REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Some Thoughts on Relationships

I ran across this cartoon months ago and it made me laugh. It describes precisely where I am in my life in regard to a relationship. Ideally, I'd like to be in one, but---no wonder I'm not in one. 

Whatever Happened to that Blogger Named Redondowriter?

Two people were waiting for the downtown L.A. express bus at the bus stop at Broadway and Torrance Blvd. I was walking Cookie and I heard my Internet handle: Redondowriter.

Woman #1: You know, that blogger named Redondowriter lives near here I heard. I used to follow her blog all the time, but she's such a sporadic poster these days, that I simply haven't bothered. It seemed like she was having a hard time presenting fresh material and lately she simply isn't showing up. Isn't showing up in life what it is all about? 

Woman #2: My friend Ellie is in the same artist group she is and she says that Fran aka Redondowriter has, at least for now, lost her mojo without a doubt. Facebook has something to do with it and she also hasn't been blogwalking like she should. To be followed on blogs, a writer has to be a follower. She's got the guilts big-time.

Woman #1: I used to read her religiously, but she isn't controversial, she doesn't write about politics, and her posts largely reflect her interests, family, friends and what is going on in the South Bay area. I first heard about her from a Daily Breeze link. 

Woman #2: Ellie says between having to go back to work a month early, she has been fighting a GI bug, both her sisters are ill, and she stretched herself too thin with what she was told are "volunteer opportunities." It's also mammo and breast cancer test time and that always knocks her up the side of the head. Apparently she is a people pleaser and hasn't learned boundaries well. She's no spring chicken,you know, but she is damned resiliant. A survivor. Maybe she just forgot how to convey that to us. 

Woman #1: Sounds like she is a worry wart who has always tried to put on a happy face for her cyber public so no one real realize that sometimes the world just gets her down. 

Woman #2: I never read Redondowriter regularly like you did and I never left comments. Did you? But Ellie says that she always said the blog was her writing practice and she did it for herself, not for the public. Do you believe that? 

Woman #1: I left comments a few times, but she rarely replied when I did, so I thought, why bother? But, if she is a people pleaser like Ellie says, maybe she just needs some encouragement to come back more regularly. Nobody who tells the truth really keeps a blog, or even posts on Facebook, just for themselves, let's face it.

Woman #2: She second guesses blogging all the time now and she was educated as a professional communicator and is addicted to writing.I wonder what's really up? She doesn't even post regularly on the Peninsula Friends of the Library blog anymore, and that's one of her volunteer responsibilities. The same with the St. Thomas More Society of Los Angeles website, which she also is in charge of. 

Woman #1: Well, if she would just post something interesting for a change--or controversial. She must have strong opinions about something she would want to share. 

Woman #2: Ellie says she has a do no harm policy and it makes her boring. If she put sex, drugs, politics, or references to rock and roll in her titles, more people would read her and leave comments. I wish she would actually do some exposes of some South Bay people that I know she knows the "stuff" about. 

Woman #1: Do no harm, remember? Here comes the bus. See you tonight on the ride home from the mean streets at the courthouse. See that woman walking her cute dog limping from arthritis? I see her walking all the time and the dog is moving slower and slower--and so is she. She's probably a neighborhood character. Maybe Redondowriter should write about her.

Woman #2: Ellie says that Redondowriter does insist that everyone has a story. I think I'll leave a comment on her blog tonight whether she posts or not. Goodbye to you. We've got a celeb trial in my court today. Now there is the real world. 

Do You Pee in the Shower on Behalf of Conservation?

On NPR last week, I heard a BBC report on a Brazilian media campaign urging people to pee in the shower for conservation purposes and I had to laugh. Several blogs are taking polls on whether this is a good or bad thing, and many people are confessing they have always peed in the shower because it feels good, it's a natural thing to do, and others are saying it makes them feel guilty. 

The Discovery Blog said: "Sometimes the best way to get people fired up about a cause—be it environmental, political, or anything else—is to get them angry. But instead of trying to piss citizens off, a Brazilian environmental group is trying to get the country’s residents to, well, urinate in the shower.

The group says that if a single household flushed the toilet just one fewer times a day, it would save a whopping 1,157 gallons of water each year. The organization has even come out with a video touting the idea. Urine is sterile, so peeing in the shower is harmless (except if someone has a disease that can be transmitted through their pee, such as hepatitis).

The spot features cartoon drawings of people from all walks of life - a trapeze artist, a basketball player, even an alien - urinating in the shower.

Narrated by children’s voices, the ad ends with: “Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!”

Here's my two cents worth. 

They say we are as sick as our secrets, so I'm going to confess that I often pee in the shower and have since I was young. Am I simply an uncultured ugly American, or is it as common cross-culturally as I think it may be? I don’t pee in the bathtub or in swimming pools—although I admit to making a few mistakes when I was a kid. Do you have the courage to weigh in on peeing in the shower for conservation or just because? 

Be Prepared to Toast and Quiz on St. Patrick's Day

Be prepared to toast on St. Patrick's Day!

Sophia, my art mannikin, Cookie, and I will mix something or other up today.

Raise your glass and toast your Irish friends with one of these phrases from Slainte on the History Channel.

May your fire be as warm as the weather is cold.

Health, and long life to you
Land without rent to you
The partner of your heart to you
and when you die, may your bones rest in Ireland!

As you slide down the banisters of life may the splinters never point the wrong way.

May you get all your wishes but one,
So you always have something to strive for.

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

Here's to your coffin...
May it be built of 100 year old oaks which I will plant tomorrow.

May your neighbors respect you,
Troubles neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And Heaven accept you.

May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future.

An old Irish recipe for longevity:
Leave the table hungry.
Leave the bed sleepy.
Leave the bar thirsty.

May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent.

May you never forget what is worth remembering,
Or remember what is best forgotten.

May you be in heaven one half hour before the devil knows you're dead.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been,
The insight to know where you are,
and the foresight to know when you've gone too far.

May you have warm words on a cold evening,
A full moon on a dark night,
And the road downhill all the way to your door.

May God bring good health to your enemies enemies

May you never make an enemy
When you could make a friend–
Unless you meet a fox among your chickens.

And if you are still in pretty good shape after your toast, you might want to try this History Channel Irish Quiz. Let me know your results. I got 6 out of 10. My knowledge of Ireland mostly comes from my priest and nun friends--and my dear Mary Lou. 

Steve Wozniak on Dancing With the Stars

So, did you watch Steve Wozniak on Dancing With the Stars last night? I love this guy! But, then I love all things Apple and I rarely watch Dancing With the Stars, but I HAD to see this guy who, with Steve Jobs, helped launch Apple in 1976. How many geeks do you see with the spirit he has? He reminds me of my big teddy bear long time friend Bruno who is one helluva enthusiastic and expressive dancer. There's more than one way to enchant a ballroom.

Though he and his partner Karina Smirnoff got the lowest score of the evening, I (and a whole lot of media and the general audience) hope he hangs in there for a while. What a great sport and lover of life he is. I'm so tired of perfect technique and movie star looks as the show's main criteria. If you didn't see the dance, here it is: 

Chris Gaither at L.A. Times blogs reports that, “The man known as the Woz created the original circuit board used for the Apple computer and teamed up with Steve Jobs in 1976 to sell it. He quit working at Apple full-time two decades ago and, after years working on different projects, reemerged last week as the chief scientist at Fusion-io, a computer storage start-up. -- Not only must his computer chops be pretty sharp still, but he must also feel pretty good about his dancing skills. -- Wonder if Wozniak, who's 59, has programmed an algorithm to calculate his odds of winning? -- It wasn't Wozniak's first appearance on reality television; He was a regular on "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List" because he was dating the comedian." 

At Wozniaks blog, Woz.Org, he commented today, "Someone has to try things a bit out of the normal. 

Well, the judges gave us the lowest score. But the audience applauded one of the judges saying that what we did was what the show was all about. I don't believe that they did much similar applauding for any of the other dances. 

Afterward we spoke with press for an hour. They all said how in the press room they had cheered us only, loving our dance. One press person said she was getting lots of messages saying how much people loved our dance. She didn't get any such messages for any of the other dancers. 



When Karina and I returned and finished our post-interview, the other dancers all told us how much they loved our dance and how fun it was. I have made a lot of good friends among the dancers and celebrities, and being nice helps.

Karina and I did exactly as we planned, so we came away extremely happy. I hit every beat. I didn't hear any specific comments about not leading with toes or having toes pointing wrong, or a hand upside down, or leaning forward, or having a foot miss even a single beat (it didn't happen). All I heard was some teletubby comment, which might be valid. I would say that there is a big mismatch between the judges' votes and the audience responses. That might be a matter for the producers.

I went into the dances deciding in advance how little the judges' scores mean. Through the dress rehearsal, it was easy to see two equal performances getting very different scores. I truly expect, from things I'm seeing and hearing, that I may even wind up winning last night's contest once the online voting ends. 

I do love all my fans who actually vote for me, via phone or online. We can show the DWTS people that we represent a large demographic that is new to the show. 

More tomorrow after I see the doctor.
floating, Woz -- -- tv is wake zone"

I didn't realize until today how the voting works at Dancing With the Stars, but you have to call or text in during the night of the performance. All I know is that I am going to at least e-mail and say how much I loved he and Karina's first dance. Let's hear it for one of my two favorite geeks! 

Happy Valenswine's Day a la Mark's Musings

Kay Dennison of Kay's Thinking Cap is the queen of the groaners, but thanks to Mark’s Musings: A daily joke, a daily link, a daily thought for you to think, I’m passing on a few valentine's day groaners to you. Mark’s blog is absolutely amazing!

By the way, this is one of my Red Lion amaryllis blossoms up close. They’ve been slowing growing since late November and I am considering them my valentine to myself today as well as to you.

VALENTINE GROANERS

If you give someone a really small Valentine's Day card, that's called a "Valentiny."

I told you about the painter who was in love, didn't I? He loved a girl with all his art.

So what's a good gift for the man who loves his car this time of year? A Valenshine!

Two boat oars went out on a date. They dined and wined and were very row-mantic.

I saw a pig give a box of chocolates to another pig. Apparently it was Valenswine's Day.

What did one pickle say to the other on Valentine's Day? "You mean a great dill to me."

Why do valentine's come in the shape of a heart?
Because a spleen would be pretty gross!

Knock, knock!
Who's there?
Jimmy.
Jimmy who?
Jimmy a kiss?

Anyhow, happy valentine's day to you all! I'm settling in with a schmaltzy movie, my tuna casserole dinner, a bunch of old magazines to chop up for SoulCollage--and Cookie at my feet. Sounds like my kind of day! 

Plastic Tape Figure Casting for Your Average Joe or Joanne

Personally, I have never seen clear plastic tape figure casting as an art project, but I’ve seen it now—and I’m utterly fascinated.

 On the wall in the main entrance to the library of my school, are four knock-your-socks off plastic figures on display this month. They were created in the Art I classes as group projects. The teacher explained the process to me but it seemed so easy I wondered why I had never seen this art form before. 

One student becomes the model in whatever posture the team decides upon and one layer of plastic wrap is adhered all around—leaving nostril hole space. The rest of the students quickly wrap the plastic tape several times around so the cast will keep its shape. Finally, the tape is carefully slit down the back so the model is free of the cast and the piece is retaped to cover the slit. 

Several Internet sites explain this art form, a site called Tape Sculpture has a four step tutorial with pictures, as well as a video of how it is done. Another site, the Incredible Art Department, lays out the art form as a lesson plan.

This much I know. My body is considerably larger than it was when I was a girl. Maybe if someone made a plastic figure cast of me and I saw it, I would finally “get it” and do what I have to do get smaller and healthier. Maybe is the operative word.

I currently have two mannequins and one life-size cardboard cutout of James Dean in my home. Maybe I'll make one of each family member. In a Steve Martin-ish move, I won't be a lonely gal anymore. 

 

 

From Mystical Underwear to Pareidolia and Apophenia

My post yesterday about Blaugustine’s mystical underwear was my take on the face she saw in her brassiere. However, it was not a mystical experience to her, darn it. In her comment she says, “I didn't see my 'apparition' as anything mystical or even mythical! It was just one of many such illusion that I often see in objects or surfaces such as a carpet. I've just learned (via some of the commenters on my post) that Flickr has a site devoted exclusively to photos of things people have 'seen' in all sorts of places and objects. And that the phenomenon is known as pareidolia. Google has a lot of interesting info on it."

My vocabulary is pretty good, but thanks to Natalie and a little Google research, I now know that the term pareidolia (pronounced /pæraɪˈdoʊliə/) describes a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse. The word comes from the Greek para- —"beside", "with" or "alongside"- meaning, in this context, something faulty or wrong (as in paraphasia, disordered speech)—and eidolon—"image" (the diminutive of eidos—"image", "form", "shape"). Pareidolia is a type of apophenia.

Say, what? I don’t know what apophenia means either. See, blogging is definitely a way to get smarter or to at least think you are smarter. Apophenia is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. The term was coined in 1958 by Klaus Conrad, who defined it as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness".

Did you know that?

This is a photo I recently took inside the Redondo Beach Power Plant which I think might be pareidolia because I see a naked woman just about to blow off steam. What do you see? 

Blaugustine's Mystical Underwear

Artist and Renaissance woman Natalie d'Arbeloff hosts the wonderful blog Blaugustine and she had a mystical experience this week that you can read about at the blog. She has had a female Goddess type face appear in her underwear!

Periodically we hear about apparitions appearing in all kinds of strange places, so why not underwear? Last week on the news I saw a story about a man whose dog door had an apparition of the Virgin Mary and he said he had no takers yet on eBay where he had placed it for $1,000. They kept the dog door for years, but didn't need it anymore. I Googled but all I could find was this article on Pagan Prattle in 2005. When I Googled on eBay, that article was gone and so were others of a similar nature. But I did find a nice Our Lady of Guadalupe bamboo room divider. I hope I'm making you smile versus making you mad by being disrespectful. I actually believe that Our Lady does appear often and we are so busy that we don't even see her.

Anything Looks Good With Wings

When I went to the twice-yearly Rubber Stamp Convention earlier in the month, I took lots of photos. With the economy struggling, many of the vendors aren't coming and a lot of the rubber stamp and paper craft stores are going out of business. Tonight I sorted all my Somerset Studio, Legacy and Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazines and began to sort my art books. Maybe I won't have a convention anymore to get ideas from. 

I always need someone to jump start my creativity and these two photos have given me lots of ideas for a Cookie art journal. Will I do anything about it? Who knows? Many people in the collage and paper arts have a fixation with putting wings, crowns or dunce caps on all kinds of images. Since I admit to having a thing about angels, I've got my own share of winged everythings--but never a dog. The following are pages in a person's art journal displayed at a booth at the convention. 

I've done virtually nothing about Christmas presents, cards or decorating and have no plans to do anything--yet. My blender literally went up in smoke on Thanksgiving day so I ventured into the stores today and they weren't very crowded. I now have a new blender and three poinsettias. I couldn't believe how many people were buying trees at Home Depot already.

Maybe I could make Christmas cards featuring Cookie with wings?