I Will Never Stop Admiring…
Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts
Cosi fan Tutte
This is a very long opera! I was back home close to midnight, so even though I went straight to bed, I got just four hours of sleep. I do not regret – the voices and the acting – both were great, and I was not even against the idea of semi-modernizing the settings. I just think they should have been more consistent, and if they moved the action to Maryland, they should also have said 1900-something, not 1790. Especially since they had the old-fashion automobiles siluettes on the background :).
Three Morning Commutes
Since public transportation ridership is rapidly returning to pre-pandemic levels (I know many doubt this, but I experience it every day :)), I had to switch to the earliest commuting wave. When I started my current job, I used to take the 7:15 or 7:30 train, and occasionally the 7:00 AM train. However, these days, there is no chance to find an open seat on eitgher of them, so I switched to 6:30 AM, which was luckily added about a year and a half ago, When it was just added, there were barely five people waiting for it on the platform, but now there is a small crowd, and I have to rush in to find an open seat. And if, for whatever reason, I am not making this train, I am taking the L.
On Monday, I took a day off because I needed to do several conference-related and mom-related things, and I left the house at an uncharacteristic 7:45 AM. A CTA attendant at Jarvis station was visibly surprised to see me at the wrong time :). It was very interesting to observe the crowd on later trains, especially closer to the Loop. Early morning is for service workers, people working shifts and some occasional crazy IT like me, or contractors all all kinds, trying to start their billable hours as early as possible. Later, it’s a time for traders and the rest of the IT, especially working parents, who have no choice of commute time. And an hour later felt like students and freelancers commute. I was surprised to see that L-trains were even more crowded that an hour earlier, and I think it’s the Metra/CTA difference. Metra is officially out of the rush hour by 8:30, but the CTA rush hour continues. That’s the loudest and the friendlies crowd of all, with the least smarphone usage during commute, if you can believe it. They actually talk!
Mom’s Updates
Mom’s God-given case manager L. visited her on Friday. She texted me an apology that she might be 15 minutes delayed, ended up being on time, and texted me again that she would wait for me to come. Pure angel.
Gave both of us a million hugs, told me how to talk to the agency, and increased mom’s help hours to 83/month. Mom finally started to realize that this is going to be a huge assistance for her, so now, instead of blaming me for “I didn’t react properly” on her fainting episode, she tells me that “I didn’t explain to her” what I was planning to do.
On Monday, I took her to her doctor for the check-up. I was not surprised that he didn’t find anything wrong with her in general, but I was surprised that there was nothing visibly wrong with her left leg. All neurological reactions were fine. He said that, obviously, fainting is not normal, but three weeks later, it’s hard to tell what was wrong.
Mom was very happy with the results of this visit and immediately went on a long walk with her caregiver. The good part about her ordeal is that she came to turms we needing more help, and hopefully she won’t be getting out of the house on her own.
The CheckOut Piano Series
The Checkout is our new “local” venue. I’ve been there twice already (here is one of the posts), and when they announced the Sunday Matinee Piano series, I decided to take my mom there, hoping it would be less stressful for her than going to the CSO.
The concert was brilliant! Same as during my previous visit, I enjoy the unique opportunity to hear an exceptional performer in a very intimate setting. The performer, Feiyi Liao, is a doctoral student at Northwestern, and he performs not only with exceptional techniques but also with a heart and soul.
The program was “classic” (Mozart, Gershwin, and Franz Liszt), but each piece sounded like “for the first time”. I chose the seats so that my mom could see the performer’s fingers over the keyboard (if that’s not the case, the concert is lost for her). She liked it :).
***
The upcoming Time Magazine issue will be all about Minneapolis, and I just received an article from that issues in the mailing list. It started like this:
The memorial for Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents on Jan. 24, has grown to span several parking spots on Nicollet Avenue in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis. It’s now a mountain of carnations, prayer candles, poems, and notes. One message pleads: “America, do not let their deaths be in vain – We the People.”
When I read the last sentence, I was so close to crying that I couldn’t read any further. That’s how my thoughts are circling non-stop. The moment I am so proud of people rising up against the injustice, I immediately think: why did it have to be people losing their lives to make half of the country finally rise in protest? And the next thought is always the one from that article that made me cry: do not let their deaths be in vain!!!
***
And once again, I heard from one of my European friends that “they do not know what’s happening in the US.” The same story again: my French friend L. messaged me that her daughter saw a TV show about the ICE raids and asked whether I was safe and could I be arrested. I replied: no chance, there are too many of us! When we talked a couple of days later, and I described to her our situation, she said: Thank you! Here, we do not know anything, and do not see anything!
And once again, I am wondering why this silence. 🤷🏻♀️
Tulips from My CSA Delivery
My CSA offered tulips as add-ons, and I ordered a small bouquet of the Monarch Beauty. I love them! They are getting more and more beautiful every day!
The Lake In Winter
There have been a couple of sunny days since I came back, and although I am mostly working all day long, I had a couple of opportunities to walk on the winter beach and say hello to the Lake!
“Holiday” At Goodman
Retrospectively, it was not the best idea. I decided to get a discounted ticket for the Holiday when I realized I would need to work from home on Friday for my mom’s case manager visit. I already had a reservation for the Ribbon, and I did some mental time math and decided that since I would see my mom during the day, I wouldn’t need to visit her in the evening, and I could go to the Ribbon by five-something, and go to Goodman right after that.
Then, there were things at work, and I felt bad refusing to help, and then there was no time to go to the Ribbon, and I only went to Goodman, being really tired.
I do not get the concept of shows starting later on Friday. Most weekend shows start at 7 PM, but Friday shows have to start at 7:30 or 8 PM, “because you do not need to go to work the next day.” But I am pretty tired by the end of the day on Friday, and more sleepy than any other day of the week.
The play is a modern adaptation of the 1920s play by Philip Barry, and in my opinion, it would be better if the setting remained “a hundred years ago” one. Not like the situation itself is less probable nowadays, but the language and a very specific humor definitely belong to the 1920s. I could appreciate and acknowledge amazing acting, but I kept mentally placing the characters in a different setting, and in the end, it felt like too much.
But once again, I am happy to admit that I was just super tired. I rarely go out on Fridays, and I think it’s better for me to keep it that way!
Rewiring Democracy: An Event With Bruce Schneier At CPL
First, I saw this event advertised in the CPL newsletter. Usually, a direct anything mentioning AI, straight into trash, but this time I hesitated, because I saw that the author was a cybersecurity expert, and the picture seemed very trustworthy :). I put the event in my calendar and purchased the audiobook.
I loved the book from the start! I see it having a relatively low rating on Goodreads, but I can tell you why it stood out for me. It started with the thesis that “democracy is an information system,” which immediately grabbed my attention. I soon realized that I was aware of AI use in political campaigns and lawmaking, because this was nothing but an extension of modelling that was widely present in politics even twenty years ago, and I didn’t object to it at all. I don’t know how else to explain it, but all of a sudden, it all started making sense. I think that a big factor was Bruce Schneier’s positive outlook and his firm belief that we can be in control and put the newest technology to good use.
The meeting was livestreamed and recorded, and you can check it out below. I would rather have you listen to it than me trying to “retell” what was said. I loved the reasoning about the short chain between consulting AI on how to vote and total autocracy.
My favorite part of the book, which was not mentioned in the talk, was about regulating AI by spot-checking its decisions. Also, it’s very important to remember that any technology can be used for different purposes, and AI is not an exception.
Hettie's Reflections 