RANT - What Happened to Pluto??

I consider myself to be well educated, however I work hard at downplaying my smarts so I don't threaten others with my level of intelligence (dry sarcasm*grin*). However, I was humbled when I attempted to help my 9th grade daughter with an Earth & Space Science assignment the other day. Apparently, there's been a huge change in our universe and somehow, I have been unawares for years now.

Kinsey: "Mom. How do you like my solar system drawing?"
Me: "That's very, ooh, ahh, nice honey!"
Kinsey: 'Thanks mom."
Me: "Uh, Kinz? You forgot Pluto."
Kinsey: Rolls eyes, followed by look of utter disdain at my incompetence. "Pluto is NOT a planet."
Me: "What? What is it?"
Kinsey: "I don't know, who cares?" (good point, but I care)
Me: "Kinz are you sure? Let me see your book."
Kinsey: "Here."(Very smug like, I might add)
Me: Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus.... I very smug like, turn the page expecting to see Pluto. Nothing, not even a mention of "Chapter 6- Pluto: Used to be a planet"

Ever since I placed 2nd with my 5th grade gumball diorama of the solar system suspended with fishing wire in a spray painted glitter box(My mom is a distant cousin of Martha Stewart) AND it was edible, I reasoned that my knowledge about the solar system was complete. I could move on to bigger and better knowledge. Silly me!
But my point is, there was a Pluto, nine planets. What happened? Did they simply decide, No. We here at Nasa, in a very official way, were wrong, "Pluto is just a large chunk of ice." Did Nasa lose it? Or was it simply a matter of it's too far out to study, let's just have eight planets. I mean how can this happen? If I had been on Jeopardy and they had asked me for the planet farthest away from the sun for $50,000....shoot. I wouldn't have hesitated, "What is Pluto?" You better believe though, that Alex Tribeck would have had his hands full with my initial reaction upon learning that I wasn't correct.
Good thing, I wasn't on Jeopardy, because I would have made a complete fool of myself. But for those of you who don't know this and could possibly win big on Jeopardy, I will save you the humiliation by giving you this info now. Plus, why wasn't this info on the news, was it during the time that OJ Simpson and his bronco captivated the world or farther back, when Michael Jackson got his nose job?
So now my daughter has lost faith in me and thinks I'm dumb as a box of dirt. I'm going to have go online and find out some interesting tidbit to restore her faith in me. I'll let you know what I come up with. :)

RAVE- New Chick Music!!!!!!

Finally! Music to make me reach for my ipod, actually my kids have the ipods, I have an MP3 that looks like a solar calculator. But who cares. I want this new artist's music close as possible to my ears.
"Think of the kind of vintage, organically-crafted albums that Carole King or Joni Mitchell used to make. Thankfully, it's a tradition that is being kept alive today by the likes of Norah Jones, Jack Johnson - and now Colbie Caillat."
This is ....
Sing out loud good.
Happy to drive good.
Smile while listening good.
Karaoke, I can sing like Natalie Merchant good.(and I can, but only in my car...some odd type of phenomenon or something )

This woman could sing the Barney theme song and make it sound fresh. Really. I mean it. So please go check her out.
Your ears will be glad you did.
Here's her site
http://www.colbiecaillatmusic.com/

and the words to her song "Bubbly". Because, trust me, as soon as you hear it, you're going to want to sing it. Enjoy!

V1: I've been awake for a while now
you've got me feelin like a child now
cause every time i see your bubbly face
i get the tinglies in a silly place

C: It starts in my toes
and I crinkle my nose
where ever it goes i always know
that you make me smile
please stay for a while now
just take your time
where ever you go

V2: The rain is fallin on my window pane
but we are hidin in a safer place
under the covers stayin safe and warm
you give me feelins that i adore

C: It starts in my toes
makes me crinkle my nose
where ever it goes
i always know
that you make me smile
please stay for a while now
just take your time
where ever you go

B: What am i gonna say
when you make me feel this way
I just........mmmmmmmmmmm

C: It starts in my toes
makes me crinkle my nose
where ever it goes
i always know
that you make me smile
please stay for a while now
just take your time
where ever you go

V3: I’ve been asleep for a while now
You tucked me in just like a child now
Cause every time you hold me in your arms
Im comfortable enough to feel your warmth

C: It starts in my soul
And I lose all control
When you kiss my nose
The feelin shows
Cause you make me smile
Baby just take your time
Holdin me tight

Where ever, where ever, where ever you go
Where ever, where ever, where ever you go…..

Rant - Wear your best alligator suit when writing!

“If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in you heart, it is not success at all.” - Anna Quindlen

“It’s easy to handle success. The real test is how you handle failure" (or criticism).

“You will learn more through failure than you will by giving up.”

Wow! Never underestimate the power of one comment. All I can say is goodness me! You're never going to make ALL of the people happy ALL of the time. The best you can do as a writer is stay true to Your vision and if you receive criticism that you disagree with,
move on,
disregard it,
brush it off.
But whatever you do....
Keep Writing!!!
It's not easy to please the masses people and that is what published writing has become. Enjoyment according to the masses. Whether we like it or not. I myself, have a very thick and snazzy alligator suit that I wear when I write. And if I choose to, I'll let your opinion affect my writing, but only if I choose to.
Because in the end...it's *MY writing.

*Unless you're an editor or agent, then I will change anything you say:)

“There is probably no hell for authors in the next world — they suffer so much from critics and publishers in this.” ~ C. N. Bovee http://www.fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision24/developingthickskin.htm
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/56270/it_takes_thick_skin_to_be_a_writer.html

Rave-Writer's Cafe

Read My Writing at WritersCafe.org

RAVE - Where the River Starts

I absolutely adore Lois Lowry. I think if I had to choose a style of writing that I would like to emulate, it would be hers. I first fell in love with her writing after reading "The Giver". Then after I found out that her first book wasn't published until she was 39 or 40, I became even more intrigued. That was actually a defining moment for me as I realized my long ago, tucked away dream of writing could be realized after the age of 33. Don't ask me why I thought I could only realize one professional life goal at a time or why I thought I was too old to be published. I guess I assumed all writers had to have a MFA(don't get me wrong I"m sure it helps immensely, but it's not in my immediate future)
Nowadays, I'm happy to say I'm almost 40 and the writing world is my oyster, so to speak.
All thanks to Ms. Lowry.
Anyway, I came upon this speech she gave as an acceptance for her Newbery Medal for The Giver. It tells how she came to write The Giver and also explains to me why she's able to write so well---
She gets it.
But not only that,
she captures it.
She wrote what she questioned about herself & others. She wrote about ambiguous societal nuances that we all blindly accept until someone points out that maybe, just maybe, there's another way to think about things.
I get the willies each time I read this speech, and maybe Its just me and I need to get a sweater and a mug of hot chocolate but I think this speech is literally perfect. This speech could have been an acceptance for a Nobel peace prize or an ambassador's plea for his country's solidarity but it is not. It is the shaping of a writer's idea. Something that can make magic...An "elsewhere" that's "somewhere" a reader wants to be.
So I hope you guys will read this speech in it's entirety and let me know if you appreciate it as much as I do.

http://www.loislowry.com/pdf/Newbery_Award.pdf

RANT- Do spiders have a high IQ?

My new house is an arachnophobic's nightmare. Daily batterings are commonplace and can occur at a moment's notice within my household. I have found these sneaky petes in towels, shoes, counters and cupboards. Don't get me wrong-I am not scared of these 8 legged creatures. I mean let's use some logic here. I'm much bigger. I have thumbs. And I'm not scared to use a fully loaded flip-flop. BUT this spider that you see in the image to your right is the grand-daddy Einstein of them all. Yes, that HUGE spider, called a fishing-spider(even though it lives in the woods DUH!) knows how to play dead. I kid you not! Let me repeat myself---It knows how to play dead.
Give yourselves a minute to think that over and let the willies subside before I continue with my traumatizing experience.

My cat, Mr Millie(yes,we thought he was a she and then after a year we had to give him some dignity,hence, the Mr.) whose scared to death of the vacuum(even when it's not on) and a slight wind, was playing with this bohemoth abomination. Upon seeing this, I silently prayed in earnest, please let that be a big cricket. It wasn't to be. So, I did what any normal person would have done, I grabbed a shoe and slapped it a good one. Now poor Mr. Millie has been scared of me for the past three days, but I got it(or so I thought)..I reasoned to myself that this creepy thing with thick hair like a Greek man's ear would surely be poisonous. No arachnid is that big and hairy and not lethal. So silly me, I go get a paper towel to pick it up and I proceed to examine it two inches away from my face. I look at it's markings. Any normal person would've flushed it. Not me. I wanted to know exactly what I was dealing with. I mean there could be a nest of them right?
I place it down on a hat box under a window to get better light. I make a mental note of the markings and go search on google for Pennsylvania spiders. I'm calm, it's dead. I'm logical, just want to know if it's poisonous but I'm not sure about some of the markings, does it have small brown bands?...mmm, let me go see. I reach the doorway and I find that spider hobbling, rather quick like on my hat box...No sir ree, impossible! It had been all scrunched up and still when I ...shudder... held it up my face for a good look. Wishing i had flushed it, I took a step towards it and reached for my trusty flip flop. As soon as that spider sensed my movement, it immediately went into dead mode. Now explain to me...Is this normal? What kind of spider does this? Needless to say I pounded that SOB so hard my hatbox has a huge dent. Not only that but I flushed it...
2 times.
So people if you live in the woods of Pennsylvania, and you come across one of these so called fishing spiders, and you can't bring yourself (either due to stupidity or lack of weaponry) to slap it 20 times and flush it twice, run for your lives. Although I have come to find out spiders do not like glass cleaner, so that might do in a pinch. But don't worry, I was considerate enough to call the entomology department at Penn State to let them know that I have some gargantuan smart ass spiders living in my house and that I would be more than willing to donate any they would find to research.
They haven't called me back yet though.

RANT- America's obsession with perfection.

Please look at the "normal" photo of Faith Hill on the right and compare it to the published photo on the left. Someone please explain to me why that photo needed altered to the degree it was altered. She has some bags under her eyes, a lil' bit of back fat and well-endowed, womanly hips. God Forbid!! Is she still not pretty people?? Then please draw your attention to the caption under the title of "faith and tim",---WHAT'S NORMAL ABOUT THEM (& WHAT'S NOT). A paradox?? I would say so!! Now I don't even read Redbook and I can see why I'm never going to. ( lil' side note---I'm fully capable of coming up with 100 ways of unleashing my sexy side, all on my own...thank you very much!!) I am disgusted with their attempt to portray what is not attainable or real but I am even more disgusted that we as Americans tolerate this delusional industry and financially support it. This is why the only magazines I peruse are, Archeology, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Outside and Writer's Digest. This way I'm only exposed to genuine portrayals of beautiful minds that don't require any altering by Photoshop. Think of how much better we would be if put just 1/2 of our efforts into being good instead of looking good. Not saying we should all run around being dirty, smelly and naked...just saying that people should be more attuned to who they are and how they treat others.

RANT- China doesn't own Mattel or Fisher Price!!

In light of the recent toy recalls, I find it incredulous that the general public could lay the blame on China. And why all the sudden interest in warning us consumers through frequent headlines in the media? Check out http://www.recalls.gov/recent.html and look at all the internal American recalls that occur on a daily basis that we hardly ever hear about in the news. Quite possibly this sudden interest and focus on consumer safety has more to do with this.....

China has experienced export growth of 500% across the last 17 years In late 2007 or 2008 China is set to pass the US as the 2nd largest exporter on earth. 8/28/07 From Max Fraad Wolfe

China's growth is a tougher event than anything we faced since World War Two" - Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean, Yale School of Management 9/12/2004

China, this year for the first time, has dislodged the United States from it’s long reighn as the main engine of global economic growth, with it’s more than 11 % growth eclipsing sputtering US growth of about 2 %, according to the International Monetary Funds 2007 projections released yesterday.