Naoko's news, views and shoes thread

[NaokoSmith]

What a really gorgeous day. Piglet has gone off to her dramarama club, so I can get some work done!

Or I could go for a nice long bike ride or dig about in the garden, LOL.

I better look at some of these letters I have not bothered to open while I was busy getting the teaching sorted. One or two seem to be from banks, so perhaps they are important. Or maybe they are spam mail.

 

[MichaelinChina]

What a really gorgeous day. Piglet has gone off to her dramarama club, so I can get some work done!

Or I could go for a nice long bike ride or dig about in the garden, LOL.

I better look at some of these letters I have not bothered to open while I was busy getting the teaching sorted. One or two seem to be from banks, so perhaps they are important. Or maybe they are spam mail.

Hey Naoko

Today was cool but each day is getting warmer. Haven't been on a long bike ride for ages. The bike has sat down in the basement car park (guarded by a sentry!) ever since I got here.

I had a dig in my garden too: potted up a few straggly things that survived winter and planted some radium weed seeds I got from Australia.

Getting my head around the idea of starting work on 22 Feb. New school (a uni), new routines, new people etc, even a new way to get to work.

 

[Handley_Page]

. One or two seem to be from banks, so perhaps they are important. Or maybe they are spam mail.

Assume they are the usual spam and file them somewhere.
It's what I do.

Hey Naoko

I had a dig in my garden too: potted up a few straggly things that survived winter and planted some radium weed seeds I got from Australia.

I have in mind a glowing green thing looking rather like what Hollywood got up to in the 50s. Or maybe Homer Simpson.

 

[stickygirl]

Am becoming increasingly nervous about teaching a group of men old enough to be my dad on Saturday. I'm trying to focus on the unpredictability of rescuing people from the water and to get my students on board with the idea that they can use their experience to make judgements; that there a thousand 'ok' solutions to a given situation but only a limited number of ways to kill someone... without sounding negative. "You didn't kill them! Yeay. Result!"

^^ this is great way of distracting myself from feeling a lot pissed off with life recently. There is always time to be pissed off but only a limited time in which to teach.

Naoko - Is there a cosmonauty expo going on somewhere??
- Your cousin sounds almost as awesome as you

 

[Hypoxia]

1. Tell them a summary of what you are going to tell them.
2. Tell them.
3. Tell them a summary of what you have told them.

Time: mid-late 1970s.
Locale: Mohave Desert, California
School: College of the Desert, 29 Palms branch campus

I had surpassed Bonehead Ænglish but still needed 'humanities' credits. I signed up for a summer session class with Mr Tewks. Simple stuff: either write a formal literary research paper, or keep a daily research journal. I chose the latter (subject: a hallucinogenic plant) and submitted the piece for a psychology class too, heh heh. Call it recycling. Anyway, that was great fun, mostly an improvisational stretch.

Mr Tewks was not objectionable so I signed onto his mainstream literature course for the autumn session. He actually presented material in this class, following the model of 1) tell'em what you're gonna tell'em; 2) tell'em stuff; 3) tell'em what you told'em. Alas, Mr Tewks' summaries (1&3) were each longer than the presented material (2). Everything was delivered in a flat monotone. Watching paint dry on a cold day would have been more exciting.

Moral: Any working model can be frozen or paralyzed.

 

[redzinger]

Seriously by this one:
"Here’s Definitive Proof That Rugby Is Actually Just Gay Porn"
http://www.buzzfeed.com/benhenry/wheres-the-sean-cody-logo#.ukWzvgNaEX

 

[NotWise]

Seriously by this one:

That looks like something that you and Naoko should investigate. Leave no stone unturned. Get to the bottom of things. Find all the fucks... I mean facts.

 

[MichaelinChina]

Assume they are the usual spam and file them somewhere.
It's what I do.




I have in mind a glowing green thing looking rather like what Hollywood got up to in the 50s. Or maybe Homer Simpson.

Naaa. Wrong on both counts. It's an innocuous looking self seeding plant (the seeds are really tiny by the way) and the sap is good for curing sun spots before they turn cancerous. I have a few; all those years of driving with my arm on the car's window sill. I can't explain the ones on my other arm though.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Hey Naoko...
I had a dig in my garden too: potted up a few straggly things that survived winter and planted some radium weed seeds I got from Australia.

Hey my darling!
So pleased you have got a garden now. You must enjoy it. Did you see the pictures of my garden? It's so nice and big - like ... a big thing

Assume they are the usual spam and file them somewhere.
It's what I do.

Good idea! (Much better after that cold, now, I hope?)

Am becoming increasingly nervous about teaching a group of men old enough to be my dad on Saturday. ...

Naoko - Is there a cosmonauty expo going on somewhere??
- Your cousin sounds almost as awesome as you

Don't worry! they will adore you. I used often to teach older people but now I am the older one, LOL. You sound as if you have got it taped - drawing on their experience and making them feel positive about doing the thing is the main way forward.

I think there is a cosmonaut exhibition on at the Science Museum? I have just done a rough duckduckgo and found this link.

I know! my cousin is so awesome. It makes me feel proud to be her cousin. It' can be a good thing to look round your family every so often and remember that the really really cool ones are related to you, so you are probably very cool too. My brother is very cool with zero self-esteem and it was noticing this that made me realise I am probably a bit cool too

Time: mid-late 1970s...

Hullo sweetpea. My Valentine's story did alright in the end, after languishing for a long time with no red H, its score has been cleaned and polished and it has got one, yayyy! I see yours ended up at 4.83!!! So well deserved: a lovely story.

Seriously by this one:
"Here’s Definitive Proof That Rugby Is Actually Just Gay Porn"
http://www.buzzfeed.com/benhenry/wheres-the-sean-cody-logo#.ukWzvgNaEX

I particularly like the photo of a tip tackle which is being described as a 'cuddle'.

That looks like something that you and Naoko should investigate.

I think he's right, Toria. Those boys clearly just need to meet the right older woman <snerk>.

Ah, if only. I am on Piglet duty now until Super Saturday! even that I have in a moment of madness suggested we could all go and watch the first match (Wales) together somewhere. Plus the teaching is so intense that it has even brought on my period - which is a pretty rare occurence these days. I feel all hot and bothered; I'm having one of those hot flashes and have to remind myself not to get worked up when the university does one of its many Very Stupid Things. (Like organise an online conference for us lecturers at the busiest time of year when very few of us will want to take part, and not send any details to those of us who want to take part so much that we do register. I asked about this and they said they would come out closer to the time. Well ... it's ten days away now, sweet things! some of us have to fit the 'conference' in around work y'know! Ugh, forget it. I'm going to go swimming with the kids today instead of fretting about it.

One of my students has asked if he can have his feedback by Monday! cheeky so-and-so. Normally that would be OK, but because it's half term it will take me a few days to get onto it. I might do some tomorrow, if I am in a better mood.

 

[MichaelinChina]

haha..my garden...I am SO jealous of you and your B-I-G Garden.

Mine is on a small balcony - about a half square meter, or less.

The grounds, however, tended by gardeners, are extensively landscaped, even with a fountain with statues of naked cherubs and grown women - with titties (in China), and a set of arches with the name: 'Auspicious Mansions' in big bronze letters.

Next to the huge swimming pool, empty now of course.

Red lanterns strung between trees for the festival.

So, a garden? who needs one?

 

[Handley_Page]

haha..my garden...I am SO jealous of you and your B-I-G Garden.

Mine is on a small balcony - about a half square meter, or less.

The grounds, however, tended by gardeners, are extensively landscaped, even with a fountain with statues of naked cherubs and grown women - with titties (in China), and a set of arches with the name: 'Auspicious Mansions' in big bronze letters.

Next to the huge swimming pool, empty now of course.

Red lanterns strung between trees for the festival.

So, a garden? who needs one?

Anyone who likes to photograph garden birds ?

 

[oggbashan]

Anyone who likes to photograph garden birds ?

Garden birds? I get noisy seagulls of various varieties.

What I do like are the local cormorants. When we first moved to this house in 2001 the group was about 20 cormorants. Now it's over 100 strong, roosting on an abandoned structure out at sea.

When they take off at dusk, unlike the geese we see flying in neat formations, the cormorants fly around aimlessly for a few minutes before one small group of about five birds decides "We're going this way". Then another small group suggests "This way looks nicer" and they all switch course. That goes on for about five minutes before a larger group decides on a course. They fly off in clumps, sometimes trying to form a neat V but it collapses to a ragged W in seconds before becoming a melee.

Even when they have decided which way they are going, they don't fly consistently in that direction. I could tell them "You want East South East!" but they fly ENE, E, N, NW and even S before they realise they're flying the wrong way. If there is a strong wind from the South, unlike geese which would fly close to the sea level, the cormorants rise up to a height and then dive into the wind before repeating the process, like a yacht tacking against the wind, but vertically.

The geese? They know where they are going, and fly directly there in a neat formation, honking derisively at the cormorants as they pass.

These are not my local cormorants but give you an idea of their messy formations.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3dLn8HJdN18/Viq7tDWMuiI/AAAAAAAABuA/MWBuM5OhI8U/s640/04%2BNeotropic%2BCormorants%2Bin%2Bflight.JPG

The geese showing them how:

https://strangfordloughnationaltrust.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/007-3.jpg?w=300&h=200

 

[R. Richard]

When they take off at dusk, unlike the geese we see flying in neat formations, the cormorants fly around aimlessly for a few minutes before one small group of about five birds decides "We're going this way". Then another small group suggests "This way looks nicer" and they all switch course. That goes on for about five minutes before a larger group decides on a course. They fly off in clumps, sometimes trying to form a neat V but it collapses to a ragged W in seconds before becoming a melee.

Of course, the geese fly in a V, because only the goose at the point has to flap fly. The followers fly off the spilled air from the flap flyer.

 

[NotWise]

The geese? They know where they are going, and fly directly there in a neat formation, honking derisively at the cormorants as they pass.

Our local geese seem to be more confused. They might be more purposeful on their daily migrations to and from the river. For their migratory flights they circle at altitude for a while and honk at each other before the get into formation to head north.

 

[redzinger]

I don't think this'll help many of us...

http://www.cracked.com/blog/how-to-write-erotic-fiction/

 

[NotWise]

I don't think this'll help many of us...

But it's funny!

 

[Hypoxia]

Hullo sweetpea. My Valentine's story did alright in the end, after languishing for a long time with no red H, its score has been cleaned and polished and it has got one, yayyy! I see yours ended up at 4.83!!! So well deserved: a lovely story.

Thanks much. Your editing helped. And yours is a sweet tale too, well deserving your Red-H.

Meanwhile we've had two motorhome shakedown cruises of four days and three nights each, rolling through the Sierra Nevada foothills and finding... deficiencies. Did MicroSoft invent the game of releasing unpolished warez for users to serve as beta-testers? Thor (the RV maker) sure seems to follow that practice. Why bother with quality control when paying customers will find the bugs for free?

(Undocumented problems are bugs. Documented fuckups are features. If the manual says to expect leaks, you're fucked.)

What bugs? Locks that don't lock (so stuff falls out of exterior compartments); missing bathroom panels; no kitchen hot water; leaky faucets (and they *knew* of those); torn rain seals; broken dash radio; and latches that don't stay latched. The bait-and-switch sofabed-dinette quandary is still unresolved.

Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the theater? We really like The Slim Princess and we'll keep her. But the maker and dealer have much to account for and deal with. After a few more fix-it sessions we'll be ready to 1) cruise to desert Superbloom extravaganzas and then 2) roll around North America for a few months.

I'm still working on the Net connectivity details. It'll likely be a mix of DirectTv satellite linkage and Android TracFone cell-WiFi hookups. Maybe when the dentist's painkillers wear off (I had a crown installed yesterday) I'll be able to think about the offerings.

 

[redzinger]

I am officially the worst flirt in the world. Seriously. On two separate occasions, had guys say they'd been trying to attract my attention all night. Apparently, I just ignored them. Oops.

Naoko! I need some lessons please!


(To be fair, one guy was standing next to the loos and I'd had lentil soup for lunch. The other I'm sure I recognised but felt too awkward to say anything. But still, I really must sort this out.)

In other news, the disclosure that I was born in 1977 was greeted with surprise.

 

[MichaelinChina]

Speaking of birds in the garden: I see occasionally tiny finches that dart in and out of the shrubbery. The odd Chinese magpie.

Last night we went to a very swish hotel for a buffet meal; first time for my wife to go there. Our table was in front of a long and high picture window overlooking the river. It reminded me of the view of my hometown's river, even the bridge to the left. I thought it would make an excellent location for rowing (the sport I mean), which incidentally, my hometown is well known for.

Anyway... of the whole view, my wife picked out the flock of ducks on the water in the distance.

 

[Hypoxia]

Speaking of birds in the garden: I see occasionally tiny finches that dart in and out of the shrubbery. The odd Chinese magpie.
<snip>
Anyway... of the whole view, my wife picked out the flock of ducks on the water in the distance.

We dined at a country roadhouse. The view window overlooked numerous chickens, ducks, and geese shitting all over the terrain. My appetite was not enhanced. Keep the fucking birds.

Maybe I'm prejudiced. I once lived on a chicken commune where I learned that birds deserve to be eaten. I grew up next to a chicken ranch, too. Same vibe. Watching from a distance is fine. Eating them without considering their context is better. Munch those birds, yum.

 

[MichaelinChina]

We dined at a country roadhouse. The view window overlooked numerous chickens, ducks, and geese shitting all over the terrain. My appetite was not enhanced. Keep the fucking birds.

Maybe I'm prejudiced. I once lived on a chicken commune where I learned that birds deserve to be eaten. I grew up next to a chicken ranch, too. Same vibe. Watching from a distance is fine. Eating them without considering their context is better. Munch those birds, yum.

LOL..that reminded me of a 'countryside' restaurant in Guangdong. It was beside a small dam - (no picture window; it was outdoors) - lots of white ducks and chickens running around. I think the numbers got reduced daily to feed the diners.

 

[NotWise]

Speaking of birds in the garden: I see occasionally tiny finches that dart in and out of the shrubbery. The odd Chinese magpie.

Gosh, where I grew up magpies were a large, long-tailed black-and-white bird that made a lot of noise. We don't have them where I live now.

Last night we went to a very swish hotel for a buffet meal; first time for my wife to go there. Our table was in front of a long and high picture window overlooking the river. It reminded me of the view of my hometown's river, even the bridge to the left. I thought it would make an excellent location for rowing (the sport I mean), which incidentally, my hometown is well known for.

Anyway... of the whole view, my wife picked out the flock of ducks on the water in the distance.

That sounds lovely. You created images for me.

 

[MichaelinChina]

Gosh, where I grew up magpies were a large, long-tailed black-and-white bird that made a lot of noise. We don't have them where I live now.



That sounds lovely. You created images for me.

oh good!

Aussie maggies are nothing like the Chinese kind. Aussie ones have a beautiful chortle and attack people's heads with their sharp beaks in the nesting season. No long tail like the Chinese ones. Chinese magpies are not as aggressive and don't sing (as far as I know).

 

[NotWise]

oh good!

Aussie maggies are nothing like the Chinese kind. Aussie ones have a beautiful chortle and attack people's heads with their sharp beaks in the nesting season. No long tail like the Chinese ones. Chinese magpies are not as aggressive and don't sing (as far as I know).

Our magpie is a sort of crow that makes raucous noise. A more attractive sort of crow.

I was taken by your description of the scene from the hotel. It surprises sometimes when I few well-written works can produce such imagery. I'm sure it''s very individual.

I saw a placid river arcing through low hills, late in the day with a veil of clouds over the sun so that the landscape was washed with a grey aspect. A flock of ducks -- initially little more than a cluster of dark dots on the silver river -- gathered by a bridge. They rose from the water and crossed my imagination, off to a warmer, calmer place for the night.

See what you did with so few words?

 

[Handley_Page]

Sorry, but I thought "Chicken Ranch" was a euphemism for a house of ill repute.