There are no pics.

I’m going back to school. Danita noticed the class “Cultures of China” at HCC (Howard Community College) and brought it to my attention. She thought I might be interested as part of preparing for our trip to China. This is a 3-credit class where the lectures are offered electronically. I decided it might be fun. It took over a week to sign up, partly because I had to first apply to be admitted as a student to HCC. I had several problems with their web site. Then I encountered the academic bureaucracy. The class has an English prerequisite. I went through a full circle in the phone system without ever finding a way to reach the correct people. Finally I found I could register as “Custom Class”. This allows me to sign up for any class at HCC irrespective of prerequisites, but I won’t receive academic credit. If I do the homework and take the tests, the instructor will grade them. But I won’t receive a class grade. It’s perfect for what I want, especially as our trip to China will occur during the semester. The class and the trip should complement each other nicely. As a senior citizen, I don’t pay tuition. This makes the class incredibly cheap. The class costs $70 in fees and $10 for the textbook. (I got the Kindle version.) I don’t know whether there will be any on-campus activities or meetings, but HCC is a less than an hour away by bike.

Most of our hotels in China offer an early morning (before breakfast) Tai Chi session. We decided that knowing a little bit about Tai Chi might save us some embarrassment. Danita found a Tai Chi class offered through Howard County Recreation and Parks. This will be one day a week in the evening. Both classes start next year.

I’ve been reading the 3rd book in Ken Follet’s Century series. It covers the post WW II era, mostly from a US perspective. It’s interesting to see what he didn’t cover, including just about everything that happened in the US before 1962. This includes President Eisenhower, above-ground nuclear testing, and Senator Joseph McCarthy. I’m up through Martin Luther King’s assassination. I wasn’t aware of the early civil rights movement and learned a lot about that. One of the more interesting things I read is that in 1962, if you wanted aspirin or Kotex, you had to go to a drug store and ask the pharmacist. Neither product was out on the store shelves. I wasn’t too surprised by the feminine products, but I was surprised about the aspirin.

After so much time at home last week, Danita managed to get another day at home this week. She was called up for jury duty last week. They had her report at 11:30 Thursday. When she signed in, they gave her $15 and told her the accused had pleaded guilty at the last minute. She was free to go home.

Yesterday was the clubhouse decorating and pizza party. Danita does this every year, but I’m not that interested in milling around the artificial trees. I was happy to go to BGR and get a burger. Afterwards, I joined Danita at the clubhouse to see the movie “Expendables 3”. It is an action guy-flick with an all-star cast. It had every cliche in the book. I’m not sure what other people thought about it, but I nearly fell out of the chair laughing (as quietly as possible).

Tomorrow afternoon the Army field band is offering a free Christmas concert at the Meyerhoff in Baltimore (the BSO’s main concert hall). We’ll meet the Bertches and Suchoreks. Afterwards, we’ll go to Ikaros for dinner.

Some of you may not know that my brother Rick is back in the hospital. I’m not sure what all the issues are. I talked with him on the phone. He said his potassium levels are high and it will take them several days to bring them down.

I hope this finds everybody else doing well.