Listening to: Whistle Down the Wind

Reading: Once Upon A Star Nora Roberts

Weather: 38, partly sunny, sleet early this morning

Trivia: Who was Cu Chulainn?

One of the greatest heroes of Irish legend, the story of Cu Chulainn (also called Cuchulain, Cuchulinn or Cuchullin) is one that roughly parallels that of the Greek hero Achilles and may very well have been adapted from it. As the story goes, the men of the village of Ulster (this being where the reputed king of the Ulaids of northeast Ireland resided) had been cursed by the gods with a periodic feebleness, making it difficult to stop the regular raids performed by warring factions. To assist them, these Knights of the Red Branch had their ranks enriched by the greatest warrior of the day, Cu Chulainn. the son of the god Lug of the Long Arm and Dechtire, the sister of Conor (there are quite a few incestuous relationships in mythology, but it seems gods can get away with that sort of thing), Cu Chulainn was described as being "of great size and masculine beauty," and even as a child his exploits were the stuff of legend. Being of a time when more was better he was described as having seven fingers on each hand, seven toes on each foot, and seven pupils in each eye. Additionally, his weapon of choice was a much feared seven-headed spear, which he would grip with his toes and throw with his feet. He was favored by the gods and exempt from the Ulster curse of feebleness, so he was able to perform many great deeds most notably at The Cattle Raid of Cooley. This story, written as Tain Bo Cuailnge tells of his single-handed defense of Ulster at the age of 17 against the rather formidable forces of Medb (also known as Maeve), queen of Connaught. Alas, even legends must die, and so it was with Cu Chulainn; According to the most widely repeated of the legends, he was tricked by his enemies into an unfair fight and slain at the ripe old age of 27. But the legend of Cu Chulainn lives on, as one of the most well-known of the medieval sagas.

Cool word:foment [v. foe-MENT]

To foment is to promote the growth of something, or in a political context to incite activity, possibly of a violent nature. One can also foment an injured or diseased portion of the body by applying warm liquids to it. Example: "My cousin Jim was accused of fomenting a riot in the council chambers." When this word entered English from Old French, it applied only in the medical sense. The root was Latin fomentum, a contraction of fovementum, which was based on fovere (to warm). From the application of moist heat (possibly through the use of lotions or even hot wax) came the idea of stimulation, originally of growth or healing. But political stimulation can lead to action and even violence, and it is that sense of fomentation that is most often used today.

I’m still the same as yesterday. Down in the dumps with no real reason to attribute it to. (That is one lousy sentence, but I don’t have the energy to fix it up grammatically.)

I had prayed for a snow day today, but no luck. We had a sleet and snow storm last night, but it didn’t amount to anything. I could hear the sleet slapping against the window at four o’clock this morning, but it was short lived. I just didn’t want to go to work today, but I did. No phone call to wake me with the news of a delay or a day off.

Bummer.

The day was the normal rush and try to get the week organized. I have meetings just about every day this week, and I don’t think I have an interest in any of them. One has to do with planning for the kids who will leave me to go to the middle school at the end of this year. It will be my job to convince them that they need to think of alternate ways to teach some of these kids. It won’t be an easy task.

I’m already counting the days until Friday.

I have been working on getting the Chinese New Year things together and my little reading group is excited about it. I think they are most looking forward to eating popcorn with chopsticks.

At least I have that to look forward to.

I got a nasty phone call from the owner of the mailbox that I killed in that snowstorm a couple of weeks ago. When the accident happened he told me not to worry about it, that his home owner’s insurance would cover the cost of the new mailbox. I took him at his word.

The wife was really ugly when I spoke to her. They’d left message on my machine when I went out yesterday to return a video and they’ve been claiming to have been calling for weeks. This is the first I’ve heard from them. They had seven thrown out my name and phone number which I had insisted on leaving with them and claim to have had to go to the police to find out who I am. I think they’re lying.

Now they’re screaming that they’ll take me to court if I don’t pay for it, and are claiming that it will cost $250. For a mailbox??? Is it platinum and encrusted with jewels?? I think they’re trying to rip me off.

In any case I’m going to have to call my insurance company and get police reports. The police reports are for the weather conditions of the day. So I don’t get slapped with a surcharge. Massachusetts has some of the highest insurance rates in the country and I don’t want mine to go up any higher than they already are.

Just another headache to deal with.

It never rains, it pours.

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Horoscope

ARIES Come back down to earth and examine what exactly you can and cannot afford in pursuing your ambitions. You need to learn to pick out viable schemes from impractical ones, not all your ideas are going to work out. Be careful of mixing money and friendship, you may not see the money returned if you start lending and do not put up security for anyone who promises they will take care of things, it is not going to happen.