• Strange things

    Something odd happened to me recently… I ate a candy cane that tasted like peppermint. It didn’t taste like Starburst, Skittles, Life Savers, any kind fruit, chocolate, peanut butter, pop-corn, or any other kind of mint. In fact, I don’t recall the last time I had a peppermint candy cane. Isn’t THAT odd?

    Caveat: it was sugar-free. (Insert shiver here.)

  • ‘Tis the season

    How often do you open a Christmas card, only to find in its place a glitter bomb? No, no one is sending explosive devices to me in the mail. This is not an intentional act of vandalism; at least I don’t think it is. These are the decorative cards that look so sparklely on the shelf, but invariably loose some of their shine in transit. No matter how careful I am when I open the envelope, I am usually greeted by the freshly liberated glitter in a pixie-dust like shower of holiday cheer.

    The problem comes when you try to clean up. Glitter removal has a lot in common with de-lousing a school age child: the only way to get it done is picking them one (near microscopic) piece at a time. It sometimes makes me wonder if glitter is a product of bioengineering. Did someone look to mimic insects and their ability to climb a wide variety of surfaces, when they made glitter? And someone tell me why glitter will remain on my skin after an intervention with steel wool, but will slough from a holiday card (where it was presumably GLUED in place) in a gentle breeze? I don’t think there’s much chance 3M is going to use the oil from my pores in their own bioengineering.

  • The good stuff

    I want to say publicly that I am proud of my daughter. A short time ago she got her first report card of the ‘big kid era.’ I was her first report card on the A – F grading scale, and therefore her first opportunity to make the honor roll – which she made.

    Then last week I picked her up from Tae Kwon Do and caught the tail end of her lesson. She had been one of three yellow-belts picked to demonstrate her “form” to the rest of the class. Not only did she do it correctly (with a big improvement over the last time I watched), but the other kids did not. She was able to go through her form without error, and without the other kids’ mistakes distracting her.

    Author’s note: a “form” is similar to a dance routine. When practiced in a group, it’s like watching a dance line. However, when one person makes a mistake – the mistake is often contagious. Kids see what others are doing, and if they’re not confident in themselves they’ll follow their neighbor… even if their neighbor is wrong. Think about your child and about your childhood. It may be that the only thing worse than making a mistake is being the only one making the mistake. On second thought, forget about your childhood. I think it may be true for everyone. Feeling stupid is one thing… but feeling uniquely stupid is a whole new level of humiliation.

    I knew if I worked hard enough I could end on a negative note.