Sunday, November 8, 2009

Not posting for a reason

I've found that my blogging has been overtaken by life.

I can barely do a post a month on one blog, and I'm pretty convinced that if I stopped even that, it would pass unnoticed. God bless Barbara for keeping me from feeling totally invisible!

I won't delete this one til I find an easy way to print what I want to keep (my mom and dad posts).

Buh-bye

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Public Service Message

1. If you cough or sneeze, do it into a tissue...then throw it away where I won't have to see it.

2. Absent a tissue, do it into the crook of your arm. I know it looks a bit silly now -- but once we all figure it out, it will be quite the norm. Trust me. plus that way, when you keep typing on the PUBLIC keyboard in the hotel lobby your germy germs don't contaminate the keys for the next 6 to 8 HOURS!

3. Don't be offended if I don't shake your hand. I'm not just concerned about my own health. I spend many hours in large groups and on long flights and I have no idea what I may have already picked up or when.

4. Take care of yourself. If you do that and I do that, and we all do that, this will all be over soon.

Sadly, the people who need most to read this will never see it and the 2 or 3 folks who actually follow my blog are already smart and considerate folks.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Communication...or the lack thereof?

Are we becoming the most connected people in history or the least?

We - through our technology - can communicate with just about anyone, anytime, anywhere. But I fear that we are losing the humanity of it all.

If we are hanging out together, I'm going to be either talking with you or listening to you, or just silently enjoying your company.

I am NOT going to be tweeting, Facebooking, MySpacing or - God forbid! - talking to somebody else on my cellphone.

Why?

Because I was raised better than that. By parents who never even imagined the possibilities.

They taught me that the most important person in the moment is the person you are with.

And technology shouldn't change that.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Old age ain't for sissies!

Okay, folks. It's the 40th (?!!?) anniversary of Woodstock. And I'm here watching a Neil Diamond concert. That's just WRONG.

I like Neil -- but Woodstock was the real music of my generation. And something of a harbinger of sorts -- horribly planned (who knew??) and marginally executed, it still stands as a monument to peace, love and awesome music.

I have heard the GenX and subsequent generations mock the "drug crazed hippies". But that's the job of subsequent generations isn't it? To mock their elders. But there was so much more to the Woodstock Generations than acid and free love.

We questioned the powers that be. We challenged the status quo. We held ideals sacred.

Then we grew up.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Ragamuffin, drunken people and psychotics

Oops...can't imagine what kinds of whacko interlopers those keywords will trigger! Maybe at least get more than a half dozen responses for a change...LOL



I hope that this isn't too small to make out -- but if it is too small, just double click on the photo and a larger version will open up for you. It is the sign in front of the ticket booth for the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, China.

I just love it for the wonderful turn of phrase (baleful biology...exquisite) and the total explicitness of intent.

And needless to say, I left my sword in the taxi.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Things my father taught me...

Just as Mom taught me far more than the 5 things I listed on Mother's Day, Dad taught me an awful lot, but for expediency here's my top 5:

1. Never be afraid to try anything just for fun. Dad dabbled -- guitar and banjo lessons in his 50s, even took a course in charcoal sketching. With varying degrees of proficiency, to be sure. But always willing to try.

2. Knowledge is a blessing. You are as smart as you allow yourself to be. Dad knew what our potential was, and was only disappointed when we failed to recognize and capitalize on it ourselves. Some might say he pushed too hard. I appreciate the confidence he had in us.

3. You never know it all...there is always opportunity for learning. Dad never really stopped teaching and never stopped learning...often taking courses WAY outside his chosen field.

4. The mind can only absorb what the seat can endure. My students appreciate this to this day. Dad was an amazing educator. I took two classes from him (Calculus I and Statistics) and he was relentless. I don't think I ever had a teacher before or after who made the material live like he did. I'd be thrilled if I can be 1/2 the teacher that he was.

5. Love takes many forms. Love can be putting the bandaid on the booboo when you fall, but can also be checking in on you 10 times in the night after you've had a concussion, to make sure that you are really okay. Unheralded, unrecognized, but solid and everpresent.

I miss you, Dad. I miss your voice. I miss your hugs. I miss your wisdom. Every day. I love you.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Whoa!
China!! What a wonderful vacation...met some great people, saw amazing things (bucket list: Great Wall and Qin dynasty terra cotta warriors), ate some yummy food. Everything a holiday should encompass. Terrific weather, good health. Can't ask for more.

Whuh???
Why do we (Americans) expect things to conform to our way? I know that Bush gets blamed for "the World's" opinion of Americans, but I can tell you from personal observations of Americans abroad...it has far less to do with that one man's politics than with a whooooollllle bunch of American's leaving their nasty little trails of xenophobic behavior far and wide.

This last trip (China) was an exceptionally pleasant exception. We were in a group of 27 like-minded folk who were exploring another country/culture because we genuinely appreciate it. Huzzah! Restoreth my faith.

I guess that makes this a Whoa!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

This one's easy:

Whoa!

The Lost season 5 finale!

Whuh?

The Lost season 5 finale!

I'm going on vacation...talk amongst yourselves.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Things my mother taught me

I will be out of town for Mother's Day -- spending it with my mom! Yay! She's 86 years old, still living on her own - cooking, cleaning, shopping, driving. She's one of the Steel Magnolias.

My friend jo loves lists, and Facebook has me thinking in groups of 5, so here's a list of 5 of the most important things that my mom has taught me:

1. Not just how to cook, but how to enjoy cooking. She isn't a gourmet cook with fancy sauces and 100 ingredients, but she's inspired me from a very sound foundation: throwing together a yummy and nutritious dinner in no time flat, and often with limited resources, is a skill my whole family appreciates. I just wish I could master her cornbread. It's unequaled and continues to hover just out of my grasp.

2. How to be patient.
"Patience is a virtue." This one was repeated like a mantra throughout my life -- in fact it still echoes in my head when needed. Helps me in my life, in my work and even in the kinds of hobbies I've grown to love. Just stopping to breathe, count to ten before responding, the power of the pause. All these things harken back to simply having patience.

3. How to sew.
Mom made a lot of my clothes growing up. Mostly out of necessity -- Dad was a teacher and she was a SAHM (like most of the era), so we lived quite frugally (another lesson for another list). and for a while - blissfully brief, in the grand scheme of things - I made many of my own clothes. And it's some comfort to know that if it ever came to it, I could again. When I was a little girl I had, as most little girls of that and subsequent eras have, a Barbie doll. But we didn't have the resources for all the accoutrement like the Dream House or the wardrobe. Not to buy them, anyway. But my Barbie had a designer wardrobe, and I was the designer - even down to the wedding dress. And she had quite the 'apartment' too. Sure, it may have looked like an orange crate from the outside, but it was painted and furnished with great elan (again, from the House of Me). I still think that I've fared far better in life from having to exercise my imagination and develop those crafting skills than I would have benefitted by frequent trips to ToysRUs to buy the latest and greatest.

4. How to love.
Mom and Dad had been married for almost 60 years when Dad died. Their marriage survived the kinds of things that marriages everywhere face...kids, financial challenges, differences of opinion, illness, death...they just dealt with it and kept going. To the very last, even when sitting in their living room watching TV, they'd be holding hands. I never had to doubt that my parents were deeply in love with each other, and always loved us. When my father died, I opened the eulogy with "The best gift a father can give his children is to love their mother. This my father did, in abundance." And mom loved him right back...and still does.

5. How to keep going.
I'm a firm believer in the premise that life doesn't hand us anything that we don't have the resources to handle. I've learned this from watching her. It may be a struggle to martial those resources sometimes, but you do it and you soldier through. Mom occasionally has surprised me with her perserverance, and sometimes to some it may look a little like martyrdom, but if you really know her you know that it comes from an abiding committment to never giving up. No matter what.

She's taught me a billion additional little life lessons in my 58 years, and God willing has many more to offer, but these 5 speak most to the core of who I am and how I live.

What has your mom taught you?

Friday, May 1, 2009

Happy May Day!

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii. When I first moved here there would be kiosks of lei sellers all round Fort Street Mall across from my office. If I see any today, I'll add pictures.

Ladies would all wear beautiful flowy muu muu and it was all very lovely. We've gone all mainland-style these days, with most folks in office casual (or worse) and it's a rare occasion to see the ladies all decked out. I still wear my muu muu on Aloha Fridays, though. Holding on to a more graceful time of which I was never really a part.

In my youth I wore what we called 'grannie gowns' -- the long flow-y dresses -- as often as I could get away with it. So graceful.

But pretty. Always colorful and pretty. I could never get into the whole sister-wife garb. Not graceful at all. And I don't have enough hair for that pompadour anyway.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Pretty day

Whoa!

Make that Whee!

We dodged some dodgy weather and now the sky is a beautiful blue with little innocent clouds and light breezes. Time to recharge my personal solar battery. Not rocking the killer tan these days (realizing that the operative word was, indeed, killer), but still need a half hour now and again just to spruce up a bit. Plus, it's a sin to let this gorgeous day go to waste when I could be lolling about in it.

Whuh?

Why does PayPal innundate me with spam every single time I use it? I'd use it more if it would just leave me alone! Same is true of charities. Give to one and they sell your name to a jillion others. I wish they'd consider my donation the savings in postage and printing they'd get if they'd take me off the mailing list.

Pretty cool when that's the only thing chafing me at the moment. Of course, there's politics, but I'm not going there. Not here.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Beauty is in the ear of the beholder, I guess

Whoa, with a side of whuh??

All this fuss about the magnificent performance by Susan Boyle on the UK talent show got me thinking. She has a spectacular voice, but all the buzz is about how nobody expected her to be so talented. Why? Because she's not pret-ty.

I mean, how could such an "unattractive" person have anything of value to offer in our pretty pretty world?

We have hoards of people who make fortunes by simply being pret-ty, with no discernable talent. Hollywood offers a veritable smorgasbord of beautiful banal.

And there are whole industries built around the quest for physical "perfection".

What if people put the time, thought, money and effort into cultivating their voice, their brain, their better self that they put into botox, wax, collegen implants, tucking/sucking, makeup and hair care? Whoa!

There are tons of pret-ty people out there with no talent. And we pay them just to be pretty.

I wonder how many more undiscovered and unlauded but greatly talented people there are out there that are missed simply because they aren't pret-ty enough.

My applause to Susan not just for her voice, but for the moxie to put it out there in spite of the snickers and derision. For showing that the packaging simply just doesn't count when the content is stellar.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Happy Easter!


Whoa!
Was I not just the cutest little kid ever! This is 1953. Dad was a principal of an elementary school in a coal town in Virginia, mom was a mom and I was an only child. And a well indulged only child from the looks of it.

Hat and gloves and a frock coat...oh my!! The outfit was navy with pink trim and I wish I could remember what that toy in front of the basket was. There are some limits to my grasp of trivial detail.

And thank heavens the cankles went away as my legs got longer. Even in my current state of excess, my (lower) legs are quite shapely. Then it goes all wobbly.

Whuh??
I had a tooth (one) go seriously wonky on me in February -- much pain and discomfort, very hard to eat. To resolve this problem (pain in A tooth and difficulty eating) I am now in braces and a bite plate. So I have pain in many teeth, apparently randomly, for the next 2 years and find it intensely annoying to eat just about anything but juice-cicles and smoothies. Everyone says "you'll get used to it." Okay. For now I'm taking their word for it.

One good thing about the bite plate...I am a grinder (causing much of my current woe) and yesterday was a serious grind kind of day. But no headache!!

No jelly beans or peeps for me, but that just helps me to keep my focus on the true purpose of the day. Redemption. And being worthy of it.

Have a blessed Easter.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

I love Wednesdays!

Whoa!
Ben-centric Lost episode tonight. Many others will blog this to death, so I don't really need to. But I'm loving the new smiley confident Locke. And I still wouldn't turn my back on Ben if I was him.

Whuh??
Pirates. Somalian (?) pirates?? Amazing! Have you seen these pirates? We aren't talking Johnny Depp-ish scary dudes buckling swashes with a big ass barkentine. We're talking half a dozen guys in motorboats with machetes and rifles. And why is this allowed to be a problem??? Can't these shipping companies afford armed security on board?

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Get a clock why don't you!!

Whuh????
Fox is a big network. You'd think they'd at least have access to a clock to schedule their programming with.

Last night was a new ep of Fringe, and I set it to record so we could watch it together after dinner (Bud was working late.) We sit down to watch, and what the recording begins with is the last 7 minutes of American Idol! I don't even like AI. I would never record AI so that I could dislike and ignore it yet again in one night. But there it was. It had run overtime or something.

Meaning, of course, that the last 7 minutes of Fringe were....MISSING!!!

Not that you really need to see the last 7 minutes of A MURDER MYSTERY!!

Whoa!
The moussaka (aka moose caca...love MBFGW)) I made Sunday was even better warmed over last night. And the bechamel set up so perfect that the top didn't even seperate! Yay me! and hooray for ground beef...virtually no chewing necessary.

I'm finding the biggest challenge of having braces at this point is the overwhelming need to brush/floss every 5 minutes. The only thing worse than having stickiness on my hands is having something stuck between my teeth...which I now have about 105% of the time!! This too shall pass.

Monday, April 6, 2009

What launched this blog was the title

I was talking to Bud on the way home from Watchmen and said that I went in expecting Whoa!! (as in Fonzie...you know...WHOA!) and came out more Whuh??? (as in: there's 3 hours I'm not ever getting back).

Then I thought to myself (because Bud totally does not get blogging and would not appreciate the share-age) "What a GREAT title for a blog!"

Came home and voila - here 'tis! There's a lot of life between all the Whoa! s and the odd, but all too frequent whuh??? s

Whoa!
We went to a 'wedding' for 5 couples yesterday. Yep. 5. It was pretty cool -- all 5 have been married for a while, but were married in civil ceremonies. Our friends are going through RCIA right now, and this was a Catholic blessing of their respective marriages. It was very simple -- no limos; no expensive flowers; no tuxes and expensive dresses; no 20 attendants and champagne fountains. Just a quiet, focused affirmation of their wedding vows. Times 5. God frequently packs a lot of whoa in some of the quieter moments.

Whuh???
Twitter. Who cares? Srsly? I wonder if all these movie stars that are getting on the twitter-wagon are the same ones that smack photographers and bemoan the lack of privacy afforded public figures.

I know a couple of (non-celebrities) who treat Facebook like Twitter. I may like you just fine, but I really don't care if you scored a 3 point word in Scrab-u-twist-a-wordpath; then a 1 point word; then another 3 point word followed by finding out that if you were a notepad you'd be an 8.5 X 14 legal one, then had a peanut butter sandwhich whilst whacking DonVito in MobWars. How do people have the time to play all these games? And who comes up with all those stupid quizzes anyway? And if they're computer savvy enough to post the damn things, why can't they be bothered with spell check?

Scratching a bald spot in my head here....

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Watching Watchmen

At the conclusion of this movie, I turned to my husband and offered that the last time I sat that long in one place, I at least was able to get off the plane in a different city. Far Far Away.

That's all I have to say about that.

Why start yet ANOTHER blog?

So here I am, with way too much to do already, starting a new blog. Why? Because when I started my first blog I swore that it would be photos only, and only random ones at that.

Well, I seem to find myself with things to say, and no proper forum. Facebook isn't it, and I can't believe that there is anyone interested enough in my life to inspire me to get involved with Twitter. Hayull...I'M not that interested in my life! (or anyone else's, truth be told.)

So this will be an outlet for random observations and perhaps the occasional rant. We'll see how she goes.