And So My Break is Ended

I had two glorious weeks off. And now all that's over...

It's funny. I am normally a person who really loves beginnings. And there are THINGS I like about starting a new year... mostly the resolutions and plans, but ending something I like (break) to start something I don't (the daily grind—which come to think of it would be much better if there were more grinding involved) doesn't quite qualify. January is my least favorite month.

I think this is Michigan's fault. I used to hate February most because “come on already spring”, but January's average high in Michigan is 14. It is just the merciless cold. That simple. That at the inevitable diet, but that is my own darn fault. I think I'll like January a lot when I finally retire, as I plan to spend it somewhere warm, and will start the diet when I get home... But as it it, yesterday (Saturday) was freezing rain and today (Sunday) it is snowing and if I have to go outside I need to wear a lot of clothes... You KNOW my opinion on clothes...

But since it can't be avoided, maybe it is time to just embrace the fabulous...

My Oregon Ducks Won the Rose Bowl!

This means Saturday they play in the National Championship game against Ohio State who I have A LOT of practice hating from living in Ann Arbor and having the Wolverines be my #2 team (Go Blue!).


My cleanse and diet:

You want to hear all the details about this, don't you? You are dying to dig into the calorie and sit-up minutiae that is my life... No? Okay, won't bore you... well maybe once a month, but it is too soon. Suffice it to say I think this was the sort of kick in the butt I needed. Hopefully in due course there will be less butt to kick.

Downton Abbey is Back!!!

I finally managed to find the Christmas Special in parts on YouTube. Frustrating that On Demand doesn't have it, but I'm sure there was some decision behind that... But the Sunday night show watching with my Couch to Keg peeps is one of the things I really look forward to. Downton Abbey, and then when that ends, the wait for Game of Thrones isn't too long (and we will start Outlander about that same time—that was our fall one this year, but the season continues in April)


Speaking of Game of Thrones

It is finally near enough (a mere 3 months) that I can start freaking out there, too. If you are a book reader, I've discovered a YouTube channel that does a lot of 'predicting from text': Radio Westeros. I think they do a great job and I think they've uncovered several likely things, mostly identities of people who seem to be bit players at the moment. It is too spoilery (or possibly irrelevant) for show watchers, but I recommend it if you've read the books twice or once but want huge surprises (I don't think one read of these books can possibly be remembered well enough to have all this be “AHA!”--it would be more “wait, what?”


But my writing, as predicted with my need for fitness obsession, is in the back seat... I will meet my ABNA goal, but I am not sure how much else... Ah well... baby steps, eh?


So how is YOUR beginning going? Productive? Spinning your wheels? Or a bit of a mix?

This and That

I saw a couple blog posts yesterday that not only made me stand up and cheer, but gave me that URGE to respond...

Digression: In California there is a burger chain famous for a variety of things... the double double cheeseburger (double burger, double cheese) among other things... but I am not a fast food connoisseur, in fact, though I can enjoy a burger now and then, hubby makes them often enough that it is EXTREMELY rare I eat one out, and THEN only from McMenamin's in Oregon, because the Captain Neon Burger is worthy of being my exception (a burger with bacon and bleu cheese dressing)--but it is a BIG burger... fast food burgers... NOT happening. I order a chicken sandwich or some other thing.

But I went to the University of California in Eugene... that is to say... California has so many colleges that the really GOOD ones feel no obligation to let in any but the BEST students. Oregon, with its significantly smaller population, will take students down to... say a 3.0 average (that will not get you into Berkeley my friends)... so instead of going to a LOWER tier California school, MANY California students came to Oregon's tier one institution... and complained for four years... There was too much rain. There was no fashion sense... There was nothing to do... You call this a BEACH? You can't SURF. (boy howdy on that one, rocks, logs and a riptide will get you, even if the wet suit made it comfortable—no mamby pamby beaches in Oregon, though I will wrestle ANYONE who claims a boring all sand beach is as gorgeous as Oregon's amazing coastline, and a person can walk from Coos Bay to Astoria and not find so much as a cigarette butt because Oregonians LOVE their beaches so much that they will even pick up litter left by losers (because ALL litterers are losers—no exceptions) *cough*. Say! That was a digression within a digression, which is just hot...

Anyway... along with complaining and rooting for hated California teams such as the HATED LAKERS and the San Francisco LOSER 49ers, the boys all had these SIGNS.... doors of their dorm or fraternity room... that read 'In and Out Urge' with the corners cut out on the bottom... signs that USED to read In and Out Burger... (nice phallic arrow and all). So I will concede one redeeming point to California students for use of innuendo, and another for my friends Vic and Kara (sure, Vic complained, but she also pointed out to me that chips and salsa and margaritas at El Torito covered all the food groups, and Kara never complained about anything... she was just groovy.) [note:  honestly I had a ton of Cal friends... but the complaining part is true]


So Back to My Urges

Extreme Parenting

Several of you know my buddy I'm Not Hannah... Heather (who isn't Hannah) is one of the most articulate people I know about life messing with us sometimes... about hard-to-admit truths like Parenting being hard. I think it went up Monday, but I saw this yesterday: Adventure Parenting talking about the difficulty we seem to have anymore letting kids... be kids... you know—the run off, get into stuff, explore, maybe find some trouble, fight with friends without a parent to make everyone be nice... SOLVE IT themselves... The stuff that was a part of most of OUR childhoods... We don't DO IT anymore. Some of this is rational... the world is more dangerous... some of it is parents trying to give their kids a leg up and scheduling EVERY FREAKING MINUTE. But I agree with what I took for her point... kids who don't venture out on their own are AFRAID, unable to adjust to the unexpected, unable to problem solve, they lack creativity. We are doing a VAST disservice.

My son's best friend has a mom who, like us (HWMNBMOTI and I), sees the value in letting kids go a bit rogue on occasion. Let them ride off on their bikes and find what they can.

I admit there are risks. My son has been seen out on ice that surely he shouldn't have been on, he's been busted (by another parent) for buying a BB gun he wasn't legally old enough to purchase, he's gotten caught in downpours CLEAR THE FRICK across town on his bike... but they make do... They figure it out...

I was a latchkey kid... I generally had a 'babysitter' until I was about 10, but that was generally a neighbor not much older than me. My mom just didn't want something to happen and nobody to know (as I was an only child). Kids supervised by kids get into stuff... and I did... And I'd venture to say the loose reins meant when I got to college, though I went a little wild (because I was experienced at it and... you know... I'm me...) I knew HOW to go a little wild without consequences. I didn't get pregnant or arrested, or have anything horrible happen. The Portland girls who, for understandable reasons, seemed to come from much more supervised environments, went a little nuts... Some made some mistakes. I think PRACTICE at making mistakes when a person is close to home makes for less drastic mistakes when the consequences are bigger.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.



On a Completely Unrelated Note

Amanda Hocking has been all over the internet, yes? I've had several (non-writer) friends stick her out as an example of 'what I should do' *rolls eyes* (if only... I know they mean well... heck, one was my MOTHER). I was prepared to write her (Amanda) off (I can be a reverse-snob about that kind of success). I would have been wrong. Yesterday Kristen Nelson posted a link to a blog Amanda wrote last week that was WONDERFULLY articulate about the the 'freak incident' component of the overnight success she's had. She talks about the YEARS of work she's put in and the MANY hours a week she spends promoting, but also points out writers doing the EXACT SAME success formula... writers she says write BETTER, but she was the one to hit... whatever... the publishing lottery. After reading the blog, I think I love her. I have no idea if her books are any good, but her humility and realism in addressing this make me think she is a superstar.


So Happy Hing Day Everyone!

Let's Go Big O!

 

And really, who can argue with the sentiment... My DUCKS are #1 in College football teams. They  play the Washington Huskies today, the team I remember as primary rival when I was in school, So everyone have a big O on me, today!  Take one for the team!

OHMYGAWD

Okay, so my son was invited to a movie night Friday with both girls and boys... he's a 7th grade boy... At the same time my daughter had a swim meet (which she couldn't swim at, as she'd been sick that day, but I'd committed to selling concessions and the hubby was signed up for timing), PLUS, it was picture night, so daughter went for those and to cheer, even if she couldn't swim after missing school.

On a side note, daughter came in first in her heat last week—it was the 'other heat' so not the state-bound superstars, but it has lit a fire under her and she is excited about swimming again, where before it was only a 'means to waterpolo'. But I digress (and there was much rejoicing)

So anyway... drove son to this GIRL'S house (heard girls a couple houses away shrieking about him by name—my GAWD how embarrassing to have a stereotypically POPULAR child), and walked him to the door, through much balking and embarrassment on his part, and asked for the 'responsible adult'--just to ensure there WAS one, and to ensure this 'party of sorts' wasn't a surprise to the parents.

The dad? *fans self* (not at ALL unlike the man to the right) He was a darling man... cute in a sort of precious way (and by precious I mean had a nice smile and a dimple)... but... OHMYGAWD... the Irish accent gets me... BAD... especially when saying things like 'rules' and 'I'll be checking'. It's possible there was drooling involved.



Oregon

And because I am really nice, I am going to share a little of my favorite state...

Mt. Hood and Portland, from the West.

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach--my favorite vacation spot as a teen.

Windsurfing at Hood River--a world famous place for it because the Columbia River provides a constant current and the wind never stops.





And then we have my favorite place in the whole wide world... The Columbia River Gorge...

(isn't it fabulous?!)

 And its prize feature, Multnomah Falls...


So there you have it... two of my weaknesses... I am trusting you not to use them to undermine the Naked World Domination mission.




And finally,...

Orangutan Love

This is an old story, but it is one of my favorites. We decided in late 1999 that we would leave Portland. Our family loved it and it was hard to go, but Oregon followed California into the property tax limitation folly that stopped schools from really PLANNING—taxes being more predictable than allocations of state funds... and Thing One was approaching kindergarten. Besides that, I have an MS in psychology, which in most places means low level jobs, as the high level ones require PhDs and there ARE NO mid-level jobs... except at the Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor MI... So I started applying for mid-level jobs.

We did a few things before leaving though... spend a long weekend in Lincoln City (the Oregon Coast)... and we went to the ZOO...

Thing 2 was in a stroller at the time (he was less than 2) and we got to the orangutan pen... strolled up... and the big daddy spotted 'the baby'... He is huge. Probably 5'5” but THICK—I bet he weighs 250 or more. He approached the glass and put his hands up in the air and pressed his face against the glass and just STARED. He watched and watched... People started gathering around saying, 'look! He's watching the baby!” (MY baby!) I bet we all stayed locked like that for 10 minutes before big daddy made a kissy face at Thing Two and strolled away. It really is not that mysterious to me how babies end up cared for in the wild—we all love the babies of each others' species. (look what a good dad he is!)


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