Rocking Reading Raani

Powerful female role models

On Wednesday morning, my time - a couple hours ahead of the United States, I was berating myself. I referred to myself as a genius and better than Einstein.  My tone was insulting. That's where the berating comes in. Yes, I try to berate *up*. 

 

In the midst of all of that, I wondered, what about women scientists, who could I use instead of men? I could only think of Marie Curie. Yes, I have moments of lucidity while raging about something. I also thought, "blog topic!"

Then, later that day, I saw the ReFAB post by Krissie http://reinventingfabulous.com/?p=214 and thought, "huh, she's asking a role model question - I just did that." Then I thought "huh, there's a surplus of actresses." Which is fine, I'm not judging, I have that list too. They are highly visible, it's natural. I certainly couldn't think of a wide range of women, which is why earlier that morning I was stuck on Madame Curie.

 

During the course of that day and the next after Krissie put up the composite list, I've since come up with Jane Goodall, the environmental scientist. And because of their high visual profile, women in politics like Angela Merkel, Indira Gandhi, Aung Sang Suu Kyi and just as I was typing - Cleopatra. 

 

I tried to think of women closer to my age and ended up back at an actress, Mayim Bialik - wife, mother, scientist and writer who used to be Blossom but is now Amy on The Big Bang Theory. Natalie Portman gets a mention for having had her name on a journal article/paper published recently. 

I'm adding authors to the list. I have to mention Jenny Crusie. And all our other Bettyfabulous authors - including but not limited to Lani and Krissie.

I am a fan of Bettany Hughes  the academic who has such a love of history and a positive way of delivering the content. If she's not on some History/Discovery/PBS/BBC channel near you, rent 300, watch the film and then watch the extras where she explains the history. Compare her to the guys. She beats all. (Warning: 300 has stylised violence but is really worth the watch.)

JK Rowling gets a mention in my list as a role model for having a family too. Jane Austen doesn't for dying young and alone.  

YOUR MISSION SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT: While sitting here do a free association and type as many names of women role models in varied professions. Okgobang.

___________Gratitude__________

Having good friends who just by their presence make things better.

All of y'all for the support. Still in gasping doggy paddle mode, not quite swimming.

How hard can it be to answer a question?

How hard can be be to fix a button.

I use typepad’s free blog as my blog host. I pay nothing for this service. Zilch.

I tweeted @typepad and asked “why is typepad mobile unfriendly? Post and preview buttons don’t work on Blackberry mobile or Opera Mini. Wasted effort to type.”

This means that if I want to reply to something one you, dear Readers posted, I can’t do it from mobile, even though I get notification on my mobile by email. The dashboard does not allow replying from the dashboard. It sends me to the page you are reading now. I actually typed a response in Opera Mini - which I hadn't used here before and couldn't post. I can see the post button, but clicking on it has no effect. I thought it would be fixed by now – they’ve been tweaking things and I’ve seen an improvement over the last year. It’s not.

Now get a load of @typepad’s tweet back.

“Improving the mobile experience is one of our goals for 2012.

Stay tuned.” I’m making this a gratitude – I am grateful for a response. It is better than being ignored. Always. But I think we can all agree that this was a non-answer. Not so cool, typepad. Not so cool.

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For those of you who are wondering and know what I'm talking about, keep me going Supernova. Thanks.

that last line, man, that last line...

i was first going to post about this song. Adele Rumour Has It lyrics found on http://www.directlyrics.com/adele-rumour-has-it-lyrics.html
she makes me want to go for singing lessons just so that i could be passable enough to sing this song. i love the phrasing. i love that last line. i could do it so cheekily.

then i was going to blog about Kelly's blog. http://bonafidebetty.wordpress.com/ my browser stopped working.

i switched to the new browser but had to log in, i always forget passwords. 

i then typed a whole bitch and moan about my computer and added a gratitude for actually having a computer that allowed me to connect with so many wonderful people. i lost that as my battery died and i've been pantsing the blog recently. 

so we're back to lyrics. love the whole song but really love that last line. 

Rumour has it by Adele. 
She, she ain't real,
She ain't gonna be able to love you like I will,
She is a stranger,
You and I have history,
Or don't you remember?
Sure, she's got it all,
But, baby, is that really what you want?

Bless your soul, you've got your head in the clouds,
She made a fool out of you,
And, boy, she's bringing you down,
She made your heart melt,
But you're cold to the core,
Now rumour has it she ain't got your love anymore,

Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,

She is half your age,
But I'm guessing that's the reason that you strayed,
I heard you've been missing me,
You've been telling people things you shouldn't be,
Like when we creep out and she ain't around,
Haven't you heard the rumours?

Bless your soul, you've got your head in the clouds,
You made a fool out of me,
And, boy, you're bringing me down,

You made my heart melt, yet I'm cold to the core,
But rumour has it I'm the one you're leaving her for,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,

All of these words whispered in my ear,
Tell a story that I cannot bear to hear,
Just 'cause I said it, it don't mean that I meant it,
People say crazy things,
Just 'cause I said it, don't that mean I meant it,
Just 'cause you heard it,

Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, ooh,
Rumour has it, rumour,
Rumour has it, rumour,

But rumour has it he's the one I'm leaving you for.

Getting excited to make something, Tv show Zen and Crusie.

1. 200 words or 20 minutes

I think that the idea of writing to a word count makes sense. It helps to keep muscles working, the typing muscles and the brain ones. This would mean that by practice, I’ll learn to use them more efficiently.

 

The outstanding Lani aka Lucy March used this a few times on her blog A Year and Change. Mary Stella reminded me of it a few days ago when I complained that I had done no writing and my time was slipping away.

As is my pattern, I now have less time and more things that need doing but the urge to write has gripped me. One of my patterns is always being prodded to be creative when I have formal tasks that need completion. Yet, upon completion, I find that I have lost the focus that would help me create. 

I’ve decided to try to “get excited and make something” as suggested by Wil Wheaton, all round good guy but player of some of tv’s morally relative characters, well, in recent years, at least - thank you very much big The Bang Theory – seriously, thanks. So my thing will be something written. At least, that’s my first idea.

 

I noticed that for an avid reader and English graduate I have a basic knowledge of grammar and punctuation. Oh, I know what an interrobang is ?! and how to use it, but my Word spell check doesn’t recognise the term.  

Aside: word count is 225 and it’s about 10 minutes.           

 

Back to our story – I have trouble with the n-dash and m-dash and where should I use a semi-colon. I have books to tutor me and it’s time that I study to improve my skills. I want to have the craft of writing down. The flair can come later. 

What would you like to get excited and make?

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2. I’ve recently watched Zen a BBC tv production starring Rufus Sewell, someone I know best from Colde Comfort Farm and A Knight’s Tale. It’s about an Italian policeman named Aurelio Zen who does his best not to be touched by the corruption rife in the  department. It’s filmed in Italy and just appealed to me. Three 90 minute episodes that I just couldn’t stop watching. I mentioned it on Jenny Crusie’s blog and she promptly bought them. After purchase, her receipt showed it was on special $5. Methinks it was meant to be.

________________________

3. Question: Does anyone else’s laptop cursor move up in MSWord even when you’re most probably NOT touching the trackpad by mistake? I am a good typist – 40 words per minute touch typing and better when I’m in practice. But something goes wrong and suddenly I’m typing half of my last sentence three lines up from where I want to be.

________________________

4. Gratitude

The fabulous Jenny Crusie is refabbing – Re-inventing Fabulous and we are all invited to join in the journey. The equally fabulous Anne Stuart will be joining her. I can’t wait. This is so exciting. I guess they got excited and made a new blog. It'll help me with what I want to achieve this year. Woot.

Introspection and a blog frequency question.

My New Year's Eve party showed me things about myself that I'm not sure I want to face. But if I don't, the whisper the universe gave me on 31 December and 1 January will become louder and then a shout and then a roar until it's an explosion the size of Krakatoa.

I need to get this message. To do so, I must ponder it more.

I made a social network faux pas - I uploaded a pic without asking someone first. The someone asked me to remove it and I did. But this is the kind of thing that plays in a loop in my mind. When I mess up, it sticks. And I don't release it easily. I sometimes cringe at memories years old and people around ask me what's wrong because it is obvious that I am bothered by something.

How often is good to blog? I'd love to do daily but feel as if it's too daunting. If I do daily, I'd like something like Julie's card draw that'll help me have something to post. If you found me via Twitter go check out www.urthalun.com - no description, just go look.  

Weekly? Twice weekly feels right but I worry it'll end up beign Saturday and Sunday because that's when I have time.

What are your ideas on blogging frequency?

Gratitude

I am glad that I am aware enough to know something is not quite right and needs to be tweaked. Here's to developing awareness of how to tweak it in the right direction.

Welcome to 2012, I get a good feeling.

Happy New Year.

Welcome to 2012. It's 1 January 2012 and late in the evening in my neck of the woods and I am finally recovering from a big night out. I had really wanted to go to a specific New Year's Eve event and a few of my friends and I made it happen. It wasn't what I expected but worth the experience.

It was a lot of fun and I learned a few things about myself. I'm sure that this is a pretty good way to start off the year.

One of the big songs of the season is the Flo Rida "Good Feelin" with the Etta James sample. That sample was mixed a few times last night. It's optimistic.

http://www.directlyrics.com/flo-rida-good-feelin-lyrics.html

Oh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah
I get a feeling that I never never never never had before, no no
I get a good feeling, yeah
Oh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah
I get a feeling that I never never never never had before, no no
I get a good feeling, yeah

We spent the night dancing and talking and losing and finding each other in the huge open air venue. I disliked the losing each other the most. I wanted to bond with my friends that I hadn't seen in months. That was probably a bit of a miss there.

Afterwards we started to drive toward home at daybreak. In the midst of talking one of the guys fell asleep and when we reached the next destination, he didn't know how it happened. Me, being me, I told him of the flying saucer and the bright light that sucked us in and took us through time and space.

One of the homes was two streets from the beach, so we went to the beach. Sunrise had started and the air was chilly. It was about 5.30am when families started appearing. It was quite surprising. 

Three of us walked for a while, jumped onto rocks and talked to an early morning fisherman. A man from a inland city on his December vacation with his family who just decided to try his hand at fishing. That's a good example for New Year - just get out there and start. This was one of the best parts of the celebration. This was what I was looking for: sitting and talking and teasing and laughing. And doing on the beach was the perfect setting. It is really speacial to have a summer New Year.

Finally we started to wind down and six became five, who became four. Four fell asleep again. So three, two and one painted his face with make-up. I really enjoyed this and actually got more out of my photo of the co-conspirators. Their glee was funny enough to make me almost pee myself.

So four was woken up, long enough to leave him at home. We wondered at the possible fall out.

I was third and it was really good to turn up at home at nearly 9 am. I am really grateful to my friends and my cousin for being my "partners in crime". It was what I needed.  

True meaning of family

This is a third try. I've tried to post this twice before. 

As we move deeper into festive season family socials, I suggest: act in accordance with your truth, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions and always do your best.

Because this is what family is about. There is nothing to oppose here.

 http://front.moveon.org/two-lesbians-raised-a-baby-and-this-is-what-they-got/#.TtgH5Zoh3I0.facebook

Gratitude

Thanks for my family, in all their shapes and sizes.

Money to buy A Bit of Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Thank goodness for frugality.

I didn't want to blog today...

I didn't want to blog today but I had to do something different. I was doing something different yesterday and I was enjoying it but it had to be cut short. So here I am annoyed about it and just plain pissed off.

I didn't want to wake up but I couldn't stay in bed.

I didn't want cook but I was hungry and had to eat.

I didn't want to study but decided to do so any way.

I do like the internet for all the things that I can learn. But the trouble is, there's just too much to distract me. But it's not the internet's fault. I use my favourite books to distract me. I use any books to distract me, even if they kinda suck (but sucky books are another blog post.)

I have an online course to do. And it being online sure is dangerous for me. I have to discipline myself to not open new windows and work like mad to finish. I already had to pay extra to extend my course as I was busy with work and, truth be told, also busy procrastinating. So today I started to study and get somewhere. It was time to start.  

I didn't want to do my marking, so its time to start.

I guess sometimes, its just about getting things done one by one. And the way to do that is just to start.

Gratitude

Firefly episode Jaynestown - it's the first thing that's made me laugh all day. Thank you to Joss Whedon. "Too much snow on the roof will make his head cave in."

Struggle and odd thoughts

I've been watching my favourite films while I work. Because it's been a struggle to finish my work. Teachers take a crapload of stuff home. It's been even worse to start it.

It's been over a month since I blogged. I could work but no, here I am whiling away time on blog. Sigh.

I've re-watched Batman Begins, The Last Samurai, X-Men and a few others. All of them seem to be about achieving something - starting from one state and moving toward another. This seems to be a favourite theme of mine. I want that character arc for myself. 

For the record, I don't like The Dark Knight or X-Men 3. They don't elicit the same reaction.

I cut my thumb accidentally and now I'm lisping in text. Mobile posting and tweeting is difficult with bandaids.

I'm having eye troubles. Looks like there's something that I'm not seeing.

My dog seems to be adjusting to us. According to a friend, doggie has grown. She saw him on Thursday after last seeing him the week after he arrived. We've had him for over a month. I think. I didn't announce him here - it was a busy time for us.

I need a a new pair of shoes. I only use three pairs - sandals, closed shoes and gym shoes and my pair of closed shoes are falling apart. I can't seem to find a pair that is comfy enough for me and fits well. I know I'm fussy, yet I should be, I don't want my feet to fail me. I already had fractures that remained undiagnosed for years.

I should have blogged my first year as a teacher. But then I was horribly overwhelmed. OR blogging may give me the venting space I need. Maybe next year. Or maybe the remainder of the year. Lessee how I feel.

Gratitude

I am grateful for my opposable thumbs and will aim to take better care of them. I plan to rest them more, text carefully so that I reduce my risk of getting thumbthritis (my word.)

I am grateful for money that allowed me to buy tickets to an event that my mother wanted to go to. I didn't even blink because I knew it was in reserve. And this after some overspending last week - I bought something slightly necessary (but very pricey) on one level and frivolous on another when I really, need to buy new shoes. So I am grateful for my employment that brings in the money.

Goals vs guides - or how I want to be like River in Firefly/Serenity.

Goals are supposed to be s.m.a.r.t - if you set a goal it must be specific, measurable, achievable, time-based and realistic. I seem to remember an oft-quoted longitudinal study of college students that found that those who set goals were much more successful than their take-life-as-it-comes peers. Apparently US President John F Kennedy was a participant - and if memory serves, he was in the goal-setting group.

But thanks to the parameters of the study, nobody seems to talk about whether they were happy. Success as the world measures it is usually in terms of finance or status (or both!) but has only recently turned (returned?) to happiness as a measure.  

Let me explain in terms that make sense to me. I wish that I were as flexible as River*, played by Summer Glau in Firefly and Serenity. Flexibilty is good because it helps to prevent incidence of injury, essentially a body is more resilient if the muscles and joints are more flexible. 

I could set that as a goal during my gym training. But I know me. Goals pall after a while. And if I move the goalposts (huh, see what I did there) to make it more achievable or break it further into shorter time-spans, I just get fatigued at the administration required. I already do enough paper-work, I don't need more. It'll make me unhappy.

I also know, from a biokineticist's assessment, that I have significantly poor flexibility so I have to do something to prevent injury. Injury would make me unhappy. 

I have decided instead to set a guideline. Becoming as flexible as River would be great (because I could do all the Yoga poses easily) but it will not be my main focus. I will be happier to work toward achieving a less-injury-prone state because it will be something I will have to keep doing. I will have to continually try to maintain any flexibility I achieve.

If I feel that I conquered the issue, I run the risk of lapsing into bad habits. Witness the healthy-eating plan of many people. They stick to it for a month and then when they see results, they celebrate with a reward of a slice of chocolate cake and lapse into guilt and despair. This is similar to people who put on weight after losing a lot, because the goal had to change and they didn't know how to adapt. They become unhappy.

I want to be happy, and if there is a guideline, then there is never really a fixed goal. I'll keep working to the guideline on the basis of continual improvement. (And don't tell me that continual improvement is a Quality Management idea and requires objectives to be measurable. I know that, but this is my blog and I say that I am not measuring.)

What about you - are you a goal setter? Has it worked for you? Do you follow the s.m.a.r.t formula? Do you not? Do you think you'd be more successful if you used the the s.m.a.r.t. formula?

*I choose the character over the actor/ess because I can play with the Firefly universe in my mind. If I choose the actor, they reside in my existing universe. Not as much fun. ;-)

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Gratitude

I joined an ongoing philosophy class yesterday, I'd only been once before and you can join in or not as you are able. It was exactly part of what I needed and it was fun too. Met great people and connected with a few I'd met previously.

Afterwards went out with a friend, stopped over at her house and met her nephews and niece. The one boy was 8 months old yesterday and he let me pick him up and carry him. I thanked him for liking me, which made the 7-and-a-half-year-old laugh out loud. The joy of happy children.

Today, a friend came over and firmly, logically and ruthlessly snapped me out of the bad mood. I got verbally Gibbsed (NCIS). I'm still unhappy about the situation that was bringing me down but I am now thinking about where I am and where I'm going. Yay for both the friends, from yesterday and today.