It's cold in in Hilton Head. And there is some sort of sleeping sickness going around. Like one of those little dwarves has gone and invaded here. The food has been good, and the company. We've even managed to pack 13 boxes. Out of about 2,000, I would say. Sheesh.
I've been sucked into this book I got in December about scientists and their lives. I know, it took me long enough. But I just like knowing the story behind the story.
For instance, Kepler, the guy that figured out planetary motion (at least he was one of them), was so poor he made up horoscopes and predictions for the new year to make ends meet, even though he knew it was all a load of horse manure.
And, in turns out, that Sir Isaac Newton, whom I'd always had a lot of respect for, was a total bastard and stole several of his big ideas from Robert Hooke. I mean, I knew the whole apple thing wasn't true, but did he have to be a jerk to boot? But at least he gave us his 3 Laws of Motion. I haven't finished reading about him, so that may prove false as well.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek was made famous in the mid 1600's. He had a degree in geography, a successful business,and was interested in the magnifiers used by textile merchants. He knew a thing or two about lens and greatly improved on the design and co-created the 1st microscope.
Just imagine his thought processes.
He's read Robert Hook, who'd discovered cells (he named them after the rooms the monks lived in- cells) earlier that century. So he says to himself one fine day, "I bet I can make a better magnifier." And that's just what he did.
And I bet he was just like the students in my classroom when they learn how to use a microscope-
"Hey, I wonder what this looks like?" This being fingernails, torn paper, key edges, spit, rubber bands, string, bits of skin, tree bits, paper money, coins, pen tips, eyebrows, even boogers.
Anton discovered our microscopic world. Overnight, the world changed.
I wish I'd been there. A person went to bed with no notion of the microscopic world and woke up to find that there was a lot more in their world. Do you think there were people who didn't believe him?
He discovered protists, bacteria, the banded patterns of muscles, and my personal favorite Spermatozoa.
Yep, he discovered sperm. I wonder what went through his head
....haha- that's too funny.....
what went through his mind as he sat jerking off one night?
Wait. He was a Calvinist. Did they do that? Or did he take the sample from his wife? Or wipe the extra off his...
Oh, man, I can't say penis when talking about important scientific discoveries, and dick sounds waaaay to callus (There's a joke about calluses and masturbating, isn't there?)
Anyway, did you think he said to himself, "Hey, I wonder what this shit looks like"?
He first thought the sperm were parasitic worms, then realized they were important to reproduction. He thought later that preformed human embryos were stored in the sperm and that the egg provided a place for it to grow. Heh, guess he was trying to give the Man all the credit. Which I guess is what you get in a Patriarchal Society.
Don't really have a point to this post, it just cracks me up that he discovered sperm and I can't help thinking about what he was thinking...
Stephen King once wrote a short story, The Mist. For those of you not in the know, it's a story about a government facility that blows up, releasing the "Mist" complete with Giant Creepy Things and Horrendous Pleasedon'tletiteatmes. The story has haunted me since I read it Lo, those many years ago. When I drive into a particularly dense patch of fog? I look to see the windows are up. Silly, but I can't help myself.
And now, They've gone and made it into a movie. And Pete and R. love scary movies. So they watched it last night. I, the smart one, stayed in my room and read a book, The Republic, by none other than my brother-in-law. (Which you should sooooo buy, since it is sooooo good.)
But I digress.
The couple of times I popped out there, Pete was slammed up against her Daddy like she was scared down to her toes (and loving every minute of it). I made sure to tell her that any nightmares should be directed towards her father, not me. He got her into it, he could get her out of it.
So I go to bed, all smug that I'm not the one who watched the scary movie and will be having nice dreams of beaches and what not. Heh, right.
I dreamed I was Pete and the monsters were after me.
Shit.
Serves me right.
As the girls and I left for school this morning, the moon was out, in all her waning goodness.
To which Re-Pete said
"Look, Mommy, The moon is following us"
To which Mommy started crying.
See, she's the youngest, and I've entered The Land of Nevers.
Every time she does something remarkable- figures out something (like the moon), learns something (how to spell a word with out my help), outgrows something(those darling shoes) I realize that I will never be here again.
And that breaks my heart.
It's a good thing I didn't know parenting would be this heart wrenching, I might have chickened out.
I got tagged by Bou for the Passion Quilt Meme, and I had to muddle with it for a bit. What is the one thing I want my kids/students to learn? To be passionate about? What message did I want them to remember in 10 years?
What a compliment to me that she wants me to teach her children. Thank you, Bou. You've still got a few years until high school. You have time to find a house near me, I'll be happy to teach your boys.
That's a picture of the Ebola virus. It kills about 80% or so of the people it infects. This is my choice for a picture. I know, gross right? But listen to this:
I want to infect people with my love of science
I want my students to wake up with a burning to achieve something that day, to learn something, with a desire to do that is so strong they can't not do it. I want everyday to be an experience, I want them to have to go find the answers, because not finding the answers is not even a choice. I tell them over and over, "My goal is for you to love science as much as I do"
But there is another part of it, too. Looking back with those hindsight glasses of mine, I sometimes wonder why there wasn't an adult in my world who didn't see what was happening to me and say, "I should do something for her. That's not good for her, it's a bad choice."
So I want my students to know that I care about them and the choices they make, and the events in their life. I will go to bat for them, I will try to get them food, I will tell the proper people when they are battered, bullied or uncared for. I will stand with them in their time of need. I believe in them, even when they can't believe in themselves. I will be their advocate, even if it means having their parent's locked up. Or put in the hospital. I have created codewords with students so that if something was wrong, they could use the word with me and I could intervene.
Now, I'm not tagging anyone, but if you want to play along, the rules are at Bou's.
During his Easter Service today,
Pope Benedict denounced
"selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence" between
individuals and peoples.
I can get behind that.
Seems Pete's father has been telling her the the History of Easter, how before we had Easter we had Eostra, and she was celebrated with symbols of fertility- the egg and hare, how she represented the Coming of Spring.
Now, this was meant to be a history lesson, and not a dig or endorsement for any particular religion. Our children are free to decide on their own. As long as it is an informed decision.
Pete then shared her history lesson with a friend, who called her father a liar. That the holiday was just about Jesus and such. We told Pete that everyone had the right to their own opinion, and her friend could believe what she wanted.
Gotta love Christians like that, so open minded and informed. Heh.
Jeff, over at FHB, has lost his Dad. I really feel for this guy. I've enjoyed reading about his Friday night exploits for a while now. Losing a Dad is pretty tough. I was 2 months pregnant with Pete when my Dad died. I remember a conversation we had about whether I would have a boy or girl. He, of course, wanted another grand daughter to spoil, and he got his wish. A couple of weeks later he was gone. At one point I realized I was standing in a corner in my mother's kitchen washing the wall, not sure how I had gotten there. That whole time is kinda hazy, I remember moments here and there, some good, some bad. My sister and her family happened to be there visiting. I had called her a few weeks prior and told her to come soon, he had had bad news from the doctor, he needed a heart transplant. To take it very, very easy. Two days later found him trying to pull start the lawn mover so he could cut the grass. That was my Dad, though. Or at least his version of taking it easy.
I have a few favorite memories of time with him.
Once, he had a garage, 3 or 4 bays, in our backyard. He painted trucks, fixed just about anything, including tractors. He had a big rig in there. You know that round thing-a-ma-bob on the back that the trailer hooks to? Daddy gave me this impossibly large flat-head screwdriver and let me scrape away at the grease there. There I sat on that summer's day, I guess I was 9, in heaven. Listening to the radio, hearing the sound of my father working, scraping a huge glob of shiny black goo off, inspecting it like a scab, dropping it, scraping another, and another, getting that stuff all over my hands. Then I got to clean up in Go-Jo. The white kind. Nothing else in the world like squishing Go-Jo through your fingers. You ever use that stuff?
Every time I walk into a garage or smell Go-Jo I get transported back to Adams-Bennett Road. There's a picture of it somewhere on the blog, stolen from Google Maps.
My heart goes out to Jeff, it's a rough time for him right now.
one of the single women says, "Wait, I can't catch the bouqet yet, I'm still feeding the baby!"
A friend of mine related this story to me about a set of mutual friends we had.
I would never have told a soul about this.
It was a beautiful evening. The couple had enjoyed a wonderful dinner, drinking red, red wine. And more red, red wine, and then.... some more red, red wine. They watched the sun setting over their pool in the back yard, just the two of them. Things began to heat up, get frisky, amorous even. She decided to perform a certain sex act for him, on him, so to speak. Faster she went, the more involved he got with his hands in her her hair.
Then, it happened.
Her gag reflex kicked in and out came dinner and ALL the red, red, wine.
In mid-act, don't you know.
Gives a whole new meaning to the term "blow-job" huh?
Woke up this morning to discover we'd had some pretty nasty storms about 50 miles from here, with tornadoes that caused considerable damage. Good thing it wasn't around here. I slept so soundly I may not have heard the ruckus.
It's that time of year again.
Not to self: get some water and comfy places to sit in the basement ASAP, plus some batteries and a radio. And a flashlight. And candy, maybe a pack of smokes for the hubby. And beer for me, and coloring books and crayons, a bucket ("Better get a Bucket!!!) Can't think the word bucket without images of Monty Python in my head...
Got to hold a really sweet little boy tonight. He's 3 months and all eyes and cheeks. We're in love; he slobbered all over me and tried to nurse my shoulder, jacket, face, his own clothes and my finger. Then he said "grunt" and "coo". He got really still when I sang him a song nice a soft right beside his ear. I think he liked it. Maybe I just stunned him with my awesomely bad frog-voice imitation. He is at the tonsure-stage: No hair on top, a little fringe in the front, and a line around the edges. I think he said he wanted to move in with me. Or maybe he said "will you change my bowel movement?"
Took care of my baby fever for at least a couple of years, it did.
Said Re-Pete, holding out the pointy finger of her right hand.
"Oh, no way", sez I, stepping back.
"Hee, hee, hee" as she runs off.
Just what are they learning at school these days? Or did she get that from her father?
I got out of work a little early today and decided to head to the gym early as well. So I'm trying a new routine on the elliptical, which is way cool, BTW.
I'm really moving, sweating, legs going, heart at it's top rate, music in my ears, when I start to smell something funny, like electrical tape burning. I look out the door, cuz I'm pretty close there, and see the owner talking to somebody at the back of his pickup.
I think, "Dang, what are they doing?" Meanwhile, the three other people in there (all guys) don't really notice anything, so I ignore it. Since I've quit smoking (3 1/2 years, baby!) my sense of smell is acute. I'm still ellipsing like a mad woman and the smell gets even stronger, so I look around.
The ceilings in this place are pretty high, 20 feet maybe. I see smoke at the top in the corner. So I gets my ass off the ellipsy and say out the door, "Hey, smoke over there"
45 days of school left, 45 days of school left!!!
The last 9 weeks, gonna be great! We're doing electricity and magnetism and radioactivity, but then we'll have a little extra time to play with... hmm, I wonder what kind of project we can come up with?
And then!
DISNEY WORLD!!!
Supergurl was assimilated into our household last night. Both the girls, but especially Re-Pete, took her over. Pete was telling great stories and really animated. Re-Pete took up residence next to SG, then got closer and closer and closer until she was in her lap, head on chest, looking like an orphan. Damn, that girl can play a crowd. I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed.
But SG came and left so fast (it seemed really fast, anyway) that she actually spawned a tornado and we ended up in the basement for about twenty minutes.
No, really. The sirens went off and down in the basement we went.
Seems a tornado touched down a little north of us. Mostly rural areas, said Weather.com. I hope that meant only trees and such and not mainly poor people.
Cya, gotta go to the beach!
My Nephew made it home from Iraq this week, he is safe in North Carolina. I'm proud of him for doing what he did, but I am so very thankful that he is home.
Oh.my.Word. Went to the gym tonight and there's this Hottie there....
{{fanning self}}
Damn. I like working out.
The girls and I were running late last night for Family Reading Night. We were hoofing it to the car when one of my students drove by, honked and waved.
Now, I don't live in the community I work in, rather in the next little community. I can't go to the store without seeing one of my students, but my home has been not a secret, but not known. We like it that way. Work is separate for me. But this kid saw me walking the dog one day, and, well, there you go. Of course, he delights in announcing to the class that he knows where I live, and has even talked to me after school and knows what my dog looks like.
I'm not sure if he's trying to boast to curry favor or sell the information to the highest bidder.
After he drove by, the conversation went like this:
Pete: Who was that?
Mom: One of my students.
Pete:How does he know where we live?
Mom: He just drove past us, and waved.
Pete: How did he know it was you?
Mom: (Bou blink) He knows what I look like and recognized me?
Oh, well. I guess she can't be a genius all the time.
***for some reason I cannot format this the way I want it. Maybe because I've been up too long and all my brains leaked out.***
A day without music is a sad event here at HofUK. We listen all the time.
Currently, it's Puddle of Mud, some rocker guys. I like his voice, some of the
songs are pretty good, some lame-O. Control is pretty racy...
checkit
I love the way you look at me
I feel the pain you place inside
Lock me
up inside ya dirty cage
While Im alone inside my mind
I like to teach
you all the rules
Id get to see them set in stone
I like it when you
chain me to the bed
There ya secrets never shone
I love the way you look at me
I love the way you smack my ass
I love the dirty things you do
I have control of you
Now summertimes here babe, need somethin to keep you coolI don't think they were really talking about frozen
Ah now summertimes
here babe, need somethin to keep you cool
Better look out now though, daves
got somethin for you
Tell ya what it is
Im your ice cream man, stop me
when Im passin by
Oh my my, Im your ice cream man, stop me when Im passin by
See now all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
Hold on a second babyI got good lemonade, ah, dixie cups
All flavors and push ups too
Im your ice cream man, baby, stop me when Im passin by
See now all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
Hold on, one more
Well, Im usually passin by just about eleven oclock
Uh huh, I never stop, Im usually passin by, just around eleven oclock
And if you let me cool you one time, youll be my regular stop
All right boys
And the HAIR!
We let our son choose his hair styles and color, but at least he didn't look
like his little sister cut it. I swear, If my son came home with his hair
the way some of my kids wear it, I'd just have to pay for another year of
therapy and tell him he looked fucking stupid.
and what's up with grammar these days? I don't even want to think
about the "To the Left" song.
But what really gets my grits right now is Fergie and her Big
Girls Don't Cry. I'm not posting a link. But really. Comparing lover to a
baby blanket?
I'm speechless.
Music is art. A way of communicating beauty and feelings and
whatnot. I'm sure there are more poetic ways to say it (Joan and Eric can
step in here with a line or 4), but music should convey intelligent
thought, or at least sentience. There's nothing wrong with a little double
entendre, but it should at least be above elementary school level.
Seriously, though. I worry. What does it say about our culture,
future, presence, if this kind of crap is mainstream? Just how dumb will our grandchildren be?
Something took up residence in the back of my throat yesterday- Hobgoblins, Fortnits, Shetani, Woolyboogers, Boggarts, I knoweth not. But they're busy little fuckers. Scratching and clawing at my uvula and Eustachian tubes. Little bastards. I shot 'em with Tylenol and Phenol (I think they still put that in Chloraseptic) and several Throat Drops. Now, for the lack of any other weapons, I'm scalding them with hot coffee. Somehow they've gotten through the layers between throat and muscle and are making my neck and shoulders ache. Lousy bastards. And I was clean today, and go shopping for groceries. Maybe even to the park.
