And, of course, the day that Matt and I decide to get back on track with weekday cooking, the pilot light has gone out on our stove. Or something that creates symptoms like the pilot light, namely, the oven does not get hot. The stovetop still works, but not the oven. I feel as though the universe is trying to tell me something, but why would the universe want to deprive me of yummy roasted root vegetables? I don’t understand.
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The BBC has just posted a video of an octopus running along the ocean floor while carrying a coconut. It’s the most insane thing I’ve seen in a long time. (More insane than that creepy military robot-dog thing! Because this is nature, not engineering.) The accompanying article explains that this particular octopus population demonstrates tool-using behavior, turning these coconut shells into protective habitats. (They’re like hermit crabs! In coconut shells! Hermit octopi.) Nature is always weirder than you could have imagined. (No, really, go watch the running-octopus video. Weirder than you could have imagined.)
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There’s a new initiative at my school, coming out of the guidance and counseling office, to try and help students (and faculty!) reduce stress. A number of faculty and staff went on a mind-body awareness retreat a month or so ago, one of my coworkers has been leading a faculty yoga class, and the students have started a yoga club. During tense periods this fall (midterm week, early-decision college application deadlines, etc.) a few teachers were having their kids do breathing or stretching exercises at the beginning or end of the class period. As much as I love doing yoga, I don’t feel that I’m temperamentally well-suited to leading a classroom full of teenagers in yoga exercises.
What I did instead, during crazy tense midterms week, was show all of my kids a cute video from ZooBorns. Spend a minute and a half watching a video of a baby sloth trying to climb out of a cardboard box (and falling asleep halfway through) and it’s hard to stay tense.
I’m not sure yet if “creepy yet awesome running octopus” works as effectively as “sleepy baby sloth”.
Posted Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 6:27 pm. Filed under: Uncategorized.
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My brother-in-law sent me that octopus video today, and my first thought was, wow, I am sure glad I have octopus on the list of creatures I won’t eat because they might be smarter than I am. It’s an amazing video.
My second thought was that I am probably a little too amused by the fact that the BBC video player’s sound control goes to 11.