Lessons learn from the movie UP

UP ooozes with lots of great lessons about life. A few that hit home for me were:

1. You're never too old to do anything. 
2. The best direction is onwards and upwards. 
3. If there's something light and bright in your life, have faith in it and let it lead you in the right direction. It will be a memorable journey if you have faith.
4. Who said the only teachers were ever adults? We can learn so much from children if we just stop and take time to listen to them.
5. Make sure you and your sweetheart get to do everything you ever wanted to do.

Via 

Before you shop.

Chictopians recommend considering several questions before purchasing an item:

1. Do I need this?
2. How many times will I wear it?
3. Is it made of quality materials?
4. Does it flatter my body?
5. Could I better spend the money on something else?

The things Mom says...

“Do you think I was born yesterday?”
“You’d forget your head if it wasn’t screwed on.”
“Don’t make me stop this car”
“If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?”
“It’s all fun and games until someone pokes an eye out.”
“Money doesn’t grow on trees!”
“Don’t use that tone with me.”
“Don’t make me come in there.”
“Elbows off the table.”
“I don’t care what [name of best friend]’s parents say, in our house you follow our rules.”.
“We can talk about the rules when you start paying rent.”
“While you’re living under this roof…”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”
“Why? Because I said so, that’s why!”
“Clean up your room, missy.”
“Is that too much to ask?”

Via Oh My Handmade Goodness.

Seth Godin's list of what High School could teach.

What's high school for?
Perhaps we could endeavor to teach our future the following:

1. How to focus intently on a problem until it's solved.
2. The benefit of postponing short-term satisfaction in exchange for long-term success.
3. How to read critically.
4. The power of being able to lead groups of peers without receiving clear delegated authority.
5. An understanding of the extraordinary power of the scientific method, in just about any situation or endeavor.
6. How to persuasively present ideas in multiple forms, especially in writing and before a group.
7. Project management. Self-management and the management of ideas, projects and people.
8. Personal finance. Understanding the truth about money and debt and leverage.
9. An insatiable desire (and the ability) to learn more. Forever.
10. Most of all, the self-reliance that comes from understanding that relentless hard work can be applied to solve problems worth solving.

10 fun cyber loafing destinations.

1. Romance isn't dead.

2. Switcheroo!

3. WWGDBD - (what would God Damn Batman do

4. Fashion PixFix

5 Snack break!

6. Bits of everthin'

7. Pigs and Rats and Crocs (ohmy)

8. Yeeky geeky - (WARNING - R rated verbal content)

9. Yeeky party people

10. Art Envy

10 Habits of Highly Organized People

1. Walk away from bargains: Just because you can buy a cashmere sweater for $20 or three bottles of ketchup for the price of one doesn't mean you should. "Ask, 'Do I have something similar?' and 'Where am I going to store it?' before making a purchase," advises New York City professional organizer Julie Morgenstern, author of Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life.
 

2. Make peace with imperfection: Efficient people give "A-level effort" to the most important projects (say, work assignments or a kitchen redesign), and for the rest they do just enough to get the job done, says Renae Reinardy, PsyD, a psychologist who specializes in hoarding disorders. Maybe you give yourself permission to bring store-bought cookies to a school bake sale or donate a bag of stuff—unsorted!—to Goodwill. "Trying to do every task perfectly is the easiest way to get bogged down," says Reinardy. 

3. Never label anything "miscellaneous": You put a bunch of things into a file or box and write this catchall across the front. "But within a week you've forgotten what's in there," says Morgenstern. Instead, sort items into specific groups—"electric bills," "lightbulbs," and so on.

 

4. Schedule regular decluttering sessions: Rather than wait until an industrious mood strikes (we all know where that leads), have a decluttering routine in place—whether it's spending 15 minutes sorting mail after work or tackling a new project every Sunday afternoon.
 

5. Stick with what works: "I have clients who will try every line of makeup, every cell phone—it's exhausting," says Dorothy Breininger, president of the Delphi Center for Organization. Don't waste time (and money) obsessively seeking out the best thing. 

6. Create a dump zone: Find a space to corral all the stuff that you don't have time to put away the moment you step in the door, says Breininger. Once you're ready to get organized, you won't have to hunt all over the house for the dry cleaning or your child's field trip permission slip.

7. Ask for help: "The organized person is willing to expose herself to short-term embarrassment and call for backup," says Breininger. Which is to say, that elaborate four-course dinner you planned? Change it to a potluck.

8. Separate emotions from possessions: It's healthy to be attached to certain items—a vase you picked up in Paris, your grandmother's pearls. But holey concert tees or cheap, scuffed earrings your husband gave you years ago? Just let them go.

9. Foresee (and avoid) problems: You wouldn't leave the house on a gray day without an umbrella, right? People who appear to sail through life unruffled apply this thinking to every scenario, says Breininger. Have a cabinet packed with leaning towers of Tupperware? Organized folks will take a few minutes to short-circuit an avalanche before it happens. (In other words, rearranging that cupboard now is easier than chasing after wayward lids as they scatter underneath the fridge.)

10. Know where to donate: It's easier to part with belongings if they're going to a good home. Identify a neighbor's son who fits into your child's outgrown clothes, or choose a favorite charity. "It will save you from searching for the perfect recipient every time you need to unload something," says Morgenstern.

George Orwell's Rules for Writers

1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. A writer can do very little with words in their primary meanings. He gets his effect if at all by using words in a tricky roundabout way.

The top 5 reasons Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series has been voted off my island.

5.

Her magical high school is not sufficiently fleshed out.

Where are the unicorns? Where are the rainbows and fluffy lambs? Wait. What? It's not a magical alternate dimension paradise?

Then how come a 17 year old new girl, who is painfully negative and unsociable all the time, is so instantly popular? Bella Swan (yes, ironic initials) "stumbles", "stutters", "glares" and "mumbles" through the whole miserable series and yet she is strangely attractive to all the boys.

*cough*BS*cough*

4.

Ms. Meyer treats punctuation like confetti at a parade.

Throw a random handful in the air, watch it fall prettily and let it sit wherever it pleases.

3.

The "dust moats stirring in the sunlight" sentence.

Although I am curious about that one... Do dust moats still need a drawbridge? Is it like quicksand? Does the sarlacc* lurk under the surface?

2.

The vampires sparkle.

For no known reason since there is absolutely no creation myth given to support this. They just step into sunlight and ta-dah! Sparklefest. And just to make it more confusing, they only sparkle in sunlight. A photosynthetic allergy sparkle that only reacts to the correct frequency spectrum.

1.

Edward is horrifying.

And no, I do not mean in a sexy chill down my spine vampirey way.

He's condescending and superior, calls her an idiot often, "sighs" at her attempts to do anything by herself, threatens her "for her own good", creeps into her room and watches her sleep, is jealous, moody and controlling. He graphically describes the way she would look dead, licks her tears and objects to her friendships with anyone other than the pre-approved Angela. He even takes her truck apart so she is forced to stay home when he says she should. Sex with him leaves her covered in bruises.... Am I the only one who sees domestic abuse parallels here?**

Bonus point:

Ms. Meyer seems to follow the "Baby Kangaroo Tribbiani" method of synonym use.

Right click, pick one, run with it. The bigger the better, right? Even if you end up with phrases like "feathery barrenness", "his eyes dissected my expression", and "little sprouts of hope... budding in my mind."

Edit:

** Went loafing cyberspace and discovered that I'm not! Check this out. Weird but true. :)

Also see this for grammar and editing fun-a-palooza.

This is a re-blog because I was editing on Blog 1.0 and suddenly realised this was a List! Yay.