Friday, February 26, 2010

Film (and Forgive me) Friday

So, to my oh-so-faithful-readers (also known as my bestest friends who creep on me), my sincere apologies for breaking my daily blogging discipline - I took an impromptu day off from the internet yesterday because I had a splitting headache and took a nap to feel better rather than making myself feel worse by looking at a LCD screen. Plus, in my tired state of mind, I had no good things to say on "Thoughtful Thursday".

OK. so much for the "Forgive me" part of Friday - now for the film. Today's comes from a fellow blogger and the father of two of the sweetest little girls in existence. I really encourage you to check out his blog, http://blog.hopeforemily.com/

If you do that you will find my video of the week. I found it really easy to understand and extremely eye-opening to what SMA means for kids.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Witty Wendsday

Have you noticed teacher's propensity to assign vocab stories? Did you notice how I used the word propensity in a sentence? Here's 2 of my vocab assignments, one from this year, one from tenth grade. You can see how I have fun with these - enjoy!

English 10 GT
November 27, 2007
A Succinct Statement
Some students do not enjoy writing short stories, which lack rhetoric (Adjective Clause), because when they do all creativity seems to be defunct. There are many dogmatic opinions on this point. Writing short stories (Gerund Phrase) is an abstract assignment that does not requires students to be adroit, and instead forces their originality to be pliable and dictated. Assigning students to write (infinitive phrase) a short story is a cryptic way of telling them that their teacher is bored. Since Mrs. Lawrence, an idyllic English teacher, (Absolute Phrase) has not yet seemed to be bored with her classes, (Adverb Clause) her assigning short stories is ostensibly seen as a peccadillo for which she will not be held accountable. It can be emphatically assured that her logistics for future lessons will circumspect any more short stories, especially since that could cause a pandemic of choleric students rioting against being forced to write baubles of fiction instead of good, factual essays. (Adverb clause) It is expected that palpable results of change will be shown in order to wipe out all memory of this mistake.

Although some students may be against short stories, the philippic statement above is not what I think about writing short stories. I’m actually ebullient about them. I enjoy trying to fit all the vocabulary words into a humorous hodgepodge of sentences!


English 12 AP
Vocab unit 3 - December 2009
Writer’s Block
“This is the story about a girl who…,” I stared at the page blankly. There was a plethora of words to choose from, but an annoying lack of creative topics in my head. The persiflage of my classmates buzzed around my head as I looked at the vocabulary. I knew we were going to be asked to write a story, and generally creative writing was one of my fortes, but I could not write a whole story in just one page. A story needed to have a beginning, middle, and an end, but there was more to well written fiction than only these pragmatic concerns. Good fiction needed plot, character development, dialogue! These factors were not simply ancillary, they were vital to good stories!
As I scribbled down these frustrated thoughts, other students looked at me quizzically. They didn’t recognize that writing, for me, has many therapeutic benefits. I erased the beginning of my story from the top of my page and began again. “This is the tale of Marvin the mountebank, a man who liked to cozen children and rodents with his pipe.” “Well”, I thought, “at least I have a beginning. However, it sounds unusually like The Pied Piper of Hamlin.” Frustrated again, I erased my second attempt.
Resting my chin in my hands, I stared off into the distance as I began to imagine a religious icon who would cause a schism by creating paeans about himself and calling it the Word of God. Now there was a story you could really enjoy. But unfortunately I had run out of time – the bell was ringing and my page was only filled with the restless scribbling of my random mind. Then, when I looked more closely, I realized that I had used several vocabulary words. Quickly, I highlighted them in pink and scrawled my name and a title at the top. “It may not be a story”, I thought, “but at least it is interesting!” That, my friend, is the story of the term, “writer’s block”.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Yesterday I was doing my physics homework and there was a picture of a ballerina leaping into the air to illustrate center of mass changing. My four year old sister came in and was looking over my shoulder, and she asked me, "Where's the nutcracker?"

I was confused at first, but then when she turned the page to see if he was on the next page I figured out that she was talking about the ballet she'd seen with my dad this Christmas. So I had to explain to her that this was my science book, not a ballet story. She said, "Oh. Well, science is pretty!"

I hope she keeps thinking that!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Memory Monday

When I was a little girl, we would go to my grandma's house to meet with my cousins for holidays (like Chinese New Year). One of those times, when I only had four sisters (so at least 10 years ago), my uncle told us a story about five wild girls (me, my two sisters and our two cousins) and how they lived in the woods and how they swung on vines and were, generally, wild. Apparently one day they meet a prince (aka him) who was lost.

At this point the story had several different endings. He started by telling us that the wild girls helped the prince and made him their king, but we protested at this ending and so he started retelling it, having the prince riding through the forest, lost and alone and eventally falling down a waterfall to wait for the wild girls to show pity on him and take him as thier servant. I never heard if they did or not, because at that point my uncle feel of the couch to illustrate his story and it got a little to realistic for my little cousin. She went over and started pulling on his arm and saying, 'Daddy, get up!'

For years after that, when we would get together as a family we'd play "Wild Girls" and plan ways to attack "the prince" (who probably regretted his story after the first telling)

The "Wild Girls" team has been disbanded for six years, but I can still see the first wild girls day very clearly in my head and hear the first time Uncle Dan told us the "Tale of the Wild Girls". I was once of a group of Amazonian women - can you believe it?

Saturday, February 20, 2010

1 John 3:18

"Let us not love with words or tongue but with action and in truth"

This links to a previous post (about saying I love you).
There are lots of different ways to show you love someone (like giving them a blood orange *grin*).
There's also all that literature about the 5 love languages or the eight ways to show love and all that other stuff.
Valentine's day is all about loving with action (gifts mainly, but other stuff as well).

The harder, and therefore more interesting part, is loving in truth. On the memory card that came from my brother's Sunday School, there's a picture of the Bible to represent truth. I've read the whole chapter, and while I'm not totally sure the verse is pointing to that, it's an interesting thought - love someone in truth. Does that mean give them the truth? Tell them the truth? love them like Christ (example from truth)? I have to think about it and read some more before I can truly say! What do you think it means?

Friday, February 19, 2010

First Film Friday

So, I was reading over my last post and I am going to add that if I so choose, I can change Wednesday to Witty Wednesday and/or Friday to Fun Friday or Thursday to Thrilling Thursday in order to get some more amusing things in.

Anyways, today's blurb is on the Brady Girls Getting Married Movie, also known as the Brady Brides. I watched it over the long snow week off with my sisters. It was cute,(I liked Jan's fiancee Philip - he was so nerdy! ^_^) and it's the only Brady Movie that can claim to have all the original cast, which I think is a feat! The movie inspired a short spin-off sitcom that only lasted 10 shows, one of which (the Brady Brides: Newlywed Game) can be found on YouTube, along with the pilot (part 7-9 of the movie on YouTube). The show is kind of funny - I'd like to see the other eight shows just to see how they managed to make so many stories about it. As I was goggle-ing these facts I came across an interesting tidbit - there's a book by Maureen McCormick (aka Marcia Brady). It's called Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice

Turns out that most of the "Brady Family" got tired of doing the show after the first season, and there was a lot of back stage drama about that 'classic American Family'. Several of the kids have revealed these 'secrets' now that they are older in biographies and interviews. Eve Plumb (Jan Brady) says that she and the other cast members have an unwritten pact to be polite to fans but also to never encourage any other forms of revival. With all the spin-offs and popularity, the Brady Bunch has become one of the icons of the seventies that every kid has seen at least once in their life. As with most actors, if you want to enjoy their work, you should NOT investigate their private lives.

However, if you like the Brady Bunch, the Brady Brides movie, in my mid, was a fitting end to the series (Although, apprently in a later film Jan and Philip adopt a Chinese baby to be multi-cultural, which I think is a cool touch, and I know Ginkgo would love it)

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Inspiration

Tuday I was chatting with a friend and she mentioned that it might be hard to keep coming up with ideas for what to say. I don't really think that's the case - my blog is fairly regular and active and I rarely run out of ideas for what to say. This is mostly because I play off of my reading, experience and knowledge and take a brief thought and spin it out for far longer than it needs to be talked about! I also get ideas from other bloggers (like Tiny Talk Tuesday came from a mom blogger I know).

However, if you were trying to start a blog and didn't have any idea, make a pattern for yourself! You might notice the "Quote discipline days" from the link to other blogs on the side of mine - that's a pattern that's been set by that author (who is far more skilled with her pen than I) to blog about quotes when she's reached a lag in her blogging. (to encorage thoughtful ways - that's the link I'm talking about)

Now, having given this advice, I'm going to try to follow it! Here are my plans for next week's blogging (that might extend longer if I can):

Memory Monday -
I'll share a memory, either a funny story from last week or a tale from childhood

Tiny Talk Tuesday -
well, I've already done several of these, basically you post some of the cute/funny things the little ones in your life say to you or things you overhear from kids.

Well-Read Wendsday -
I'll post about something I read, be it book, magazine, blog, whatever.

Thoughtful Thursday -
This will be the day I write those posts about 'deep' things (you know what I mean)

Film Friday -
Julian Smith posts new videos on Fridays, so I will also! YouTube clips or Movies I see will arrive here, along with a commentary about them!

Scripture Saturday -
This is to keep me accountable, because if I am posting about my QT's then I will be sure to do them! Also, this gives me time to memorise and think about the verses.

Slow Down Sunday -
I won't post on Sundays. Let's it be the day I slow down before school on Monday.

That's All! Thanks for Reading!

PS - if you read my blog from Facebook, please check out the real page, that will link you to some of my other favorite bloggers, and if you follow me there it increases my standings on blogspot. The link is:
www.inmyfathershands.blogspot.com

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Puppets and Detectives

So, I have always admired puppeteers, and thought puppets were the coolest thing ever! (Sound of Music helped with this.)
For the next few weeks I'm in charge of teaching first and second grade girls about puppets (it's what I do to fufill my NHS hours)
Because of this I was looking up shadow puppets on the Internet to teach some simple ones to the girls and I found this awesome website, so I wanted to share it with you.
http://www.shadow-puppets.com/

Second, I'm writing a research paper on Detective novels and I wanted to jot down some of my more interesting thoughts about Hercule Poirot (character of Agatha Christie) So, from my notes:

Thinks he is far smarter than the rest of human kind, and therefore tends to come off a little stuck up and cocky. This may also be because he is always portrayed through the eyes of his friend, Captain Hastings (his equivalent to Watson, but unlike Watson, Hastings often gets frustrated with his detective friend). Poirot tends to discover information, but you, the reader, do not know about it until Hastings, the narrator, knows. This causes me to be just as frustrated with Poirot as Hastings and in this Christie is breaking one of the rules of detective fiction - That the reader must have equal chance to solve the mystery as the detective. However, at the end Poirot generally points out a way that Hastings (ans therefore the reader) could have solved the mystery WITHOUT these clues (quite annoying). Poirot is different from Miss Marple in that he is an official detective, Miss Marple is just an old lady with a habit of studying human nature based on her neighbors, which she then applies to crime (it is much less annoying to be told by a sweet old lady that you are being dumb than by a private investigator). Both detectives believe that human nature is inherently flawed and therefore they trust no one, often being the key to the novel. I, like Hastings, have what Poirot calls a "too beautiful, too trusting" nature, or, as Miss Marple says, "I believe what people tell me" and if I had lived through as many stories as she has I would know not to trust anyone.

I might post more about Peter Whimsey - but, being written by a different woman, he needs to be taken with an entirely different approach.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Tiny Talk Tuesday

So, once again on the bandwagon of some mom bloggers, I'm doing Tiny Talk Tuesday.



Last night my sibs and I were watching the Olympics and I was making hot chocolate. My four year old sis comes in and says "I want some hot chocolate please?" and I said I was making it for everyone. She says "Oh phew...you are just the bestest sister ever aren't you?"



I am not making this up, I promise. Made my day.



Oh, and my six year old sister has started to ask what different words mean, so I've had to be careful with what I say because I might have to explain it!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Valentine's Day

So, I honestly didn't really think about it being Valentine's Day yesterday until I logged into Facebook, and then I saw a lot of comments by various friends of mine about how they were, esentially, 'dealing with it', or how they thought Valentine's Day was just a 'commercialized day invented by coorperations attempting to steal money' or people calling it 'single's awareness day' etc.

So I googled Valentine's Day and St. Valentine to get some information (and there was a cool adventures in Odyssey episode about it - whitsend.org can get you to that if you're interested)

Anyways, St. Valentine is sort of a mystery, but what is known about him is that he helped couples secretly get married during a time that the Roman Empire was making marriages difficult and was martyred for refusing to renounce his faith. Pretty awsome dude. There's also a story about him and his jailor's daughter and how he restored her sight through faith, and how they were in love, which is why it's a love holiday, but that is even more hazy than the other stuff known about him.

Then, yesterday night I was watching NBC with the pairs figure skating, and no one could find a cuter love story than Shen and Zhou, the Chinese figure skaters who are trying for gold in the pairs skating competition. Google that - I promise you won't be disappointed.

Don't bemoan about how you're single, or berate the coorperations, or behave in a manner that will ruin the day for others - Valentine's Day is not designed to hurt singles anymore than the 4th of July is designed to hurt non-US citizens.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Crouse's mantra: a 'potpourri' of ideas

So, my thoughts during snowpocalypse weekend:

- what is honor? how does it differ from respect? who do we honor, who do we respect? who do we not honor or respect that perhaps we should?

- I carry an emergency kit in my purse. Band aids, neosphorine, lotion, purell, chap stick, rubber bands, pens, paper, deck of cards, ipod nano, money, generally a book, a new testament, peppermint, ID cards, eyeglass wipes, eyeglass case, earrings, you name it, I probably have it in one of the pockets in my purse.

- there is a lot of information on the Internet! While your snowed it, why not learn something new? Things I've looked up on wikipedia based on what I've done this weekend:
multiplexor, Hercule Poirot, u-substitution, Emma, cloud computing, Deathly Hallows, wii games, Skit Guys, Julian Smith, MD storm records