So here I am- going back to finish my degree and schooling my son at home; too busy to think straight and taking a crash course in time management on the job.  At first I thought I had the hang of it but perhaps I flew too high because now I am melting.  Plummeting towards the sea with the wind screaming in my ears and definitely smelling smoke. 

I am contemplating important and complex things in life, such as - to facebook or not to facebook.  I have actually started to start a few times but aborted.  Still I cannot stand MySpace anymore; we went there to be underground and now it's front page is plastered with advertisements of what is commercial and popular; garbage.  I think soon I will move out and perhaps transfer my few movie and book reviews here to LJ. 

I should wait a couple of weeks.  Finals are pressing upon me and I have difficulty breathing.

I am deeply concerned about global warming, efficient and conservative use of energy and resources and good stewardship of our environment in general and all the time.  It is so frustraiting to me because I believe we have the technology and while upfront costs can be intimidating to some it saves money in the long run.  In our society we are all about paying for things we cannot afford anyway - like homes and education...  why not more efficient cars and solar for the roof - or whatever is appropriate for the area.  We could all have those little drving efficiency meters in our cars.  That could be a simple place to start. 

I am not sure it is possible to reverse the damage but we can certainly change the trend of our behavior.  There is no reason we cannot do that and no reason that it will not atleast help the situation... even if it has already unraveled too far.  We won;t know that for sure until we change the way we do things.  This could be the doorway to that awsome futureistic future we were all promised when we were kids.

I want to travel back in time to Baltimore, MD; the night E.A. Poe dies.  I would like to be with him before he disappears.  I would obviously like to meet him at some point.  Yet somehow I see myself shadowing him and looking out for him.  I don't have grandiose visions that I could save him.  But I know I would try.  It always seemed such a waste and I want to know what happened.  A mystery there is.

Just because you know it is stupid, this doesn't protect you from it's consequences.

I just read an article on Reuters Oddly enough: 

"Most Britons have lied about the books they read"

Somehow that doesn't really surprise me.  I have a hard time picturing this as a trend amongst  Americans.  I wonder if anyone has done a similar study here.  I picture Americans more likely to lie about what Movies they have or have not watched.  

These are the Top Ten Books fictitiously read:

1. 1984 - George Orwell (42 %)

2. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (31 %)

3. Ulysses - James Joyce (25 %)

4. The Bible (24 %)

5. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (16 %)

6. A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking (15 %)

7. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (14 %)

8. In Remembrance of Things Past - Marcel Proust (9 %)

9. Dreams from My Father - Barack Obama (6 %)

10. The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins (6 %)

(I have read only four of these, in their entirety:  1984, The Bible,  Madame Bovary, and A Brief History of Time.  Kind of makes me look at this as sort of a British recommended reading list.)  

So you out there (is there anybody out there?).  Have you ever lied about having read a book?  (um... Other than for a reading assignment at school or University.)

So my husband and a close friend and I just watched "The Bucket List" which I have been wanting to see for some time.  It being a Friday, Redbox was out of all the movies that we had in mind, but still had "The Bucket List" which I didn't try to push for but mentioned as a possibility.  Bless my friend he insisted right away, probably because he knew I really wanted to see it.  We all really enjoyed it.  It was entertaining; funny and just philosophical enough if you want it to be to leave one feeling satisfied at the conclusion. 

It was also a great movie for quotes.  One I liked was "Like smoke through a keyhole" in response to an observation about how fast 45 years goes by.  My friend picked out another quote, I am having trouble remembering because my brain can only hold so much data in active memory at once... mmm... (I will try to ask him tommorrow and fill it in later.)  Also I think it had the best ending line ever, it was something like; "I am pretty sure he was happy with his final resting place, which was illegal."  

So after the movie I suggested we all list at least one thing that would be on our "Bucket List".
( Our Brief Bucket List )

...and that is why I believe it will really work. 

( This is why... ) 

If you would like to get involved - http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

 ...so very fortunate that our good friend came to have sushi and chicken fried rice (and green tea) with us last Friday on his birthday.  Also he was born in a significant year to me.  I am one of those paranoid, watch out for government conspiracy types.  Except I do not usually believe these things are orchestrated by a central master mind.  I think events, technologies, general ignorance etc. conspires to leave grand openings for opportunists; sometimes just looking for the quick buck for themselves and their buddies.  But I get off topic. 

So, we had fortune cookies.  (I have heard these are an American invention, but I am sure they are meant to represent or symbolize some aspect or aspects of Chinese culture or at least what we expect from that culture for us.  I think it would be neat if all cookies had a saying from one of the oriental philosophers.  I can imagine the inventor of the fortune cookie using Confucious  quips and sniggering to himself (in a good spirited way) watching what the Americans make of it. 

So mine just said
"You are filled with a sense of urgency.  Be patient or you may end up confused." 
(I am indeed lately filled with a sense of urgency.  I could ascribe it to this or that but it is applicable to almost every aspect of my life.  It is currently a way of being in the world and I want to calm down.  In fact, I am starting to not sleep because of this feeling of urgency even though my logic and desire demand sleep.)  As for the rest of it, I am sure it is good advice but I am not sure what I need to be patient about because I haven't yet figured out what is triggering this urgency.  I need to recognize the root of it to be able to diffuse it.  I am just confused about the end.  (What will I be confused about? - see part 2; finding the root of urgency.)  

Morgan's the spirited short person's cookie said - "Eat ME!"  (to him anyway).  The paper inside of it said: 
"When things go wrong, don't go with them."
I do not care to explain how very much he needs that advice now. 

And our guest of honor for his birthday as he approaches a major fulcrum in his life, a sort of portal - his reluctant (he was reluctant, the cookie didn't mind either way) fortune said, and I quote: 
"When working towards the solution to a problem,
it always helps if you know the answer."

The looks that passed across his face were priceless and the only response we gave was "Indeed!"

BrainWorkout includes Memory, Math, Keeping Count with additions and subtractions and change counting in Pounds and Pense.

Armor Academy - Logic Word Puzzles 

Please feel free to recommend your favorite brain warming games below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAKoU_W_mf8

Or; Man, how could I be so DUMB?

  (To the Editorial Staff of Mother Earth News, in repsonse to their 
  holiday card depeicting Santa changing Rudolph's nose to a CF):
 
  Dear Mother,
 
  It's sad that you - of all publications - are oblivious to the serious 
  environmental implications of fluorescent lighting.  Ever hear of mercury?  
  Know what 'safe' levels of exposure are?  ZERO.  Know that if a kid breaks 
  a floures bulb in their bedroom, that room becomes a toxic waste site?  
  Ever THINK about what happens to the mercury in the bulb after it burns out?
  Uh-huh, it winds up in your tuna, and in your child's (or grandchild's) brain.
 
  C'mon.  We've counted on you for DECADES to tell it like it is.  Do the 
  research, report the real.  Or contact me and I'd gladly submit an article, on 
  approval, on the pros and cons of switching to fluorescent lighting.
 
  By the way, Rudolph, as a ruminant, is powered by forage*. In short, Rudolph -
  and his uniquely bio-luminescent nose - are 'solar powered'! 
 
 
  R L M McWilliams
  a fan since the 70's
 
  Writing to you from an are of the US where the heat generated by incandescent 
  bulbs is welcomed nine months out of the year!
 
 
  *Or, rather, by the rumen inhabitants he harbors in his forestomach that 
  actually digest the forage he consumes, providing him with protein in excess 
  of the crude protein content of that forage when they in turn, are digested 
  by Rudolph. Since some of these gut inhabitants are classified as members of 
  the Animal Kingdom, Rudolph is considered by at least some animal nutritionists 
  to be 'an indirect carnivore', but that is fodder for a different article.
 

I just found this nifty new game that is part the "be-jeweled"; clear the board, puzzle type game and part "warcraft"; choose which minions to create based on available resources and destroy you enemy.  The atmosphere feels a little "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (the books, oh so different in feel than the movie) meets "Harry Potter"in that the Head of the school, the mentor has been killed and now there is a strong rivalry between two students and things just keep getting worse and the humor is dark.  

Nice game play.  I like that it stretches the multi-tasking brain muscles that in me are SO weak because you need to be able to think on different levels and are constantly solving at least two sets of problems at once; they seem to add more layers as one goes on. The story is good.  Imagery dark; after all you are a student necromancer.  The game may take some time depending on how skilled you are or how well and how fast your brain processes multiple levels.

Enjoy:
<a href="http://www.whirled.com/#games-d_827">Corpse Craft</a> 

(um not sure why that link above isn't working as intended... it still works but I am too tired to figure it out now.)

I have been doing Gift Wrap for a couple of days and was told that I may choose any color ribbon for each package.  Most of the ribbon are almost white and there was one silvery green.  One day a woman more in charge though I don't know her exact rank held up a dark red package with the silvery green ribbon and firmly told everyone only to use the green ribbon with the green stripped paper.  I had actually been avoiding that combination as tacky and unsophisticated.  I prefered and Ivory instead.  There is also a gold paper and the only color ribbon I liked on it was the green.  I also though it looked nice on the red.  Usually I don't care for red and green but these were not the usual bright plastic hues we normally see at Christmas time. 

Later upon needing to use a green box I asked this individual what color ribbon I was supposed to use.  She looked at me quizically and I refered to her dictate about the green ribbon and stripped paper.  She said I could use whatever but we want the packages to look nice.  (I swallowed my tounge here.)  I put so much thought into appropriate color combinations.  Arugh!  Ok.  I'm done now.