bktheirregular

When my aunt flew from Athens to New York to visit her grand-daughter (in her first year at Wesleyan) and see her sister (my mother), she was (as she related to me later) rather shocked at the level of political discourse seen on the television news in the United States.

Specifically, how polite it seemed.

The news program in question was PBS's NewsHour, probably one of the least sensationalist news programs on American TV, and on the day in question, there was apparently either a debate or a round-table discussion. My aunt noted two people discussing a topic; they were evidently on opposite sides of the issue, with fundamental differences in opinion...

...but each waited his turn to speak! And they remained calm, and never raised their voices!

My first instinct, unspoken, was: well, of course! That's how intelligent debate is supposed to work, isn't it?

But then I got to thinking: or maybe that's just how I was brought up to view intelligent debate? Could it be that sober, calm discussion on points of fundamental dispute is the exception, not the rule?

When I wince at the raised voices in the office environment, close my door and plug my ears, complain that when people start screaming, I stop listening, am I being a narrow-minded elitist myself, in refusing to consider arguments that can't be stated calmly, just because they turn me into a nervous wreck?

Something to consider on a slow day. Here's hoping that today's a slow day.

Up-down-sideway sort of time. A lot has been happening, but not too much of note. Parents came for their annual vacation, staying at my place for a few days before heading to the islands, but there was a bit of excitement. Thankfully, it seems to have all turned out OK.

To wit:

My uncle's sister - uncle by marriage to my aunt, so that wouldn't make her my aunt ... or would it? anyway - died last month, so there was a memorial service held on Sunday, and my folks had planned their schedule around that.

Except that on Friday, the day after they landed in Athens, my mother missed a step while visiting a friend and stumbled and fell and banged up her right knee pretty badly. It got worse Saturday morning, which meant she had to go to the hospital to get it x-rayed, which meant I had to go along with her, which meant suddenly my weekend was getting very busy. Luckily, nothing was broken, but the advice from the doctor was to take it easy, not move around too much for a day or two. That wiped out the plans to go to the memorial service on Sunday, but she was moving around with fewer problems by Sunday afternoon, so by yesterday, when they hopped the boat to the islands, all was essentially well.

Aside from my falling behind on my laundry and housework, but what are you going to do?

In more general news, there's been a kerfuffle around here concerning the state-run television network, ERT (Hellenic Radio and Television), which got shut down without warning by government decree.

OK, a little background.

Back when I first was exposed to Greece, there were only two TV stations - ERT and YENED, which was run by the army, a holdover from the military junta. YENED got merged into ERT in the 80's, and ERT became a place where politically-connected people could be hired for sinecure jobs. Meanwhile, the government opened up the airwaves to private broadcasters, so by now, there are at least half a dozen independent TV networks in Greece, probably more - I've lost count, having sort of given up on broadcast TV a few years back. ERT presumably got some money from advertising, but it was primarily funded by taxpayers, a lot of that money coming from surcharges to people's electric bills.

So, Greece being in a financial corner, needing to cut back jobs, and running a television network employing thousands more people than it needed and bleeding money, with labor-law restrictions on how many people can be let go in a particular period of time (apparently the legal pace of standard layoffs is such that it would have taken close to a decade to pare down ERT's payroll to a reasonable number), the government decided that a quick-and-dirty tactic was best, and ordered ERT to cease broadcasting and close up shop.

I've heard screams about "government censorship", despite the rather glaring fact that all of the independent networks are still on the air, with their own news and entertainment programming. I've heard complaints that the measures were illegal and unconstitutional, and in fact, the courts have already ordered the government to put ERT back on the air.

So I suppose it's yet another example of people trying to solve a very real problem in a lousy manner.

There were protests last night, which got noisy, but didn't rise to the level of civil unrest. The unions are up in arms, of course, and while it's very possible they've got a legitimate point this time around, they've gone out so many times and screamed bloody murder about so many other, lesser issues, that there's a bit of a credibility problem.

Credibility problems seem to be epidemic hereabouts, these days.

The other day, I got a message from my mother, saying she might not be able to be in touch for a while; her laptop's keyboard had stopped working, and the thing had been pronounced dead by a long-time friend, and did I have any suggestions?

Halfway into an email (because I thought she might switch over to my dad's old mini-laptop for the duration), I remembered that about five years back, I'd gotten a small USB keyboard for use as a backup, in case things went wrong with the keyboard on my desktop machine. I'd taken it with me from New Jersey to New York, but left it behind in my move from New York to Athens. I thought, if I'd stashed it someplace easily accessible, that it might make a halfway workable stopgap replacement for my mom.

The next day, she told me that the thing was perfect. Fit over her laptop keyboard almost flawlessly, didn't block her track-pad, and she's back up and running again.

(She's going to use Dad's mini-laptop during travels, because the thing weighs a lot less, though; she and Dad will be doing lots of travelling in the next couple of months, including a trip to Florida, one to Utah, and a trip to Australia where Dad got invited to a conference. After that, she's going to look into getting a new laptop. Even if her current machine isn't dead yet, a failed keyboard indicates that it's about time.)

On occasion, I've been criticized for getting a small piece of kit because I thought it might be useful in the future, even though there wasn't a current pressing need.

And then there are the times when an addition to my spare-parts pile saves someone about seventeen tons of grief.

Ten minutes to six AM. Went crazy last night because my gray suit was missing (it's either in the dry-cleaner's lost-and-found pile, or back in New York, though how either happened I can't guess).

The funeral's in the islands today, so my mom and brother (who flew in yesterday morning) and most of the family and I are catching a cat-ferry out of Piraeus at 7:30. Which means a taxi at something like 6:30. Which means I've got to be underway ... right now.

Slept for about one hour last night.

Back in Athens late tonight.

Just got the word that my grandmother died today.

Catch-22 got cleared up with respect to the consulate. Turns out they were saying I needed my contract for ... er ... call it Step Eight of the work-permit process. I'm still only on Step Four, waiting for paperwork to arrive in New York from Athens so I can proceed to Step Five.

My brother found an apartment in Brooklyn, and someone who was looking for someone to go halves with for it, in the Baker Street tradition. He's settling in nicely. In other brother-related news, he's busy putting his nose to the grindstone at his job, to the extent that several bigwigs in the billboard-rental industry are naming ulcers after him.

Speaking of ulcers, my translation project has hit twenty-six thousand words, sixty pages' worth. Like being halfway through NaNo, except without any of the creative or fun aspects. And also, not sure whether they're legally allowed to pay me for this.

Did manage to get an invoice out for research done this summer, though. Respectable payday, if the fellow receiving the invoice can get the money out of the people paying him for the underlying work. And it's in euros, so if the dollar continues to slide, my work becomes more valuable. (At least with respect to the dollar.)

The service for my aunt Susan was simple. Basically, there was a series of Bible passages and readings, a slow procession from the Congregational church to the grave site, another few readings, and then everyone dispersed and re-convened for lunch after. Some family members I hadn't seen in years, some I hadn't seen in decades, some who I'd never seen before. Still, a small gathering, and not too bad, except maybe for the time we spent with the casket over the open grave.

The last funeral I went to, I saw them actually lower the casket into the ground, and it was a brutal shock to see. This time, they didn't, and I think I'm just as glad.

Talking with the family after was nice enough. The service itself, too, I suppose, though ... the passages all gave off that false ring to me. Like ... like ringing a bell and hearing a flat crack instead of a chime.

Maybe I've been over-sensitized to it, but all the passages talking about how death is not eternal - so long as you declare your fealty to Jesus Christ, so long as you accept the One True Faith ...

What's the One True Faith? There's a thousand paths that all claim to be the One True Path - and that also claim that if you choose one of the nine hundred ninety-nine other paths, you're doomed.

Problem is, when you've been raised to question everything, not to accept anything at face value without trying to look deeper, like I was...

I suppose one might say that I have hope, but not faith. Hope in what? Not quite sure. Maybe there is something beyond. Maybe it's just all dark and nothingness.

I'm not saying it's wrong for other people to have faith. I can see how it's a comfort. But it's something else to say that I have to share your faith. That's my problem with Christianity, Judaism, and Islam alike: the sense that if you don't share the faith, then you're doomed.

Swear fealty to a faith, any faith? Feels like I'm being told to gamble my soul on one Powerball ticket.

I can't stop questioning. All I can do is do my best by the people around me, and let the rest work itself out. All I've got is what I leave behind me for others. And if there's any justice,
it should be enough that I leave the world a better place than how I found it, for those who come after.

'Course, there's no justice here in the real world, except that which we forge out of our own blood, sweat, and tears...

My grandmother has been released from the hospital, to go home, as of about 1pm EET.

My mother reports that my grandmother showed more evidence of internal bleeding last night. Not sure what happens from here.

Was busy yesterday plowing through stuff I brought home from the office to work on. (Par for the course for a lawyer at the bottom of the ladder, I suppose.) Expecting a call at some point today to deliver the notes I made.

The new laptop seems to be working, though.

My grandmother's condition, last I heard, was unchanged. I haven't heard anything today about that. My mother arrived in Athens about 10am EET, to be with her.

Feels petty to mention it, but my new laptop crossed the Atlantic in her luggage. With Cortana becoming more and more problematic, the arrival is none too soon.

And as another aside, I'm trying to rack my brains for a name. At the moment, my plan is to label the new machine Cortana II, but I'm open to suggestions. (It's not just for whimsy's sake; it's likely I'll have to network the new machine to the old one to get settings transferred over, and I'll end up with a small home network in my apartment, if and when I ever get the phone line and the DSL line in place.)