Filed under: memes
Surfing the net, I found an interesting meme:
From What Privileges Do You Have?, based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.
Bold the true statements.
1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college (Mother earned associate’s while I was in high school.)
4. Mother finished college (Mother earned bachelor’s after she had grandchildren, and her daughter helped edit her papers.)
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers. (Probably…)
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. (I don’t think we had the space.)
9. Were read children’s books by a parent.
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child. (Yes. My mother’s)
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
(On and off again.)
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home.
25. You had your own room as a child
(Only child.)
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
31. Went on a cruise with your family
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
(Does the FBI building count??)
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family
Hat tip: Gazizza
We’ve been playing “The College Game”. I think The Boy won, though what exactly winning is in this game, I’m not sure. He applied to three schools. He heard from one fine Southern school early and was offered a generous scholarship. That school was very desirable but his second choice for various reasons. (I’m thinking grad school.)
Then he heard back from his third choice school–accepted, would he like to apply for honors?, and…we’re offering no money. Hmmm. Not so good.
Still we waited, and we waited. Yet no word from school number three which is really school number one in terms of preference.
Then Hubby and I returned home from a hike with the dog on Saturday evening and found a large college packet in the door handles of the refrigerator.
Oh. my.gosh!!!
Yes, he’s accepted. Into chemical engineering. Honors program. Roughly 70% tuition.
And the Boy said nothing.
”Are you happy?” I ask.
“Yes,” he replied.
“Is that your happy face?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, what did you do when you opened the acceptance letter?”
“I said, ‘Yes.’”
“That’s it? Just like that? No happy dance?”
“No. That’s all.”
“Glad to see you picked the right major, Son.”
At least he’s got the “phlegmatic” part down pat.
Filed under: pet peeves
I have a pet peeve.
I hate it when people talk on their cell phones in public restrooms while using the toilet. Judging by the number of people who actually do this, I might be in the minority, but it’s a pet peeve of mine, nonetheless. Mind you, I’m not talking about people who enter a stall to talk, giving themselves the illusion of privacy. No. I’m talking about people who talk, talk, talk, and the whole time I can hear them unrolling toilet paper and then flushing. It’s just gross!
One can take multi-tasking too far, methinks.
Filed under: family, school | Tags: family, school, school sports, science fair, weight-lifting
Over dinner the other day, the Girl nonchalantly announced, “Oh, by the way, I won science fair.”
Wow. Not even the Boy managed that. The Girl will advance to the county competition. I don’t care if she wins it or not (nor does she or her partner for that matter); it’s just totally awesome that they took first place in their category of science.
Then she added excitedly what she really did care about– that she had lifted her body weight over her head in the weight room after school.
That’s my girl. Strong like bull! Yeah!
Smart, strong, beautiful, caring….what more could a mother want?
No sex. No violence. What could there possibly be about this movie to recommend it to the viewing public in the United States?
Plenty.
Amazing Grace demonstrates passion for justice in action through the life of William Wilberforce, a young Brit. Wilberforce, played by Ioan Gruffudd, vacillates between desiring a life of faith and service and one of politics. His friend, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, convinces him that he can achieve both simultaneously–by using his Parliamentary membership to end slavery.
Twenty long years later, he gains his heart’s desire, the end of slavery in the British empire.
Quite a message for a microwave world.
On Christmas Eve, Hubby, The Boy, The Girl and I trekked to my dear friend’s home for her traditional Christmas Eve party. Shamelessly, she appropriated the game I had used at a previous party. As we entered her home, she slapped character names on our backs and instructed us to figure out who we were. In truth, her game was less challenging than mine as my guests were allowed only yes-no questions while hers were allowed a more freely flowing discussion to ascertain one’s identity. Either that or her guests feared her less than mine feared me. Take your pick.
I quickly found a chatty pal to help me identify myself. My dear friend sees me through rose colored lenses and had christened me the Sugar Plum Fairy. No, she wasn’t being sarcastic. She really views me that way.
The Boy was experiencing more difficulty. I found him in the kitchen struggling with clues that the other young men were giving him.
To help him out, I put my arm around him and said, “As a mother, I’m very disappointed in you.”
”Why?” he asked.
“Because you didn’t turn out as I had hoped.”
After several other hints were tossed out to him, I made another comment to him.
“Oh, you were talking about my character…”
Horrified, I replied, “Oh my gosh! Did you think I was talking about you? I was talking about your character! As your character’s mother, I am very disappointed in how you turned out. Good heavens, Son; I’ve never been anything but proud of you!”
I still feel awful for those few minutes when The Boy sucked up his mother’s painful insult while I had no clue that he’d been wounded. I just can’t imagine how he must have felt, believing his mother had just told him she was disappointed in how he’d turned out. What a terrible thing on a Christmas Eve!
And no, the committee for “Mother of the Year- 2007″ did not contact me, as I’m sure you’ve surmised. If they had, I’m sure they’d have had nothing but harsh words for me.
