Happy Read Across America Day!
This may not be one of the holidays you observe.It is Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and we observe it here in Hamburger-a-go-go-land by dressing up in silly costumes (particularly Cat in the Hat hats), eating Green Eggs and Ham, and reading. One teacher yesterday told me that at her school, they were all going to read The Cat in the Hat at 1:46 precisely.
This is a fun holiday. It was also nice to have a normal conversation.
If you do not consider that a normal conversation, you have my sympathy.
My old friend M wrote to me about the struggles at her job (worse than mine) and some other trials she’s dealing with. It’s all part of the human condition, she recognized, “but like everyone else I feel egocentrically marooned.”
That’s it. Exactly.
We had some other normal conversations yesterday, too. Blessing was telling me about her favorite exercise DVDs. They have titles like “Thin Thighs in 8 Minutes!” and “Abs of Steel 7 Minute Workout!”
I’ve told you about my favorite exercise DVDs. 40 minutes of ferocity is what I like.
I did not heap scorn. I did, however, enlist the support of one of our customers. She is a little older than me, and I see her out running all the time.
“Tell me,” I said, “would you rather have thin thighs or a great lipids profile?”
She went for the lipids. I knew she would.
“See!” I told Blessing. “When you are our age, you will not want an 8 minute thigh workout.”
We then returned to the process of making the changes at the store sound good. People keep saying things like “Do I understand you correctly? You’re closing the store?” Occasionally I get away with saying things like “We’re taking the store virtual.”
The Empress and I have realized that we are going to have to master the terminology. I may have learned to google for “SEO,” but I don’t yet know how to use it in a sentence.
The Empress is off learning these things. At least I hope that is what she is doing.
Here is Pipes, getting the last bit of ribbing.
This is an encouraging dpn picture for Simplespirit, who is going to make socks next weekend.
This triangle is what you are after. Some people use a square, but I like a nice stable triangle. You have one more needle, of course, to travel around with.
I’m doing the ribbed cuff of a sleeve, but it is the same as the ribbed cuff of a sock. Socks just don’t have the sweater attached to them.
umm it’s NEXT weeked Simplespirit is doing socks – this weekend she is working!
yeah call me the font of knowledge @@
It’s been a morning here already and it’s not even 8:30 – will blog about it myself – just wanted to stop by and say Happy Friday to you 🙂
Debs
Wouldn’t that be funny, to have socks at the ends of every sweater. LIke wibbies.
“egocentrically marooned”!! I love that!! Love it!! I can’t say that is true for me (I work in academia), but I can say that I feel marooned in other ways (job stability, mostly). I, too, would aim for lipids – and one less minute of exercise. 🙂 I’m a fan of the square. What can I say? P.S. Pipes is looking good. Happy RAA Day! I will be reading “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” today (my aunt bought it for me when I graduated with my MAs a year or so back).
RYC: You are so right – “tractors” is a little benign. I thought bulldozers wasn’t quite right, so I’m off to the Thesaurus.
RYC: Aye, I read it that way, too. However, at least in my job, I can’t be egocentrically marooned – I work with students who count on me to create an atmosphere of learning and respect (among other things), I perform acts of community service (part of my job – and always my pleasure), and I do research around topics that are very community-oriented, so I’m always focusing on things outside myself – and rarely on myself (especially when I need to). And I find that is true for a lot of my colleagues. Job before self? Uh oh, I feel a Dr. Phil moment coming up. “So, how’s that working for you, CanadianNational?” 🙂
IMHO, I’m not entirely sure that it’s a good thing to *not* be egocentrically marooned – at least not to the detriment of one’s wellbeing – or self exploration. I think there’s a balance in between somewhere. I think we need to focus on ourselves (and feel a little marooned, sometimes) and focus on others (so that they don’t feel as marooned). The middle? I don’t know where it is, but I think I tend to focus on others more than myself (which is my personality – I’m a “helper”). I’m reminded by my spouse once in a while that I need to focus on myself and figure out what I want and need – and not always others. It’s hard to do – for me. 🙂
And don’t forget that Google is a trademarked name, not a verb. You are performing a Google search, not googling.