Looking around at all the people I know, I find myself to be part of a generation of unschoolers - ones somewhere between their late teens and mid-twenties - who are reaching adulthood together. We're not the first generation, to be sure; there were unschoolers at least as far back as the early 70s and maybe before. But from where I sit perched on the cusp of 24, I can name many unschoolers my age and many who are right on my heels. As of this writing, the Dodd kids are 23, 20 and almost-18, the Sorooshian girls are in their early 20s, Cameron Lovejoy is 21, Brenna McBroom is 19, and Trevor* and Idzie are both 18. I could exhaust myself naming unschoolers in the 15-to-17 range.
So with a whole cluster of unschoolers becoming grownups right now, a question jumps out at me: Does unschooling have an end?
School has an end: graduation. School-at-home ends too. But unschooling is a totally different thing. It's not a kind of school, it's a way of being, a philosophy. Can you "graduate" from something like that? Can you finish?
It depends. Technically unschooling is a kind of homeschooling, so in that sense it ends when you turn 18, or when you move out, or when you're past the age of compulsory schooling. By that definition I never was an unschooler, since I didn't start until I was old enough to drop out anyway. The state of Florida didn't demand that I go to school past my 16th birthday, which came barely a month after I started high school. Still I can see the point - how can you "unschool" if you aren't expected to "school" in the first place?
But as any experienced unschooler knows, unschooling is way more than just a kind of homeschooling. Whole-life, radical unschooling makes you a different person than you would have been if you were conventionally schooled and parented. In that sense there is no end; you can't finish unschooling any more than you can finish learning, or finish aging. You finish when you're dead. Or maybe not even then, if you're a Hindu or a Buddhist, or if you're not one and they have it right anyway.
I can't answer for anyone but me, but I still call myself an unschooler. Here are some reasons why:
1. I see the world in a different way from my schooled-all-the-way, conventionally-parented friends. They're a creative, open-minded bunch of people, and yet they see a lot more "have to" and "can't" in the world than I do. I have friends who decided they can't learn to play the piano before they even tried to play a note, or who "have to" go to college because they "can't" make a living with their true passion. I have friends who have pursued degree after degree just because they've always been in school and feel like school is the only thing they're good at. I've had people insist I am smarter than they are, when really the only difference is that I grew up hearing "you can do it" where they heard "no you can't". I try never to say I can't when I mean I don't know how yet. It sounds pedantic, but the more you eliminate "I have to" and "I can't" from your life, the more "I want to" and "I'll try it" there will be.
I'm not saying these things to imply I am somehow better than my schooled friends. Quite the opposite: I'm saying it because I see all their potential, all their creativity and brilliance that they're trying to stuff down or put aside because someone told them it wasn't useful or practical enough. I see their sadness and frustration that there really isn't anything they want to do for a living, because what they truly want "isn't okay". I wish they could see what I see. When I try to tell them, the answers I get are more nervous have-to's and can'ts. Unschoolers are much less likely to fall into that trap.
2. While I may be past the age of legally-compulsory schooling, I am still at the perfect age for societally-pressured schooling. College is being seen less as a choice and more as a requirement these days, and rarely does a week go by without someone either implying or directly saying that I should be in school. The same people who see school as the only acceptable path for a ten-year-old are likely to see it the same way for a 20-something, particularly one who doesn't have a job right this very second**. I know countless numbers of people who are in college and don't know why - they are just doing it because it's "what you do" when you're this age.
Of course there are unschoolers who choose to go to college, and I don't mean to suggest that they shouldn't still call themselves unschoolers. And there are people who don't go to college who never were unschoolers. But when unschoolers choose not to go to college, they are still traveling off the beaten path, and will face many of the same pressures and prejudices they did as teens - including the added fear of people smirking at their choice and using it as evidence that unschooling doesnt work.
3. I am living a free life outside the box, following my interests without judgment. I don't follow prescribed ideas of what someone my age should or shouldn't do - many of my interests are more typical for children, and many are more typical for people much older than me. I don't follow conventional ideas about jobs, politics, religion or other institutions. I don't know what career I want, and while I have occasional anxiety over that, I know that I can figure it out outside of school just as easily as I could in it. Following my interests will keep me on a happy path.
4. I still live with my mom. Because she has no spouse, and I have no siblings, and she would be alone without me, I do not plan to end this arrangement unless it somehow becomes totally unfeasible. I don't think many traditionally-parented kids, who so often see their parents as adversaries, would have such an easy time making this choice. Even some kids who get along with their parents and are content at home rush to move out just because it's what you're "supposed to do", or because their parents flat out don't want them in the house anymore.
I don't have to follow any rules here, but I do clean and help with errands and drive my mom places just because those things need to be done. I might resent doing that stuff if my mom made me feel guilty for staying in her house or if I felt like she was tapping her foot waiting for me to get out. My mom has never once said I live under "her roof". It's our home, and it always has been. I don't mind helping with our home.
5. I don't believe there is a dividing line between childhood and adulthood. Growing up is a gradual process. The government may believe a 17-year-old is somehow fundamentally different from an 18-year-old, but I don't buy it. I didn't magically become a different person when I turned 18 or 21. If anyone does, it's probably a slingshot effect from being set free after 18 years of control.
6. I am an active member of the unschooling community, through blogs, forums, email lists, my local unschooling tribe, and (soon!) conferences.
7. I fully intend to be an unschooling mom one day, unless of course my kids choose to go to school. And even if they do, I will raise them the same way I was raised: with lots of respect, freedom, choices and love.
So yes, I believe I am still an unschooler and always will be. Maybe other unschoolers will have other opinions, or will reach the same conclusion but for different reasons. But for me, unschooling doesn't have an end or an edge. It's just part of who I am.
------
*This is perhaps obvious, but that is Trevor's mom's blog. Disclaimer added because I suspect Trevor might not appreciate it if I led you all to think he had a blog called "lotus blossom". Just a hunch.
**For the benefit of people who stumble here and don't know me, I've had lots of jobs - both paid and volunteer. I just don't have one right now. This is seen nearly as criminal by some people, for reasons that I cannot fathom.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Connections are weird
I love finding connections. Sometimes they are serendipitous and weird. Those are the coolest ones.
Yesterday at some point, William Shatner was the top trending topic on Twitter. I was a little alarmed 'cause I thought he was dead. Turns out he was just on Conan (isn't he always on Conan these days?), reciting part of Sarah Palin's farewell address as a beat poem.
I went and looked up the original Sarah Palin speech, and it did indeed contain all the weird phrases Shatner recited, including something about "north to Alaska" that I figured must be some kind of reference to something.
Today I had on an oldies station on Yahoo radio. They played some Beatles, some Marvin Gaye... and then "North to Alaska" by Johnny Horton.
I like Johnny Horton. I know about him because of "The Battle of New Orleans", which I know because of a parody called "The War of 1812" by Three Dead Trolls in A Baggie. Which I know from AMV Hell 3, which my friends got me to watch years ago.
The DJ on the radio was saying people who like Johnny Horton should look up "All for the Love of a Girl". I looked it up and didn't like it too much - too slow. But on the way there I found a video of "North to Alaska" that had a description explaining how the song is about the Gold Rush.
If you can get from Star Trek to the Gold Rush, you can connect anything.
Yesterday at some point, William Shatner was the top trending topic on Twitter. I was a little alarmed 'cause I thought he was dead. Turns out he was just on Conan (isn't he always on Conan these days?), reciting part of Sarah Palin's farewell address as a beat poem.
I went and looked up the original Sarah Palin speech, and it did indeed contain all the weird phrases Shatner recited, including something about "north to Alaska" that I figured must be some kind of reference to something.
Today I had on an oldies station on Yahoo radio. They played some Beatles, some Marvin Gaye... and then "North to Alaska" by Johnny Horton.
I like Johnny Horton. I know about him because of "The Battle of New Orleans", which I know because of a parody called "The War of 1812" by Three Dead Trolls in A Baggie. Which I know from AMV Hell 3, which my friends got me to watch years ago.
The DJ on the radio was saying people who like Johnny Horton should look up "All for the Love of a Girl". I looked it up and didn't like it too much - too slow. But on the way there I found a video of "North to Alaska" that had a description explaining how the song is about the Gold Rush.
If you can get from Star Trek to the Gold Rush, you can connect anything.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Part one
My history with school is long and complicated, and I have so many mixed feelings that I feel I need to sort them out somewhere. Seeing the whole story unrolled in front of me like a parchment may be the only way to do this. It goes without saying that these posts are written for me, though I don't doubt that parts of them will echo in the hearts of others. At the very least I hope to untangle some of the crossed wires in my own. This is the beginning of a series of essays about how I got where I am regarding school and in spite of school.
Everything I Need to Know
When I was very little I loved to learn, and I was excited to go to school and sit in the big-kid desks. My parents and grandparents had talked it up. "You're so smart!" they said. "You'll be great!" In the mail came a school bag full of coloring books, gifts from a great-aunt which were meant to teach me about shapes and colors and numbers that I already knew. I did them voluntarily anyway, because they were new and a gift, and because it's not every day that a five-year-old gets special mail just for her. I learned the word "semicircle", which I read myself. Everything else was old hat.
I was psyched up for kindergarten from the first time I heard about it right up until the moment my mother left me there. Somehow I hadn't thought about that part before. Suddenly I was little and scared, and big-kid desks and shiny apples didn't matter anymore. They didn't give us big-kid desks anyway, except for one kid who by the second day of school was already Labeled and had to sit by herself. I don't know what her Label was, but it must have been official and scary since she never got a chance to decide whether she was good or not like the rest of us did. I decided I was bad by crying on the first day. At home when I cried I got a hug or at least whoever was yelling would cut it out. Now I got my name on the board with TWO checks and I was going to the principal's office if I didn't stop right now. I had never been to a principal's office before, but I was pretty sure it was where they sent Really Bad people who were too young to go to jail.
At home I had nightmares about going to jail for not doing well in kindergarten. At school I would throw up on the playground from nerves. "She's doing it on purpose," said the teacher. "She just wants to go home." The teacher was difficult, but the work was easy. I could already read and count and add a little, and that was all there was. Still I remember much anxiety over coloring. I didn't see the point of coloring someone else's pictures; I wanted to draw my own. Math papers came home with all the answers right and a grade of C because I didn't color the puppy at the top. Another child's mother brought cupcakes and I didn't get one because I was daydreaming instead of using my crayons to Take A Bite Out of Crime. "You can have one when you're done," the mother said sweetly. "Yeah - when and if" my teacher snarked.
I got head lice from another girl in school. When my parents came to pick me up, the teacher scolded them. "You have to wash her hair more," she said. "At least every other day." The teacher had a perm. I had wavy, troublesome hair that I inherited from my grandmother, who washed hers once a week. But teachers know best, so I was switched to every other day. By second grade my hair resembled a tumbleweed - a dried-out, dusty knot, albeit a clean one. I still got lice again. I did not learn good hair care, but I did learn that my parents were inferior and if they and my teachers didn't agree, the teachers were right. My parents said I was good and smart, but teachers didn't seem to think so. And teachers knew best.
There was fun in kindergarten too, of course. There were dinosaurs and pink Play-Doh and the letter A spelled in Apple Jacks. There was Hot Potato and Red Rover and a record that told us to tiptoe and gallop and skip. I got to bring my dog to school for the other kids to play with, and on the last day we all got to throw a giant beach ball around. I glowed with pride when I found out I had passed kindergarten, and with All S's too. I was good at this school thing after all.
When I stepped into the first grade classroom the next year, I barely glanced back at my mother. Another girl was crying and begging hers not to leave. "Sheesh," I thought, "this is first grade, and she still wants her mom. Didn't she learn anything from kindergarten?
She must not be as good at school as I am."
Everything I Need to Know
When I was very little I loved to learn, and I was excited to go to school and sit in the big-kid desks. My parents and grandparents had talked it up. "You're so smart!" they said. "You'll be great!" In the mail came a school bag full of coloring books, gifts from a great-aunt which were meant to teach me about shapes and colors and numbers that I already knew. I did them voluntarily anyway, because they were new and a gift, and because it's not every day that a five-year-old gets special mail just for her. I learned the word "semicircle", which I read myself. Everything else was old hat.
I was psyched up for kindergarten from the first time I heard about it right up until the moment my mother left me there. Somehow I hadn't thought about that part before. Suddenly I was little and scared, and big-kid desks and shiny apples didn't matter anymore. They didn't give us big-kid desks anyway, except for one kid who by the second day of school was already Labeled and had to sit by herself. I don't know what her Label was, but it must have been official and scary since she never got a chance to decide whether she was good or not like the rest of us did. I decided I was bad by crying on the first day. At home when I cried I got a hug or at least whoever was yelling would cut it out. Now I got my name on the board with TWO checks and I was going to the principal's office if I didn't stop right now. I had never been to a principal's office before, but I was pretty sure it was where they sent Really Bad people who were too young to go to jail.
At home I had nightmares about going to jail for not doing well in kindergarten. At school I would throw up on the playground from nerves. "She's doing it on purpose," said the teacher. "She just wants to go home." The teacher was difficult, but the work was easy. I could already read and count and add a little, and that was all there was. Still I remember much anxiety over coloring. I didn't see the point of coloring someone else's pictures; I wanted to draw my own. Math papers came home with all the answers right and a grade of C because I didn't color the puppy at the top. Another child's mother brought cupcakes and I didn't get one because I was daydreaming instead of using my crayons to Take A Bite Out of Crime. "You can have one when you're done," the mother said sweetly. "Yeah - when and if" my teacher snarked.
I got head lice from another girl in school. When my parents came to pick me up, the teacher scolded them. "You have to wash her hair more," she said. "At least every other day." The teacher had a perm. I had wavy, troublesome hair that I inherited from my grandmother, who washed hers once a week. But teachers know best, so I was switched to every other day. By second grade my hair resembled a tumbleweed - a dried-out, dusty knot, albeit a clean one. I still got lice again. I did not learn good hair care, but I did learn that my parents were inferior and if they and my teachers didn't agree, the teachers were right. My parents said I was good and smart, but teachers didn't seem to think so. And teachers knew best.
There was fun in kindergarten too, of course. There were dinosaurs and pink Play-Doh and the letter A spelled in Apple Jacks. There was Hot Potato and Red Rover and a record that told us to tiptoe and gallop and skip. I got to bring my dog to school for the other kids to play with, and on the last day we all got to throw a giant beach ball around. I glowed with pride when I found out I had passed kindergarten, and with All S's too. I was good at this school thing after all.
When I stepped into the first grade classroom the next year, I barely glanced back at my mother. Another girl was crying and begging hers not to leave. "Sheesh," I thought, "this is first grade, and she still wants her mom. Didn't she learn anything from kindergarten?
She must not be as good at school as I am."
Friday, July 24, 2009
You can't say I didn't try
I decided to make a "day in the life" post for Learn Nothing Day, so I jotted down the stuff I did and the stuff I learned. Here's how the day went:
Midnight - Got a late start because Hotmail had been saying I had no new email when I did, so at midnight I got a whole ton of email all at once. I gave myself a few minutes to catch up on that. Then I watched Spongebob!
Overnight - Kept having really complicated dreams, which I can't remember now. We'll just have to hope I didn't learn anything in my sleep :)
9am - Watched Spongebob and had to fight the urge to check all my email and blogs! My mom assaulted me with some learning when I went to get cereal because she started talking about some paperwork or something. I had only been awake for 15 minutes so I didn't learn much.
10am - We decided we didn't feel like going to the beach, so I listened to some music and then took a shower. The Christian station my mom listens to was playing "Christmas in July" music so I sat down to listen to that. Unfortunately they broke in with news; fortunately it was religious-station-funded news about young-Earth creationism*, so all I really learned was that some people observe Learn Nothing Day every day. I did learn something a little later when they announced that this particular station broadcasts internationally via shortwave, which is pretty cool. I decided that was too much learning and went back in my room.
11am - I talked to Fez for a few minutes, which is risky but he managed to be nice and not tell me anything interesting. Then I was sleepy so I decided to lie down and watch UHF, which wasn't too much of a learning risk because I just watched it a few days ago. Still I couldn't resist thinking about what someone could learn from watching it. There's quite a bit, even though it's a fairly stupid movie.
Noon - Caved in and read a few emails. Learned something or other about the Sorooshians but that was about it.
12:30 - Well, here's where it all went to hell *grin* I decided to go outside and jump on the trampoline, and ended up learning how to do a sort of front handspring/somersault thing I have ALWAYS wanted to do and never had the nerve to try! I also went in the pool for a little while and learned something about dragonflies. What I *thought* I saw was one male dragonfly suddenly fall from the sky dead. I went to look closer and saw it was actually two dragonflies mating. A few minutes later the female flew away (I didn't even know what a female dragonfly looked like before this). I went over and saw the male still lying there, this time dead for real. So I learned that dragonflies are one of the insect species where the male dies during or after mating.
Note: Evidently I was wrong and this is not normal, so I don't know what was up with that. Maybe this particular female dragonfly was just evil or a succubus or something. Maybe they weren't really mating and she was just feasting upon his brains.
Note 2: When I went back to fact-check this today, I learned this about dragonflies: "They breathe through gills in their rectum, and can rapidly propel themselves by suddenly expelling water through the anus." Bet you didn't know THAT.
2:00 - Kinda zoned out listening to the radio and then did a fairly mindless Facebook meme. Caught myself trying to figure out what "A Horse With No Name" is about. I still have no idea.
3:00 - Had a cupcake and some soda, because hey, everyone knows you can't learn while eating sweets, right? Tried to play Bejeweled without learning, but I suppose I was learning patterns and strategy and whatnot. Also I noticed that "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey is about one-night stands or something. I'd never paid attention before. And I kept thinking about bad lyric writing, because classic rock radio is full of it. Seriously, if I have never heard a song before and I can predict what the next lines will be, it's not good writing. You followed "I like you best" with "you're not like the rest"? Really? Is that supposed to be creative?
I also learned from a commercial that Geico has been around for 70 years. I didn't *care*, but I know now.
4:00 - Went outside for a little while, and saw a spider that had somehow melted onto the glass table on the porch. I came in and did a Myspace survey, managed not to learn there... then Roni signed on and I told her about the dragonflies I saw earlier. She told me about mayflies, which I didn't know anything about - they look similar to dragonflies but they only live less than a day after reaching adulthood and dragonflies live a lot longer. She also showed me someone's Twitter feed; I thought I could take a peek without learning, but I learned that Wikipedia was claiming Jimmy Hoffa is buried under a restaurant in South Dakota.
5:00 - I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, and when I went to the Netflix site I mentioned to Roni that my recommendation page has a whole row full of Gene Wilder movies. She pointed out that he was in a ton of Mel Brooks movies, which I hadn't noticed before.
7:30 - Watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. When I went to Hulu I learned that they're adding a bunch of shows, including The Electric Company and X-Men Evolution.
8:30 - Was going to watch Spongebob, got distracted reading my Netflix recommendations, so I learned some things there. There's a lot of shows I didn't realize are on DVD. I also had a conversation with Roni, Spiffy and Justina about movies. I probably learned a few things in there, I didn't keep track.
9:00 - Listened to some music, and learned the worst song lyric I have ever heard: "Shush girl, do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips".
10:00 - Finally got around to Spongebob. Went to bed at 11.
------
So even with a real effort not to learn, I still did, although not a lot. But here's the thing I noticed: most people define "learning" as taking in new facts or learning a new skill, but even when I'm doing neither of those my brain is still working constantly. (Well I mean, of course it has to be so I don't die, but here I mean in an intelligent way.) A lot of the time I wrote down as just zoning out or listening to music or whatever, I was thinking about videos or art I want to make. In fact I almost feel like I was more creative than usual yesterday, so maybe not constantly taking in information is good for creativity.
That's what drove me crazy about school: they tried to cram us full of facts but didn't give us any time to reflect or process or recombine that information. If we sat and thought about stuff it was daydreaming and that was off-task. But if you can't take information and play with it, toss it around a little and see what it sticks to, then you can't make any connections with it. And if you can't make connections, what's the use of even knowing anything? If you just have a bunch of car parts scattered all over the yard and don't put them together, how are you going to drive?
For a long time I considered myself to have a short attention span because I can't read a book or watch a movie for very long at a time. What I've gradually realized is that this is because I like to savor new information. Usually by the time a movie gets about 30-45 minutes in it's given me some kind of new, exciting idea I want to go sit and think about. If I don't pause it and go process that information and pick it apart and play with it, I get antsy and can't enjoy the rest of the movie. Books are the same way: I'll read a little bit and then have to go chew over what I just read. I am one of the slowest readers I know, and this is why. When I went to community college, trying to read 40 pages of a textbook a week made me insane. The information in textbooks is so densely packed it's totally useless for me; I need my facts to come more slowly so I can actually use them. Somehow I don't think I'm alone in that.
The thinking and connecting and daydreaming that happens after a new fact is taken in is the *real* learning, and so by forcing kids to rigidly pay attention to whatever the teacher is going on about, schools everywhere are actively preventing learning from happening. I joked on Gail's Facebook that if only I could go back to high school for a day I'd have no trouble learning nothing, and I really meant that. It's a pretty sobering thought, and if I thought about it too long I'd probably get depressed.
But I won't, because I can do a handspring on the trampoline now :D
*I feel I should point out that I am not one bit offended by the belief that something may have created this universe; I share that belief. I am, however, bothered by people who blithely ignore every scientific discovery and insist that Earth itself has only been around as long as human civilization.
Midnight - Got a late start because Hotmail had been saying I had no new email when I did, so at midnight I got a whole ton of email all at once. I gave myself a few minutes to catch up on that. Then I watched Spongebob!
Overnight - Kept having really complicated dreams, which I can't remember now. We'll just have to hope I didn't learn anything in my sleep :)
9am - Watched Spongebob and had to fight the urge to check all my email and blogs! My mom assaulted me with some learning when I went to get cereal because she started talking about some paperwork or something. I had only been awake for 15 minutes so I didn't learn much.
10am - We decided we didn't feel like going to the beach, so I listened to some music and then took a shower. The Christian station my mom listens to was playing "Christmas in July" music so I sat down to listen to that. Unfortunately they broke in with news; fortunately it was religious-station-funded news about young-Earth creationism*, so all I really learned was that some people observe Learn Nothing Day every day. I did learn something a little later when they announced that this particular station broadcasts internationally via shortwave, which is pretty cool. I decided that was too much learning and went back in my room.
11am - I talked to Fez for a few minutes, which is risky but he managed to be nice and not tell me anything interesting. Then I was sleepy so I decided to lie down and watch UHF, which wasn't too much of a learning risk because I just watched it a few days ago. Still I couldn't resist thinking about what someone could learn from watching it. There's quite a bit, even though it's a fairly stupid movie.
Noon - Caved in and read a few emails. Learned something or other about the Sorooshians but that was about it.
12:30 - Well, here's where it all went to hell *grin* I decided to go outside and jump on the trampoline, and ended up learning how to do a sort of front handspring/somersault thing I have ALWAYS wanted to do and never had the nerve to try! I also went in the pool for a little while and learned something about dragonflies. What I *thought* I saw was one male dragonfly suddenly fall from the sky dead. I went to look closer and saw it was actually two dragonflies mating. A few minutes later the female flew away (I didn't even know what a female dragonfly looked like before this). I went over and saw the male still lying there, this time dead for real. So I learned that dragonflies are one of the insect species where the male dies during or after mating.
Note: Evidently I was wrong and this is not normal, so I don't know what was up with that. Maybe this particular female dragonfly was just evil or a succubus or something. Maybe they weren't really mating and she was just feasting upon his brains.
Note 2: When I went back to fact-check this today, I learned this about dragonflies: "They breathe through gills in their rectum, and can rapidly propel themselves by suddenly expelling water through the anus." Bet you didn't know THAT.
2:00 - Kinda zoned out listening to the radio and then did a fairly mindless Facebook meme. Caught myself trying to figure out what "A Horse With No Name" is about. I still have no idea.
3:00 - Had a cupcake and some soda, because hey, everyone knows you can't learn while eating sweets, right? Tried to play Bejeweled without learning, but I suppose I was learning patterns and strategy and whatnot. Also I noticed that "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey is about one-night stands or something. I'd never paid attention before. And I kept thinking about bad lyric writing, because classic rock radio is full of it. Seriously, if I have never heard a song before and I can predict what the next lines will be, it's not good writing. You followed "I like you best" with "you're not like the rest"? Really? Is that supposed to be creative?
I also learned from a commercial that Geico has been around for 70 years. I didn't *care*, but I know now.
4:00 - Went outside for a little while, and saw a spider that had somehow melted onto the glass table on the porch. I came in and did a Myspace survey, managed not to learn there... then Roni signed on and I told her about the dragonflies I saw earlier. She told me about mayflies, which I didn't know anything about - they look similar to dragonflies but they only live less than a day after reaching adulthood and dragonflies live a lot longer. She also showed me someone's Twitter feed; I thought I could take a peek without learning, but I learned that Wikipedia was claiming Jimmy Hoffa is buried under a restaurant in South Dakota.
5:00 - I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, and when I went to the Netflix site I mentioned to Roni that my recommendation page has a whole row full of Gene Wilder movies. She pointed out that he was in a ton of Mel Brooks movies, which I hadn't noticed before.
7:30 - Watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. When I went to Hulu I learned that they're adding a bunch of shows, including The Electric Company and X-Men Evolution.
8:30 - Was going to watch Spongebob, got distracted reading my Netflix recommendations, so I learned some things there. There's a lot of shows I didn't realize are on DVD. I also had a conversation with Roni, Spiffy and Justina about movies. I probably learned a few things in there, I didn't keep track.
9:00 - Listened to some music, and learned the worst song lyric I have ever heard: "Shush girl, do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips".
10:00 - Finally got around to Spongebob. Went to bed at 11.
------
So even with a real effort not to learn, I still did, although not a lot. But here's the thing I noticed: most people define "learning" as taking in new facts or learning a new skill, but even when I'm doing neither of those my brain is still working constantly. (Well I mean, of course it has to be so I don't die, but here I mean in an intelligent way.) A lot of the time I wrote down as just zoning out or listening to music or whatever, I was thinking about videos or art I want to make. In fact I almost feel like I was more creative than usual yesterday, so maybe not constantly taking in information is good for creativity.
That's what drove me crazy about school: they tried to cram us full of facts but didn't give us any time to reflect or process or recombine that information. If we sat and thought about stuff it was daydreaming and that was off-task. But if you can't take information and play with it, toss it around a little and see what it sticks to, then you can't make any connections with it. And if you can't make connections, what's the use of even knowing anything? If you just have a bunch of car parts scattered all over the yard and don't put them together, how are you going to drive?
For a long time I considered myself to have a short attention span because I can't read a book or watch a movie for very long at a time. What I've gradually realized is that this is because I like to savor new information. Usually by the time a movie gets about 30-45 minutes in it's given me some kind of new, exciting idea I want to go sit and think about. If I don't pause it and go process that information and pick it apart and play with it, I get antsy and can't enjoy the rest of the movie. Books are the same way: I'll read a little bit and then have to go chew over what I just read. I am one of the slowest readers I know, and this is why. When I went to community college, trying to read 40 pages of a textbook a week made me insane. The information in textbooks is so densely packed it's totally useless for me; I need my facts to come more slowly so I can actually use them. Somehow I don't think I'm alone in that.
The thinking and connecting and daydreaming that happens after a new fact is taken in is the *real* learning, and so by forcing kids to rigidly pay attention to whatever the teacher is going on about, schools everywhere are actively preventing learning from happening. I joked on Gail's Facebook that if only I could go back to high school for a day I'd have no trouble learning nothing, and I really meant that. It's a pretty sobering thought, and if I thought about it too long I'd probably get depressed.
But I won't, because I can do a handspring on the trampoline now :D
*I feel I should point out that I am not one bit offended by the belief that something may have created this universe; I share that belief. I am, however, bothered by people who blithely ignore every scientific discovery and insist that Earth itself has only been around as long as human civilization.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Set phasers to dumb
Yep, it's that time of year again, tomorrow is...
Last year I tried learning nothing without a plan, which didn't work well. The computer was too tempting! So this year I brainstormed some activities that I can maybe kinda sorta not learn from. Here's the plan:
Morning
Activities will consist of:
*Lying in bed in a stupor for as long as possible
*Lying around on the beach without examining any wildlife or talking to anyone
*Not reading anything
*Resisting the urge to drive around Fernandina and explore the shops (an effort that will be made easier by the fact that I should be wet and sandy and gross by this point)
Afternoon
Activities will consist of:
*Watching movies I have seen multiple times
*Playing simple video games I have beaten repeatedly
*Listening to CDs I have had memorized since I was about 15
*Either avoiding my friends or persistently redirecting all conversations to "your mom" jokes and poop references (assuming we are not talking about that already)
*Avoiding Twitter and Wikipedia the way a recovering alcoholic avoids liquor
Evening
Activities will consist of:
*Playing board games that don't require much thought for someone my age, which pretty much narrows it down to Candyland
*Dangling shiny objects in front of the cats and giggling
*Staring into space
*Counting down the hours until I can watch Star Trek again
Activities may change due to varying circumstances, such as if it rains, or if trying not to learn leaves me weeping in the fetal position. I'll be back this weekend with a report of how the day went!
Last year I tried learning nothing without a plan, which didn't work well. The computer was too tempting! So this year I brainstormed some activities that I can maybe kinda sorta not learn from. Here's the plan:
Morning
Activities will consist of:
*Lying in bed in a stupor for as long as possible
*Lying around on the beach without examining any wildlife or talking to anyone
*Not reading anything
*Resisting the urge to drive around Fernandina and explore the shops (an effort that will be made easier by the fact that I should be wet and sandy and gross by this point)
Afternoon
Activities will consist of:
*Watching movies I have seen multiple times
*Playing simple video games I have beaten repeatedly
*Listening to CDs I have had memorized since I was about 15
*Either avoiding my friends or persistently redirecting all conversations to "your mom" jokes and poop references (assuming we are not talking about that already)
*Avoiding Twitter and Wikipedia the way a recovering alcoholic avoids liquor
Evening
Activities will consist of:
*Playing board games that don't require much thought for someone my age, which pretty much narrows it down to Candyland
*Dangling shiny objects in front of the cats and giggling
*Staring into space
*Counting down the hours until I can watch Star Trek again
Activities may change due to varying circumstances, such as if it rains, or if trying not to learn leaves me weeping in the fetal position. I'll be back this weekend with a report of how the day went!
Friday, July 10, 2009
I steal memes
1.PICK ONE OF YOUR SCARS OUT. NOW HOW DID YOU GET IT?
I don't have any scars.
2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM?
Posters, records, concert programs, newspaper clippings, cards, collages, drawings, paintings, maps, Christmas lights, awards, and a basketball hoop. Believe it or not, I still have space to put up some more stuff.
3. WOULD YOU RATHER PLAY FOOTBALL OR WATCH IT?
No.
4. WHAT SPORT WOULD YOU SAY YOU ARE BEST AT?
hahahaha
5. WHAT WAS YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE?
When I was 15 I dreamed I was in a coma, sort of, or everyone thought I was. Except I could hear everyone around me, and they were all talking about me like I was already dead, and talking about whether to pull the plug, and I wanted to scream out that I was alive but I couldn't. And I had a disease where chunks of brain tissue were dying off periodically, and when that happened I could feel it, and the world got dimmer each time, until finally the last bit died off and I died. That's when I woke up.
6. HOW DO YOU EXERCISE?
Lately I've been lifting dumbbells just to build some strength up, since I have no physical stamina. I'm tired of getting exhausted and ending up sick the next day just from cleaning the house.
7. APPLES OR ORANGES?
Fuji apples
8. HAVE YOU EVER HUGGED SOMEONE?
Why no, my parents kept me locked in an attic until I was 13, after which time I was taken into the care of SCIENCE! Seriously, what kind of question is this?
9. WOLVES OR TIGERS?
Tigers!
10. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?
Progressive rock. Glam rock. Synthpop. Funk. Motown. New age. Classical. Folky 60s stuff. World music. J-pop. Stupid novelty music.
11. HAVE YOU EVER WRITTEN POETRY?
Hilariously bad poetry, for a boy, when I was like 14. That's about it.
THERE IS NO TWELVE
13. DO YOU REMEMBER BIRTHDAYS?
It depends what time of year they are. I know too many people born around June-or-July 20-somethingth, so I mix all those up. Non-summer birthdays I remember pretty well.
14. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?
11:10 AM
15. DO YOU HAVE A BIRTHMARK? WHERE?
No, but I do have this tiny bump on my ear called a preauricular tag.
16. WOULD YOU CALL YOURSELF A ROMANTIC PERSON?
*snort* Not even close. If someone brought me a dozen roses I'd be disappointed they didn't spend the money on some DVDs instead. Those last a lot longer.
17. WHAT IS THE WEIRDEST THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE?
Lord, I have no idea. I've done some pretty weird stuff. I slept in a closet for a whole summer when I was twelve, I've staged fake Christmases in the middle of summer, I've styled my hair with Vaseline. (That last one is not a good idea. The others were fun, though.)
18. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU STARTED FILLING THIS IN?
Making my email/Twitter/Facebook/blog rounds
19. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO CANADA?
No. And I've never been to Spain, or Oklahoma.
20. FAVORITE CHOCOLATE?
White chocolate, which isn't really chocolate. Ask me if I care.
21. FAVORITE CANDY (NON CHOCOLATE)?
Fun Dip or rock candy
22. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA ICE CREAM?
Vanilla. It's a blank canvas waiting to be turned into a work of art by various toppings. Also, chocolate ice cream makes me thirsty.
23. DO YOU OWN ANYTHING LEATHER?
I have a leather coat that I never get to wear because I live in Florida. Basically my whole style is cancelled out by Florida. If I ever move somewhere cooler I'll be in sweaters and corduroys all the time.
24.FAVORITE PERFUME?
Either Aquolina Pink Sugar or Chanel Chance. Most other perfume smells evil to me.
25. FAVORITE COLOGNE?
Old Spice
26. DO YOU OWN AN INSTRUMENT?
I own a piano, a keyboard, a clarinet, an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, a lap harp, a recorder, and finger cymbals.
27. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ON SOMEONE (OPPOSITE SEX)?
I'll let the heteronormativity slide, because I notice the same thing first on everyone: hair. The first few times I meet people I really only remember what their hair looks like. It takes awhile before I really notice faces.
28. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SMELL?
Autumn air, the ocean, whatever my mom sprayed in the living room today, incense, vanilla, lavender, our old Christmas tree
29. FAVORITE SOUND THAT YOU HEAR OFTEN?
Music.
30. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW?
The questions I am answering on this survey right here
31. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC?
I get crowd-claustrophobic. I don't like being boxed in by lots of people. But I love small spaces.
32. COULD YOU EVER SEE YOURSELF MOVING FROM WHERE YOU ARE?
Please, for the love of God, yes.
33. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DISNEY MOVIE OF ALL TIME?
Does The Wizard of Oz count? I'll say that. And I guess Lady and the Tramp. Not a big Disney fan, overall.
34. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG OF ALL TIME?
I keep changing my mind on this one, so I suppose the official answer is "I don't have one." Possible contenders are "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Beat It", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".
35. WOULD YOU EAT SHIT FOR MONEY?
No. Too much potential for disease. I might drink pee for money, though, if it was a lot of money. Pee is sterile.
36. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR EYES?
Blue, occasionally looking more gray or green
37. HAVE YOU EVER SLEPT WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
I keep a few childhood favorites on my bed still, but I don't hold them when I sleep.
38. IF SO WHAT WAS/IS ITS NAME?
I never named my stuffed animals. Barbies, yes, but not stuffed animals.
39. WHO WAS YOUR FIRST CRUSH WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE?
Danny Bonaduce. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on this blog, but I basically grew up in four decades at once, and didn't really understand that three of those decades were over. And I loved the Partridge Family, and for some reason I had a crush on Danny. I also told my mom I was going to marry Don Adams* from Get Smart. (For the benefit of people who land here randomly and wonder why this is so amusing, I am 23 years old.)
*Who I just found out today was ALSO the voice of Inspector Gadget!! Between that and Get Smart I think I'd still marry the guy now, if he wasn't so dead.
THERE IS NO 40
41. WHAT KIND OF HAIR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Long, and preferably dark. But I'll settle for long.
42. WHO OUT OF YOUR CURRENT FRIENDS (SAME SEX) HAVE YOU KNOWN THE LONGEST?
Keeping this to people I still have fairly regular contact with, Rachel. Known her since I was twelve.
43. NOW THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Lord, I have no idea... umm, Terry? And Buncy followed very soon after.
No 44?
45. SUNRISE OR SUNSET?
One season following another, laden with happiness and tears.
46. WHERE AT?
Where YOU at?
No 47 or 48?
49. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES?
I'm not much into movies, but if it's a musical or an 80s movie I'll watch it. I was raised on Elvis movies, so I'm a sucker for cheese and camp. I'm also pretty partial to movies about crazy people.
50. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF GOING FOR YOUR HONEYMOON?
Remember when I said I'm not romantic? I wasn't kidding about that. I can't imagine anyplace I'd choose specifically for a honeymoon that I wouldn't choose for a normal vacation.
51. CAN YOU PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?
I can play clarinet pretty well, and piano well enough to impress people who can't play piano at all. I'm gradually improving at the guitar. I have good relative pitch, so I can play most instruments by ear once I've figured out how you get sound out of them. The technical skill comes much more slowly.
52. DO YOU SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE?
I know enough sign language to have extremely simple, grammatically poor conversations in it. I can also read enough German to decipher most things, at least until I hit a word that is 26 letters long and is pronounced mostly with spit. Which doesn't take long, with German.
53. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU (OF THE OPPOSITE SEX)?
I dunno, probably a rattle or a teddy bear?
54. WHO IS YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE SINGER?
Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson
55. ALL TIME FAVORITE BAND?
Queen and the Beatles. I can never seem to pick just one of anything
56. WHAT KIND OF BOOKS DO YOU LIKE TO READ?
Mostly non-fiction, though I dabble in fantasy and sci-fi, and I like manga.
57. DO YOU LIKE POETRY?
Once in awhile I'll hear poetry I like, but I don't seek it out.
58. HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR COFFEE?
Loaded with enough sugar, flavoring, milk and other crap to make it taste absolutely nothing like coffee.
59. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PHRASE TO USE?
I love overusing Simpsons quotes. Lately I've been saying "boo-urns" a lot, and I've always gotten a lot of mileage out of "I have to go now, my planet needs me". I'm also fond of using "lousy traumatic childhood" after describing extremely minor childhood disappointments. "So I went to the library looking for 'Where's Waldo' books, and all they had was 'Where's Dan Quayle'! Lousy traumatic childhood."
60. DRAGONS OR DINOSAURS?
Dinosaurs!
61. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING?
That would be pretty poor timing, but I assume it wouldn't be a conscious decision to fall in love or not, sooo
62. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU?
Be genuinely excited when you see them. When they talk, be fascinated. When they need you, stop what you're doing to be with them. When you hear something they'd be interested in, be excited to tell them about it. I always know my friends have been thinking about me when I say hello and they respond with "Oh man, I was gonna tell you something, what was it??" That's worth more than it seems like on the surface. They were thinking of me and trying to save up a thought just for me.
63. SAY A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED.
"A number from one to a hundred".
64. BLONDES, REDHEADS OR BRUNETTES?
Brunettes.
65. WOULD YOU PREFER TO GO ICE SKATING OR ROLLER SKATING?
Ice skating, because I've never been. Although I'm probably equally terrible at both.
66. WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL OFTEN?
Phones are not my friend. I do call the bank a lot, I guess.
67. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST?
Passive-aggressiveness. If you have a problem with me that you can't just overlook, please tell me.
68. HAVE YOU EVER DONE A PRANK CALL?
Maybe like once, as a kid? I don't really remember.
69. ANY LAST THOUGHTS?
The nourishment is palatable.
I don't have any scars.
2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM?
Posters, records, concert programs, newspaper clippings, cards, collages, drawings, paintings, maps, Christmas lights, awards, and a basketball hoop. Believe it or not, I still have space to put up some more stuff.
3. WOULD YOU RATHER PLAY FOOTBALL OR WATCH IT?
No.
4. WHAT SPORT WOULD YOU SAY YOU ARE BEST AT?
hahahaha
5. WHAT WAS YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE?
When I was 15 I dreamed I was in a coma, sort of, or everyone thought I was. Except I could hear everyone around me, and they were all talking about me like I was already dead, and talking about whether to pull the plug, and I wanted to scream out that I was alive but I couldn't. And I had a disease where chunks of brain tissue were dying off periodically, and when that happened I could feel it, and the world got dimmer each time, until finally the last bit died off and I died. That's when I woke up.
6. HOW DO YOU EXERCISE?
Lately I've been lifting dumbbells just to build some strength up, since I have no physical stamina. I'm tired of getting exhausted and ending up sick the next day just from cleaning the house.
7. APPLES OR ORANGES?
Fuji apples
8. HAVE YOU EVER HUGGED SOMEONE?
Why no, my parents kept me locked in an attic until I was 13, after which time I was taken into the care of SCIENCE! Seriously, what kind of question is this?
9. WOLVES OR TIGERS?
Tigers!
10. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?
Progressive rock. Glam rock. Synthpop. Funk. Motown. New age. Classical. Folky 60s stuff. World music. J-pop. Stupid novelty music.
11. HAVE YOU EVER WRITTEN POETRY?
Hilariously bad poetry, for a boy, when I was like 14. That's about it.
THERE IS NO TWELVE
13. DO YOU REMEMBER BIRTHDAYS?
It depends what time of year they are. I know too many people born around June-or-July 20-somethingth, so I mix all those up. Non-summer birthdays I remember pretty well.
14. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?
11:10 AM
15. DO YOU HAVE A BIRTHMARK? WHERE?
No, but I do have this tiny bump on my ear called a preauricular tag.
16. WOULD YOU CALL YOURSELF A ROMANTIC PERSON?
*snort* Not even close. If someone brought me a dozen roses I'd be disappointed they didn't spend the money on some DVDs instead. Those last a lot longer.
17. WHAT IS THE WEIRDEST THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE?
Lord, I have no idea. I've done some pretty weird stuff. I slept in a closet for a whole summer when I was twelve, I've staged fake Christmases in the middle of summer, I've styled my hair with Vaseline. (That last one is not a good idea. The others were fun, though.)
18. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU STARTED FILLING THIS IN?
Making my email/Twitter/Facebook/blog rounds
19. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO CANADA?
No. And I've never been to Spain, or Oklahoma.
20. FAVORITE CHOCOLATE?
White chocolate, which isn't really chocolate. Ask me if I care.
21. FAVORITE CANDY (NON CHOCOLATE)?
Fun Dip or rock candy
22. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA ICE CREAM?
Vanilla. It's a blank canvas waiting to be turned into a work of art by various toppings. Also, chocolate ice cream makes me thirsty.
23. DO YOU OWN ANYTHING LEATHER?
I have a leather coat that I never get to wear because I live in Florida. Basically my whole style is cancelled out by Florida. If I ever move somewhere cooler I'll be in sweaters and corduroys all the time.
24.FAVORITE PERFUME?
Either Aquolina Pink Sugar or Chanel Chance. Most other perfume smells evil to me.
25. FAVORITE COLOGNE?
Old Spice
26. DO YOU OWN AN INSTRUMENT?
I own a piano, a keyboard, a clarinet, an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, a lap harp, a recorder, and finger cymbals.
27. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ON SOMEONE (OPPOSITE SEX)?
I'll let the heteronormativity slide, because I notice the same thing first on everyone: hair. The first few times I meet people I really only remember what their hair looks like. It takes awhile before I really notice faces.
28. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SMELL?
Autumn air, the ocean, whatever my mom sprayed in the living room today, incense, vanilla, lavender, our old Christmas tree
29. FAVORITE SOUND THAT YOU HEAR OFTEN?
Music.
30. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT RIGHT NOW?
The questions I am answering on this survey right here
31. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC?
I get crowd-claustrophobic. I don't like being boxed in by lots of people. But I love small spaces.
32. COULD YOU EVER SEE YOURSELF MOVING FROM WHERE YOU ARE?
Please, for the love of God, yes.
33. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DISNEY MOVIE OF ALL TIME?
Does The Wizard of Oz count? I'll say that. And I guess Lady and the Tramp. Not a big Disney fan, overall.
34. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG OF ALL TIME?
I keep changing my mind on this one, so I suppose the official answer is "I don't have one." Possible contenders are "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Beat It", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".
35. WOULD YOU EAT SHIT FOR MONEY?
No. Too much potential for disease. I might drink pee for money, though, if it was a lot of money. Pee is sterile.
36. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR EYES?
Blue, occasionally looking more gray or green
37. HAVE YOU EVER SLEPT WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
I keep a few childhood favorites on my bed still, but I don't hold them when I sleep.
38. IF SO WHAT WAS/IS ITS NAME?
I never named my stuffed animals. Barbies, yes, but not stuffed animals.
39. WHO WAS YOUR FIRST CRUSH WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE?
Danny Bonaduce. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on this blog, but I basically grew up in four decades at once, and didn't really understand that three of those decades were over. And I loved the Partridge Family, and for some reason I had a crush on Danny. I also told my mom I was going to marry Don Adams* from Get Smart. (For the benefit of people who land here randomly and wonder why this is so amusing, I am 23 years old.)
*Who I just found out today was ALSO the voice of Inspector Gadget!! Between that and Get Smart I think I'd still marry the guy now, if he wasn't so dead.
THERE IS NO 40
41. WHAT KIND OF HAIR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Long, and preferably dark. But I'll settle for long.
42. WHO OUT OF YOUR CURRENT FRIENDS (SAME SEX) HAVE YOU KNOWN THE LONGEST?
Keeping this to people I still have fairly regular contact with, Rachel. Known her since I was twelve.
43. NOW THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Lord, I have no idea... umm, Terry? And Buncy followed very soon after.
No 44?
45. SUNRISE OR SUNSET?
One season following another, laden with happiness and tears.
46. WHERE AT?
Where YOU at?
No 47 or 48?
49. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES?
I'm not much into movies, but if it's a musical or an 80s movie I'll watch it. I was raised on Elvis movies, so I'm a sucker for cheese and camp. I'm also pretty partial to movies about crazy people.
50. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF GOING FOR YOUR HONEYMOON?
Remember when I said I'm not romantic? I wasn't kidding about that. I can't imagine anyplace I'd choose specifically for a honeymoon that I wouldn't choose for a normal vacation.
51. CAN YOU PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?
I can play clarinet pretty well, and piano well enough to impress people who can't play piano at all. I'm gradually improving at the guitar. I have good relative pitch, so I can play most instruments by ear once I've figured out how you get sound out of them. The technical skill comes much more slowly.
52. DO YOU SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE?
I know enough sign language to have extremely simple, grammatically poor conversations in it. I can also read enough German to decipher most things, at least until I hit a word that is 26 letters long and is pronounced mostly with spit. Which doesn't take long, with German.
53. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU (OF THE OPPOSITE SEX)?
I dunno, probably a rattle or a teddy bear?
54. WHO IS YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE SINGER?
Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson
55. ALL TIME FAVORITE BAND?
Queen and the Beatles. I can never seem to pick just one of anything
56. WHAT KIND OF BOOKS DO YOU LIKE TO READ?
Mostly non-fiction, though I dabble in fantasy and sci-fi, and I like manga.
57. DO YOU LIKE POETRY?
Once in awhile I'll hear poetry I like, but I don't seek it out.
58. HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR COFFEE?
Loaded with enough sugar, flavoring, milk and other crap to make it taste absolutely nothing like coffee.
59. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PHRASE TO USE?
I love overusing Simpsons quotes. Lately I've been saying "boo-urns" a lot, and I've always gotten a lot of mileage out of "I have to go now, my planet needs me". I'm also fond of using "lousy traumatic childhood" after describing extremely minor childhood disappointments. "So I went to the library looking for 'Where's Waldo' books, and all they had was 'Where's Dan Quayle'! Lousy traumatic childhood."
60. DRAGONS OR DINOSAURS?
Dinosaurs!
61. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING?
That would be pretty poor timing, but I assume it wouldn't be a conscious decision to fall in love or not, sooo
62. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU?
Be genuinely excited when you see them. When they talk, be fascinated. When they need you, stop what you're doing to be with them. When you hear something they'd be interested in, be excited to tell them about it. I always know my friends have been thinking about me when I say hello and they respond with "Oh man, I was gonna tell you something, what was it??" That's worth more than it seems like on the surface. They were thinking of me and trying to save up a thought just for me.
63. SAY A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED.
"A number from one to a hundred".
64. BLONDES, REDHEADS OR BRUNETTES?
Brunettes.
65. WOULD YOU PREFER TO GO ICE SKATING OR ROLLER SKATING?
Ice skating, because I've never been. Although I'm probably equally terrible at both.
66. WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL OFTEN?
Phones are not my friend. I do call the bank a lot, I guess.
67. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST?
Passive-aggressiveness. If you have a problem with me that you can't just overlook, please tell me.
68. HAVE YOU EVER DONE A PRANK CALL?
Maybe like once, as a kid? I don't really remember.
69. ANY LAST THOUGHTS?
The nourishment is palatable.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
10 Honest Things
This is a meme I stole from Frank. No one has tagged me but I like memes, in case anyone hadn't guessed :) So here's 10 "confessions", mostly about stuff I'm not really ashamed of, but then I'm not ashamed of much.
1. Even though I was never conventionally parented and I unschooled as a teen, it wasn't until I found Sandra's website last year that I believed younger kids could live without school. I volunteered in an elementary school and was pretty wrapped up in school-think for awhile there, wanting to be a teacher because I cared about kids with special needs. In fact I worked in a school even after fully embracing unschooling, because the job was with autistic kids and I've always been passionate about autism. However, I was always troubled by how schools handled these kids, and it sometimes almost physically pained me to enforce the school rules when it was obviously doing more harm than good. Eventually I found the job so upsetting that I just had to quit.
2. After I finish drinking something with ice in it, I compulsively eat all the ice.
3. Sometimes I worry that I'm a bad example of an unschooler, somehow, because I'm 23 and still don't know what I want to do with my life. I feel like other unschoolers have super awesome talents and I don't - though that probably comes down, again, to the whole umeboshi thing.
4. I'm not as hippie-ish as I maybe sometimes like to think I am. I'm quite liberal politically, I believe in radical unschooling and unjobbing, and I embrace forms of alternative spirituality. But I also buy my vegetables at a damn grocery store, I love technology, and I really enjoy many (though by no means all) aspects of pop culture.
5. A real, shameful confession: I accidentally killed a kitten when I was four. I was putting it in a box with a heavy (but open) lid and carrying it around, while my mom was in the next room doing dishes or something. My grandma, who lived next door, came over and invited me to her house. I was so excited to see her that I dropped the box, the lid closed on the poor kitten, and since nobody had seen what I was doing they didn't know to rescue it. I think I was twelve or thirteen before I finally forgave myself, and I still feel some guilt even though I was really too little to know better.
6. Whenever everyone in my house doesn't feel well, my first thought is usually not the rational "we're probably coming down with something" but "oh god it's carbon monoxide we're all going to die." This is because I used to watch Rescue 911 with my grandma when I was a kid. I loved the show but it made me scared of carbon monoxide and escalators. (If you're ever with me on an escalator, watch the awkward, panicky hop I do when I step off. It's pretty funny.)
7. I really like that one Miley Cyrus song, "See You Again" or whatever it's called. I like most Britney Spears songs too, when they first come out, before the radio plays them 47,000 times.
8. I tend to pick up the speaking/typing habits of whoever I'm talking to at the time, which can be amusing when I'm with someone who is from another country or something and uses way different phrasing or slang than I normally would. I also suddenly get a thick Southern accent if I am around people who have one. Sometimes I worry that these shifts make me seem inauthentic somehow, but I really do them without trying to.
9. So far among my unschooling friends, who are new in my life, I've not done more than hint at this, but I'm queer. I use the word "queer" because it sounds better than "well I mostly like men, but only certain types of men, and sometimes I like women too, but not always", which I feel "bisexual" doesn't quite convey - particularly since it makes men assume I am attracted to all kinds of men. I'd rather use a vague, not-very-helpful term than one that is specific but misleading. I'm not one bit ashamed of who I am but living in a conservative area I've learned to be cautious about who I reveal this to.
10. Perhaps this is a corrolary to #4, but I don't give one tiny crap about "health food". I happily drink soda with corn syrup in it and I eat fast food with no shame. This is not to say that I eat nothing but crap all the time - I have a balanced diet and could probably live happily off nothing but chicken, broccoli, cheese, and rice. I just feel like I have way better things to do than worry about the purity of whatever I'm eating. If it doesn't have slime or bugs on it and it doesn't smell funny, it's not going to kill me, and I resent it when people get preachy about what "everyone" should or shouldn't eat.
Normally I don't tag people on these things but this time I'm going to tag Gail, just because she commented on Frank's and said she's thinking of doing it, and I feel like goading her :p Anyone else who feels like doing it is welcome, of course. I'm not the Dowager Empress of blog memes.
1. Even though I was never conventionally parented and I unschooled as a teen, it wasn't until I found Sandra's website last year that I believed younger kids could live without school. I volunteered in an elementary school and was pretty wrapped up in school-think for awhile there, wanting to be a teacher because I cared about kids with special needs. In fact I worked in a school even after fully embracing unschooling, because the job was with autistic kids and I've always been passionate about autism. However, I was always troubled by how schools handled these kids, and it sometimes almost physically pained me to enforce the school rules when it was obviously doing more harm than good. Eventually I found the job so upsetting that I just had to quit.
2. After I finish drinking something with ice in it, I compulsively eat all the ice.
3. Sometimes I worry that I'm a bad example of an unschooler, somehow, because I'm 23 and still don't know what I want to do with my life. I feel like other unschoolers have super awesome talents and I don't - though that probably comes down, again, to the whole umeboshi thing.
4. I'm not as hippie-ish as I maybe sometimes like to think I am. I'm quite liberal politically, I believe in radical unschooling and unjobbing, and I embrace forms of alternative spirituality. But I also buy my vegetables at a damn grocery store, I love technology, and I really enjoy many (though by no means all) aspects of pop culture.
5. A real, shameful confession: I accidentally killed a kitten when I was four. I was putting it in a box with a heavy (but open) lid and carrying it around, while my mom was in the next room doing dishes or something. My grandma, who lived next door, came over and invited me to her house. I was so excited to see her that I dropped the box, the lid closed on the poor kitten, and since nobody had seen what I was doing they didn't know to rescue it. I think I was twelve or thirteen before I finally forgave myself, and I still feel some guilt even though I was really too little to know better.
6. Whenever everyone in my house doesn't feel well, my first thought is usually not the rational "we're probably coming down with something" but "oh god it's carbon monoxide we're all going to die." This is because I used to watch Rescue 911 with my grandma when I was a kid. I loved the show but it made me scared of carbon monoxide and escalators. (If you're ever with me on an escalator, watch the awkward, panicky hop I do when I step off. It's pretty funny.)
7. I really like that one Miley Cyrus song, "See You Again" or whatever it's called. I like most Britney Spears songs too, when they first come out, before the radio plays them 47,000 times.
8. I tend to pick up the speaking/typing habits of whoever I'm talking to at the time, which can be amusing when I'm with someone who is from another country or something and uses way different phrasing or slang than I normally would. I also suddenly get a thick Southern accent if I am around people who have one. Sometimes I worry that these shifts make me seem inauthentic somehow, but I really do them without trying to.
9. So far among my unschooling friends, who are new in my life, I've not done more than hint at this, but I'm queer. I use the word "queer" because it sounds better than "well I mostly like men, but only certain types of men, and sometimes I like women too, but not always", which I feel "bisexual" doesn't quite convey - particularly since it makes men assume I am attracted to all kinds of men. I'd rather use a vague, not-very-helpful term than one that is specific but misleading. I'm not one bit ashamed of who I am but living in a conservative area I've learned to be cautious about who I reveal this to.
10. Perhaps this is a corrolary to #4, but I don't give one tiny crap about "health food". I happily drink soda with corn syrup in it and I eat fast food with no shame. This is not to say that I eat nothing but crap all the time - I have a balanced diet and could probably live happily off nothing but chicken, broccoli, cheese, and rice. I just feel like I have way better things to do than worry about the purity of whatever I'm eating. If it doesn't have slime or bugs on it and it doesn't smell funny, it's not going to kill me, and I resent it when people get preachy about what "everyone" should or shouldn't eat.
Normally I don't tag people on these things but this time I'm going to tag Gail, just because she commented on Frank's and said she's thinking of doing it, and I feel like goading her :p Anyone else who feels like doing it is welcome, of course. I'm not the Dowager Empress of blog memes.
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