NaNoWriMo08: Porch of Maidens I.Q.F. (excerpt 3)

Posted on November 12, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

I’m up to 16,760 words. I find I’m writing scenes that I plan to stitch together later. Sometimes it’s hard to just keep writing, every word feels like I’m searching through a junk drawer for that missing button. But there are times I’ve been finding myself “in the zone;” that place where suddenly it’s three hours later and you had no idea that so much time had passed. Those do not happen often enough of course.

Another excerpt (contrary to appearances, there is dialogue in this novel, I just prefer excerpting these little descriptive bits):

Stephanie had no idea what he meant by ‘good’ keyboarding skills, or ‘General Ledger’ for that matter but she hoped he wasn’t going to test her.  She could type of course. Not especially well, but good enough to get by.  She had also spent some time at a cash register and adding machine when she worked in retail while going to university. But she had this idea that office workers had all gone to some professional office finishing school, where they learned to type in excess of 100 words per minute error-free and could do shorthand on demand. “Oh God, would someone ask her to do shorthand?” she panicked. No one ever said they needed shorthand.  But maybe they just assumed that everyone who worked in an office could do that.  Stephanie took a long, calming breath and decided to try quiet agreement. She nodded sagely in a way that she hoped said “Of course.  My keyboarding skills are beyond reproach.”  It seemed to pacify him.

My author info is here.

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NaNoWriMo08: Porch of Maidens I.Q.F. (excerpt 2)

Posted on November 11, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

I’m up to 15,300 words. Still have to write about 3,000 words to get up to the mark, but I’m quite confident I can get there. For your entertainment, another excerpt:

Stephanie hated that reception area. Because of the wall it was dark. Because of its proximity to the stairway it was cold. Everyone had to walk by her coming in and out of the office. Her only comfort was that the wall also cut her off from the office clearing, so unless someone was walking by, she had a modicum of privacy. Except that people were always walking by. And the phone was always ringing. And there had been a convex mirror hung up in the corner by the ceiling, so that she could see into the office clearing and conversely, everyone in the office clearing could see into her area. It was an introvert’s nightmare. But the worst part had to be that the only thing in front of her eyes, her only visual source of stimulation in her workday, was the picture of Mr. Nelson, the Founding Father of Regis Foods, the current Mr. Nelson’s father.  The picture was in black and white. It featured an old man sitting in a chair holding a large book. It was impossible to tell the nature of the book. It might have been a dictionary. It might have been the Bible. Stephanie liked to think it was a Louis L’Amour novel written in large print in hardcover version. A cane leaned against the chair. He had the hairstyle and glasses of the 1950’s. He peered at the camera with a combination of wisdom, suspicion, and discomfort. It was the office icon, Regis Food’s Patron Saint, its Founding Father, the Creator. He was reverenced, esteemed and ignored.

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NaNoWriMo08 — The Porch of Maidens I.Q.F. (an excerpt)

Posted on November 10, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

Well, I’m at 13,500 words, which is a bit behind, but not altogether undo-able. However, as you can imagine, the effort that’s going in to getting to 50,000 words doesn’t give me much time or head space to write in ye olde bjournal (okay ‘blog’ if you must). So, I thought maybe an occasional excerpt would entertain you masses and appease my guilty conscience.

Waiver and warning: This is first draft, unedited, and I’m at the point where I feel all my writing is lousy. I do not need anyone to point that out for me.

Start of excerpt:

“Doric, Ionian, or Corinthian?” Stephanie wondered in a vague, academic way as she walked past the columns of a cheaply done Classic Revival façade and into the administration office of Regis Foods for the first time. She noted for herself that it was probably one of the first and last times she would probably ever apply the knowledge she acquired in her art history class and that overly long section on columns.

Stephanie reviewed some of the key terms she had had to learn to correctly identify types of columns: base, capital, shaft, volute, lintel, entablature, triglyph, metope, caryatid, atlante, frieze, architrave, entasis and cornice. She was amazed that she could remember even that much. Why was it that experts had to make things so complicated? Essentially a column was just an architectural invention to hold up the building, but we had to break that down into so many different parts and types; and thus, another specialty was born. The combination of form with function was what caused it, Stephanie supposed. There were no fourteen classifications and pieces of flying buttresses. They just were what they were. But because artists had taken to making works of art out of columns, they then had to be dismantled, academically speaking, classified, defined, catalogued. To what end? Stephanie wondered. So that we could discuss different eras of art? So that academics could have careers out of discussing more and more minute aspects of art and architecture?

She saved herself from getting a failing grade at column classification by dismissing their efforts with a quick “What a derivate neoclassical effort” and instead focused on figuring out exactly where she was supposed to report. She had entered one door only to be met by nothing. Well, nothing except a closed solid door, a closed glass door, and an open staircase. It all looked rather uninviting. There were no people, signs, or even Oracles (which frankly, would have been welcome). After first weighing her options, Stephanie briefly went back out the door and checked the wall where she had come in. It did have a brass plaque marked “Office.” So, all indications were that she was at least close to being in the right place. She opted for the glass door. As she opened it, she was met with a blast of hot, steamy, air. She wended her way through a hallway to another foyer. Ah! This one had a reception desk and a person! Although there was no air of the Oracle about her, which was disappointing.

“Hi, I’m supposed to report to Maverick Ramsay. Do you know where I could find him?”

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Fast ForWord: Proof!

Posted on November 6, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

Last week, I got the brilliant idea to get my daughter’s working memory and processing speed re-tested in order to see if there was any empirical evidence to back up our anecdotal observations that Fast ForWord has helped her cognitive processes.

She also did these tests in May of 05 and March 0f 07 so I have those numbers with which to compare them.

We are giddy with happiness at the results. Look for yourself. Be amazed.

Working Memory

The Working Memory score is comprised of two tests: Digit Span and Letter-Number Sequencing

May 2005:

  • Digit Span: 5
  • L/N Seq: 7
  • Working memory score: 77 or the 6th percentile

March 2007

  • Digit Span: 6
  • L/N Seq: 3
  • Working memory score 68 or the 2nd percentile

November 2008

  • Digit Span: 6
  • L/N Seq: 10
  • Working memory score of 88 or the 21st percentile

So, a jump from the 2nd to the 21st percentile? Super-fantabulous.

Processing Speed

The Processing Speed is also comprised of two tests: Coding and Symbol Search

May 2005

  • Coding: 6
  • Symbol Search: 7
  • Processing Speed Score of 80 or the 9th percentile

March 2007

  • Coding: 4
  • Symbol Search: 5
  • Processing Speed Score of 70 or the 2nd percentile

November 2008

  • Coding: 10
  • Symbol Search: 10
  • Processing Speed Score of 100 or the 50th percentile

And an INCREDIBLE jump from the 2nd to the 50 percentile mark.

The doctor himself was pretty impressed. As are we.

My only regret is that I let myself be talked out of doing it about three times by various professionals who were sure that her problems wouldn’t be helped by Fast ForWord. So, lesson learned. When it comes to my kids, I am the expert.

I shall not let that regret lessen our joy at her results today. How much sweeter they are for knowing they were hard-fought for.

Update: I now have a Fast ForWord page where I have collected all my postings about Fast ForWord plus some other useful links.

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My BEST EVER celebrity sightings that NEVER HAPPENED. And don’t think I’m not still miffed about it.

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

There were two other celebrity sightings that I left off of yesterdary’s post. Both involved a nearly naked…

 

that-man

 

Mr. Manly-Man, who can also sing and dance but that doesn’t take away from his manliness AT ALL but only adds to it.

Mr. Manly-Man (wcasadbtdtafhmaabuoati) has spent quite a bit of time in town filming that mutant super-hero franchise, thus resulting in the following two scenarios in which, let me emphasize, I had no part.

Scenario 1: Mr. Manly-Man comes in to HAVE A SWIM at the pool my husband manages. Okay, so his wife and kids were with him, but much like the singing and dancing thing, the fact that he was being good daddy and husband only ADDS to his sexiness. PLUS that does not change the fact that he was there in nothing but a bathing costume. AND I WAS NOT there to see it.

Scenario 2: A co-worker, because of some association through a friend of a friend, got to spend an entire afternoon ON THE SET of said mutant super-hero franchise. So, yes, not only Mr. Manly-Man as above, but also this guy:

 

beautiful-bald-man

 

AND to rub some more salt in THAT wound, said co-worker gets to watch them film the scene where Mr. Manly-Man is strapped to a lab table with again, next to nothing on.

<Just give me a moment, I’ll be okay.>

*sigh*

Sometimes life is cruel.

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Celebrity Sightings

Posted on November 4, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

I think I saw this guy at the Public Market on Thursday:

Unnamed Celebrity

Unnamed Celebrity

 

It was weird, because I looked at him and immediately thought, “Ohmigod, it’s him!” but then re-thought that, “No it isn’t.” Because he didn’t look like his pictures (if indeed it was him), but yet he did. It was very odd. Because of this incongruity, I couldn’t stop looking at him, until I realized that he’d noticed me looking at him, and for some reason that seemed to be making him a little uncomfortable. He was standing there eating his lunch, wearing some kind of satiny pants (I’m not making this up) that seemed to be elasticized at the ankle, but one seam on one leg was torn. No socks, flat shoes. He’s very tall. I think what was most telling is that he had an air of a  successful man–someone who didn’t care that he was wearing satin pants with a tear and no socks at a public market. I wish I’d had the courage to meet him. He’s always struck me as an interesting guy. Someone that I would enjoy having a discussion with.

When I went back to the office (I was on a break, get off my back) I immediately surfed on over to the BC Film Commission website to check what movies are being filmed around town. I then had to correspond that information with IMDB, and was able to deduce that he is in town filming. So there.

This sighting reminded me of several other celebrity interactions I’ve had…
  • This guy crossed the street right in front of my car:
Another unnamed celebrity

Another unnamed celebrity

  • This guy used my computer:
Yet another unnamed celebrity

Yet another unnamed celebrity

  • This guy came to the door of my office and asked me if I knew where Liz was:
And another

And another

  • I helped this gal with a disastrously botched photocopying job (although this may only impress you if you’re Canadian):
  • Speaking of Canadian celebrities, we chanced upon these two coming out of a Chapters in Regina. Oddly, we had just come from a tour of their television set. My father-in-law insisted on chatting with them. I stood there in silence. This is not a picture of the moment:
Unnamed Canadian Celebrities (yes, such a thing exists)

Unnamed Canadian Celebrities (yes, such a thing exists)

  • And I think most impressively, I shook this guy’s hand outside of a nightclub at Expo 86. (Oh goodness, don’t do THAT math.)
And yet one more unnamed celebrity

And yet one more unnamed celebrity

 

So, now tell me, who have you brushed shoulders with? Do you turn into a total Beaker (I do) when you meet a celebrity and beep unintelligibly while waving your arms around or alternately stand in silence opening and closing your mouth? Or are you the smooth operator that can swoop in, get introduced and end up being able to have a cup of coffee with them, add their private cell phone number to your speed dial, and get a part in their next big project?

I so wish I was the latter.

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Vancouver Moment

Posted on November 1, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

A young man in his twenties cycles in the mist and threatening rain, adhering to no known traffic laws. His hair is longish and unruly in the fashion of the mid-twenties man, which I can see because he wears no helmet. He has a brightly-coloured bag made out of recyled materials, which is draped over his shoulder. The colours remind me of a set of juggling balls I once owned. Out of the bag dangles a set of Ear Buds. The aspect of the scene that defines this as a Vancouver moment, is the paper cup of coffee that he holds, which he alternates between drinking awkwardly and balancing precariously, all the while he also dodges foot and vehicular traffic.

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Introducing the lead singer of the next great band: The Talking Punkins

Posted on October 29, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

I had an appointment with a nutritionist at my naturopath’s office yesterday. I took Griffin (four and a third years old) with me. He was sure he wouldn’t need his little bag of cars to entertain himself. Big mistake. I should have insisted, because during the whole appointment he was whiny, needy, and just generally demanding that the focus should really be on him and not what I actually went there for — to get some nutritional counselling from this nutritionist. Oy vey.

Anyway. 

As I’m standing at the reception desk, trying to book a follow up appointment, there’s a small Halloween pumpkin on the desk, that’s unfortunately much too easy for him to grab. Repeatedly. Despite my several requests to return the pumpkin to its resting place. Then at one point, he holds the pumpkin up to his ear like a phone and sings a little tune:

I’m talkin’ on a punkin. I’m talkin’ on a punkin. Yeah!

We do eventually leave (without the pumpkin) but he continues to sing his little chorus complete with little jumps and arm gestures on the “Yeah!” part of the song.

It was a lovely little glimpse into the mind of a child.

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Fast ForWord: Changes — II

Posted on October 27, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

Prompted by a comment from Melanie and quite literally, the hundreds of people that have reached my site using Fast ForWord as their search string, I thought it might just be time to elaborate on the changes I’ve seen in my two kids since doing Fast ForWord this summer.

A quick re-cap for those of you just joining: My two school-aged children did about 70 sessions of Fast ForWord between the beginning of the summer vacation and mid-September of this year. What a fun mom I am! My undiagnosed but borderline ADHD 10-year-old son got about 90% done the Language Module. My 12-year-old, learning disabled, asperger’s daughter got through all of Language and about 75% of the Language to Reading Module.

Changes in the son: He is currently reading the 7th book of the Harry Potter series. So, between mid-July and late October, he has successfully read more than 2,000 pages–understood it, remembered it, and can point out the differences between the book and the movies (actually prefers the books!). Before Fast ForWord his literature of choice was Captain Underpants and Magic Treehouse; so, I would say that is a HUGE leap forward for him. His writing continues to be messy but slightly improved. I have yet to have parent-teacher interviews, so I can’t say for sure, but I based on my observation of how he does his homework, he is better able to concentrate. We still have to do the reading test to find out how much his reading score improved.

Changes in the daughter: She took the reading test between the two modules of Fast ForWord and her reading test score had already gone up by one and a half years after just that first module. I had the IEP meeting (Individualized Education Plan) at the school this past week, and her teacher reports to me that her overall ability has at least doubled since last year: ability to get down to work, to understand what’s being taught, even her output. Her “What I Did on Summer Vacation” essay, while still not up to grade 7 standards of composition, started out at 4 pages long, which pretty much quadruples the length of any of her previous essays. She got 33.5/35 on one math test and 33/44 on another math test in which the class AVERAGE was 32.

Family members have noticed that she is quite a bit calmer since doing Fast ForWord. She’s also started to write stories for herself. They are personal ones, not for sharing, she tells me, so I haven’t looked at the stories, but I did notice that she’s filling up the whole page of a small notebook with quite tidy writing. You know, now that I write that down, it didn’t quite occur to me before how big a shift that is for her. I often write to sort out what I think about things, she has never done that. She has always drawn, or just stewed about stuff inside her head. For her to put down in words the things that she’s thinking and feeling is a REALLY big change.

Now, to qualify this, SOME of the increase in her ability in the classroom is due to the presence of a special ed teacher that can be there constantly to get her back on task. She still has to do the final reading test to see what her overall increase in reading ability is. It also occurred to me that this might be a good time to take her back to the psych-ed guy and ask that he re-assess her working memory and processing speed.

So, there you have it. I know this isn’t as much empirical evidence as you would probably like. I will report that part once I get it. But still, there is no way to prove beyond any doubt that Fast ForWord is the reason for any jumps, even in the empirical tests. My kids aren’t a control group. This is largely going to remain anecdotal.

There’s a scientist quoted in the book “The Brain that Changes Itself” that says he’s not that interested in empirical evidence. He says that if he has a pig in front of him that can talk he doesn’t care how many empirical studies there are that show that pigs can’t talk, he has to account for the one in front of him that can. And, although I’m really not comparing my children to talking pigs, I have seen a great jump in both my kids, that I don’t think can be coincidental. There are certainly other things that could account for the changes, but I believe that what we’re seeing is a growth in brain activity. And that is what Fast ForWord does.

For those of you contemplating doing the program a few things to think about:

1) You have to be consistent. My kids did the program 6 days out of 7, and sometimes twice. Each session was at least 40 minutes long, only interrupted between programs sometimes to get a drink or go to the bathroom. Yes, I was a bit of a tyrant on this point. Don’t do the program if you can’t make that commitment for six weeks. There will be no benefit without putting in the consistent time.

2) You have to be focused. This is especially important for the ADHD ones. There needs to be a quiet space with no other bodies and distractions.

3) You may have to encourage your child with the programs they find most difficult. Reassure them that the most difficult ones are the ones that their brains need the most. It will be hard for a while (and their achievement graph will show this, it will be a bumpy, but overall straight line) and then suddenly, it will be easy (and you will see their achievement graph suddenly show a great leap as suddenly it goes vertical rather than horizontal). This is how the brain works. It takes great effort that seems fruitless for a long time to build that pathway, and then suddenly, it’s like the path is cleared of all the potholes and wrong turns and now you can go down that path unimpeded. It’s a glorious thing to behold once it’s built.

4) Stay in close contact with your provider. Ours gave great guidance when Calvin was stuck on Flying Farm and recognized at a certain point that all the gains he was going to get from the module had already been made. Once they get bored, it’s actually better to move them up to a new program rather than forcing them to finish. Boredom is a killer for this program.

5) In general, boys will move through it more slowly than girls.

If you decide to go ahead and do it, I wish you good luck and happy brain building. Stop by and let me know how it went for you.

PS: If you’re from the States, this is an excellent time to find a Canadian provider as the Canadian dollar is down relative to your currency. It can be quite a savings for you.

PPS: I am not a provider, and make no commissions by recommending the program or certain providers. I am really just a mom trying to find out what works.

Update: I now have a Fast ForWord Page where I’ve listed all my Fast ForWord posts plus some other useful links.

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Pass it on–10 Positive Things About This Week

Posted on October 25, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

Well my friends, it’s been a week.  So, rather than curl up in my bed, I am taking a cue from Mahoney Musings and accentuating the positive:

My Top 10 Positives about this week:

  1. A learning disabled daughter that received a 33/44 on a math test where the class average was 32.
  2. A really positive IEP meeting at the school that resulted in my daughter starting JUMP Math AT SCHOOL rather than me having to convince her that it’s a good idea for us to do MORE math on evenings and weekends.
  3. My sons passing into the next level at swimming class.
  4. A loving labrador retriever who quietly lay her head in my lap and wagged her tail.
  5. Two of my kids who got called up on stage during The Imprentice. They did such a great job and have talked of little else for days. Actually, the whole evening brought some much needed laughter.
  6. Season 1 of Big Bang Theory on DVD.
  7. Friends who called to check up on me.
  8. Ice-cold Becks.
  9. Lemon-butter-dill sauce.
  10. Autumn leaves, especially when the trees make a glorious red and yellow canopy over the street.

And 1 extra one because this one goes to eleven:

11. Family coming together and rising to the challenge. It’s been a privilege to witness.

Now, I would love to hear some of your positives. Share!

Posted in Autumnal Equinox, Gravity, Mothership, Observatory, Sun | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments