how old is too old?

As much as I'm all for being all natural in all kinds of ways, I have a problem with a situation like this:

Mother and child are in the shared faculty office room at a state university. Child is walking around the room, curiously examining anything she can find. Child gets bored and walks over to mother.

Child: Mommy, I'm hungry.
Mother: Ok, Would you like to nurse or eat a sandwich?
Child: I want to nurse.
Mother: OK, climb up.

Child climbs up on mother's lap on her own and ducks under the blanket mother has to cover herself. Child starts to eat.

Mother: Honey, be gentle. No pinching.
Child: Sorry, mommy.
Mother: It's ok. Just remember not to pinch.

I'm not about to tell someone when the proper time is to stop nursing, but I was kind of shocked that a kid who can walk around and speak in perfectly complete sentences is still nursing.

I know this is quite common in 3rd world countries, but how often have you seen this in the US?

something rotten this way comes

There's a crock pot in our fridge that has been there for...too many weeks to count. And it's full of what was formerly known as potato soup. I haven't dared to look in it to see exactly what's been growing, but it hasn't started smelling yet. T-rav and I are having a silent battle to see who will fold first and clean it out. I'm hoping some good Samaritan out there will come over and do it for me. Here's a chance for my visiting/home teachers to actually do some service!

Any takers?

I'll make you something tasty if you do it...

Why didn't I look more like this on my wedding day?

Today one of T-rav's old refugee clients from Bhutan got married and happily, we were invited for the festivities. It was everything you would expect from a Hindu wedding: incense, a pundit chanting in Sanskirt, (i.e. Hindu priest, but pundit is a much cooler word) head shaving, beautiful, brightly colored saris, henna, delicious food, and lots of tikas (the red dots on their forehead...it becomes more of a large blob on special occasions).

Here guests greet the new couple and give them a blessing (by sprinkling flower petals on their heads and adding more rice to their tika) and a gift. There is also, of course, the requisite "namaste" greeting each time. A wedding like this usually takes place outside where they have the space and open air to build a bonfire and make make a large alter to one of their gods, Krishna. But living in a small apartment in a kind of trashy complex in South Salt Lake made it rather difficult, so they made do with what they had.

These are the bride's mother, sister, and sister -in-law. The bridesmaids?

My two favorite Nepali girls. They were there as friends of the family. I want to keep them.

Superman's "Perfect" Disguise

To my great horror, I discovered last weekend that T-rav has never before seen any of the Super man movies in their entirety. Having grown up watching Superman on a regular basis, and then loving the New Adventures of Superman (with thick-necked Dean Cain and emaciated Terri Hatcher), I was quite appalled. So I declared a Superman-watching extravaganza.

Anyway. On Superman II, Lois starts to suspect that Clark might actually be Superman. She throws herself into the Niagara River to force Clark to use his powers to save her, but Clark refuses to change and rescues her as his nerdy self. Lois feels stupid for suspecting Clark, as he is obviously far too wimpy to be Superman, i.e. as he's rescuing her from the river, he "almost" falls in himself. But then later that night, Lois sees Clark accidentally stick his hand in a fire and remove it unscathed. Since there's really no way for Clark to get out of it, he tells her the truth. (Really, I do have a point and I'm almost there). Lois responds "Your disguise is perfect!"

Now really. Glasses are the perfect disguise? I've always loved Superman, but always considered his disguise to be a bit weak.

My friend Phin always claims that the reason Batman is so much cooler than Superman is, among other things, because he has a better disguise. Which I initially agreed with. But then I got to thinking: Superman has the perfect disguise and it really has nothing at all to do with having glasses or not having glasses. It's all about the persona he gives off. When he's Clark Kent, he's nerdy, awkward, timid and speaks with the nasaliest voice ever. When he's Superman, he's assertive, confident, attractive and has a manly, manly voice. It's actually a fantastic disguise because no one would ever suspect wimpy Clark of being anything more than a country bumpkin. It's perfect.

So who do you think has a better disguise: Batman or Superman?

Please...

Only 2 more days for my poll! Tell everyone you know to take it; I need a larger study sample!

Howl's Moving Castle

I just read a most fantastic book: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. It's weird, it's fascinating, it has lots of magic, and I loved it. There's also a really great animated movie adaptation of the book directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who also directed the movie Spirited Away. The animation is beautiful and you can watch it with either Japanese + English subtitles or English only with Christian Bale's voice as the main character.

I would recommend either of them, although the movie is rather...eclectic? Surprising? Strange? I'm not really sure how to describe either the book or the movie, but I really loved them both!

*Don't forget to take my poll, please. It's to the right.

What else is new?

As many of you may be aware, I'm quite fond of making linguistic observations about the speech around me. Even if I can open a book that tells me exactly what the rule is for a certain pronunciation pattern, I'm compelled to point it out when I hear it in real life...my apologies if my observations have made you paranoid of speaking in my presence. But really, I just can't help mentioning a difference I may notice between my speech and yours. I do try to keep it to myself...most of the time.

My latest obsession is observing how my friends, and especially my ESL students, pronounce words like false or else.

Please read these words and sentences aloud and pay careful attention to the sounds you make. Exactly what sounds do you hear?

false "Is the answer true or false?"
pulse "After his run, his pulse was racing."
else "What else would you like for diner?"

Now look at the poll on the right, read the questions and answers carefully, and answer the question honestly. There is no right or wrong answer. If you chose "something different" please tell me in the comments what you say.

*Sorry person who voted first- I had to add one more option to the list, therein deleting your response, so please revote!

Look! I made a most delicious sauce last night for dinner. And my pictures aren't too bad this time either.

love letters

One of my former students left today to return to Korea. Since he didn't get to see me before he left, he wrote me a note on a lovely piece of stationary, upon which were these words:

Love of my life
you are hurt me
you've broken my heart
and now
you leave me
love of my life
can no you see
bring it back
do not take it
away from me
because you
do not know
what it means to me

I thought it was kind of funny.

His note was not actually a love note, though he did call me his "young (looking) cute teacher." My response: young looking?! Really?! Twenty-seven isn't actually young?! This coming from a 26-year old! Bah.

organs

M wanted to know what I thought about organ donating, so I'm going to tell you.

I'm an organ donor. And I can't understand why anyone would not be. T-rav (and JackJen) suggested that maybe people are worried that the doctors will cut you loose prematurely if they know you're a donor. I can see one being afraid of this happening. But do you really think it would honestly happen? Really? Doesn't a doctor have the obligation to save you as well, even if you are on the verge of death?

I actually have a friend who utterly refuses to be an organ donor. She's never explained why and the few times I've asked her about it, she became surprisingly defensive. I secretly wonder if she thinks she won't be resurrected correctly if all her parts are scattered around in different bodies. But then, I ask, what about all the cremated people out there (by choice or otherwise)? What happens to them? Don't you think God has enough power to bring all your organs back into one place? I think yes. Yes, indeed.

I've had lots of ideas for posts brewing the past few days, but haven't gotten around to it yet. And I'm not going to tonight either. I'm just going to ramble about my comings and goings of late.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow, T-rav and I are parents. Why, you ask? Well, my good friend had a sudden business trip to Vegas and since we have repeatedly offered to watch her kid, she decided to take us up on the offer for once. We (well, mostly T-rav because I'm working and he's not) have picked him up from day care, fed him dinner, played, watched Elmo upwards of 7 times in 2 days, tried to give a bath, put him to bed, listened to him toss and turn and pitifully cry out "mama" each time he woke up...in other words, all the real parent stuff. All in all, it's been enjoyable and we would volunteer to do it again. Though this does not mean I'm planning on having my own kid to care for (I should add anytime soon to this statement, lest you think I never want any kids).

Aside from playing "dad," T-rav has been the housewife (or houseman, as he prefers) for the last month. Our house has never been cleaner...except for the times when I'm not at school 50 hours a week. My laundry even gets folded and put away in my drawers. It's fantastic!

I started my Irish dance class. I love it. One hour a week is not enough. I would do it all day if I could. Every day. And then I would have the Most Amazing Calves Ever.

I miss my vespa.*

On a side note: are you an organ donor? We're watching Return to Me as I type this, and I was just wondering why a person would not want to be an organ donor. It's not like you need your parts once you're dead...


*Nothing is wrong with vespa, it's just too cold to ride right now.