Personality Poll 1 — Scooby Doo

Posted on October 21, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North
SCOOBY-DOO and all related characters and elements are trademarks and copyright of Hanna Barbera

SCOOBY-DOO and all related characters and elements are trademarks and copyright of Hanna Barbera

 

Ah Google. How do I love thee? Let me count the hits. First, you decided that the picture I posted of Beaker would become the number one image search on your esteemed, but frankly, mysterious search engine. Then, you moved on, tossed me aside without warning, like so much unused muppet felt. But that’s okay. I got over it. And just as I did, I see you’ve had a change of heart as well as a change of character. Velma of Scooby Doo fame is now moving up the ranks I see as the Richter Graph on this post is looking positively dangerous.

It’s an odd thing to discover that others identify with a character I claimed to illuminate some aspect of my own personality. It’s somehow comforting to have that connection, and yet, these other Velma-people never leave a comment saying “Hey! Me Too!”

So, thus begins an official new feature at Tentative Equinox. (I know I already started it here, but it wasn’t OFFICIAL then so just consider it a prologue or prequel) There will be Personality Polls every so often–I’m thinking monthly. There will be none of that lame answer these ten questions and I will tell you what 1950’s pin up girl you are. No. YOU get to choose. And in honour of Google’s darling of the moment–A Scooby-Doo Poll. If you need a refresher on the Scooby-Doo characters, go here.

 

 

So, now that you’ve voted, spare me a couple more minutes and leave me a comment and let me know why you chose the character that you did. Really. I want to know.

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Opposites

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

The 4-year-old has a cold. Not a bad one. But just bad enough that he’s got that flypaper nose. You moms know the one I’m talking about–he’s constantly leaking a sticky fluid from his nose that then adheres to his nose and in turn catches all manner of dust bunnies. I know, gross. Never fear, I’ve now got a package of wet wipes in my purse.

Yesterday, (day 3 of the cold), I asked him:

How’s your cold doing today? Is it getting better?

Yup. It’s warmed up.

Awwww. He’s learning his opposites!

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Goals? Where? RUN!

Posted on October 19, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

So, of course it makes sense that I should declare my intent to write prolifically and then fail to post anything for nearly a week.

Because that’s what I do.

I set myself a goal and then run pell mell in the opposite direction.

I am the quintessential Imp of the Perverse.

Why waste time seeing if I could get close? Nope. Uh uh. Not for me. I just fail immediately and spectacularly.

Perhaps I should do opposite goal-setting:

  • I will eat only enough fruits and vegetables to avoid getting scurvy. Not. One. Ounce. More.
  • I shall not write ever again.
  • The house will have to clean itself, because I shall not lift a finger to assist it. I will be suffocated by accumulating bagel crumbs before I will sweep again.

I could then be found doing the following:

  • Stealing into the kitchen and sneaking open the crisper to see if there are any apples left. Then, after promising myself I would just eat one small Granny Smith, cleaning out the crisper of all fruits and vegetables in some kind of happy colon binge. I will then hide the cores in the bottom of the garbage pail so no one can see how much I ate.
  • Getting up at 4am to get in my 2,000 words before I wake up and realize what I’ve done. After all, if I was SLEEP-WRITING, it wasn’t MY fault.
  • Not watching Pushing Daisies because I DESERVED to mop the floors. I word hard dammit! And mopping is so relaxing.

It’s worth a shot I guess, but I suspect my brain might cotton on to the subterfuge. I mean, really, is it possible to fool the same brain that came up with the double agent plan? I have my quirks, but I’m not stupid. I think if someone said, “Hey that guy’s a spy.” I wouldn’t then be admitting any state secrets to him just for the asking.

<sigh>

Why is my brain full of all these twisted corridors? If my brain were a house it would be one those haunted mansions where the Scooby-Doo team invariably ends up being chased by a plethora of ghosts both real and concocted. Their plans to catch said ghosts always ending up going horribly wrong only to end up catching the bad guy through sheer chance some twisted happenstance.

Should I just hope for the twisted happenstance?

I was talking to Tentative Equinox South on Friday and she chatted me up on a new perspective on change that she had just heard called

Organizing Through the Chaos.

The idea of this is that when we do something different we then have to re-organize our thinking to incorporate that new thing into our definition of ourselves. So, if go to an audition and actually GET a part, I then need to change my own definition of myself from someone who DOESN’T get parts to someone who DOES. Otherwise, I will not succeed for long but behave in a way consistent with my own definition of myself. In other words, I will blow the audition just to keep my definition of myself intact because that’s more comfortable to me. Yes, I choose the well-worn but threadbare and moth-eaten Saturday-morning sweater over that scarlet red floor-length low-cut diva dress (ooh, don’t forget the long gloves).

I’m NOT saying that we have control over all things, because for sure even people that see themselves as part-getters don’t get cast in everything they audition for.

I AM saying that we I can stop getting in our my own way.

I mean…I need to get in my own way (wink, wink). Hey! Do I smell chloroform?

Posted in Aliens and uncharted planets, Autumnal Equinox, Leaves, Minor notes in the celestial chord, Observatory, Sun | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

I’m in!

Posted on October 13, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

I’m taking the plunge. I’m going to participate in National Novel Writing Month in November. I’ve been wanting to do it for a while, and then a couple of blogs I stalk read are also participating, so I felt it was a little push from the universe (at least the internet universe) to put up or shut up.

Here’s my author info. I’m not sure what genre I’m in yet. My plot kind of feels like thinking woman’s chick lit but as that wasn’t a genre, I’m leaving it for now.

Anyone else in?

I’m a little scared, but in a good way. What’s the worst that can happen? I don’t finish. I guess I can live with that.

Posted in Aliens and uncharted planets, Autumnal Equinox, Big Bang, Leaves, Stardust | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Tomorrow Salad

Posted on October 11, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

Many years ago, we lived on a cul-de-sac in small town mortgaged suburbia. My parents had moved there from halfway across the country, just a few months before Christmas. On Christmas Day the neighbour across the street came over to our house, rang the bell, introduced herself and gave us three kids (only three at the time) a candy cane.

That was the start of what was to become a very important friendship to our family. Eventually, this child-less couple would became Aunt Mary and Uncle Peter. They were another set of grandparents to us kids (eventually 8 of us). I am so grateful that she decided to cross the street that day. Our lives were much richer for knowing them.

I am reminded of them every Thanksgiving and Christmas because of Tomorrow Salad. It’s a version of Ambrosia Salad, no doubt from the jelly-filled fifties or sixties. We had it every Thanksgiving and Christmas meal, courtesy of Aunt Mary. And we have carried on that tradition. It’s become my contribution to the family dinner. It wasn’t until my son was doing a family heritage month at his pre-school that I realized that this recipe is one of our family traditions. It’s called a salad, but is really barely nutritious. I’m sure the fruit is cancelled out by the whipped cream and marshmallows. Still, it’s yummy, makes me think of my childhood, and of course Aunt Mary and Uncle Peter.

 

Tomorrow Salad

Tomorrow Salad

 Note my newly re-finished (by me) dining room table. Nice eh?

 

Tomorrow Salad

“Dressing”

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup vinegar
  1. Beat ingredients together in saucepan.
  2. Boil until thick stirring constantly.
  3. Set aside to cool

Salad

  • 2 cups whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  1. Beat whipping cream and sugar until stiff
  • 2 cups pineapple chunks (I find a 540 ml can does nicely, don’t forget to drain the juice)
  • 2 cups small marshmallows (or chop up some large marshmallows)
  • 2 large oranges (I use 2 small cans of mandarin oranges with the juice drained)
  1. Fold dressing into the whipped cream
  2. Mix fruit in last
  3. Adorn top with dried cranberries (optional)
  4. Refrigerate until ready to serve

If you’d like, a printable .pdf for your recipe books: tomorrow-salad

And now, I’ll have a place I know I’ll be able to find it.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Tell me someone you’re grateful for in the comments.

Posted in Autumnal Equinox, celestial beings, Sun, Winter Solstice | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

We think so you don’t have to

Posted on October 10, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

I have been so irritated by these ongoing series of London Drugs commercials that I feel I must say something. First, to get you all up to speed, one of the offending commercials:

 

 

To be fair to the actor, he’s posted this on his youtube site which is where I found it– Kudos to you, I know it’s a tough ol’ world out there for actors, you do a fine job.

It’s that sentiment of “We think so you don’t have to” that really cheeses my crackers.

This is an insidious, and ultimately dangerous belief, in my opinion. I pay money to people so that I don’t have to acquire knowledge. I don’t know how my computer or my car works. I need to hire a mechanic, a professional organizer, an IT guy, a personal trainer, a dog trainer. I don’t have to examine any beliefs because our party leader will tell me what to believe and how to vote. All because I’ve lost my sense of capability, of knowledge, of curiousity. It’s just too easy to feel that I don’t have time to learn, don’t have to learn, can pay someone to have that knowledge for me, and the worst of all–that’s too hard for me to learn.

Isn’t this the slippery slope into Wall-E world? The machines take over because we’ve taken our thinking out of the equation. We become receivers only. We are in real danger of having flabby brains.

And why as a corporation would you put it out there like that? We think you WANT to be stupid and inane, so we’re going to capitalize on that.

In one of the other versions of this commercial, we see a head filled with red liquid. As the head empties of the red liquid, we hear a bunch of tech talk about television screen resolution. Then a different but very friendly, dare I say, soothing voice intones:

We think so you don’t have to.

The head then fills up with blue liquid and the voiceover changes to trivia about television shows like Starsky and Hutch.

So, let me get this straight. I empty the life-blood of knowledge out of my head. I pay you money to have that knowledge and in return for ‘freeing’ all that space up, I can now fill up my head with the ice water of vacuous, unimportant information. The coolant of the brain. Really? That’s the message you’re going for? Wow. I guess sometimes there IS truth in advertising.

Meanwhile, we all get stupider, poorer, less capable, and have far less of a life than is there for us to have.

I’m resolved. I’m going to learn how to change the oil in my car, finally figure out how to replicate that  barley salad that I love, and use some power tools. I will figure out what a pixel is, and how I should prune my rosebushes. I am going to learn to play guitar and I am going to write that novel. And I will do it all despite the fact that I am unqualified, unsupervised, unfit, and a rank amateur. It will be better for me to do it badly then to pay someone else to do it.

Who’s with me? What are the things that you’ve given over to someone else that you’re going to take back.

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Over-used Words are Devastated by Tragic Turn of Events

Posted on October 8, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

There was a news piece a few weeks ago that got me to thinking.

The news piece in brief: A puppy was shot by a hunter. The hunter turned himself in, but claims it was accidental.

Whenever this story came up on the news, the phrase used almost invariably was “leaving the family devastated.”

Devastated? Really? Like, the burned out of your house, lost your child in a car accident kind of devastated? I don’t think so.

I’m really not a cruel person. I think it was a bad thing for a child’s puppy to be shot and killed accidentally or otherwise. I just don’t think it’s devastating.

The most telling part was when someone in the community gave the family a new puppy. The news reports all said “the story has a happy ending.”

If you were devastated by losing a child, the story does not have a happy ending when you get another one.

So, I nominate ‘devastated’ as an over-used news word. It should go right along with horrifying, tragic, brutal, scandalized and … and … .

It’s early. Tell me some of your least favourite over-used words in the comments. There are lots.

But I also walk on the other side of that line. I’m not a news-writer, but I do work in marketing, so I am constantly trying to find new ways to describe the same things. I have three types of plays I’m trying to market: funny ones, sad ones and musical ones. There can be combinations of that, but essentially that’s what I’m up against. My consistent dilemma is how to describe a funny play without using that ubiquitous word ‘hilarious,’ or a musical without resorting to ‘toe-tapping’ or a sad play without using ‘heart-warming.’

People want to know what they’re going to feel when they go see a play after all. It’s a big commitment to actually get out of the house after a long day at work and go to another part of town to watch something play out in front of you. You want it to be good. You want to know if you’re going to laugh, if you’ll like the music, or, if it’s that most difficult to market kind of a play–a weepy play; is it at least a good kind of weepy?

It’s tricky business, let me tell you. There are no under-used words to describe something that will make you laugh. I resorted to the word ‘rioutous’ last time and thinking about it now, I still cringe. Sometimes I just want to be honest: “I laughed when I saw this, I think you will too.” It’s not a phrase that will get picked out of a press release I grant you, but it’s a pretty good describer.

So, you have a mission–what are your most hated, and over-used phrased on the news and in marketing. Go!

Posted in Leaves, Minor notes in the celestial chord, Observatory, Sun | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Polite Technology–Only In Canada You Say?

Posted on October 6, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

I noticed that the gas pumps are more polite up here.

This is what I overheard while waiting for my half-caff Americano at the coffee counter the other day; two people discussing some of the differences they’ve noticed in Canada.

Could that be true? Could Canadian technology be more polite than technology south of the 49th parallel? The next time I pumped my gas, I counted. Eight times in the course of my transaction was something polite flashed across the screen–welcome, please, thank you. That does seem like a lot doesn’t it? The only time I was commanded insteaded of politely requested, was the message after punching in my PIN, an ominous “Waiting for authorization” flashed across the screen. I wonder why it didn’t say “Please wait for authorization.”?

(Sidebar: I don’t know about you, but I always envision a little panel of very small, but angry bankers discussing my request and then grudgingly putting rubber stamp to paper. Their judgment? “Alright. But just this once! Don’t make it a habit.” Then, once I’ve gone, they say cutting things about my financial savvy, or lack thereof.)

So, I’d like to do some more research, but of course I’m somewhat hampered by geography. I would love to hear from people the world over. How many times in the course of these automated transactions (think gas pumps, bank machines, self-check outs) is your technology programmed to be courteous? If your Canadian, I would still like to hear from you, because I’d like to know if 8 is the average and if it differs across the country. So, in the comments, identify your country (and what part of the country), what type of automated transaction it was, and how many courteous words you saw.

And you thought today was going to be dull!

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Garden Mums

Posted on October 4, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

Drove by a sign that read:

Garden mums now in stock

The 10-year-old son asks me,

Mom, what’s a ‘mum’?

It’s short for chrysanthemum. It’s a flower. The word sometimes gets shortened to ‘mum’.

Ooohhhh. (pause) I thought it was like a garden gnome. Except you know instead of a gnome it was a mom.

Garden Mom

Garden Mom

Now I think I want one.
Posted in Autumnal Equinox, Mothership, Observatory, Sun | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Fast ForWord — Language to Reading

Posted on October 2, 2008 by Tentative Equinox North

I know it’s been a while since I said anything about Fast ForWord. Some time ago I posted about the first module my kids did called Language. I thought I should probably also let you know about the 2nd module, Language to Reading. My daughter got 75% of the way through this module.

There are only 5 games in L2R (Language has 7 games) and you do all 5 each session, until you’ve completed all the levels of a game (at that point it greys out when you go to your session menu). The sessions seemed to be longer than Language. I would say it took about an hour to get through the whole thing, where they were on a 45-minute protocol with the Language Module.

Here are the games:

Bug Out: This is comparable to Language’s Phonic Match. It’s a game of concentration where you match sounds. The two changes in this one are the 1) one of the cards will be just a sound and the matching card will have both the sound and the word written out, and 2) they are whole words, not just sounds.

Polar Cop: This is comparable to Flying Farm in the Language Module. But again, instead of sounds you’re dealing with whole words this time. The Cop says a word. A line of penguins go one by one through an x-ray machine and you see the word in their suitcase as well as hear it. You have to click on the penguin that has the same word in his briefcase as was said by the Cop. And you have to be quick about it. You can’t choose the word as the penguin steps off the x-ray machine. You chose correctly but not quickly enough. So, it not only builds your sound/word connection but speeds up that recognition. This game takes the longest to get through.

Start-Up Stories: This has two components 1) Following directions and 2) Language Comprehension. The Following Directions component is comparable to Language’s Block Commander. You get instructions like “Touch the small white kitten and the large black dog.” The Language Comprension component is similar to Language’s ‘Language Comprehension Builder.” You have to select the picture that matches the description given to you by a voice (nothing’s written down). You will hear “The chicken that is little is not eating the corn.” The child has to match that to the correct picture. So she doesn’t choose the chicken that is eating the corn, or the dog that isn’t eating the corn, or the large chicken that isn’t eating the corn. It can get pretty tricky. This is the first game that my daughter completed.

Treasure in the Tomb: This is comparable to Language’s Phoneme Identification. You bang the gong to hear a word. You then see two characters who both show and say a word. You have to select the character that is saying the same word you heard initially.

Trog Walkers: This is comparable to Language’s Circus Sequence. There are two sounds: an upward sweeping whistle and a downwards sweeping whistle. These sounds are designated visually by an upward arrow and a downward arrow. You hear a sequence that combines these sounds and you have to press the arrow keys to match that sequence. So, first instance you will hear, up, down, down, up and have to select the up arrow, down arrow, down arrow, up arrow to correspond to that sequence. The conceit of the game is a character who is in a race with other characters. Your quick and correct answers add fuel and speed to your character. The point my daughter got frustrated was when she got to the 5-whistle level. Which, frankly is REALLY hard. But it’s exactly the kind of thing she needs to train up that working memory and processing speed.

I’ll save my update on how it’s impacted my kids until they’ve completed the reading assessment to determine how it’s improved their reading skills. But there have definitely been some very positive changes. I’ll leave you with that cliffhanger.

Update: I now have a Fast ForWord page where I’ve listed all my posts about Fast ForWord in addition to some other useful links.

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