Superpowers

Adam conducts with his superpowers

In a recent episode of This American Life on Superpowers, the first act featured a story where John Hodgman asks the question,”Which superpower would you choose, the power of flight or the power of invisibility?”  How you answer tells a lot about what kind of person you are.

My first thought was invisibility, but then I went back and forth on the flying.  I often have dreams of flying, of traveling through the world either by gliding through the air or just over the ground effortlessly, or by shrinking the earth into the size of a map so I could walk into another country with a single step.  But then the sneaky suspicious side of me would just love to spy on people when I am invisible. 

In the end, how you choose shows whether the gallant person with nothing to hide overcomes the darker, guilty, suspicious person.  They said that men choose flying more often and women choose invisibility.

But the superpower that I would want over anything else would be the ability to be in more than one place at a time.  I could finally be supermom and work full time, take care of the kids full time, and even split my time helping with homework, piano or violin practicing at the same time.  Of course these leads to no down time, but I could choose when and whether or not to split or clone or whatever it takes to be in more than one place at a time. 

Just this past weekend, I wished for this superpower again.  It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and I drove my convertible to my therapeutic massage appointment.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and I put on my music and enjoyed my little getaway from the kids.  My husband Doug took my son to his first soccer game of the season, which is something that I’ve done countless times.  However, this time my son Adam scored three out of the five goals helping his team to its first solid win in ages!  Oh how I wished I could have been there!  But if I were able to be in those two places at the same time, would I have relished my getaway if I weren’t really away?  I’ll worry about those philosophical dilemmas when I get to them.

The power I choose for Doug is the ability to stop time.  In Nicholson Baker’s book, The Fermata, the main character uses this power to do all sorts of kinky sex acts, but there are many more uses for this power.  Doug would love to invoke time stopping when the kids get too loud and crazy.  He could just stop time and everything would be quiet.  He could catch his breath, relax and relish the moment of silence.  Plus with his new job, he can finally get everything done despite our jam-packed family schedule.



My son Adam is pure of heart and would embrace flying without question.  He loves to defy gravity on the swings.  It is completely fitting for him.



My daughter Dova would definitely be the invisible one.  She already loves to sneak up on you and scare you any chance she gets.  Hopefully this won’t lead to a dark life of deception in the future.

So what superpower would you choose?  Do me a favor and comment here on this post about ABC's No Ordinary Family.

I’ve Discovered the Asian Parenting Manual

Photo by mswlogo.





My Suzuki daughter Dova.

Through conversations with friends who are Asian or have an Asian spouse, I’ve learned that most Asian parents are extremely demanding and hard on their kids when it comes to both academics and music.  My parents expected excellent grades from me at all times (A’s are not good enough when you can get an A+),  but they never pushed me when it came to the piano.  Apparently, I was one of those rare kids who practiced on their own without any reminders.  It was always easy and fun for me.

So when my kids started on the piano, I wanted them to succeed, so I would sit with them through practice time.  I remember interviews with The 5 Browns where the mother would sit with each of their five children for one hour of practicing each every day.  She must have had someone else do all the cooking, cleaning and laundry!

Since I have plenty of musical background, I figured that it could only help with their practicing.  Of course, this has lead to countless head buttings with them both, but in the end, they do get the satisfaction of being able to learn a piece and really make music on their own.  Doug disagrees with my methodology and thinks that I am way too hard on them.

This summer, we all started on the violin.  I found a local teacher that taught the Suzuki method.   The kids are starting relatively late at ages 9 and 6, where Suzuki suggests starting at 3 or 4 years of age.  I never liked the idea of those tiny robotic kids playing the violin, so I never wanted our kids to join this “cult” previously.  But little did I know that I would discover that my whole parenting methodology IS the Suzuki method.

In the foreword to Suzuki Violin School: Vol. 1, I read this paragraph to Doug:

For more than forty years of experimental pedagogy, I have come to know without a doubt that ability is not inborn.  Please raise your child to be a fine human being.  Heart and ability depend entirely on the manner of nurturing.  Everyone knows how important it is to cultivate seedlings with care, yet some parents are inattentive and indifferent to their children’s development.  Without exerting any effort, they resign themselves to the thought that, “My child was born this way.”  I hope you will not repeat this lamentable mistake from past eras of human civilization.

As I finished, Doug exclaimed, “That is you, 300 percent!”  Aha!  I have found my mantra.  Here is some more later on:

Please do not fail to nurture your child.  It is a mistake to think that your child’s future is only a matter of heredity or inborn qualities.  In response to the skill and ingenuity of the nurturer, any child can be fostered to achieve a high level of ability.

Yes, I must work these kids harder!  Although I do believe that there is a huge contribution from genetics.  But later on, I found the item that I need to work on:

It is crucial that parents understand how to guide their children’s hearts and provide a motivating environment without anger or negative criticism. 

Oops, here’s where I fail.  Tonight, after a long evening of soccer practice, homework, and excruciating piano practicing, I tried to give Adam a pass on violin practicing for one evening.  He refused saying, “No mom, I HAVE to practice my violin.”  That’s my boy.  Something must be working.  I gave him a pass on taking a shower instead.

Touched by the Bloggess

During BlogHer '10 Voices of the Year Art Exhibit and Art Auction curated by kirtsy, I patiently waited in line to be blessed by the performance art of Jenny the Bloggess.  She breathed in my aura, looked at the words "i am music" on my arm and typed this out on her vintage pink typewriter.



"You are a rhapsody that hasnt been finished.  Unfortunely you cant sell unfinished rhapsodies.  Also? I cant spell."

It was great fun and I was glad to see Jenny in good spirits and not too spooked by all the people swarming around her. 



It is the last week to bid on the art auction benefitting gulf coast restoration. From September 10-20, items from the geek/nerdy art collection are up for bidding. Check out the auction directly on eBay.

How to Take Action Shots with a Point and Shoot Camera

On our last trip to the beach, I only brought along my point and shoot camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K. This is great for capturing snapshots such as this, but you really need a DSLR to capture great action shots. Or do you?

I've brought my DSLR to the beach many times and have captured the kids frolicking in the waves over the years. But there is a constant worry of getting salt and sand into the camera.  A couple years ago, Adam accidentally got sand in my camera bag and my walk-around zoom lens bore the brunt of it.  For years it was quite "crunchy" while zooming until just recently.  I finally dared to bring the DSLR to the beach again earlier this year and loved the results.  I did have a little freak-out after taking this shot where salt water hit the camera.  Well worth capturing the flying Medusa hair though.



In 2008, I captured a similar shot of Dova jumping.



Many people have asked how I manage to time shots like these.  The answer is always the same.  You set the focus and exposure automatically by pressing the shutter button halfway down and holding it (or set the exposure manually and hold the button halfway down).  Then you press the shutter button all the way down right at the moment you want to capture the shot.  Not a half-second or second before.  Right at that instant.  "But you can't do that with a point and shoot" is always the response.  Not true.  Point and shoot cameras all have means to hold the focus and exposure settings by holding the shutter button halfway down.  After holding the shutter button halfway down, there is no delay when you press it all the way down.  Here's proof:



This was my first attempt at capturing Dova jumping off the life guard stand. Thankfully, she is an excellent jumper. The stand was nearly 7 feet off the ground and I wouldn't be caught dead trying to jump off of it. She continued to jump off the stand and the camera did not fail me.  It helps that there was plenty of light so the auto exposure set the shutter speed pretty fast.  Also, when you capture a jump at the highest point, there is the least amount of movement from the subject.  Here are some more shots:







The girl really knows how to fly. She'll make an excellent gymnast someday, not afraid of dismounts at all.  Although I wish I had my DSLR that day, these shots will definitely be headed for the best of 2010.

Heart Rock

On our last trip to the beach this summer, we took a walk while waiting for a table at a restaurant.  It was a gorgeous summer evening, and we explored along an Audobon trail in Westport, MA.



The lush grass soon turned into the shoreline. Adam and Dova wanted to search for a souvenir rock to bring home.



Um, that one is too big Dova...

There were so many beautiful colors and textures to choose from.





Finally Dova found this heart-shaped rock and knew it was the one.



It is the perfect heart rock for my heart child. Happy Love Thursday everyone!

Visit Chookooloonks for more Love Thursday.

WW - Simply Addicted to Ferraris

Every year we attend Tutto Italiano held at the Lars Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA. It is an Italian automobile and motorcycle show which features exotic and not-so-exotic makes such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Ducati and Moto Guzzi.

This year, the Ferrari crew had a set of models for guys to ogle and photograph.  I tried to take this opportunity to practice some model photography, but the whole scene made me gag.  Maybe it was because all the guys were shamelessly drooling over them, or maybe these models made me feel decidedly un-hot.  The way they posed reminded me of the zombie models in the old Robert Palmer music videos for Addicted to Love and Simply Irresistible.  Here are the rest of the Ferrari babes.









Doug showed his motorcycle and posed for me as Ducati poster boy.  Hmm, not quite the same effect.



Our kids have been over-saturated with Tutto Italianos and had no interest in looking at any of the cars or even posing for photographs. But the wall is simply irresistible to jumping.





I guess I'd rather have jumpers than zombie models any day.