It's all in our heads

As I awoke this morning, my brain greeted me with a song: Felix the cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat...

I recently read a fascinating article about a sleep study. The goal of this study was to identify what the subjects' brains were up to while they were sleeping. Researchers looked at the activity in fresh ways and were surprised to learn that the brain kicks into much higher gear after we slip into slumberland.

Their theory is basically this: my brain needs a break in the same way I need an occasional vacation from my usual routine. While I'm awake, my brain is busy with monitoring and maintaining my organic functions, along with the secondary stuff - decisions to make, problems to solve, etc. When I sleep, those secondary functions decrease and my brain essentially gets to put on its party clothes. It gets refreshed by playing, not by slowing down.

The "party" is what the researchers are most interested in. What does all that activity represent? Their conclusion: processing all the information that the brain didn't have a chance to work on during the day, along with stuff it didn't get to mess around with in the past. The brain is doing the gleeful equivalent of emptying out dresser drawers - accessing memories, sensations, old books I've read...you name it. Dreams come from some of that whirlwind activity as the brain takes random bits and ties them together in a story.

My dreams tend to be adventures with a lot of comic relief. Many of them take place in the same "town", a place that doesn't actually exist in my waking memory. I once described it to my mom, hoping she'd say oh, that's where we lived when you were a toddler, but no. Apparently my brain simply made it up and enjoys going there. I've been there in my dreams often enough that I could draw a map.

I wondered, this morning, where my brain had been while I slept. Did it visit a dusty mental cabinet labeled "Cartoons I Watched As A Child"? Perhaps I should be grateful that I was serenaded with the theme from Felix rather than Deputy Dawg.

By the way, if you aren't familiar with Felix the Cat, you can learn all about him on The Classic Felix the Cat website. Scroll down to "felix in song" and click on the 1958 mp3 link. Watch out, though. This is a tune that can, potentially, stick to your subconscious like glue.

Overheard on Twitter: "Catch 22" was an early, darker "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

Next time: viral humming in the library. Stay tuned.

Wandering the Web

Ken is taking prerequisite classes for O.C.'s nursing program, hoping to be accepted next fall. Entry into the program has always been competitive, but it's even more so now that the economy has prompted people to review their employability. Many, like Ken, have assessed their employment future and found it to be a little thin.

His current class is algebra. He joked, the first week, that he hadn't cracked an algebra book since the Nixon administration. Ken is a good mathematician with the daily stuff, but this class is an epic challenge. He spends most of his at-home time working on it at the kitchen table.

My computer time usually involves visiting favorite blogs, working on Etsy, and writing. (I'm fickle when it comes to facebook, ignoring it for days, then dropping in with a flurry of activity.) I try to structure my time online and I am pretty good at it. But, yesterday, a pending algebra test changed everything. Ken needed total quiet while he studied. Alas, I was in the house.

So, I exiled myself to the guest room and quietly surfed the 'Net, in the true sense of the term. No structure. Just wandering about.

I found an entertaining article from 2008 about a European conference on Web 2.0 (held in France), entertaining because the conference organizers had forbidden all access to technology at the conference site. The columnist pilloried the event in true Brit style, wry and disgusted and funny. He insulted Americans, too, near the end. Equal opportunity derision.

I found a photo of two homes decorated for Christmas.

I found pumpkins carved in astonishing ways.

I found a website that posts photos of inventive repairs. Clearly, there are some creative minds out there. Creative minds who are also cheap.

I found a blog about inchies, little bits of collaged art. I am in awe of those who create collage. It takes an expert eye to balance color, image, and texture. My early attempts at collage were Not Good but the inchies blog has inspired me to try again; the size of the collage might have something to do with it.

Those are just a few of the engaging things I discovered. I wouldn't say that my time online was, hm, well spent. There were productive things I could have done but it would have meant entering The Study Zone. I whole-heartedly support Ken in his study needs and if it means I must occasionally waste a day, so be it.

At the very least, after my computer time, I had a grand excuse to simply read a book. In the back bedroom. With the door closed.

Overheard on Twitter (from a Brit that I follow): My uncle coerced my gran into writing names on backs of family photos; if it was of her, she wrote "Me".

Next time: the vagaries of life with a 51-year-old who has returned to college. Stay tuned.

Internet Rambles

Humor is everywhere and is particularly available on the Web. There are obvious places to look - College Humor comes to mind (warning: crude humor mixed in with the marvelous stuff.) Other sites are hidden away and found only through rabbit-trail links or friends in the know. Do you need a smile today? Visit these places:

For musical humor, there is no place like YouTube. A Tuesday Jam friend sent a link to an appearance by Willie Hall on Spike Jones' television program. Mr. Hall was a phenomenal classical violinist but he had a playful side, too. He was the Victor Borge of the violin, as you'll see here.

For visual humor, LovelyListing.com is a good spot to visit. The site posts photos from actual real estate ads. Click on the words "Found by" to additional photos from the listing. You'll find funny photos, peculiar photos, even disturbing photos, leaving one to wonder what was the realtor thinking? The photos stand on their own, but read the comments for further hilarity.

Do you enjoy reading about the misuse of language? Humor Matters offers an array of funny stuff, but my favorite section concerns overseas signage. Another site, Engrish.com, posts photos of notices containing amusing translations. Once in awhile a photo looks photoshopped (for shame) but most of the photos are obviously legit.

Blogs can be promising places to do some humor-grazing. One of my favorites is Word Imperfect. The blog owner posts a word each day and invites readers to make up a meaning for it. Sometimes I'll happen upon a singular posting (thank you, rabbit-trails.) like this October 12 post from The League of Reluctant Adults, which offers advice on fending off zombie attacks while trick-or-treating.

Finally, webcomics. My favorites are Wondermark and Unshelved. There is a long, long list of webcomics and it's growing weekly as comic-artists figure out how to post their work. You can find your favorite newspaper comics online, which is how I get my daily Zits fix. I also visit xkcd once a week, but heads up on that one. It can be very odd and and it sometimes qualifies for a "questionable content" rating. I take a chance on it in order to catch the good ones, like this one (saved in my bookmark file.) Another great webcomic is found on Inkygirl. The site is actually a blog offering "daily diversions for writers" but there's a delightful comic on the right side of the page that will change each time you refresh the page.

I'll end with a literary link to A Journey Round My Skull, in which poets are ranked by beard weight.

Overheard on Twitter (from a college student): Today's 1st lecture was about zombies. Our 2nd is about Coleridge. Tuesday may have peaked too soon.

Next time: we'll have to wait and see. Stay tuned.

I heart Grammar Girl

There is an uncertain tension that occurs when an avid reader is employed by a library. So many books! The tension increases if library duties include manning the Returns desk. I've read books that I would never have known about had they not come to my attention via check-in. Paging adds its own layer of discovery. (I didn't know there there was a book about this!) Processing hold requests can trip me up, too.

I cannot read everything I want to read. Therefore, tension.

The Internet contributes to this tension, offering scores of book reviews in the blogosphere (that's where I found out about Encyclopedia Idiotica) and by sites like LibraryThing, GoodReads, and Shelfari. Shelfari is currently sending nattery email alerts, telling me all about the reading that other members are doing and encouraging me to log my own. It offers to hook me up with some good books. If it only knew.

My latest Good Book of the Week came to me because somebody tweeted about it - Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips For Better Writing, by Mignon Fogarty. The author has a conversational style that is easy to read. Although she is Grammar Girl, her book includes information concerning usage. She treats the subject with down-to-earth humor and she is not afraid to stand firm about things like asterisks. To quote from the book, "...it drives me crazy when ads have an asterisk next to some offer, and then you can't find what it means. More than once I've seen something such as Jackhammers, 20% off,* and then nothing else on the page to indicate what the asterisk means. Does it mean I get 20 percent off only if it is a Sunday and my name is Squiggly? I hate that!..."*

A podcast listener suggested she call them "exasperisks."

Ms. Fogarty addresses many common errors such as "alot" vs "a lot" vs "allot." I've learned some useful things, e.g. the difference between e.g. and i.e. Her examples are delightful; I've laughed out loud in public, reading this book. I would be happy to suggest it to anyone who writes anything. And now that I've read it, I am much more aware of my own writing style. Alas.

Rather than Overheard on Twitter, I'm choosing instead to highlight a recent discovery, Random Wodehouse Quote. Each time you refresh the page, you'll get a fresh quote from a Wodehouse book. I had to stifle a laugh while at the Reference Desk, an unhealthy thing to do to one's sinus. The quote that did it: His whole attitude was like that of a policeman with nothing on his mind but his helmet.

Next time: rambles among the Internets. Stay tuned.

* Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, page 112.

Wot?

There are some absurd things on the Web, as you know if you've spent any time browsing around. One of those absurd things is a photo of Ken and me, ca. 1984, taken in an Amsterdam photobooth. Our son has added it to his facebook photo album and, as a result of friends' comments, is threatening to put the photo on My Parents Were Awesome, although we're not sure awesome is the best description for us. We think we look like members of Germany's Green Party, or the Red Brigade. Got bombs? You be the judge:

Overheard on Twitter: totally going to murder the elevator's disembodied robot-voice person if she refers to the floors of the hotel as "decks" one more time.

Next time: GrammarGirl. I promise. Stay tuned.

The Blog

This blog was started as part of a Web 2.0 training. It couldn't have happened at a better time because I broke my arm six weeks into the program. krl2.0 gave me something to do - I passed the time with the weekly assignments (typing one-handedly) and reading other staff blogs. As a soft-core geek, I enjoyed having the time to explore the Internet. All the technology stuff helped take my mind off of my arm and my highly-annoyed ulnar nerve. Best of all, I discovered that I liked blogging. Until krl2.0, most of my writing tended toward the instructional or technical, something I do well; blogging gave me a chance to write what I felt like writing. It didn't matter if anyone read it. It was simply fun to do.

And here I am, nearly two years later.

Humor is still my blog focus because I believe laughter is a major component in maintaining emotional health. Even a small chuckle does wonderful things. As a child, I spent weeks, sometimes months in a pediatric ward due to a congenital hip defect, receiving experimental orthopedic surgery. I learned very early on that finding the humor in difficult things helped a lot. All I had to do was keep my eyes open and watch people, especially the nurses. One of the orderlies made a point of visiting me whenever he was in my area - he would come into my room and tell me a joke, and I would tell one back: What was Snow White's sister's name? Egg White. Get the yolk? Hospitals are huge when it comes to funny stories, probably because the human condition is so in-your-face there.

The best humor often comes from the collision between human nature and a challenging situation. The humor doesn't override what's happening. It just helps with perspective, sometimes long after the situation has passed. I was my mom-in-law's primary caregiver during her last months on hospice care. There were some truly wretched days as she lived with unimaginable pain from bone cancer. (Praise God for morphine pumps.) Did we laugh a lot together? Absolutely. For one thing, the morphine was good for a lot of laughs as she adjusted to the drug's effect. And she told me more about her life than I might otherwise have heard, since we had all the time in the world to sit and talk. As a retired nurse, she had a wealth of humorous reminiscences. (See "Hospitals" above.)

We watched a documentary this weekend about the Laughing Clubs in India. I would love to start one in Kitsap County. There are Laughing Clubs in Seattle but they are inconveniently located in...well, Seattle.

It's time to end this and get ready for another day at the library. May your days be sprinkled with laughter.

Overheard on Twitter: Why was the robber in the garbage? Because he was rotten! #mydaughtersfirstjoke.

Next time: GrammarGirl. Possibly. Stay tuned.

Personal Safety Products

I'm not quite sure how I ended up reading a blogpost on KatyDidSaid. I don't remember my original search, or how many links it took to finally land on the blog. Have you read Outlander? The heroine walks into a ring of stones and (surprise!) finds herself in 18th century Scotland. That's the Internet, sometimes.

KatyDidSaid blogged about an interesting article of clothing created by a Japanese designer. I won't say anything more. If you're curious, read the post here. It even has photos.

The Japanese may be the most out-of-the-box thinkers in the world.

Overheard on Twitter: This hat would like to say hello: http://twitpic.com/j8di4

Next time: GrammarGirl. Stay tuned.