Patricia Ryan Madson

Look how cool this is.  Click HERE to see an entry I wrote last week where I copied a quote from a wonderful little book called Improv Wisdom by Patricia Ryan Madson. Yesterday I just happened to be going through some old blog entries and noticed there were 2 comments listed on this post when I only remembered there being one. So I clicked on it and found--to my surprise--that the author herself had chimed in on my blog.

 What a thrill! I'm guessing she Googled either her name or her book title and the blog entry popped up. But I'm overjoyed she took the time to log in and say hello. She's written an extraordinary little book which I recommend to anyone. I took an improv class last year and was horrible at it.  Really really really bad. (Which was a shock, as I thought I would be pretty good at it.) But the class was loads of fun and I wrote an article (not published) about applying the principles of improv to writing. Madson has taken these principles and expanded on them in her book and applied them to life.

So, now that I know authors will flock to my blog when I write about them I'm inspired to start reeling off lists of names.  Let's see, I'll do a shout-out to Stephen King, David Sedaris, Anne Lamont, J.K. Rowling, and Scott Adams (Dilbert cartoonist).  What's up, people!

Can't wait for the signatures to start rolling in. =)  Have a good day.

Speech Contest Comes To An End

The Toastmasters International Speech Contest came to an end for me last night. I placed 3rd in our District 37, Division B contest. Oddly for someone as competitive as myself, I'm extremely pleased with my placement.  Everyone who spoke gave excellent speeches.  So much so that as I was sitting in the audience listening to them and awaiting my turn I was thinking, "Uh-oh, uh-oh," having one of those moments where you wonder if it's possible for you to slip out of the building without anyone noticing.

I was pleased with my performance though. I held my own against some very advanced speakers. And from watching them, I know now what I need to do to go further the next time around. Use props and visual aids. Get the audience involved. State more clearly a direct tie-in to how the content of my speech affects the audience personally in their lives.  

 The winning speaker, Simon Whitaker, was phenomenal. He did some fancy boxing footwork and demonstrated amazing jump-roping ability in his speech and never missed a beat. I was winded just watching him and his heart had to be pounding but you'd never know it. It was an inspiring speech and he had the whole audience participate in it. I think he'll do well at the next level.

And, it's nice to be in the clear. No more practice for the next level. Now I have an inkling how the bronze medal winners at the Olympics feel. Gold is great and silver leaves you wondering what you could have changed and how close you maybe came to winning. But for those of us in third, we're just happy to be recognized for our efforts. =)

My applause and admiration for all the speech speakers AND the amazing table topic speakers. They had to speak extemporaneously on a question that would have stopped me dead in my tracks and I'm a pretty good table topics speaker. It was HARD and they all knocked it out of the park.  It was inspiring to watch them speak.

The Mysteries of Life

• Why does plucking your eyebrows make you sneeze?
• Why can't women apply mascara without sticking our tongues out the side of our mouths?
• Why do you hit all red lights when you're in a hurry and all green lights when you're in no rush?
• Why can I go to the exact same hair stylist as other people and they come out with fun, chic hairstyles and I look like a five-year old got too near me with their first pair of scissors?
• Why can't I ever find a (fill in the blank) straight pin/thumb tack/rubber band/toothpick when I need one but can find 50,000 of them when they're not needed?
• Why can't I grow flowers? (Okay, I know the answer to that one. Apparently you have to water them occasionally...)
• Why am I allergic to cats when I love them above all measure?
  
• Why do I crave chocolate after exercising? (I think it's because God has cruel sense of humor, but I can't prove anything)
• Why do Doritos smell like dirty feet? (We can send a man to the moon but can't fix this? C'mon...)
  
• Why is the thing on earth I most want to be--a successful writer--the hardest thing of all for me to do?
  
• Why am I not worshipped as a god? (This one is a thinker...)
• And finally, why do I suspect my cats are smarter than me and hold the answers to most of the above questions but just aren't telling?

People ask me what happens when I can't think of anything to blog about. The above entry is the perfect example. Better luck tomorrow.

Trying to Entertain a 4-Year-Old

It's all about filling the hours.

My sister-in-law and her son are visiting this weekend. They are having a snack at the kitchen table and I have snuck away to check e-mail and blog (ah ha ha - evil laugh).  I was not looking forward to having them here but in all fairness I must say this has not been a bad weekend, thus far. I had memories from their last visit a year ago where the activity of choice was banging a solid brass belt buckle against my hardwood floors. The nephew seems a little more well-behaved this time around, in part because I think he's grown into some shyness.

Yesterday afternoon Blair spent almost 2 hours playing football and soccer with L. out in the yard. Today Blair had to work (I'll get him for that one) so it was all on me. I loaded them into the car around 9 and we drove into Greensboro and spent several hours at The Children's Museum. VERY COOL place if you've never been there.  They have a giant bubble machine where you stand in the center of a circle of soap, pull on a rope that raises a plastic cylinder dipped in suds and it ends that you're standing in the center of this giant soap bubble.  I was shoving small children out of the way so I could play with that.  That's after I flashed them. At some point in the morning I looked down and realized a key button on my blouse had come undone and been that way for God knows how long.  Well, they do advertise an educational experience...

After that we took L. to his first movie - Ice Age II. He enjoyed it and that killed another 2 hours. Now we're home, it's just before 5 and I have to figure out how to fill the next 4 hours until I can excuse myself and go to bed. It's raining, so we're housebound. My only hope is our day was so full he'll tucker out early.

How on earth do you parents out there do this every day???