First of all, happy 29th birthday to my great husband, William Roy Henninger! I didn't make a big deal about 29. We shall see about 30!
It is a beautiful but windy night in Northeast Iowa. I had to teach a 5:30 step aerobics class, and then I went to a 5 mile run. I felt good on the run, especially since I've done so many squats and lunges in the past two days. I'm deciding what I want to do this summer in terms of races. Do I want to take on a half marathon? Or maybe a full marathon? Or be a little more leisurely and focus on 5 and 10ks? I need to make a decision because if I am going to do a half or a full I need to start doing some long runs. My longest run this year has probably been between 6 and 7 miles.
Lots of people were out on the trails this evening. I love seeing the diversity of individuals. I saw old people, young people, and families biking. Some had top of line biking gear and bikes. Others were riding richety old bikes. I saw a few runners. Some of them were zipping along. Some of them were not. I saw some people walking, with and without canine friends.
The Scripp's National Spelling Bee is on ESPN. I love the spelling bee. I was a good speller as a kid. It came easily to me, and I always got perfect scores on my spelling tests. However, I can't hold a candle to these kids. They are amazing. One of my favorite documentaries is Spellbound. Spellbound shows the journeys of several kids on their way to the national spelling bee. It's awesome. It's getting a bit dated, which means you can buy a used copy pretty cheap on Amazon.com, and I'm sure it's on Netflix as well. If you are interested in watching some socially awkward kids with parents who have questionable mentoring tactics, check it out. And let me know what you think. If you like that, I recommend Mad Hot Ballroom.
One of my favorite elementary school assignments (we may have done it in middle school, too, or maybe even high school) was writing sentences with vocab/spelling words. We would be given a list of words for the week. We would have to learn to spell them but also learn their definitions. I was okay with learning to spell them, but what was really fun was writing the sentences. It still appeals to me to have a list of words and get to just write sentences with them.
I could be the sentence writer for the spelling bee. They kids ask, "Can you please use it in a sentence?" Well, someone has to write all of those sentences. How do I get that job? Does it pay? I would have to learn quite a few new words. As I watch the bee, I realize that I only know about 20% of the words--and that may be giving myself too much credit.
Playing online Scrabble with my dad has proved to me that my vocabulary is less than impressive--especially when I try to challenge his "science" words. I must have not paid attention in chemistry, physics, etc. Actually, I don't think I took physics. My Uncle Stephen is impressive with culinary words, and I'm weak in that area as well. I'm not sure in what area my vocabulary is strong. Maybe health- or disease-related words, but those are seldom used in Scrabble because they are usually long.
I've always been a fan of word-related games (Scrabble, Boggle, Balderdash, Upwords--is Upwords still out there?). I guess part of that is probably because I have typically been good at these games, as opposed to games like Risk, Pictionary, Charades, or Trivial Pursuit. I think people usually like games they excel at. I don't think I am exceptionally competitive when I play board games, but I don't like to lose. An exception would be Jenga. I enjoy it, but I'm awful at it. I'm sort of a "bull in a china shop" type of person. Not much for finesse.
I should add that I am particularly not a fan of Risk. I guess I am not ready to be a military commander. I have been forced into many games of Risk because it was a favorite of both my father and pretty much all of my ex-boyfriends. Once I found a guy who liked me and wasn't obsessed with Risk, I married him. I probably haven't played Risk in 4 years. I don't miss it.
I also dislike games that are based purely on luck, such as the Game of Life (but I love Life the cereal!!!!!) and Farkle. Farkle is a dice game that does involve some strategy, but your outcome is pretty much based on your luck with the dice. I always get annoyed when people compliment you on a win when the game is based on luck. Such as when you win on slots and someone says "Good job." I think that's ridiculous.
I would be interested in how video games (Nintendo, Wii, etc.) have impacted board game sales in the US. I have noticed that many games like Boggle and Scrabble have video game adaptations, which I am assuming they must have to do to survive in 2011. I know you can buy an electronic version of Life and Monopoly. I guess Hasbro and Parker Brothers have had to change with the times.
I am wondering if I should change the name of my blog to "Useless Observations About Irrelevant Stuff." I wouldn't be surprised if that's taken already. It probably describes about 50% of all blogs. I could also go with "Stuff I Think About That You Probably Don't Care About" or "A Blog Only A Parent Could Love."
No comments:
Post a Comment