Listen for a Change

This 30-second commercial, has been fascinating me for months.

I see it when I do my Duolingo Spanish lessons. I am such a nerd for this app. I do Duolingo every day, and while I am far, far, far from understanding Spanish, every once in a while, someone will say something and I will understand a word or two!

I am also a total sucker for this app’s tricks. Currently, I have186 crowns and 3,765 gems and I am on an 8-day unbroken streak. I feel a pang when I miss a day and mess up a streak but I don’t, though the app always tells me I could, spend a dollar or two to reinstate my streak.

But the commercial.

For Audible, the audio book company.

It’s just so well done.

I see it often because I am a cheapie and use the free Duolingo version, which requires me to watch ads. I always even agree to watch more ads to get more gems just because gems must be good, right?

Pretty slick that I am using Duolingo to learn Spanish and I get the commercial where a trucker is using Audible to learn Spanish.

But there’s this whole other story going on. The cute-as-a-button trucker is learning Spanish because he has a crush on an equally adorable waitress at a diner he apparently stops at a lot, and she on him. The commercial starts with his Audible book explaining that “para” is used "when you are talking about something for someone.” He goes into the diner and nervously asks her, in Spanish, for a table for dinner. She, beaming at him, says his attempt is “pretty good.” The ad finishes, as they walk away together, by asking, “Could Audible inspire you to start something new?”

Aww. Love it.

Mental Maintenance

I once actually read how-to books about housecleaning. My goal, sort of realized, was to figure out the least I could do yet stay in the “normal” range.

I realized I've done the same when it comes to "mental maintenance."

Our minds are not machines, and even if they were, machines need maintenance, too.

Be kind to your mind!

Hokey as these sound, they work.

Keeping a Journal. I've done this since I was 12 years old. Spent a lot of time scribbling away, but the benefits outweigh the costs. It is the best way to learn how to write. And you think through your thoughts.

From the author Julia Cameron, keep a Ta Da List. Write down the things you did do.

Write down 5+ things you are grateful for. Some of mine -- "I'm grateful I'm not her" -- are clearly not in the spirit, but even they work. Any focus on the positive helps.

Meditation: Literally 5 minutes. Just breathe. And it’s not so much clearing your mind as it is simply trying to let your mind be clear. My favorite book on the subject: 10% Happier.

Learn Something Different: I spend about 5 minutes a day using a phone app (Duolingo) to learn a few words of Spanish. I got excited in the supermarket yesterday when I realized the people in front of me were talking about onions (cebollas)!

Exercise ... Particularly yoga ... Exercise helps emotionally as well as physically. Studies show that exercise can be as effective for alleviating depression as medications. The yoga pose half-pigeon, which is done near the end of yoga class and stretches things deep in your hips, seems to dispel stress especially well.

Sleep. It is shocking how much better you can feel simply from getting enough sleep.

Crushes

[Wow, so this super-duper didn't age well. Avenatti was just sentenced to 14 years in prison (12/5/22) for embezzling millions of dollars from clients and Elon Musk has clearly lost his freaking mind.]
 

 [O.K., so this clearly didn't age well. Michael Avenatti, how could you?]

I know a woman who told her husband that she'd never cheat, except if Bruce Springsteen were a possibility, then all bets were off.

Who you have a crush on, like any all-time favorites list you might have, says something about you, I think.

My crushes, for example, make it pretty clear I’m liberal. Also, I like the good guys. And I like them smart. Also, fearless. And funny.

They are currently:

Michael Avenatti. I know, I know, he'd make a terrible boyfriend. I don't think he can turn that testosterone-fueled aggression and competitiveness off. Still, he and Stormy Daniels just might save the country.

Elon Musk. Yes, he's probably super-odd. Musk once asked a reporter how much time he should pencil in for a girlfriend: “How much time does a woman want a week? Maybe 10 hours?" Maybe it’s because I’m not that girlfriend, but I find that cluelessness in an otherwise super-genius kind of endearing.

And no, no crush of mine is about money. I’m not that practical; also, I’m not Melania Trump. (And I don't think even she likes Trump.)

It's just that Musk just might save the human race.

Jon Stewart. Nope, he's not on The Daily Show anymore, though many of his protégés continue what he started: Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Trevor Noah. Maybe it's a matter of me imprinting like a baby duck on the first because it’s Jon Stewart who I have a crush on. And he is still around and kicking. Yay!

How about you? :)

Favorite Movies of All Time

All-time favorites – of anything, really, music, books, places you’ve been – are things that really made a lasting impression on you. And whenever you make a list of your all-time favorites of something, it ends up showing you something about yourself, I think.

So, movies.

The first movie that made my all-time list was Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. That movie came out in 1969, when I was four. I didn't see it till it came out on television years later, when I was about 10 or 11, at just that age when I didn’t know whether I wanted to be the Sundance Kid or sleep with him. (My present-day self says, Why not both? And also now, I appreciate the charms of Butch as much, if not more.)

Next was Paper Moon, with Ryan O'Neil and a young Tatum O'Neil.

In college, we were all fascinated by The Big Chill.

I stole a tradition from a friend (Hi, Jared!) and now we always watch Moonstruck on Valentine's Day.

Speaking of holidays, for Halloween: Young Frankenstein (I don't do horror movies), for Christmas, A Christmas Story.

The Big Lebowski: My brother-in-law, in a stroke of genius, introduced this movie to our father-in-law.

The Hotel Budapest.

Raising Arizona.

I liked going to (most) children’s movies with my own kids. Some are amazingly good, like Shrek and Mulan.

And just recently, my daughter gave my husband Florence Foster Jenkins for Father's Day. Days later, I continue to think about this movie, based on a true story and so carefully written, acted and constructed.

So, I like funny movies, clever movies, movies with a touch of the absurd, movies in which the characters let their eccentricities all hang out.

Yeah, sounds about right.

What movies make your all-time list?

There Are Good People Out There

I write for a group of super-local, small magazines, called The Buzz Magazines, here in Houston.

I do it for fun and I also like to think that, maybe, something I write ends up being helpful to someone.

And the people I like best to talk to, and whom I admire so much, are people who are willing to talk about their own struggles, problems and dark times, in the hopes of helping others.

The latest time I did that was for this month's article on young adults and alcoholism.

But I also admire the people I spoke with about finding your birth family, having learning differences as an adult, dealing with dementia in yourself or in a family member, trying to find a functionally disabled family member a happy life and dealing with a devastating illness.

In this dismal time, when so many seem to be afraid of and in competition with everyone around them, grabbing all they can for themselves, like starving dogs, it's nice to know there are still good people around. :)