Distraction

Firefox has a (relatively--like 6 months or so) new feature in which you 'pin' certain web pages to the top of your window so that every time you open your browser, you see those web pages. Mine, for the last two months, have been Facebook, Gmail, and Blogger.

Then something misfired. My pages were missing. And, in re-adding them, I missed Blogger.

As a result, I keep forgetting to post until I'm about to go to sleep. Tonight, I actually got all the way ready for bed--PJs, teeth brushed, face washed, etc--before realizing I forgot to blog. And yet there's no worse excuse for destroying a thus-far daily habit for something as prosaic as 15 more minutes of sleep. So that's why my blog posts have been short lately, for those who've been asking (Mom).

And that's not been my only distraction. It's my cleaning week at the apartment, which has both been a distraction and has suffered from my other distraction, namely, my application to be a Marshall scholar next year.

The application is due in just over a week, and I still have so much to do! And, for most of this week, most of what I did was work on it, sporadically, and try to think of new ways to get my recommenders to respond to my pleas--while they're still on summer break and mostly away from their computers, if not busy with other work, and while I'm 15 hours ahead of them, meaning my waking hours are their sleeping hours and vice versa. Sigh.

At last it worked itself out, though; once I finish my parts, I WILL actually be able to submit. I wasn't sure there for a while, though...and the thought that it could all be for nothing does not exactly inspire an unrelenting work ethic!

In other news: quiet coyote.

So many years of camp experience miraculously confirmed today in my little class of 6th grade hellions--because, to be honest, there's really only the one class that's *really* hard to manage, and *really* full of stereotypical 6th graders. But, as it turns out, they can be ruled with a combination of quiet coyote and a smart board! They were captivated today, and easy as all get out to make be quiet! Night and day difference.

For the uninitiated, quiet coyote is quite simple. It involves holding your hand with your middle and ring fingers touching your thumb and your first and pinky fingers lifted up. The idea is that the kids do the motion (that part didn't catch on today, for some reason) and imitate the 'coyote'--ears up, mouth shut.

Like this, but sans the blond hair, since I'm in Taiwan. :)

And, at the genius suggestion of Patty, we added a "make noise" signal to precede the coyote--and which was, needless to say, insanely popular. The game was the last table to be quiet when I lifted up the coyote lost points. Points, of course, are all but meaningless, except for the kids themselves, but it worked! Amazing how easily kids--even middle schoolers--buy into this sort of thing. And I know I was no different! I wanted to win, even if there was nothing to win!

But let me tell you, on the other side, I'm so glad they do.

The other highlight of my day was a jaunt with Rachel over to Subway, which we discovered is like 6 blocks from our apartment. The plan was to buy a $2500NT gift card, which we could then deduct from our gym joining fee (it's an odd inter-company joining promotion; Subway and a bunch of other companies are participating), but apparently there's no such thing as a Subway gift card here. So I guess Rachel and I will have to indulge in some jewelry shopping. Oh darn.

Well, that was actually quite long, considering how tired I am and the fact that I have to be up in a little under 7 hours. Distracted yet again--from going to bed.