Ancora Imparo (I am still learning)

Ancora Imparo is a quote from Michelangelo when he was 87! I think it is important to remember to keep learning. It is said that "The truly educated never graduate." (anon) We all come across new information every day, some information is acquired on purpose, some by accident. For example, I read the paper every day. (Rant for a future posting - the decline of newspapers). I do this to learn about the world and local situations. I also do this to wake my brain up. I am not a morning person, which makes it all the more distressing that the older I get, the earlier I wake up, regardless of when I went to sleep! Paul and Nick ARE morning people. They SING! There is also cheery whistling. Nate and I try to ignore it.

Anyway, in the search for useful info, I also come across information that is less useful but still interesting. This week I learned that large, hairy gay men are called "Bears". And some of them go to the movies every Tuesday. (This is the sort of info that Paul says clogs up his brain and that he didn't need to know.)

In a comic strip, a character refers to the employees who take grocery carts back into the store as "Cartherds"! I love that! The image of carts as sheep being herded back into the store tickles me. However, when I read this to the morning people, they thought I said "Car turds" and did not see the imagery. They did laugh at the word turds, though. I am sometimes tired of being the only girl in this place.

My friend Brian mentioned in his Facebook posting that he was going to see Devotchka. Who is this, I wonder? So I asked the internet, and was given their website. This is the musical group responsible for most of the music in the movie, "Little Miss Sunshine". This music is described as "gypsy punk". It features a theremin (an instrument that only makes spooky noises), a sousaphone (tuba), fiddles and more. I've never heard anything like it, but I did like it!

The video at the top is of a big black scorpion who came to visit our preschool classroom this week. We base our curriculum on a monthly "theme". This month we are learning about insects and spiders. One of our parents paid for a local group, CRPets, to come to class to show us their bugs and bug eaters. They had a tarantula, the scorpion, 3 geckos and a hedgehog. We were able to pet the bug eaters, but not the bugs. (Thank God). Anyway, the big black scorpion glows aqua under ultraviolet light! Who knew? I find that fascinating. It is a pigment in the exoskeleton and even fossil scorpions will glow. Why? Is there some evolutionary advantage to this? I need to know more.

The hedgehog (Ike) was adorable. I have recently read a book (non-fiction) about hedgehogs, "The Hedgehog's Dilemma" by Hugh (sorry, forgot his last name, but the book is at the library). It was very interesting, even though we have no native hedgehogs in the U.S. The european population is declining, by the way.

It is this type of info gathering (ooh, no, I'm collecting intel, like a spy) that makes me fear turning into the Cliff Claven of Ramsey. I can't help it, it's all so interesting! At least I'm never bored.

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." Dorothy Parker