Changes in Latitude - Changes in Attitude

I found this poem by Elizabeth Bishop online.  It's about my favorite place in the world.  I can't imagine a more beautiful and perfect description. The picture is Pensacola Beach – the beach I grew up on.  That’s where we are going tomorrow – Friday, July 31 2009.  I can’t wait to see my family.  I don’t think we will actually be making a trip to the beach, though.  David doesn’t like the beach and our trip is already pretty booked up with visiting family – which is our main reason for going.  I can’t wait to see my parents, my grandmother, my sister, his parents and sisters and all of our nieces and 2 nephews.  Hopefully, we will also have a visit with some friends while there.  My friend, Marianne, may be bringing her boys to Josh’s 16th birthday (yes – his birthday falls while we are there) and we will, hopefully, do some LAN gaming with David’s friend Scott. 

Well, that being said, I have to go cycle laundry and get ready to leave in the morning.  It’s a busy one – we gotta pick up Nathan and Lydia, come back home to make sure they have all their goodies, and then go to the airport to hurry up and wait.  We will be touching down about 9.  I can hardly wait. 

Florida

The state with the prettiest name,
the state that floats in brackish water,
held together by mangrave roots
that bear while living oysters in clusters,
and when dead strew white swamps with skeletons,
dotted as if bombarded, with green hummocks
like ancient cannon-balls sprouting grass.

The state full of long S-shaped birds, blue and white,
and unseen hysterical birds who rush up the scale
every time in a tantrum.
Tanagers embarrassed by their flashiness,
and pelicans whose delight it is to clown;
who coast for fun on the strong tidal currents
in and out among the mangrove islands
and stand on the sand-bars drying their damp gold wings
on sun-lit evenings.

Enormous turtles, helpless and mild,
die and leave their barnacled shells on the beaches,
and their large white skulls with round eye-sockets
twice the size of a man's.

The palm trees clatter in the stiff breeze
like the bills of the pelicans. The tropical rain comes down
to freshen the tide-looped strings of fading shells:
Job's Tear, the Chinese Alphabet, the scarce Junonia,
party-colored pectins and Ladies' Ears,
arranged as on a gray rag of rotted calico,
the buried Indian Princess's skirt;
with these the monotonous, endless, sagging coast-line
is delicately ornamented.

Thirty or more buzzards are drifting down, down, down,
over something they have spotted in the swamp,
in circles like stirred-up flakes of sediment
sinking through water.

Smoke from woods-fires filters fine blue solvents.
On stumps and dead trees the charring is like black velvet.
The mosquitoes
go hunting to the tune of their ferocious obbligatos.
After dark, the fireflies map the heavens in the marsh
until the moon rises.

Cold white, not bright, the moonlight is coarse-meshed,
and the careless, corrupt state is all black specks
too far apart, and ugly whites; the poorest
post-card of itself.

After dark, the pools seem to have slipped away.
The alligator, who has five distinct calls:
friendliness, love, mating, war, and a warning--
whimpers and speaks in the throat
of the Indian Princess.

Elizabeth Bishop

Hi.  I haven’t written a blog in a while.  I have had some exciting events in the last few weeks. 

My oldest just turned 18 on May 14 and took a trip to Pittsburgh, PA by himself to go to an Anthrocon.  He had a blast and was actually reluctant to come home afterwards.  I have seen a lot of maturity and growth in him recently and hope to see more.

David and I celebrated our first anniversary on July 8.  We are going to Florida on July 31 to see our families.  His mom still has the top layer of our wedding cake and we are gonna eat it when we get there.  I cannot wait to see both of our families next week.  I have been so homesick.  The first part of the week, we are staying with my parents.  The second part, we are staying with his parents.  They are both very gracious to put our family of 6 up with them. 

Josh’s 16th birthday will be August 3.  We are having a pool party at my mom’s house the day after with all the cousins invited.  Josh is also now officially Josh Taylor.  David’s adoption became permanent in June.  He was very excited to finally have it official.  He wouldn’t let me take any pictures, so here is one for you from the wedding last year when he was toasting David and saying that he was the best dad he could ever have.  The last year has been one with lots of growth for Josh as well. 

Well, I don’t know what else to say today.  I am a little on the bored side, but I still need to get my newsletter out to all my readers.  I am thinking about redesigning my site and customizing the newsletter a bit.  It will be (if all my evil schemes work out) divided into 3 separate lists – one of the US, one for Canada and one for the UK.  I don’t frequently find many freebies for other countries and freebies for Canada and the UK get lost when listed with the US

So anyway, I am sitting here, banging out the newsletter, finding freebies and watching David play Mass Effect. If you are an XBox Gamer – my gamer card is on the right side of the page.  Feel free to add me to your contacts and buzz me online if you wanna play. 

TTYL

Alicia

Last month, in an effort to overcome my strongest fears of speaking in front of people, I gave my first speech to my Toastmaster's group that I recently joined.  Hi Vicki and Trisha! 

It went well.  The person that evaluated me said that I was obviously nervous, but liked the organization of the speech and felt that I had interjected humor at appropriate times.  He also liked my verbiage and said that I had good vocabulary.

Tonight, I am due to give my second speech.  This one is to focus on organization and I have selected to do mine on holidays.  Here goes!  I am so nervous about tonight, I can feel my knees knocking, teeth chattering and my brain already rambling. My goal tonight will be to appear un-nervous - or at least less so than last time. 

What do you think?  Here is it is:

Americans love holidays and celebrations. Almost every month has a holiday that celebrates something:

January has New Years;

February, Valentine’s Day;

March, St. Patrick’s Day;

April, Easter;

May, Mother’s Day;

June, Father’s Day;

July, 4^th of July;

September, Labor Day;

October, Halloween (and my half of my family’s Birthdays);

November, Thanksgiving

and December, Christmas.

I have always been someone who was a bit different. I love to walk to the beat of a different drummer. There are some other fun, albeit lesser known holidays and celebrations that I have decided to add to my repertoire.

In January, I have a small selection of holidays that I might like to add. Did you know that January 22 is National Answer Your Cat's Question Day? I guess they want to encourage those shy felines who may actually believe that curiosity killed their ancestors to speak up and ask “Why do black cats bring bad luck?” January 3^rd is Festival of Sleep day. This one is right up my alley. I thought I was dreaming when I found it. I will hang a sign on my bedroom door saying I am enjoying the holiday instructing my 4 children that if they wake me, I will also add Child Labor day on the 31^st.

March has one of my favorite days - Make Up Your Own Holiday Day. If you aren’t able to find something in my list that is bizarre or relative enough to your needs, then March 26^th your day to be creative. March 30^th is I Am In Control Day. I guess that’s for all the people that really need to feel like they are in control. Personally, I believe it’s just an extension of Smoke and Mirrors day on March 29. If they really ARE in control that day (as is everyone around them), then they have really pulled a magic rabbit out of their hat.

I wonder how employers would feel about April 3^rd? It’s National Don’t Go To Work Unless It’s Fun Day. It’s followed up by Tell a Lie day on April 4^th. I guess we could all lie to our bosses about our reason for being out on April 3^rd. If you are a Stay-At-Home person, we haven’t left you out of an excuse to miss your duties. April 7^th is no housework day. That’s ok. On April 30^th, we can all atone for our sins on National Honesty day. Does that mean you will tell your boss that you lied to him on the 4^th about why you were absent on the 3^rd?

June also has some fun days. The 5^th is National Delusions day. I thought that was back in March when we celebrated “I am in control day,” but I guess it wasn’t similar enough. I want to just extend this day to cover the entire month and delude myself into believing that all of June’s food celebrations, such as Rocky Road Day, Chocolate Chip Day, Ice Cream Soda Day, Macaroon day and Chocolate Éclair day will not add an inch to my waistline.

August is Romance Awareness month. It starts with Friendship day (as most romances hopefully start with friendships, I felt it would be most inappropriate to start the month any other way.) The 6^th and 7^th are Wiggle Your Toes Day and Sea Serpent day. I’m gonna suggest to David, that since we may be in Florida at the time, that we celebrate these two days at the beach, wiggling our toes in the sand and looking for giant monsters in the sea. The 18^th is bad poetry day. Read some to your romantic interest. Just be sure to also celebrate the 22^nd, be an Angel day and make up for all the bad rhymes. If your attempts weren’t enough to appease your love, don’t fret – the 25^th is Kiss and Make-up Day. If your love is still mad in September, perhaps they would enjoy National Beheading day on the 2^nd.

With all the birthdays in my family and since it’s vegetarian awareness month, as well as the Month Disney World opened, October already has a lot of significance. I thought I would add National Increase Your Psychic Awareness Day on the 31^st, just for kicks though since it ties in so well with Halloween. November and December were already sufficiently hectic, so I decided not to add anything to my list for these months. In fact, with all the celebrations, awareness months, holidays and hooplas that I just added, by the time December rolls around, I will already be looking forward to January 3^rd – National Sleep Festival Day. Make Up Your Own Holiday Day. If you aren’t able to find something in my list that is bizarre or relative enough to your needs, then March 26^th Make Up Your Own Holiday is your day to be creative.

Madame Toastmaster and Fellow Members,

Oxymoron - incongruous - like two triangles that don't quite match up.   Oxymoron is something that defies logic - like the oft used "Jumbo Shrimp" or "Military Intelligence".  Of course there is also the unexpected Oxymoron that we never think of as unharmonious - like "Hot Chili" or "Graduate Student" until we really stop to think about what we are saying.  How can something be Hot and Chili?  How can someone be both a Student and Graduate?  How about a procrastinator that is goal-oriented, a vegetarian that is not health conscious or a competitive person that doesn't like to compete with others?

Most people who know me well will tell you I have a trophy that reads "World's Greatest Procrastinator."  I will push things off to the last minute and scramble to have it done "just in time."  I can meet deadlines, but it's frequently under great stress and duress that I get there.  That being said, I am goal-oriented.  I love to learn new things.  Every New Year, I have one resolution.  It's not to lose weight, or get in shape, while those are admirable goals.  My goal every year is to learn one new thing.   In 1999, my goal was to learn to design websites.  I didn't actually put that into practice until Jan of 2000.  It was a goal.  Now, I do it professionally.  This year, my goal is to brush up on my programming skills and add Visual C# to my repertoire; however, I haven't started that yet.  I'm still procrastinating. 

One goal that I had since my early 20's was to one day become a vegetarian.  It wasn't until 3 years ago that my 13 year old son actually convinced me to do it.  However, I still haven't fully integrated the whole vegetarian lifestyle as my own.  I don't eat meat, but unlike most vegetarians, I am not always fully aware of everything that I put into my mouth.  I love Oreos and ice cream, for example and adore pizza.  I don't exercise as I should and am frequently battling the scale.  I don't like salads and eat more pasta and bread and sugar than actual vegetables.  I guess this is a goal I am still partially procrastinating on as well.

One thing that I have found that helps me accomplish my goals on time is recognition.  I thrive on it.  To that end, I am a very competitive person.  I will work my tail off for a small trinket of appreciation that is awarded in front of other people, just for the recognition - whether it be a pin for making the ice breakers speech or simply having the teacher announce that I had the best grade in the class.  It wasn't my goal to have the best grade in class.  It was my goal to get the recognition.  In fact, the only person I really like to compete against is myself.  When I played sports, I wanted to return more volleys or get fewer outs I did in the previous game.  I wanted to excel and be the best - but not necessarily the best in the class or the best of all my friends.  I just wanted to be MY best at everything I did - even if it was a little late.

This speech was a little late because I had surgery on the previous date I was supposed to do this.  That is an example of me taking procrastination to the extreme.  In coming up with the ideas for what I wanted you to learn about me, I learned a little about myself.  I learned that I like the feeling of accomplishment more than I thought.  I also learned that, even though it is February, I should add another goal to my new year's resolution this year - to not procrastinate so much.  Hey, better late than never.

Madame Toastmaster

Tonight, I am to give my first speech at my Toastmaster's Club.  I am a bit on the nervous side.  I was supposed to give this speech on January the 9th, but I ended up in the hospital as mentioned in a previous post.  If you follow the link, you will see a club picture.  David and I are the two short ones on the far right.  Or, as we like to say - we're not short, we are fun-sized.

This speech is called the "Ice Breaker" speech.  It's the first official rated speech that a new member gives.  Tonight, David and I are both supposed to give our Ice breakers.

I am a shy person, and other than on this blog, I really don't share a lot of personal information out loud.  Breaking the ice just sounds so... invasive, so I am calling mine "Melting the Ice."  I want them to warm up to me and vice versa - LOL - not just break down every protective barrier I have in place.  That being said, I have been thinking about this speech all week.  It's due tonight and I am still "speechless" as it would happen to be.  Most people that know me would say that I am rarely caught in a silent moment - unless I happen to be at home unwinding. 

I thought I would just jot down a few thoughts here - brainstorm, if you will, and come up with something to say about me.  David is doing his professional resume, but I want mine to be more personable.  I have difficulty not just dropping dead of a panic attack when just meeting someone new, so that's the avenue I have chosen to work on here. 

Here are some facts about me that I could incorporate into tonight's speech.

• I am shy.
• I am a vegetarian.
• I am disorganized.
• I am slightly geeky.
• I am competitive.
• I am goal-oriented and recognition-focused.
• I have an affinity for free things.  I am practically a sucker for them.
• I am a parent with 4 kids.
• I married my best friend of 22 years in July 2008.
• I love to learn.

I need to break this down to three facts so I can get into the basic essay format that I became so comfortable with in college - Intro with a thesis, three body paragraphs based on thesis and then the conclusion. 

I can combine the goal-oriented, love of learning and my competitive nature into one topic. Starting off with how shy I am would almost sound like an apology for the fact that I am going to be gripping the podium for dear life to keep from hitting the floor, so I may leave that out - but I will explain in the introduction why I titled my speech "Melting the Ice."

After that, I'm stuck.  I am a vegetarian - which is important to me - but what can I really say about that without sounding judgmental or haughty?  I don't believe that it actually makes a person more compassionate just because they are vegetarian.  Frequently, people think that you are lording it over them that you eat better than they do - which is probably not true with me either.  I love Oreos, after all... and ice cream... and pizza... and the list goes on.  I always love to say that you can't get skinny from vegetarian no matter how many letters you re-arrange. I guess I could say some of that.

I am also geeky - but only slightly so.  Anyone that knows David, knows that he has that role in our family hands down.  I love working with computers - especially coding or writing HTML.  I am pretty good at figuring out software applications, but don't ask me to repair a computer.  I have done it before and even have done it for other people on several occasions.  My favorite computer repair tip right now?  Tie a brick around the thing and use it as a boat anchor.  I love gaming and play XBox 360 and Munchkins.  I also am a web designer and develop sites both personally and professionally - I am an oxymoron though - because, like accountants, most people think that computer professionals are organized.

I actually think I know where I am gonna go with this speech.  I will publish it to my blog shortly.  Thanks for reading. 

Vicki, if you are reading this - We will miss you tonight, but David and I will be bringing the camera to record our speeches for our own review and to share with you.  Thanks for volunteering to be my mentor.