Wednesday, February 24, 2010


Cougar Town

I didn't think I would blog tonight because I got home late and am tired. However, after stuffing myself with pizza, I started watching the show Cougar Town, and well, I am just going to say it, or rather scream it....

I HATE IT AND I JUST DON'T GET IT! If you watch it please explain to me what it is that you like about it. I really really want to hear from someone who thinks this show is good, so I can yell at you and call you names, like moron! Sorry, but I am totally upset that this piece of drivel got decent reviews and that it is taking up space on our airwaves.

I accidentally posted this on a new blog I started for a class, didn't understand what had happened, but now I get it!
Rosemary

Same old, same old

I keep reading the paper and finding the same old stories that I just can't get excited, upset, or anything about anymore.  I have given up on anything changing, getting better, or being good.  To me the world is going to Hell in a handbasket as my parents used to say, and their parents probably said that too.  Where are the young people who should be out there caring and trying to change the world?  Because I have become jaded and know that most people are just plain bad.  Sorry, but does anyone get it?
Rosemary

Not tonight

Started to blog about a couple of things and kept deleting.  Maybe tomorrow will be better.  My day was good, just can't get fired up about anything. 
Rosemary

Discouraged

I am just so discouraged.  It seems everything everyone writes on the site I joined, is excellent.  Some of it is even exceptional, NOT!  Never liked that not thing, but it really works here.  And if a review is given that says the writing is less than excellent, you get turned in for not following the rules of reviewing!  You aren't supposed to make anyone feel bad!  I'm not kidding, and I just don't get it.  It seems these "writers" just want to be told how wonderful they are, have a hug fest, and then continue to write crap!  Makes me mad, because I know when I write crap and I wouldn't post it, and if I did because I wanted to think it was good, I would be so grateful when a reader told me it was crap!  So please, someone read my blog, go all the way back, and tell me what's good and what's crap.  I guess it is better to write crap and have people read it then to write something that has merit that nobody reads!  Night.
Rosemary

WHAT?

What?
I hollered when I read
fifty thousand a month?  For what I said.
For twenty hours of consulting work
the payer of this must be a jerk.

Oh my GM it be
one of what was the big three.
Nothing is new, nothing has changed,
this whole world is just deranged.

Wrote this after the article in today's Free Press about Fritz Henderson.  He is going to get paid 59,090.00 per month plus expenses for 20 hours of consulting work each month.  Yes, you read that right.  I can't believe it and I JUST DON"T GET IT!
Rosemary

Another Poem

Wrote another poem tonight for a contest.  It has to be 4 lines and between 20 - 25 total syllables, about anything. It can rhyme or not, have meter or not so this is what I came up with.

A moment let go
can not be retrieved
so keep it near you
for it is only a moment.

I included a picture on the writing sight, unfortunately can't copy it here, but it is a picture with a calm and quiet feel.  Anyway, I like the poem, how about you? 

Rosemary

Stop sign

Just another night of not really  having much to say.  Oh, on my way to an appointment this morning, a driver went right through a stop sign, (not literally), and as he passed me I looked over to see just what an idiot looked like, and no surprise, he had a phone to his ear.  I don't think he even knew that he had neglected to stop at a stop sign, he was oblivious.  Scary, driving while not paying attention, don't get it.
Rosemary

Been Away

I've been away, did anyone notice?  Ha Ha!  No one did I know, so I am crying in my beer.  I have to keep reminding myself that I am doing this for me, but I reread all of my postings tonight, and damn, they're good!  Anyway, so much for blogging everyday.  I will continue to make that my goal, but when away it is hard to fit it in.  So now schools should prevent teen pregnancies, at least according to a Free Press editorial.  Yes, I think sex ed should be part of the public school curriculum, yes, I think values should be part of the teaching that takes place in school, and yes I think that we should have some control over the behavior of our students.  Here is the reality:  Many parents request that they be allowed to instruct their children in sexuality and would the schools please stay out of it, so they say DON'T and believe, yes really believe that that will do it.  Many parents say the schools have no right to teach values, that the home will instill the parent's values into the children.  Then they go about their lives, lying, cheating, not showing tolerance, complaining about work, shouting that they deserve more, or being so self-righteous that the children want to puke.  And behavior, well read the last sentence, with parents behaving badly, is there any hope for the children?  And if the schools try to interfere, instruct, control, or God forbid, teach content in an orderly classroom, the parents of the disgruntled child who was asked to put away the cellphone, (yes, there is a  policy about this), cover up exposed breasts, or underwear, (yes, there is a dress code), hand in homework, sit down and be quiet, or listen and learn, come storming in with their advocate, or lawyer, or ACLU representative and scream discrimination, or harassment, or why are you picking on my child?  What the hell are we supposed to do?
Tell me please, because I just don't get it.
Rosemary

Shall we dance?

Shall we dance?  On a bright cloud of music shall we fly?  Remember that from the King and I?  Dancin With My Baby... tonight I danced with my babies.  My granddaughter and grandson, what bliss!  I don't get why anyone doesn't like dancing.  We twirled, we hopped, we dipped, we shoulder danced, we turned, we waltzed, we jitterbugged, we had attitude!  We had fun.  You know the song that says "I Hope You Dance?"  Well I hope you do, through life. 
Rosemary

Taking the night off

Snow day today, snow night tonight!  Really, I could just not blog and have another mistake, but instead I am going to use the snow as a way to escape what tonight seems a responsibility. 
Rosemary

Beef Bourguignon

So I made it, Julia Child's famous dish.  I have been wanting to make it since seeing the movie "Julie, Julia", which is a great movie by the way.  I asked for and got "The Art of  French Cooking" for Christmas and perused it, noticing the detail and numerous steps involved in the recipes.  I made steak her way, fabulous, and green beans, out of this world, and then tackled the signature dish!  Disappointed in my results.  I did everything according to the directions and from start to sitting at the table for consumption, six hours!  Yes, six hours, and all of that time actually preparing, because even as the dish cooks, there are the finishing touches to work on.  I know I did everything right, here is what I think made my dish just good and not excellent.  I bought stew meat, as the recipe called for, but next time I will get a better cut of meat.  I used rather inexpensive wine, and the wine is the broth, so next time I will use a better wine.  I also think there are a couple of steps that can be skipped or revised and in fact just watched Tyler Florence make this dish and I am going to do it his way next time.  I am going to continue to experiment with the recipes in the book, and no I am not going to blog about it, that's been done!  But I did want to share this particular experience with my attempt at French cooking.  I don't get not trying new things, and not making the time to do something different.  Life is short, live it now before the opportunity is gone!
Rosemary

No subject

Don't  have one tonight.  It doesn't matter, it is just the reality of being too busy to think about things that I don't get.  I guess that is a good thing, to spend my day involved with business that I do get!  I do get my job, I like it and am very good at it.  I do get going over to relieve John of babysitting duties, and loving being there.  I do get coming home, hungry and tired, grabbing a shower, heating up food and now getting ready to veg.  I get all of this, I don't get why sometimes I wish I was doing something else!  This is life and life is good!  Be thankful.
Rosemary

Mistakes and more

I made the same mistake twice, I missed another day of blogging.  Well since no one is reading this anyway, what does it matter?  As for my bad review, we (the reviewer and I), have been going back and forth on what I meant to say, and why he feels confused, and how to fix it, and it has been great!  That's what writing is all about, getting feedback, and taking another look, and making it work.  Now for today's paper, the biggest thing being the state of education in this great county of ours.  I could say a lot of things,  but I am not going to.  I am going to say this; we have a lot of students succeeding, working hard, and being successful.  We don't track, we don't decide who can and who can't in a formal way, and maybe we should.  There is brilliant, there is smart, there is average, there is below average, and there is dumb, and the schools don't make them this way.  We better start getting this and doing something about it.
Rosemary

Bad review

So I got my first bad review tonight.  I wrote a poem for a contest and it received four positive reviews and one not so positive.  What bothered me about the negative one was that I found it pompous.  I did go to his writings and he is very good, so I can't say he doesn't have a grip on poetry, but I still felt that his review was not helpful because he was being condescending.  So I don't get why a very good writer would write a review that was not helpful in that it simple stated, "I don't get it."  Do you love it?  Here I am blogging about things I can't wrap myself around and I get a review on something I wrote that says I don't get it!  You got to love it!
Rosemary

Teachers

I am a teacher.  I don't always get other teachers.  I often wonder why people choose this profession because I have met a few through the years that should not have.  Going way back to my first experience as a teacher; I was teaching in a special education program for middle school students, but it was housed in a separate wing in an elementary school.  I remember having to go to the school office and on my way back to "our wing" I passed a classroom and heard the teacher yelling, I mean really yelling.  I stopped and looked at the door and saw "2nd grade"!  I was young, I was idealistic and I was mad.  I did not understand it then, and I don't understand it now.  The first requirement to being a teacher should be: like kids and know what kids you like, young kids?  Teach elementary school. Pre-pubescent? (is that a word?), teach middle school and God love ya.  Teenagers, and notice I said "teenagers" and not "adults" AND there is a HUGE difference between a fourteen-year-old and an eighteen-year-old, so if you are going to teach high school you better know that, appreciate that, and be able to teach "to all that!"  Here is a twist on how America does school:  In elementary school, enjoy these young minds and hearts, have fun, but teach content.  Be tough on them, not mean, be firm and expect a lot, no excuses!  Stop feeling sorry for your babies and expect them to step up to the plate.  Now, in middle school, we have kids with the basic skills, and the basic study habits necessary to learn the middle school curriculum because they weren't coddled but neither were they ever belittled.  They had teachers who wanted to instruct and watch them grow, not protect and enable.  So for the next three years while it is important to teach your subject area, it is also important to teach social skills, manners, friendship skills, more study strategies, (READING, not decoding, but how to meet text), and to connect in a big way with every child, yes they are still children, that you pass each day, and to realize that this period of time is a make it or break it time for many of  the kids you see everyday.  And you can't blame them for the baggage they carry, they didn't pack their bags.  Now we are in high school and the kids feel pretty good about themselves because their teachers in middle school understood that they needed to help them learn the curriculum, but they also needed to "parent" a bit because that's when parents kind of lose it.  Now we have kids who learned the basics in elementary school, were able to continue to grow academically in middle school and were also given the support needed to build the self-esteem necessary to survive high school.  Again, they weren't coddled or enabled, but they were understood and helped, (there is a difference and good teachers know it).  So you think all you have to do as a teacher is give them the information you so love and want them to know?  Ha!  Think again.  You have the toughest job of all, you have to help them become adults, because as they enter high school they are really still children, and in four years they will be expected to "become".  They will not become if all you do is teach Math, or English, or Social Studies, of Science, or Art, or Auto, or Whatever.  So be prepared to teach, to parent, to befriend, to care in such a way that you help them learn what they need to know, but you also listen.  Listening is probably the skill high school teachers need most, and being able to listen when no one is talking.  And all you wanted to do was teach, right?  Well, what is teaching?  I think it is helping someone to learn, and there is a lot to learn in life. 
Rosemary

I am glad I set a goal for myself to write everyday, because when I get home late, like tonight, I would really rather not!  But I will because I said I would.  I can't really think about anything that I don't get, however, that I want to blog about, so a thought perhaps to make you think.  Why was Desmond on the plane? 
Rosemary

A Pourquoi Tale

You are about to read a tale I wrote a long time ago.  I wrote this with upper elementary school and middle school age kids as the audience.  I shared it on my on-line writing site and got some very positive reviews, so now I feel confident enough to share it with you!  If you don't get why I am doing this, let me explain.  I am a writer.  A writer loves writing, but a writer also wants what is written to be read by someone or by a whole lot of someones.  I do write for me, but I think some of what I write is good enough to be read by others.  So read my story and tell me what you think.  Let me know if you get it!

Why There Are Fish In The Sky
a Pourqoui Tale
by Rosemary Schimmel 

Life at the bottom of the ocean was quite dull. The bottom feeders moved slowly; they slept and ate. Their existence was tedious. Discontent was brewing in the dark depths. a few of the creatures who made their home there were longing for more excitement, and were resentful of the creatures living in the mid-waters where there was light and more activity.

"We shall go there," one of these bottom dwellers announced one day.

"You can not," came the reply from a very old inhabitant of the sea. "We are meant to be here, the swimmers of  mid-sea are meant to be where they are, and the fish at the top of the sea, well, they were born to be there. You must learn to accept your place."

This quieted the rebels for a short time, but before long the leader announced again, "We shall go there. Only now, it isn't to mid-sea that we wish to go, but to the top! The light there must be glorious with even more to do."

The old inhabitant vehemently spoke up again. "This is impossible! You will surely meet with peril and certain death if you attempt to go where you do not belong."

The others who had also been thinking that there must be more to their existence began to grumble. "I wish to swim higher too."

"Yes, I deserve a better place in the sea. I have been down here long enough."

"I also want to try and reach the top. We should go!"

The old inhabitant tried once more to dissuade the young rebels. "The creatures at mid-sea do not want you there. It is crowded and there is no room for you."

"But that is not where we are going to stay. We are going to the top!"

"They will eat you up before you have a chance to tell them of your impossible plan. There are some in the middle who also desire to be at the top. They will not allow you, the bottom feeders, to pass them by. They will beat you down and send you broken, back to the very bottom of the sea from where you came."

The old inhabitant knew that his words had gone unheeded. The party of rebels had turned and swum away before he had finished his oration. Sadly, he lay on the very bottom of his ocean home. Others before these young scrappers had tried to swim higher, and he had seen the proof of their lost struggle in the decay that floated down to become the ocean floor.

The next day four bottom dwellers began their ascent. They were young, strong, and filled with longing to be in a better place. Their desire propelled them quickly upward.  As the waters around them grew lighter, their need to be among the higher fish in the sea grew stronger.

Upon reaching mid-sea, they were met by a brigade of fish demanding to know why they had come. "How did you ever get this far? You are not capable of living here. You were not made to live in this much light among us."

"We wish to swim to the top. We have no plans to stay here and bother you." the leader explained.

"To the top! Why, who do you think you are? Don't you know all fish have a place in the sea and you can not upset the balance of our ocean home? Go back to the bottom where you belong, and we shall tell no one of your foolishness."

"We are going on," spoke the leader. "We do not want trouble; we only wish to pass and take our chances on reaching the top."

This angered the fish in the middle, and they attacked. In the ensuing battle, a bottom feeder was lost. As he slowly sank towards the bottom, the leader screamed, "Why do you try to keep us from going higher? Let us pass, and perhaps one of us will even reach the sky!"

This caused a fish from mid-sea to exclaim, "You think you can really reach the top? Then go, pave the way for us; we also long for more light and a better life. But you will not succeed. Others from our place have tried only to fail."

"We will not fail. we have come this far, and we shall swim on to the top," the leader shouted as they continued their ascent.

The fish at mid-sea swam away, believing they were where they would forever be, not having the strength to swim higher. "They shall never reach the top," said one.

"Oh, I hope they do," spoke another, and painfully he swam away in the opposite direction.

The remaining three rebels swam upwards, but with more caution now. "Perhaps we are wrong to do this," said one. "Maybe we should go back to the bottom where we belong."

"I shall never go back!" spat the leader. "One of us has paid the ultimate price for a better life, and for him I will swim upward until I reach the sky."

"The sky?" his fellow rebels queried. "We thought we only wanted to swim to the top of the sea."

"At first, the top of the sea was good enough, but now I know we must reach the greatest heights that we can reach. The sky is where we shall make our home."

From mid-sea to the top seemed a longer journey than the trip from the bottom to the middle. The light grew brighter, and the fish swimming in these clearer waters were more colorful; some in fact were brilliant in their hue. But time and again the three from the depths were accosted. The beautiful fish were full of rage and even fought each other for room and food. As the three swam past schools of plump fish they were swiped at, often not the targets, but the victims nevertheless. They lost pieces of tail and fin, but they swam on higher and higher.

"You will get no further," quietly spoke a gentle giant of a fish when they were nearly at the very top of the sea. "Few know you have come this far, concerned as they are with their own existence. If you stay here and remain quiet, you can live among us and no one will be the wiser."

"That is not good enough," the leader answered. "If we are to live here, we need to be recognized for the trials we have endured reaching this place, and I wish other bottom dwellers to make their way here as well."

The gentle giant exploded! "Bring others? Never! You do not belong here. How you made it I shall never know, but now you can not stay. Did not the old inhabitant tell you this?"

The leader was bewildered. "The old inhabitant? How do you know of him?"

"Do you think you are the first of the bottom dwellers to try to reach these greater heights? The old inhabitant warned them all, they did not listen either and they are gone now. You will become food for us just as the rebels before you. If you had only remained quiet, content to blend in."

One of the three spoke up, "I shall remain quiet. I have made it this far and have never seen such brilliance. I will be happy to find a place here among you and forget the life of a bottom dweller."  With less fin and tail than he had started this quest, he swam away. It took only seconds for him to blend in, and the others when they turned to speak, could not see him at all.

The leader was momentarily subdued. He floated about unsure of what he should say, unsure of what he should do. He looked at the only other remaining bottom dweller and the downtrodden look in his eyes re-lit his fire. "We shall swim on. We shall reach the very top of the sea and even enter the world beyond this ocean home!"

The not so gentle giant who had greeted them moments before called out to the other beautiful fish, "Crush them!" he yelled. "Crush them or life here will never be the same."

The ocean heaved and swelled. It overflowed and the shore was obliterated. The fight in the sea even caused the winds to scream and howl. The two bottom feeders took on an army of fish, lightweights alone, but in a crowd their strength could not be conquered.

The old inhabitant was awakened by a churning sea. He knew the cause and what he must do. He rallied his own army and around and around they swam. "Faster," he hollered to the soldiers of the deep. The waters became as angry as the bottom dwellers. This army below continued their rapid dance, and the momentum from the depths carried to the top. The rebels above were propelled out of the sea to the very sky. The beautiful fish continued their fight, unaware that the two intruders had taken flight.

Look up at night. The sky is on fire with stars, and two stars shine brighter for their burning desire to belong among the highest fish in the sea. They made it to a world beyond. They flew to the sky. Pisces beckons us to follow.


Thanks for reading and I really do want to know what you think.
Rosemary

Finally

I did think that I would blog about the subjects that I didn't blog about last night, but I am not going to.  I did some writing on my on-line site that I joined and now I am ready to just do nothing.  I had a long day at work, got home late, wrote, and now I think I am done writing!  Sometimes I don't get why my life is still so busy.  I know it is good to be busy, but when does rest and relaxation start?  I expect to work quite a few more years, but at this point I thought I would only be working at work!  Oh well, life is good and I am glad that I can do what I do and have the dreams that I have.  Really am done now, brain has turned off and at this point I don't want to think about all that I don't get, and you know what?  That is good.  It reminds me of a popular and rather profound saying; Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.  
Rosemary