Forever A Fangirl

What inspires you in life? What makes you want to reach for the stars and do something truly extraordinary?

The Pacific Ocean in particular and nature in general inspire me. Inspire me to do what? To inhale deeply, to truly savour each breath, knowing they are finite, reminding me to live--and love in the moment. Speaking of "(reaching) for the stars," the heavens in fact, inspire me. I'm not sure what I could do that others would consider 'truly extraordinary'. I suppose I'll know when I get there.

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Everything Is New Again at Typepad... or, Who loves ya, baby?

..or at least that's how it feels. In a good way! There are just all kinds of new features that the talented, smart, and creative team at Six Apart have been offering up that really lend themselves to easy and painless customization and making and joining conversation with some fascinating folks and other good stuff--like this fun Q and A from TypePad.

I think it's another new feature here at TypePad but I loved a similar one at Vox (which I must say I'm not getting over to as much as I 'd like).

Here's the Q:
Blockbuster season starts this weekend with the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Next up: Angels & Demons, The Transformers, Harry Potter, Star Trek and Land of the Lost. Which summer mega-hit are you most looking forward to?

Star Trek: My dad, nerdy science dude that he is/was "force-fed" the original Star Trek series to me. It was on in the morning, I think on a UHF station(!) The concept of a peaceful universe, beaming up and phasers and the Prime Directive was cool but I was not a big fan of the show. Later, I enjoyed most of TNG and the often-ignored Deep Space Nine. I didn't initially watch the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation because I disliked the original Star Trek, most especially Shatner as Kirk. I'm being truthful when I say he makes me gag. Spock was always cool and Scotty and McCoy were amusing. Not seeing it unless someone I know is dying to see it.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: How big a part does Dom Monaghan have? I miss him since he was killed off LOST. Hugh Jackman is cute n' angsty but he alone couldn't get me in the theater to watch it. Possibly, I may take my kid if he wants to go. The one Jackman did with Anna Paquin (were there two?) was OK.

Transformers: Probably yeah 'cos my first son was devoted to the original TV show when he was little so I watched, too (spent a fortune on transforming cars and trucks) and I've seen newer incarnations through my younger son. I've always dug the transforming sound and that cars and trucks could turn into robots. It was a pretty cool show. I'm curious to know if they'll keep Shia's seriously busted-up hand hidden as he broke it off-set, but while filming, I believe. Still gets surgery on it. Yikes.

Angels & Demons: No.

Harry Potter: Have read and watched the film series so far so, yes.

EDIT/Igot this confused with Land of the Giants.

The plot of land of the Lost appears the similar except this is a Will Ferrell comedy./end edit

Land of the Lost: Did not even hear about this one 'till the other day.
I watched the teevee show (again, in the mornings on UHF, the public television channel). Depends on who is in it and what the reviews are like. I haven't missed the show but they could probably do some cool things with it.

TVGuide video interview with Dom Monaghan about Wolverine and his "Easter Egg" part in it.

Life QotW: The Dirt on Gardening

What's your favorite gardening tip for spring?

Never get my hands dirty.

Peace plant: first bloom

I love my IKEA Peace plant.

Spouse is the gardener in the family. He takes care of the outdoor plants. I take care of the indoor.

First daff bloom 2008

Also, we have too small a plot of land to "share" and as much as I love the beauty of flowers, I've actually only grown indoor plants and vegetables outdoors. Trying to grow vegetables here would be fruitless (not to be punny) 'cos of all the prairie wildland creatures that have been driven into our area by development. They are hungry and will go to great lengths to eat whatever they can sink their little choppers into.

A funny aside: Spouse got so frustrated with the bunnies, squirrels, prairie dogs (?) eating his plants before they could even fully grow, that he had a dream about buying poison peanuts at the garden store. He didn't realize that it was just a dream until he went to the garden store to try to procure such a product and the garden shop people reacted to his query as if he were nuts. ;)

What would you most like to change about your life?

I wonder how many folks would

have their change be to have

more money?

To get what I want I would need lots more money. The "change" being the ability to travel the world.

That more than anything, is what I would change. And this is funny to me because a few years ago I would have said I want a healthy heart again and that still would be great. But I don't yearn for it the way I do to see the Pacific Ocean from the perspective of a beach in Kauai or to go on what looks to be the fantastic adventure of getting acquainted with Australia.

What is your "role" in your family?

I could answer this in a humourous fashion or, in a ticking-off-what-I-do-way.

Ticking sounds boring.

But then not everyone "gets" my humour. Being slightly "off" helps.

My role in the family I've co-created is "Mom."

I'm quite happy with that moniker as it applies to my role(s).

There have been far more articulate and thoughtful ways of describing what a Mom is but I'll stick to what this mom is.

Ha ha--this is cute for comparison:

The job titles that best matched a mom's definition of her work are (in order of hours spent per week): housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, CEO and psychologist.

Now moms and their families can use the Mom Salary Wizard to create their own "mom paycheck". The tool allows moms and their families to price the "mom job", based on location and mom's personal hours worked in each of the 10 roles. Users can create a hypothetical mom paycheck and mom pay stub, which can be printed and emailed to family and friends for Mother's Day.

On the housekeeping/janitor front--yeah, I rule. Not that I'm anything special in housekeeping but I direct the traffic, so to speak. I do many tasks that none of the other three residents (all men/boys) would think to do. For example, each of them claims to "not (be) able to see dust"!

CEO: I cop to that one because all things being equal--they aren't. I run the show. We are the "Family Circus" (such an apt title for that amusing little comic).

The psychologist part of being me is one that comes naturally and that I trained for so I think perhaps the role I enjoy most--though figuring out someone who doesn't want to be figured out is a challenge pain in the keister.

I don't cook anymore. I have no desire to do so. I do like to eat though--especially really good food--and my morning cup of coffee is nirvana in a mug.

Ugh! "Laundry Machine Operator"!? I hate doing laundry but if I don't do it every single day it gets out of control. I'd say I do about 12 loads a week. Pay me. :)

Computer Operator. Um yeah, when not doing household "stuff" I'm on the computer and 95% of my time on the computer is work or work-related. Unless it's a tech-type issue and I can can manage even some of those, I rule the Computer Kingdom in this home. (The Gamer, right now on his really big and impressive gaming computer would counter that his is bigger than mine. I'm fine with that.)

Facilities Manager: What?--the person  who does maintenance? Uh, no that's a boy's job, thank you very much. I gave that up when I stopped being a single mom. lol

Van driver: hahahahahahahahahahaha. No. I do ferry both boys to and fro but it's in my Mustang GT convertible, which eldest son refers to as "your third child." It's an apt description.

Kids are too big to need a "daycare center teacher," though I've been there and done that for a number of years, both paid and unpaid.

I do try to help my youngest stay on track with schoolwork, especially. We have a daily debriefing after school with the goal of him sharing what's happening at school. Most importantly and the reason we started to help him--is to stay organized with all his school-related responsibilities. The biggest bonus in doing this is that between reciting all his classes and what they did, I get to hear about the in-between-learning-stuff. In high school there's plenty of that. I'm sure I don't hear about everything but what I hear is often both amusing and informative.

EDIT/ Where's "Activities Director"? Hey, 'ya gotta have fun. The boys are not terribly imaginative when looking at the big picture--with the big picture being anything outside of this town, so I run that part of things as well. This is truly fun. Currently, I have Ontario, Canada and Southern California to coordinate for the family and now, Orlando, Florida for me. Busy, busy.

That's all I feel like writing about my role in my little family. I imagine if I queried others I might get other insights. Perhaps in another post.

Cheers!

Shoot the Sunset: Show us a self-taken picture of the sunset.

"The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire." -- Pamela Hansford Johnson

I love sunsets--almost as much as I love the sun shining brightly on a lovely spring day. I have found however, that some photography-types have gotten a bit jaded about sunsets. They seem to have thrown "sunsets" into a generic category of "what every amateur takes too many photographs of." I find this attitude in places like "the big F," especially. To that attitude I say pffft! I will never, ever tire of seeing a real-life sunset--my heart actually does a little leap upon glimpsing one.

Frederick Sunset~ Early April, 2007

And a pretty picture of one is the next best thing. So to all the sunset snobs I bid you farewell (you probably haven't even gotten this far, anyway) and to the rest of us, let's continue to enjoy the beautiful things in life that we are free to enjoy (almost) everywhere.

More here, on this blog: Sunrise/Sunset

What's the most valuable thing you've ever had stolen?

Shortly after I moved from the thriving suburbs of  Toronto, Canada to a small town ( Watertown) appended to a small city (Waterbury) known as the industrial armpit of Connecticut, our home was broken into and my 1964 90% silver Kennedy half dollar collection was stolen from my cedar wardrobe that my great grandfather had built. I was only six and it really messed with my head that a stranger was in my bedroom ripping off my most previous possessions. Welcome to the USA.. :/

 

The door was locked and they busted it in--which is ironic given that we didn't have to lock the doors during the day in TO. More realisation that we were essentially next door to Mafia headquarters (NYC) in this country. It was the police chief's son who ripped us off and everyone knew but did nothing. Never got our stuff back--Including my parent's stuff--and he never was prosecuted. I left that town the minute I was old enough and had some cash to get started elsewhere.

 

QotD: "Nothing Sharpens Sight Like Envy"

What quality in your best friend are you most envious of and why?

Oi! What a question!

First, I don't have a "best friend."

Second, if I did I wouldn't envy him or her.

Some good envy quotes:

The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.  ~Baltasar Gracian

Envy is the art of counting the other fellow's blessings instead of your own.  ~Harold Coffin

Envy is the most stupid of vices, for there is no single advantage to be gained from it.  ~Honore de Balzac

Envy is thin because it bites but never eats.  ~Spanish Proverb

Envy is the art of counting the other fellow's blessings instead of your own.  ~Harold Coffin

If malice or envy were tangible and had a shape, it would be the shape of a boomerang.  ~Charley Reese

QotD: Daylight Saving Time

Love it or hate it, many of you lost an hour of sleep last night due to Daylight Saving Time? Worth It? Do you like it more/less now that Daylight Saving Time occurs earlier (and later) in the year?

Geez, three questions and I'm sleep deprived. You have no mercy, QotD. None.

No I don't like changing time. Just going through the house changing

Antique Clock

the clocks makes me dislike it, nevermind how disruptive it is. And it doesn't* save any energy!

Let's just pick a time and stay with it. Kthx.

*It's official: Daylight Saving Time is a bust. Designed (and recently extended) as a measure to save energy in a period of inflated electricity prices, an in-depth University of California study has now shown that DST doesn't save anyone any money at all. In fact, it's costing consumers extra, to the tune of $3.19 in extra utility bills per year.

Culture QotD: Spring Training

Do you change your workout and/or beauty regime to get ready for spring?

Well I already talked about my face flakiness. You want to hear more?

OK. I'm exfoliating like crazy and then slathering on the intensive moisturizer. I just ordered the super-duper expensive eye cream. It's a major splurge--the one true one that I do for the sake of vanity.

Working out. Well, I walk briskly for about a half hour each night. I've gotten back into yoga. I guess if I have to say I changed anything it was I got really sick and it took a full two weeks to recover. The weather was severely cold so even on week two when I was feeling at about 50% I couldn't walk Raven and because of the dizziness that persisted through the two weeks, I stopped doing yoga, too. I got started again this week. I'm happy about iti but it really doesn't have a whole lot to do with spring or lack thereof.

Were your holiday cards store bought, handmade, online, TBD or MIA?

None of the above--erm, maybe a couple were thrift-shop bought. I still have an almost-full box.

The rest--and I finished the box off--were from the Mercy Home For Boys in Chicago. They gave out cards for donations--they just mailed 'em to me so I figured I'd use them. It helps that my spouse is one of seven sibs from a Catholic family. I used all the overtly Christian ones for them. hee.

What sites show up if you type "S" into your browser?

Photobucket photo storage http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/CynCityTypepad/--

I use Photobucket when I remember to.  Years ago, before Web 2.0, :)  I used it for overflow from TypePad (which now offers way more storage space) and hosting for forums (which I do not use in the same way anymore). Now I only use Photobucket when I want to throw together a photo album. I know I'm in the minority of "serious" amateur photographers in not actively using Flickr. I have trouble reconciling their past actions and their need for me to convert to a paid member.  I currently pay for all the web services I'm going to and one of them gives me lots of photo-storage. I keep my free membership so I can comment on other's photos but I'm really not a fan of Flickr.

Salon People The Great Pretender http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/04/06/hynde/

Good article on my rock n' roll heroine, Chrissie Hynde.

Salvador Dali Art Gallery-- site is either defunct or down; years ago I was looking for an icon there.

Schipperke Rescue.net (went there once)

http://www.schipperkerescue.net/Pages/FRAll_about.htm-- As I mentioned the other day, my dog is "blowing coat" at the mo. I was searching through Schipperke websiteslooking for some advice and I got it. Brush her every day whilst she blows and add some fish oil to her food. The problem is almost not a problem now, I'm happy to report.

SciFi.com/battlestar--Skiffy's Official Battlestar page--Use it to keep up with the goings on of Battlestar Galactica--webisodes--scheduling news. Not for in-depth stuff. For that see Battlestar Wiki .

http://scotch.vox.com/ -- Miss Scotch's Vox blog--speaking  of icons (see Dali, above), Miss Scotch is one of Vox's most beloved.

So that's it  for the letter "s" today!

What did you do as a child that you feel guilty about even to this day?

I've been thinking on this question for a bit today and I've come to a couple of realizations. First, there's not much that I did as a kid that I feel guilty about because overall, I was a pretty good kid.

Second, though I recall being a pretty good kid, my memory is getting a bit dull in places so I could be wrong about that.

So the "guilty" story goes like this.

When I was about ten, our dog had a litter of puppies. We kept the puppies in the basement as though technically the basement was finished, the floor was tile and it was easier to keep clean.

Prior to the basement being the puppies playground however, it was the teevee room--with my dad's  huge rocking chair smack in front of the television. The puppies pretty much were all over the basement and one day I went downstairs and without thinking plopped into my dad's big ole rocking chair and promptly rocked on a puppy, breaking one of it's legs. I recall my parents telling me not to worry about it because it would mend quickly.  But very soon after I repeated the same action--and I broke the same puppy's other leg. This time I didn't tell anyone. Plus, I was ready to blame my six-years younger brother if anyone did find out. Now that's pretty bad. And it's also the third thing I realized: I don't feel guilty about any of the times I did something wrong accidentally or otherwise and blamed it on my brother. Because that's what older sibs do. Maybe I'll work harder on mustering up some guilt about it.