Trajectories

We are excited to announce that we will be participating in an experimental program that places mothers and babies in the precise, yet caring hands of baby delivery robots. These highly skilled Japanese robots, working closely with our doula, will make the baby’s transition into our world as comfortable as humanly possible. While Dr. 19x has less experience with autonomous operation during human birth, doctors 445x and 887x more than make up for it. We are grateful for their assistance!

According to the central computer, we have 7 days, 0 hours, 29 minutes and 15 seconds until birth. It’s coming right up!

In celebration of the 1009th birthday of Hungary, the current king of Hungary invited Redbull to organize an air-show and race. Here is our experience watching the race on the internet and from the balcony at the same time. Here is a clip showing American Michael Goulian, today’s champion, in a preliminary race.

Here are a few other photos from the day’s events.
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Chris and I have some friends who are Jewish and over the last few years they reintroduced us to the concept and imporatance of Sabbath. They have a strict set of rules of what they will and will not do beginning at sunset on Friday through sunset on Saturday. It means they don’t work on anything related to their jobs or their apartment. They read books. Go to movies. Take a walk. This is the real, Bible-thumping, Leviticus-loving Sabbath that they are practicing, and they swear by it. Well, okay, maybe not swear, since that may be a problematic activity on the Sabbath, but you get my point. They say it makes their relationship with each other better as well as preventing the stress of life from eating away at them. They may have a tough week, but they can always count on the meditative practice of Sabbath.

Chris and I tried doing this a bit during grad school, but things got a little tough and we fell out of practice. Now that we aren’t in our respective studios 20 hours a day, we have decided to try it again. Sunday is our Sabbath day, being the Protestants that we are, and we’ve done it for two weeks here in Budapest now.

This past Sunday was what you might call idyllic. It was a beautiful fall day and we decided to go to a nearby Calvinist church that I had read about. We knew we wouldn’t be able to understand what they were saying, but hey, maybe it would be cool. What we should have thought about before we went was that Calvinists are notoriously fatalistic. All that Predetermination stuff can make you pretty somber. The building, however, was lovely, and in a way, not being able to understand anything allowed me to meditate and ease my mind for the first time in a while.

I didn’t get any photos there, but here is a few from one of the loveliest walks I’ve ever had. Besides the fact that I was wearing totally inappropriate shoes and my baby toe turned in on itself and became instead a large fluid-filled blister. (Sorry to those of you with weak stomachs. I’m just here to report the facts.)

First stop: A Thai food restaurant. And Christopher's La-La Land.

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On Friday night Chris, Maria and I went to magazine launch party at this fancy club. We have a new friend whose photography work is in the current issue of a new Hungarian fashion and art magazine. I had seen the magazine before we went, and it was very fancy-schmancy, so I should have known what we were getting into. Now, I try to think of myself as being able to hang out comfortably in a number of different social situations, from a local hoe-down to a stuffy dinner party. But I realized very quickly when we arrived that, not matter how much I deny it, I am a corn-fed, jeans-wearin’, Midwestern girl. And I’m also old. Now, I know there are people who read this blog that are older than me, but compared to the zygotes at this party, I am OLD.

Hunter and Zoe knew that this was going to be a night to remember...

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In celebration of our graduation and move, Laura and I recently had our photos taken for the grad school yearbook.