Tag: self-expression

Segregation

Somehow, it never occurred to me that my parents were there for desegregation. We learned all about it in school, but they never had us ask our parents about it… We once had to ask our grandparents about some event, but I don’t recall what it even was. But why didn’t we use our own family members more with history? They, after all, did live through much of the detailed stuff that is referenced in the classrooms… and it makes things more memorable when we can tie them to something personal.

I remember, actually, doing one interview for school with my dad. Part of it, at least, was about race stuff, but it wasn’t tied as much to all the things we learn about, the events and people and such. It was about how a parent grew up relative to another race. I remember that much. It’s when I learned that the first black person my dad met was his college roommate, in college. Also that his parents didn’t particularly like (or know at all) black people, but, since black people weren’t ever around – remember how he never met one until he left home for college – my dad was exposed to much of an opinion about black people. In a way, the almost-certain racism never got much of a chance to be passed on to him. No, he didn’t get to know people of other races, but he also didn’t have any hostility toward them.

Fast forward to the next generation, and I grew up going to school in the most diverse county in the most diverse city in the country. Several of my best friends and crushes growing up were races other than white. And it never even occurred to me to care. People were just people. Kind folks were kind and mean ones were mean. Race truly never came up as a factor beyond looks.

Kind of cool, really…

Anyway, I’ve gone way off topic here. The point was that history class missed a huge learning opportunity here, and I want to remedy it as best as I can. I’ve already reached out to both my parents for some basic memory sharing, and I’m arranging really sitting and talking with them about it in the near future, too. How cool that my parents were there for so much stuff that we learned about in school… And how bizarre that that never truly occurred to me that they could share with me all about it personally, not just from a learned knowledge base. (Like how my mom was talking to me at Dealey Plaza about JFK’s assassination… but I subconsciously thought she was telling things she had learned in school – she was a great student, after all – not that she was remembering it from the live news reports…)

I have so much to discuss with my parents…and I almost feel a need to bring along a textbook!

I just might…

Post-a-day 2023

My man

I miss my man. I am genuinely totally okay on my own here – it’s not like I can’t function or enjoy myself and whatnot whenever he’s out of town. I just would have loved to have had him with me today and tonight and now… I’m always fully functional and able to enjoy life when he isn’t right beside me. But I just enjoy it all all the more whenever he is…

And it’s funny to me, you see. I wrote years ago about how – and I mean, like, possibly in middle school in some version of the wording, and then about seven years ago with this wording – I wanted to find a life partner and husband who absolutely could live without me, but who just didn’t want to live without me; someone who wanted and chose daily to live with me. I think he feels that way about me, but I know for sure that I feel that way about him. We don’t need each other to survive. Yes, it helps make life all the better, being together. But it isn’t a necessity for life – it is a choice we get to make. We don’t have to be together – we want to be together. And so, I hope we get to continue choose each other every single day for decades to come.

Thank you, God, for this wonderful man. Please, keep him safe and get him home to me tomorrow, healthy and well and holy and happy and safe, please. The dog, too, and all that jazz. Grant them safe travels, please. And grant us all great sleep tonight, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

P.S. Our gym had a white elephant gift exchange tonight. I ended up getting an electric kettle with a set of the LMNT electrolyte packets – I believe it was like a hot chocolate kind of gift box idea. Makes sense, right? The price limit was $30. We brought $30 gifts that were purchased using major online discounts – most people had done a version of this, taking advantage of cyber Monday and all that jazz, right? Exactly $30, but it’s really a $50 product. A lot of people also did the, ‘It only costs me $30, but it costs a non-member (or whoever else) $40-60. Cool. The best ‘deal’ seemed to be a Landry’s gift card set for $75 of gift cards. I was absolutely about to steal that, as it came up right before my turn. However, a couple stole it from each other in order to max out its steals right away, and I never got the chance. Well, onward… I had wanted to try these electrolyte things, and they had one more steal available at my turn, so I took them and knew I was set. What I did not know was that this was basically the best deal of them all, product cost wise. When I opened it and really looked at the two things at home, I could not believe this electric kettle was anywhere near $30, even with a discount. And I imagined the powders weren’t cheap either. Sure enough, the powders are $45 for a single purchase or $39 with a subscription. And the kettle? It is a $195 kettle! So, my “$30” gift was actually $260 with tax. However, they didn’t break the actual limit buying it. Why? Because the company had sent the kettle free with the regular order of the powders that the gym does. So, it was basically a free kettle and $30 of powders for them… Well, I’ll take it. And I did! Thank you, God, for this unexpected and awesome blessing! Amen!

Over the Saturday morning work

I love Saturday mornings. But part of that love’s foundation is in the fact that I get to choose how to spend my Saturday mornings. I can be up early and exercise or do things on my own or with family or friends, or I can sleep in after a late night of fun the night before or just lounge through the morning, moving from the bed, eventually, to the sofa… But I get to choose how I see myself most enjoying the morning each time…

Except when I have to work. Every time I have had work on a Saturday, I have been stressed and annoyed, even if just a little. I dislike doing it. When I proctor these tests, I have to get up earlier than even when I go to school during the week. And, right now, that doesn’t work too well for me. I’ve been on a mix between my man’s time and my own, meaning I get to sleep later than I want, and so have to stay in bed an extra couple hours past when I naturally wake most days.

Ugh… and then I have to sit there all morning being vigilant while the students take this ridiculous test that they’ve been taught specifically by the company now how to take… nonsense… just nonsense.

Anyway… I’m exhausted and going to sleep now.

God, grant me restful sleep, please. Thank you for the financial compensation tomorrow’s work offers to me. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Discussion

We started going through some question and answer things together tonight, and actually discussing some of it… and I feel so satisfied by the conversation as a whole, so accomplished, satiated… satisfied not as in proved right, but as in filled, whole. I have been wanting to do just this for so long, and we are finally doing it clearly and intentionally, and it is wonderful. We both are learning, I think, both about each other and about how to discuss different things effectively with one another, and both are extremely valuable in any relationship. So, I go to sleep incredibly grateful tonight.

Thank you, God, and thank you, my man, for the communication, the willingness, and the love involved in it all. Thank you, God, for this life. Please, make clear our next steps always in pursuing and fulfilling your will. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

P.S. In class today, we started discussing jobs and work and careers and crafts. (This is French class.) At the end of class, we started reading together an article on the Japanese concept of ikigai. (If you don’t know it, look it up, because it is really cool.) Tonight, as I looked at my memories on Facebook, I crossed a post from this day seven years ago talking about how I had just discovered the Japanese term ikigai and that it was an awesome addition to my vocabulary. How fun! 😛

Nicknames

I mentioned something about my brother tonight, and my man wanted to confirm that he was thinking of the right person by that name. My brother has a farm, so he said, “Farmer ——?” No one had ever referred to him that way, so I confirmed myself by saying, “Brother ——-”. And, just for fun, I then gave his various nicknames from childhood. I then listed who used which names. My man said one of them was mean. I said how it was actually an endearing one and that my brother was fine with it, just like how I was called “Nina” by one sister and “Chickadee” by another.

As I typed my next comment of, “The only thing I would brainstorm about how to put on a license plate one day,” referring to Chickadee, my man said, “K nickname overload”, and I promptly stopped the rolling discussion that was developing in my brain. 😛 He has a fair point – five nicknames in thirty seconds just before bed is a lot to take in. Especially for people whom one doesn’t know all that well. It had me realize how many names we all had for each other, though, and how important each one was to us all, including that we had the right to use them… kind of makes for a really cool bond, now that I’m thinking about it. We didn’t make them on purpose. They just happened. Those are the real nicknames, the precious ones.

Anyway, as my brain went on this new route on its own, I then had a follow-up message of my man sending me a screenshot of an available version of “Chickadee” for a license plate. 😛 He’s just perfect for me, and I love him immensely.

Thank you, God. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Quizlet

I have been using my first Quizlet and the first shared with me the past two days. A fellow classmate shared his Chinese flash cards with me, and I then went and added pronunciations to them to make my own set. Now, I can practice them as both just characters and meanings and with pronunciations, too.

I still need to make my own hard copy set, but this is good practice for now, and it took minimal time to ‘create’ them, so I accept the do-for.

Thank you, God, for this wonderful chance to learn and expand and improve myself, both as a person and student, but also as a teacher, too. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

P.S. Please, keep my man and the dog and their stuff all safe, please. Give him the confidence and the words he most needs. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Word nerd

According to Merriam-Webster online, an acronym is only a word made up of initial letters from a set of words. It is a form of an initialism, which is anything made up from the initial letter or letters from a set of words. Example? Radar is an acronym (for “radio detection and ranging”), but FBI is only an initialism (for “Federal Bureau of Investigation”). Radar is also an initialism, of course, as all acronyms are initialisms, though not all initialisms are acronyms.

So, that’s all for my nerdy sharing for tonight. Goodnight!

Dear God, thank you for my nerdiness. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Social energy

After my cousin and his friend left late this morning, his parents, my aunt and uncle, showed up to pick up my uncle’s boat that we had been storing for him. So, I spent the morning interacting with the cousin and friend, then the midday and early afternoon with my aunt and uncle. By the time our dads and their wives arrived for dinner (almost an hour late) close to five, I was kind of done with my social interactions for the day. 😛

Quite convenient, I know. So, I stuck it out and participated a reasonable amount, I believe. But the seating arrangement allowed for me to take it easy and talk to the grandmother in the living room while the dads and wives all chatted together at the dining table – their spending time to get to know each other was kind of the main point of the dinner, after all. And I got to do a lot of cleaning etc. in the kitchen, which helped me balance it all, too.

Nonetheless, I think the evening was a rather good time as a whole for everyone. I’m very grateful to be going to bed now, though it is after ten PM.

Thank you, God, for today’s blessings. He’s me and help me always to do your will. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Musical Evenings

We celebrated my grandma’s 93rd birthday this evening at her building’s happy hour. After a bit, my cousin jumped on the (baby?) grand piano – lid up, of course – and started playing some old favorites for her (and the other folks there), as well as a few for us. I rather especially enjoyed singing “All for the Best” from Godspell with my mom and aunt and cousins… almost like we were mad, but we were truly just having such a great time with the song, we were actually jumping up and down and all as we did it.

It all was just really great. Even the regular Alzheimer’s granny was singing along with enthusiasm and energy I had never seen in her before tonight. That made it all even sweeter.

And then, by happenstance and poor planning, the piano cousin and his friend ended up staying at the house with us tonight. They arrived while I was showering, and it was no surprise to me to hear both the piano and a guitar already being used within minutes of their arrival. Naturally, we had a next few hours filled with music and merriment.

The nerdy bit was when I mentioned the NPR Piano Puzzler, a really cool bit where this pianist composes and performs a popular song in the style of a famous composer (who did not write the song). A listener has to guess the song and the composer, but it is just as fun to play at home or in the car just listening. My cousin hasn’t heard of it. Fortunately, they are all available to hear online, so we pulled up a few and had a grand old time listening to them and guessing together. If you like music and haven’t tried them already, check them out!

Anyway, thank you, God, for such a blessing tonight. Grant us all renewing sleep each night and energy and will to pursue and fulfill your will each day. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Talk about toothbrushes

Toothbrushes… they seem to be one of those things you can find anywhere and in all different types and styles, and it seems that it really doesn’t matter which one you pick, because they’ll all get the job done about the same. The electric ones seem to be the only real difference in quality of result… supposedly, anyway. I’ve never read a study on them, and advertisements don’t really use quality ones to express their preferred outcomes, so we may never know the actual facts of the matter. It certainly makes sense that they’d be more efficient, but it isn’t a guarantee.

Anyway, I have a comment on this: The greatest toothbrush I have crossed to this day is the Preserve recycled yogurt cups toothbrush.

First off, it’s being kind to the planet in a way. That’s great. They even ask to have the toothbrushes returned afterward for further recycling of the plastic. Even cooler.

Secondly, they have various levels of bristles softness. I use the ultra soft, of course, because I don’t need to be pushing hard on my teeth. We all have our own opinions for our own teeth, of course.

Thirdly, and this is the best part, they have a curved handle. Instead of being a straight stick that requires us to open our mouths wide to get to the back, this curved one makes it loads easier to brush anywhere in the mouth without opening up the mouth a whole bunch (and likely spilling) and without having to get creative with wrist angles. In a way, it is a lazy man’s non-electronic toothbrush. It’s awesome.

And, just for fun, fourthly, they come in all different colors. Beautiful.

Anyway, try them out. They’re aesthetically pleasing and ergonomically efficient, as well as kinder to the environment than other brushes and just plain neat. They’re only a few dollars. So far as so can tell, while you can get them at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s always carries them for much less. Likely, any local health-type foods store will carry them, too… that whole genre of shops, you know. Preserve toothbrushes. They’re stellar and totally worth the quality price.

Post-a-day 2023