Word of the Day: creolize(KREE\uh\lahyz); to combine local and foreign elements into a new distinctive whole; to render a pidgin into a distince, spoken language
Weight: 206 pounds; keep dreaming Efrem!
Goal: lose 100 pounds in one year duration
Pounds to lose: 74 pounds, yeah right Efrem, delude yourself
Waist Size: 41 inches
Days to go before we return to Canada: time is up; we leave today, tonight is probably more accurate
Rowing Duration: eighty-four (84) minutes, nineteen (19) seconds
Image via WikipediaAs I will probably not be rowing until Monday next week, this morning, I wanted to do the best workout on CC that I could possibly do, and I am pleased with the results. I have to tell you, I was in complete and utter pain for the last forty (40) minutes on CC, and I think that my choice to listen to a compact disc (cd) while rowing, was the wiser choice to that of watching a movie on television.
I believe that listening to the plethora of various beats and rhythms of songs contained on the cd was the necessary adjunct to help me pull off the best workout I've had in a long time, and seeing how I will not be able to row for a couple of days, I'm glad, very glad, that I did manage to have a half-decent workout today.
However, since my curiosity has been aroused, I'm wondering, do you prefer listening to music when you exercise?, or would you rather watch television?, please advise, yes Lily, I know, you would rather be eating pepperoni pizza, who wouldn't?
I want to point out that, in spite of my asthma severly impacting this trip, I still have had a great time. I love spending time with my nephew, Raphael, and two nieces, Sally and Jessie, and, in addition, I have enjoyed reconnecting with my sister-in-law, Louise, and my brother, Biff. Zac, Winter and I really are blessed to be always welcomed by my brother's family, and we like them to know that we very much appreciate their kindnesses to us.
In addition, Zac, Winter and I also want to tip our hats off to, and thank Louise's parents, Dina and Karl Spring, for always including us in holiday get-togethers. And things woulld not be right if we did not salute our beloved Grandmama.
As you know, Zac and I are not blood-related to Vivian, Vivian is Louise's Grandmother, but because of our relationship to Louise, and because we maintain a regular association with Louise's immediate family,Vivian herself asked us to call her Grandmama, which we do gratefully, lovingly, and respectfully, we shall miss you very much Grandmama, take care of yourself!
With regard to my brother Biff and his family, Biff, Louise, Sally, Jessie and Raphael came over to our house late yesterday afternoon so that we could all have one final dinner together before Zac, Winter and I leave to go back home to Canada.
We had planned, and wanted, to go out to a nice restaurant, but in an effort to keep me off of my feet as much as possible, we all agreed to just having "take out" at the house that Zac, Winter and I are renting, and we settled upon ordering Chinese food and pizza, a combination of food that everyone seemed to enjoy.
For me, it was a bittersweet evening, it was great to get together with the entire family of my brother, trust me, this has not happened a great deal of time on this trip because of all of the committments and activities that are my kid's lives, but it was sad to say good-bye to all of them, I really am much better at saying hello.
I know, I know, Zac, Winter and I plan to come back in the merry, merry, month of March, but that is awhile away, and in all likelihood, Zac, Winter and I will probably not come back to Gainesville, Florida, because of the possible sickness it brings on in me. If we indeed come back in the month of March, it is going to take me a long time to get all over all of the side effects from the depomedrol, I'm hoping it won't take too long, but we shall see, and you know what that statement "We'll see" means, don't you?
I also still have to get through this month, January always seems for me to be, the longest, and coldest month of the year, but then I also have to get through February. February bugs me so much, I can't stand it!!!!!! First they, and I really would like to know who exactly "they" are, they lead you down the primrose path with the hope of "GroundHog Day!"
Has that little bugger, also known as (aka) The Groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, Wiarton Willie, Jimmie the Groundhog, Woodstock Willie, Spanish Joe, Shubenacadie Sam (one of my favourites,) ever come through when he hasn't seen his shadow on a cloudy day?
I mean it, we seem to get more cloudy days than ever in the season of Winter, February, but how is it that on so many times on February Two(s), the GroundHog always sees his shadow, and we get stuck with six more weeks of the season of winter! Have we ever had an early Spring after the Groundhog failed to see his shadow because that is what legend and folklore want us to believe, or should WE all be taking medication?, (there are many people that believe this, uh, stuff,) for thinking that some dumb/not dumb animal plays a part in whether or not we get Spring a little earlier than what is listed on the calendar?
Of late, I've noticed more than the usual interesting news items, and today I want to share two of them with you, as they really got to me, and just in case you missed them from the media. First item up takes place in Australia where they are having horrendous flooding, and lives are being lost.
It always breaks my heart wherein people lose lives because of Mother Nature, and while were on that subject, I think when this kind of thing happens, they shouldn't refer to it as Mother Nature! No Mother of any kind would cause this kind of havoc! Mother's are loving, kind, and good and should not be associated in any regard, or should certainly not be linked with causing death and destruction!
I believe that, (and this applies to whomever is in charge of doing it,) they need to rethink the term of "Mother Nature" just like they did when they rethought and decided to include the names of men, and not just women, when they name hurricanes, etc. Don't you think so? I think a more appropriate name would be "Devil Nature." Anyway, back to the flooding in Australia.
Jordan Rice, a 13-year-old Australian boy, has emerged as a tragic-heroic figure in news accounts of the disastrous Australian floods, after he asked a rescuer to save his little brother, Blake, before himself. Jordan Rice and his mother, Donna, were swept away by floodwaters and drowned before rescuer Warren McErlean could return for them.
Jordan's father, John Tyson, told the Toowoomba Chronicle Jordan could not swim and was terrified of water. "I can only imagine what was going on inside to give up his life to save his brother, even though he was petrified of water," he said. "He is our little hero."
Tyson told the paper his longtime partner, Donna Rice, was driving with two of her young sons in tire-level water when her engine stopped. She called for help and the three of them got on the roof of the car as the floodwaters rose quickly. Bystanders were not offering help until McErlean tied a rope around himself and went after them.
A wave of water was coming fast when McErlean reached them with the rope. "Save my brother first," Jordan said, according to McErlean. Jordan and his mother were swept away, and only ten (10)-year-old Blake survived. At least nineteen (19) people have died in the Queensland floods!
I think that some of you already know that there will be no post tomorrow (Saturday January 15th, 2011 as Zac, Winter and I will be in the car travelling back home to Canada, There is also the strong possibility that there will be no post on Sunday January 16th, 2011 as well, please remember that, I promise you, thisthatandhim will return on Monday, January 16th, 2011, and I hope you all return to reading, and enjoying my blog.
As mentioned earlier, Zac, Winter and I hope to return to Florida in the month of March, we are just unsure as to where in Florida we will be returniong to; we would like to return to Gainesville, but worry that, if we do in fact return to Gainesville, Florida, my asthma could flare up again.
There are strong indicators that Gainesville is the catalyst that brings on my asthma, we do not know this one hundred (100) percent, however, this has not been the first time that I have had significant asthma problems whilst visiting Gainesville.
Zac and I will make a decision soon on where in Florida we will visit in March, I want to come back here to Gainesville, but maybe all of us would be better off, okay, I would be better off if we relocated to a different area of Florida, what do you think we should do?
As you know, I like to think of myself as a writer, I enjoy writing alot and have done so ever since I was just a lad in Grade Two (2.) Back in those care-free days, I was probably a better writer than I am now as I was not such a perfectionist, and just wrote down whatever my imagination would dictate.
Then, I got older and became more of a critic of my writing, I didn't write about monsters or flying saucers because, well, I didn't believe in them anymore, silly, silly me! When I did write, I wrote about real life events, including anecdotes of my life, and I continuously stressed over every aspect of my writing, ie. the content, the diction, the grammar, the quality, the accurateness, other people's feelings, and the rest of all that jazz,. I was always my own worse critic and for awhile, the joy of writing evaded me as I got hung up on all the technicalities.
In any case, today, I write about everything, I am still a perfectionist but I do try and just write things down knowing that I can go back and edit. But with my writing, I like to execute good grammar, significant style, and I need to remember all of those things that I learned in school regarding writing of any kind, you should also try to remember writing rules.
There are many, many things that one needs to remember in writing, and even if you don't write in the same vein as I, you, in all likelihood need to write reports, performance appraisals, letters, guidelines, policies and procedures, (that's A01 Lily!) here then, are some words that are meant to help you with your writing, but, if nothing else, will give you a blast from the past, your public school past, that is, and the rules the words represents that you should remember when you write:
Do nyms make you numb? (They make me want to drink!!!!) Antonym, homonym, pseudonym. Here’s a handy guide to many of those nym words, familiar and quite possibly, unfamiliar, take note now:
ACRONYM: An abbreviation, pronounced as a word, consisting of the initial letters of a multiword name or expression. It can consist entirely of uppercase letters (NASA), thought British English has adopted an initial-cap style, which is employed in American English for longer acronyms like Nasdaq, or lowercase letters (radar); the latter are also known as anacronyms.
ANEPRONYM: A trademarked brand name now used generically, such as aspirin or kleenex.
ANTONYM: A word distinguished from another with an opposite meaning, such as large, as compared to small. There’s also a class of words called autoantonyms, contranyms, or contronyms, single words with contrasting meanings, like oversight, which can mean either “responsibility for” or “failure to be responsible for.”
EPONYM: A proper or common name deriving from another name, as San Francisco (in honor of St. Francis) or many scientific terms, such as watt (named after James Watt) and volt (from Allesandro Volta).
HETERONYM: A word spelled the same way for different meanings, such as wear (to clothe oneself) as opposed to wear (to atrophy); sometimes, as in this case, however, they have the same origin. A heteronym can be pronounced differently depending on meaning, such as bass, the musical instrument, and bass, the fish; this type of word is also called a heterophone.
HOMONYM: A word pronounced or spelled the same but different in meaning, like hi and high (also called homophones). Bass, referred to above, is both a heteronym and a homonym. (Does that make it a binym or a duonym?) The homonym sow, which can mean a female animal such as a pig or can refer to planting seeds, is also a homograph, meaning that not only its pronunciation but also its origin and definition can differ.
METONYM: A term that identifies something by its association: Articles about Microsoft often used to refer to the company metonymically as Redmond, the city in Washington State where its headquarters are located, just as Washington stands in for the United States (U..S.) government.
PSEUDONYM: A name adopted by an author, such as Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s use of Lewis Carroll. In a literary context, this is often referred to as a nom de plume (“name of the pen”). A related term is nom de guerre (“name of war”), originally in reference to French Foreign Legion enlistees who masked their identities but since then employed by guerrilla fighters to avoid reprisals against their families. Other examples of pseudonyms include stage names (performing arts), ring names (professional wrestling), and handles (computer hacking, or CB or ham radio operation).
SYNONYM: A word with the same meaning as another, such as small, as compared to little.
TOPONYM: A place name, whether it retains capitalization, or is lowercased in generic usage, such as burgundy.
Dozens of other nym words exist, many for, as you might imagine, obscure classes of words.
Before I forget to do so, the other news blurb that I wanted to briefly share with you is the continuing story of Ted Williams, the homeless man with the golden voice. Evidently Mr. Williams is becoming more celebrity-like in that he, Mr. Williams has entered rehab because he is having trouble handling all of the "interest" in him, much like what Susan Boyle experiencedl, I know that you, like me, wish Mr. Williams well.
The other day, I can't believe I forgot to tell all of you this, the other day, I had to use a public washroom, which I absolutely hate. I always try to go the bathroom before leaving the house, and I always try to get back home before I need to relieve myself again, well the other day I was not so lucky and I was forced to use that hell hole known as the public bathroom. (Please remind me to tell you some of my horror stories of the public washroom, because once you know my bathroom history, I know you'll understand why today I'm queasy about using them.) Anyway, this little anecdote isn't so bad, actually it got me thinking about people and are our obsession to hide things that are commonplace to everyone.
I love reading, and will read practically anything. Besides books, which top my reading list, I enjoy reading newspapers, as much as one can enjoy reading a newspaper,blogs/diaries/journals/memoirs, the Bible, magazines, graffitti, especiallly graffitti that is written on bathroom walls; graffitti written on bathroom walls frequently include pictures which is always so thoughtful of the creator.
The other day, there was just a question on the wall of the bathroom that begged the question, "Does Doris Day Fart? Please note, there was no illustration to correspond with this question. I think this graffitti/question caught my eye because it was something that I could have written/asked.
My friend Cherry could also have written it on the wall, but to be fair, it was a men's washroom, so that kind of rules Cherry out, and I really don't think Cherry has ever visited Gainesville,Florida, but stranger things have happened, and I certainly don't know everything about Cherry's life.
I hope you are not offended by the directness of the gas question. I know the subject of gas really makes some people uncomfortable, but it was not brought up just to be coarse, it is there to make a point. I brought up the question in all it's directness, because, well, when I first read it, it made me laugh, and I thought that you too might get a good laugh out of it!, at least I hope you do, or did.
Who among us doesn't like to have a joke or a laugh to ease into the day?, or who wouldn't appreciate a little change in one's day, or maybe a joke to brighten it up a day that hasn't been going so great, perhaps this one question of Doris Day will turn things around for you. Okay, that's a stretch, but I believe that nothing is impossible, after all, look at me!
Anyway, to get back on target, the question of Doris Day piqued my curiosity as to why so many people get uncomfortable about something we all have in common with each other. Do we delude ourselves into thinking/fantasizing that other people don't know we go to the bathroom? Am I the only one in the world that questions these things?, please tell me that I'm not an island onto myself, yet again!
Okay I'm know some of you are thinking that Efrem really is out there today, and besides talking in the third person, it is a little true, I am definetly going out on a limb aujourdhui. After all, there is nothing momentous that is going to happen with providing me with an answer as to why do we get so uncomfortable with so many things that we have in common with each other? I just thought that some of your perspectives may be not only interesting, but refreshing!, yeah, refreshing!
Well, that is about it for me today, I have tons of stuff to pack, and other things that require my attention before I will be ready to get in the car that will whisk me back to the land where the season of Winter reigns, for at least eight (8)months of the year, it really does, oh my goodness.
Remember to come back to thisthatandhim (me) on Monday, January 17th, 2011. Do you think Andrea McArdle dreams of me and secretly wants to have my child, for the record, I'll let Andrea carry the kid, but when it pops out, Miss McArdle has to surrender the child to me. I do think I would make an excellent father, even though my prime will probably be soon over, HUSH BIFF, HUSH LILY, AND YOU TOO, MARTA, HUSH!!!!!
Have a great day and a fabulous weekend. Keep Zac, Winter and I in your prayers.
Topics coming soon:
Art
Politics
Cartoons
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