Looking for Nothing

This weekend I visited the Shambhala meditation center, where Mick takes meditation classes.  As one might expect, it was a very peaceful place.  I took part in a class, and after we did a five-minute exercise where you sit quietly and become conscious of the feelings in your body, the instructor asked us what we had experienced.  

She asked "What was it like?", but then revised her question. 

"No, wait, I don't mean what was it like, I mean, What was it?"  

I thought, man, this is sooo Buddhist.  Afterwards, we had the universal experience of coffee hour, except that it was green tea instead of coffee.

To reciprocate, I'm planning to take Mick to the blessing of the animals service at All Saints' at the end of the month.  I'm planning to bring Mollie too!

Road Trip Cuisine

This weekend Mick and I made a road trip to Chattanooga for a swing dancing festival.  The festival was great fun - they had live bands playing in the park by the river, and we boogied on the very crowded dance floor. 

On the way we decided to try out a legendary form of food preparation - engine manifold cooking.  The idea is, you wrap up food in many layers of tinfoil, then place it strategically on the hottest parts of your engine (avoiding the moving parts), close the hood, drive for at least 2 hours, and then you have a delicious hot lunch.  I was in charge of the menu, so I did an internet search and discovered that there was a book on this published in 1989 entitled Manifold Destiny.  It is long out of print, and extremely difficult to come by, but I managed to get a copy through interlibrary loan - an elaborate process that involved my consulting with several Georgia Tech research librarians. 

When the book was finally delivered, I pored over it and devised my menu, which included marinated tofu, sliced potatoes and carrots with fresh rosemary, corn on the cob, and baked apples with sugar and cinnamon.  I used a whole roll of tinfoil to wrap everything up, studied the layout of the car's engine to figure out the best spots, wedged everything in, and off we went.  

Two hours later we pulled over at a Civil War battlefield, sat down under a monument, and unwrapped everything.  The food was perfectly cooked, and we are now planning more trips just so we can have an excuse to try new recipes.

   

DragonCon 2008

DragonCon is a major annual event in Atlanta's cultural life.  This huge meeting of science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts begins with a parade.  Here are some highlights:

I cannot explain this large multi-person cat.

Found-object artists/Star Wars fans in costume.  The central figure is Chewbacca.  My camera failed, (ok, I failed) to capture the Darth Vader made of Jack Daniels whiskey boxes.

Stormtroopers are scary, especially in large numbers.

Publish or Perish

At long last I sent my book proposal to a university press yesterday.  I had been agonizing over the wording for ages, but finally emailed it to the editor.  She emailed me back almost immediately to say "This looks good."  What?  That's it?  They should decide in a couple of weeks.

Movie Palace Encounters

At the beginning of the academic year, there are a string of receptions, luncheons and dinners to welcome new and returning faculty to campus.  Most of these events are, to be frank, dull and tense.  First, academics are not the most socially gifted demographic, and in the days before the semester starts they are all nervous and strained about getting their courses organized.  This combination of factors rarely makes for a good party.  Still, when my friend invited me to one of these events, I tagged along, thinking that at the very least I'd get a free dinner.  Against all expectations, I came away with much more.  

The dinner was at the Fox Theatre, an Atlanta institution that started life as a Shriners Temple, became a movie palace with an Egyptomania aesthetic, and now hosts concerts, parties, and the occasional film screening.  Early in the evening we went on a tour - it was great fun to hear about the Orientalist decor, the early air-conditioning system, the huge cinema organ, and the elaborate fire-control systems (since the building dates from the era when film was extremely flammable - explosive, actually).  If I teach "Intro to Film" in Atlanta I plan to take my students there so they will know how fabulous a movie theatre can be. 

After the tour I got in line for the bar, and started chatting with a guy who, like me, had been invited by a friend to come along for a free dinner.  He told me that he works for the local newspaper, but I soon discovered his real profession:  magician.   We hit it off, and had dinner together courtesy of Georgia Tech.  Since then we've taken Atlanta by storm - swing dancing, the drive-in, and this weekend we're going to a laser show about the history of Georgia.  He has promised to teach Mollie a magic trick so she can show up all the other therapy dogs.  

Walk/Watch

When I go to the gym, I often watch tv on the treadmill, as it helps pass the time and distracts me from the absurdism of running to nowhere.  Yesterday I observed an application of this idea that I had never anticipated.  I was walking Mollie in the park when I heard the sound of recorded dialogue.  I thought it was a radio at first, but then I saw a man walking along the path while watching television - not on a little iPod, mind you, but a full dvd player with a laptop-sized screen.  What was he watching that either couldn't wait until after his walk, or which provided such terrific motivation while walking?  Married With Children.  I find it remarkable that someone would own a dvd of Married With Children, much less take it for a walk.

Labyrinth Report

A nice family is renting my property in Canada, and the lady of the house has a blog.  Her latest post about the labyrinth that my father built years ago makes me nostalgic.  Also, it's nice to see the place represented by someone who is a better photographer than I am.