What would you do if someone smiled at you and said, “You are so talented, even your pants sing?” Would you be thrilled at such a compliment? Would you be embarrassed and confused? Or, would you just think that the saying sounds like a great title for a book? If you’re like me, you chose the last option – great book title!
Every day, things said all around you could and should be woven into magical and original stories. All you have to do is look, listen, and be aware that your next great book idea could be just hanging there in the air, waiting to be snatched out of the ethereal plane, and plopped down on a page for all to see. Don’t miss the chance to find inspiration that comes from out of nowhere and sets your creative juices flowing!
p.s. Yes. The comment made at the beginning of this short entry about my “pants singing” truly did happen to me today. But, it’s not as irreverent as it sounds. The remark was simply made by a co-worker of mine to me when she heard my cell phone, which I carry in my front pocket, ring. My ring tone … “Always look on the bright side of life!”
- Brian Moen, Writer of Children's Books
- Washington, United States
- www.brianmoen.com
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Computer Woes
I have been having a lot of “issues” with my computer lately. Therefore, my blog has suffered this week. Well, I guess to be perfectly honest, my problems first began when my oldest son knocked my laptop off of my chair and onto the floor. I attempted to start it up several times after the inadvertent high-dive, but no dice.
The next day came and went without so much of a hint of life from my computer. I hemmed and hawed for awhile, and fretted over how I was going to afford a new piece of equipment. When suddenly, like words sent from an angel, my wife yells to me from the kitchen, “I got your computer working again!”
Thanks, Honey!
(Original Posting Date - September 24, 2009)
The next day came and went without so much of a hint of life from my computer. I hemmed and hawed for awhile, and fretted over how I was going to afford a new piece of equipment. When suddenly, like words sent from an angel, my wife yells to me from the kitchen, “I got your computer working again!”
Thanks, Honey!
(Original Posting Date - September 24, 2009)
Mr. Independent
Help! My 7 year old is exhibiting an independent streak that must be stopped!
Okay, so maybe I’m being a little melodramatic. But I ask you: What exactly is the proper attire for a kid to wear to bed anyway?
I don’t believe that this should be a difficult question for most parents to answer. But, based on the difficulties I’ve been having this past week, it seems to be a battle of epic proportion in my house.
I’m just curious about this question because my oldest son seems to be having trouble conforming to the standard night-time attire for most children: a pajama top, underwear, and pajama bottoms. You see, when he gets ready for bed lately, instead of putting on the prescribed kids’ uniform that has worked perfectly for generations, he wants to deviate and choose something on his own. Now, you may be asking yourself at this point, “What’s the big deal, Brian?”
The big deal is that instead of wearing his pj’s to sleep in, he wants to wear his new tennis shoes to bed. That’s it – just his tennis shoes. No amount of logic and begging has been able to dislodge this curious idea from his head. At bedtime, he insists on dancing around the living room, shouting out that his tennis shoes make him feel “Good.”
In time, I’m sure that I’ll be able to get him to see that there’s a perfectly logical reason that he can’t sleep with just his tennis shoes on. Your sheets will get filthy, you’ll get cold without pajamas on, etc. Until that time though, it’s a problem that I’m just going to blame on his Mother. After all, she’s the one who bought him the new school shoes, so it must be her fault. Right?
(Original Posting Date - September 14, 2009)
Okay, so maybe I’m being a little melodramatic. But I ask you: What exactly is the proper attire for a kid to wear to bed anyway?
I don’t believe that this should be a difficult question for most parents to answer. But, based on the difficulties I’ve been having this past week, it seems to be a battle of epic proportion in my house.
I’m just curious about this question because my oldest son seems to be having trouble conforming to the standard night-time attire for most children: a pajama top, underwear, and pajama bottoms. You see, when he gets ready for bed lately, instead of putting on the prescribed kids’ uniform that has worked perfectly for generations, he wants to deviate and choose something on his own. Now, you may be asking yourself at this point, “What’s the big deal, Brian?”
The big deal is that instead of wearing his pj’s to sleep in, he wants to wear his new tennis shoes to bed. That’s it – just his tennis shoes. No amount of logic and begging has been able to dislodge this curious idea from his head. At bedtime, he insists on dancing around the living room, shouting out that his tennis shoes make him feel “Good.”
In time, I’m sure that I’ll be able to get him to see that there’s a perfectly logical reason that he can’t sleep with just his tennis shoes on. Your sheets will get filthy, you’ll get cold without pajamas on, etc. Until that time though, it’s a problem that I’m just going to blame on his Mother. After all, she’s the one who bought him the new school shoes, so it must be her fault. Right?
(Original Posting Date - September 14, 2009)
Middle School Memories
Based on my middle school teaching experience last year, I guess it’s a good thing I moved back to the elementary level. I’d now equate my year working with middle school students to the sport of skydiving.
You start by going through ground school in an attempt to get ready for your first jump. Only, once you get in the plane and up in the air, you start to get a little nervous. Eventually, you overcome your fears, and jump out of the plane anyway. You figure that you’ve got to be safe ’cause you have a parachute on. Right?
Unfortunately, once you start falling, you reach for the rip cord, only to discover that your main chute has malfunctioned and won’t open. You panic for a moment. But then, you thankfully realize that you have a back-up chute. Whew! So, you quickly grab for the 2nd rip cord and yank. RIP!!! Uh, oh. The 2nd cord, now detached from the parachute bag, dangles from your sweaty palm, and your back-up chute is nowhere to be found. All at once you find yourself free-falling rapidly. Now is the time to panic!
I jumped out of that metaphysical plane last year, and found the free-fall incredibly different than I’d first imagined. The wind did whip through my hair on the way down, and it was thrilling for a time! But, hitting the ground (and my head against the wall over and over again) really hurt. I can honestly say though that it was … interesting.
(Original Posting Date - September 11, 2009)
You start by going through ground school in an attempt to get ready for your first jump. Only, once you get in the plane and up in the air, you start to get a little nervous. Eventually, you overcome your fears, and jump out of the plane anyway. You figure that you’ve got to be safe ’cause you have a parachute on. Right?
Unfortunately, once you start falling, you reach for the rip cord, only to discover that your main chute has malfunctioned and won’t open. You panic for a moment. But then, you thankfully realize that you have a back-up chute. Whew! So, you quickly grab for the 2nd rip cord and yank. RIP!!! Uh, oh. The 2nd cord, now detached from the parachute bag, dangles from your sweaty palm, and your back-up chute is nowhere to be found. All at once you find yourself free-falling rapidly. Now is the time to panic!
I jumped out of that metaphysical plane last year, and found the free-fall incredibly different than I’d first imagined. The wind did whip through my hair on the way down, and it was thrilling for a time! But, hitting the ground (and my head against the wall over and over again) really hurt. I can honestly say though that it was … interesting.
(Original Posting Date - September 11, 2009)
Saturday, September 26, 2009
The Dark Side of RVing
I’m sure that most of you have seen the GO RVing commercials on t.v. that show a happy family exploring a myriad of wilderness opportunities across our country. The too enthusiastic campers are always smiling, laughing, and appear carefree while traveling to their destination. And, I have to admit, as an owner of a compact travel trailer, my family and I have a wonderful time camping throughout the Western United States. It’s nice for us to escape from the “rat race’ occasionally to commune with nature, swim, hike, bike, trike, and sit around the campfire eating s’mores.
What they don’t show you is the “dark side” of RVing – cleaning out the waste holding tanks. The trailer owner’s manual makes it seem like it’s not a big deal to empty this reservoir. In fact, I’m sure that some smart cookie within the RV industry created the mundane sounding terms like “Black water” and “Gray water” so as not to turn off potential customers. What they don’t tell you is that the black water tank is a euphemism for a large, sealed container that holds your family’s excrement. Plus, another downside that they don’t mention on the sales floor when purchasing your RV is that you, as a proud new owner, get to empty these aforementioned tanks by yourself. Whoo hoo!
Today was the day that I got the pleasure of emptying the vat of waste from the trailer. A little gauge inside the trailer was glowing “full,” so I figured I couldn’t put off the task any longer. Luckily for me, we have a public RV dumping facility located conveniently just down the road from our house. “Easy as pie,” I thought. So, I hitched up the trailer and set off to clean out the holding tanks.
I arrived at the dumping facility and started pulling out the various hoses, tubing, connectors, disposable gloves, etc. that I would need to do the job. Then, I connected a handy, see-through sewer-dumping device to the trailer. I pulled the handle on the black water tank and voila! I won’t go into the graphic details, but to my amazement, the smelly contents of the trailer tank reservoir flushed out. After a brief time, the draining stopped. Now it was time for the next step in the process: Rinse.
But, before I could proceed, I needed to connect a special valve to my tank rinsing hose. I located my brand new, fancy $7.00 hose valve. I had to use this special valve because many public dump sites cut off the threaded ends of their hoses (for some reason that I just can’t fathom), and you cannot rinse your RV tanks out easily without it. Anyway, I screwed my hose onto my holding tank cleaning device and onto the valve. Then, I squished the shiny, made-just-for-this-situation (according to the salesperson) valve on to the cut-off public hose. I pushed the button to start the water pumping and … KABOOM!
The fancy valve that I bought exploded into two pieces, and broke apart from the public hose. Water sprayed out in all directions, soaking my face, hair and glasses. Startled, I attempted to squeeze the hose and valve back together, but only succeeded in creating an even bigger mess. Water spurted from the hose again like when the stem breaks off a bulging water balloon. I got another burst of wetness in my face, and the remaining dry portions of my body received an inadvertent shower. I was now soaked, and the water continued to flow. I dropped the hose, and ran to seek shelter behind my trailer until the water stopped.
Thankfully, the water eventually ceased flowing. I decided that, after the pandemonium I had just experienced, I would just pack up my toys and go home. I would contact my local RV dealer, and have them complete the tank cleaning and winterizing of my trailer instead. Ah, the joys of RVing!
(Original Posting Date - September 6, 2009)
What they don’t show you is the “dark side” of RVing – cleaning out the waste holding tanks. The trailer owner’s manual makes it seem like it’s not a big deal to empty this reservoir. In fact, I’m sure that some smart cookie within the RV industry created the mundane sounding terms like “Black water” and “Gray water” so as not to turn off potential customers. What they don’t tell you is that the black water tank is a euphemism for a large, sealed container that holds your family’s excrement. Plus, another downside that they don’t mention on the sales floor when purchasing your RV is that you, as a proud new owner, get to empty these aforementioned tanks by yourself. Whoo hoo!
Today was the day that I got the pleasure of emptying the vat of waste from the trailer. A little gauge inside the trailer was glowing “full,” so I figured I couldn’t put off the task any longer. Luckily for me, we have a public RV dumping facility located conveniently just down the road from our house. “Easy as pie,” I thought. So, I hitched up the trailer and set off to clean out the holding tanks.
I arrived at the dumping facility and started pulling out the various hoses, tubing, connectors, disposable gloves, etc. that I would need to do the job. Then, I connected a handy, see-through sewer-dumping device to the trailer. I pulled the handle on the black water tank and voila! I won’t go into the graphic details, but to my amazement, the smelly contents of the trailer tank reservoir flushed out. After a brief time, the draining stopped. Now it was time for the next step in the process: Rinse.
But, before I could proceed, I needed to connect a special valve to my tank rinsing hose. I located my brand new, fancy $7.00 hose valve. I had to use this special valve because many public dump sites cut off the threaded ends of their hoses (for some reason that I just can’t fathom), and you cannot rinse your RV tanks out easily without it. Anyway, I screwed my hose onto my holding tank cleaning device and onto the valve. Then, I squished the shiny, made-just-for-this-situation (according to the salesperson) valve on to the cut-off public hose. I pushed the button to start the water pumping and … KABOOM!
The fancy valve that I bought exploded into two pieces, and broke apart from the public hose. Water sprayed out in all directions, soaking my face, hair and glasses. Startled, I attempted to squeeze the hose and valve back together, but only succeeded in creating an even bigger mess. Water spurted from the hose again like when the stem breaks off a bulging water balloon. I got another burst of wetness in my face, and the remaining dry portions of my body received an inadvertent shower. I was now soaked, and the water continued to flow. I dropped the hose, and ran to seek shelter behind my trailer until the water stopped.
Thankfully, the water eventually ceased flowing. I decided that, after the pandemonium I had just experienced, I would just pack up my toys and go home. I would contact my local RV dealer, and have them complete the tank cleaning and winterizing of my trailer instead. Ah, the joys of RVing!
(Original Posting Date - September 6, 2009)
Daughter’s Day at School
Today was a day that my daughter got to go to school with Daddy. She doesn’t “officially” start school in her own class until next week. But, since she loves learning so much, she often comes to my classroom on her days off.
While at school with me, my daughter enthusiastically participates in all the activities, and even completes the assignments along with the rest of my students. In fact, she feels like she’s such a part of my class that she begged me to assign her a desk. She even made herself a “name tag” while I was out of the room at a meeting in an attempt to prove to me that she was really serious about getting her own seat! I finally succumbed to her pleadings, and selected a school desk for her next to all the other kids. As if that wasn’t enough, she then twisted my arm until I assigned her a social studies book, a reading book, math materials, and a journal for her to write in while she attended class.
I guess things could be worse though. She could be a difficult child that hated school. Then, whenever she got in trouble in my classroom, I would have the unenviable task of having to call my wife on the phone to report her poor behavior…
(Original Posting Date - September 3, 2009)
While at school with me, my daughter enthusiastically participates in all the activities, and even completes the assignments along with the rest of my students. In fact, she feels like she’s such a part of my class that she begged me to assign her a desk. She even made herself a “name tag” while I was out of the room at a meeting in an attempt to prove to me that she was really serious about getting her own seat! I finally succumbed to her pleadings, and selected a school desk for her next to all the other kids. As if that wasn’t enough, she then twisted my arm until I assigned her a social studies book, a reading book, math materials, and a journal for her to write in while she attended class.
I guess things could be worse though. She could be a difficult child that hated school. Then, whenever she got in trouble in my classroom, I would have the unenviable task of having to call my wife on the phone to report her poor behavior…
(Original Posting Date - September 3, 2009)
School Begins!
School is officially off and running and I couldn’t be more thrilled!
First impressions: I am so lucky! I have a cohesive group of friendly, well-behaved, gifted, and talented students.
In fact, I was so excited by how unbelievably respectful, attentive, and hard working my students were on the first day, that I called my wife during recess time. I told her that I was ready to cry. Showing great concern, she asked me what was wrong. I told her that my students are wonderful, and that I was looking forward to spending the next 10 months teaching them and working as a team. Naturally, she was relieved.
After a brief conversation, I ended the call. A smile crossed my face as I hung up the phone and sat down in the closest, kid-sized plastic chair.
(Original Posting Date - September 1, 2009)
First impressions: I am so lucky! I have a cohesive group of friendly, well-behaved, gifted, and talented students.
In fact, I was so excited by how unbelievably respectful, attentive, and hard working my students were on the first day, that I called my wife during recess time. I told her that I was ready to cry. Showing great concern, she asked me what was wrong. I told her that my students are wonderful, and that I was looking forward to spending the next 10 months teaching them and working as a team. Naturally, she was relieved.
After a brief conversation, I ended the call. A smile crossed my face as I hung up the phone and sat down in the closest, kid-sized plastic chair.
(Original Posting Date - September 1, 2009)
Dogs
I just came across an interesting story that I wanted to share …
I have a friend who has a furry, long-haired dog. She was complaining about how hot it’s been in Southern California lately, and claims that the excessive heat is causing her dog to shed much more than usual. “That’s okay though ‘cause I have my super, duper “wonder” brand dog brush (I changed the actual brand name of the brush because I don’t want to tout the product) that I use to comb my dog’s hair daily so he doesn’t shed a ton of it all over the house!” She then gushes excruciatingly, ad nauseam, for several paragraphs about the merits of this special brush.
Another friend then replied that he had an easier way to deal with the shedding dog problem. Instead of buying the stupid “wonder brush” to handle the excessive shedding, he did something more reasonable. When he replaced the fabric in his RV, he took a tuft of the dog’s hair in and said, “Match this.” And they did!
It reminded me about something similar that we did in order to control a potential pet problem. Before we got new carpet for our house, we hemmed and hawed over what color to purchase. We were afraid that if we bought the wrong color of carpet, the dogs would track mud in the house during the rainy months and cause a cleaning nightmare. So, instead of stressing about how exactly to keep our new carpet clean, we just had brown carpeting installed so that the mud from the dogs wouldn’t be so obvious. Problem solved!
(Original Posting Date - August 29, 2009)
I have a friend who has a furry, long-haired dog. She was complaining about how hot it’s been in Southern California lately, and claims that the excessive heat is causing her dog to shed much more than usual. “That’s okay though ‘cause I have my super, duper “wonder” brand dog brush (I changed the actual brand name of the brush because I don’t want to tout the product) that I use to comb my dog’s hair daily so he doesn’t shed a ton of it all over the house!” She then gushes excruciatingly, ad nauseam, for several paragraphs about the merits of this special brush.
Another friend then replied that he had an easier way to deal with the shedding dog problem. Instead of buying the stupid “wonder brush” to handle the excessive shedding, he did something more reasonable. When he replaced the fabric in his RV, he took a tuft of the dog’s hair in and said, “Match this.” And they did!
It reminded me about something similar that we did in order to control a potential pet problem. Before we got new carpet for our house, we hemmed and hawed over what color to purchase. We were afraid that if we bought the wrong color of carpet, the dogs would track mud in the house during the rainy months and cause a cleaning nightmare. So, instead of stressing about how exactly to keep our new carpet clean, we just had brown carpeting installed so that the mud from the dogs wouldn’t be so obvious. Problem solved!
(Original Posting Date - August 29, 2009)
Triumphant Return
Today was my first day back at school/work. I have been off for a couple of weeks due to a knee injury. The last time I got motivated to trek into school, I came home in pain. So, I was not looking forward to uncomfortably hobbling around for several hours and moving boxes, tables, and desks in preparation for the first day of school.
My triumphant return went okay. I mean there were no cheering minions or a trumpet fanfare to announce my return. But, at least I didn’t trip and hurt myself again. Life is good!
(Original Posting Date - August 24, 2009)
My triumphant return went okay. I mean there were no cheering minions or a trumpet fanfare to announce my return. But, at least I didn’t trip and hurt myself again. Life is good!
(Original Posting Date - August 24, 2009)
The Hunter
Ah, the simple pleasures! I just sat and watched my 4 year old chase a moth around the house with his bug catcher vacuum. My son, with his tongue hanging out and clenched jaw, eyes fixed on the target, was the epitome of concentration. He was bound and determined to get ‘the bug’. After several minutes, the struggle mercifully ended with the capture of the now exhausted moth. The victorious hunter gave a quick smile, excited high-pitched squeal, and happily skipped to the back door to release his prey. Good thing the boy is a vegetarian.
(Original Posting Date - August 20, 2009)
(Original Posting Date - August 20, 2009)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Muttley Crew
Leaving My Mark
I spent most of today working on my website. I have spent many, many hours over the past few months teaching myself the HTML needed in order to create the website you are now viewing. It’s been a sometimes tedious journey researching and learning all of the necessary skills and coding. But, now that it is up and running, I feel that the time I spent creating it was well worth it. To me, I found it to be a miraculous thing to see how the arranging of various words, numbers, and symbols on a page can “magically” turn in to something as interesting as a website!
Come to think of it, creating my website was very similar to the feeling I get while I’m working on a book. While I’m developing my stories, people don’t see the hours of labor that I put in to finding just the right way and combination of words to make my characters come alive to my readers. And, when I’m editing and revising my stories for the 10th, 11th, and 12th (or more) times to make them perfect, there’s no one there to cheer me on to the finish. My reward comes in my struggle to do my best; my fight to make a something from nothing that will affect many generations within and beyond my lifetime. This is my passion – to “leave my mark.”
Come to think of it, creating my website was very similar to the feeling I get while I’m working on a book. While I’m developing my stories, people don’t see the hours of labor that I put in to finding just the right way and combination of words to make my characters come alive to my readers. And, when I’m editing and revising my stories for the 10th, 11th, and 12th (or more) times to make them perfect, there’s no one there to cheer me on to the finish. My reward comes in my struggle to do my best; my fight to make a something from nothing that will affect many generations within and beyond my lifetime. This is my passion – to “leave my mark.”
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