Oft Repeated Phrases

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. 😉

OK, so, the other day I noticed how often I preface a story with these words: "a blogger I follow". And it got me thinking...

What if your life was made into a drinking game? What phrase(s) would trigger a drink?

Can I Take That Back?

It was a farmers market Sunday. I sat behind this table (above) and watched the world go by. (My table to the side is below.)

As happens, kids would walk by. And some clearly had an interest in something or other. I could see it in their eyes. They'd stare a bit before walking on.

So, I called out to one. "You can come over and touch..."

At which point I realized how that sounded. Sometimes I should not be allowed to talk.

(I encourage kids to touch my wares. Most are washable, and all are unbreakable, so it's not like the kids are going to bother anything.)

Name Disney Films by Eight-Word Descriptions

Last week was a slow week. (I'm considering it my summer vacation.) So, I have a quiz for today...

Name the Disney Films by Their 8-Word Descriptions

These are ones you have to type in, but you can omit "the" and still get the correct answers. Note the "forward" and "back" buttons. You can skip questions. 

I got 24/26 my first try, but when I just redid it for this post, I got 100%. (*whispers* I cheated for the last one.) 

Good luck, and let me know how you did in the comments.

Unexpected Reaction

Seventh grade science. As we're in the first month of the school year, they're working on things like "how to measure".

One of the questions had a couple boxes that they were to find the volume of. One problem: the numbers on their copies were illegible. So, I made a reasonable guess.

The quickest way to communicate "these are the numbers we're using for that problem" is to write it up on the board. Alas, the board was full of information they needed. But it was one of those sliding boards (here's a link to what the board looks like; I couldn't find an image that wasn't copyright protected, and someone *ahem* forgot to take a picture of the board in the classroom), so I slid the board over, drew a couple boxes, and labeled them with the numbers they were to use.

Problem solved.

When the next class had the same question, I slid the board over. They...

via GIPHY

But these were seventh graders, so the look on their faces was way more. Apparently they'd never seen a sliding whiteboard before. Which is astonishing as they'd been in that class for four weeks now.

I have to assume that she spends more time using the projector and not the whiteboard.

Of all the things to shock them, this would have been the last thing I'd expect.

Figuring it Out

High school chemistry. It's the beginning of the year, so they were learning about significant figures. I thought the assignment much easier than they thought it was. It helps that the topic isn't new to me.

As I did my first walk around, one girl was explaining to a fellow student something about the assignment. I stopped and listened for a moment. As she was explaining it correctly, I didn't interrupt. Then I moved on.

(I like when students help students. Both students get something out of it.)

A bit later in the period, a boy raised his hand.

"Who's right, me or her?"

As the girl he was indicating was the one who had been helping another student earlier, I assumed the girl. But when he showed me which problem and I looked at it, I was surprised to find that the girl was actually wrong.

The boy gloated. I pointed out that he was still figuring things out too. (Not all his work was 100% correct.)

The girl and I debated for a bit. But once I found the rule she needed in her notes, she was able to figure things out. (She had her notes out. The boy did not.) She had been looking at the wrong rule.

(I had not realized how much of this I had internalized until I'm hit with seeing the "rules" written out. It's amazing how much one can retain.)

Dubious Professional

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. 😉

What if you ran into your high school bully, who had you help them cheat in their biology class, and this bully was now a doctor? 

(This was an actual plot point in a TV show I tolerate--that is, I watch it, but only because nothing else is on--and it irked me so much that this what if was born.)

Crocheted Mini Backpacks

I decided to make some more mini backpacks...

It's purple, but I can't get my purples to photograph well. I just replaced my camera (that's a story in itself), so if it was a camera issue, I'll soon find out. (These were photographed with the old camera. These are probably the last pictures I'll take with it.)

The coral pink shows up much better...

I think this is one of those things that show up better in video, however...

I also have all the pieces of a gray one done, but it isn't assembled. I had a bit of a mishap in the assembly, so I put it aside to be dealt with later.

Also when I took these pictures, I took some new shots of my firework earrings...

Just because.

I really should get playing with the new camera. Other things just kept getting in the way.