Gullibility

This week's Scottish dance group question brought to mind an evening in front of the Towers dorms at ORU back in April of 2000. A group of friends was hanging out, and I had just announced that I had gotten my first (and only to this day) car that afternoon. Not to miss out on the announcements, one of my friends then said she was going to Japan. Between the two of us, we were able to fabricate a story in which she was going to be teaching German to deaf children in Japan. Somehow, we were believed even though absolutely none of it was true. We still laugh about it when we see each other.

Adventures in Beverage Land

I like drinking interesting things. Oftimes, that means delving into different cultures; sometimes, it means concocting my own drink.

• ~ I decided the weirdest thing I have had is a chocolate, peach passion, Mountain Dew shake. Mixing chocolate soft serve ice cream with Mountain Dew is a pretty incredible experience. If you ever have the chance, I strongly urge you give it a try.
• ~ I love heading to the mall for a bubble tea. The Taiwanese, I believe, came up with the idea of soaking giant tapioca pearls in tea and drinking/chewing them with flavoured tea.
• ~ My dad introduced me to honeyed chrysanthemum "tea" after his first trip to Singapore.
• ~ Lychee juice was a drink I discovered on my own in Singapore.
• ~ I discovered black currant juice in Scotland.
• ~ Most recently, I tried some ginger beer (non-alcoholic) my brother brought back from St. Croix. That's a real kick.

I know I'm leaving stuff out. That is such a small sampling, but it's all I can think of at the moment.

Oddest Job

For the sake of completeness only, I'll post the oddest job I've had as it was submitted to the Scottish dance group:

Working in a Mediterranean restaurant run by a couple of Middle Eastern men who would sit out front smoking their hookah. One night I even had to wear a fez.

Brow wrinkler

The lead in line for the health segment of the morning news went "Research shows the sun's dangers outweigh its benefits." Okay, hold up. When I hear that something's risks or dangers outweigh the benefits, I normally assume that the people who have determined such are proposing that the item in question no longer be used. So are these people proposing we send a nuclear warhead into the sun so we don't have to worry about it any more? Okay, okay, so I listened to the story and the researchers were actually saying that people shouldn't sit out in the sun to soak up rays to get Vitamin D. These researchers say that all the health benefits from the sun can be found much more safely by popping pills. I suppose these people want us to build a bunch of sci-fi domes equipped with happy lights (for SAD). I'll avoid going into the subject of sunlight and plants because that would be taking the issue out of context. I could go on a bit longer to fill out my arguments, but it's about time for me to step out and get what little sun I can on a work day in February.

Super Bowl Thoughts

~I don't see how you can play football with hair like Troy Polamalu's. It's as long as mine and thicker. That just seems to be asking for trouble.

~John Madden kept insisting Seattle needed to "up the tempo like they started the game." After about the 10th time I was plenty ready to get some duct tape to silence his useless advice. It wasn't like him saying it anymore was going to solve Seattle's problem. Although it would have been amusing to see him go down to their bench and lead the Seahawks in a little cheer. "T-E-M-P-O! Up, up the tempo!"

~It's easier to watch a golf tournament and appreciate good golf no matter who it is. It's a little harder in a two-team event like football where you cheer a good play for what it is then think, Wait, no, I didn't like that. That's the wrong team.

~He may not have put on the greatest performance, but at least now I can think of Ben Roethlisberger as the quarterback of a Super Bowl Championship team instead of Natalie Gulbis' ex.

~Is ABC just throwing in the towel on broadcast sports altogether? They've exiled Monday Night Football to their ESPN partners. They're dropping golf next year. What's next?

~And a final thought on the Super Bowl... Spending so much time watching golf, I do have to appreciate the teamwork involved in football.

Ladybugs

I can't post my weirdest job yet because we didn't have dance last night. (Beth has been ill.) Nonetheless, I don't want this poor blog to start suffering from abandonment issues.

I seem to be running a ladybug retirement home. I would call it an inn or a farm, but they keep showing up and then dying. It's not a hospital because I'm certainly no insect nurse. Today, one of these adorable beetles plopped down on my desk. I'm easily entertained, so it's been rather distracting. The poor thing doesn't seem to know what to do. It's crawled around a little, but millimeter for millimeter I think a turtle would have gotten farther. He managed to flip upside down, so I had to go to his rescue then. I don't know why I've decided it's a "he" instead of a "lady"bug "she."

Next week, I'll share my oddest job and some of the weird things I like to drink.