September 28, 2012 Squirrel of the Month

This month's Squirrel of the Month is Foamy the Squirrel. He is very much not safe for work, or children, or people who have issues with logic. Created by Jonathan Ian Mathers for illwillpress.com, Foamy rants on numerous topics from parenting and bullying to printer cartridges. While his language is extreme and coarse, his arguments are typically solid. He essentially says what many people think. As many commentators state, "It's really sad when the one making the most sense is an animated squirrel." If you have ever felt that you just had a useless argument with someone who absolutely refuses to listen to any viewpoint except their own, then do yourself a favor and see if Foamy has weighed in on that particular issue. You may feel vindicated, or you may at least get a laugh out of it.

Yes, this is a very short post for me. I think Foamy actually speaks for himself in the Neurotically Yours videos, most of which you can find on YouTube or on illwillpress.com. I find it good in small doses, no more than 4-5 videos at a time, so that I don't start thinking too negatively in general. But, in limited amounts, Foamy's rationality (a rational squirrel, go figure) is refreshing. It helps keep my faith in critical thinking skills alive.

Complaints, or Why I Started This Blog

There was a time when I was part of the "my life sucks" sub culture. I used to complain about things in life that I perceived as bad. I used to have long discussions with friends about how much better life should be but wasn't.  Before I knew it, I found myself complaining about people who were constantly complaining (this is still my major complaint in life, as I sometimes become overwhelmed by the negativism of others). There seems to have evolved a sub-language that involves a complaint code.of sorts. For some people, the only way to relate with them is by finding something in common to kvetch about and share in a collective misery. After too many occasions of this maladaptive social pattern, I came to a very important conclusion. I just got tired of playing the "my life sucks" game. The whole point of this type of social interaction is to try to one-up each other by seeing who has the most to complain about and who can kvetch the loudest about their woes. I decided I was tired of losing. Any way you play this "game" you are going to lose. Either your life is the worst, or you aren't the most special because you don't have it as bad as someone else. I found too many people who play this game to win. I decided they could continue to wallow in their own self-pity. They obviously did not need any kind of support from me to find their own twisted brand of happiness. As a Roman Catholic, I grew up learning about saints and martyrs. I was taught that self-sacrifice is a good thing. But what makes a martyr saintly is the fact that they never flaunted their suffering. They did not purposefully put their sacrifice on display so that people could admire them. They became admired and venerated AFTER the fact.

One positive has come out of my experiences with the "my life sucks" game. Now I try to go out of my way to focus on the positive. If I find myself complaining (even just privately to myself) about something or someone, then I force myself to think of something positive about the person or thing. Failing that, I try to look for something else positive to focus on. Therefore, as much as I find it exceedingly annoying when a person goes on a complaining rant, I am grateful because it gives me an opportunity (a challenge, even) to find the bright side of things. Sometimes that might mean trying to help that person out of their complaint funk. Sometimes it means I take a break from them so that I can recharge my positive energy. I have enough stress in my life without forcibly perpetuating a worse situation with a negative attitude. Sometimes I post to one of my blogs or Twitter in the hope of turning a complaint into a teaching moment. That was part of the inspiration for this blog and, in a sideways manner, my Psych Vocab blog.

So, when life throws me lemons, I try to thank it for the snack.

Tetris

As a child of the 1980s, I grew up with a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). For all you whipper-snappers, this was the great-great grandfather of the Nintendo WII. It predates the 3DS by quite a bit, as well. It came out during a time when the only "portable" games were the kind you could draw on paper or the ones made of plastic pieces and/or magnets. Okay, enough attempts at sounding old (I'm really still in young adulthood, if you want to get technical, but technology always seems to age people more quickly).

My older brother dominated the NES. He beat everyone at just about every game we played on it, except for one. The only game in which I seemed to be able to match my brother and/or excel was Tetris. There have been numerous clones and several legitimate versions of the original "Russian" puzzle game. There were even two versions released around the same time when I was a kid. One version's two-player mode had the players taking turns, the other version had the players competing head-to-head on the same screen. My parents marveled at our ability to meet the game's challenges. After about level 14 you stopped noticing the changes in speed or soundtrack tempo; you just fell into a zone of block placement, keeping everything as tightly packed as possible and eliminating as much space as you could. I found out later that this relatively simple puzzle game had long-lasting benefits, beyond the ability to rack up a higher score.

Thanks to hours of Tetris playing, I have an uncanny ability to pack items into luggage, bags, totes, closets, trunks, corners, etc. that amazes some people. When I occasionally remember to bring my reusable shopping bags to the grocery store, I keep myself on budget by filling the bags as I shop (e.g. limiting myself to only 2 bags this trip so I reduce impulse buying). The cashier and bagger are often amazed at how I get everything into the bags. Often they are unable to replicate my feat and I sometimes end up with an extra plastic bag as a result. Packing for vacation works the same way. I tend to repack my daughter's bag so that it is no longer overflowing. Sometimes I (or my husband, who is also a student of Tetris) repack the trunk and, lo and behold, we can fit an extra suitcase. The Tetris skills come in handy on any trip because we almost always end up bringing back more than we took with us. The skill also comes in handy for crafting and sewing, as well as cleaning and organizing.

If you've never played Tetris, give a try. The more you play it, the more you start to see the world as a series of objects that can fit almost anywhere with just the right tweaking.

Tivo

I have become either spoiled or liberated, depending upon your point of view, when it comes to watching television. We have two Tivo machines, each a dual-tuner, in our house, which means we can record up to 4 shows at any given time. Our Tivos work with our cable service, and they worked with our satellite service when we were subscribed. My husband bought the machines, so they are ours no matter what service we use. He also upgraded them with much larger hard drives in order to hold more shows, especially HD programs. We have had a Tivo of some kind for at least 10 years now. I have a hard time recalling when I last watched anything live in real time. Because of the Tivo, I can watch my preferred shows when I am ready to watch them. We have a sporadic schedule, between the classes I teach, my office hours, and our daughter's extra curricular activities, so we are rarely home during "prime time" or at any time our shows air. Plus, many of our preferred programs air simultaneously, so we would always end up missing one to watch the other. This way we can record both at the same time and watch them when we have time, not when the networks dictate. It's also more enjoyable for me, with my "fits and starts" squirrelly nature, to sit and watch a marathon of 5-10 episodes of a program, rather than watch one episode and wait for the continuation the following week. I enjoy the season pass option very much. The Tivo will pick up any episode of the selected show on that channel, which helps when there are already two shows during a specific time slot and the network decides to air an encore of the show later in the day. Watching shows only on the Tivo also helps us keep an eye on what our daughter watches. We record pre-approved shows and she can watch a couple of episodes here and there, after homework and/or chores are completed. TV takes on a more rewarding function in this case, instead of a necessity or routine. If you follow me on Twitter (@eowyn35), then you know that I have a tendency to sit down for marathons of shows--usually History Channel, Law & Order: SVU, or Criminal Minds--after my daughter goes to bed while I work on my various crafting and sewing projects. The only downside of delayed watching is the missed opportunity for "water cooler" conversations about last night's show, but I am split between two different work sites, so I rarely get a chance for many workplace discussions. All-in-all, it's hard for me to imagine watching anything live at my home any more. I am very grateful for the Tivo and the freedom it gives me in selecting my entertainment when I want it.

Unmasking the Phantom of the Opera

In all fairness to Gaston Leroux, I will admit that I have been quite distracted in other parts of life while trying to make my way through this novel. That may explain some of my disappointment with the story, but certainly not all of it. Once again, I will try to keep this review relatively spoiler-free. Watching the Broadway production or the recent film production will not spoil too much of the book, as they deviated quite a bit from the source material. In fact, they told a much better, more cohesive story.

I understand that the author was trying to put together a "police report" case book, which is a clever idea on the surface of things. Sadly, it falls flat. Even though Leroux attempts to switch voices from one "witness" to another, there is very little distinction between the speakers. I very quickly lost track of who was telling their side of the story. I think it would have been better to drop the premise and give the reader a single, consistent, all-knowing storyteller.

My biggest problem with the story, however, was the same issue I had with The Invisible Man. That is, the characters were not very sympathetic. Towards the end, you get the feeling that you are meant to feel some sympathy for the Opera Ghost (he is only called a phantom once) because of his pathetic past. But then he opens his mouth or does something malicious, and he becomes a sociopath. At least we learn a little about how he came to be so wretched, unlike Griffin, but the quick-change duality makes it hard to want to understand his plight. Christine Daae and Raoul de Chagney are just as bad, as characters go. In one breath either of them is declaring their love or admiration for someone and in the next moment they are expressing fear or hatred for that same person. They are extremely childish in their actions and dialogue. In fact, I had a hard time finding any characters that consistently behaved like mature, rational adults. The story seemed populated by a bunch of children pretending to be adults. Only auxiliary characters seemed to be past adolescent immaturity, yet they did not do much to control the childish characters.

Aside from two deaths, there did not seem to be much to really terrorize the characters. I, myself, never really felt a sense of dread for anyone's safety. Perhaps it was due to the use of too much meandering detail, especially in the "torture chamber" chapters. Yes, two characters were trapped in a chamber for 2.5 chapters, which dragged on with so much wandering exposition that I must admit my own mind had a hard time focusing on their plight. There were many hints laid down about the mischief and evil deeds of which the "opera ghost" was capable, yet not much was actually committed by this phantom. If he terrorized the other characters, then I had a hard time feeling it as I read the book.

The idea of the story is a good one. It has been adapted well, especially in the Broadway production, so I will give Gaston Leroux credit for laying a decent foundation for others to build upon. Overall, that's how I see The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. Perhaps if I gave it another read when I am less distracted I can appreciate it more. For now, I will give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Brevard Community College

I am incredibly grateful to the Liberal Arts Department at Brevard Community College. They were willing to take a chance on my as an adjunct instructor a little over eight years ago. I interviewed for an adjunct position in psychology a year after receiving my M.S. in I/O psychology. The department head must have seen something in me, or was desperate for instructors. Rather than hire me immediately, she gave me a sample syllabus and asked me to come up with my own for a standard General Psychology course. She called me back and offered me two classes the following spring--January 2004. The first class I ever taught was Human Development, at 8 a.m. on a Monday morning. I had a Human Adjustment course that same semester. These were both on the Melbourne campus. I had no idea what I was really doing, but I managed to wing it through my first semester. My daughter was turning 2, my husband was finishing up his M.S. in ocean engineering, and I was working on my M.B.A. Thinking back on it, I am amazed that I made it through that first semester. The following fall I got a call to teach at my alma mater, Florida Tech, in the School of Business (just after completing my M.B.A.). I also got called by the BCC Cocoa campus to teach a General Psychology course. I was teaching 4 classes, at 3 different campuses. I have managed to teach at least 1 class each year since that first semester. I don't know if I would be as confident to teach any psychology course thrown my way if BCC had not continued to offer me the opportunity to teach new subjects. I have taught general psychology I & II, human relations, human adjustment, and human development. These are all introductory courses, but not all adjuncts teach them. Most adjuncts teach one specific course (primarily general psychology) and are rarely asked to branch out beyond that. I'm a utility player, with apparently wide experience. I never thought I could be so adaptable, but Brevard Community College Liberal Arts Department gave me the opportunity that sent me on my current path.

Wax Paper

Yes, this is another odd post. If you've read many of my other posts, besides those dedicated to actual people, then you know that I am quite odd. I claim my pride in that. It is my right as a mental nomad. But I digress.

Wax paper is very versatile. As a baker (amateur/hobbyist, not professional), I like it for freezing. Placing wax paper between layers of pancakes or waffles before placing them in a freezer bag keeps the food from sticking together when you freeze them. This allows you to remove them more easily to reheat. Wax paper around cookie dough makes it easier to remove from its protective plastic covering as well. I have also found that meat, especially pre-made hamburgers, does a little better when wrapped in wax paper and then plastic prior to freezing, though butcher paper or freezer paper (yes, it exists) is admittedly better for this purpose.

What I really like best about wax paper, though, is its use for sewing. Yes, I use wax paper for my sewing. I draft my commercial patterns onto wax paper before I do any cutting. Because the paper is translucent (semi see-through), it is easy to trace the correct size for the pattern piece on to the wax paper. This preserves my commercial pattern paper, which is pretty fragile. It also allows me to use the same pattern for multiple sizes without having to cut up the pattern paper or buy a new pattern for each size needed. As I have a tendency to modify patterns to fit sizes that are not available on some commercial patterns (some great costume patterns only go up to a size 20 or a size 12, but they could look good on a larger size), I can use the base pattern and some mathematical gymnastics to draft a larger size that will still have the desired look of the original. I'm actually doing this now for both myself and my daughter for our costumes for Dragon*Con 2012.

I can "Frankenstein" pattern pieces with the wax paper, too. I had to do that for my husband's Star Wars uniform. The idea for the uniform existed, but the pattern itself did not. I had to modify (i.e. draw out) both the coat and the pants from a pre-existing commercial pattern in order to create the desired effect. I even created a couple new pieces to fit onto the costume with my wax paper.  Lo and behold, my wax paper helped me draft, adjust, and even pre-size everything before I even made the first fabric cut. Besides the drafting qualities (use a permanent marker, such as a Sharpie, for best results) of the translucent material, wax paper is tougher than the cheaper tissue paper of most commercial patterns. I can reuse my wax paper patterns, all marked up with notations and sizing information, at least twice as many times as my commercial tissue paper patterns before I get irreparable tears. Folding the wax paper is easier, too, and it does well when rolled up for storage. If the garment pieces are wider than the wax paper, then I simply tape another piece next to it. Standard Scotch tape will hold the wax paper pieces together. The tape can also be repositioned on the wax paper without damaging it.

One of the best things about wax paper: it's price. If I want to make a garment or costume from a pattern more than once, I would usually have to shell out the cash for another copy of the pattern (averaging at least $10 per pattern, sometimes much more, unless I find a sale) because the tissue paper does not last through the folding and handling necessary when I have to move a project or put it aside to clear space or work on something else. On the other hand, I can draft a number of garment patterns onto a single roll of wax paper for under $3 and the paper usually survives my rougher handling, so I sometimes don't have to re-draft anything any way; I can reuse my first drafts.

Wax paper. It's definitely worth my investment. I probably would not sew nearly as much as I do if I did not figure out how to adapt it to my purposes.