Snakes, Literal and Figurative

I clicked on an Ask.com ad because it had a graphic of a snake that caught my eye. I actually like snakes, so... this ad might not have gotten more squeamish folks to click on it. From the Ask.com page, I followed a link on Dealing with Snakes, and where this sentence made me laugh out loud: "Sadly, the survival of many of our snakes is threatened by development, road mortality, and persecution by humans." Yes, yes, The Free Dictionary says that's a valid use of "persecution," but the images in my head... of people picketing with signs that say "Down With Snakes!" or "God Hates Snakes!" just made me laugh.

Last week, I stumbled across a website with an interesting article on Stanley Milgram's research on obedience. I remembered studying his research back in my college psych classes -- where the subject is told to administer increasingly painful shocks to someone. Sheesh. I've been trying to write about this for half an hour. But I just don't know what to say. I'm fairly horrified. (If you can say "fairly," can you truly still say "horrified"? idk) Check the links. Or even Wikipedia. Crazy.

Genealogy

I got back into genealogy today. I had slowed down on it because I was contacting folks in the family who had already done a lot of genealogy work... I have their work, but if I could get ahold of their computer file for the work, well that'd save me a lot of trouble, right? But, alas, it was not meant to be so easy. So I spent a good deal of time tonight adding ancestors and cousins and such to my family tree in Family Tree Maker.

I also looked at Cyndi's List, a site to which I've seen numerous references. Now I know why. Bookoodles of links and genealogy information. So. I'm staying away from that until I'm further along in the genealogy I already have access to.

October is Family History Month. I'm going to be taking classes at the library each Wednesday this month. Should be fun :)

Emotional Hangover from Dreams?

No longer bound to a medication that makes me sleep like the dead, I've been dreaming lately. Last night, I remember dreaming a lot. Which is weird. I remember even getting up to let my dog out and returning to sleep to dream some more. This is particularly weird for me because, for years (eh, 6 to 8 years maybe) I just really haven't dreamed very much. Or I have seldom had any memory of having dreamed. I finally asked my doc about that, and he said usually I'm sleeping too deeply to dream. But the medication completely solves insomnia and really helps manage other issues, so I'd just live without dreaming.

I've been taking a new form of the same med. And I've been dreaming. I've had lots of dreams about the house I grew up in. Except it hardly resembles that house. We moved there when I was 18 months old. It was my 'home' for 30-odd years -- the place I always went back to. In these dreams I've been having, there are hidden areas in the house. Other people know about these places, but they don't bother to go there. There's nothing really of value in these labyrinths and rooms. But I enjoy exploring. Sometimes, it's pretty creepy, and in my dream, I'm talking to myself about how yetis don't really exist and how the boogieman wouldn't waste his time down in these hallways where nobody goes. What's funny to me (funny weird, not funny ha-ha) is that the same secret areas return dream after dream. Really... if I'm going to create new rooms and hallways and such, why not go all out and re-create Narnia?

The other dream that I remember from last night was surreal in its own ways. But it concerned a friend whose birthday was today. It was a positive, friendly, good dream. (Except when I went into a frantic mode of "Why do I keep spending all my money?! I need to save this money! Still, overall it was a lovely dream.) I don't remember any dreams in which I was running for my life, my pursuer never tiring. None of that! Just reasonably decent dreams. But today, when I woke, I was unspeakably sad. I just wanted to cry and lie in bed. It felt that it was related to dreams... maybe at the time, I had a better memory of some troubling dream. Who knows. What has stuck with me all day, though, is that sadness. Not that I've been sad, just that I've remembered how powerfully heartbroken I was when I woke. Very odd.

Birthday, birthday, birthday

As my mother was eager to point out, I managed three (yes, three) birthday celebrations this year. But hey, it's not my fault that the larger familial gathering got split into two different dates. Tonight was the final family event. This event was dinner and a birthday cake, so it's not like I got three piñatas or anything. What's WAAAY better than three piñatas?!? A birthday with your 4-year old and 23-month old nephews! Woo-hoo! Nobody can make a birthday hat look better than they can. Nobody can have you laughing randomly quite so much as adorable kids. And who else would be able to convince you to give up candle-blowing rights?! Nobody, that's who. We sang "Happy Birthday" 3 or 4 times, in Spanish and English, the candles got blown out and relit. Good, good times. My brother did a great job with grilling salmon. My sister-in-law made some kickin' broccoli slaw. It was a dinner tailored to my fave foods. Love it! Earlier in the week, from Mom, I got her orange-raisin sauce with ham. (I had asked why we only have it once a year! I mean, c'mon!) Maybe I'll blog more about the birthday. I just wanted to get something down tonight. As my older nephew would say, "Wakala!!"

Nonversation

I was amused to hear this "word" for the first time tonight. "Nonversation." It sounds perfect. Urban Dictionary actually has a number of different definitions and examples. The Unword Dictionary is more succinct: a conversation between two or more people of absolutely no value, such as a discussion of the weather. Succinct, yes. But grammatically correct? In the way the definition is worded, doesn't "of absolutely no value" refer to "two or more people" rather than "a conversation"?!?! So it's not whether the conversation has value, but whether the people having the conversation have value. Eh. Maybe I'm wrong. 'Tis late for me. There's actually a blog entitled Nonversations, you can visit them now since I'm going to bed. G'night. ^_^

Wandering around Blogger

In the time since I have been stepping up my blogging, I've also just looked through various information from the folks at Blogger. For instance, I finally realized that this blog is a little wonky... I had changed my e-mail address (when I no longer had Earthlink as an ISP)... and... with my new e-mail address, if I can't remember my old password (which I don't), I can't be an administrator of this blog. I'm just an "author." Which means that I can't change much of anything. The title, "caelen web wanderings," the template, nothing. All those lovely options of "Comments" or "Design"? Yeah, I can't touch them. And... I can't seem to sort out a way to do it without dealing with a human. But I'm not sure what human support is available for a free blogging service. Ah well, maybe this is step one for me getting on the ball about it.

Today, wandering within Blogger Help again, I took a gander at the column on the right and saw "Recommended articles and discussions." Simple enough, right? Normal content for help pages? Um... not quite. One "Recommended article and discussion" is "What does life mean to you?"Another, with enough grammar issues to choke a... a hedgehog is "Does you're blog make you happy?" Huh. Well, maybe my blog makes me happy. Maybe it doesn't. But your continued incorrect use of "you're" is not making me happy.

Alright, alright. I decided to read some of these discussions rather than just mocking them for their oh-so-deep-and-meaningful topics. One is actually kind of fun and interesting. People are saying how blogging goes for them -- interesting stuff. But the topic of "What does life mean to you?" doesn't seem to go over too well... most of the posts end up with people arguing or getting upset.

Well. Anyway. I wasn't trying to write a dissertation, I was just laughing at what I'd discovered. But I was getting kind of lost in it. As I can so often do with the internet.

Mickey D & Libraries (Or, A Little Niceness Goes a Long Way)

Eh. The adding a title to the posts is a relatively new thing for me. I like the idea, but... I guess I feel like I should do it first since it's the first thing that comes up when I do a new post, but at that point -- the beginning -- do I really know well enough what I'm going to write about to give it a title? So you get whatever pops into my mind. I just left Mickey D's and I'm in a library. So... this title is not terribly creative of me.

It makes me happy that the central library allows you to have beverages as long as they're in closed container. So... knowing that I was going to do some posting, and wanting some ice to munch on, and knowing that I could get a large sweet tea at McDonald's for just over a buck, and since McDonald's is a stone's throw from the library, I went there to get a beverage and some ice.

I was getting increasingly uncomfortable that I hadn't blogged for two days. It's just out of line with what I wanted to be doing for the month. So... instead of going home between appointments and such, I decided I'd grab a computer at the library and do some blogging.

At McDonald's, I went inside so I could get as much ice in my drink as I wanted. There was a bit of a mess around the drink area, just because an employee was working there to refill straws and lids and such. I gave her a little space then grabbed my drink. While I was adding the sweet tea, she came over and apologized for the mess and for being in my way. I'm not actually terribly fond of... eh... pseudo-sarcastic responses, but I said something along the lines of, "Oh, no -- you're in my way because you're doing your job."

OK. Maybe that's not remotely what I said, but you get the gist -- I was joking about how dare she do her job. She immediately said, "Thank you," seemingly with some relief. After a moment, she added that some people don't understand, that they want her to just get out of their way. How dare she be in the way. (She didn't say any of this. I probed a bit to get that this was what she was feeling -- or how she had been treated one too many times.) She didn't say anything at all inappropriate. She just expressed relief, then explained herself enough that... I felt kind of bad for her. Well. More than it being a feeling specifically toward her, it was that I thought what a shame it is that people get in such a hurry that their own time seems so much more important than how they treat another person. This woman thanked me 3 times. She was completely prepared for me to be a jerk. When she didn't get crappy treatment from me, it was a relief and she was grateful.

Twitless

I have a Twitter account. And when I had Tweeted with such fervor as to finally top 30 Tweets (this is sarcasm, folks)...

[In real life, here's what's happening: I am suddenly quite worried that "Tweeted" and "Tweets" are possibly not supposed to be capitalized. Well, not that worried... I'm not going to cry, I'm just sidetracked. I think of just checking Grammar Girl (cuz she rocks) but instead, I just do a Google search because I'm thinking that maybe there's a quicker answer. And now, because I'm trying to link to my actual search (which was "capitalize tweet"), I'm worried the url won't work here on the blog because it includes "client=firefox" and other such nonsense. If someone using Safari clicks the link, what happens? Well, the top search result was indeed Grammar Girl's article on the subject. Of course, I had read that exact article in that exact location eh, maybe a month ago, so my concern about whether "Tweet" words should be capitalized was, in fact, my memory, my brain, just chugging along and actually remembering that I shouldn't capitalize "tweet."]

This, my friends, should perfectly illustrate precisely why I go for long periods of time without blogging. Who can take all that internal pressure?!? Eh?!

[Also of interest are Roy West's simple tweet, "Who would capitalize 'tweet' and why?" and the blog entry "AP Stylebook Issues Half-Correction for Flawed Twitter Entry."]

Alllllrighty. So. This began with my mentioning my Twitter account. I had a wee bit over 30 tweets. Then there were some glitches... and... now my tweets number 13. Neil Gaiman has 14,242 tweets! If he's lost 20 tweets, no big deal! But for me, it's a blow!

And so, I've tried to step up my tweeting. I guess it just ain't my bag. A tweet a day... meh.... Maybe I should set some nutty goal... like... ooh... three tweets a day! I'll give it a shot. In the meantime, if you wanna check out my tweets, go right ahead.

Dogs, Dominoes & Donny Osmond

I had the opportunity tonight to be in two different settings with people who don't know my dog, Lucy, very well or who have never met my pup. In each place, a single person managed to sit close to my pup and give some Dog Lover Quality Lovin. This made me happy and proud. It seemed almost counterintuitive somehow. Hmm. Maybe not in general. But for tonight, it seemed like a different reaction would be expected; that I would want my dog not to enjoy loving from others -- "Only I give Quality Dog Lovin!" Then kind of a "don't cozy up to these strangers" feeling. "You are mine. We are a pair. Others begone!" hehehe ^_^

Nope. None of that silliness. Just me loving that others are scratching my pup or looking at her cute ears while she watches a bug -- the bug was just in front of her nose; I wonder what her thought was -- "What's this?!" or "Would it hurt to eat that?" One person moved from 15 feet away to sit near my pup. She made happy pup comments. Folks saying my dog is well-behaved or mellow... and I'm just a smilin'. I love my pup, my pooper, my Lucy.

I played Mexican Train Dominoes tonight. With people with whom I've never played the game before... family. (cue dramatic music) It was fun. Of course, their rules and the rules I've played by didn't quite match.... So there was some rule-shifting that would occur. Of course, I've seen that happen with other folks as well. It was just fun. My time at my brother's place began with trying to encourage a toddler to eat, continued with poopy diaper (ick), and ended with dominoes.

Donny Osmond. Actually, I was just thinking of three things that began with the same letters. But once I started thinking about him, I remembered the purple socks. Ages and ages ago, on that "Donny and Marie" TV show (I don't know the real name of the show), Donny supposedly always wore purple socks at the end of the show. Or this is what I remember. I love purple. It's my favorite color. I could be creating a purple sock delusion for all I know.

The other thought related to him (and his sis) was that at some time this week, I had thought of the song "Make the World Go Away." I mean, what a great title! I guess I was thinking of it from a darker place, though. I kept having a hard time picturing a happy 70's song. Just found a recording of it on YouTube, though, so now I'm remembering it in that happier spirit :)

My Dad and I were out and about today, and we bought Family Tree Maker 2010. When we got home, I spent hours working on our family tree. I added relatives and typed some stories as my parents told them. How my paternal grandmother died; how the births of 2 aunts went. It was very interesting. I'm excited about doing more work on this.

Family Tree Maker is made by the folks at Ancestry.com. With the software comes a free month of membership at Ancestry.com. I had enough frustrations today that I can't say I'm wild about that part of it yet.

Who the hell named the "Social Security Death Index"?! It's a wonderfully descriptive name, but sheesh! Does it have to be quite that descriptive?

Our shopping spree also included Spanish Phrases for Dummies. So now I can say, "We're going to a very tall building" ("Vamos a un edificio muy alto.") without having to think at all. Lovely :) I've actually enjoyed wandering around the Dummies website. I'm not the greatest fan of the use of "Dummies." But. There's lots for me to learn and lots that's interesting. I now can consider hypnotizing myself and I know 10 things never to say or do in Russia. Hey, if all the knowledge in our heads could be put to good, solid, practical use, what fun would that be?

Someone suggested today that I get out some of my emotions by playing the piano. It was a great idea (hadn't occurred to me), and I knew a couple of pieces that I definitely wanted to play. But when I got home, my playing the piano wasn't an option because of folks watching TV and... the piano would have made that difficult and/or unpleasant for them.

So. I found a guitar. I'd never seen it before and thought it was a cheapie. Turns out it was a Martin, just a wee guitar. Not tiny, really, a fair amount larger than an ukulele, but... alright... searched on the Martin site a bit. It's a "Little Martin."

You know one thing about playing the piano? It doesn't hurt. Yeah, I don't notice constantly while I'm playing the guitar, but now and then, just "ouch." And, for me personally... I have some skill with the piano. There are plenty of things that I can play happily. The guitar? I've very little skill with it. And it's a pretty different experience. Most everything I play on the guitar, I'm singing along with. On the piano, there's nothing that I do that way. I'm mainly playing classical stuff or things that I can't manage to play and sing.

I enjoyed myself. That'll do.

I went out a while ago and the moon was gorgeous behind the clouds. I try to stay aware of the moon phase... just something I like to do. There's an easy moon phase thing that I check when I think of it. Wikipedia's Lunar Phase article is a good place to start if you don't know a lot about moon phases. Once, I commented on the moon phase and the friend I was with said she thought it was seasonal. Nope. The moon does what it does every month. Eh. I hate telling people stuff they already know.

Alrighty. I'm gonna make some blogging attempts. Be gentle and patient with me ^_^

I've been thinking about all the new language and shorthand that has arisen with the internet. I'm curious whether this is or isn't a lot of language activity for a generation. Meh. That's what I've been thinking of blogging about. We'll see. The Internet Slang dictionary seems to be just that... a list of every possible thing used on the internet. I'm looking for... I dunno... maybe a more sociological slant.

Maybe I'll blog further on that. Maybe I'll concentrate on cats attacking babysitters. For the moment, this is just me trying to "get back in the game." I'll check you later.

Funny Sites

This picture at Awkward Family Photos made me laugh out loud. After that, I couldn't stop laughing. So many of these pictures are hysterical.

Then there is the world of Cheezburger. I ain't no web historian, but I believe I Can Has Cheezburger? was the beginning. They have lots of funny sites now. Two of them are Fail Blog and Failbook (with what some people have posted on Facebook). But both of these... sometimes they are just too much fun at others' expense. I find that Passive Aggressive Notes is a bit better for me because at least they're making fun of angry people (this isn't Cheezburger Network but is included in this paragraph because hey, I can do that if I want). With Fail Blog and Failbook, sometimes I just feel sorry for the folks. There I Fixed It includes a pic of perhaps the coolest use for an old iMac! Cat lovers should check that pic out :) And Acting Like Animals lets you enjoy more of the animal kingdom than just lolcats and loldogs. I dunno. Just check all the Cheezburger sites, and I expect you'll find something.

Alrighty. I'm about linked out for now. But... The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks cracks me up. Apostrophe Abuse is also lovely. For instance, "Life is tough but, its tougher if your stupid". Some of these folks need a good dose of Grammar Girl :)