red moon yawn

The season’s first sandstorm is a good reason to leave the office.  The first sandstorm I experienced was in Tianjin, 1991.  A friend and I went to visit an underground pastor, the dark beige sands of the Gobi desert gave us meaningful coincidental cover considering I had 50 New Testaments for him.

Two days off with the usual work brought home and what it is you say, a job I applied for only a few days ago wants to know if I am available in June.  I emailed the man and explained there’d be financial penalties if I left early,  would they compensate any loss I’d incur?  I need a cup of tea.

Outside it is richly and dangerously gold and I brought home today’s quizzes.  I found confusion with the grammar section composed by someone who surely should remain anonymous and shot off emails to the teachers advising to give students points because of the ambiguity of certain questions.

I could use a glass of wine right now.  The gold closes in, I need to relax.  A cigarette?  Only one smoked today, I think that is good, indeed.

4.3.15

Lenten hymns at noon, should I fast for three hours.  Lord, I remember, I light a candle, I listen to the liturgy.  Can I have a salmon sandwich, dry, no mayo, no cream cheese.  Do I show disrespect, I show weakness.

As a child mom let us watch a religious movie if Bill Kennedy chose to show one; The King of Kings, Ben Hur, while not technically a religious flick, the Passion was in it.  We always had spaghetti and fish sticks or baked cod for dinner.  It was a good meal for a family who liked meat. 

Sometimes I went to St. Bedes for the three hour service but never stayed the entire time.  Everything was removed from the altar, all the plants, banners, candles were removed.  A bare, marble altar.  I remember kissing the pierced feet of Jesus, the priest then wiped the statue’s feet for the next faithful , two candles held by the altar boys placed under my neck.

Other than that, Good Friday has been a low key affair and if that is all I see in the day, a day to tune it down, reflect, consider the story, then so be it.

I finished marking yesterday’s quizzes.  Sigh.  I have good students and when they discover ‘irregularities’ in the exam or if a task is ambiguous, well, I go into damage control.  So everyone gets extra marks if they couldn’t distinguish between nervous and worried because the examples didn’t show clearly there was a difference.  As for my part in this little unfortunate tragedy, in the writing component the students were given notes and they were asked to categorize the notes in spaces given and then were asked to write about a marathon that would be run in the city.  They were to use the notes.  The worst thing I saw was their inability to organize the notes.  I don’t want to spend too much time on this but this is the way of thinking for many of them:

“There are major malls, there is no rain, it is 120km to Dubai.”

I have a half tank of gas, I am out of cigarettes, I am wearing sunglasses.   Well, what to do other than review it, reflect, give advice, and give it back.  There will be a few discouraged, but what the hell, how much of the failure to understand is on me and how much is on them. 

Tomorrow is the full moon, funny it seems as if there was a full moon not too long ago, and that it will be a red moon, another eclipse of sorts, and once upon a time, it was believed these red moons were omens which brought good news.  Oh I’d like to believe a red moon could somehow bring good news.  How I have no idea.

The moon rises, it is calm tonight.  Look at that thing.  It’s so clear.  What the hell is it doing just hanging there.  Will it really turn red tomorrow, I’m thinking I should drive out somewhere and take a picture or two of it.  We’ll see.  Four moons to go and I’m outta here.  Tomorrow morning it’s shopping in Al-Ain and prepping for week six.  A red moon is an omen.  Were people who once believed the red moon was an omen disappointed when nothing happened?  Did disappointment in mythology give birth to science? 

4.4.15

I went out to see the red moon and I wasn’t disappointed though it was more orange.  I wandered through the same trees I found a few months ago and I thought I had a lot of cool pics in the dark with the moon but it wasn’t to be.  So many looked cool on the lcd.

No internet today in the grotto, I am wondering if I’ll ever get it again.  On one hand it was good, I had work to do.  Sometimes I log on and think enough already.  Anyways I hope it returns.