Kareila's Bookshelf

September is almost over and I don't know that I have all that much to show for it, although I have stayed busy.

Progress on the old house continues, but not as quickly as one would hope. We had to switch from homeowners' insurance to renters' insurance since the building is unoccupied, and the property tax exemption is about to expire. But the trim replacement on all of the first floor windows that we decided was necessary (and long overdue) is just about done, and I finally finished removing all the trimmed branches from the back yard. (That was rate-limited to the two trash bags per week that would fit in with the rest of our garbage, because the city discontinued their yard waste pickup service.)

Symphony chorus rehearsals started back up a couple of weeks ago. I did get permission from the chorus manager to sing with the altos for the Beethoven Ninth, which I requested for two reasons: one, to save my voice from all the high A's, and two, to give me something to LEARN in a season that consists mostly of the Ninth, the Messiah, and Carmina Burana, all of which I have sung multiple times - as a soprano.

But actually, we do also get to perform a new thing, or so I found out this week. It's called "A Time for Jubilee" and the composer is Nkeiru Okoye, a black woman only a few years older than I am. That's scheduled for the end of February.

Connor is still feeling positive about school. He had his first CS exam on Tuesday and his first big English assignment was due today. The only class he doesn't seem to be thrilled with is his "introduction to student life" seminar, which is understandable. So far I haven't had to sit around campus waiting on him for more than a couple of hours at a time.

I have one more book to go before I'm caught up on the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I've also finally started the Earthsea books, and I'm rereading the sixth Old Man's War book to refresh my memory before getting the newest one, which I'm hoping will arrive at the library next week.

The baseball season ends on Sunday and the Red Sox still haven't locked up a wild card spot for the playoffs. It's going to be a chaotic weekend in the American League for every contender except Seattle. As for the Dodgers, they clinched the NL West today and their pitching rotation is finally in good shape, although their bullpen is still looking shaky. But I'd love to see them manage to pull off the World Series repeat, if only to give people one less reason to talk about the Yankees.