Chellerystick

For choral performance

• Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein
• Prayer of Being by Mark Hayes
• Sleep by Eric Whitacre

For piano

For karaoke!

For listening

• “Right and Left Grand” by Echo’s Children

I’m thinking of doing the LC Classification Challenge slowly over time (see the classification listing); that will be a project for when I need a break from research. Classifications in which I have read a book are marked by *.

Class A: General Works
AC: Collections, Series, Collected Works
AE: Encyclopedias
AG: Dictionaries and other general Reference Works
AI: Indexes
AM: Museums, collectors and collecting
AP: Periodicals
AS: Academies and learned societies
AY: Yearbooks, Almanacs, Directories
AZ: History of scholarship and learning

Class B: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion

• B: Philosophy. Freedom and Neurobiology
  BC: Logic
• BD: Speculative philosophy. Second-Hand Knowledge
• BF: Psychology. Acts of Meaning
  BH: Aesthetics
• BJ: Ethics. Things You Need to be Told
• BL: Religions, mythology, rationalism. Religion and Cultural Studies
• BM: Judaism. When Bad Things Happen to Good People
  BP: Islam, Baha’ism, Theosophy
  BQ; Buddhism
  BR; Christianity
• BS: The Bible. Beyond Sex Roles
  BT: Doctrinal Theology
• BV: Practical Theology. The Christian Family
• BX: Christian Denominations. The Life and Words of St. Francis of Assisi

Class C: Auxiliary Sciences of History
C: Auxiliary science of history
CB: History of Civilization
CC: Archaeology
CD: Diplomatics, Archives, Seals
CE: Technical Chronology
CJ: Numismatics
CN: Inscriptions
CR: Heraldry
CS: Genealogy
CT: Biography

Class D: History, General and Old World

• D: History, General. Maus II
  DA: History of Great Britain, Ireland
  DB: History of Austria
  DC: History of France
  DD: History of Germany
  DE: History of Greco-Roman World
  DF: History of Greece
  DG: History of Italy, Malta
  DH: History of Low Countries
  DJ: History of Netherlands
  DJK: History of Eastern Europe
  DK: History of Russia, Poland
  DL: History of Northern Europe
  DP: History of Spain and Portugal
  DQ: History of Switzerland
  DR: History of Balkan Peninsula
  DS: History of Asia
• DT: History of Africa. The Translator
  DU: History of Oceania
  DX: History of Gypsies

• Class E: History of America. Navajo Kinship and Marriage

• Class F: Local History of the United States and British, Dutch, French, and Latin America. Johnny Schmidt

Class G: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation

• G: Geography, Atlases, Maps. Drawing the Line
  GA: Mathematical geography
• GB: Physical Geography. Inventing the Earth.
  GC: Oceanography
• GE: Environmental Science. Wake Up and Smell the Planet
  GF: Human Ecology, anthropogeography
  GN: Anthropology
• GR: Folklore. Study of American Folklore
• GT: Manners and customs. I Don’t Have a Thing to Wear
  GV: Recreation, leisure

Class H: Social Sciences

• H — Social sciences. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design
• HA — Statistics. Basics of Qualitative Research.
• HB — Economic theory; Demography. The Economic Way of Thinking
• HC — Economic history and conditions. The Working Poor
• HD — Industries; Land use; Labor. Redesigning the American Dream
  HE — Transportation and communications
• HF — Commerce. Birth of a Salesman
• HG — Finance. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Personal Finance in your 20’s and 30’s
  HJ — Public finance
• HM — Sociology (General). Readings About the Social Animal.
• HN — Social history and conditions; Social problems; Social reform. Moral Politics.
• HQ — The family; Marriage; Woman; Sexuality. The Technology of Orgasm
  HS — Societies: secret, benevolent, etc.
  HT — Communities; Classes; Races
• HV — Social pathology; Social and public welfare; Criminology. The Story of My Life (Keller).
  HX — Socialism; Communism; Anarchism

Class J: Political science
J: legislative and executive papers

• JA: Political science. The Green Reader
  JC: Political theory
  JF: Political institutions-general
  JJ: Political institutions, North America
  JK: Political institutions, United States
  JL: Political institutions, Canada, etc.
  JN: Political institutions, Europe
  JQ: Political institutions, everywhere else
  JS: Local government
  JV: Colonies, colonization, immigration
  JX: International law
  JZ: International relations

K- Law
KB – Religious LawGeneral and comparative
KD – United Kingdom. England. Wales
KE – Canada (general)

• KF – United States (general). Celia, A Slave.
  KG – Latin America (general & comparative). Central America & Caribbean (general & comparative)
  KH – South America (general & comparative)
  KJ – History of law in Europe. Law of ancient European tribes (Celts, etc.)
  KK – Germany. West Germany
  KL – History of law in the ancient Middle East (Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian,
  KM – Asia (general & comparative)
  KZ – Law of Nations. International law

Class L: Education
L: Education

• LA: History of education. Debating PC
• LB: Theory of education. Assessing Student Performance
  LC: Social aspects of education
  LD: Individual institutions, US
  LE: Individual institutions, N. America
  LF: Individual institutions, Europe
  LG: Individual institutions, Everywhere else
  LH: College and school magazines and papers
  LJ: Student fraternities
  LT: Textbooks

Class M: Music

• M: Music. Classics to Moderns.
• ML: Literature on music. Fargo Rock City.
  MT: Musical instruction and study

Class N: Fine Arts

• N: Visual arts. The Graceful Envelope
  NA: Architecture
  NB: Sculpture
• NC: Drawing. Golden Age of Advertising.
  ND: Painting
• NE: Print media. Graphic Work of MC Escher
• NK: Decorative arts. An Animated Alphabet
• NX: Arts in general. The Female Body in Western Culture

Class P: Language and Literature

• P: Philology and linguistics. The Ascent of Babel
• PA: Greek and Latin language and literature. If Not, Winter
  PB: Modern languages, Celtic languages
  PC: Romantic languages
  PD: Germanic languages
• PE: English language. Rules for the Dance.
  PF: West Germanic languages
• PG: Slavic languages. View with a Grain of Sand.
  PH: Uralic languages
• PJ: Oriental philology and literature. The Game of Forgetting
• PK: Indo-Iranian philology and literature. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
• PL: Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania. Nineteen Ways of Looking At Wang Wei.
  PM: Hyperborean, Indian, and artificial languages
• PN: Literature (General). Fun Home
• PQ: French, Italian, Spanish Literature. La Machine Infernale
• PR: English literature. The Summer Tree
• PS: American Literature. The Space Child’s Mother Goose.
• PT: German, Dutch literature. Novemberland
• PZ: Juvenile literature. Giants in the Earth

Class Q: Science

• Q: Science, general. In the Name of Science
• QA: Mathematics. Our Mathematical Heritage
  QB: Astronomy
• QC: Physics. Fighting for Love in the Century of Extinction
• QD: Chemistry. The Invention of Air
  QE: Geology
• QH: Natural history, Biology. The Book of Man
  QK: Botany
• QL: Zoology. Last Chance to See
  QM: Human anatomy
• QP: Physiology. How Brains Make Up Their Minds
  QR: Microbiology

Class R: Medicine

• R — Medicine (General). Bag Balm and Duct Tape
• RA— Public aspects of medicine. Our Bodies, Ourselves
  RB— Pathology
• RC— Internal medicine. Myth of repressed memory.
• RD— Surgery. Complications
• RE— Ophthalmology. Island of the Colorblind
  RF— Otorhinolaryngology
  RG— Gynecology and obstetrics
• RJ— Pediatrics. When Love Is Not Enough.
  RK— Dentistry
  RL— Dermatology
  RM— Therapeutics. Pharmacology
  RS— Pharmacy and materia medica
  RT— Nursing
  RV— Botanic, Thomsonian, and eclectic medicine
  RX— Homeopathy
  RZ— Other systems of medicine

Class S: Agriculture
S — Agriculture (General)

• SB— Plant culture—The Forest and the City
  SD— Forestry
  SF— Animal culture
  SH— Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling.
  SK— Hunting sports

Class T: Technology

• T — Technology (General). Cheaper By The Dozen.
• TA— Engineering (General). Civil Engineering. To Engineer is Human
  TC— Hydraulic engineering – Ocean Engineering
• TD— Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering. Unquenchable.
  TE— Highway engineering. Roads and pavements
  TF— Railroad engineering and operation
  TG— Bridge engineering
• TH— Building construction. How to Make Your Own Recreation and Hobby Rooms.
  TJ— Mechanical engineering and machinery
  TK— Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering
• TL— Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics. The Seven Secrets of How To Think Like A Rocket Scientist
• TN— Mining engineering. Metallurgy. Dreadful Month.
  TP— Chemical technology
• TR— Photography. Peek
• TS— Manufactures. The Design of Everyday Things
• TT— Handicrafts. Arts and crafts. How to Build Your Own Furniture
• TX— Home economics. The Complete Tightwad Gazette

Class U: Military science
U — Military Science (General)
UA – Armies: Organization, distribution, military situation
UB – Military administration
UC – Maintenance and transportation
UD – Infantry
UE – Cavalry. Armor
UF – Artillery
UG – Military engineering
UH – Other services
Class V: Naval science
V Naval science (General)
VA Navies: Organization, distribution, naval situation
VB Naval administration
VC Naval maintenance
VD Naval seaman
VE Marines
VF Naval ordnance
VG Minor services of navies
VK Navigation. Merchant marine
VM Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering

Class Z: Bibliography, Library science, Information resources

• Z — Books (General). Lettering and Calligraphy Workbook
  ZA — Information resources (General)

• People are complicated.
• Make things.
• People are more important than houses.
• Be independent so you can be interdependent.
• Leave a place better than you found it.
• Harvest beauty from many fields.

First session (Fall 2010)

1. I think I am doing okay with learning how to stand and fall. Turning, keeping loose, and making other people fall are harder. Emily(?) is glad to have another female in the class. My legs feel very tight. Everyone is very nice.
2. I can’t roll or remember to “keep my center of gravity over my base of support.” I could use a massage. Josh asked me to find out what school of aikido it is. Sensei is in Baltimore for a library conference but Paul, his second in command, says it is the Aikido Schools of Ueshiba. I have come to realize that bodies are like compass roses, and it is easier for me to remember what I’m doing if I think of things as going to or away from bodies rather than left and right.
3. Making a little progress on rolling forward. It is hard to remember any of it from one day to the next but I can feel that I am getting a tiny bit more of a feel of it. Sensei talked about the critical moment… no, not in the mathematical sense… but the moment just before the point of no return. He says that is the moment when you have the most connection with your partner.
4. Out sick.
5. I understood something all by myself from watching Sensei’s demo! That would be Heaven and Earth—if you are grabbed by both wrists, you raise one hand and lower the other, then step into the space between your lower hand and the attacker. It is amazing how well this works even without catching all the details. I have also found that it is better for me to attack first. That way I get another chance to see what is going on and ask questions. Everyone is very patient and willing to learn from each other so it is a very Vygotskian kind of atmosphere but in an adult, more peer-oriented way (although of course I know I am the most beginning beginner). One person even figured out to attack me four times on the same side just to help me drill!
6. Thanksgiving and so forth
7. Even the stretches at the beginning are not just so we don’t get hurt in practice but also to make us more flexible so that we don’t get hurt in real life. Also although all of the names except urah sound alike I am starting to get a feeling of how things work similarly and echo across.

Second session (Spring 2011)

1. Couldn’t sign up for a while so returning after about three months. Although the first day back hurt, it still hurt good, like a massage, and I could tell that I did retain something because even though I couldn’t say what I retained, I was able to follow along a little bit and didn’t have my head swimming as utterly as when I started the first go-round. Then I missed Wednesday getting my CPR training back up to date, but that is okay.
2. Spring break, no classes.
3. This week hurt less but had me breathing hard within a few minutes of finishing stretches. (Rolling is still a challenge.) We learned about coming after with a high chopping/bat-swinging motion. I wish I could absorb some of the names. Need to look for some flashcards or something. I twisted out from where Jarrett was supposed to have me by dipping under my arm (he still had my wrist). Paul was filling in for Robert Sensei and said wow, do that again, do it to me. So they worked out how to keep me from doing that. And I learned that some of those instincts from years of younger-sibling-do attacks still have some relevance at moments. Now I need to keep practicing going down on my inside foot/knee instead of my outside one.
4. One pattern emerges. In one of the responses we find ourselves alongside the attacker and hold the attacking (grabbing) wrist down while nudging the chin up—then stepping back on our own inside leg we also are knocking the upper chest of the of the attacker down and back. Suddenly it becomes clear that it is like the heaven and earth move from last semester (and Robert Sensei confirmed this), only we are alongside instead of facing the partner. Why holding the partner both up and down is so much less stable than holding his or her arms out to the sides is not yet clear to me, but I am thinking about the physics and the anatomy and I feel it will click soon. Also Paul is trying to get me to relax and use gravity, sink in and be present like dancing, and Judy Fuqua’s “big fat raindrops” popped into my head and helped a lot. While I am remembering names will review: Jeff, Mary, Craig, Vic, Heather, Jarrett, new person is Nathan. Can’t think who else right now.
5. We have worked on some throws that involve squatting, and this is still really hard for me as I still have no gluts or leg muscles. I have looked for Marcie’s PhysioTools handouts but so far in vain; I wonder if it would be of value to go to the weight room and see if they have one of the leg machines where you lie on your stomach and flip your legs up towards your head. And I have to figure out eye contact—enough of a problem even among friends but even more so when I am trying to figure out what I’m doing. And as far as figuring out what I’m doing, it has just occurred to me that it is like figuring out how to drive somewhere—one or two times behind the wheel with a map is soooo much more effective than weeks sitting in the passenger seat (or years in the back seat). I know I’m particularly bad at that—the sense that the car and the road become almost proprioceptive when I’m driving and static when I’m not. So aikido is hard (and somewhat frustrating) in part because it taps a lot of my weaknesses. But on the other hand it is gently challenging me to develop those areas to the extent I am able. And I was glad to see Mary back from being sick.
6. Sensei and Mary have both been paying me extra attention and trying to get some of the senses into me, things like balance and flow. At this point I can usually comprehend and remember at least some small part of what I do during the day long enough to tell Jeremy about it afterward and/or do a little partial demo. I talked to Josh about the one-side-up, one-side-down thing and he suggested something to the effect of that posture making it more complicated to calculate your balance than when you are symmetrical, which made some sense to me.
7. I am realizing that sometimes in the demonstration part that Sensei is showing 2 or 3 different variants of things. No wonder I am extra confused. I think I tend to watch overall at first and if I figure out what is going on enough to be able to follow the details, I move on to arms and hands. If I am really lucky I will start watching feet. Also, when practicing in slow motion and having someone against my back, I am supposed to lean back including my head in the same curvature. They suggested I try leaning back on an exercise ball to get an idea of it, which I did try at Seymour’s party, and it did feel really extra bendy and scary, but I think I get it a little more now. How it goes: little by little, journey not destination, something in the vicinity of a hundred hours a year.
8. Sensei told us all that it can be hard not to move too much; the movements can be pretty subtle. I asked him if he meant like trying to steer the first time you are learning to drive and he agreed. (Now I am remembering that I tried to play that racing game w/ Ashley at Zeppo’s and how stressful that was. I wonder if kids these days have an easier time w/ that first session or two of steering just because they have had extra “practice.”) Paul is trying to get me to look at his neck and feel like I could be attacking it. (Last semester he said I needed to try to be more attack-like even though “it isn’t in [my] nature,” which was funny to hear from someone I had barely met.) Mary and I watched a very small advanced class practice and she was telling me it was kind of like the “randori” style of practice. It makes me want to write some kind of rondel or something. Heather is graduating and we put money in the hat for a sword-stick thing; Mary also sewed a long bag for it.
9. Finals week. We got out the “sword” sticks—called something like bokan. They are pretty long and heavy to be trying to maneuver above my head but not crazy heavy. It is so strange to be “wielding” a “weapon” though, and my hands were completely sweaty even though we weren’t pairing off to practice with anyone. That is something I need to think about and come to terms with, even though at this point in my life I am only 90% pacifist wrt humans. Pacifish? I do need to deal better with “sharp things” in general.

Health

1. Cooking/Eating
2. Exercise (e.g. dancing)
3. Physical Health Maintenance
4. Mental Health Maintenance

Household

1. Income Generation
2. Expenses
3. Savings/Long Term Goals
4. Bill Paying/Account Maintenance
5. Cleaning
6. Vehicle Maintenance
7. Gardening

Mental Activity

1. School Assignments
2. Long-term Research Projects
3. Poetry
4. Reading/media/other general stimulation

Social/relational Activity

1. Jeremy
2. Friends
3. Family