Logical Consequences of Drinking and Driving
This mother has my unending admiration.
Archive for My Musings
Our First Caucus
It’s quicker to vote in a primary than to participate in a caucus. It was incredibly interesting, but when the head honcho announced to a packed room that they were “surprised at the turnout…we only had 15 people last year” I knew we were in trouble. Have you not been watching the news, people? Seriously?
The lines snaked out the door as the organizers ran out of the magic blue cards that we had to fill out in exchange for our ballot. Then they ran out of ballots. Even if a group was trying to be economical and environmentally friendly and not print out TOO many, it would be SO easy to bring along a copy machine, just in case. I tried really hard not to be too critical because I know these people are all volunteers but with the hype? I surely would have expected it to be a LITTLE more organized. We were there for nearly two hours, making dinner a slap-dash assortment very close to bedtime.
Results, by the way: Obama 75%, Clinton 24% (presumably some people voted for candidates no longer in the race)
Name Brands and Product Placement
TadMack over at Finding Wonderland has an interesting post up today about product placement and consumerism aimed at kids.
I grew up in a household that wasn’t big on name brands, not because my parents had an objection to them, really, but because our budget didn’t allow for such frivolity. I remember desperately wanting a pair of Dittos jeans (remember those??) and mom refusing to spend that kind of money. The day she found two pairs (lime green! rust!) at a garage sale was the highlight of my seventh grade year.
As an adult, I’m pretty unconcerned about name brands. [At this point, it might be good to also note that I’m somewhat fashion-hindered. I once uttered the phrase, “Who the h*ll is Kate Spade?”, sending certain people into a tizzy that I didn’t know this designer.] I totally agree with TadMack about wearing shirts emblazoned with a company name - paying a corporation for the privilege to advertise for them is too much for me.
Interestingly - and fortunately - I think that my kids have missed much of this ‘wanting’ due to the combination of homeschooling and an imposed lack of Saturday morning cartoons. My kids couldn’t care less about the brand of their clothes. They wear what they like, and they seem to have a certain confidence about themselves even though their attire isn’t the hippest on the block. I know this would change if they had peers teasing them about their lack of name brand clothing.
As for product placement in books, I honestly can’t recall seeing much in the way of brand names in books, but when I was a young reader the “products” that I desperately wanted were things like a shuba from Greensky, a dugout like Laura Ingalls lived in, an attic that Nancy Drew would envy, or a motorcyle that would run on “pppbbbbb!” like Ralph’s. I hope that those are the things that my kids are yearning for.
Something to Love about the Elections
Ron Paul.
I won’t vote for him, but damn it’s good to have him in the race, simply because he says the stuff that needs to be said without worrying about repercussions. I think, in a sense (well, a really BROAD sense) he’s helped to keep this election a little bit more honest by asking tough questions. I’d have him over for dinner.
That, and the fact that my 15-year-old has taken a keen interest in the debates and is gaining a slight understanding of our convoluted election policies.
Inspiration Strikes
I allowed myself to take the month of December off from writing - which, in the freelance world is often more about selling yourself than actually stringing words together - to recharge and enjoy the holidays. Oddly, when the beginning of January came I was out of sorts with myself and having a hard time getting back to business. Of course it doesn’t help that it seems like every editor in the business has been out of the office since the holidays.
During this time I’ve been thinking and pondering and ruminating over an idea for a book. I reread this book. And on Monday I was inspired to go for it. I did some research and verified that there isn’t anything quite like this out there. It’s non-fiction and completely out of the realm of anything I’ve done before (read: scary), but I’ve spent the past several days working on a proposal for this book idea. And after having not written much for the past 6 weeks, it’s so good to feel like the words are coming in the appropriate order again. Coming at all, for that matter. So far, I’ve got seven pages complete and I find myself hurrying to be done with other stuff so I can write some more. Inspiration. It’s a good thing.
I still need to do some market research and fine-tune the thing, but hopefully by this time next month - or sooner - I’ll be shopping for an agent!
Zits, Redux
I posted about my new buddy Jeremy awhile back. I’ve just switched over from classic google to igoogle. Lo and behold, I can get a new Zits comic on my desktop every day. That makes me happy!
Did You Know?
If every person in the world lived as Americans do—that is, consuming as Americans do—it would take more than six-and-a-half earths to sustain the human race.
Found here.
Swallows and Amazons on the Big Screen?
I read over at Farm School that BBC Films is acquiring options to all twelve of the Swallows and Amazons adventures. I love these books. If you haven’t read them out loud to your kids, I highly recommend them. I haven’t seen the older versions of the Swallows and Amazons movies, so I can’t speak to them. But I will say that I’m tired of people making movies or writing books “Inspired by the success of The Dangerous Book for Boys.”
The book is just not that fabulous, people. Don’t get me wrong; it’s good in the sense that apparently it has moved some kids from the couch to the out of doors. But it’s not a new concept. Kids - including mine - have been hammering and sawing and building and climbing and decoding long before they had a brick red handbook telling them how to do so. If parents want to encourage their kids to be “dangerous”, their money would be much better spent on a toolbox filled with a hammer and a screwdriver, along with a promise of some unscheduled time.And seriously? If you’re looking for danger, you’re going to be MUCH better off with this book
./rant (my, my, I got a little off track there, didn’t I?)
A Tree Fell on my House
And I am grateful. Grateful that the wind was blowing in the direction it was, otherwise it would have been much, much worse. The recent storms in California brought 60-70 mile per hour winds, enough for this 40-50 foot tall tree to crack and fall - onto the very corner of the garage eave. A shift in wind and it would have been in the middle of the house. I’m also incredibly grateful that our tenants were not at home (can you imagine the noise??) and no one was hurt. It is a little odd being so far away, knowing that this needs to be dealt with, but how nice to have access to images via the Internet.
