Distraction

Work is hard
Distractions are plentiful
And Time is short

Adam Hochschild

I was reading a really interesting New York Times article about education recently. I was half way through the article when I decided that I knew what it was saying and moved on to a different article. Again I read half of the next and moved on. The initials TL:DR popped into my head. And that's when I knew I had a problem.

I hate the initials TL:DR, which stand for Too Long, Didn't Read. I hate them because of what they say about our society, about our loss of concentration. I should be able to read a 2 page article without getting impatient. If I can't concentrate for more than 5 minutes, that scares me. I shouldn't have to have my information fed to me in less than 140 characters. Heck, I shouldn't have information fed to me at all. I should actively seek it.

About three years ago I noticed that I'm losing my ability to focus, both when reading and in life in general. I'm struggling more with concentration, a vital part of learning. I jump from thought to thought.  It's more obvious at work, if I'm not interested in a topic. I just can't bring myself to think in-depth about things. It started slow, barely noticeable. I would put my book down after twenty minutes. I would grumble as I went to the second page of an article. Now I get impatient with a YouTube video that lasts more than 7 minutes. None of this is good for me. I want to create things in my life. I want to study and learn. I have to have both time and focus to do those things. So I'm going to pare down, get rid of some of those distractions that keep me from focusing. First to go: social media.

I won't be shutting down my Facebook page, like Jeff did, but I won't really be spending much time there. I feel guilty for that. I know that there will be birthdays that I'll miss, and celebrations that I won't know about. I know that I'll miss updates from friends but so much of Facebook lately seems to be recycled shared posts. I'll still probably check once a week or so just to see what each of my friends is up to, but I won't be responding. And I'm sorry for that. I'm weaning myself off Twitter, something that is harder than I expected. I'm even staying away from news sources like Huffington Post and Buzzfeed. I want to refocus, and those sites aren't geared towards focus.

I don't want to lose contact with people so I'll be focusing more on email in the future. I'll still check personal messages on Facebook. I'll try to stay in touch with people. And I'll hopefully be blogging more. I want to focus on writing. I want to study more. I'm hoping that dropping some of the distractions from my life, will let me focus more on personal connections, not just liking something you've shared from another person's page. As the quote above says, distractions are plentiful and life is short. I'm going to see how I use my time as I strip out those distractions. I may just waste it, but I'll be doing it in hopefully more constructive ways.

Lost in YouTube Land

Hi, I'm Cat and I'm a YouTube addict.

They say the first step is admitting that you have a problem. Well I have a problem. For years I followed webcomics, collecting comics like they were postage stamps. I'd read the entire archive and then add them to my list of daily or weekly reading. Then I did the same with blogs. I still follow over 120 blogs and 30 webcomics and that's pared down from two years ago.

YouTube has been just as addicting, if not more so. At least when I finish one webcomic it doesn't instantly direct me to 30 or 40 more just like it. I can lose hours just clicking from one video to the next. Mostly I start with the channels I love (which I'll link to below) but then it just branches from there. And suddenly I've spent four hours watching 3 to 7 minute videos.

I blame Jeff. He got me started with a YouTube channel called Smarter Every Day. Destin Sandlin makes educational videos of the stuff he finds fascinating. Fortunately for us, it's really fascinating stuff. He tries experiments, he shows examples, and he makes videos with so much enthusiasm that you can't help but be intrigued by his subjects. Just watch a few of his experiments and I know you'll be hooked. It's incredible stuff. I learn something new with each video. But once I started watching Smarter Every Day, it opened up the doors to all the other educational videos out there.

Periodic Videos, created by Brady Haran, is a channel that focuses on chemistry. They started out by going through each of the elements in the periodic table. It is a mixture of narrative, experiments, and some of the wildest hair you'll ever see. I'm only halfway through their archive of 500 videos but I never get tired of watching their work.

CGP Grey creates very professional looking animated videos to discuss politics, geography, and sociology, among other topics. Each episode is meticulously researched. It's a great mixture of entertainment and education. Grey's wonderful sense of humor and personality keeps me riveted to subjects that would normally leave me cold.

MinutePhysics by Henry Reich uses drawings to explain incredibly complicated physics topics in a video that's only a couple minutes long. Henry manages to make the topics seem simple and understandable with his drawings and his easy explanation. I've learned more watching that channel then I ever did in my high school physics class.

Veritasium by Derek Muller also explains physics and science topics. Derek normally starts each video by presenting some of the misconceptions about that topic and then uses experiments to show the correct reason why things work the way they do. I find it both interesting and humbling to realize that I often have the incorrect assumption about how things work. All of his videos make me want to learn more about the topic at hand and even more importantly, make me want to try experiments of my own.

The Brain Scoop with Emily Graslie was one I wasn't sure how much I'd like at first. Emily started out presenting videos of her work in U of Montana's Biology Department. She dissected a wolf, taught us about pangolins (one of the coolest animals ever), and showed us the fascinating animals in the school's collection. She's since moved over to the Field Museum and her videos now cover that amazing museum, which is my favorite place in the world when we go to Chicago.

Recently I've started getting into Numberphile, also created by Brady Haran. Jeff started watching this mathematics video series a year ago or so, but I struggled with it at first. I've never considered myself very good at math but these videos are making me see that it's just a matter of looking at things in the proper light. Some of it may still go over my head but I'm started to see patterns, and deciphering the language that is math.

But it's not all educational. I listen to most of my music on YouTube. Even after I've bought the songs and they are on my iPod, I find myself pulling up the videos. YouTube allows me to jump from song to song, using the suggestions on the right side. I've found some great new music that way.

My current fascination is John and Hank Green, collectively known as the Vlogbrothers. I'm a little late to the party since they did their well known Brotherhood 2.0 years ago. But the video correspondence between the two brothers makes for both entertaining and educational watching. I had originally found John Green through his work with Mental Floss (even before I found out he was an author) and Hank as the creator of The Brain Scoop. But since discovering their year of video correspondence and other videos, I think I might become a full fledged Nerdfighter.

I know that I've barely skimmed the surface of what's available on YouTube. There's plenty of material that I try to stay away from. I'm not looking for stupid human tricks. And I only occasionally watch funny cat videos. But I know that there are plenty of other videos out there that will both entertain and educate me. There are creators making some of the most unique and fascinating material being produced right now. YouTube has become a classroom. And I'm so glad I've found so many ways to learn.

My New Obsession

Meet my new obsession. I'm not sure what to call him yet. I'm leaning towards Jonsi, after the lead singer/guitarist for Sigur Ros. Mostly because he makes beautiful sounds that make me happy. Well...both of them do.

This past year I decided that I want to learn an instrument. I learned the saxophone when I was in grade school but I hated it. I tried the piano at 12 but when I realized I wasn't going to be the next Chopin, I gave up. Neither instrument was practiced enough. This time I knew I wanted to take my time and learn to play slowly, by practicing consistently. The guitar seemed perfect. My father has played guitar the entire time I've been alive. He started taking lessons shortly before I was born when he was 33. Now at 37 I've decided it's my turn.

When Jeff and I came home from St. Louis after Thanksgiving, I went over and my dad taught me the very basics. I learned how to hold the instrument, how to strum with the pick, how to read TAB, and three basic chords. He sent me home with a lovely guitar, an instruction book, an electronic tuner, and some picks. He also sent me home with the directive to practice. And I've been taking him seriously.

I play every night. At first I could only practice for about ten minutes before my fingers hurt so much I had to stop. I'm learning with nylon strings thankfully (Thanks Dad!) but it still hurt for the first week or so. This week I can play for 40 minutes or more a night. I've developed the calluses I need on my fingers. I'm learning my chords. I'm taking my time with this. And I'm practicing hard and I'm not getting frustrated. Suddenly I'm looking at my favorite songs and wondering what key they are in. I'm excited to practice, even if it's just playing with some finger picking.

But the big thing for me is that I'm learning. I didn't think I could learn an instrument. I had told myself that I just wasn't musically inclined. It feels good to have the discipline to practice everyday and the ability to learn. My chord transitions are smoother today than they were two days ago. I feel good to be taking my time. It may take me years to learn the guitar but I'm okay with the slow pace. It feels good to learn and to try.

The World is Quiet Here

{Spoilers in this post. If you have any interest in reading A Series of Unfortunate Events, this is not for you}

The first time I read A Bad Beginning, the first book in the series A Series of Unfortunate Events, I hated it. I didn't understand the author's brand of humor and his constant definitions drove me crazy. I chocked it up to "not my taste" and put it away. Then I picked it up again this past year and loved it. I read every one of the 13 books. I couldn't stop talking about them. I loved the humor. I loved the characters. I loved the definitions. But most of all I loved the VFD.

The concept of a secret society that for lack of a better word fights crime appeals to me. Even better a secret society that uses knowledge to do it, whatever form that knowledge takes. The title of this post is the VFD's motto. It hung above their library, a safe place in a chaotic world. They are a society that values learning, that values creativity, that values curiosity. The idea is inspiring to me. For me the tales of the Baudelaire orphans were more about learning how much power they had through their curiosity and knowledge.

Klaus, the reader and scholar, is who I identified with, but each of the characters has their own strengths. Klaus's ability remember the things he reads, his unrelenting curiosity, his copious note-taking, are all things I admire. He's the bookworm of the three and I saw myself in his role. I'm not an inventor like Violet or a cook/biter like Sunny. But I can read and remember with the best of them. As Klaus stood in that burned library and read the words above the door, I had chills go through me. Partly they were about the burned library (horrific) but partly they were because I'd found a motto I could agree with.

The world is quiet here, is what I think every time I walk into my own personal library. Here I can learn and study and be at peace, away from the stress of the world. I want to paint it above my door. I want to tattoo it on my skin. Curiosity and knowledge are two things I value very highly. How wonderful to find the same value in a children's book series.

Wednesday Wisdom

Things I've Learned this Week

1. When asked to do two weeks worth of work in two days, it's only possible if you get other people involved.

2. Nothing really takes two weeks if enough adrenaline and caffeine are involved.

3. Knitting will wait and I won't forget how to cable.

4. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick can be read in an hour and should be read...by everyone.

5. "Hey Bear!" yelled at the top of your lungs is apparently an effective bear deterrant (Rowing to Latitude--Jill Fredston)

6. It is possible to drink two 12 cup pots of coffee in a day. Not advisable but possible.

7. A 3 mile walk at night with the person you love can cure most stress.

8. My legs are a bit out of shape and don't really enjoy 3 miles.

9. There is nothing better than sipping coffee and reading great books while sitting out on the patio.

10. Even after reading four books in one week, I will still not be tired of reading.

The Risk of Cables

I'm a non-risk taker by nature. I'm not a fan of failing so I tend to be slow to try things. And I often overthink things, meaning that more often than not I won't even try things because I'll decide that they are too difficult before I even start. It's a flaw that I keep working to overcome. My hobbies are no exception. I'm slowly learning a lesson about knitting. For years I've been overcautious in my knitting. I work on projects where I know most of what I'm doing. I like projects that are mostly mindless knitting. I've learned a lot over the years but I tend to stay mostly within my comfort zone.

In October I taught a friend how to knit. He was visiting and had been interested in trying so on the day before he left, I taught him the basic knit stitch. He went home and worked on his first scarf. Then he got bored and knit a little hat for his niece. Then some mittens. Then a belt. Then a cowl. Then...you get the idea. He taught himself how to bind off, how to purl, how to yarn over. In six months he's tried techniques that I hadn't tried within the the first three years of knitting. I'm a bit in awe of how willing he is to take risks and how good of a knitter he's become.

And I'm learning that nothing in knitting is as hard as I make it out to be. I learned how to make tiny fingers for a sackboy doll I made. I learned how to pick up stitches for mittens. I learned that I can read some pretty scary looking patterns. And this week I learned my holy grail of knitting, cabling. I had been terrified to cable for years. I just didn't think I would understand it so I didn't try it. This week I started this cowl which happens to have some cabling. It took me a bit of coaxing from Jeff but now I can say I know how to cable. And it's way easier than I thought it would be. Everything in knitting is easier than it sounds. That's my lesson. It may take me a few times to get things, but everything is learnable. It's a good lesson for knitting...and really for life. Everything is learnable.

No Instruction Manual

A couple years ago I had an epiphany. It should have been something that had occurred to me years ago but I can be slow sometimes. I realized that no one gets an instruction manual when they are born. No one has things all work out. We are all playing it by ear. I'll repeat, we are all playing it by ear. That simple phrase stopped me in my tracks. It struck me like the proverbial thunderbolt. I remember stopping on the street and gasping at the simpleness and brilliance of the idea. And this was at 33 (see told you I was slow).

Through most of my life I've felt inept at things. Other people seem so much better at navigating life then I do. I seem to struggle to do everyday things more than most other people. I've always wanted to be smooth and perfect and it always seemed like I was clumsy and inept while other people weren't. And I used to feel bad about that, until this epiphany. This simple statement that we are all playing it by ear, made me realize that I'm not alone. That no one is working through the designated plan. That no one starts life, knowing instinctively how to give a business speech, or how to paint like Van Gogh. And more importantly, no one knows where their life is going. It's being made up on a daily basis. That was stunning to me.

And it opened the door to allow me to be imperfect. I no longer had to be smooth and polished, I could be fumbling and untaught. I could learn at my own pace. I could make mistakes left and right. I'm not inept, I'm learning. Now when I beat myself up for mistakes, I remember that they are all mistakes other people have made. We all start out with the same lack of knowledge. We all start out with the same idea that we should have a direction or a plan in life. And none of us do. We are all playing it by ear. And that is liberating.

Legi, intellexi

My mother had a pithy saying book that had poems and phrases to put into people's yearbooks. I remember reading it as a kid and laughing at the archaic wordings. I've forgotten most of them by now except one. I'm not sure when you would put this in someone's yearbook but I like the poem.

"Latin is a dead language,

it's plain enough to see.

It killed off all the Romans

and now it's killing me."

I found it funny then. But truth be told I wanted to learn Latin. It would have been my first choice for a language in high school (that and French) but my high school didn't offer either. And I wasn't about to attend the local Catholic high school just to get a Latin lesson. So here I am, almost 20 years after high school, finally learning my language of choice.

My parent's both took Latin in high school (were forced to take it, that is) and still can remember quite a bit. They also have first year Latin primer that they were willing to lend me. That, along with a borrowed stack of books from a friend who was a Latin minor, and I have quite the impressive collection of resources. I've started going through the first year book and was excited to see that I could not just read but understand some basic dialogue. My vocab still has a long way to go and the grammar keeps stumping me. I think I've asked my friend dozens of times why the language has both cases and declensions (he explains it, I understand, and then forget the explanation 20 minutes later). I'm hoping the grammar will come as I read more.

Learning the language though has taught me how little I know of English grammar. As an English major I should be well versed in tenses, voice, syntax, and cases. What I've learned by learning Latin is that I have really no idea how English even works. I know when a sentence sounds right. So in addition to learning Latin, I'm learning English grammar. And it's actually helping (note the irregular sentence. Strunk and White would not be pleased).

Latin is the root of so many languages in the world, plus it's a fascinating language on it's own. I'm only starting to delve into it but I love the way sentences can be structured in many different ways. I love the words themselves. I'm enjoying the challenge of learning a new language while having the familiarity of recognizing roots of English words. Latin isn't a dead language yet. And it's certainly not killing me.

Ten Things I've Learned this Week

Ancora Imparo is all about learning. Well, it's been a good week for learning. Sadly some of these lessons have been learned the hard way.

10. Five Tagalongs are my limit. Any more than that and I will be sick.

9. Whiskey is not my friend. It may pretend to be my friend but it can turn on me quickly. And the after effects are not worth it.

8. Running gets easier the second day although my legs will hate me each time.

7. Caffeine is a requirement in the morning, not an option.

6. I will watch almost anything that features actors that I have crushes on (Luck of the Irish was terrible the first time and even worse the second time).

5. There is nothing better for relieving stress then a scalding hot bath.

4. I can read a book in a single night if I have to return it to the library the next day. Sleep on the other hand is apparently optional.

3. Socks are not as hard to knit as I thought they were.

2. No matter how terrible a day is, I can alway find something positive.

And number 1. I have the greatest husband in the entire world. Seriously. He's amazing. I owe him big time.

It's been a good/bad/odd/regular week. And it's only Tuesday.

What have you learned this week?

Montages

I've decided that my life would be so much better with montages. I got the idea from watching Kung Fu Panda of all things but I've noticed montages in tons of movies. And that gave me an idea. What if life was a little more like the movies? Want to lose weight, cue the exercise montage. Want to learn a skill, cue the practice montage. Want to get a promotion, cue the rise to power montage. Montages would solve all sorts of pesky issues where you have to practice and learn daily for long periods of time. Instead we could just cue up the music and it would be done in less than five minutes.

I'm only partially joking. I've been trying to lose weight for a while but the slowness of it drives me crazy. I'm not particularly good at being patient when I don't see any shred of improvement. So it's tempting to think that I could cue up my movie montage for exercise (set to Move Along by the All-American Rejects) and find myself slim and trim in only a couple minutes. Like Rocky in...well any of the Rocky movies.

I would probably do the same thing with writing. Cue up the writing music (something like This Is the Day by The The) and have that novel written by the time the song is done. Of course I'd do the same thing for painting and learning to cook and...everything. I'd be brilliant in only minutes a day. My life would be so much better with montages. Sigh, if only they were an option.

Old Files/Good Finds

I'm cleaning up some files on my computer today and stumbled across a list that Jeff had sent me during a bit of a dark period and I thought I'd share it with you. Those of you who know me will know that I'm generally a neurotic mess of a person. I'm constantly worrying, feeling guilty, or judging myself about something. I spend far too much time in my own head and it tends to make me a bit unhappy. So Jeff found this list on a website called Stepcase Lifehack and sent it to me. This was written by Adrian Savage and every point he offers made an impression on me.

Sorry it's so long. I thought about just putting in the titles but I think the impact is in the rest of the entries. I think it's worth a long read.

10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life

1. Stop taking so much notice of how you feel. How you feel is how you feel. It’ll pass soon. What you’re thinking is what you’re thinking. It’ll go too. Tell yourself that whatever you feel, you feel; whatever you think, you think. Since you can’t stop yourself thinking, or prevent emotions from arising in your mind, it makes no sense to be proud or ashamed of either. You didn’t cause them. Only your actions are directly under your control. They’re the only proper cause of pleasure or shame.

2. Let go of worrying. It often makes things worse. The more you think about something bad, the more likely it is to happen. When you’re hair-trigger primed to notice the first sign of trouble, you’ll surely find something close enough to convince yourself it has come.

3. Ease up on the internal life commentary. If you want to be happy, stop telling yourself you’re miserable. People are always telling themselves how they feel, what they’re thinking, what others feel about them, what this or that event really means. Most of it is imagination. The rest is equal parts lies and misunderstandings. You have only the most limited understanding of what others feel about you. Usually they’re no better informed on the subject; and they care about it far less than you do. You have no way of knowing what this or that event really means. Whatever you tell yourself will be make-believe.

4. Take no notice of your inner critic. Judging yourself is pointless. Judging others is half-witted. Whatever you achieve, someone else will always do better. However bad you are, others are worse. Since you can tell neither what’s best nor what’s worst, how can you place yourself correctly between them? Judging others is foolish since you cannot know all the facts, cannot create a reliable or objective scale, have no means of knowing whether your criteria match anyone else’s, and cannot have more than a limited and extremely partial view of the other person. Who cares about your opinion anyway?

5. Give up on feeling guilty. Guilt changes nothing. It may make you feel you’re accepting responsibility, but it can’t produce anything new in your life. If you feel guilty about something you’ve done, either do something to put it right or accept you screwed up and try not to do so again. Then let it go. If you’re feeling guilty about what someone else did, see a psychiatrist. That’s insane.

6. Stop being concerned what the rest of the world says about you. Nasty people can’t make you mad. Nice people can’t make you happy. Events or people are simply events or people. They can’t make you anything. You have to do that for yourself. Whatever emotions arise in you as a result of external events, they’re powerless until you pick them up and decide to act on them. Besides, most people are far too busy thinking about themselves (and worry what you are thinking and saying about them) to be concerned about you.

7. Stop keeping score. Numbers are just numbers. They don’t have mystical powers. Because something is expressed as a number, a ratio or any other numerical pattern doesn’t mean it’s true. Plenty of lovingly calculated business indicators are irrelevant, gibberish, nonsensical, or just plain wrong. If you don’t understand it, or it’s telling you something bizarre, ignore it. There’s nothing scientific about relying on false data. Nor anything useful about charting your life by numbers that were silly in the first place.

8. Don’t be concerned that your life and career aren’t working out the way you planned. The closer you stick to any plan, the quicker you’ll go wrong. The world changes constantly. However carefully you analyzed the situation when you made the plan, if it’s more than a few days old, things will already be different. After a month, they’ll be very different. After a year, virtually nothing will be the same as it was when you started. Planning is only useful as a discipline to force people to think carefully about what they know and what they don’t. Once you start, throw the plan away and keep your eyes on reality.

9. Don’t let others use you to avoid being responsible for their own decisions. To hold yourself responsible for someone else’s success and happiness demeans them and proves you’ve lost the plot. It’s their life. They have to live it. You can’t do it for them; nor can you stop them from messing it up if they’re determined to do so. The job of a supervisor is to help and supervise. Only control-freaks and some others with a less serious mental disability fail to understand this.

10. Don’t worry about your personality. You don’t really have one. Personality, like ego, is a concept invented by your mind. It doesn’t exist in the real world. Personality is a word for the general impression that you give through your words and actions. If your personality isn’t likeable today, don’t worry. You can always change it, so long as you allow yourself to do so. What fixes someone’s personality in one place is a determined effort on their part—usually through continually telling themselves they’re this or that kind of person and acting on what they say. If you don’t like the way you are, make yourself different. You’re the only person who’s standing in your way.

Bing

I'm trying to remember when Google appeared on the scene as the primary search engine for the world. Google has easily outstripped all other engines in terms of usage and I would argue, versatility. As a librarian, I know that it is not a great research tool but I will admit that if you have an idea what you are looking for, it is invaluable.

This past year the word has been Bing, a new search engine put out by Microsoft. I've done some comparison work and still prefer Google for most of my search needs. But every morning I dutifully go to Bing.com. I go for the photography. Every day, Bing posts an image as the backdrop for their interface. And every morning I am completely blown away by the image. I'm not sure where they are finding these photographs but I want that source.

The images then offer links to learn more about the animal, place, landmark, etc.... I've learned a lot about different landmarks just by finding an image I liked. I clicked on an image of Stari Most, the Old Bridge in the town of Moster in Herzegovina to find out all about it's history. I learned about the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland after seeing a picture on Bing and wondering what the heck it was. I got to reminisce about my trip to Maui after seeing the image below. This picture was taken at the Black Sand beaches on the road to Hana. I stood on this very beach but my pictures don't come anywhere close.

Bing is not going to be my new search engine. I've done scientific comparisons and simply feel that Google is a better engine. But there is something about serendipitous learning that draws me. It's the same way I love to walk aisle by aisle through a library to see what catches my eye. I'll keep going to Bing to learn new things, to find new places, and to see the beautify of the world around us. For that reason alone, I hope they keep the site up.

I Get to Play With Paint!!!!

I have been telling myself for years that I wanted to take an art class. I really want to be able to illustrate my own work and I'm terrible at drawing. So when my mother asked if I would go to an art class with her (a shock in itself) I jumped at the chance. It was an Exploring Painting and Drawing class and we could pick one medium to work in. I figured that charcoal would be easy and decided to start with that. My goal was to eventually learn acrylics or gouache.

So we had our first class last night and the instructor suggested two medium as some of the easier ones to work with. The first was pastel chalks which I have only a bit of interest in. I'd be more than happy to learn it but I'm not in love with the medium. The second, I was excited to hear was gouache.

For those of you who don't know, gouache is an opaque watercolor. It is also a heavily used favorite for animation and illustration. It has some of the most vibrant colors and even when the paint dries, those colors stay. You can paint over it. You can retouch work. A good deal of early Disney animation was done in gouache. And I could not be more excited. Imagine thinking that you would have to work up to learning your ideal medium with years of work. Instead they just say go ahead.

So I will be running out to the art store this week to pick up all my necessary supplies. Amazingly someone out there thinks that I'm old enough, heck mature enough, to play with paint. Poor misguided fools. I sat in class all last night thinking, wow you actually believe that I'm somewhat of an adult and can be trusted with paint. Not only that but that I have enough talent to use said paint. I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun and learn as we go. But mostly the five year old inside me just keeps thinking, Yay!!!! I get to play with paint.

MONDO

Of all the winter months, February is my favorite. I love that because it is so short, it feels like spring is just around the corner. March starts to get warmer here and February tends to move quick. I have two family birthdays in February (my little brother and my little sister). In general it's a good winter month which for me is saying a lot. Did I mention that I'm not a huge fan of winter?

But one of my favorite parts of February is Mondo. Every year (normally in February) the Mondo Jugglefest is held in Minneapolis at Concordia University. And snow or sleet we almost always seem to make it up. Jeff and I have been going to the convention for at least six years now. The first trip I managed to almost learn how to juggle. The friends we go with taught me with tennis balls, meaning that I chased them all over the convention floor. I was so sore that night that I couldn't move. By the next convention I could juggle three balls. Now I'm slowly working on club juggling and three ball passing. I don't practice all the time but I love that I'm able to do some basic stuff. 

The convention is pretty informal with a couple scheduled activities. There are jugglers, unicyclists, and yo-yo artists.They always play unicycle hockey and they always do either 7 or 8 ball endurance. There is always an auction. But most of the time we just stand around and learn new tricks from the people around us. If you want to learn there will always be a someone who will teach you. I am constantly amazed by all the tricks I see. The convention can occasionally pull in a big name in juggling like Vova Galchenko or Ivan Pecel. 

No matter what, every year we have a blast and I get incredibly excited about learning. I love that this is a place were failing is not a bad thing. It's just part of the learning process. I've always said that juggling is just learning to drop less. I'm sure I've dropped hundreds of thousands of times trying to learn to juggle. And this year I'll do even more dropping. And I may even learn to unicycle. 

Trying it out

This is my first post so it is a bit of a test. Okay so I haven't tried blogging before but I figure with my love of writing I should be able to contribute occasionally. For those who know me, you know that I jump around in my thoughts a lot. I learn everything I can about a subject then move on to the next. Fads many would call them. This is designed to be a way for me to talk about these crazes. So this will be collection of everything. 

Right now I'm big into art so I'll talk a little about that. I read voraciously so I'll talk about the books I'm reading.  I'm childfree (not to be confused with childless) so I'll talk about that a little. I'm playing World of Warcraft regularly so I will discuss that. Expect anything and everything. Just don't expect me to stay in one place. Henry Ford once said People who stop learning are old, whether at 18 or 80. My goal is to never get old.