblestone streets of London. Poirot's compatriot Hastings's hobby is acquiring the latest and fastest cars. In Holmes era, human flight was still a thing of fantasy. Some of Poirot's cases deal with the theft of plans for a secret fighter plane. Homes is frequently summoned to his cased by hand delivered message or telegraph. A phone call is all Poirot requires. 221B Baker Street is lit by gas lamps, while Poirot's stylish flat has electric lighting. And perhaps most shockingly is the change of attire, especially for women: the Victorian everything-covered-up-to-your-eyeballs look in Holmes, while the women of Poirot often sport revealing flapper-girl attire.

To really appreciate this huge contrast, consider the publication dates of the two series: The first Holmes novel "A Study in Scarlet" was published in 1887, with stories taking place in the 1880's and 90's. Hercule Poirot first appeared in Christie's fiction in 1920. That's a difference of only 40 years. Chris didn't find it particularly shocking, stating it was like the difference between when my mother grew up and now. That's true, but the contrast in technologies wasn't as stark. My mom grew up watching television like I did. Though there were no cell phones, telephones existed and were in common use. She got her driver's license at sixteen, just as teenagers do now. And although she didn't have a computer in her home, or use one until she was an adult, she at least knew that such things existed and what they were. The world of my mother seems to me old fashioned, but not archaic. And that is almost certainly how the fashionable, modern Hercule Poirot would have viewed the horse-and-buggy world of Sherlock Homes.

Such are my random thoughts for the day.

Luca’s Suess-ish Birthday Poem

Luca will be a year on Wednesday, and for some reason I've been rather poetic. I'm home with him today, he has yet another ear infection. Kinda a crummy birthday present, but he's doing rather well. I was writing this poem while playing with him on the floor. He kept taking every pen or pencil I was trying to write with so I would get a new one, until he had about six in his hand. I finally managed to take one back, and he went ballistic (despite the fact he still had the remaining six). That's when you know its time for a nap!

To Luca on his First Birthday

It's been only a year, but look how you've grown
From that cold, windy day when we first took you home
You started out big, as everyone knows
Now you're almost three feet from your head to your toes.
From spit up to sit up to crawling and more
to talking and walking and opening doors.
From one tooth to eight teeth, and every tooth counts
'Cause you've proven you can consume startling amounts!
And though our food bill will never be cheap
Oh how much I love just watching you sleep
You've developed so fast in your very first year
(Though for tantrums at eight months you'll hear no one cheer)
I've loved watching you learn, watching you grow
And as you turn a year I can't wait to know
What, for us all, year two has in store
Just know you'll have my love for many years more.

I love you, my little bean. Happy birthday.

Cat Names

We're getting a cat tomorrow. Kyra's aunt and uncle found an abandoned kitten, so we're going to pick it up and give it a new home. I was planning on getting Kyra a cat for Christmas, but I guess I'll have to think of something else. : )

Please help us a choose a cat name by voting on our site. Here are the names we have so far:

• Bert (Kyra's dad's cat is Ernie)
  
• Catch (as in Catch-22 the book)
• Ord (Catch-22 character)
• Purr(gatory) (it's punny!)
• Mars (bringer of war)
  
• Bach (as in Johann Sebastian)
  
• Franz (as in Liszt)

We're open to suggestions, too. Leave them in the comments.

Update: Here's a photo of the little guy:

Redwall - Baby Style

I've been reading a few books in the Redwall series, and I realized Luca had enough toys to make a castle wall and some characters.





We have a mouse (Matthias), a squirrel (Jess), a rat (Cluny), and a fox (Sela).

We also have a silly baby.



Who likes paper.



And makes mommy very tired.

Of Two Weeks

It's been a busy two weeks.

Luca got some cereal stuck on his head.





Last week we were supposed to go on a trip to the Twin Cities to visit Kyra's grammy. Luca, however, caught a cold during his first week in daycare with other children. Kyra was shadowing another teacher at the east side location, so Luca had his first experiences being taken care of by someone else and being around other children. He's not quite socialized yet - he would crawl up to children and pinch their faces or scream, so there's something yet to be desired. At any rate, Thursday night he came down with a fever, and his infection progressively spread to his parents. We were all quite miserable.

This week we closed on the condo on Friday. The closing went well, and Luca was a good sport during the event. So now we are happy homeowners! There's a lot to do, like painting, re-wiring the dryer, and installing ventilation for the bathroom. We may also install new windows, but that might wait until later, perhaps in the fall. Once these tasks are complete, we'll move in, probably at the end of the month. We'll be quite busy, so if we don't write for a while, that's why!

After the closing, since we missed our trip the week before, we went up to the Twin Cities to visits Kyra's grandmother, Grammy. The trip went surprisingly well. Luca wasn't too unhappy about the long drive. We had dinner with Grammy when we arrived, then Kyra's sister, Sabrina, and her daughter, Lilianna, arrived. We picked up baby-shower presents for Sabrina on the way up, to commemorate the birth of her daughter, Dalila.

By the way, Dalila is doing well. She's had a number of problems: her breathing stopped, they found a hole in her heart, she had surgery, and all sorts of things. In the latest event, the doctors found another hole and figured out that one of her vocal chords is not fully functioning to close of her airway when she eats. So she's on a feeding tube while her vocal chords heals. Otherwise, she's gained a few pounds, weighing in at 5 pounds, which is great news. We hope she continues to get better!

Here are some photos from our trip:

Trip to Grammy's


Here are some highlights:



Sabrina and Luca



Luca and Nana



Chris and Lilianna



Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren



All of us!

Finally, to commemorate our new home, I would like to share an edited poem by Robert Louis Stevenson:

Behold, our family here assembled.
We are thankful for this place in which we dwell;
for the love that unites us;
for the peace accorded us this day;
for the hope with which we greet the morrow;
and for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Let peace abound in our company.
Let peace abound in us all.

The Week from Hell

If it seems like Chris and I have fallen off the face of the earth this week, it's 'cause we have.

Our week from hell started last Friday night. Chris was recovering from a cold, doing quite well actually, but just to make sure he got a good night's sleep he took one more dose of cold medicine. About an hour later, after we had put Luca to bed and were watching a movie, he began to break out in a rash. Turns out he was having an allergic reaction to the cold medicine, which was shocking since he had been taking it all week. When the rash got worse the next day and his hands and feet started to swell, we made a trip to urgent care where, after waiting an hour to be seen they unhelpfully told us the only thing to do was keep taking an anti-histamine and wait for the reaction to get better.

Chris spent the next three days pretty miserable, basically sleeping through everything. Tuesday things seemed to be getting better, but then his cough, which he had had on and off throughout the cold became unbearable. Now, unable to take anything for fear of another allergic reaction, he was unable to sleep or even talk at times due to his coughing fits. This necessitated another trip to urgent care where they determined he had a sinus infection.

On top of all of this Luca hasn't been sleeping well. Last night we were convinced he was teething in earnest, as he woke up at 2am and screamed for an hour before he would even calm down, much less go to sleep. But this morning, I can't see or feel anything in his mouth and, other than being a bit tired, he seems none the worse for wear. So maybe, maybe not.

Maybe I was going crazy last night at 2am after getting a weekly total of 12 hours of sleep, but I was inspired to write a rather amusing (well, at 2am it seemed amusing) poem. I call it "The Teething March":

2am, the summoning
by the trumpet call, the baby's cry
to the midnight parade, to the death march.

Babe, dad, mom
the procession of sleepless warriors
the thud, thud, thud of our feet in the dark.

Bleary eyed, marching
the weary merry-go-round of parenting
again and again through silent, half-lit rooms.

Tired and groggy
we wear ruts in the floor as we drag our feet
to the silent, ceaseless drumming of the teething march.

Here's hoping next week improves. One would think it can only go up from here.

Thoughts Of An Anxious Mother, As Voiced By Silverstein

Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow taller?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

- Shell Silverstein

Album, Shower, and Heartbeat Sample

Chris and I finally managed to get (most of) our photos into album form, which we're quite proud of. Unfortunately, we printed more photos than our album has room for, which wouldn't be a problem if the people at Target had brains. They sell an expandable album but not the pages with which one can expand it. Lovely. I swear its a racket to get you to buy more albums.


Chris and I had another uneventful midwife appointment. At this point our appointments take about five minutes and consist of:

"So, how's it going?"

"Fine."

"Problems?"

"Nope."

"Great, come back in four weeks."

Most boring pregnancy ever. Not that I'm complaining, I'm well aware of the alternative. And I know it only gets more interesting from here.

Here is the newest sample of our baby's heartbeat:

Our Baby's Heartbeat, Sample 5

So last Sunday we were supposed to go "swimming" with Carla. When this little outing was proposed I wasn't the least bit suspicious. Why should I be? It was hot, Carla had access to a pool, and I had a cute maternity bathing suit. Makes sense right? Swimming, however, was only a pretext for something far more sinister: a surprise baby shower. (Ok, so it wasn't sinister in the least, it was actually really lovely, but I'm pleased I have the opportunity to used the phrase "something far more sinister". It sounds so dramatic.) And I was completely oblivious. I even walked into the entryway of the pool house, which Carla had decorated with blue "Its a Boy" balloons and thought, "Oh, someone must be having a baby shower." Then I saw all my friends and realized, "Hey, I'm having a baby shower!" I was speechless. Close to tears, in fact. My first question, however, was "Can we still go swimming?" which I think was perfectly logical. Like I said, it was hot and I had a cute maternity bathing suit.

Carla got us a diaper cake, which I think is just adorable.



She also got us books, as did everyone else. Apparently this was to be a "literary" baby shower, which explained why previous to the shower Chris had actively thwarted my attempts to shop for baby books. It was a lot of fun, and I just want to say THANK YOU!!! again to everyone who came and/or planned.

The Baby’s Heartbeat, Sample 3; Monkeys; and The Little Prince

Here's another heartbeat sample from Thursday's appointment. The baby is doing very well! The baby is kicking stronger and stronger every day. The kicks feels so strange, like it's going to jump out!

Our Baby's Heartbeat, Sample 3

Kyra keeps getting this rash/dry skin on her hands, which may be from too much handwashing, too little use of lotion, or some irritant. It appears that Kyra may be experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions, otherwise known as false labor or practice contractions. It is thought to aid the body in giving birth, thus the term "practice." Her abdomen gets really hard, and it's a bit uncomfortable and distressing, although there are no complications or problems with it, and it does not harm the baby. Other than that, we're both recovering from a cold.

We went out to Olive Garden last night to celebrate the beginning of the third trimester. Afterward, we picked up some video games for Kyra to play when she's not feeling well. One of them is this funny game in which the character has to catch all of these monkeys that are loose and causing mayhem. It's fun running after monkeys and catching them in a net.

Kyra finished reading The Little Prince to the baby last night. It's a sad tale about a man stranded in the desert and his discussions with a strange little boy that appears from nowhere. Personally, I view it as the author's conversation with himself. Themes addressed include human nature (especially vices), maturation ("loss of innocence"), love and friendship, and the beauty of nature. I was reminded again of the quote on my sixth-grade teacher's bumper sticker, "The best things in life aren't things," when the fox that the Little Prince meets says, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Reading and Music

Kyra mentioned that we've been reading a book to the baby. It's called "Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go!" by Tish Rabe, based on the works of Dr. Seuss. It was a wedding (shower?) gift. I can't remember who gave it to us, but it's a great gift. (Thank you!) It gives the three of us an opportunity to bond, which is better than any material gift. Kyra and I have been alternating reading the book to the baby every night, and we both get a little choked up at the end, which says something like, "as for me, I can't wait to meet you!" Even now as I write this tears come to my eyes.

Mommy and daddy are looking forward to the day you arrive, my son. We love you.

Last night, Kyra's back was hurting again, so she decided to take a hot bath in epsom salt. While she was bathing, I decided to read the book to the baby. He kicks when either of us read, so it's a lot of fun to experience. I hope he likes to read and can read as well as his mommy does. (She reads faster than I do, probably with better comprehension, too. After all, she did better on the ACT than I did.)

The idea that inspired the book is that babies who are able to hear in utero may be able to remember and recognize their parents' voices after birth, especially the mother's voice, of course. They may also recognized words, phrasing, and other parts of language, which may assist language development. Some research has shown that, after birth, babies continue to respond to books read to them in utero. The book states that Dr. Seuss had an interest in prenatal development, so the author wrote a Seuss-based book for babies in the womb.

Thinking about this today, I thought it would be interesting to read a book like Finnegans Wake to the baby to see what the response after birth would be like. Would a baby recognize such a seemingly absurd book? If so, what would their response be like? What about learning? Would they learn any words from the book? Phrases? Would it confuse their learning of language, since it's so strange?

I hope our son likes music, too, so I'm going to try to play piano for him, as well as recorded music. Music is very important to both of us, especially me. I studied music in college (piano), and I have listened to classical music for years, albeit my grandma was the only one in our family that ever listened to it. I had a number of cousins that played piano, too, but they all stopped after a few years, and I don't think they ever had much interest in classical music. As I can recall, I was the only one to obtain a degree in music, so far. It's a mystery why I like classical music so much, but I'm glad I do. It's been a part of some of the most beautiful experiences in my life.

In other news, I'm still working on the wedding photos and videos. I'm having trouble connecting the video camera to the computer. If anyone knows why the video camera isn't being recognized via the Firewire port, please comment or email me with any help. I purchased a used Firewire card that is being recognized by my computer as a network port. I'm not sure why. At any rate, I should have some new pictures online from our friends soon. Stay tuned!