Mild Amusement

When I was younger, my mom would send my siblings and I to a different room if we were bawling or throwing a tantrum.  Her reasoning was simple: she didn't want to deal with it.  So she came up with a very simple solution; the tantrum thrower in question would go to the other room, and let the tantrum run its course.  She would go about her usual day, and at some point, the kid and the adult would meet back up again to carry on with their day, minus the shenanigans. Now, you might think that a kid throwing a tantrum would be a poor choice for someone to leave unsupervised.  Heck, I know a similar thought has crossed my mind before.  However, my mom somehow made it work.  She managed to convince all three of her children that a trip to the crying room was not an invitation to cause mischief, despite the fact that we were in a foul mood and we technically had no direct adult supervision in that moment.  I'm not even sure that she had to put the fear of...

I've heard it said that fear is a good motivator, and to a certain extent, I agree.  It's not that I'm trying to be all Machiavellian about how I deal with people, but I think that there are certain things you should be scared about.  For example, if you have a kid, you should be a little worried about screwing up how you raise him.  It's that little bit of fear that drives people to be good parents, I think.  You want a good way to constantly keep the kid's best interest at heart?  Be scared of screwing up. Anyhow, I've found that this mentality is applicable to other aspects of life (I don't have any kids floating around anywhere).  In particular, it reminds me to be good about having my morning snack.  See, I usually try to have a fruit around 8AM, because it keeps me going until lunch time.  It's also a good way for me to maintain some balance in my diet, as it's a built-in time to have some fruit every day.  However, that's also righ...

I happen to be the oldest of three siblings, so when I was growing up, I was often tasked with helping out my younger siblings.  Not that they were incompetent or incapable by any means, but that's just how it goes when you're the oldest child.  Among other things, I've helped my siblings write papers, prepare speeches, prep resumes, and write code (my sister's major was very similar to mine).  Let's just say that it's not a rare occurrence. Still, my sister managed to surprise me.  She's into arts & crafts type stuff, so she's constantly working on different projects.  That's not my thing, but I can appreciate the work she puts in.  She also knows that I'm generally far less capable about these things than she is, so it's not like we talk about the details of the construction or anything.  Nevertheless, she randomly asked me for help on one of these projects. It turns out that the project in question was this  origami box thing that s...

As I was sitting at work on Friday morning, a friend asked me what I had planned for the weekend.  Well, truth be told, not too much.  My recently-married friend was having a very informal party to celebrate the wedding on Saturday, and I was planning on playing basketball with some friends on Sunday.  But otherwise, I was planning on a slow weekend to rest up and catch up odds & ends.  Alos, the Mild Ex was heading down to Disneyland (I couldn't go because of the afore-mentioned wedding party), so I was left to my own devices to entertain myself.  I didn't have a problem with that, but I figured it wouldn't exactly be an action-packed few days. Now, I had sniffled a little bit through lunch on Friday, but I was thinking it might be an allergy attack.  And under most circumstances, even a little non-allergy sniffling goes away after a good night's rest.  In fact, I don't even count the sniffles as being sick unless it lasts longer than a day. ...

My parents got me a watch for my birthday, and I finally got around to getting it fitted to my wrist last weekend. It's a decent looking watch, so I figured I'd start using it every day.  In fact, as soon as I got it fitted, I put it on and walked out of the store with the watch planted firmly on my wrist. Now, I haven't worn a watch in a long time.  I used to have one that I liked, but the battery went dead on it.  I got lazy about replacing it for a little while, and shortly thereafter, I had grown accustomed to using my cell phone to tell the time.  In fact, I use my cell phone as an alarm clock, as well, so I really don't need any other devices to tell time.  It's not that I have anything against wearing a watch, it's just not a habit for me at this point. So, the very next day, I got up to go to work, and went about my usual routine.  Note, my usual routine doesn't involve "put on a watch," so I went about my business and completely forgot...

I think most of you already know that there are kids constantly running around my house, so I have a halfway decent idea of what toddlers and young kids are interested in these days.  Cartoons are always popular, it's just a matter of which cartoon is popular at the moment.  Lately, that's been Dora the Explorer .  Boys, girls, barely walking, preschool age, it doesn't matter; they all seem to derive some enjoyment from Dora. Now, if you didn't bother to click on the link, Dora is brown.  She speaks Spanish, and the show randomly throws in words in Spanish that little kids can learn.  Since I live in a state where Spanish is fairly common, most parents approve of their kids learning at least a few words.  It's a little surprising to me how popular the show is, but the kids that come here are from all kinds of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and they all seem to like the show. Now, from a revenue-generating stand point, everyone wants to cash in on this...

Today's post begins with a story.  A couple of summers ago, there was an ice cream social/mixer thing at work.  All of the relatively new employees were invited, including the interns.  I was there, and so were several of my coworker-friends.  Anyhow, I was there talking to one of these friends, when a random intern interrupted our conversation and started making small talk.  Normally, that's no big deal, and it's actually encouraged.  This guy, however, looked straight at my (female) friend, and started out with, "you look really familiar, do I know you from somewhere?" Odd first line, I suppose, but whatever.  As he kept talking, though, it became increasingly apparent that he was trying to hit on the girl.  I had a hard time keeping a straight face, but to my credit, I managed to do so.  Eventually, she extricated herself from the situation by introducing him to me, and leaving me to deal with this guy (thanks a lot, by the way).  W...