Tomorrow is race day. If you never hear from us again, assume we are still plodding along the track, hours or even days after everyone else has finished. If nothing else, I expect this to cure me entirely of ever wanting to do the Marathon des Sables. But maybe a full marathon next year if this works out without major agony or injury. One that doesn't take place in a desert with sandstorms and no roads and dehydration.
On a completely different subject, classical music. Sherlock's school has been showing them this thing. If you don't live here, I'm not sure that will play for you, so here's a youtube thing about it:
On a completely different subject, classical music. Sherlock's school has been showing them this thing. If you don't live here, I'm not sure that will play for you, so here's a youtube thing about it:
It's aimed at making classical music more accessible to children, which is nice, but I'm not completely convinced that the way they're going about it is...useful? Or possibly I'm just too old to appreciate it. Sherlock likes the music and hates the rest of it, as you might expect. He says they don't need to make it exciting, it's already exciting, people just need to listen properly (for accuracy, imagine those last two words in all caps).
Sometimes I wonder if the weight we put on classical music, classic literature, etc is really a good thing. Isn't art meant to speak to us as we are now? Not that there's anything wrong with the classics, but the assumption seems to be that they're better than what people are making now, and I'm not sure that's true.
Anyway, wish us luck tomorrow!
74 comments:
Best of luck!
I like the idea of the classical music thing and of at least trying to meet the kids halfway to learn about it and make it seem accessible. I had a friend growing up who was a classical pianist, so I never really had the "this is dumb and I don't want to listen to it" reaction that people seem to think a lot of kids have. I do think that we (in America, anyway) make kids read classical literature too early. I was a pretty advanced reader, but I didn't get anything out of the Grapes of Wrath or To Kill A Mockingbird when I read them in middle and high school. I had to be a lot older to appreciate them. I think it's more important to raise kids that think reading is a worthwhile way to spend their time, and hopefully sooner or later they'll find their way to the classics on their own, when they're ready.
ella
I think it's good that the schools are playing the kids some music - feels like there's no time for the arts so often in education. But yeah, not sure why they can't just...play the music?
With my last breath tomorrow I shall wheeze 'all John's fault' ;)
Of course, much luck! If you're thinking about a full marathon, then I'm betting it's mostly the training time required that'll keep you from further even more grueling feats, just maybe not in a desert.
I feel like it's useful, if not important, to teach some kind of loose artistic/musical "canon" to kids.
I guess it comes down to that I think it gives them entry points to, & ways to think about, forms of artistic expression that might not be accessible otherwise. And I know from the holes in my own education that you miss a lot of the richness of an artistic experience, sometimes, if you don't understand its context.
BUT I think exposure to a very, very broad idea of what "art" is should go along with that, and any judgements about good/bad need to be couched in terms of "for the conventions of this artistic tradition, not for all art."
Now I'm going to stand in the rain/mud and listen to some obscure (to me) bands before the bigger names take over. In other words, bliss.
fA
P.s. As someone whose introduction to classical music was the kids' album Peter and the Wolf, where a narrator told the story with Prokofiev's score, assigning each character an instrument, etc. with probably not an entire two consecutive minutes (that I remember) of music not accompanied or interrupted by the narrator, I am in NO position to criticize today's bells and whistles. However over the top they seem.
fA
I like the music a lot and not the stupid bits that get in the way and tomorrow we're going to see John and Lestrade as much as possible and I want to put tags on them to track them.
I´m wishing you lots of luck for the race tomorrow - am still deeply impressed you´ll be runnning that distance (I´m "power-walking" something like 2.5 miles on Saturdays and Sundays and I´m still sort of impressed with myself :-))
Have fun trying to track J und L, Sherlock!
There's always Disney's Fantasia, music with pictures but no interruptions.
Are they going to have those special arm bands with their phones in them whilst they're running, Sherlock, because then maybe you could track the GPS on their phones to see exactly where they are so that you can catch up with them.
Best of luck with the race, guys, I'm sure you'll be round it all with no problems with all the supporters cheering you on. :)
we are not going to run with phones.
However, a small package arrived today, courtesy of security, from Mycroft. And then a long Skype conversation ensued.
And now there is a silver blob and a green blob on a map on my phone, apparently located in our flat.
For the first time in my life I can say I think I've been bugged and it's not a spelling mistake ;)
There's no chance of escaping for a rest tomorrow now is there? ;-)
Good luck with it, I hope the pre race preparations are going well :-)
I'm just glad that Mycroft managed to do something to tag us that didn't involve shooting us with tranq darts, hogtying us and injecting us with microchips ;)
To be honest, i'm absolutely bricking it!
That (the bugging) is kind of interesting and kind of worrying :)
Hope the race/run goes well tomorrow
I think you're allowed to worry before a big race but just focus on the ice cream and cake that Sherlock will no doubt provide for you after :-)
John is making us to yoga before bed to relax...
Good luck tomorrow, guys! Hope the weather holds out for you. :)
Good luck tomorrow, guys :-)
They're getting close to finishing and we're going to the end to cheer them on and then meet them afterwards and we've seen them four times so far.
You've done well keeping track of them Sherlock, I hope they're proud of themselves she they've finished and that you and the rest of the support team have had fun :-)
alive.
just.
Speak for yourself… And thanks for all the good wishes everyone.
yeah, thanks everyone. And to our team here, even if certain little people fell asleep for most of it...
am genuinely scared i won't be able to move tomorrow.
if you run really slowly then first they open the roads and you have to go on the pavement and then you have to get picked up in a van so you couldn't keep running for days and we went for coffee and cake and Lestrade was holding Tadgh and they both fell asleep.
Well done both of you, you did brilliantly, Good job you have some time off to recover after all that. :)
Glad you managed to keep track of them, Sherlock, and got to see them so many times. I'm sure both Lestrade and Tadgh deserved a nice little kip after all that work, maybe John will join them later too so you'll have to be in charge. ;)
I hope someone got a photo of that, it would make a lovely poster...
Congratulations, you two!
We're home now and Jo showed me a creature called a basket star and I want one.
I feel like a basket star. All floppy.
They're not floppy they're good and they have hooks and they can catch thinks.
So, now I must google basket stars.
Well done runners! And managing to see them four times was excellent work on the part of the support team!
You shouldn't be much worse off than after your long run, and that wasn't horrible, was it? If you try an ice bath today to stave off some of tomorrow's pain, make sure Sherlock captures the commentary. It always has struck me as a desperate measure.
fA
Oh, I forgot the most important thing: Thank-you Sherlock for the lovely image of Lestrade and Tadgh dozing off together.
fA
Mrs H is cooking us something that smells amazing.
Sherlock has given my legs a massage as he watched a Youtube video telling him how to. Well, that or he was watching a wrestling match... hard to tell. John was wise enough to refuse such a kind offer.
Have you recovered from your run Greg? I imagine you're in far better shape than John given he didn't take advantage of Sherlock's offer of help ;-)
I hope you're all enjoying a nice evening :-)
Congrats to all the runners, and to their supporters for keeping up with them.
As for the art thing, I think a far more valuable activity is what was shown at the end of the video. Kids want to TRY things, not just sit around and be talked (all too often, down) to. Get the instruments into the classrooms. Give them a chance to wave the stick, play all the instruments, and have a part in the creation of something wonderful.
I think getting up the stairs to tuck Sherlock in later will be harder than doing the run this morning...
The pictures of basket stars I saw online are pretty awesome--beautiful creatures indeed!
I've been thinking about the music program. On the one hand, I do agree with Sherlock that the music is exciting (or soothing or beautiful or touching or whatever the piece says to me) all by itself. I also know that there are a lot of people who think that for some reason classical music is somehow more intimidating or boring or whatever than more popular music forms, and I can appreciate the effort to get children past that. I don't know, though--do Sherlock's classmates already have that mental block up against classical music? Because if not, maybe they'd be better off just being introduced to instrumental music/longer pieces of music without all the other stuff.
John, I'm not sure classical music and classic literature are exactly comparable--classical music is more a genre than "the classics" however much orchestras tend to play the most popular and well-known (and classic!) pieces; there are composers who are currently writing classical music (defined broadly rather than by era). I think it's a shame that there are so many people--quite a few in my family, in fact!--who refuse to even find out if they like orchestral music because they "know" they won't.
Kestrel, I think you have a very good point there!
I need a stairlift fitted to the flat.
Are you suffering today Greg? I hope you and John are taking the excuse of all your exercise yesterday to have some rest today :-)
Oh, dear. I hate to say it, but generally speaking, the best way to ease sore muscles is more of what got them sore in the first place--although in this case I suspect some careful stretching would be just about as good.
I hope you're doing okay as well, John!
Hope the after effects aren't too bad - or at least are easing. Hope you're both moving more or less normally before either needs to go to work.
I'm suffering reluctance to re-engage with daily life after a very good weekend. Very much a Monday. Onwards.
fA
(I so know what you mean, fA!)
Yes, RR. Sometimes the spirit is weak. Just going through the motions hoping my spirit will catch up.
If you're in a similar place, hope your day/week will improve.
fA
It's not too bad. We've been out for a couple of walks and jogging for a minute or so every now and again. Still alive. Stairs are the hardest.
Y'all are champions!
John, have you thought of a triathlon next, even a sprint distance one? New challenges without as much repetitive joint pounding as a marathon? And if there happens to be a desert at least there's also a body of water.
fA
That's not a bad idea... I might have to wait a few months to bring it up to Greg though - to let the trauma of this one wear off first. ;)
too late. seen it. Although I think.....perhaps...swimming and cycling wouldn't be so bad?? Cycling wouldn't. I've never raced in open water. Looks a bit violent.
Yeah...we'd have to practise that part. Well, all of it. But I haven't done anything but mess about in a pool for a very long time.
Sherlock will never forgive us if we do one where we swim in the Thames.
I want to swim in the Thames!
I thought the Thames was too polluted for swimming? Or has it been cleaned up since the bad old days?
It's cleaner than it was. But still gets the odd dump of raw sewage in it.. And bodies.. That sort of thing.
Eeeewww.
fA
...That sounds like swimming in it would be a good way to get miserably sick.
(Also what fA said.)
*considers* For that matter, I wouldn't get into the Hudson River either, especially when it's been raining, for much the same reason.
We have a beautiful natural spring-fed municipal pool here. After it rains hard it often closes because the e. coli, among other kinds of contaminated run off, tests too high. So I guess it's about knowledge.
fA
Well, triathlons generally involve open water swims, and in London, they tend to be in the Docks, or occasionally in the Serpentine. Hundreds of people do it each year, and they don't all die ;)
Oh, yes, they have triathlons in the Hudson, too (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/04/sports/in-new-york-city-triathlon-it8217s-more-wallow-than-swim.html)--I just wouldn't want to get into the Hudson anyhow. (Why can't they just use the Atlantic? Coney Island is New York City, too!)
And hey, folks, hope you all have a Carbon Monoxide detectors if you could possibly need one. One of my officers had his alarm go off yesterday. Got an engineer out to check everything over, and found a problem with the flue - said if they hadn't had a detector they would all have died last night - him, his missus, and five kids. All saved for £20 and a battery check every week. Sobering thought, eh?
That is a scary thing Greg!!
I'm glad they're ok.
Yikes, L, scary indeed. That sure explains why my doctor asks me every time if we have one, and has asked for years. (Now we have one provided by the apartment building management, a combo unit with the fire alarm.)
In case anyone wants to play, I've posted a music meme game on my blog (http://rereader.livejournal.com/170213.html), a guess-the-song-from-the-first-few-lyrics thing...but I'm not sure I should let you play, L, the game could be over awfully fast! (/jk) ;)
*Curses soundly* Have just been fired from my job because they found someone they like who has more experience, and they can't find the time to train me. But they want me to work the next two weeks anyway. And then move to a new job with less hours. Back to job searching I go.
Sorry to hear that, Becca. Good luck on the search.
Oh, boo to crappy employers! I'm so sorry, Becca. (And it is SO like employers nowadays to expect you to take a worse job and say thank you for it. :( ) I hop you find something much better!
The thing that gets me is that they were really nice, too. I just wasn't expecting this. Why do I always get the nasty ones?
Damn Becca. Sorry you wasted your energy worrying about taking time off for surgery. Hope this won't interfere with your ability to actually get the surgery. Also hope the next job is better.
fA
And thanks for the carbon monoxide detector reminder, L. I have one, but I can't even remember last time I checked its battery . . .
fA
a reminder about carbon monoxide detectors followed by a day of silence! its a good job us lot don't worry much ;)
Ha! Just busy, back at work!
*whew*
I'm going offline for the last holiday days of Succoth (which includes Simchat Torah), so I wish you all a good rest of the week and a fun weekend! :)
I have every respect for the soldiers and medics flying out to help with the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone. But I can't pretend I'm not glad that John isn't one of them, although I know he'd love to be doing something like that to help.
I can totally understand that Greg!!
How is the day treating you all?
Busy! Sal has rudely gone off on holiday, leaving me to do everything ;)
I'm sure the main reason people go on holiday is to make their bosses appreciate them more when they get back ;-)
I hope you're home or at least nearly now :-)
I am home now, thanks!
Hope you all had good days.
The conference agenda is at http://www.clementscenter.org/component/k2/item/271-the-dni-and-nctc-after-a-decade-an-intelligence-studies-project-conference.
I believe live streaming of events will continue for the next two days.
fA
Have all the aches & pains gone now, fighting fit & ready for the next one... ;)
Got a couple of days off next week so we're going to make a start on the C - word shopping as we don't have more hols til 2 weeks before & weekends are usually too busy. Oh joy! :)
Hope everyone has a great day. :)
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