"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." Robert Burns, "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough", 1785.
Clearly my blogging plans went agley for the past several years. And now I'm back...peeking around my blog to see if everything is still where I left it, brushing the cobwebs from the corners, and finding a few mouse-nibbled holes where links have disappeared or now return a 404.
My original intent for this blog was to create a space to express myself in writing, and to develop a catalog of resources and ideas that speak to my interest in words, linguistics and computers. Somehow I lost sight of my need for this mental and virtual space - I guess I became caught up in the day-to-day activities of the past several years, the intensity of working with the wonderful international students and staff at my last job, and the life events of buying our first home, getting married, losing close family members, and regaining others.
Now with career changes in progress for both me and His Geekness, I've rediscovered the urge (and need) to occupy an online presence... and I've realized how much I miss writing. Bear with me while I dust off my lexicon, stretch my creative fingers, and reconnect the "writer" wiring in my brain. Perhaps that has been mouse-nibbled too.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Life is like Kilroy
Kilroy is finally back on the road. After a full year of resting despondently under the carport, he's zooming around town, chirping away like a good beetle, and spreading joy wherever he goes.
Born in 1962 and with heavens knows how many miles on his odometer, he's no doubt seen and been through a lot. At least two previous owners have tinkered away under his decklid, in his interior, with his wiring harness, and with his paint (he was originally brick red, not daffodil yellow). I'm sure they had the best of intentions and did the best job they knew how to do with the tools they had at the time, but they screwed up a few things.
Removing the plunger on the bypass cutoff valve (for whatever reason) was not good for Kilroy. Poor little guy had no way of blocking the fuel flow, not even for a moment. No wonder he was hard to start when parked on an uphill slope. And no wonder he got crappy gas mileage (for a beetle, anyway).
Messing up the firing order was not good either. One might think that incorrect firing order would prohibit an engine from running, but despite the fact that the number 1 plug wire was actually connected to the number 3 plug, and vice versa, Kilroy did a damn good job of firing up and running. And he did so for at least 5 months after I bought him. What a trooper.
Now that Kilroy has a shiny new carburetor, his engine is wired correctly, and he's had a nice long rest, he's running like a champ and is much peppier than before. We're having a ball driving to and from work, around town, and down the freeway where we can keep up with traffic now.
The next big job will be replacing his wiring harness. I wonder what issues that process will raise.
Born in 1962 and with heavens knows how many miles on his odometer, he's no doubt seen and been through a lot. At least two previous owners have tinkered away under his decklid, in his interior, with his wiring harness, and with his paint (he was originally brick red, not daffodil yellow). I'm sure they had the best of intentions and did the best job they knew how to do with the tools they had at the time, but they screwed up a few things.
Removing the plunger on the bypass cutoff valve (for whatever reason) was not good for Kilroy. Poor little guy had no way of blocking the fuel flow, not even for a moment. No wonder he was hard to start when parked on an uphill slope. And no wonder he got crappy gas mileage (for a beetle, anyway).
Messing up the firing order was not good either. One might think that incorrect firing order would prohibit an engine from running, but despite the fact that the number 1 plug wire was actually connected to the number 3 plug, and vice versa, Kilroy did a damn good job of firing up and running. And he did so for at least 5 months after I bought him. What a trooper.
Now that Kilroy has a shiny new carburetor, his engine is wired correctly, and he's had a nice long rest, he's running like a champ and is much peppier than before. We're having a ball driving to and from work, around town, and down the freeway where we can keep up with traffic now.
The next big job will be replacing his wiring harness. I wonder what issues that process will raise.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Linguistics Wisdom from ESL Students
I have the joy and challenge of teaching some newly-arrived Saudi Arabian students this term. Some nuggets of knowledge from my two most opinionated, outspoken male Saudi students:
Day 1: "Cooking for women only".
"Fashion magazines for women only".
Day 2: "English? Very easy".
"I like read Shakespeare, Dickens". (in Reading for Beginners)
Day 3: "English in America and Australia? Same".
"I read there only 85 words different".
"Linguistics? That mean grammar".
Day 1 through 6: (in response to a "what does the word '____' mean?")
Random exclamations of the same word, words that sound similar, words that come next in the dictionary.
E.g. "What does the word 'comprehend' mean?"
"Comprehend".
"It mean comprehend".
"Compare".
"Conflict".
"Contradict".
"Agree disagree". (not sure where he was going with this - but it's a handy answer, apparently, for most questions)
Day 6: "Teacher, I want know your opinion about book Da Vinci Code"
"Teacher, what mean word 'hijack'?"
Day 7: with a look of utter resignation: "English very difficult. Every day something new".
I'm glad I didn't strangle them on Day 1, or Day 3. It seems they are coming around. And I have great anecdotes to share when I get home.
Day 1: "Cooking for women only".
"Fashion magazines for women only".
Day 2: "English? Very easy".
"I like read Shakespeare, Dickens". (in Reading for Beginners)
Day 3: "English in America and Australia? Same".
"I read there only 85 words different".
"Linguistics? That mean grammar".
Day 1 through 6: (in response to a "what does the word '____' mean?")
Random exclamations of the same word, words that sound similar, words that come next in the dictionary.
E.g. "What does the word 'comprehend' mean?"
"Comprehend".
"It mean comprehend".
"Compare".
"Conflict".
"Contradict".
"Agree disagree". (not sure where he was going with this - but it's a handy answer, apparently, for most questions)
Day 6: "Teacher, I want know your opinion about book Da Vinci Code"
"Teacher, what mean word 'hijack'?"
Day 7: with a look of utter resignation: "English very difficult. Every day something new".
I'm glad I didn't strangle them on Day 1, or Day 3. It seems they are coming around. And I have great anecdotes to share when I get home.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
How to Lose a Voice in 5 Days
The following must be completed after a lengthy, relaxing vacation during which little time is spent around other people. This ensures little immunity to any germs other than those brought home by immediate family members.
Day 1. Start a new teaching job - preferably one that includes students newly arrived from foreign countries. They bring with them all those nasty airplane germs.
Day 4. Call in sick due to a fever and extremely sore throat. Worry about whether your new job will still be there tomorrow.
Day 5. Still have your job? Great! Today, be sure to overcompensate for your sick day by talking too much. Students don't need to work alone - they need to engage in facilitated discussion. And they really do love your jokes!
After work on your 5th day, pick up some friends for a road trip. Be sure to ask them lots of questions on the drive. With the radio on. That way you can demonstrate how loud you can talk.
Arrive at your destination and meet new people at a BBQ. Tell them all about yourself and be witty and engaging.
Join a band and spend the next 5 hours singing, yelling, and making stupid jokes into a microphone. In a smoke-filled bar. (If there are no smokers, you might want to burn incense. A lot of it). To speed along the process, frequently move between the hot, stuffy, smoky bar and the chilly outdoors.
Attend an after party and verbally spar with your bandmates. Become passionate and argue - this leads to increased volume and therefore increased strain on your voice.
Find a hotel room with a hot-tub. Sleep on the carpeted floor where the mold and dust can most easily gain access to your breathing passages.
Day 6. Wake up sounding like Patty and Selma. Be prepared for new nicknames. And to hone your skill at charades.
Day 1. Start a new teaching job - preferably one that includes students newly arrived from foreign countries. They bring with them all those nasty airplane germs.
Day 4. Call in sick due to a fever and extremely sore throat. Worry about whether your new job will still be there tomorrow.
Day 5. Still have your job? Great! Today, be sure to overcompensate for your sick day by talking too much. Students don't need to work alone - they need to engage in facilitated discussion. And they really do love your jokes!
After work on your 5th day, pick up some friends for a road trip. Be sure to ask them lots of questions on the drive. With the radio on. That way you can demonstrate how loud you can talk.
Arrive at your destination and meet new people at a BBQ. Tell them all about yourself and be witty and engaging.
Join a band and spend the next 5 hours singing, yelling, and making stupid jokes into a microphone. In a smoke-filled bar. (If there are no smokers, you might want to burn incense. A lot of it). To speed along the process, frequently move between the hot, stuffy, smoky bar and the chilly outdoors.
Attend an after party and verbally spar with your bandmates. Become passionate and argue - this leads to increased volume and therefore increased strain on your voice.
Find a hotel room with a hot-tub. Sleep on the carpeted floor where the mold and dust can most easily gain access to your breathing passages.
Day 6. Wake up sounding like Patty and Selma. Be prepared for new nicknames. And to hone your skill at charades.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Silly Random Quizzes
While drinking coffee and trying to wake up, I've been surfing around and found myself on Miss's 360 page *wave* - and was too sleepy still to avoid clicking on the 3 question personality quiz (which was indeed accurate for both Miss and myself - I'm one of those sappy ones).
The inanity of some of these quizzes cracks me up. Apparently I'm 34% sociopath, 68% "average American", I would fail the U.S. Citizenship test, my 1920s name is Violette Liota, and my inner child is "surprised". How's all that for inaccurate!!?? (Okay, I like the name Violette, but I'm much more than 34% sociopath! Dammit! Must...set...fire...to...neighbour....)
My favourite result, based solely on my name and gender, and changing completely each time I refreshed the page, was:
***My Superhero Profile***
My Superhero Name is The Winter Fly
My Superpower is Meditation
My Weakness is Atomic Explosions
My Weapon is Your Silver Analyzer
My Mode of Transportation is Kayak
What's your Superhero Name?http://www.blogthings.com/superheronamegenerator/
I'm off to meditate in my kayak.
The Winter Fly
The inanity of some of these quizzes cracks me up. Apparently I'm 34% sociopath, 68% "average American", I would fail the U.S. Citizenship test, my 1920s name is Violette Liota, and my inner child is "surprised". How's all that for inaccurate!!?? (Okay, I like the name Violette, but I'm much more than 34% sociopath! Dammit! Must...set...fire...to...neighbour....)
My favourite result, based solely on my name and gender, and changing completely each time I refreshed the page, was:
***My Superhero Profile***
My Superhero Name is The Winter Fly
My Superpower is Meditation
My Weakness is Atomic Explosions
My Weapon is Your Silver Analyzer
My Mode of Transportation is Kayak
What's your Superhero Name?http://www.blogthings.com/superheronamegenerator/
I'm off to meditate in my kayak.
The Winter Fly
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Blogging Blahs
Obviously I've lost any motivation whatsoever to blog - for months. I read other blogs and I both smirk and retch at the effluence of pretentious, self-indulgent babble - and wonder if others do the same at mine.
But since my little trackery thing tells me that a few people do pop in to see if I'm still alive (or perhaps they stumble upon my blog by sheer accident), I guess I still have an audience *wave*- and that in itself motivates me to write. 'Cuz the only writing I've done lately has been academic fluff (I can still pull an A out of my arse at the eleventh hour) or emotionally-charged journal entries - and ain't nobody gonna read those!
I've been a hermit of late. After struggling to the finish line of school, I've taken the last two weeks to do nothing productive, and it's been quite lovely. I've not yet mastered the art of total relaxation and so have spring-cleaned the living-room and kitchen, defrosted the chest freezer (which had become a solid block of ice), and started a cross-stitch project. But the rest of my time has been spent playing computer games, watching movies, reading fiction for fun, and sleeping. I love sleeping.
During this time, though, my mind has been steadily chugging away, shifting from school mode to work mode as I commence my latest job search.
I'm also finding myself more at peace with, and enjoying observable results from, the emotional and mental processing I've done over the last several months: reframing the events of my childhood and my life so far, clarifying my personal values and beliefs, and consciously choosing my responses instead of reacting from a place of repressed emotion - exhausting effort, but oh-so-worth it!
But since my little trackery thing tells me that a few people do pop in to see if I'm still alive (or perhaps they stumble upon my blog by sheer accident), I guess I still have an audience *wave*- and that in itself motivates me to write. 'Cuz the only writing I've done lately has been academic fluff (I can still pull an A out of my arse at the eleventh hour) or emotionally-charged journal entries - and ain't nobody gonna read those!
I've been a hermit of late. After struggling to the finish line of school, I've taken the last two weeks to do nothing productive, and it's been quite lovely. I've not yet mastered the art of total relaxation and so have spring-cleaned the living-room and kitchen, defrosted the chest freezer (which had become a solid block of ice), and started a cross-stitch project. But the rest of my time has been spent playing computer games, watching movies, reading fiction for fun, and sleeping. I love sleeping.
During this time, though, my mind has been steadily chugging away, shifting from school mode to work mode as I commence my latest job search.
I'm also finding myself more at peace with, and enjoying observable results from, the emotional and mental processing I've done over the last several months: reframing the events of my childhood and my life so far, clarifying my personal values and beliefs, and consciously choosing my responses instead of reacting from a place of repressed emotion - exhausting effort, but oh-so-worth it!
Monday, April 10, 2006
March Madness
Yes, I know it's April. March is gone. I completely missed it. Went a little mad (as in crazy) and before I knew it, it was today. Thus the title.
Causes of my madness are in the process of being qualitatively described and prioritized in order of impact (although the valency of any given causal factor is liable to shift dramatically with changes in mood, sleep levels, chocolate intake, and the weather).
Results of my madness are as follows:
# of crayon pictures drawn = 47
# of songs written = 2 (given that I haven't written a song since high school, this is actually pretty impressive)
# of "Me" posters created = 1, lovingly mounted in the hallway (through which I pass several times a day) by His Geekness.
# of magazines harvested for pics for my "Me" Poster = 32
# of Munchkin "Me" posters created = 0.5 (8 and 10 year old munchkins really don't seem to care that much about making a poster to reconnect with their inner child - go figure!)
# of winter term classes passed with a B or better = 2
# of winter classes not passed = 1 (and it was Relaxation Yoga - I just couldn't manage to get myself out of my warm, comfy bed on time to go nap with a bunch of strangers on a sweat-stinky wrestling room floor. Given that this is the first class I've EVER failed, this is also pretty impressive. How many people do you know who've failed naptime??)
# of 1962 VW Beetles who sat for six months with a totally $%#!ed up carburetor = 1
# of 1962 VW Beetles who finally got a new carb bought for them = 1
# of 1962 VW Beetles who also got an oil change! = 1
# of 1962 VW Beetles with mold growing on their carpet and seat = 1
# of 1962 VW Beetles who are happy to be taken care of again = 1
# of new outfits I discovered in my closet when I looked beyond the black sweaters and jeans = infinite!
# of electric guitars that now belong to me = 1 (and her name is Glennda, named after The Old Fart, my Dad)
# of electric guitars I haven't smashed in a wild frenzy of "oi oi oi" = 1
# of guitar chords I can play = still only 3
# of relaxing, rejuvenating, reconnecting retreats enjoyed = 1
Qualitative results of my period of madness include all those mushy things, like a stronger, happier, more intimate relationship with His Geekness; more confidence in myself as a parent; more patience with my munchkins; more passion for, and in, my music; more laughter and singing - and most importantly, a greater sense of ME. Yay!!
Causes of my madness are in the process of being qualitatively described and prioritized in order of impact (although the valency of any given causal factor is liable to shift dramatically with changes in mood, sleep levels, chocolate intake, and the weather).
Results of my madness are as follows:
# of crayon pictures drawn = 47
# of songs written = 2 (given that I haven't written a song since high school, this is actually pretty impressive)
# of "Me" posters created = 1, lovingly mounted in the hallway (through which I pass several times a day) by His Geekness.
# of magazines harvested for pics for my "Me" Poster = 32
# of Munchkin "Me" posters created = 0.5 (8 and 10 year old munchkins really don't seem to care that much about making a poster to reconnect with their inner child - go figure!)
# of winter term classes passed with a B or better = 2
# of winter classes not passed = 1 (and it was Relaxation Yoga - I just couldn't manage to get myself out of my warm, comfy bed on time to go nap with a bunch of strangers on a sweat-stinky wrestling room floor. Given that this is the first class I've EVER failed, this is also pretty impressive. How many people do you know who've failed naptime??)
# of 1962 VW Beetles who sat for six months with a totally $%#!ed up carburetor = 1
# of 1962 VW Beetles who finally got a new carb bought for them = 1
# of 1962 VW Beetles who also got an oil change! = 1
# of 1962 VW Beetles with mold growing on their carpet and seat = 1
# of 1962 VW Beetles who are happy to be taken care of again = 1
# of new outfits I discovered in my closet when I looked beyond the black sweaters and jeans = infinite!
# of electric guitars that now belong to me = 1 (and her name is Glennda, named after The Old Fart, my Dad)
# of electric guitars I haven't smashed in a wild frenzy of "oi oi oi" = 1
# of guitar chords I can play = still only 3
# of relaxing, rejuvenating, reconnecting retreats enjoyed = 1
Qualitative results of my period of madness include all those mushy things, like a stronger, happier, more intimate relationship with His Geekness; more confidence in myself as a parent; more patience with my munchkins; more passion for, and in, my music; more laughter and singing - and most importantly, a greater sense of ME. Yay!!
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