The Colosseum was, frankly, collossal. Spellcheck says it was colossal, but I think it was collossal. The whole concept — the Roman Empire building such amazing structures 2000 years ago, piecing together a thriving civilization that lasted 1000 years itself, that then promptly went to crap – the scale of it all blew a collossal hole in my mind. Apparently, an empire built with an unlimited number of slaves can lead to high productivity, but on the flip side, also to one’s eventual demise.
But before that slide down the slippery slope, the Romans built a spectacle on par with today’s new Dallas Cowboys stadium, using the technological equivalent of some chisels and the wheel. The accomplishment prompts deep thoughts.
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The day we visited the Colosseum, it was sunny. We did not see much more sun that week, but considering it had snowed in Rome for the first time in 25 years just the week before our visit? A little drizzle and clouds posed no significant problem.
Plus, we had not seen the sun in our hometown for many moons. So, in a way, it felt more like home to have it be a bit dreary. The sky remained cloudy here for the two weeks following our return. Then, last week, something happened — the sun came out and remained out for the next seven days. Someone Somewhere flipped the Spring switch. And it has been glorious: that long drink of cold water when you are thirsty, a warm hug from above, insert other soaring metaphors here… because there is nothing quite like Spring to follow a long winter, including a February that by a bizarre mega-leap year phenomenon ended up being 87 days long.
And along with the sun, finally, came the first blooms of the season for my crocus.
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OK, spellcheck, I see your point — colossal has nothing to do with size.
I took Latin in high school. It was part of my master plan to start with Latin, as the basis for learning several of the Romance languages. You know — Italian, French, Spanish… because I would use all of those someday. Because at age 14, everything seemed possible and there was so much time coming down the pike that throwing in a few extra languages should not be a problem as I launched my brilliant career.
It’s only been a little over thirty years, and I have not gotten around to that little romance language project yet, but no worries. I still have the podcast Italian language course on my ipod, and if I get right on that, I’ll be caught up in no time.
But, back to Latin. Sure, it was considered a “dead language”. It did not have any applicability to what would turn out to be a career in marketing management and the food industry, which made Latin a nonsensical curriculum choice in the 1980’s. But at the time, it represented endless possibilities.
Here we are decades later, and the trip to Rome brought me back to those Latin classes over and over. Not that I could read most of the Latin inscriptions on the monuments and the art. My conversational Latin had been limited to phrases such as “The girl is standing by the aqueduct”, which does not come up much. Because we did not go see the aqueduct. Otherwise I would have been set.
We did see the Tiber River, and that always figured prominently in the lessons: “Romulus and Remus sat by the Tiber River…”, that kind of thing. The Tiber looked just as I had pictured. A no-nonsense kind of river. That’s why I took a picture of a bridge instead of the brown water.
And this little guy has been watching over the river since before high school Latin classes were invented.
Romulus and Remus are popular figures in the art and lore of Rome. Their likenesses grace many postcards and are sold at most souvenir stands, along with their “mother”. According to Roman mythology, they are the traditional founders of Rome. In addition, they hold the distinction of being “pre-eminent among the famous feral children in mythology and fiction”, or so says wikipedia. And that is saying something, because those feral children can get quite famous. Which all just serves to remind me that when they say truth is stranger than fiction? Sometimes it is true, but not always.
And the Latin? It turns out it is not dead yet. More on that later.
I was cleaning out my in-boxes (the email one and the one with papers overflowing), when I found something I’d like to share.
Wait, that is just a picture of my in-box, along with a reminder to remember the important things in life. Here is what I really want to share — a video that reminds me of someone special.
Now, there are harmonica players, and then there are harmonica players. I have my favorite harmonica musician, but this guy isn’t bad either. Enjoy the music! (Doesn’t it make you want to take a deep breath?)
Kids — you can try this at home. Grandpas — make sure you have an oxygen tank handy first.
It’s Friday, and time to have a little fun. I found this video on the website karmatube.org. It demonstrates a nifty concept from TheFunTheory.com, where they experiment to see if adding fun to mundane tasks can change people’s behavior for the better. Have a look:
That made me smile, because it worked.
I tested a version of this “fun theory” years ago, after reading one of those helpful articles about How To Have A Happy Household. In this case, the suggestion was to make chores *fun* so the kids would be, if not begging to do the chores, at least not complaining about the tasks.
I was dubious, but gave it an enthusiastic try.
“Hey kids, let’s play Laundry Fold-A-Thon! It will be fun!”
{… insert sound of crickets here …}
I read this helpful hint in a parenting magazine, back when I used to subscribe to them. I am pretty sure this particular article was written by someone who did not have any Actual Children.
Now, this new Fun Theory? This one has potential. It’s not just the technology, although boy does that help. It is the cleverness, the innate sense of exploration and wonder that my Chore Cheerleading act did not provide. In retrospect, I now know that if I had simply constructed a Rube Goldberg-type machine to hand each boy a piece of laundry? We could have finished our fold-a-thon in record time*
(*NOTE: chore completion time does not include 187 hour construction time of said machine)
Frequent readers (hi Dad) may recall that December 23rd is a bit of an issue for me. It is usually the breaking point of the self-induced holiday hoopla, and consequently the single most likely day of the year for my head to fall off. This year, I have a personal campaign of positive thoughts to make December 23rd a good day, at least a normal day, at best a calm, peaceful, centered day.
Only two months to go. I have a team of doctors working ’round the clock on this effort, and have enlisted the help of my dog, who is also a helpful sort of gal.
First of all, she has been working on exorcising my inner grinch, which is symbolized by this stuffed grinchy toy. In his June photo, he still had a mischievous look on his face:
Kenzie has been working him over, and showing him who is boss. This must be helpful to me in some subconscious way. I like how he appears to be waving his little grinchy hand to say “uncle, already!”:
After many months, he lost his santa hat (but, sure, not his head), and has sustained a small rip in his leg, which he claims is just a flesh wound…
I think he is a goner, and I am going to be just fine.
Here it is again: a quick round-up of search terms that curious people seeking answers to life’s nagging questions typed into their search engine of choice and ended up on my blog instead…
“Jane Killborn” (hard-core gore thriller author Jack Kilborn’s eccentric aunt?)
“how to get dogs and cats to get along” (remains a mystery to all of us….)
“daily mirror cartoon jane” (can I speak in word bubbles? That would be fun.)
“guinea hen cooked in pig bladder“ (Cool! I actually talked about that one…)
“something important“ (isn’t that a rather vague search phrase?)
“candid tween“ (I get a lot of visitors with that one)
“find my head“ (if you lose your head, can you find it online?)
“zebra sounds“ (being a fan of blogger/author Judy Clement Wall is lucrative)
And, what remains the most popular random link that googlers follow to reach jane, candid??
“pre-wash cycle“
Yes, where upstanding citizens looking for real advice on how to operate the pre-wash cycle on their dishwasher instead find pictures of my dog licking the plates…
As a writer, one likes to think that people visit said blog on purpose — but if I get a candid tween obsessed, guinea hen cookin’ pet whisperer who lost her head because the dishwasher pre-wash was broken? I’ll take it. All are welcome.
I first heard about the 3/50 Project from Judy at the blog Zebra Sounds, my source for all things topical since I don’t watch the news. I should say, my sole televised news source is Jon Stewart, so Judy is in good company. The 3/50 Project is a grass-roots effort to save local economies, three stores at a time. Now Judy lives on the West Coast, where things often happen a”few” years before they meander their way to Ohio… at least that was the case with smoothies.
But shortly after Judy’s post, I was visiting my family in Wisconsin and made my annual pilgrimage to my favorite coffee shop in WI, Mud Creek Coffee. Mud Creek opened a couple years ago, and I was delighted but dubious that the concept could make it in a small town in today’s economy. Every time I drive up there and Mud Creek is still open, I always stop and frankly just want to throw buckets of money through the drive-through window and say “Please make it!” because it is such a cool little coffee shop and I would be sad if it was gone.
Which is exactly the idea behind 3/50.
On this last trip, my Dear Sister and I went to Mud Creek for a relaxing afternoon break and what did I find on the counter but a flyer for the 3/50 Project. So I figure, if the concept made it there already, it is time for my town to get on board!
1. Pick three independently owned (brick and mortar) local businesses you’d miss most if they were gone.
2. Commit to spending $50 a month at these three businesses (that’s $50 total, NOT $50 each…)
3. Help save your town’s independent stores, one person at a time.
Now don’t get me wrong — I enjoy the immediacy and ease of on-line shopping, big box store bargain-hunting (I am a Costco addict), and all the other many chains that make shopping and eating out so convenient. I know that at this point there is no way that the majority of my family’s expenditures can be sourced through local independent vendors. But $50 a month of money I was going to spend somewhere else anyway? That I can do. It’s easy and just feels right.
So, here is my list to start on September 1st:
1. Tazza Mia Coffee (which I do think is the freshest and best tasting coffee in town.)
2. Troy’s Cafe (a gem of a restaurant with innovative, fun, affordable food in a relaxed atmosphere.)
3. Ace Hardware (I know Ace is a chain, but this is the [last?] little, local hardware store around here, one with every little doohickey and thingamabob for fixing things, and a cute Grandpa-guy clerk who knows where everything is on the tightly packed shelves.)
There. I had to try hard to keep all three choices from being food-related.
So that’s my plan. I would love to hear what three businesses you would pick, and, dear readers, if you are willing to give it a try…
Perhaps it was a function of the pace of our recent vacation; perhaps I was just randomly delirious — but I kept seeing faces in unexpected places. I’ve noticed before that, particularly when I travel, I will suddenly recognize a face in a crowd, then realize it is just someone who looks like someone I know, but not really. I guess my pesky brain tries so hard to put the familiar back into the unfamiliar when I am out of my comfort zone. Those, however, are actually faces.
Turns out I am making stuff up all the time. According to an article from Learnhub, “Sensor vs. Eye – What’s the Difference?, when we think about “seeing” something, we are actually talking about the “eye-brain” system that adds lots of post-processing to what actually comes in the eye.
“Outside that very narrow range, our brain fills in a lot of the details that we think we see from moment to moment, but is actually not being “seen” in the same sense as what’s in the center of view. (Of course, this comment will inevitably beget the philosophical discussion: what does it mean to “see,” exactly?)”
The article goes on to make interesting comparisons to what a camera “sees” and how a photographic image differs from the picture we take in our brain. (Wow! This is almost as interesting as the Quantum Physics Theory of Missing Socks!)
Apparently I have a busy post-processor, because it fills in lots of details. If only my memory was as detail-oriented. The good news is that I saw more smiley faces in inanimate objects than I saw frowns. I think that is a good sign.
It is the one year anniversary of my decision to stop wearing a watch.
This would, on the surface, appear to be an illogical decision. Those who know me personally know that I have long been habitually late. I would joke that I arrived two weeks after my due date (true, my poor mother), and I never made up the lost time. Actually, I became 15 minutes late around seventh grade, and maintained that 15 minutes of tardiness for the next 30 years. It is not really a joke though — it is disrespectful to all those around me who have to wait for my idiosyncrasies to arrive where I am supposed to be. It also does not set a very good example for my kids. Jeez, how hard can it be to just get somewhere on time?
Without a lot of bothersome self-deprecating commentary here, I do think The Tardinesss is related to perfectionism. I would always glance at my watch and think I must accomplish just thisone more thing before I needed to ________ (insert deadline here). A lethal mix when combined with a sketchy sense of time management and a strong propensity to procrastinate.
So, last summer, I took off my watch and vowed to change a life-long bad habit. Without the crutch of glancing at my wrist and thinking “oh, I must do thatbefore I go”, I had to consciously:
1) seek out the actual time
THEN
2) make choices for what to do next
Occasionally, if I can not find a clock (and my cell phone is once again inexplicably dead), I will still ask strangers for the time. Most people actually look happy to tell me, like it reminds them of a time-gone-by when people actually talked to one another and made eye contact. To increase my chances of a pleasant encounter, I do tend to seek out those who are not texting at the time.
I spent the first weeks of this experiment continuing to look down at my wrist only to see it was a hair past a freckle. But somewhere along the way I found (some of) my lost 15 minutes. I am now only occasionally late, sometimes ON TIME, and a few times I have shocked people by being early. It feels good. It is a time-management work in progress.
I recently found a great article with some tips on how to be on time. Author Dustin Wax shares “10 Ways to Make Yourself More Punctual“. I am going to incorporate more of these nifty tricks into my routine. Just FYI, Dustin is also the author of a useful blog The Writer’s Technology Companion.
And, of course, I need to be remember not to let the pendulum swing too far to the other side. As usual, Gretchen Rubin at the Happiness Project provides excellent perspective, this time for not being too rigid about being on time. She has the opposite problem of never being tardy, but her advice still brings balance to my quest.
So, not sporting a watch is working for me. After wearing one for 30 years, its conspicuous absence is like a string tied around my finger, except with less blood flow restriction. I still have my cuckoo clock, but that does not count, not just because I do not wear it on my wrist, but because it does not actually keep time. It just keeps ticking, which keeps me clicking (on the keys…)
Now if only I could mail cards to arrive on (or before) the desired date… hhhmmmm, maybe it is that crutch, the calendar…?
Yesterday was a milestone day for me — this blog zoomed right past the 5,000 hit mark! I am very grateful that so many people stop by (either accidentally or on purpose) to read my little stories. I suspect my sister may account for about 1,000 of the blog visits, as she is and has always been my biggest fan and most loyal supporter of my every endeavor. Maybe other readers are drawn into the whole dog/cat dichotomy. It’s hard to tell. Either way, it is much, much, much more fun with readers and comments, so keep those cyber cards and letters coming!
One amusing aspect of the wordpress blog statistics is the list I receive of search engine terms that landed people onto jane, candid. People type interesting things into their google-type search engine of choice, and as you know, you never know what will come up in any given search. Here is how some people found this site just today:
noo Gilligan’s Island
clown shoes
iris and her girlfriend carry
kids swimwear 2009
nicest way to say “scaredy pants”
I imagine all these folks were surprised to land here, since other than clown shoes and scaredy-pants, I don’t think I ever mentioned those other topics of interest, and my posts likely did not answer their burning questions. More surprised are the many people who search “pre-wash cycle” in the sincere hope of technical dishwasher advice, and instead find photos of my dog licking off the dirty dishes while the cat watches in disgust. Googlers, beware.
I love doing this blog and I hope the stories can keep you entertained for 5,000 more visits. (That’s cumulative, I don’t expect any of you to come back 5,000 more times. Except maybe my dear, much-loved sister.)
...a sometimes thoughtful, sometimes funny, often irreverent take on motherhood, writing for publication, and myriad creatures that get along like cats and dogs. Mostly, I'm just taking one day at a time, and writing about it.
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