Friday, September 18, 2009

FF: The Causal Chain Edition

I once read a novel about the food photography industry. It was fascinating to learn things like the best way to photograph a turkey is to keep is uncooked and cover it with shoe polish. I suppose now with digital photography and editing, a novel about the food photography industry would be pretty boring: "I raced to my laptop, opened Photoshop and added layers. Next, I added more layers!"

That makes me think about
Gina. She has a blog full of delicious Weight Watchers' recipes. But really makes the blog amazing is her food photography. Not all of the recipes I've tried have turned out good enough to repeat, but maybe they would have if they had looked like the pictures did.

That makes me think about
people and why so many of them post yucky recipes to these online food sites. Have you ever noticed how many readers say, "Your recipe was so-so, but I fixed the recipe this way..."

That makes me think about
my child and how we're on a journey to understand what makes him function the way he does in certain situations. Why, when we need to share an update with someone who has graciously asked about him, does that person always want to say, "Oh, that's nothing. He's just like my child blah, blah, blah." I know I'm guilty of the same thing and I'm not going to do that to other people anymore.

That makes me think about
how I've told Checkered for years that HE needed to exercise and how all that TELLING and not DOING have resulted in this current diet (where we have each lot about 10 pounds in water weight, I know, but I would gladly spend the next year in the bathroom if it meant not having to use a rubber band to keep my pants closed and pins to keep my blouses from having those gaps between buttons.)

That makes me think about
Jillian Michaels and her 30 Day Shred. I've been doing the exercises Comcast shows on On-Demand. They include a 30 minute circuit of 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of ab work again and again again. She yells at me about not stopping, but if I don't stop there will be a heart attack and Jillian is stuck in my t.v. and incapable of giving me CPR. You
had better believe I take breaks.

That makes me think about
how this is the first semester ever that some of my students don't leave at break time. Of course, they are killing me with their refusal to participate in class discussions.

That makes me think about
a person I literally ran into this week while we were both trying to go opposite directions through a doorway. I know that person. My child was just in her class for an entire year, but when I greeted her, all she could say was, "Hahweh...." I probably knocked all the air out of her, but I prefer to think she was too shy to speak when removed from her natural classroom habitat.

That makes me think about
science. Did you know that I heard on the news this week that a person may be contagious up to one week AFTER flu symptoms fade?


That makes me think about
my work friend who hasn't taught at the same campus I do for a year and how she said we were now virtual friends. But yesterday, when she ran in high heels the length of a parking lot to hug me and she wasn't even panting from running in those heels (the pesky marathon runners!) I was thinking about how much I love my virtual then real then virtual again friends and how someone recently told me he doubted that my blogging friends were actually real friends.


That makes me think about



.

Thanks, Sara and Mrs. 4's.

25 comments:

Sara Elizabeth said...

Oh my word. You have a very busy tangent mind, just like me. I love how you break your FF posts down.

I am surprised that someone might be contagious when they have no symptoms of the flu anymore. I have never heard that. Actually, I have always heard that as long as they didn't have a fever, then they weren't contagious.

Evansmom said...

Great FF!

Evansmom said...

Great FF!

won said...

Hmmm....two things I've been considering.

One is starting to do the thirty day shred exercises. When I read the first two sentences in the paragraph you wrote about that, I thought "no excuses now"!

Second is canceling my Comcast service.

See the problem?

Busy Bee Suz said...

I love this. I love how your mind wanders. I love that you don't get intimidated by Jillian and won't have a heart attack.
I loathe marathon runners too. show offs.

claudia said...

Happy Friday! Great FF!
I hope your weekend is awesome.

I Am Woody said...

I love how your mind works!!

BTW - Blogging friends are the best!!

Mental P Mama said...

Oh I'm real alright. Very real! Have a wonderful weekend!

Reddirt Woman said...

I started reading and then said to myself... it must be Friday.

Great fun post!

Helen

LadyFi said...

Great. Good luck with the diet, kids, teaching and running in high heels... ?

Smoochiefrog said...

Gotta love Jillian. I tend to yell back at the TV. :)

Unknown said...

Wait...I'm not real? That explains a lot.

We are real friends!! You know that.

I love your Friday Fragments! Have a great weekend.

Mary Ellen said...

I may be virtual, but I REAL-ly, REAL-ly like you!

I think friends come in lots of varieties, including those who come into our lives for a short time and those who stay forever, those who you go shopping with, and those you connect with through the blogosphere.

Congrats on the 10 pounds - I hope I can get some virtual inspiration from you!

Decadent Housewife said...

This virtual friend just got her passport. What kind of pie do you like?

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

The best FF ever!
<><

Claudya Martinez said...

I once did a video that had to do with food and all of the food that was shown couldn't be eaten because they put so much junk on it to make it look good on-camera. It was so sad to see so much food wasted.

betty said...

I love how you did this Fragment Friday; lots of good thinking in it too,some soul searching too; I'm going to remember that one that you were writing about regarding your child; I'm guilty of that a lot in my own life with friends, acquaintances, etc

I did either read about or saw a program about photographing food and it really is an art; got to get it all right, lighting, texture of food etc. It can't be any more challenging than trying to get a certain corgi to pose though :)

(thanks for your kind words on my last blog entry; I had looked into Guidepost before but not in awhile; I'll check it out soon :)

enjoy the weekend

oh, one final thing. It took me a bit to realize the names you gave your family members, including yourself. Checkered (Flag) Caution (Flag) I got it finally :)

betty

Kristin - The Goat said...

Gina does a nice job photographing food. Thanks for linking to her. I don't make a lot of food off websites, but I have had one or two that are seriously bad -- and I wonder if someone really thinks it's good or did I do it wrong or what?

I think it's very cool that there are onDemand workouts, but that would require me to actually get up and do them. Good for you for doing just that!!!

Kristin - The Goat

Tipper said...

Enjoyed your thoughts.

Unknown said...

You just made me realize that I probably do the same thing (my kid...)...hmmm...time to stop that! If you'll check out either my Hands, House, and Heart Full or Bloggest Loser blogs I may be able to help you if you're wanting to lose weight!

Stacy Uncorked said...

So I should cover the turkey with shoe polish at thanksgiving to make it look good? ;)

I agree about the kid thing...

I love that you take breaks in spite of Jillian yelling at you from your TV screen - you're right, she's stuck and can't give you CPR... you are a very smart woman! ;)

People can be contagious up to one week AFTER the flu symptoms fade? That's actually pretty scary...

Virtual and real friends are the best. ;)

Happy FF! :)

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Of course cyberfriends are real. I invited 20 or so of my previously un-met cyberfriends from all parts of the map and not only did they come here sight unseen, but we had the time of our life. (lives?)

You probably ought to join us for Blog Fest 2010 to do an in-depth sociological study on whether cyberfriends are real or not. I'll let you know when we've set a date.

LOVE the train of thought.

Lawyer Mom said...

All that "that makes me think about" stuff makes me think about my untreated ADD! Yikes. I feel dizzy.

"Oh, that's nothing. He's just like my child, blah, blah, blah" maybe, and of course I wasn't there, but just maybe these folks were trying to say "hey, yeah my crazy kid does the same thing. You're not alone."

Dunno. But when I talk to other moms who fill me in and tell me that yes, their own son is into the crazy antics Mr. M is trying to pull off, well, I just feel a whole lot better.

Stacey said...

I just had to laugh about the taking breaks during your workout. I'm the same way! Hopefully we'll both be taking shorter, more sporadic breaks soon! :-)

4 Lettre Words said...

I love this format! And, I'm right there with you on people posting bad recipes. Do you think they are being cruel or just crazy???

Hope the exercising goes well for you!