Tuesday Coffee Chat: Challenge Accepted

Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week her topic is:   I'm going to give you a challenge for the rest of this month.   I want you to think about something in your life you'd like to focus on -- just for you - and commit to that task.  Maybe it will require a daily check in.  Maybe only weekly.   Perhaps it's writing a certain number of words per day.  Or a photo a day.   The only rule is that it is For YOU.  Your need.  







Off and on for about the past 40+ years, i have tried to learn to speak Spanish.

It has become a personal challenge, as i want to be able to say that i can speak more than one language.  There's no reasonable reason why i cannot learn.  Heaven knows i've tried.

There's a mental block somewhere, and i want to get over and around it.  Thirty days of consistent practice may be a good start, at least i hope so.

Somewhere in the back of my brain, i am certain, is a memory from when i was a small child.  It's so old, it's not a conscious memory.  In it, i'm sure i picked up on the fact that a significant adult in my life was jealous of others who could speak a second language.  It has left me with that mental block, thinking i'm bad or will disappoint someone if i learn another language.

That block has to go.  Starting this month, i am going to tell my subconscious it's okay for me to learn, and keep telling myself until i believe it.


On a totally different topic, if you are in the US, and you haven't voted early, get yourself to the polls today.  Too many people fought to give you that right, especially if you are a woman, for you to simply blow it off.

#1 Son says we are trying to decide between a turd sandwich and a douche bag.  Bigger Girl calls it a contest between a plucked chicken with more stuffed up her *ss than a Thanksgiving turkey and the result of an unfortunate mating incident between Scrooge McDuck and a tribble-headed troll.

Yes, i think we are all going 3rd party here.  Doesn't matter what we are doing, you decide for yourself.  Get out there and vote.



Today is:

Abet and Aid Punsters Day -- promoted by Punsters Unlimited, which seems to know better than to host a website

Cook Something Bold & Pungent Day -- especially for those who have had to close up the house for winter, we need to create a beautiful aroma for the house; sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Dunce Day -- death anniversary of John Duns Scotus (one of the three most important philosopher-theologians of the Middle Ages, he was called the "Subtle Doctor" but his enemies turned his name into the word we use today for someone who isn't too bright)

Essence of Motown Literary Jam -- Detroit, MI, US (literary celebration and conference, through Sunday)

Feast of the Four Crowned Martyrs (Patrons of cattle, masons, sculptors, stone cutters; against fever)

Festival of the Mania -- Ancient Roman Calendar (to placate the Manes)

Fuigo Matsuri -- Kyoto City, Japan (Bellows Festival, Shinto festival in honor of Inari, the kitchen hearth goddess)

I Hate to Cook Day -- internet generated, and probably started by someone who wanted an excuse to go out to dinner!

National Cappuccino Day

National Harvey Wallbanger Day

National Parents as Teachers Day -- US

Pohnpei Constitution Day -- Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia

Pushkar Camel Fair -- Pushkar, India (for the camels, racing, fancy dress, changing owners, taking tourists on rides, and the chance to liven up this usually quiet town, and for the people, singing, dancing, exotic food, and watching the camels, as well as religious rituals at the time of the full moon; through the 15th)

Saints, Doctors, Missionaries, and Martyr's Day -- Church of England

Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the other Bodiless Powers of Heaven -- Eastern Orthodox Church

Wish-Granting Championships -- Fairy Calendar (Leprechauns)

World Urbanism Day/World Town Planning Day

X-Ray Discovery Day / World Radiography Day -- commemorating the discovery, in 1895, of x-rays 


Anniversaries Today:

Montana becomes 41st US State, 1889
Mount Holyoke Seminary for Women is founded, 1837 (considered by many to be the first true college for women in the US)
Opening of the Louvre, 1793


Birthdays Today:

Tara Reid, 1975
Masashi Kishimoto, 1974
Parker Posey, 1968
Courtney Thorne-Smith, 1967
Gordon Ramsay, 1966
Leif Garrett, 1961
Rickie Lee Jones, 1954
Alfre Woodard, 1953
Mary Hart, 1951
Bonnie Raitt, 1949
Virna Lisi, 1937
Morley Safer, 1931
Patti Page, 1927
Christiaan Barnard, 1922
Esther Rolle, 1920
Martha Gellhorn, 1908
Margaret Mitchell, 1900
Hermann Rorschach, 1884
Milton Bradley, 1836
Edmond Halley, 1656


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Six Degrees of Separation"(Guare drama), 1990
"Night and Day"(Stoppard play), 1978
"Days of our Lives"(TV), 1965
"Life With Father"(Play), 1939
Sister Carrie(Publication date), 1900
"Ruy Blas"(Victor Hugo drama), 1838


Today in History:

Emperor Theodosius declares Christianity to be the state religion, 392
Uprising against Piero de' Medici in Florence, Italy, 1494
First meeting of Montezuma and Hernando Cortez in Tenochtitlan, Mexico, 1519
The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened to the public, 1602
Benjamin Franklin opens the first US library, in Philadelphia, PA, 1731
Elijah Craig, of Bourbon, Kentucky, US, first distills Bourbon whiskey from corn, 1789
Sarah Bernhardt makes her US debut at NY's Booth Theater, 1880
The New Orleans general strike begins, uniting black and white American trade unionists in a successful four-day general strike action for the first time, 1892
Wilhelm Roentgen of Germany discovers X-rays, 1895
The New Testament Gospels are translated into Demotic Greek (as opposed to the Koine Greek of ancient texts), resulting in bloody clashes in Athens, 1901
The first Washington state elections in which women could vote take place, 1910
Operation Grapple X, Round C1: Britain conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific, 1957
Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate, 1966
Manolis Andronikos discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon (Alexander the Great's father), 1977
The UN Security Council demands that Saddam Hussein disarm or face serious consequences, 2002
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao releases pictures of the moon's Sinus Iridium, or Bay of Rainbows, taken during the Chang e-2 lunar mission, 2010