Kiss A Shark Day, January 10th

Kiss A Shark Day

Okay, so for me realizing that Hanson's "MMMMBop" is #20 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s, beating out The Cranberries "Linger" (#86), Sheryl Crow's "All I Wanna Do" (#61), Ricky Martin's "Livin' la Vida Loca" (#28) and Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" (#25) which were important songs of the 90s, much more important that "MMMBop," is much like kissing a shark. Also, realizing that all three members of Hanson are now married and have kids, makes me feel really, really old.

Also, I protest any list of best songs from the 90s that doesn't include more Collective Soul. And why they chose
Shine



instead of December,



or Needs...



I just can't understand.

But, I do understand VH1's pick for the number 1 song of the 90s, and I fully agree with it. I remember the first time I heard this song, and it is a significant memory for me. It was September of 1991, my senior year, I was sixteen and younger than most of my class. It was at the end of the first pep assembly of the year, and I think someone had gotten into the sound system when they shouldn't have, because we generally didn't end pep assemblies with teeny grunge music, mostly we ended with walk back to class quietly music. As soon as the music started, people started to mosh all around me. I didn't mosh. I couldn't. I was too stunned by what I was hearing. I loved it! I stood still trying to understand the words, because I felt like the song had just reached out at me with all seventeen of its tentacles and embraced me into the grunge movement. After that experience I started listen to the AM alternative stations, and I bought myself a flannel shirt or two. It only seemed right since I was attending high school in Oregon. But, I never did the black eyeliner thing or the clove cigarettes. Just in case you are were getting worried that you didn't truly know me.

Anyway, the number one song of the 90s is...



It's a great song, so don't go kissing sharks about it!

Birds Stop Singing, June 5th

Birds Stop Singing

Yesterday, when I was researching Birds Stop Singing, the only information I could find about this day stated:

"In some early medieval calendars, this is listed as the date the Birds Stop Singing." (School of the Seasons)

But, Birds Stop Singing Day wasn't noted in any of my book-type resources, (the Calendar of Vanishing Vocabulary and Folklore for 2007, The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, The Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were, The Faber Book of Useful Verse, or The Dance of Time: The Origins of the Calendar A Miscellany of History and Myth) nor on any of my online resources, which other than School of the Seasons areCalendar of the Month, Fun Holidays, Holiday Insights, Nova Roma, Old Farmer's Almanac, and Sky News, (by the way, tomorrow will be the best day to view Jupiter and its moons). So, I was about to give up on Birds Stop Singing Day. It was a nice idea, but, it seem to be a non-provable holiday.

But, this morning as I was getting ready for work, and I was listening to the news, and the weatherman said that the birds wouldn't be singing today because the wind would be blowing rather strongly over most of the state for the majority of the day.

So, apparently, the medieval calendarists knew what they were calendering.

On a personal note, today, fifteen years ago, I graduated from high school. Yep, I am really that old. So, I am wearing blue and white today, my Alma Matter's colors, and I am also wearing the pearl necklace that my grandmother gave me to wear at the graduation ceremony.

Also, this is the fifteen year anniversary of Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs, the Portland Trailblazers against the Chicago Bulls. Portland won in overtime. One of the best games ever. Everyone at my graduation, speakers included, listened to the game on their Walkmans. Anyone who didn't bring a Walkman was updated of the score at regular intervals from the podium. Clyde "the Glide" Drexler fowled out during the fourth quarter. And that is what I remember most about my high school graduation.

Clean Up Your Room Day, May 10th

Clean Up Your Room Day

Today is Clean Up Your Room Day, and what perfect timing it is for clean up your room day, because today is the first day of spring. In Absent-minded Almanac world, spring has not sprung until the first time I hear the song "Dreams" while I am driving in my car with the windows down. Last night while I was driving north on I-15 with my windows down, on my way to celebrate Day Four of the Week of Edgy, I heard the song. Anyway, now it's spring, and now we can begin spring cleaning.

I believe that to do anything correctly, I must first read about how other people do the same thing, because, who knows, I could have been cleaning my room the wrong way my whole life! I mean, when I clean my room I usually begin with dusting the bookshelves. Then, after I have read two books that I had forgotten that I haven't read, I remember that I was going to clean my room... last week. So, maybe there is a more efficient way to clean one's room.

The first place to look when you want to learn how to do something is Wikihow.com. Now, Wikihow does have several entries about how to clean and organize, but I was drawn to an entry titled How to Clean Your Room. This article has a very interesting suggestion for all of us who are procrastinators by nature.

Pretend that mutant aliens are coming and if the room is not clean in (insert time) you are doomed.

I had never thought of this approach before. I thought that I was being creative when I was seven and I made my younger brothers take turns being Cinderella while I was the evil step-mother so I wouldn't have to clean. Yes, I was one of those mean older sisters.

While I would like to be able to tell you that I am going to try the "Alien Deadline for Room Cleaning" tonight, I must be honest. I will probably just sit on my couch and watch The Office while eating cancer causing microwave popcorn.

Thankful Leaves

Back when I was a silly college-freshman, I started this thing during the month of November and every person that came and visited my apartment had to write what they were thankful for on a construction paper leaf. Initially, the intention with these leaves was to rebel against the white-painted cinder-block walls of the dormitory, but soon my roommates and I discovered that we just liked sitting down and thinking about what we were thankful for. It quickly became fun to tease all the boys who came to our apartment into sharing what they were thankful for as well, and they liked doing it too.

By Thanksgiving time, all of our kitchen walls and ceiling were covered, and we even had some leaves trailing down our hallway. My roommates and I had cut out over 1000 leaves, and we had spent hours just sitting in our kitchen reading them out loud to each other and talking about them.

As Novembers have come and gone, I have gotten out of the habit of doing "Thankful Leaves" and I miss them. I know one of my former roommates has adapted the idea and makes a thankful tree, where her kids tie what they are most thankful for onto a tree that sits at the dinner table during the month of November. It's a very cute tree, and more house-friendly than the "Thankful Leaves." But, I have found that if I don't think about what I am thankful for every day, then I am not ready for Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.

But anyway, just wanted to give a little bit of an explanation why I am going to be blogging a bit every day for the next few weeks about what I am thankful for.

Black Cat Day, October 24th

Black Cat Day

SShhh! I am blogging on borrowed equipment, because my laptop is refusing to recharge, and I can't find my warranty information to get it fixed. I would just go into work early and blog there, but I worked 61 hours in 4 days last week. I'm not going to work today. I just won't. I'm telling people that I am going to work on GRE practice tests, to get back into grad school, but I might just watch TV all day and finish reading The End.

And for Black Cat Day I will remember my cat Ollie, my family's black cat that died this year. Ollie came to our family at Christmas time, about twenty years ago as a stray kitten, too small to have been removed from her mother. We named her Oliver, like the musical, and took turns feeding her every two hours. We named her Oliver because we thought she was a boy cat, but then found out she was a girl cat... and we were very confused about what to do. We had been calling her Oliver for two months, we couldn't just switch to Annie, what would that do to her psyche? So we decided to combine Oliver and Annie and came up with Ollie.

Ollie was a good cat, who thought she was a dog. She would run through the house skid across the floor and crash into the wall. Not a graceful cat was she. Ollie was friendly, and wanted to be around people, not like our other cat, Hannah-banana. Poor Ollie died this year, after a good long life. She never lived up to the scary black cat ideal, but we loved her for what she was... a good companion.

If you want to celebrate Black Cat Day, or if you want to get a head start on your Halloween celebrations, try making these Black Cat Cookies.

Black Cat Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup water
2 eggs
1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. M&M Minis Candies

Beat together peanut butter, eggs, and water. Gradually add cake mix. Mix well. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten balls with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Pinch out 2 ears at top of cookie.

Add M&M Minis for eyes and nose. Score face with a fork to form whiskers.

Bake at 375° for 8 to 10 minutes.

Name Your Car Day, October 2nd

Name Your Car Day

I have been so excited for this day. I have had my car for a year, and it hasn't a name. I think that I have tried to name it a few times, but the names haven't stuck. I have been pretty good about naming my cars.

Mr Pipps
My first car, a blue 1979 Toyota Corolla, was named Mr. Pipps. Mr. Pipps was a good car. I only had him for a year. Sometimes I still miss Mr. Pipps. I learned how to tell alternator problems apart from battery problems on Mr. Pipps.

Sloopy Schoopy
My next car was Sloopy Schoopy. I loved my Sloopy Schoopy. He was a grey 1986 Subaru Wagon. He got me through my college years, and the year after I graduated from college. He ran on three of his four cylinders, and had a very distinctive tick. Every boy with any mechanical ability that heard that tick, wanted to take Schoopy apart to figure it out, but I wouldn't let them. I was afraid that if the grime that was holding the seams of engine together was disturbed that he wouldn't run any more.

I learned how to replace fuses, replace battery cables, replace batteries, change tires, replace hoses, and patch radiator holes on Schoopy. One time I had a friend tell me that my car ran on faith and duct tape. Poor Schoopy. He worked so hard to make me happy.

The Boat
The Boat was my car that my parent tried to get me to use to replace Schoopy half-way through college. The Boat was my grandpa's gold 1978 Mercury Grand Marquis and it was HUGE. My roommates and guy friends loved The Boat because the engine purred, had leather seats, and looked like a pre-pimped pimp car. It was a great car to go to the drive-in in because we could park sideways and lie all the way down across the seat.

I hated it because I would get notes left on my car asking me to park my very large car at the other end of the parking lot. Embarrassing. So, I made my brother give Schoopy back to me, and I made him drive The Boat.

Sophia
My next car was a girl car. I got her a year after I graduated from college, and after Schoopy broke down three times in two weeks. My friends I was living with sat me down and told me that I had to get a new car.

My new car was moody. Her name was Sophia. I wasn't very creative with my naming of her; she was a silver 1999 Kia Sephia. But, the reason was, she and I never bonded. She was way too moody (she had an electrical short that no-one could fix), and she was very sensitive (Christmas Trees scratched her up badly), and completely unstable (she could not handle snow on the roads at all), and I missed my Sloopy Schoopy who never had any of those problems.

Sophia passed away a year ago last week. I was upset because I wasn't planning on buying a new car yet, but happy to not have to deal with Sophia anymore.

New Car
I love my new car... but there is not a name yet for... him. He is a white 2001 Saturn Wagon. He meets my needs quite well. He has reminded me that I like to drive, and that snow is not something to be feared. Snow is even something to appreciate because it covers up all the ugly brown. Yea for snow! That is why this car is a he... he is fearless in the face of all weather.

He happily carries all sorts of big and oversized things in his back end for me. And when I tied the Christmas Tree up on his top like a faux hawk, the tree did not scratch him up at all, in fact he looked rather stylish. I am thinking about naming him Oscar, after Oscar Wilde, not the Grouch. Although, the Grouch could work because he is a bit touchy in the transmission gear area. Sometimes he doesn't like me touching his stick.

So... I have some work ahead of me today. Pondering the name Oscar...and figuring out how to christen him.

December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day

It's interesting what sticks in our childhood memories. In 1980, Jimmy Carter was president. I remember the Scholastic News ran an article about him and peanuts. The article told us to go home and tell our parents to vote. I remember having a conversation with my mom about Reagan and Carter. I remember being sad when Reagan won because I thought that we wouldn't have peanut-butter anymore. That year my teacher had our class sing a patriotic song every morning before we recited the pledge of allegiance. She would pound out a jovial tune on the piano as we sang in our six-year-old voices.

On December 7th, my teacher gave us a different morning presentation. She told of Pearl Harbor. She played us a record (yes, a blogger old enough to remember records) of Franklin D. Roosevelt making his "Day of Infamy" speech. I can still hear the scratches on the recording as I was cognizant of that voice and speech for the first time in my life. I remember that I was wearing a red corduroy jumper and brown shoes, and as I looked down at my braids I had two different colored rubber bands wrapped around the ends.

I remember looking at the United States flag hanging next to the chalkboard in the front of the classroom and thinking that the red in my dress matched the red on the stripes of the flag. I knew this morning was different. We didn't sing, after her presentation about Pearl Harbor, we placed our hands on our hearts and said the pledge and took our seats.

Do we even think about Pearl Harbor Day anymore? PearlHarbor

I wonder about Patriot's Day, the memorial day of September 11th. Forty years from now will Patriot's Day just be something celebrated in first grade classrooms?

I don't believe that we should remember these days to promote war, or to promote hate. We should remember these days to honor those who died... in defense of their country, or innocently as civilians. These are sacred days. Days of reflection. Days when the American conscious changed. We should remember them as such.

Today is also Letter Writing Day. If you would like to write to your elected officials here is a link link

If you want a reason to write to your elected officials check this out OreoCookiePresentation