19 December 2009

Children of Snowmen

I babysat Lucas tonight and was pretty amazed at how well he was learning to read and write. After writing my final paper on it last year for Cognitive Psych, I was pretty interested in how he read words that he was unfamiliar with; his reading style supported the indirect access hypothesis where he broke the word down into phonemes before applying meaning to it.

Now, knowing this, being able to apply a label to his style of reading; what good does that do? I guess it does facilitate being able to describe to others what I recognized. So why is that important? Maybe so we can discuss how he reads, how the school system teaches reading, etc. Why (I don't know if I will have much involvement in the school system or teaching children how to read)? Simply the conversation itself could have a impact on improving my social relationship with this hypothetical other individual. Why should we have social relationships? Instinctively I answered in my head, "Because being alone is bad."

But is it? I don't think so. Being alone sometimes, as Tess addressed recently in her blog helps us think, reflect, understand ourselves better. But being alone, without support, without knowing you have potential support, I think can make us feel very overwhelmed. Which can be very hard to live with.

Well, that branched off a little. In summary: Lucas reads well and I really like that I'm able to see and appreciate and maybe in my own small way, be a part of that.

Before turning to the snow issue, I would like to address one thing I really like about being home: listening to radio. It's something that is, for me, very particular to being home and driving. I could listen at school but it's not the same as flipping through the stations on cold mornings and hearing new songs that I enjoy.

The Snow Issue. I have heard rumors that this storm will be "historic." And that people are going crazy about it. Maybe because I'm not a homeowner or because I haven't really had any bad experiences with snow, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. I understand that people need to make sure they have food in case the roads don't get cleared, but it's not like we're going to have to resort to cannibalism or something if the roads don't get salted.

I'm not actually annoyed by people getting worked up about it, just observing, trying to figure it out.

Here's a picture. Yay snow!



17 December 2009

Home


Here is home.

I have unpacked, but will have to repack in 20 days.

20 days.



That's pretty surreal. Not that I'm not excited, but it hasn't really sunk in. Will it? Maybe not until I'm on the plane.

I've noticed this has happened before. Like going to Egypt; I kind of just accepted that it was happening and I went. Am I just too adaptable to get nervous?

But I am excited I want to get a big old map of Oxford to hang on my wall. I really love maps.