Do you observe Easter where you are? Here, the neighbours have small noisy children visiting for the long weekend, in the search for Easter eggs at earlier than appropriate times. It is interesting how some holidays have a definite date, like Christmas and New Year’s, and then you have holidays like Easter, which seems to have something to do with a lunar calendar. If this were a useful sort of newsletter, I would be telling you why that is, but this is not that sort of newsletter.
Monday
You maybe be familiar with ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size) from the Princess Bride and maybe a video game. A friend in Toronto posted pictures of a beaver, and then my cousin was visiting and showed me a picture of a beaver in the ocean at Jericho Beach, not far from me. Later, other friends sent me stories of beavers on the subway in Toronto. Even though this is Canada, I am not used to hearing about beavers that often.
Tuesday
I decided the dealer I’d been going to for maintenance was too far away. But the other dealer who was closer did not seem that competent. So I went to this other garage that seemed to offer a good deal. Plus, they were close to Granville Island, where I could wander around while they were fixing my car. But things did not quite work out as I planned. I don’t know if they were being helpful or just scamming me.
Wednesday
The Three Body Problem is an interesting study in storytelling, media, and audience. The books are very detailed and mostly set in China and the Chinese series on Viki seemed pretty faithful to it. I like how the Netflix series has respected the historical foundations of the story and kept the key plot elements, while expanding the emotional context for the characters. Your mileage may differ. Now I’m not sure if I will read the third book ahead of the show or not.
Thursday
I have heard Nobel-prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman speak in interviews and read his work referenced with reverence by many others. So I thought he might be helpful in trying to figure out what is reasonable behaviour in the face of uncertainty about COVID-19. And then on the day I actually Googled him, all these obituaries showed up. It reminded me of stories you hear about people who dream of someone and then find out they have passed away, which gets remembered as some kind of miracle.
Friday
I enjoyed listening to this audiobook, The Last Magician, about a thief named Esta who goes back to the rough, early days of a parallel New York to steal some magically important artefacts. It is full of intrigue and deception. What I didn’t realize was that it is only the first book of a trilogy.
Saturday
I don’t know if Here Comes Peter Cottontail is still a popular Easter song for kids. It bubbled up from my childhood memories and mingled with my current catastrophic sensibilities (maybe not drawn clearly enough), partly inspired by Mel Brooks, who supposedly said, “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”
Sunday
I got the Amaryllis bulb two years ago. After it was done blooming, I let it linger for a little while until I decided to see if I could reset it. So I cut it down and kept it in the dark for a while. I thought it was a goner, but it was inspiring to see how quickly it grows. That seemed in keeping with the brand of Easter.
That was my week. I hope you had a good one, with a better one to come.