Reading

The Kid is sitting at the kitchen table working on his homework and I look over and see him tracing a picture from the computer screen. I have never seen anyone trace from a computer screen, nor have I even thought of the idea.* Homework sure has changed over the years! When I was a kid, we would have to prepare in advance by making sure we looked up things in the library during the week and to bring home the necessary resources for the weekend project. If you forgot to do so, you'd have to cobble together something from the set of encyclopedias that you might be lucky enough to have in your house. 

It appears that today, homework is done by gathering data from the internet;  and I assume that now teachers grade the work based on how well the kids  cut and paste it all together - basically they are junior editors -  not by how succinctly they can put together sentences. And this may also be the reason why at work I see so many poorly constructed emails and poor spelling (which shouldn't occur at all since just about every computer and phone with text messaging has a spell checker). In many cases, I find that emails from people that have university degrees are often the worst for spelling errors and poor diction. And it seems to me formal education has less to do with good writing and grammar, but usually the people who write and compose the best are those that read a lot  - thank goodness for books! If you don't mind getting a soft cover, books are often not that expensive - often around $10 - $15, or less if you buy an electronic version. I am not a big reader like some people I know who read fast and can devour books in mere days, but I read a fair amount - I often have a magazine tucked in my purse, a book on my night-table and several books on my computer or iPod. There was a time when I would proudly show off my two little bookcases to people in my early apartment and tell them that I had read every book on the shelves. I can't say that today - today I am one of these people who owns more books than I have read, but I'm okay with that. They all get looked at from time to time. 

It also seems to run in the family -not just me but  my mom has a large collection of books and so does my brother - who has a couple bookcases of just cookbooks alone! About a decade ago it looked like the book world was doomed, but along came Amazon and Chapters and then e-readers and the industry seemed to be looking up. Every time I have stepped into a Chapters store there have always been lots of people in the store, and they are not just there because of the Starbucks either. 

So perhaps there is stil hope for reading and writing after all. What do you think? Are you a reader? And tell me how your kids do their homework, I am really curious about that as well. 

*Not to mention that I was taught to avoid touching your computer screen so that it wouldn't be damaged! 

A Question for Un-mums

So as most of us in North America know, yesterday was Mother's Day and I have a question for all the 'non-mothers' :

Have you ever been somewhere like in a restaurant and a staff member passes you a flower for Mother's Day? Do you take it, or decline it? That happened to me once, and I tried to be nice and save that flower for a real mother, by saying 'I'm not a mother' but was then chastised by several people at the table who told me I should have just taken it. I thought I was being nice to the 'real moms'.

So on Mother's Day, if you don't have any children, and people want to give you things for being a mom, or wish you a "Happy Mother's Day", do you say nothing and take the gift or the well wishes or try to correct them? Does it bother you? And what about 'step mothers' or 'other mothers'? Are they honoured? What do you do for them? Feel free to tell me what you think, I'm very curious you know. 

Noticing

Sometimes I think that humans are losing the ability to notice things around them. Why with all the things coming at us, surely the vast majority is suffering from information overload. As well, I wonder if perhaps since so many resources are telling us things, we're just so busy processing all the inputs that we can't see things ourselves.

When I was a kid, my brothers and I liked car rides and liked to look out the windows and see what was going on (makes it sound like we were a bunch of dogs doesn't it?) Of course even though it's not that long ago, it was a different time. Today, all three of us have excellent skills for getting around our city, and even new cities we just land in. I don't know how many times I'd get off a plane, pick up a rental car, hop on the freeway and just start driving and make it just fine to my destination - and that's in the days without TomToms and GPS. You know, sometimes I wonder if the navigation systems are making it harder for people. Why just the other day someone was coming to visit us and asked us for our address so she could input it in her GPS. We've lived here over 11 years and she's been here multiple times! Goodness! As I am driving I am constantly assessing the road and the route and often change the streets I'm going to take - and I can do it because I know our city so very well. And if I've been somewhere once, I don't need directions again - unless it's been years and years and years but even then that's pretty rare.

Which brings me back to my initial thought - on January 19th, 2010 I had my hair cut short. Almost all my hair was about 1cm long  - that was the last haircut I had (except my bangs which I cut myself) - one full year ago. My hair is now down to my shoulders and can be put in a ponytail holder if I want. But you you know what? Not one single person has noticed or commented. And some people only see me every couple of months. So either they haven't noticed that it's slowly been getting longer or they just don't see the need to comment, or maybe it looks bad.... (maybe they practice  "if you can't say anything nice" ). I have no idea.

Now friends, please don't feel bad, no hard feelings, I'm sure I've missed things in your lives too. I'm not trying to be superior or 'call anyone out'. I'm just asking a question. Maybe humans just aren't as good at observing as they think they are - multiple times I've heard police agencies comment that eye witness aren't as accurate as they once thought. Have you walked down a street and found a sign that has been there for years that you haven't noticed? Or seen something, shook your head and realized you though it looked different or was a different colour? I guess the old adage to 'stop and smell the roses' is more important than ever before. Please, tell me what you think.

The Great Horoscope Debate

Recently in the news there has been talk that we are not actually the sign that we think we are because the planetary alignment has changed over the years.

And also in the new is this, please read and watch all of it.

Now, I'm curious, will you still read your horoscope daily in the paper and will you throw out the New Year 2011 predictions you cut out and save every January? What do you think of all this?