My brief encounter with "Brief Encounter"

Another play in my series of season tickets was for last weekend at the Guthrie. I went to see Noel Coward's Brief Encounter. Internet, I really didn't know what to expect, nor did I think I'd like it. Because, ya know, it's a play about two people - married, but not to each other - who meet in a train station and start an affair of the heart. A brief encounter.

And then, discovering that I was going to see a play based on a movie based on a play? How much more convoluted can you get?

Turns out, I liked it. Not because I particularly enjoy the thought of watching a couple consider an affair. Oh, no. Not so into that. I tend to take my moral convictions with me everywhere I go and to everything I experience, even into seeing a play. Marriage vows are pretty serious business to my way of thinking.

I liked it because there was a good, solid moral to the story. Turns out, it hasn't always been The Thing To Do to simply part ways when one decides that one has found someone else better than one's spouse (especially in today's world, when it seems like couples split after being married for five minutes). Vows mean something, and I was pleasantly surprised that this play took the same tack. Sure, it was bittersweet when they each left their soul mate and returned to duty and to what afterwards seemed like loveless marriages. But I liked that, in the end, the parties to the affair took their marriage vows seriously and went back to their respective spouses, no matter how hard it might have been. They did the right thing in the end.

I liked it for that, and also it didn't hurt that one of the main musical themes was from my favorite piano concerto of all time, the Rachmaninov Second. I love the modern take on the concerto - and the fact that the actress playing Laura actually knew how to play the piano when she sat down to play it. (Those little details like knowing how to actually play an instrument - or knowing how to fake it to look like you can actually play the piece - mean a lot to me.)

Plus, it was extremely well acted, and these actors? Serious talent. They all played instruments and/or sang throughout the piece, and let me just say that they play all the instruments interchangeably? and play them well? Pretty nifty.

And did I mention hilariously funny? The play was definitely lighter on one's heart (even with the bittersweetness) than last week's Macbeth, that's for sure.

And the interplay of many different forms of media was very craftily done. That whole play based on a movie based on a play works - especially since they could interweave elements from the silver screen into the play.

It's amazing how something written many decades ago can still be so relevant to today's society. There is truth in the story Shakespeare told with Macbeth, and there is truth in Brief Encounter - it's about the human condition and how we react in particularly human situations.

I highly recommend it. It's only playing through April 10, Internet, so you better tell all your readers to hurry and go see it.

What could be cooler? The clock even LOOKS like a pig.

Um, bacon alarm clock? I think YES!

Flooding Update

Having accomplished a great deal today, complete with three moral victories (and one bill failure which actually is a victory), I decided to treat myself to a walk downtown before continuing with the last of my work. Here's what I went to see:

Raspberry Island at 6:45 tonight

Harriet Island, definitely flooded

You can't even see the cheese grater ramps now...one of them is almost visible in person, but hey! At least the log jam on the tip of the island is almost gone

The little park across the river is under water, too

And now I get to go home! And it's only 8:15p. Life is good. (But it will be better once I get to go out on the water and row! Uh, yeah. It might be a li'l while yet.)

Watching an island flood is more interesting than watching grass grow.

Harriet Island, which is next to my boat club island, has flooded over the last few days. The Science Museum across the river is doing a time lapse of the flooding, and you can check it out here.

I believe this will solve all the world's problems.

(Or maybe just my hankering for bacon products)

Yet another reason why I love the MN State Fair.

Sounds like a bad joke: So a deer walks into a bar...

...or in this case, multiplied to, "So a herd of deer walks into a brewery."

Last night, as I was shortcutting it home after work, I ran across a herd of deer. Not one or two. I counted at least nine. And they were headed directly towards a brewery. I stopped, waiting for them to make their turn and get out of the road (yes, they all turned to the brewery parking lot), and looked at me all like, "Yo, stop shining your headlights at us, and don't give us any harshness for wanting a beer after a hard day's work." Their little eyes were all shocky and glazy, with dilated pupils, so I'm guessing it wasn't their first of the evening... (Or maybe that was just my headlights.)

See what I get to discover when I leave work "early"? (Early = 9:30p) There's a wild nightlife in my neck of the woods of which I was completely unaware.

Quote of the Moment: How am I doing? Call God.

To paraphrase my pastor from Saturday evening's sermon (video found here):

I will not be judged on how other people treat me. I will be judged for how I respond. (John Piper)

Too true. This is something that I "know," yet don't practice nearly enough. Especially at work these days when I'm tired and overwhelmed and have a general distaste for probably half the people with whom I have daily contact (mainly because of the work they cause for me). My true character shows my impatience and pride far too much. I need to have a better attitude.

How high will it go? My Sunday (and probably only) check of the water level.

Having grown tired of this place:

And of living in this place (and I'm not talking about the bus shelter in front of the building):

Today I opted to take a break from work (yes, I'm working on Sunday, and I hate that), walk through downtown and check out the Mississippi River level:

It's a bit scary:

Okay, more than a bit scary. Whole trees are floating down the river, and half of them seem to be getting stuck on the tip of our island. Also, the water is flowing fast. And we haven't even reached the cresting point...I hope out boat club doesn't go under, but nice friend J and his Beaver Liberation Front have removed my boat and sculls and whisked them off to the safety of M's back yard a couple miles away. I know. It seems weird to want to put a boat closer to grass than water, but ya know. It happens.

I know it sounds funny...

...but my boat club is in danger of flooding this weekend. (Really, you say? Don't boats float? Why yes, they do float, but we rowers prefer to be IN them at the time they're wandering around on a river, and also that they not be floating around during a flood. It's not like they're the Ark or something.) And since I'm too busy at work to ever leave, my great friend J has offered to help make certain my boat and oars don't float down the Mississippi River without me any time soon. Thank you!

New Workout Plan

Dear Internet,

I haven't left work before 10pm on a weekday in weeks. I sit in a chair all day long, with the occasional run between my office and committee, or between committees, or to the chamber floor and back. But really? My only exercise this week has been the twitching of my left eye, which began last Friday and hasn't really ever stopped, and the insane amount of typing I do to get my job done each day.

I wonder how many calories are burned with the eye twitch? I'm guessing not enough to make up for the two pieces of chocolate cake, piece of cheesecake and jelly beans I've eaten today. (I promise I eat fruits and vegetables, Internet, but every serving of the healthy stuff is supplemented by slices of dessert.)

As ever,
Minny LinnEy

Something not to be missed.

For the last 9 months or so, I've been reading a blog that I find hilariously funny: Nothing But Bonfires. It's one of the few that, even during my busiest of times, I always take time to read. And now I've come across a post written by blogger Holly, nice English lady living in San Francisco with her husband, about the demise of her husband's beard. This epic tale told through photographs and captions should not be missed. Here.

Looking for lighthearted fare? Yeah, it's probably not this.

Dear Internet,

If you've been going through long hours and hard times at work, and are looking for some lighthearted fare, I somehow doubt Macbeth at the Guthrie will do it for you. In fact, it's a rather depressing Shakespearean tragedy, and may make you want to toss yourself out the nearest window whilst you mire even further into the depths of the human nature.

I don't really have any inclination to toss myself out any windows (sounds like too much work and effort and a lot of pain, and oh, way too much to clean up the mess), but I did feel a little too in touch with the human condition after a long week of committees and session and cloudy, gray days, topped off with Macbeth Saturday, followed by a movie based on the final short story in James Joyce's Dubliners, "The Dead."

Just sayin'...

Sunday was bright and sunny and I enjoyed the day with scarcely a thought about work. Oh, to have more like that.

Yours,
Minny LinnEy

L-SADD: A Public Service Announcement

I may not be a psychologist, but I've coined a new type of disorder: Legislative Staffer Attention Deficit Disorder. I like to call it L-SADD (pronounced el·sad - preferably with a little stutter on the end to represent both those Ds...). L-SADD is easy to remember because it makes a legislative staffer sad [read:depressed] and crazy [read:crazy], all at the same time. L-SADD's effects are extremely bad when its sufferer has sat through a 6-hour Judiciary Committee without break two days in a row [read:within a 30-hour period], or an 8-hour Judiciary Committee hearing with no break other than for dinner. But the worst are L-SADD's effects when its sufferer has sat through 14 hours of Judiciary Committee hearings in a 26-hour period, with a scant 1.75 hours for dinner/lunch breaks during those 14 hours...and no other breaks...and this is combined with other insane committee meetings to make the legislative staffer's life beyond nonexistently miserable.

L-SADD sufferers such as yours truly don't ask for much. Fifteen minutes off every few hours would be acceptable. Not hearing so many bills would be even better. We don't need drugs to keep us calm - oh, no. By hour 5 we're pretty much catatonic as we sit atrophied to our chairs in a hearing room known to many as The Crypt. At that point, the medical script should be some caffeine, real food, a smidge of sugar, and five minutes of being able to walk around and not hear members blather on and on about such things as data practices and sex crimes and guardian/conservator law and whether-the-tractor-driver-should-be-liable-for-the-trailer,-too,-and-how-did-this-whole-mess-begin?-with-a-data-practices-bill-five-years-ago. [Read:I think half of life's problems are somehow related to data practices or the discussion thereof.] All of these things will help us pay better attention to members' insanely long, intricate discussions, and we may even be helpful wading through the minutia at that point.

My name is Minny LinnEy, and I'm a sufferer of L-SADD.

Ramen: it's what's for dinner

I believe I have eaten too much ramen in the last week. I daresay I have consumed enough sodium from ramen alone to comprise an entire salt lick.

Quote of the Moment: How many are too many regulations?

"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law."

-Winston Churchill


p.s. MN has too many regulations.

It's what's for dinner.

Some people stocked up on supplies for their fallout shelters back in the day of the Cold War. Some people stock up on supplies for the end of free government as we know it, or the end of the world, or, you know. Stuff like that.

Me? I stock up on supplies for session. I have a filing cabinet at work, a rather large one, of which one drawer contains only food and the implements with which to eat said food. I have to, see. During these hard times at work when I'm constantly working at work, working at home, or thinking about work when I'm not actually working on work while at work or home, I don't really have time for trivial matters like procuring food. I vaguely recall such things as buildings where they sell stuff that one can eat.

mar·ket
gro·cer·y

Such exotic places of which I have heard much, but remember little.

Never fear, however, Internet. I'm all set. I stocked up a couple weeks ago before I forgot what the inside of one of these places looks like.

And now I'm really grateful that I did, especially since it means I won't have to eat this:


Ah, I'm glad that I work at a state legislature and not Canadia-land's Parliament (or the Parliament cafeteria).

I don't know that I necessarily have any objections to hunting the seals for legitimate purposes, of which food is one. There are legitimate purposes to hunt. I mean, look at what they did to sea lions on the opposite side of the continent - they killed some to prevent all the salmon from going away...there is an issue of circle of life, all that...sometimes it's not a bad thing so our ecosystem doesn't get out of whack, I'm thinkin'. Remember when the Simpsons go to Australia and Bart leaves a bullfrog there and it takes over their ecosystem because it had no enemies? Yeah, that.

Anyway, I just don't think seal sounds that appetizing. Wouldn't it be half blubber? I'm guessing it's not a lean meat. And that is why I'm glad that I have stockpiled resources that are not seal for me to eat.

(Also, I have family and friends who cook and are willing to share with me.)

Guns don't kill people. People kill people. Similarly, McDonald's won't make you fat. You eating too much at McDonald's will make you fat.

Leave it to Minnesota to go the opposite direction of the rest of the country:

Effort to tighten Minnesota's gun law getting folks riled up. A bill would require a background check on anyone who buys a firearm at a gun show.

From Virginia to Arizona, federal and state gun laws are loosening everywhere from national parks to Amtrak trains.

But in St. Paul, a proposal that would send Minnesota in the opposite direction is headed toward its first hearing Friday -- a bill requiring background checks on the purchaser of any firearm sold at a gun show.

Even while Minnesota is doing this and other states are loosening their guns laws, the Supreme Court has given an indication it will move to strike down U.S. cities' outright ban on guns...

What is it about Minnesotans? Why this need to be different than the rest of the country? Personally, I have theory. Minnesotans want to be known and liked by other "more important" people - i.e., people and politicians of the east/west coasts. Too many activists and politicians here want to be liked by the "popular" kids. One way they think they'll get noticed is if they're the "best" at everything. Get real. Politicians of Minnesota: we are the Midwest. Passing laws to make the east or west coasts notice us as the front runner of whatever it is you're pushing will not make them notice us. We are and will continue to be flyover country in their eyes. Embrace that. I have, and so have a lot of other people who live here in the Midwest specifically because we wouldn't be able to take the insanity that is the rest of the country. Not that I even mind being "flyover" territory - in fact, I really relish being unknown to the whacko parts of the country. I have enough self esteem to not care what they think, and on top of that, why would I want to be the best at stupid? I'd rather not be known for passing stupid laws and electing even dumber politicians.

OK, back to the gun thing. Do I believe that people need to exercise caution with their firearms? Yes. Do I believe you should leave them lying around where little kids can reach them? Of course not. Do I believe that those who abide by gun laws and registration are the ones out there causing all the violence and crimes? No. Do I believe we have a right to bear arms under the Second Amendment? Yes. 'Nough said.

Along a similar front as the gun front...

Anger over Weight Watchers' endorsement of McDonald's
'Diet-friendly' menu to roll out in New Zealand
Nutritionists say tie-up does not promote healthy eating

McDonald's in and of itself will not make you fat. Is it healthy? Probably not. But will it make you fat? If you eat too much of it, sure. But that's the rub: it's you who eats it and chooses how much of it you'll eat. McDonald's is not force feeding you. You choose to go there, and when you do, it's your responsibility to not eat too much.

Sorry, but call me a person who thinks personal responsibility should not be the exception to the rule - it IS the rule. If you are a personally responsible individual and things still go wrong, then you can come talk to me about whatever ails you.

Thus ends my ranting for the morning: enjoy anonymity, get over yourselves, don't try to be the "best" in the country if it means you're the stupidest, and exercise a little personal responsibility.

Quote of the Moment: You will call, I will answer

William Stuntz, a professor at Harvard Law School, is dying of cancer. In an interview with Timothy Dalrymple in patheos, he stated the following:

Q: Do you have any favorite quotations or favorite scriptures, when it comes to death?

"Yes, a passage in the fourteenth chapter of Job. The passage as a whole is not hopeful. Job is uncertain what will happen to him when he dies. In the end, he says that he will return to dust and there will be nothing after death.

"In the midst of the passage, however, before he turns to despair, he has a moment of hope. It's a brief moment, just a couple of verses in the midst of an extended passage. Yet he says, 'You will call and I will answer. You will long for the creature your hands have made' (Job 14:15).

"I find those lines very powerful. The concept that God longs for the likes of me is so unspeakably sweet. I almost cannot bear to say them aloud. They are achingly sweet for me to hear.

"There are many passages I love, but that one in particular has grabbed hold of me. Job's hope, it turns out, is more realistic than his despair."


Read the entire interview here. I don't agree with every word Prof. Stuntz says, but I did find it thought-provoking because it makes me, as a Christian, think about what do I believe about death and God's purpose for each of our lives.

God Bless the Girl Scouts.

I should probably share these with co-workers. Hmmm. Or not.

Huh. I have the same problem. (Don't laugh.) (I meant the same problem as pig.)