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Friday’s Fun Facts

Should you believe everything you hear? I was relaxing for a few moments, reading random websites, when a list of “old wives’ tales” caught my eye. I give full credit to www.snopes.com for their informative and entertaining work.

1.  Should you tap the side of a soda can before opening it, in order to prevent its contents from foaming all over your hand?

2.  Do you only use 10% of your brain?

3.  Can you determine the temperature by counting cricket chirps?

4.  Is the Great Wall of China the only man-made object visible from the moon?

5.  If you are kidnapped, blindfolded, and taken somewhere far away, can you determine which hemisphere you are in by which way water spirals as it does down the drain?

6.  Should we be cautious around water that was boiled in a microwave oven, in case it suddenly “explodes”?

Which ones did you answer yes to? Let’s have some fun, and maybe you’ll pick up a bit of healthy skepticism.

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Throwaway People – Redemption

Here is the conclusion of this 3-part series on discarded friendships. Shortly after our friend wrote the last article, expressing his pain at being summarily cut off from two meaningful relationships, he wrote this:

It’s both funny and sad, how human emotions wax and wane. One moment we’re utterly convinced our ruin is at hand, and in the next we’re dancing in the streets because some small thing has gone our way. … Last night I wrote of a month-long tension which was eating away at me from the inside out, and I couldn’t have meant it more. Today, however, just minutes after waking up, my heart was relieved and my resolve strengthened. All was well in the universe, mostly.

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Throwaway People – When Silence Speaks Volumes

Last time I mentioned that I would post a guest blog about how it feels to be “thrown away.” This was actually written at the end of 2008. Next time I’ll post what happened in these relationships, and what our friend learned from it all.

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Someone—actually, two people now—about whom I genuinely care has apparently decided to write me off entirely and close their world to me because of an argument we got into over a month ago. An argument in which neither one of us was entirely right or wrong.  And the sad thing is that even when we were at our most heated, I had taken my time to very carefully choose my words, calling them out not through insults, but instead attacking the double standards and hypocritical views which they portray on a daily basis. Even in the midst of this letter I went out of my way to say that while I knew my words would hurt my friend, my intent was to illustrate the truth in love, and that I would rather cause pain with honesty than encourage delusion. I later wrote a follow-up email in which I apologized explicitly for my own faults in the prior argument, which I detailed to emphasize that I knew and admitted to exactly how I was wrong.

Perhaps worse yet is the case of the other friend I mentioned, to whom I let slip a light-heated and superficial sarcastic quip to which they took immediate and serious offense. Sadly, this person (much like any other who knows me at all) is fully aware of my barbed sense of humor…. The remark which upset her was never intended at all as an insult, and it was made at a time during which there was no disagreement between us. She simply misinterpreted my words as a harsh jab, took offense, and hasn’t spoken to me in weeks. …

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Throwaway People – “Deleted”

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in relationships lately, and I’m concerned. So I’m wondering… is it just me? Or has anyone else noticed this too?

People seem to be throwing one another away. Sometimes, it’s just a conversation they aren’t enjoying. Sometimes, it’s the whole friendship.

With cell phones, texting, voice mail, instant messaging, Facebook and MySpace, it would appear that connecting with another person is easier than ever. And yet, I’m wondering if instead, people are becoming more distant.

There seems to be a change in perception. The person at the other end of whatever communication device you happen to be using becomes an icon, not a living, breathing, feeling human being. Don’t like the way the conversation is going? Stop responding to their texts. Tired of the friendship? Delete them from your contact list. Un-friend them on Facebook. No need to work through difficult issues. No need to consider anyone else’s feelings. No need to even say good-bye.

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Are You Bored?

Nothing to do?
Nothing to do?
Put some mustard in your shoe
Fill your pockets full of soot,
Drive a nail into your foot…

Nothing to Do, by Shel Silverstein

“I’m bored!” To anyone with small kids, it’s a common complaint, heard most often during school vacations. Of course, what it really means is, “Entertain me!” Yeah, right. My parents always suggested that I find some way to amuse myself, or else they’d assign some chores that would keep me occupied. “Or else” meant business. It was amazing how many pressing chores of my own I could suddenly think of!

Lately, I’ve heard “I’m bored!” from two less likely sources.

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30 Ideas for Dating your Mate

“What do you want to do?”

“I dunno… what do you want to do?”

It was our monthly “Date Day” but we were completely clueless as to how to spend the time. All the articles and books on keeping a marriage healthy seem to give the same advice: date your spouse. Most go further and recommend a schedule: an evening once a week, a day once a month, and a weekend once a season. That’s all very well and good, but what does one do on those dates?

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English 121: Resolving Ambivalence

 

Yay! I convinced my son-in-law Jeremy to write another guest post for me. Have you experienced anything similar in your school, now or in the past?

Jeremy writes:

Nothing is worse than having to sit through a class you cannot stand, as an unfair professor can make your life a living hell. But now that an entire season has passed and I’ve had ample time to recover and even procrastinate, I feel the need to follow up on something. Several months ago I wrote a short, satirical essay [College: Where You’re Liberal or You’re Wrong] about my first college class, and how it turned out to be a waste because my professor, Mr. R, was a hypocritical bigot.

Although much of the same abuse which I discussed in that paper persisted for the remainder of the class, eventually Mr. R and I found some common ground and slowly developed a mutual respect for one another. Considering his attitude towards me and my beliefs, the fact that the two of us were ever able to see somewhat eye-to-eye is actually rather remarkable, so I (driven by the gentle, yet persistent, persuasion of my lovely mother-in-law) felt it would be good to share a little bit about how that came to be. The following is a random assortment of our exchanges which brought us to our somewhat common ground.

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Jeremy’s S’mookies

How much sugar can you cram into one gooey, delicious mouthful? Quite a lot, apparently. My creative son-in-law, Jeremy, came up with this new camping dessert while we were enjoying a weekend in the mountains.

To make one serving (note: Jeremy downed a number of these, so maybe this only makes a partial serving):

  • 2 large marshmallows
  • 2 squares of chocolate bar
  • 2 large, gooey, chocolate chip cookies

Build campfire. Wait until flames are mostly gone, and coals glow red. Toast marshmallows until thoroughly melted, and brown on outside.

Scrape melted marshmallows off skewer onto a cookie. Shove chocolate into marshmallows to melt. Top with other cookie. Stuff into mouth. Repeat.

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Too Much Stuff

“We’d like to move to a smaller house, but what would I do with all my things?”

I looked around the once-lovely home we were visiting, and saw shelves filled with books, photographs, collections of figurines, teapots, and sea shells. End tables were decorated with candles, bowls, and more figurines, to the point where there was no place to set my mug of tea. The coffee table had a glass top, with even more “collectibles” displayed inside. At one end of the room, a set of glass-fronted display cabinets held several dozen plates, an assortment of cut glassware, and even more figurines.

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