| Catsu's Corner Archives
September 2003 Back to HOME |
| September 19, 2003 -- Today is the 2nd annual Talk Like a Pirate Day. |
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So, ahoy thar mateys, -- and aye, Capt'n Beck, ye scurvy dog, I be talkin' t'ye. Arrrr.
Shiver me timbers! Can it be? Another year gone by? 'Tis time agin to go on account and hoist the Jolly Roger. So sizzle up the salmagundy and gather the cackle fruit. We'll be havin' ourselves a feast. We'll raise a grog to the bucaneers and sing a pirate's song. (Yo ho, Yo ho) Nay, avast, me hearty, when 'tis done, don't run a rig, for afore ye know it, 'twill be here agin. 'Til then, me mate, don't ye be takin' any wooden dubloons. Ha Ha. Arrrr. Yo ho, Yo ho, a pirate's life for me. - - - |
| September 18, 2003 -- Knowledge is power. |
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We went to Back-to-School Night this week. It's an evening where parents circulate around the classes to meet their students' teachers and to find out a little about the class curiculums. Teachers usually give a short presentation and answer a few questions. In one of the AP classes (classes approved for college credit with the passing of an exam) someone asked of the teacher, "What will you do after the AP test, since there will still be a month of school left?"
This question baffles me. I should think the class would continue to do the same after the exam as they were doing before; reading, listening, processing information, aquiring new knowledge. Are we so test oriented now that we cannot conceive of learning without being tested? Maybe it's a little like that old tree falling in the forest thing. If nobody hears it, does it make a sound? Or in this case, if nobody is there to test it, has it really been learned? What happened to learning for the sheer joy of learning, gaining knowledge for the satisfaction of personal accomplishment, the serendipety of discovering something new? |
| September 17, 2003 -- Do I look fat? |
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In the news today - The Russian Ballet has fired a ballerina because she is too heavy. They said they couldn't find a dance partner who could lift her.
And just how heavy is this overweight dancer? ---- Well she is 5'7" tall and weighs 106 lbs. Sounds to me like those wimpy male dancers could use a few weight training work-outs. Seriously, I think the unrealistic weight expectations placed on these girls is tragic, especially in a profession where anorexia and other eating disorders are known to be rampant. |
| September 15, 2003 -- Birthday greetings. |
| Happy Birthday, Raymond!! |
| September 12, 2003 -- Hello? Hello? |
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Recently I have recieved several calls that are obviously recordings that, when I answer, say, "Oh, I'm sorry, I've reached the wrong number. Good-bye."
What's up with that? Who did the recording want to talk to? Did this machine deliberately dial my number just to tell me it didn't want to dial my number? It's annoying enough when I answer the phone to hear a recording launch into a sales pitch, but now it appears that machines are calling and interupting my day for no reason at all. |
| September 11, 2003 -- Freedom's Flame. |
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Freedom's Flame is a traveling Memorial to the tragedies of September 11, 2001.
This truck carries a 16 ton piece of twisted metal that was once part of the World Trade Center. 
We saw this exhibit in Imperial Beach when we went to the Sand Castle Competition. Less than half a block away from the gaity of the street fair, the exhibit, surrounded by a somber silence, was a marked contrast to the summer fun of beach life. People stopped to reflect on the horrific events of September eleventh and to offer their prayers and sympathy for the people who still suffer. It's hard to fathom the magnitude of this disaster. I heard statistics saying that the office space of the two World Trade Towers was greater than that of all the office space in San Diego combined. Looking at the mangled piece of metal, the battered fire truck, and the pictures of fire fighters who lost their lives, one can not help but feel a great sense of sadness. It's impossible to understand a person or society who doesn't have the same reverence for life that we do. It's impossible to understand someone who would take delight in the death of others and give praise to those who kill. My mind will never understand how hate can go so deep. |
| September 10, 2003 -- Shine on harvest moon. |
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I just love those news teasers.
Today on the channel 8 news, the weather girl said, "Tonight is a full moon. It's the harvest moon and, coming up, I'll tell you when and where you can see it." I'm pretty sure I can figure out when and where to look for the moon without a news broadcast. |
| September 5, 2003 -- Summer storm. |
| Looking out the window, I barely had time to say "It looks like it might rain" when the first drops began to fall. Within minutes it was raining and loud claps of thunder announced that the storm was right overhead. Five cats raced for the house but the sixth one, Toby, got confused and ran the other direction. We were both wet before I could get him inside. |
| September 3, 2003 -- More pronunciation fun. |
| A few years ago Kerry wanted to buy an attache' case (pronounced at'-a-shay) as a gift for her husband. Ever the jokester, her brother, Lloyd, told her, "You're saying it wrong, it's pronounced a-ta'-chee," thus sending her out to every fancy store in town asking to see the 'a-ta-chee' cases. |
| September 2, 2003 -- It's all in the pronunciation. |
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Living in San Diego, we are used to the different pronunciations of words and names derived from Spanish or Indian languages. We forget that others may not be familiar with them.
When my sister-in-law visited last week, we gave her directions, "Just take Jamacha.", (pronounced ham'-a-sha), never even thinking she'd be searching her map for a street beginning with the letter H. Years ago, when riding the bus down El Cajon Blvd., I remember the woman sitting next to me said, "The names out here are so unusual. For instance, is this street called El Ca-joan or El Ca-john?" (It's pronounced El Ca-hone'.) And then there's the out-of-town visiter we know, who, after examining the Mexican restaurant menu, said, "I think I'll try that quizee-dillo." (That would be a quesadilla, pronounced kay'-sa-dee'-a) |
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