Goals 2018 -- November Recap

My whole November was thrown off by a very unfortunate 1-2 punch of some kind of virus (probably strep) followed by a nasty sinus infection.  In short, I didn't make much progress.  Here's the recap:

- Pulling dead plants from my garden
I made progress on this!  It's not completely done, but my kale, rosemary, chives, and columbine were (miraculously) not dead yet, so I left them for a bit longer.

- Over-mulching for the winter
I mulched over one garden bed, but that was all I could manage with the small number of leaves I was able to chop up during the brief period of time that (a) I had, and (b) it wasn't raining.

- Planting garlic
Nope

- The last grass cutting of the season (although perhaps I should save this one for K?)
Nope again

- The annual closet clean-out
Still nope

- Annual bike maintenance (really this should probably be monthly, but who has that kind of time?)
One more time, for the cheap seats in the back, nope.

The good news is that it's supposed to be pretty nice this weekend, and S and I will be home all weekend, so I'm going to keep at it -- and hopefully tomorrow morning's predicted rain will not materialize!

What I Read -- Holiday in Cambodia

The third of the books I read about Cambodia on my trip there was Holiday in Cambodia.  It's a collection of short stories, and every story is depressing.

Laura Jean McKay does a wonderful job getting into a variety of voices, which are all over the map.  The main characters are a pretty even mix of Cambodians and foreigners, and take place across the several decades of Cambodia's recent history.  As one would expect, there were some stories I liked better than others, but on the whole, this was the least compelling of the three books about the country that I read.

Fun fact: the title is pulled from a Dead Kennedys song of the same name, which is a critique of the looking-down-the-nose that wealthy, educated American kids do with regards to Cambodia.

What I Read: Cambodia's Curse: A Modern History of a Troubled Land

I wanted to read some books about or set in Cambodia before our trip.  Most of the history books I found looked like in-depth political treatises about the Khmer Rouge.  I was ready to give up when I stumbled across Cambodia's Curse: A Modern History of a Troubled Land.

History books (and I'm a history major, so I can say this) can be a bit dry.  If you're browsing a bookstore, you at least have the opportunity to read a few passages to decide how readable the book is before you commit.  I didn't have that opportunity with this book, so I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into.  I was pleased to discover that it was remarkably readable, if a bit repetitive.

Here's a quick rundown of Cambodian political history for the last half century:
- 1950s to 1975: Cambodia, which is a neighbor of Vietnam, had a US-friendly puppet government
- 1975 to 1979: Khmer Rouge fighters, led by Pol Pot, ousted the previous regime and proceeded to kill an estimated 2 million people, started with anyone who was educated
- 1979 to 1989: Vietnam invaded Cambodia and installed a Vietnam-friendly puppet government
- 1989 to 1992: Vietnam pulled out of the country and left the Cambodians to their own devices
- 1992 to 1993: Cambodia became a UN protectorate, with the hope that they would be able to educate and train government officials and then leave the country to govern itself.
- 1993 to present: nominally democratic elections are not actually democratic at all

Joel Brinkley goes into detail on the above history, which constitutes about the first 1/3 of the book.  After that, he looks at the legacy that all this tumult has had on the Cambodian people, and how it continues to affect the country, suppress its economy, and keep its people in poverty -- mostly through an astonishing amount of bribery and corruption at all levels of government.  He also takes a look at the psychology of so many years of uncertainty on the population as a whole.

For example, people in other Asian nations have stereotyped Cambodians as lazy.  Why don't they do something to better themselves?  Brinkley disputes this assumption, by explaining that regime change has been the source of death and destruction for Cambodians for generations.  As a consequence, they have developed an, "it is what it is" attitude.  It's better, he argues, to keep your head down and not complain about your poverty than it is to try to effect change and end up dead.  Cambodians are terribly opposed to conflict of all kinds, and our travel book warned us to be careful about not raising our voices or appearing upset during any interactions with locals.

Overall, it's a mix of depressing and explanatory.  But most importantly for when you're stuck on a long flight or car ride, readable.

SLSO Show #1 and Grace Meat + Three

S and I recently attended our first symphony of the season, and it was great!  For starters, it was the first time I saw the new Music Director (technically the Music Director Designate, until he actually becomes Music Director next season), and he seems like a good pick. David Robertson was so good for such a long time that he will be tough to top, but Stéphane Denève can do it if anyone can. Plus, he has a strong interest in music education and developing the talents of future musicians, and I think that's super important.

Anyway, on to the show.  It was a love-themed performance.  First up was a selection from Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette, followed by Lieberson's Neruda Songs.  The poetry portions of the Neruda piece were sung by a lovely mezzo-soprano named Kelley O'Connor.

After the intermission, two pieces were played without a break: the prelude to Wagner's Tristan and Isolde and Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy.

I enjoyed all the pieces.  They were different but somehow the theme succeeded in pulling them all together.  It was the last piece that really sold me though.  First of all, the bio in the Playbill was fascinating.  During his life, he apparently developed a strong belief in mysticism, believed he could levitate, and once tried to walk across Lake Geneva.  The piece was not my favorite musically, but it was so interesting to watch that it made up for its musical shortcomings.  It wandered from lush to delicate, soft to loud.  It ended with a huge finale, and that's something that I totally love. Plus, it called for nine -- nine -- French horns!  I don't know where they found that many French horn players in St. Louis; my guess is that they had to import a few.  But it's a beautiful instrument, and was lovely to see on the stage.

After the show, we met up with S's cousin R for dinner at Grace Meat + Three.  It was about 6:00 on Sunday, and apparently there had been a big convention in town all weekend that had made the restaurant a favorite spot.  Consequently, they were sold out of a lot.  We ended up with a Grace burger and a beef po' boy, with sides of macaroni and cheese and bourbon-whipped sweet potatoes.  The po' boy was pretty good, the mac and cheese was decent, and the burger and sweet potatoes were just okay.

To top it all off, I was super excited to hear that they still had a few can's of Urban Chestnut's limited release: the Big Shark Lemon Radler!  I ordered it, only to find out that they had sold out a few minutes before.  On the whole, it was disappointing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

There Are Rules About These Things

Yesterday, S and I were out enjoying some of the SLIFF movies, and we saw our first public Christmas decorations.  As much as I love Christmas, I agree with S that they should not be up until after Thanksgiving.  Here's how he feels about it:

Goals 2018 -- November Edition

We were gone for two weeks in October, so there are many changing-of-the-seasons things which did not get done.  Here's what I'd like to work on this month:
- Pulling dead plants from my garden
- Over-mulching for the winter
- Planting garlic
- The last grass cutting of the season (although perhaps I should save this one for K?)
- The annual closet clean-out
- Annual bike maintenance (really this should probably be monthly, but who has that kind of time?)

Goals 2018 -- October Recap

Looks like I get a freebie this month, since we haven't gotten our pictures yet.  I'll take it!