1st World Problems

 The universe has a funny way of doing things.  If you can't find humour in the way things happen, you are definitely making things harder on yourself.  I was born in a place that has never been economically prosperous. The land is hard and nearly impossible to farm, the province is even nicknamed "The Rock" because that is what it is. A rock tethered to the ocean floor in the north Atlantic. The ocean pounds against the cliffs and shores. The land is made up mostly of black rock with sharp edges and unforgiving faces.  Because the major industry of fishing has become mostly a thing of the past due to many countries' greed (including our own), the harvests from the ocean are not enough to support the residents of the province. Oil hasn't quite hit there yet. The infrastructure is in place to supply surrounding areas with hydropower, but no one can agree on how much or even how the province should be remunerated. Due to these reasons and more, most young people win...

 I want to start today with an improv game of sorts. There will be no theatre games. I guess it's more of an imagination exercise. I promise this is leading up to something.  In front of you, there is a chocolate bar, a Kit Kat. At this point, the fingers are all together and the bar is in one piece. It is a lovely-looking snack and the future of your nibble is outstanding. Ok, wait, maybe a Kit Kat won't work for this.  So, you have a rope. It's a long rope, made of many fibers that all work together because of the way the fibers are braided and intertwined. Then a person you know comes along and needs some rope. This won't work either.  Have you played Kerplunk? If you haven't, here is a small run-down. It's a game of strategy and some logic. There is a center tube with a top and a bottom. The middle of the tube has a whole bunch of tiny holes that you put very skinny, multi-colored plastic sticks into. The sticks from a kind of a nest. When your nest is forme...

 I am going to go outside of my area of expertise today to talk about disinformation.  And as usual, all the things I write about here are my own opinion.  Have you ever heard of Madison Cawthorn?  There really isn't any reason for you to know who he is really. So let's start with the basics. Mr. Cawthorn is a 26-year-old from North Carolina who currently works as a Member of the House of Representatives in the US.  Here are some things that he wants you to know about him. He is Christian, he is the only member of Congress born in the 1990s, he trained in wheelchair racing for the 2020 summer Paralympics. He lost the use of his legs in a car accident where his friend who was driving fell asleep at the wheel. Cawthorn's legs were up on the dashboard, his friend escaped the car and left him "to die in a fiery tomb". His political career started when he was a full-time assistant in the office of then-Representative Mark Meadow's congressional office.  Here are...

 When you were small, did you ever fall asleep in the car and wake up in your bed? The first few seconds when you woke up were discombobulating. But, then you recognized your surroundings and all was right with the world.  I feel like that a lot lately. Except the confusion doesn't go away. More and more as this groundhog day of bad news continues I worry that the relief part of that scenario isn't one eye open away. In fact, it may just be what it is forever.  I have prided myself on being adaptable and always able to find the positive in any given situation. But at what point does finding the good become delusional? We as a group have had a trying couple of years, to put it mildly. We have survived everything that has been thrown at us.  We are still showing up every day and doing all the things that still need to be done, no matter what else is going on. I think that is the one thing that really keeps me going. We, humans, are mean to each other and to our surroun...

 Remember last week when I said to look for the helpers? Turns out the people of Ukraine are the helpers.  As we are all aware good old Poutine himself decided that it was time to reannex Ukraine. He looked at President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and thought to himself that there would no way that the voice of the Ukrainian Paddington Bear, who once competed on a dancing reality TV show would be able to lead an effective defense strategy. I really think Putin thought that he would send in troops and the job would be done within a day or two.  Instead, the Ukrainian people and their leader are showing us what bravery really means.  If you're like me you've been watching the battle unfold mostly through social media. Which is a sentence I never thought I would type. Nor one I would have believed until quite recently. Now, as with all things social media, and all things where Russians are involved, everything you see and hear needs to be taken with a grain (or many) of salt....

 From the time our daughter was very young, we have (for the most part) let her make her own decisions.  This has led to a few different outcomes.  1. Very interesting outfits 2. A good sense of who she is 3. The occasional super stubborn streak. This may be more genetic-based than as a result of decision-making For the most part, she chooses what we would have for her, and I think that she is more confident because of it.  Then there are the other times. The times when she is incapable of making even the simplest decision. When she can't tell me where she wants to eat or go.  Right now she is on the precipice between junior high and high school. And with that change comes some serious choices that will impact the rest of her life. We have had her enrolled in a second language program since she was in kindergarten. We thought that she would be going all the way through school in that program just like her brother did. Then another plan was made by someone, I'm n...

 My kids actually addressed each other respectfully today. Then thirty seconds later the usual cacophony started. When they were smaller I can remember calling my mom to ask what I should do. She advised me to just let them have at it. As long as there were no serious physical incidents it was more theatre than action. Neither of the kids can be considered anything but good people. They like to help people, they volunteer with us, they enjoy being a part of a solution.  The royal rumbles are really only issues when it's just the four of us at home. Which I am almost grateful for. I wouldn't be able to go in public if they spoke to each other around people that they do here.  I think most outsiders would describe the kids as patient and warm. When they are alone, from what I hear, they get along as well. They even hung out together with his friends one night when my husband and I were elsewhere.  When our daughter was around 18 months old (making our son around five) ...

After yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to keep it a little light today.  My daughter starts high school in the fall and last night we attended a virtual open house for the school she will be attending. We learned about the school motto, and who it was named after. We learned about the school's learning philosophy and about some of the features the school has to make it a place of learning. Including that there is a therapy dog in the form of a big, black lab that comes once a week.  Now that you know about the part I am most excited about, let's get to the point. I sat with her and we reacted to the presentation together, mostly in the form of laughing at something the other said. Then she got a little serious. It was during the part of the PowerPoint when they show all the different options that the school has.  I should have prefaced this by saying that there was another plan in place. She had planned to follow in her brother's footsteps by graduating from t...