My Alphabetical Biography List: Froebel, Friedrich - inventor of kindergarten

Well, after 139 pages I'm still not sure exactly what made his idea of kindergarten unique or really how he came about it. But I did read about his inner life and his outer life ad nauseum. Basically I think he had trouble relating all his schooling to life outside school and wanted there to be some sort of connection. He also mentioned at one point noticing that children learn through playing. Other than that all he did was contemplate.
Maybe if I had found a biography instead of an autobiography it would have been better. It was written in 1827, and felt like it. Also, as the translators said, "...a careful paraphrase of Froebel would be much more intelligible and pithy to English readers than a true rendering, since he possesses every fault of style except over-conciseness..." The translators also said, toward the end of the book (when Froebel was complaining that no one had read his works on education), "Froebel, as has already abundantly appeared, was but a poor author. His stiff, turgid style makes his works in many places most difficult to understand, as the present translators have found to their cost, and he was therefore practically unreadable to the general public." I love it.
There was one thing that jumped out at me, though. "...though [my studies] were regarded from a higher point of view by myself in the privacy of my own thoughts, I had to return to ordinary every-day work...Yet, though I lived the outward business life to all appearance, it remained ever foreign to my nature; I carried my own world within me, and it was that for which I cared and which I cherished." I hear ya, buddy.

Movie Review: "I Hate Luv Storys"

Ah, Bollywood. All things good and cheesy and bright and happy. Singing and dancing, innocence - they're delightful. You do have to read them, which is slightly annoying, however, at the same time it's kind of endearing. It's nice to see there's life outside of Hollywood. And that that life is good.

However, their romantic comedies are even more predictable than ours. The girl has a strict father and an arranged marriage, then finds true love with some wonderful stranger (who she can't stand at first), and oh no whatever shall they do, and then the father relents and they all live happily ever after.

This movie basically makes fun of all that (but in a nice way). Jay (or J as he prefers to be called) hates love stories, but has to take a job working for a Bollywood film maker. There he works with Simran, who absolutely loves love stories and all the silliness involved with them. They drive each other nuts, and, well, if you can't see where this is going from there, then clearly you need to watch more romcoms.

It's predictable fluff, but you take one look at the cover and you know that that's what it is. "'The story itself belongs to the kind that we always make. It is not a great original screenplay but the idea is to pick the same story and make it into something which is very interesting. The film itself is a classic romcom which has all the ingredients that we like in a romcom,' said [actor] Imran [Khan]... 'Punit [the director] wanted to do it in a way where we make fun of what we have seen over the years. Still there was a difference here. Yes, we are pointing fingers at songs and dances but the fact is that we have liked them for decades now and that would continue for many more decades,' said the actor." - expressindia.com

I enjoyed this movie (except for getting one of the songs stuck in my head for a couple days). And I'm thinking I might marry Imran Khan. He's absolutely adorable. If you're up to reading a movie, I would recommend this one. The subtitles do go a little fast at times, but being that this is a standard chick flick, if you don't catch it all, you still know exactly what's happening.

"It is not hard to obey when we love the one whom we obey." - St. Ignatius

praise GOD!!!

my brother passed his class (which turned out to be only 3 weeks) with flying colors and now is off to a job in chicago!!! thank YOU, LORD! thank YOU, thank YOU, thank YOU!!!

Twins headline

"Pavano aims to keep Twins streaking on road"

oh my.

a person's a person no matter how...single

as i sit there at my baby cousin (she's 20)'s wedding shower, i overhear my aunt and two cousins talking: "this is so fun! it's been so long since we've had a wedding!"   "well, we just haven't had anyone that age."

thank you. thank you so much. as if the fact that cousin ariel is getting married at 20 while i'm 30 and hopelessly single doesn't sting enough.

brian dinkelman kind of looks like ted williams

 not a bad thing

two quotes my former employer (/friend) has had on her fb recently

"Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness." ~ Martin Luther

" . . . the secret to 'doing it all' is not necessarily doing it all, but rather discovering which part of the 'all' He has given us to do and doing all of THAT." ~ Jill Briscoe

yes, mel, of course shane west as landon carter is the perfect solution to the depressing chick flick problem.

dummy.

dear melilot,

don't watch chick flicks. they only make you depressed. your brother just gave you about 70 boy movies. go with those. watching people kill each other is far less disheartening.
love,
melilot

these are a few of my favorite things...all wrapped up in one!

danny valencia's half jewish  :)

again i will defend myself by saying that this blog is 'pg' not 'g'

and, if i'm going to be honest on this blog, y'all may as well see my faults as well as my revelations and growth and struggles and all that.
also, i will take a moment to defend oklahoma. it did give us curly after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss1CXo8QMi8

oklahoma, ok? no!

grandma dying, sure that was sad, but this is harder. my brother is taking off for 6-weeks of school in oklahoma, followed by no one knows what. no one knows if or when he'll return, or if or how we'll ever get to visit him, seeing as he'll be living in a camper, not an apartment or a house. we can't send him anything, what with him having no address, and he won't have the gas money to get home. damn this economy and damn this job market. that's my brother!

dear resident,

no, after you die, i will not marry your husband to provide for him the children he never had. but thank you for asking...again.
sincerely,
melilot