Earworms, Lovelines, and Solutions manuals

What do these three things have in common? Well, they're all in my head right now.

So, it's that time. Stinky is in the 5th grade, king of the elementary school... and it's almost done.

The order forms have started rolling in.

The school yearbook (which I have told the Stinks I will pay for) has a section called "lovelines" in which a parent etc. can send an eternal message to a loved one...

"Stinks, we're so proud of you! love, mom dad and mothman"

"Stinkypoo, we love you!!!!!! Mommy, daddy, and the moth"

"Junior master, thanks for the walks. Please stop picking up our crap. We put it there for a reason. Love, Titus and Loki"

I couldn't think of one that I would put in that wouldn't make Sean embarrassed and still pass the elementary school screeners. In a moment of clarity, I actually asked Sean if he would like me to put in a loveline for him. {eye roll} "No mom, those are for girls. No. No. That would be embarrassing."

I asked John if I should, thinking it may embarrass Sean now, but in a few years, he might know what an unfeeling mom I am because I never sent him a loveline. John replied, "No. That would be embarrassing." (well, actually he said something else, but this is a family blog. Right.)

Wanna bet that the Moth would LOVE to have a loveline? My two boys are so very different.

~~~~~

Moth is now a VIP (pronounced vip to him) Lego member. He's been picking up dog doo and taking dogs for extra long walks - anything for cash. He's saving to buy general grievous??? ship.

Now, maybe I'm old school. I don't remember general grievous in star wars. Alas.

When we went to the Lego store, back on one of my "take grandma harvey for a walk" outings, tim bought a small lego ship. (He only had $5, it cost $10. Grandma Harvey "found" a $5 on the ground. Then she complains "He has enough of those logo things, don't you think?" Irony, thy name is grandma.) When he purchased the ship, he was given two catalogs.

He has read them threadbare. He has pestered John and I for every job to save money. He has asked to be a VIP member. Even though he wasn't sure what a vip was, it sounded, well, vippy to him. He is OBSESSED (hmm, he couldn't have any of my genes could he?). But it keeps him happy.

~~~~~

Meanwhile, I'm trying to teach a section on orbital motion, and I've never studied that in my life. So I studied it, and wrote up/stole some powerpoints. But now I want some sample problems. So I decided to hit up the teacher resources for the book for some extra problems. I haven't used these this year, as I had no problem so far making up my own extra problems. But this section... well, it's a little hard for me.

So I went back to the old teacher's books. There are the extra books. The problem workbooks haven't been cracked. The solutions manual is falling apart. I thought the dude was a PhD in chem? What on earth was he relying on the solutions manual so much for? I would be afraid to do that, because then I could only see a problem one way.

Is it arrogance? I suppose it is. I have but one strength - my logic. When it fails I get frustrated and angry (hence my hatred of physics). But no way am I gonna let this subject beat me.

~~~~~

Now, for the earworm. If you listen to music a lot, you get them. The worst are when you don't know the actual song. But since the advent of the interwebs, all you have to do is google the lyrics. You'll find it. Even the crappy old songs mom sings... found a Shirley Temple one last night for her. (Ice cream cake and candy... may be fine and dandy...  ... Got you Mary)

But what do you do if your earworm is classical - and has no lyrics? For a week, I had a bar stuck in my head... it was baroque, maybe early classical. hugely famous. I ended up listening to every Bach piece I had until I found it. Air on a G string. Which is a totally humorous name, these days, but a brilliant piece. But I did phone one of my violinist friends and ask her what it was, leaving a frantic message, before I finally figured it out.

So, now I'm listening to Bartok. No way that would EVER be an earworm (think the music from the Shining. Creepy, but not earwormish)

Have a happy valentines day!

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