Thoughts on Beauty and the Geek
My daughter and I caught a bit of
Beauty and the Geek the other night. My DD found the show hilarious but pointed out that it wouldn’t work if it was
Studs and Smart Chicks. She feels that
Beauty and the Geek works because smart men still have normal male drives and dumb girls like the wallet that a smart guy brings home. That’s a pretty broad stereotype but I couldn’t fault her logic when she pointed out that if they tried to do
Studs and Smart Chicks, the women would enjoy watching the eye candy but would decide that they weren’t worth the aggravation and would have either a RPG tournament or some other equally entertaining computer related activity going on amongst themselves after they plugged the guys into ESPN. And I wondered why one of the most entertaining songs among my DD’s group of friends is Coin Operated Boy?
This leads me back to worrying about the denigration of men in today’s society. If men are only useful for their financial and physical properties, aren’t women just doing to men what I remember them accusing men of doing to women? If it isn’t right for men to do to women, why is it fine for women to do to men? I thought the sexes were supposed to have equal rights and brains. I love a line from a
Spider Robinson story where a male character coming to our age from the future states “Oh, this must be the dark ages where women subjugated men and kept them from wearing comfortable dresses.” I remember the main character not reacting well to that statement.
There is a group out on the web promoting the Freedom from Trousers for men though. Although I haven’t order a
Utilikilt for my DH, I do like browsing the website.
The State of the Hobbies Address
I hate to admit that 2006 was not the best year for my hobbies. I recorded a few finishes. I did a Hinzeit Designs Marine Corps piece for my husband. I finished the Gandalf model that I was working on and got a better payment than I expected. I got cash but if there was a copy of the chart, it never arrived. I finished a quilt top in the spring when I learned how to do “stack and whack” cutting techniques, I called it Birds in the Window. I haven’t quilted it yet though. I completed an RR ornament that I had put aside while the RR was in progress. I participated in and finished the TWRR, mine is unfinished but I’ll get to it. I completed 5 quilt blocks for a Christmas Quilt I was making and 3 blocks for an Ugly Quilt contest. I finished something that I called a Baby Quilt UFO but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. I must have given it away because I can’t find anything with that description in the house either.
So that’s all that I completed in 2006. I know I started a few things but since starting school, I haven’t had much time to do anything but homework. Oh, I also finished the ornaments that I started for my sisters for Christmas of 2005. I don’t think they’ll be getting any 2006 ornaments.
So now that we’ve recapped the past, I should state future goals. Being in school, I don’t have much time. However, I do want to finish the entry for the Ugly Quilt Contest. The deadline is February 3, 2007 so I don’t have much time to finish the 6 blocks and the quilting. This upcoming weekend is about it. There isn’t much left to finish on Harry Potter #3, I could finish it in a couple weekends with some Netflix movies so that is a possibility for this year.
I would like to get ornaments finished for my sisters this year. I have some great hand-dyed threads from Melanie to use for them.
I would also like to finish a piece to enter into the State Fair. I have a piece that I’m working on when I have time.
I do have one finish for the year. On New Year’s Day I finished a small Shepherd’s Bush freebie that wishes ewe a Merry Christmas. So next year, I’ll have something to crow about.
Who are you?
I'm a Talent!
You're a risk-taker, and you follow your passions. You're determined to take on the world and succeed on your own terms. Whether in the arts, science, engineering, business, or politics, you fearlessly express your own vision of the world. You're not afraid of a fight, and you're not afraid to bet your future on your own abilities. If you find a job boring or stifling, you're already preparing your resume. You believe in doing what you love, and you're not willing to settle for an ordinary life.
Talent: 49%
Lifer: 38%
Mandarin: 33%
Take the
Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.
Have I told you I married above me?
Waking up on a Sunday morning to find no running water isn’t enjoyable, even less enjoyable when it’s the first morning in awhile that getting out of bed is even an option. Luckily, I have a husband that knows what to do. As I’m watching the plumber’s van drive along the street, I’m grateful that my husband already had the boys working on the frozen valve (the one from the main to the outside tap which passes outside the insulation) with a blow-dryer and boiling water. The boiling water came from a bottle in the water storage so the boys had eaten oatmeal before working with their dad. He had both boys take credit for their work in the appropriate scouting books and we made it to church albeit not quite on time.
During my stint in the church library, I had time to think about how grateful I am to have my husband. As I listen to neighbors talk about the estimates to repair the pipes and insulation in their homes, I know that we’ll be doing it as a family and the only cost will be supplies which aren’t that expensive. I’ve been even more appreciative of the man I married this week as I’ve been down with the flu. He’s pampered and cosseted me; making me as comfortable as one can be when nothing will stay in the system (on the good side, I’m down 5.5 pounds). He’s run all the errands, fielded my phone calls, found the best things to keep me hydrated and to reintroduce solid foods to me (Wakame soup is fantastic when I’m sick but sometimes hard to find).
I look at this incredible man and realize that my family still talks about my marrying beneath me. See, this fantastic man who takes care of me and our children came from a blue collar background (although if the legal system hadn’t let Standard Oil stall and instead made them pay for the dirty tricks it pulled to bankrupt independent gas station owners during the 1970’s his family would have had more money than my family ever did). He served in the military which wasn’t very popular in the 1980’s when we met and his family’s business (and a LD condition) interfered with him getting a college diploma even though my family gave him two years of college tuition as a wedding present. He doesn’t have a traditional career path but he’s always managed to make sure that we never got into financial trouble. Our debts have never exceeded out assets or our ability to pay. An artist’s income is sporadic, but we’ve always had enough for our needs. So we don’t have the frequent flyer miles to go to Finland, or Boston, or Texas. We’ve always had a family vacation somewhere with the kids every year, even if it’s just camping in the mountains. Our oldest is in college with scholarships and grants and has a 3.6 GPA. The other children are doing fine; they have good friends, they have independent personalities and they know who they are and where they’re going. We are a functional family in an age of dysfunction. I just wish that mattered more to my family than some of the shallow measurements that I heard during the holiday season. If anything, I married above me. I married someone who has all the caring, compassion, and sensitivity that I lack. He has all the traits that really matter in life, traits that I desperately need to improve on.
Taken from another blog...
You are The Moon
Hope, expectation, Bright promises.
The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.
The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.
What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.
I like needles with an electric charge to them....
Yesterday, I experienced acupuncture for the first time. I should explain. Shortly after starting school, I began to notice pain when I lifted my book bag. I just figured it was muscle pain and I would just take it easy. Well, here we are 5 months later and I can barely lift my arm to shoulder level. I have pain any time I pick up anything heavier than 5 pounds. DH keeps telling me that I have a rotator cuff tear. I’m not about to take my shoulder to a surgeon. Now I don’t really believe in chiropractors but I do know one who is on the list that the Workers’ Compensation courts use for Independent Medical examiners. So anyway I head over there today, and after 30 minutes, 20 of it with needles attached to electricity, ribs and neck adjusted and I’m out of pain and able to put my arm over my head, albeit slowly. Still can’t lift anything heavier than 5 pounds without pain but I can move again.
We'll see how it is by my next appointment.
Well, I'm not worth much (as a blog anyway)...
