David #54: I agree, but it's hard for parents to be rational about their own kids.
From what I've observed, real prodigies push their parents, not the other way around. My son plays the violin (don't worry--I'm not going to claim he's a prodigy.) He never wanted to do it for a living, but he was good enough to be part of an "elite" music scene until he graduated from high school. During his school years I knew kids who decided at the age of 6 that they wanted to be violinists. I knew kids who asked to be home-schooled so they could practice for hours a day. I knew a kid who fought with his mother when she tried to pull the violin out of his hands. He snuck it out to the garage to practice when she told him to do his homework. (He once performed on the radio show "From the Top".) It was as though these kids were born wanting to play the violin. One went to Juilliard, one to the New England Conservatory, one to the Manhattan School of Music, and one went to Yale and from there to the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
omg--Making Light now has spell-checking!! Hooray!
The circumstances of MJ's upbringing raise a nagging question in the back of my mind. If you were a crane operator from Gary Indiana with a wife and 9 kids, and it turned out that your 7th kid was something of a prodigy and could, if exploited, earn so much money that you'd be able to provide for all of your children and never have to worry about money again, what would you do? Would you let him say: I don't want to sing, I want to play soccer? It's common among parents of talented children to believe that if they push their children to develop their talent, they (the children) will be happy later on and will someday be thankful.
Velveeta is great stuff for getting a dog to take a pill. Dogs love it. Cut a large cube (I have a big dog), and push the pill into it--the bizarre texture of Velveeta makes this possible. The dog will gobble it up and swallow it without chewing.
A while ago I updated my own website to MT4 so I could implement a comment-spam plug-in, one of those "captcha" thingies. I discovered that MT4 is nothing like MT3--it's all widgets and what-have-you. After considerable frustration I did get it working and figure out just a few things, so I might be able to help a bit, although my own website is a "factory" theme, and fairly simple. I'm like you, though--I figure it out, remember just long enough to get it working, then forget everything.
I've gotten voice mail messages from people who dialed the wrong number and, ignoring my own message, left a message for someone else. Sometimes the message is obviously so important that I call the person to tell them they got the wrong number. Examples: an attorney calling a client saying "We have a deadline of midnight tonight to do blah blah blah..." or a school calling a parent "Your child is sick please come pick her up..."
I'm sorry to hear about the loss of Hiro. I lost a series of guinea pigs. I think the hardest thing about it was that they all died so suddenly. Prey animals try to keep up a good act until they just can't go on any longer. It's terribly sad.
I think Aggie Maggie hasn't yet learned that fingers aren't edible. She keeps trying. If you've recently handled a carrot or some other treat your fingers smell like food, which is bound to be confusing.
Stephen Frug @5: "But I bet people here could come up with some others..."
Indeed. There were dire predictions when women were given the vote that they might not vote as their husbands did. For a long time they did, but not any more. When Bill Clinton was elected, Doris Kearns Goodwin pointed out on PBS that the predictions of those who argued against giving women the vote had come true.
My all time favorite bit:
"Guard? I want to see my ambassador."
"Easily done-- he's in the next cell."
Albatross @ 178 wrote: "there are times when it makes sense to leave your child in the car for a couple minutes"
See, the thing is, despite my having locked my son in the car and started to walk away one time when he was six weeks old, I wouldn't have intentionally left him in the car even for a couple of seconds. I was paranoid about someone snatching him, and it only takes a few seconds of inattentiveness on the part of a parent if someone is waiting for their chance. Sometime around the time my son was born there were incidents of babies being stolen and sold, and hearing what some people would pay for a baby, I realized my son was worth his weight in gold. I was afraid to take my eyes off him when I took him out in public. When I took him to the grocery store I wouldn't turn my back on the cart; I kept one hand on the cart at all times. The day I locked the car door and turned away, that was all lizard brain--yack yack yack parallel park yack yack yack lock the car yack yack yack. Also, the mother of a six week old baby isn't getting a lot of sleep. Honestly, I believe it could happen to anyone.
I started reading this earlier, decided it was too painful, then went back and finished it when you linked to it. It's amazing any child survives infancy and toddlerhood. Especially first children: when your first child comes along your autopilot knows nothing about any kid. How many times have you left something in the car? How many times did it result in a tragedy that sucked your life into a black hole of grief? Until you have a kid the worst outcome is the melting of your pint of Cherry Garcia.
When my son was 6 weeks old my brother came to visit. It was 1985 and airbags were new enough that no one was aware of the danger to small people. I always put my son's car seat in the front seat next to me--facing backward because even in 1985 we knew that much--when he and I were in the car. When my husband and I were both in the car our son rode in the back, but we never forgot him for a minute. When my brother came I put the car seat in the back. We drove to a restaurant for lunch, and we were engrossed in conversation--we hadn't seen each other for about a year. I parallel parked, got out, locked the car door, and started to walk away. My brother said "What about the baby?" and I realized I'd forgotten all about him. It shook me up. It never happened again, but I honestly think it can happen to anyone who is deep in thought or conversation. I'd bet people walk away from the car more often than we'd like to believe, get ten steps away and a nagging feeling tells them they're forgetting something. The lucky ones, which is probably almost all of them, turn back and think HolyShitIForgotTheBabyHolyShitNEVERAGAIN.
There's an easy solution: put the kid in the front seat, and disable the airbag. Airbags should have an on/off switch. The passenger-side airbag in my car only activates if it senses a passenger in the seat. I don't know the weight limit, but a heavy bag of groceries doesn't activate it. This is a simple solution--just put a f*cking on/off switch on the airbag and put the kid in the front seat where you can see her.
By the way, back in 1985 we were told that babies should sleep on their stomachs. From the time my son learned to roll over, he rolled onto his back every night. Every night I went into the nursery and turned him over onto his stomach.
I created my own butterfly moment when I was in grad school. I'd dated one of the math profs a couple of times, but I felt uncomfortable about it. I was a grad student in the math department, and I felt like he had some power over me or something, so I broke it off. He took it so well, I was really impressed. I'd broken up with guys before and no one had ever been such a gentleman about it. There was a weekly seminar in the math department--a guest speaker would come and give a talk--and a couple of months after I broke up with the prof, I went into the seminar and the seat next to him was vacant, and I thought, "If I sit next to him, I'll probably end up marrying him." I sat next to him, and I ended up marrying him.
I've only been to one inaugural parade: Clinton's 2nd. It was bitter cold and the crowd was so huge that I could hardly see anything. My son, who was 11 at the time, could see a bit less. We caught just a glimpse of Clinton's car as it went by. Still, just being part of it was fun. We bought souvenir buttons and hotdogs. (Er, the hotdogs weren't souvenirs; we ate them.) Everyone in the crowd was so friendly and happy. I'm going to go to Obama's parade. (Sheesh--spellchecker needs to learn Obama.)
Yes! Tonight we rejoin the world! And-best of all-he won VIRGINIA! WOOHOO!
P.P.S. (Sorry) I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't live in Virginia--we're a key battleground state this year. I would LOVE to see Virginia put Obama over the top on election night!
P.S. Bush didn't really win in 2000, but it shouldn't have been as close as it was.
I'm as introverted as the next person. Believe me, knocking on strangers' doors is WAY outside of my comfort zone. The reason I've canvassed for Obama 3 times and will do so again on Sunday is this: a few years ago the democratic party did a study to find out what the most effective method was of increasing voter turnout. They tried 4 things: phone banking, direct mail, literature drops, and knocking on doors. The first 3 methods each increased voter turnout by between 1 and 2 percent (which is important in a close election), but knocking on doors increased voter turnout by 12 percent. Knocking on doors has been Karl Rove's GOTV ground game all along--it's how Bush won in 2000 and 2004. I don't want to feel on November 5th what I felt in 2004. I don't want to think I didn't do everything I could possibly do to help this country redeem itself in the eyes of the world by electing Obama.
Zelda@19: After 2004, I am terrified of getting my hopes up.
Yup. I was SURE Kerry was going to win. I felt sick when he lost--I couldn't believe it. I wanted to move to Canada. I'll never feel confident again. I live in Virginia and I'm going out canvassing for Obama (for the 4th time) this weekend.
I think there'll be an "Obama effect" in this election that will render the "likely voter" models useless. People who wouldn't otherwise bother will come out to vote on both sides: some for him, some against him. Forget the polls--I have no idea what will happen on election day. I'm hoping my son's generation will tip the balance heavily in Obama's favor, but I was counting on them in 2004 and they let us down.
I love these so much that I feel inspired to try baking some cookies, which is something I never do. Please provide foolproof recipe. Thanking you in advance,
Mary
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 13 |
| 2008 | 24 |
| 2007 | 5 |
| 2006 | 104 |
| 2005 | 14 |
| 2003 | 1 |
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