Well hello everyone. It has been awhile since my last post so I thought I was due to write something. This post will be small but something bigger is soon to come. Today I went too Eden Nursing home with my brothers from A.P.O. We were volunteering to help with the Alzheimer's ward. Today we got too play with Balloons!
Circled around a big screen T.V. was around 11 of some of the sweetest old people you could find. Sure not all of them were awake but most were. Though the movie, "Mrs. Doubtfire" was on, no one seemed to notice. The entertainment for the day was two colorful balloons and some kind of squishy toys. Now the scary thing was that after I joined in playing I didn't know who was having a better time, me or the old people I was playing with. Really I was having a blast. So much so I almost pulled my right hamstring. It was kind of sad because all of the old ladies were moving quite well for their advanced age and I was filling tightness after five minutes of play.
My group and I were there for about 2 hours and the entire time we just played with balloons with an occasional dance or two. Normally it's not the greatest idea to think that these people are reverting back to a kids mentality but in some instances it is. The fact that a balloon can keep them busy, entertained, and happy is actually really cool. When we grow older we loose innocents in many ways. We start to see that everything won't end up ok, we noticed that everyone is not the same as we are, and we start to see the world in a much bigger and deeper way. No longer can a Balloon hold our attention for long, we need something more stimulating or more thought provoking to keep our attention than preventing the balloon from hitting the ground. When we were kids we didn't notice what the other kid looked like or what was going on around us. Neither did we really care. When we are having fun that's all that mattered. Old and young folks couldn't care less about anything going on as long as they got a balloon. They don't care about the big screen T.V., no need for video games,don't need to go out, and need no outside stimulus as some fuel for fun except maybe another person. We get so wrapped up in our own world that sometimes we forget just how cool and fun a balloon is. I took a step out of my daily life and just marveled at the beauty of the whole thing.
Now I've been frequenting Nursing homes ever since I can remember, having various family members in a few, that this was not an entirely new experience for me. I have a easiness or a sense of familiarity whenever I'm in a nursing home that is not shared by everyone. It's actually interesting to see people who aren't use too the experience. Its an unknown that is scary because there is the prospect of ending up in that situation. But given time you'll quickly realize that these people are just that. People. They don't care hold old you are, what skin color you are, where your from or who your with. Just coming to say "hi" puts a smile on their face. Even if they won't remember you in five minutes, it doesn't matter. Bringing joy to someone is always worth it.
I apologize. This has gone a bit different than I had imagined and I'm not sure where this is going so I'm going to bring this to an end. I have written a story about a nursing home called "Record Store" that I might post up if anyone would like too read it. All in all I guess I just want everyone to just remember when all it took to be entertained was a Balloon. Its simple, only costs a few cents, some free air and you could have hours of fun. It is truly a beautiful thing. I think that since I'm still entertained by balloons so easily, if I have to make my trip too a nursing home than it won't be that much of a transition. Also, just because someone is old are can't remember who or even what you are, doesn't make them any less of a person. Actually the more I write about people in nursing homes I see myself describing myself. Forgetful, frail body, and easily entertained by balloons for hours. Maybe I'll be making my trip there sooner than I think. Hope you all come to visit me and bring a balloon. I'll leave you with this link that is a small snippet from George Carlin talking about balloons. He hits the nail on the head with this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siSsB_apB8U I apologize also for the worser grammar. At one point I had 4 tense changes in one sentences. Thanks for reading everyone hope too see you soon. Take care and stay safe. And remember
~Love~
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Chinese Illiteracy - A cultural note
It would seems that my mind is up to its old tricks again and has committed a mild suicide on its self and erased majority of my memory. Well at least the memory of having to write a paragraph or so on an aspect of Chinese culture. Luckily I was creeping through blogs and I started to so a few of these paragraphs when I vaguely remembered being told to do such a thing. I don’t remember exactly what we had to do but I’m going to make a stab at the assignment and talk about Chinese culture.
Asia has always been a source of wonderment and interest of mine since I can remember. Being 25% Filipino(always puzzled me when they switch the P to an F) I always claimed to be Asain. Technically I am though I’m one of the few who would actually consider me Asian. Besides my mother’s influence, probably the fact that I lived in a household that put a heavy emphasis on History is probably where I got the start for my thirst of knowledge. That and video games. Oh those wonderful video games that opened so many doors for me.
My first interest lay in Mogolia and Japan. To this day I have a deep fascination with both but now have growing interest in China. Ever since I was little my mom has been taking me to Chicago’s China Town and this is probably my biggest immersion into their culture. Before taking Chinese class however, it never dawned on how complex and intricate everything was. When I was ignorant it was like going to some interesting fantasy land but now its like going to a fantasy land that overwhelms me in the fact that I know so little. When you don’t know anything the fact isn’t so bad. When you learn a little and realize how much you don’t know it can be horrifying. But the day I went back with my little puddle of knowledge I was overwhelmed but also inspired to pursue my goal of obtaining Chinese literacy. I’m still drowning in my little puddle but I’m making small ripples of progress so maybe one day I could float or even go in the deep end!
I realize I went off topic as I normally do and that my thoughts are very scattered. So without turning this small assignment into a maze of thoughts I’m just going to say that many aspects of Chinese culture catches my attention. Music, art, ideas, people, anything and everything. So I’m going to keep my little floatis on a little longer as I try to wade through this puddle in the hopes of deep sea diving into the Ocean that is the Chinese language.
~Love~
Asia has always been a source of wonderment and interest of mine since I can remember. Being 25% Filipino(always puzzled me when they switch the P to an F) I always claimed to be Asain. Technically I am though I’m one of the few who would actually consider me Asian. Besides my mother’s influence, probably the fact that I lived in a household that put a heavy emphasis on History is probably where I got the start for my thirst of knowledge. That and video games. Oh those wonderful video games that opened so many doors for me.
My first interest lay in Mogolia and Japan. To this day I have a deep fascination with both but now have growing interest in China. Ever since I was little my mom has been taking me to Chicago’s China Town and this is probably my biggest immersion into their culture. Before taking Chinese class however, it never dawned on how complex and intricate everything was. When I was ignorant it was like going to some interesting fantasy land but now its like going to a fantasy land that overwhelms me in the fact that I know so little. When you don’t know anything the fact isn’t so bad. When you learn a little and realize how much you don’t know it can be horrifying. But the day I went back with my little puddle of knowledge I was overwhelmed but also inspired to pursue my goal of obtaining Chinese literacy. I’m still drowning in my little puddle but I’m making small ripples of progress so maybe one day I could float or even go in the deep end!
I realize I went off topic as I normally do and that my thoughts are very scattered. So without turning this small assignment into a maze of thoughts I’m just going to say that many aspects of Chinese culture catches my attention. Music, art, ideas, people, anything and everything. So I’m going to keep my little floatis on a little longer as I try to wade through this puddle in the hopes of deep sea diving into the Ocean that is the Chinese language.
~Love~
Cradle of Meat Cleavers
You know, it’s a weird thing when you don’t know what to write about so you mention Meat Cleavers. Like now. Some say I have a stabbing problem. Well I do. Not that I do have one but that I’m one of the people who says it. Actually the only person. Though by me saying that I have a stabbing problem I’m saying that I in fact do have one. I do. Not that I stab things but I always seem to bring it up or write about it. I was going to bring a meat cleaver to school and put it in my box of “me” but I think I would have gotten in trouble. But it would have been cool. Its weird because it sounds like something I would do, but I didn’t. So is what I did what I would do or an off chance of doing something I wouldn’t have done but did it anyway.... Hi
Now that that’s over I’m going to write about something worth reading about. Two things really. My teacher reading her book and the book itself.
I’m sure everyone has seen my first ( that’s because I’m probably the only one to look at this blog without exiting it within five seconds) blog on how my teacher published her first book and had a reading on January 29th. To start the sidetracking, I noticed that whenever I’m doing anything that involves creative writing class weather it was this semester or last ( even highschool now that I think of it) always comes at the end a very long day. I always seem to be past the 24 hour mark of being up which is odd. Not that I’m up that long but I never seem to “awake” for my writing classes. Not that I’m sleeping (way too much fun) but my mind state is altered. Perspectives off and Meat cleavers appear more frequently. Even as I write this now at 4:01 in the morning sleep is taking the back seat. I miss sleep so much but yet I always make up stupid excuses to stay up like school and responsibilities. I know my body loves me so much. What this sidetrack is trying to get at was that when I went to this reading I was yet again chasing that 30 hour beast. But I was far from tired as I had been looking forward to this for a very long time.
I was going to skip my class to go to this which would have been major problems as the class I was going to skip was only one a week and said that we were allowed only one day of absents. But as I say “Sometimes there is more important things than school”. The difference was that this was a much more legitimate reason to cut class though staying up to play video games is also a very good excuses as well. But thanks to my irregularly long days, I sometimes forget what day it actual is. So I was all pumped and ready to skip my class when it dawned on me that my class was Wednesday and the reading was Thursday. This was much better though I admit it would have been awesome to skip class to go to this. But I’m content with not failing. Though I was contemplating getting a class for that time slot just to skip it.(Tired of the sidetracking yet?) I get to the reading and I manage to snag a sweet front row seat. Boss. The seating area filled up so that there was actually 65 or so people there.
Now I have to say when I listen to poetry I have the bad habit of letting my mind wander. I typically hear something interesting and my mind creates its own world revolving around it. Honestly I don’t listen or read poetry that often but I’m trying to change that. So I feel weird every time I talk about poetry when my experience in reading and writing in it is so limited. Keep that in mind. What I did to combat my wandering mind was to draw a picture. The idea actually came from Professor Brown...my teacher....the author...friend....writer... how do I refer to her? Anyways we were talking about art and writing and about combining them. We did a canvas exchange. I made a picture (which is my profile picture) and she was going to write a poem (which you still owe me ☺). Then I was to paint a picture based off the poem. Well I applied that to her reading. When she read I drew what came to mind.
She started off with a nice intro that gave some background info and cautioned that she was a bit on the ill side of things. This was going to interrupt the normally melodious rhythm of her dictation but in all honestly I didn’t notice save for a cough or two. I don’t know how to describe listening to the poems but I really enjoyed myself. She peppered the readings with comments in between poem sections that was actually really pretty cool. What was cool was she was telling the crowd things that she told us in class. She explained a few things that I remember in class making this reading that much cooler. Yes teacher if your reading this I did pay attention in class. But it was really cool hearing her work as well as hearing what she said at work rolled up into something enjoyable and something I wasn’t going to be graded on.
After the reading she talked a bit more and then she was going to sign her books. I got my copy and did not get in line to get my book signed. I hate lines. I sat until I was the last one which if you think of it I was more or less in the line just not physically in the line. We talked a little and I showed her the picture. Actually I’ll show you. Here!
I would love to say more on this fun day but I was up for a real long time and it was 2 weeks ago. I was going to write that night but I passed out on the couch involuntarily and I kept up on my procrastination streak.
Now here comes the real scary part. I’m going to talk about the actual book itself. As I said earlier I’m not even a toddler in the world of poetry but I’m going to review a published work. Not only do I have little experience but as I know the person who wrote it so it’s going to be slightly biased.
I wanted to read this book when I had time and was not worried about doing anything so I could concentrate on the book. It never came until the day I had to ride back on the train. Perfect. I also was going to try doing something for this book that I never do. Read without music. Typically I listen to music when I write or read but I wanted to let the book paint pictures purely on its own. It was cool because I started to read the book in the lamp light as I was sitting on the train platform. It felt like I was in a movie.
“CRADLE SONG a poem Stacy Lynn Brown”. First I really like the title of the book as it sets a calmer softer feeling that is only reinforced by the lovely cover picture. The book is one long poem but divided into sections or mini poems (sorry I can’t explain it well). What is striking is the fact that the poems don’t have titles. To me this would be cutting a large part of the fun. I love making titles and to not have one would be just wrong. I would name each poem and I’m glad to say she did not. This poem has a lot to do with feel and has its own sense of delivery that would actually be hindered with the inclusion of titles. Titles tend to set up feelings or images in my mind while this was different. The only thing that gave me feeling is what I previously read. Each poem built on each other, though not deathly linked, which was like being a leaf and traveling on the wind. I was always in the same world but my perspective would always be changing giving new insight and its own feel. Each section felt like it belonged and when each new poem was read it made a clearer picture. Nothing sticking too far out and nothing too similar. A beautiful coffee blend for the mind.
The poems were more than enough too keep my attention and actually made me think quite a bit. I always enjoyed when I could visualize my teacher actually doing these things then chuckling on the word “I”. It was an experience of getting to know my teacher in a unique way. I don’t feel that I know her that much better but I understand where she is coming from. I finished the book in one sitting which took around hour. I also read the book from beginning to end on the ride back as well. It’s a great feeling when you wish that the train ride was longer so you can just sit there and read more. But alas everything comes too an end. Especially the good things it seems.
It’s hard to pick a favorite section but the poems that stuck out the most were IV, XIV, XVIII, XIX, XXIX, IXL, and my favorite being XVI. Want to read them? Buy the book! http://crpress.notilt.com/Cradle-Song.aspx It is definitely worth it in my opinion. Though I’ve been in a writing mood this semester this book has only made my desire to write even more. I actually wrote that review on the read that I was suppose to write awhile ago and actually have a few ideas for a poem or two. So I thank you teach, writer, friend, Mrs. Brown, and or whatever you are for providing a great source of entertainment and inspiration... you still owe me that poem. I will hunt you down and shake my fist vigorously at you... though after reading your book I know you can scrap, your something of a dead eye with firearms, you have both a height and reach advantage, and are no stranger to a blades... actually you know what, I’m just going to let you work at your own pace. I will leave snide comments on my blogs... that no one reads...and you have your own so you could do the same.... Actually I’m just going to stick with the Thank you part.
I’m beginning to wonder if this stream of consciousness is a good thing as it gets really convoluted and stupid rather quickly. Whatever. I deeply apologize to everyone who managed to wade through that sea of horrific grammar and managed to make it this far. Thank you very much. I don’t know what I’m going to put up next but it might have a poem involved. I have a meeting with my current English teacher in a few hours so I should go chase some Z’s. In all seriousness “Cradle Song” was great and you should check it out. Good morning everyone.
~Love~
Now that that’s over I’m going to write about something worth reading about. Two things really. My teacher reading her book and the book itself.
I’m sure everyone has seen my first ( that’s because I’m probably the only one to look at this blog without exiting it within five seconds) blog on how my teacher published her first book and had a reading on January 29th. To start the sidetracking, I noticed that whenever I’m doing anything that involves creative writing class weather it was this semester or last ( even highschool now that I think of it) always comes at the end a very long day. I always seem to be past the 24 hour mark of being up which is odd. Not that I’m up that long but I never seem to “awake” for my writing classes. Not that I’m sleeping (way too much fun) but my mind state is altered. Perspectives off and Meat cleavers appear more frequently. Even as I write this now at 4:01 in the morning sleep is taking the back seat. I miss sleep so much but yet I always make up stupid excuses to stay up like school and responsibilities. I know my body loves me so much. What this sidetrack is trying to get at was that when I went to this reading I was yet again chasing that 30 hour beast. But I was far from tired as I had been looking forward to this for a very long time.
I was going to skip my class to go to this which would have been major problems as the class I was going to skip was only one a week and said that we were allowed only one day of absents. But as I say “Sometimes there is more important things than school”. The difference was that this was a much more legitimate reason to cut class though staying up to play video games is also a very good excuses as well. But thanks to my irregularly long days, I sometimes forget what day it actual is. So I was all pumped and ready to skip my class when it dawned on me that my class was Wednesday and the reading was Thursday. This was much better though I admit it would have been awesome to skip class to go to this. But I’m content with not failing. Though I was contemplating getting a class for that time slot just to skip it.(Tired of the sidetracking yet?) I get to the reading and I manage to snag a sweet front row seat. Boss. The seating area filled up so that there was actually 65 or so people there.
Now I have to say when I listen to poetry I have the bad habit of letting my mind wander. I typically hear something interesting and my mind creates its own world revolving around it. Honestly I don’t listen or read poetry that often but I’m trying to change that. So I feel weird every time I talk about poetry when my experience in reading and writing in it is so limited. Keep that in mind. What I did to combat my wandering mind was to draw a picture. The idea actually came from Professor Brown...my teacher....the author...friend....writer... how do I refer to her? Anyways we were talking about art and writing and about combining them. We did a canvas exchange. I made a picture (which is my profile picture) and she was going to write a poem (which you still owe me ☺). Then I was to paint a picture based off the poem. Well I applied that to her reading. When she read I drew what came to mind.
She started off with a nice intro that gave some background info and cautioned that she was a bit on the ill side of things. This was going to interrupt the normally melodious rhythm of her dictation but in all honestly I didn’t notice save for a cough or two. I don’t know how to describe listening to the poems but I really enjoyed myself. She peppered the readings with comments in between poem sections that was actually really pretty cool. What was cool was she was telling the crowd things that she told us in class. She explained a few things that I remember in class making this reading that much cooler. Yes teacher if your reading this I did pay attention in class. But it was really cool hearing her work as well as hearing what she said at work rolled up into something enjoyable and something I wasn’t going to be graded on.
After the reading she talked a bit more and then she was going to sign her books. I got my copy and did not get in line to get my book signed. I hate lines. I sat until I was the last one which if you think of it I was more or less in the line just not physically in the line. We talked a little and I showed her the picture. Actually I’ll show you. Here!
I would love to say more on this fun day but I was up for a real long time and it was 2 weeks ago. I was going to write that night but I passed out on the couch involuntarily and I kept up on my procrastination streak.
Now here comes the real scary part. I’m going to talk about the actual book itself. As I said earlier I’m not even a toddler in the world of poetry but I’m going to review a published work. Not only do I have little experience but as I know the person who wrote it so it’s going to be slightly biased.
I wanted to read this book when I had time and was not worried about doing anything so I could concentrate on the book. It never came until the day I had to ride back on the train. Perfect. I also was going to try doing something for this book that I never do. Read without music. Typically I listen to music when I write or read but I wanted to let the book paint pictures purely on its own. It was cool because I started to read the book in the lamp light as I was sitting on the train platform. It felt like I was in a movie.
“CRADLE SONG a poem Stacy Lynn Brown”. First I really like the title of the book as it sets a calmer softer feeling that is only reinforced by the lovely cover picture. The book is one long poem but divided into sections or mini poems (sorry I can’t explain it well). What is striking is the fact that the poems don’t have titles. To me this would be cutting a large part of the fun. I love making titles and to not have one would be just wrong. I would name each poem and I’m glad to say she did not. This poem has a lot to do with feel and has its own sense of delivery that would actually be hindered with the inclusion of titles. Titles tend to set up feelings or images in my mind while this was different. The only thing that gave me feeling is what I previously read. Each poem built on each other, though not deathly linked, which was like being a leaf and traveling on the wind. I was always in the same world but my perspective would always be changing giving new insight and its own feel. Each section felt like it belonged and when each new poem was read it made a clearer picture. Nothing sticking too far out and nothing too similar. A beautiful coffee blend for the mind.
The poems were more than enough too keep my attention and actually made me think quite a bit. I always enjoyed when I could visualize my teacher actually doing these things then chuckling on the word “I”. It was an experience of getting to know my teacher in a unique way. I don’t feel that I know her that much better but I understand where she is coming from. I finished the book in one sitting which took around hour. I also read the book from beginning to end on the ride back as well. It’s a great feeling when you wish that the train ride was longer so you can just sit there and read more. But alas everything comes too an end. Especially the good things it seems.
It’s hard to pick a favorite section but the poems that stuck out the most were IV, XIV, XVIII, XIX, XXIX, IXL, and my favorite being XVI. Want to read them? Buy the book! http://crpress.notilt.com/Cradle-Song.aspx It is definitely worth it in my opinion. Though I’ve been in a writing mood this semester this book has only made my desire to write even more. I actually wrote that review on the read that I was suppose to write awhile ago and actually have a few ideas for a poem or two. So I thank you teach, writer, friend, Mrs. Brown, and or whatever you are for providing a great source of entertainment and inspiration... you still owe me that poem. I will hunt you down and shake my fist vigorously at you... though after reading your book I know you can scrap, your something of a dead eye with firearms, you have both a height and reach advantage, and are no stranger to a blades... actually you know what, I’m just going to let you work at your own pace. I will leave snide comments on my blogs... that no one reads...and you have your own so you could do the same.... Actually I’m just going to stick with the Thank you part.
I’m beginning to wonder if this stream of consciousness is a good thing as it gets really convoluted and stupid rather quickly. Whatever. I deeply apologize to everyone who managed to wade through that sea of horrific grammar and managed to make it this far. Thank you very much. I don’t know what I’m going to put up next but it might have a poem involved. I have a meeting with my current English teacher in a few hours so I should go chase some Z’s. In all seriousness “Cradle Song” was great and you should check it out. Good morning everyone.
~Love~
Chinese illiteracy!
Good Morning! As some of you might know I have been delving into the fascinating world that is Chinese. This is actually one of the main reasons why I made this blog, that and for the Power trio. In Chinese I’m known as 孔大宁 ! Our assignment is to type five sentences in Chinese characters and post them on my blog so that is exactly what I’m going to do. I’m horrible at English so I might as well butcher another language for fun. So I apologize if anything is wrong and it is so bad I offend. Also I tired to have a little fun as I was probably not going to get 100%.
1. 小=E 9 的 影 视 ！
2．我晚喜欢听音乐跟舞
3．她常常看外书
4．我中国课椅听见对了
5．您不掺电和水
Ok time for notes. My Chinese name is spelled wrong? The second character is wrong but I'm not sure if that is called a spelling error or something else.I would simply go and fix it but I'm on my labtop and I don't have characters. I finished the assignment on Thursday but never posted. Instead I copied and pasted what I wrote in an email but I forgot that I never actually posted it. What Line one is trying to say is "xiao Gao has Shadow Vision! Line two is suppose to say "I like to listen to music and dance at night." Line three is suppose to be "She often reads books" Line 4 is suppose to be "In Chinese class I rarely hear "Correct". Line 5 was suppose to say "Don't mix water and electricity". I have a feeling I was pretty off but I tried. More blogging fun too come soon. Keep looking for more ramblings and remember
~Love~
1. 小=E 9 的 影 视 ！
2．我晚喜欢听音乐跟舞
3．她常常看外书
4．我中国课椅听见对了
5．您不掺电和水
Ok time for notes. My Chinese name is spelled wrong? The second character is wrong but I'm not sure if that is called a spelling error or something else.I would simply go and fix it but I'm on my labtop and I don't have characters. I finished the assignment on Thursday but never posted. Instead I copied and pasted what I wrote in an email but I forgot that I never actually posted it. What Line one is trying to say is "xiao Gao has Shadow Vision! Line two is suppose to say "I like to listen to music and dance at night." Line three is suppose to be "She often reads books" Line 4 is suppose to be "In Chinese class I rarely hear "Correct". Line 5 was suppose to say "Don't mix water and electricity". I have a feeling I was pretty off but I tried. More blogging fun too come soon. Keep looking for more ramblings and remember
~Love~
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