RRPC: Want to See Something Really Scary?

By now you folks are used to seeing me come up with off-the-wall interpretations of Round Robin Photo Challenge topics; but this once, for Julie's topic, "Very scary," I couldn't resist playing it straight, sort of. All but one of the following pictures were taken either in or just outside my office at work. Yes: I work in

The Haunted Accounting Department

My office is ghoulicious...

Skeletorial...

Batacular...


...and spiderific! Do you dare make a photocopy?

Even outside, we're not entirely safe.
An ominous cloud hovers over my car like an evil bird!

If I were to go for an alternative interpretation, it would be to illustrate things and situations that actually frighten me. Unfortunately, it's hard to capture digitally my discomfort at the prospect of telling John I lost my wallet (don't worry: I got it back, weeks ago), or my fear of succumbing to Alzheimer's someday.

But perhaps the photo above will serve. By far the scariest ride I've ever been on anywhere was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney's California Adventure. I've made myself go on rides I was frightened of before: Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, the Maliboomer, and especially Splash Mountain. I learned to love the first two, and enjoy the third and fourth without having really conquered the fear. But the falling elevator inside The Hollywood Tower Hotel is something else again. I love the decor, love the backstory, love the dead-on recreation of Rod Serling himself. But the actual drop, and all that bouncing unpredictably up and down, into darkness and into the light... sorry. Call me a wimp, but it was too much for me. We didn't even go near the place on our visit to Disneyland last week. I may never step inside that "hotel" again.

Then again, maybe I should.

Karen.

Now go see everyone else's Round Robin entries, and maybe even join in yourself!

The Challenge Linking List:

Julie POSTED!
Julie's Web Journal
http://www.barrettmanor.com/julie/journal.aspx

Steven POSTED!
(sometimes)photoblog
http://sepintx.blogspot.com/

Carly POSTED!
Ellipsis...Suddenly Carly
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com/

Dorn POSTED!
Through The Eyes Of The Beholder
http://journals.aol.com/dornbrau/ThroughtheEyesoftheBeholder

Karen POSTED!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com/

DesLily POSTED!
Here, There, and Everywhere 2nd edition
http://herethereandeverywhere2ndedition.blogspot.com/

DesLily POSTED!
Here, There, and Everywhere
http://journals.aol.com/deslily/HereThereandEverywhere/

Suzanne R POSTED!
New Suzanne R's Life
http://newsuzannerslife.blogspot.com/

Danella POSTED!
Deep Red Style
http://www.deepredstyle.com/

Linda (Lou) POSTED!
Blah, Blah Blog
http://blahblahblog.wordpress.com/

Robin POSTED! ***Welcome New Member***
R's Musings
http://rs-musings.blogspot.com/

John POSTED!
Personal Effects
http://personaleffects.blogspot.com/

rRose POSTED!
WAIT-NOTYET-/
http://journals.aol.com/rrveh1/WAIT-NOTYET-/

Janet POSTED!
Fond of photography
http://fondofphotography.blogspot.com



Technorati Tags: Photos, memes, Scary, Halloween, Round Robin Photo

Statistical People

The people ahead of us at Disneyland, October 8, 2006

John Scalzi mentioned today the heavily-reported fact that the U.S. population officially just hit 300 million. I wrote such a long comment about this that I've decided to post it here:

When this subject comes up it always reminds me of a population counter display I saw at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Back then the count was a little over 200 million, and for years afterward that was my rule of thumb - 210 million, 214 million, 220 million...after that I lost track. I was fascinated at the time by the ticker (I was seven years old), and wanted to know how they knew that someone had been born, someone had died, someone had immigrated, someone had emigrated. The display covered all four of those factors. I think it was my brother Steve (age 14 at the time) who explained about statistics and estimates and the census.

But ever since then I've never quite believed the official count - in general, perhaps, but not specifically. Having gone door to door as an enumerator for R.L. Polk in 1977, I know that people don't always want to be counted. How do they know exactly how many people are evading the census takers? How do they know the degree of fluctuation in the birth and death rates between actual counts? So okay, yes, MAYBE the 300 millionth current American arrived today by birth, boat, plane or on foot. But more likely it's a statistical convention, and only vaguely correct. In terms of real living breathing people, the milestone may have been reached last week or last mont, or could be yet to come - and we'll never know it.

Is this milestone, such as it is, a good thing or a bad thing? Some of each, I expect. There are economic facters involved, and political ones, and sociological ones, and environmental ones. Economically, the country needs an influx of taxpayers to pay for the social security benefits of aging baby boomers. Legal immigration seems likely to fit the bill there. But sociologically, we are still fighting that same old human tendency to label people outside our own tribe as Them, and view Them with suspicion and disdain. 75 years ago it was the Irish and the Italians and the Poles who got such treatment. Now it's Mexicans and Muslims and people from India and Africa (yes, I know those categories aren't mutually exclusive). It was wrong then. It's wrong now. Being "white" is a social construct rather than a genetic one, anyway. We need to get over all these subdivisions, and deal with people as people.

The people behind us at Disneyland, October 8, 2006

Environmentally, we probably don't want to overdo things with a new population boom, but we can probably handle things if we do it right, with strict standards to curb pollution and global warming, and efficient use of land for food and well as living space. There are a number of countries with more people per square acre than we have. It's not pleasant (ask my husband, who just suffered through huge Disneyland crowds), but it can be done.

Hmm. Clearly I needed to blog this. And now I have.

I'll have my Round Robin post after midnight tonight.

Karen

Cross-posted:
http://journals.aol.com/mavarin/MusingsfromMavarin/
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Technorati Tags: Population, Scalzi, Ethics

Wonderful Worlds of Color

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Turn something an unexpected color. Most photo editing software will let you fiddle with the hue of your photos: Use that feature to make your photos subject a color it would be impossible (or at least, very unlikely) for it to be in real life.

Okay. I can do that!

A canal outside Yuma.

Sand dunes near Yuma. Or is it another planet?

Any purple pumpkin eaters around? Disneyland.

Oddly enough, I've had color on my mind today. I did some work on a Wikipedia article called "The Spectrum Song," the lyrics of which begin,

Red, yellow, green, red,
Blue, blue blue,
Pink, green, brown, yellow, orange,
Red, red.

It was sung by Paul Frees as Ludwig Von Drake, in the first-ever episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. It was part of the first Von Drake cartoon, An Adventure in Color. The first half of the episode was all color this, color that, and it was all in aid of promoting the show's new name, new color format, and its move to NBC. But that's okay. It's a cute song by the Sherman Brothers. John had it on a recond as a kid. And Wonderful World of Color was my era of watching that show, back when Uncle Walt was still alive to host it.


This last shot is an experiment and a teaser for the Round Robin Photo Challenge, "Very Scary." More scary pictures tomorrow night!

Karen

Technorati Tags: Monday Photo Shoot, Scalzi, Disney, Color, Photos, Wikipedia

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights?

A "sacred dance" to Amazing Grace

Listen, I don't have a lot to say tonight. (So why am I asking you to listen?) I took 57 photos this morning of Episcopal School Sunday, but I doubt you'll be much interested in that. This afternoon I read my L'Engle book, and then took a nap for three hours because I really needed it. Tonight, rather than play catch-up on my blog jogging, I entered a bunch of information from the book I'm reading, A House Like a Lotus, into various L'Engle entries on Wikipedia.

Oh! I also posted the second entry of Lore Goes to Mâvarin over on my fiction blog, Messages from Mâvarin. Hours lated I discovered that I had missed adding paragraph breaks in a few places, and messed up a paragraph about luggage. One moment the luggage needed to be retrieved from somewhere, and the next moment someone was picking up a trunk without first going to get it. One of the trunk lifters simultanously walked away to talk to someone, due to my losing track of who was who. It's all fixed now.

Is this what I "should" have done today? I kind of think so. As badly as I feel about being so far behind on reading everyone's blogs and journals, the sleep was absolutely vital, and I needed some down time to read as well. I haven't done nearly enough novel reading in recent years, because of school and blogging and so on. And reading this particular book is helping me to clear up some incorrect or missing information in the L'Engle entries. For example, someone listed the character Dennys Murry as having the actual first name Dionysus, as in the god of wine. I didn't want to change this until I found the source of the claim, and could determine whether it's correct. It isn't, in my opinion. The only reference to Dionysus in connection with Meg's brother, Polly's uncle, is when Polly says in the narrative that "The name Dennys comes from Dionysus, but my uncle Dennys is both sober and reserved." I take that to mean that that's the derivation of the name, just as Karen is derived from Katherine. It doesn't make the character's real name Dionysus, any more than my real name is Katherine.

I know you probably don't care about that, but I do. It's part of my semi-scholarly interest in L'Engle's work, which in turn is part of my raison d'être, my drive to synthesize and disseminate information.

So anyway, that's what I did today. But I will catch up on the blog reading. Really.

Meanwhile, I should mention that the next Round Robin Photo Challenge is coming up this Wednesday. Courtesy of Julie B., the topic is "Very Scary." Oooh! As always, you're invited to join in. Check the Round Robin blog for details.

I have no news on Eva today, save to say that her daughter Harriet was not in church this morning. I take that to mean that Eva's family probably was with her at the hospital today, and didn't let her ride out her illness at home. I'm just guessing, though. I need to get Harriet's phone number so that I can stay informed at times like this.

Karen

Technorati Tags: Personal, Wikipedia, L'Engle

Good News, Bad News, No News and a Sunset

First, The Sunset

This is the sunset (or post-sunset) that greeted me when John and I emerged tonight to go get dinner. Having slept well into the afternoon after my usual Friday all-nighter, I had no idea it was sunset outside until I saw this. It's not spectacular, but I liked it, and I'm presenting it totally unedited except for image size.

Good News

Okay, it may not be good news yet, but it's potentially good. The Tucson Citizen is looking for new columnists for its "My Tucson" feature:

If you like to write and have something to say, applications are being accepted for the My Tucson columnist position.

The column made its debut this year, with six local people writing their opinions and insights about Tucson and things Tucson.

They will continue through December and a new batch of columnists will commence publication in 2007. The writers are paid.

To apply, please send a sample column of about 500 words with a letter telling why you want to write a regular My Tucson column. Include your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address, if any.

I know I don't have a lot of free time (ha!), but this could be a good opportunity for me. You folks seem to enjoy my essays about Tucson weather and Tucson sunsets, vintage businesses and so on. It could be interesting to write a column with a specifically local slant, and good for my resume as a writer. I'm already writing the sample column in my head, and hope to get it sent out soon.


Also, and this is minor good news at best, I got out of the house tonight for a little over an hour to relax and read and buy a few books. I used a gift card I had sitting around to help pay for two diet root beers, a book of essays about Madeleine L'Engle, and the 1961-1962 volume of the complete Peanuts strips in hardcover. It was pleasant, and I don't feel guilty at all about abandoning the Internet for a little while.

But the major good news is not mine, but Becky's. While I've been out of town, coming back, recovering and playing catch-up, she's suddenly adopted a second child, Maxwell Robert Yanagi. Congratulations, Becky!

Bad News



My 101-year-old friend Eva is ill. She called me tonight, sounding awful, and said she'd been vomiting repeatedly. I got her to promise to call 911, but I don't know whether she'll actually do it. She hates being sick, hates being helpless and weak instead of her usual cheerful, independent self. And at 101, you've go to figure that she wonders whether a trip to the hospital will prove to be one-way. But even if it's only the flu, it can be dangerous to someone her age, especially if she tries to tough it out at home. Drop in a prayer for her, will you? Thanks! I know she won't last forever, but I don't want her to be miserable and scared.

No News

I haven't heard from Tor yet. Got to get that follow-up letter sent out!

Karen


Technorati Tags: Sunsets, Personal, Writing, Tucson

Inanimosity?

Years ago, John coined the term "inanimosity": apparently unfriendly, uncooperative behavior by inanimate objects. A door doesn't latch properly, you trip over a piece of furniture you could swear wasn't in your way before, a vending machine takes your dollar and doesn't give you the soda. All that stuff. Rationally, we know that the machines aren't being deliberately mean to us. Motors wear out. Products are often made cheaply and badly. We drop things on the floor and expect them to keep working afterward. We don't read the instructions. Is it any wonder that the machines let us down? Chances are that we let them down first. But it sometimes feels as if there's malice involved, as if inanimate objects are thwarting us on purpose.

So I sit here typing on a computer with half its lettering worn away, sometimes pressing the same keys several times to get them to work. When I want to use the mouse I pull the USB connection upward with one hand and mouse with the other. I upload a photo taken with a camera whose lens cover hardly ever closes or opens all the way, and with a lens barrel that sticks. And now the refrigerator in the picture is rapidly warming up on the coldest setting. We had to go out tonight and buy a new one - a decent but modest one for "only" $500 because the space in the corner of the kitchen won't accomodate anything wider than 30 inches. And when I went to tape Doctor Who tonight for Kevin, it took me about two minutes into the show to find the right combination of buttons and settings to make the machine startt recording.



The lettering on the keyboard is simply worn away from all my typing. Still: do other people have this problem, or is it just me? The sticky keys could be my fault. The camera had problems from week one, but I'm sure it would work better now had I taken better care of it. And the fridge is probably thirty years old at least. It doesn't owe anybody anything.

But it sure feels as if technology were ganging up on me!

Karen

Technorati Tags: Personal, Inanimosity

E Plebneesta and the Dangerous Writers

Weekend Assignment #133: Share with us a person or person who you think is a model for free speech in the United States. It can be one of the Founding Fathers, another historical personage, or someone who is living right now. Yes, this is slightly more work than the usual Weekend Assignment, but, you know. Free speech is worth it. For those of you in the UK or Canada, you can nominate someone who represent free speech in your own country, or pick someone from the US.

Extra Credit: A favorite controversial book (it doesn't have to be from an American).

I'm not up for the full-blown rant on this subject, at least not tonight. Tonight I'm just going to toss out some names and a few anecdotes, and call it a night. Maybe over the weekend I'll take the subject and run with it.

When I was in high school, the U.S. Constitution always reminded me of a silly bit in a Gene Roddenberry-penned episode of Star Trek, "The Omega Glory." It still does, really. In the episode, the Yangs would trot out a tattered American flag as their leader chanted a garbled version of the Preamble to the Constitution. "We the People of the United States" became, at least to my ears, "E Plebneesta."

And if you break it down, "E plebneesta" makes a surprising amount of sense. "E" also begins the Latin motto "E pluribus unum": "from many, one." "Plebn" could refer to plebians, or ordinary people. And "eesta" could be "ista," a (usually) plural suffix found in words like "Sandinista" or "fashionista." So "E plebneesta" becomes "From the ordinary people and their proponents." And that's pretty much what the Constitution is, the ordinary people (as represented by wealthy landowners) ceding certain rights to various branches of government, while retaining others for themselves.

Yes, I know the Preamble and the Bill of Rights are two different parts of the Constitution. I'm mentioning the E Plebneesta anyway, because to me the whole Constitution is important and sacred, its priniciples worthy of a lot more respect than certain politicians give it. So there. That's my preamble to this entry.

Thinking about the actual Bill of Rights, though, leads me to an entirely different memory, from a Weekend Assignment two years ago. The actual assignment was about which Founding Father we'd each like to hang out with. It provoked in me an account of a fictional 21st century picnic, to be attended by John and Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James and Dolley Madison. In my first entry, I merely mentioned the guest list and the two destinations, but the follow-up entry was a vignette in which time traveler Karen invited the Madisons to the 2004 picnic, and mentioned the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights, image enhanced slightly for visibility

So, now that I've fictionally partied with Tom Jefferson (left), who believed that "half a loaf" of rights secured to the people was better than none, and James Madison, who wrote the Bill of Rights (partly cribbed from the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the writings of John Locke), what proponents of that all-important first amendment right of free speech do I especially admire? Well, those two guys for sure, and Samuel Adams, for starters. I really should learn more about Madison; he didn't say much during that picnic. He did mention, however, that he mostly put the Bill of Rights together to keep the newly-formed Constitutional government from collapsing in the wrangle between Federalists and Anti-Federalists.

More contemporary outspoken people who made a difference in my lifetime: Martin Luther King, Jr. is probably the most important one. If you're going to say things that people don't want to hear, it's helpful to have a thirst for justice, a substantive message backed up by action, and a gift for oratory. Some of those old speeches still blow me away. At a more personal level, I used to admire the heck out of George Carlin, with his infamous Seven Words. It wasn't that I actually liked or used every one of those words myself, although I did use the two biggies in those days. What I admired was Carlin's ability to satirize the folly of thinking those words, of all the words in the language, were so dangerous and harmful that they must never be broadcast.

I was going to work in a riff about Harlan Ellison here, but let's skip it.

Favorite controversial book? That's got to be A Wrinkle in Time, of course. This classic about love and faith, friendship and family, and individuals fighting evil (including enforced, mindless conformity) rates high (#22 in the 1990s) on banned book lists. It's been slipping down the charts with the advent of new targets for self-appointed censors, but it's still an important and misunderstood book. But I've already ranted that rant, at least once.

Karen


Technorati Tags: Scalzi, Weekend Assignment, Ethics, Constitution, Bill of Rights, L'Engle