CAN YOU CHOOSE TO BE A GENIUS?

My husband shared an Intel video with me that is going to be a new commercial. I tried to put in on my blog, but I guess Intel security won't let me. In the video it asks the question "Can you choose to be genius?" I thought it was a great video and it made me start thinking. Can you choose to be a genius? Now I know that brains plays a part in there somewhere, but I don't think everyone who invents something or comes up with a new system on how to do things is a candidate for Mensa. How many times have people had their ideas squelched because they weren't what was wanted at the time, or were silly, dumb, seemingly ineffective, too costly, too complicated, too simple, etc, etc. How many future geniuses were discouraged by verbally abusive parents, teachers, supervisors, friends, bosses, siblings, or by just a lack of belief in theirselves?
We live in an age where technology and infomation are at our fingertips (this was brought out by the video also). But we have so many other things that keep us busy, that many genius candidates simply do not take the time to ponder or meditate on that idea in their head.

If you would like to read an article I found about this subject, copy and paste this into your browser:

https://www.amazines.com/article_detail.cfm/443940?articleid=443940

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, INKLINGS!

Today is Inklings birthday and since she is my sister I want to blog about my memories about her.

One memory to go with this time of year, is my memory of going Christmas shopping with Inklings. We lived in Omaha, Nebraska and one year Inklings took me downtown to shop. We took the bus down town and I remember being totally amazed at everything we saw. I have no memory of what we bought, but I'm sure we were Christmas shopping because it was really cold. I remember going into the department stores and riding the escalators up and down. I don't remember if we had lunch there or not, but I do remember her taking me into a store to have hot chocolate. She told me they had good hot chocolate and I was amazed that she even knew that. I remember burning the crap out of my mouth on that very hot chocolate, but it was good. She took me around like it was no big deal to her and that she knew where she was going. I think I don't remember a lot of details because I was in such awe during the whole shopping trip - that I was even asked to go, and because I loved seeing everything.
Inklings and I shared a bedroom. If you would like to read about this, see "Who Do You Think You're Foolin?" Post - November 18, 2007.
I remember when we moved to Texas. Inklings wanted to go to some teenage hangout (local burger drive-in) to check out some boy I think, but she didn't want to go alone so asked me to come with her. I think I was about 14 at this time. She threatened me with my life if I told anyone how old I was. I was so amazed that she asked me that I kept my word and didn't tell anyone I was only 14. I only remember sitting at the drive-in and people came up and talked to us. Inklings posted not too long ago about taking me with her to Alice's Restaurant. What I remember about that experience is being scared to death. :0+ Everything just seemed too weird to me. If you want to read about this see Inkling's post, "If you can't keep your skeleton in the closet, you'd best teach it to dance" - November 23, 2008. She called it Charlie's Restaurant, I knew it as Alice's Restaurant. I remember it because of the song Alice. "Go ask Alice, when she's 10 feet tall..." I remember I went there with some of my friends once some years later. That was enough. It was still a very weird place.
I remember going with Inklings to get a new puppy, which we named "29" because she was born on the 29th of February. I remember Inklings carrying her home in her pocket because she was so small.
One time Inklings painted some pictures for an art class in the style of Pablo Picasso. I thought they were the coolest paintings I had ever seen. Inklings also introduced me to The Black Stallion series. They were some of my favorite books. I was so amazed that she actually wrote to Walter Farley and he ANSWERED her! More than once!
I was terribly shy when I was growing up and didn't even try to grow out of it until a teenager. I always relied on Inklings because she always seemed to be so much older, wiser, cooler, prettier, and smarter than me.
Here are some more words that describe her: artistic, caring, compassionate, beautiful, steadfast, enduring, strong, spiritual, funny, sarcastic, nutty, devoted, kind, loving, sweet, tough, true, wonderful, witty, young-at-heart, writer, poet, artist, crafter, great cook, grandma, mother, daughter, sister, friend.

MY BROTHER, TWIST

It was my brother, Twist's birthday November 28th. Thanks to Delirious for reminding me. That was the weekend we were coming home from our Thanksgiving trip to Texas, and the next few days were very crazy getting ready to leave for Ireland. I told myself I would blog about him once I got to Ireland, so here it is a little late.
Twist is my sibling just younger than me. What I remember about him as a kid was always being a very curious little boy. He was always taking something apart to see how it worked. He was always rigging things up too. I remember one time he fixed a string from the light switch in his room so he could lay in bed and pull the string and turn out the light.
Twist always had some kind of bug in a jar. He was always getting an old mayonaise or jam jar and poking holes in it for his bug. I remember him reading about his bugs in the encyclopedias too. The encyclopedias seemed to be his favorite books. Our "B" encyclopedia, if I remember right, had color pictures of lots of bugs. Twist would read about them, and lots of other things and tell us the trivia and interesting facts about what he had read. Not to be a bore, just because it was something he learned and wanted to share.
I really didn't know Twist that well when he was a teenager. I moved out of the house at 17 - he would have been 14. I appreciated Delirious' blog telling about him so I could learn.
Twist is very easy-going and patient. I don't know if I have ever seen him in a bad mood. A year ago October, my parents came for my son's wedding. Twist told me he would go with me to drive them back. We drove them home one day, and got up the next morning and drove back home. I enjoyed the time to talk and talk with Twist. It seemed we never ran out of anything to talk about. One thing I really like talking Twist about is Harry Potter. He is just as big of a fan as I am.
Here are some words that describe Twist: Adventurous, adept, curious, smart, funny, wry, devoted, patient, comfortable, loving, sportsman, fisherman, Star Wars fan, Harry Potter fan,tough, flexible, great, honest, kind, nutty, generous, wishful, spiritual, true, good, likeable, witty, brother.
Happy Belated Birthday Twist! I love you!

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES

When I was a kid, we never opened a Christmas present until Christmas morning. Not one. Not even on Christmas Eve. For any reason. Never. Ever. My parents always seemed excited about Christmas. I really didn't appreciate this until after I was grown. I think my Dad was more excited than my Mom. On Christmas morning, we were awakened to the sound of "Ho, Ho, Ho!!" Santa sounded surprisingly like my Dad! We always had to wait in the hall at the bottom of the stairs - some of us sat on the stairs waiting for everyone to come. Then Dad lined us up youngest to oldest and then we were allowed in. I can't remember a lot of specific Christmases. I do remember getting a Barbie kitchen for Christmas one year. It had an oven that had a burner that glowed red, and a turkey in the oven on a rotisserie that rotated. You could even put water in the sink and it would pump out through the faucet. Barbie's kitchen appliances were a stylish aqua! Barbie was always in style in the 60's. Another Christmas I remember getting a bicycle. Actually it was given to both my sister and I, although I don't remember her riding it that much. I rode it alot. At least until my brother got a shiny red bike for Christmas a few years later and then I rode his all the time.

The other present I remember getting was a guitar. I had asked my Mom to show me how to play her guitar. She showed me a few things, basically how to read the guitar charts, and I taught myself the rest. I loved my guitar. It was probably my favorite gift growing up. I think I was 12, maybe older. I was so shocked to get it, because I never thought I would get one. I was content playing my mother's. I remember that Christmas, Dad was so excited to give me the guitar that he broke one of his most important rules - never give hints. Dad dropped the hint that someone was getting a present from Santa that was as big, if not bigger than the piano bench. I never thought it would be me. One reason was because at 12 (or older) I knew I was too big for Santa gifts. In fact, I remember going in to the living room and just sitting on the couch watching the other kids get their Santa gifts. Finally my dad asked me if I had seen my gift from Santa. I hadn't even noticed it. It was laying on top of the piano bench but wasn't wrapped. I was so surprised I could hardly even talk! It was a Silvertone brand that Sears sold.

That guitar had many miles put on it. As a teenager, it was the last thing I grabbed before I went out of the house. I took it everywhere, throwing it into the back of my car so I could take it, at the request of my friends, to Buffalo Lake where we sat by bonfires singing, or to parties. I played the guitar while my cousins and I sang in the talent show every summer. I think I even tried to take it Christmas caroling one time, which didn't turn out too good I think. I was never really good at playing the guitar, just okay. It didn't matter. I loved doing it and loved singing with my friends. I made a guitar book from songs I had copied from the radio. I kept a piece of paper and a pen by the radio and whenever a song came on that I was trying to get the words to, I would listen and write as fast as I could. Sometimes I would wait an hour or so and call the radio station to request the song again so I could finish getting the words I missed. We didn't have internet where we could go to web sites to get the words. Then after I got the words, I would sit and play and try to figure out the chords to use. I only knew basic chords and never got very fancy, so probably some places of the songs didn't sound real great. After I got all the words and the chords, I would copy the whole thing over on a clean sheet of notebook paper and put them in a 3-ring notebook. I still have that notebook of hand-copied songs.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMBER!

Yesterday was Amber's birthday. I had jet lag so bad I didn't even know what day it was, so I am posting a little about her today.

When Amber was a baby she was really a fireball! Her 2 sisters were well-mannered, quiet little girls who I could take anywhere and people commented on how well-behaved they were. Amber was always into everything and curious about things and had a lot of energy. Even my pediatrician said when I took her into a check-up: "You don't need any boys, you have Amber!"

We always said a family prayer at the dinnertable,and we would kneel down beside our chairs to say our family prayer, then sit in our chairs to say a blessing on the food. One day we were all kneeling beside our chairs and my husband was praying. All of a sudden Amnber started saying, "Where'd they go? Where'd they go? I don't know. Where'd they go?" The girls and I were trying so hard not to laugh but it was so funny. When my husband finished praying, we all three burst out laughing. He thought we were being so rude to laugh during the prayer, but it was really funny!

As a little girl, Amber favorite place to play was my kitchen cabinets. She and Survival Knife and Babs would play in the pots and pans cupboard and the big tupperware cupboards. If they took a few things out, they could fit easily in there. They loved to play in there especially if I was in the kitchen cooking or cleaning up.

I used to think it was funny because Amber always seemed to be able to boss her younger brothers into getting them to do whatever she wanted them to do. They were always running upstairs to get her something out of her bedroom. One day Babs came to me and complained that she was telling him to go get her something. I said to him, "Tell her no - that you won't do it." He said, "No, I can't." I don't think he was afraid she would retalliate or anything, I think he just thought he couldn't because he felt he needed to do it for her.

When Amber was a teenager, we would tend my oldest daughter's baby at night while she worked. One night I had to go somewhere and Amber was tending the baby. It was a stormy night and while I was gone, the weather service issued a Tornado Warning. When I got home, the boys were sitting in the den watching tv. I said, "Where is Amber?" They said, "She's in your closet with the baby." I went to my closet and there sat Amber with the baby, a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMBER! WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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