Monday, February 17, 2014

His Brain Wanted to Have

Have you ever had one of those glitch in the matrix moments? You know, when something feels off. Well, I had one of those unsettling moments yesterday whilst watching the Olympics. (Haha...whilst...look how quaint I am!) Ahem...so anyway, I was sitting on the sofa watching ice dancing (which, by the way, is totally awesome), and the camera panned across the crowd. All of a sudden, a photographer came into view, and he was pointing his camera directly at me. For that split second, I was totally unnerved. At that exact moment, I felt myself flinch a bit, and I thought to myself, "Don't take a picture of me!" Once the moment passed, I laughed at myself for few seconds until the same thing happened a second time. It felt like I was looking through a window and that the cameraman was invading my privacy. I lost touch with reality twice in a matter of 30 seconds. OR! I saw the truth behind my perceived reality and I only needed to embrace that moment in order to remove the veil of my existence.....................nah...

On another note, I've been told by a number of people now that I am a very good writer. I don't feel that my writing is spectacular by any means. In fact, I would much rather read another person's writings than my own because I like to experience the deeper thinking and more elaborate descriptions that they put together. There is something so much more refined in the way other people can express themselves that I haven't been able to see in my own writing. My writing seems simple. After a discussion with my momma, I came to the conclusion that perhaps this is not as bad as it first appears. Sure, I don't have a philosopher's tongue. No, I can't always piece words together so eloquently that readers can watch them dance (that was a quick attempt though). Instead, my writing is simple and honest. I try to provide a laugh or two when I can manage to think of something funny, and I just write as if I were talking (except my words don't work so well when I'm talking, so telling stories is much easier this way). All this rambling was a lead in to tell you that my aunt even suggested that I write a book. WELL LET ME TELL YOU! As a matter of fact, I actually did start writing a book years ago, and until recently, I had totally forgotten about it. I can't remember how old I was when I wrote this, but the last time it was saved on my computer I was 13. My working masterpiece takes shape as a children's book about a Native American boy named Ducky. I would like to share it with you all now. tehe! 


Ducky Does It

Ducky was an Indian who was afraid of water. He was very short and couldn’t swim. He lived right next to a river. Ducky was only six years old, and he never went near the river because the water was cold and deep.

A whole year passed without Ducky going near the river. He was seven now and braver. He thought to himself, “I need to stand up to my fear.” So he went down to the river and sat down. After awhile he started to relax. He stood up and walked into the water. “This isn’t so bad,” he thought. Then he tripped over a rock and fell in. He quickly jumped to his feet and ran as fast he could back home.


It was already late in the evening, so Ducky went straight to bed. That night he had a terrifying nightmare. The nightmare was about him falling into the river, trying and trying to swim out, but he just couldn’t.


       That morning he woke up frightened into a cold sweat. The sun was up and as bright as ever. It was a warm day. He went back down to the river. He put his toe into the water, and said to himself,” The water is warm today.” Ducky walked into the water. His brain wanted to have 

 

And that's where I stopped! What a line! "His brain wanted to have..." So many potential things that his brain could have that I couldn't even finish my thought. Silly Andrew... 

Anywho, I think it would be really cool to write a book. I don't know what I would write about, but the challenge that it presents for me is incredibly appealing. One thing is for sure though, I won't be writing a book about a boy named Ducky. 

(Also, I went bowling and scored a 147. Ignore this final thought if you're better than me, and everyone else....Look at that number and be amazed!)

Friday, February 14, 2014

Life's Most Underrated Pleasures

Today, I want to share a list of those itty bitty things in life that are often forgotten when we think of the things that make us happy. Each of these items comes from a thread on Reddit. I've edited some for language and content, but they are still the thoughts of people from who-knows-where in the world.

So, life's most underrated pleasures:

  • First gulp of water after walking home on a hot day. There really is nothing like it - but the satisfaction only lasts for about 0.5 seconds...
  • Being finished with something you really dread doing. It's a huge weight off your mind and a sense of accomplishment rolled into one.
  • That little window of time where you're lying in bed awake just on the precipice where you could fall back asleep for another hour or two if you wanted, and then you realize you can.
  • When you're able to genuinely make another person(s) laugh.
  • A head massage.
  • Peeling the plastic sticker off new electronic devices.  
  • Getting a good grade on the final exam of a class you hated and realizing you will never have to deal with that teacher's boring lectures again. 
  • The countryside in summer.
  • When I get home and my son hears me come in and I see his little smiley face from down the hall, and he goes PaPaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
  • Fresh sheets on your bed.  
  • When you have had water in your ear all day, and then that nice fuzzy moment when the lukewarm water leaves your ear!
  • The absence of high stress.
  • Peeling dried glue off your hands.
  • Being smiled at.
  • A poo in your own bathroom after a weekend away.
  • Dipping your hands in a bag of beans.
  • Having someone else wash your hair. I don't care what gender you are, if you are massaging my scalp, I love you.
  • Smelling a new tennis ball.
  • As a female, taking off your bra after a long day. It feels like the hills are alive with the sound of my free chesticles.  
  • Opening up your windows after a long, cold winter. When the breeze brings the smell of flowers and freshly mowed grass into your bedroom.
  • Getting home from being out on the town, the feeling of finally taking off your high heels. It feels like your heels are sinking into the floor, but it's soooo good.
  • Farting after hanging out with people you can't fart in front of. Very very relieving.
  • Cleaning out my ears with a Q-Tip.
  • The first scissor cut into a fresh piece of construction paper.
  • Finding out there was indeed one more chicken nugget when you thought there were none.
  • Sneezing!
  • Going to sleep with a bad headache, and waking up without one.
  • Getting a package in the mail.
  • That split second of silence when you go under a bridge while driving in a nasty rain storm. .001 seconds of bliss.
  • Blowing your nose after it's been really stopped up and having a nice satisfying glob come out and suddenly, all at once, your nose is totally fine, no longer running, no longer stuffy, and you can breathe again.  
  • Seeing the city limits of your hometown after a long drive back home.
  • Turning the pillow over to the cool side.
  • Sitting around the table after a big meal with yoir closest friends sharing in good stories and laughter. I could do that for hours.
  • Being married for 20 years. It's no longer "romantic exciting love" but it's a type of love even more pleasurable. Too many divorces happen because this pleasure is underrated and people think new love is better.
  • Your kids sleeping through the night.
  • Catching a legendary pokemon with a regular pokeball.
  • Playing a streaming video on the internet completely to the end without any <buffering...> pauses, looking straight at you youtube
  • The smell of a new book.
  • Walking in the door of the house you grew up in, smelling mom's dinner cooking.
  • Completely losing the outside world while listening to headphones.
  • Removing the sticky stuff that comes on gift cards.
  • Bubble wrap. Pop Pop.....Pop...Pop.
  • Sitting down after a long stand!
  • Sitting down in the shower.
  • Driving. People see it as a chore but it really can be wonderfully engaging and mediative. 
  • Swimming naked.
  • Having a fresh-from-the-dryer load of laundry thrown on top of you.
  • Hearing that gentle crumbly sound your vacuum makes when it picks something up. (Or alternatively, mowing through really tall grass)
  • Going pee after you have been holding it for a long time.
  • Waking up feeling rested. It happens so rarely for me, that when it does I feel like I can take anything on that day.
  • Taking off cold wet socks and putting on dry new ones
  • Biting into a piece of freshly baked bread. mmm. 
  • Having the song on the radio finish at the exact instant you pull into your driveway and turn off the car.
  • Buying an epic present for someone else and then being like, yeah I know, I know!
  • When you have an appointment with someone, but that person cancels on you last minute, giving you the opportunity to sit on the couch all night in your sweatpants. That night you're not alone because you have no social live, you have just received the gift of time.
  • That feeling of accomplishment you get after cleaning your home from top to bottom.
  • Creating something, then looking upon your creation and saying "I made that, that is mine."
  • Being greeted by your dog.  
  • Sitting around a campfire. Nothing like it.  
  • The moment you see the waiter/waitress approaching on the horizon with your food. Drool.
  • Being the first one to step on a freshly fallen snow. Especially when it's a bit frozen and you get that incredible sensation of hearing that crrrrraaaaaccccckkkkkk. Also, kicking dirty snow off my car. I love that.
  • Silence.

    If you read this far, way to go! There were thousands more comments in the original thread. Take a moment and appreciate these small things, and always be on the lookout for the things that bring you joy.

Monday, February 3, 2014

When It's Cold Out, Head North



I have two things to say tonight. The first is about the past week, and the second is about me.

Number one. On Tuesday, Quaker Cottage headed north with eight families to start our January residential.  In case you haven't heard about our September residential and are confused by this word I keep using, residential is basically a four day retreat that we take with the families. We go to a place called Corrymeela near Ballycastle and have adventures and stuff.  The mums and the children are split up during the day. The mums do their own thing. The afterschoolers do another thing, and the babies cry, drool, and poop all day – you know, baby things.

A view of the north coast
Like last time, I was with the afterschoolers. My experience with the last group on residential left me with quite a lot of anxiety going into this one. I had such a difficult time last time, and there were a few children this time around who could have been just as much trouble. Thankfully, we (the staff) had learned a few things from last time, and they served us well. I’m happy to say that we managed to survive the four days without much trouble! Instead of letting the problem children run wild, we gave them an outlet. While the group of kids took a tour of castle ruins, we took one child out to hide chocolate coins for everyone to search for. It was wee things like this that helped us avoid some messy situations.

I tried to make notes of notable situations each day, but so many things happened that I missed most of them. Here are the ones that stood out:
Day 1:

  • We took the kids to a beach for a treasure hunt. I was in charge of hiding all of the clues. Unfortunately for us staff, we had not considered high tide when we planned this outing, so we had to improvise. I hid clues everywhere, but it took me longer than I planned to hide them. As a result, I was running all over that beach to speed things up. Sometime during that running, the camera in my pocket popped out. I had no clue that it was missing. Later, I asked one of the other staff if she had the camera, and she said yes. So we still had the camera. Excellent! But wait! She actually had our other camera that the mums were supposed to have. We didn’t learn that the camera had been missing until some random person returned it to Corrymeela. Apparently they knew where to take it because I had taken a video of the kids singing “We’re all going to Corrymeela!” Anyway, boring story, but significant to me.
  • While at the beach, the waves were really crashing on the beach, and the water was very cold. Despite being told to not get wet, every child got wet. What can you expect when you take children to a beach? One boy in particular got impressively wet though. Here’s how. He walks into the water and sits straight down in it as a wave washes over him. As one of my co-workers pulls him out, she asks him why he did that. His response: “When I go on holiday with my daddy, we sit in the ocean like that.” The only difference is that now it’s January and far from a summer holiday.

  • There is an awesome park in Ballycastle where the playground is like a pirate ship stuck in the sand. For whatever reason, the designers of the park chose to anchor ropes into the ground that were set at perfect angles to trip you as you’re running. I watched the kids trip over those ropes at least 12 times that day, and I couldn’t help but snicker a bit after one boy tripped over the same rope twice in less than ten seconds. (He had also tripped a couple of times prior to this last incidence, but this one set him off. He began to kick sand at the rope with vigor.) Apparently, life doesn’t like you laughing at the misfortune of children though. Shortly after, two children began throwing sand, and as I started to chase after them, I suddenly found myself flying through the air. Not only had I tripped over the rope, I did it worse than anyone yet. The rope had caught me about six inches above my knee. I don’t even know how I made it to that point as there were a bunch of other ropes I had to get through before the rope was that high. However it happened, it was hilarious, and I accomplished my goal of stopping the kids because they came to laugh at me. The line from where the rope caught my leg was still visible 3 days later. That’s how hard I hit it.
Day 2:
  • The same boy who had sat in the water on day one also gave me a line to laugh about on day two. Because of the cold weather, we had to bundle up. This boy came up to me at one point and said, “Silly Andrew! You left my hat on the bus!” I was not aware that I was in charge of his hat. Out of fear of his terrible retribution, I didn’t make that mistake again.
  • While at the castle ruins, our tour guide told us of the luckiest room in the castle. He took us to it and told us that if we all touched the floor, it would bring us luck. After each of us had touched it, he said, “However, with luck comes consequence. What I did not tell you is that this was once the floor of the toilet.” I had a good laugh from that.
Day 3:
  • By day three, I was pretty tired, so I forgot to take notes. However, one thing stands out. We had a wee romance building between a boy and a girl. Each day, we watched as the boy grew more confidant, and he eventually gave her a heart that he drew. This girl showed the heart to her mum and declared, “I’m skundered!” Yes, skundered. Never have I heard this word in any real life context. I wasn’t even exactly sure what she meant by it. In case you’re wondering and to save you the trouble of looking it up, it means she was embarrassed. 

And then on the last day, we woke up, cleaned up, and packed up.  Back home for lunch and a nap on the couch.

Now for part two of this post. Now I talk about myself a bit, and this is where it gets contemplative and somewhat serious. It’s where I ask you a question, and you spend the rest of the evening considering the answer until you go to sleep and forget about it.

We watched a movie during residential called Rise of the Guardians. Yes, it’s a children’s movie, and yes, I enjoyed it. Actually, I really really like most children’s movies, and the one over residential inspired me to watch another three during the weekend. There’s something about children’s movies that captures my imagination. There’s nearly always something magical in them or creatures that don’t belong in the real world. Every time that I watch such a movie or read a book of fantasy, my mind is opened to new worlds and experiences. It brings me back to my childhood. I’m sad to say that I feel like most of the imagination that I had as a child is now gone, but watching children’s movies nearly brings it back. And it reminds me to do everything I can to keep some magic alive inside me because as soon as I lose that magic, I know I’ll become a boring adult. Not that being a boring adult is a bad thing! It’s just not for me. (sorry boring adults!)

Another thing that is so wonderful about children’s movies is that they tend to have a moral to the story or some sort of deep question that kids may not always pick up on or have any interest in. Well, I do, and they often are some of my favorite questions. While watching Rise of the Guardians, one of these questions popped up. Here are just enough details of the movie for you to understand my point – The guardians are characters like Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Jack Frost, etc. Jack Frost doesn’t know who he is or what his purpose is, so at one point Santa shows him…wait, you know what? Watch it for yourself: What is your center?

What is your center? Let that sit for a second. What is the core of your being? Who are you? What do you stand for? What do you bring to the world? … What is your center? It’s like each of these questions at once, and to be honest, it’s an incredibly hard one for me to answer. For the past few days, I’ve tossed around words like silliness, innocence, fun, energy, child-like… But none of them feel just right. I think the last one is the closest though.

So what is your center? I don’t think this is a question that you can answer straight away. I’ll be thinking a lot about it in the coming weeks. So if you feel up to it, find your center. Share it with me if you feel like it, but share it with the world too.