So I got this link in an email to test my "brain age". And if you've ever read my blog before, you know I can't resist taking these ridiculous tests. Typically, it's some questionnaire about totally random and useless information, of which my brain runneth over, so it gives me an ego boost by reminding me what a genius I am. Then I go and do something stupid like invite 20 kids to Ollie's birthday party. Anyway, I don't know what sort of science (if any) this brain age test is based on, but I took it and once again got ego-boosting results. Apparently my brain is 29 years old, which is great because that's how old I tell people I am anyway. Actually, I was really surprised it was that high because based on maturity level, I'd say my brain is about 4.

If you're interested in determining your brain age, here are the instructions. (Did I mention the website is in Japanese?)
Instructions:
1. Click 'start'.
2. Wait for 3, 2, 1 countdown on each page.
3. After the countdown, numbers will appear in random positions then disappear leaving circles in their places. Memorize the number's position on the screen (you'll only get a glance), then click the circles, in order, from the SMALLEST number to the BIGGEST number.
4. At the end of game, the computer will tell you the functioning age of your brain.
Now click HERE to take the test. Good luck!

I'd love to know how to interpret the results. I'm sure it's some kind of bell curve that increases with intellectual development, peaks, then decreases proportionate to the short-term memory loss that typically occurs with aging.

Let me know how you score, especially relative to your physical age (which need not be revealed if you're sensitive to such things). Too bad our society is so focused on physical age - you'd never hear two guys talking about a girl in the context of brain age. "Hey, Chuck, have you met Cindy?" "Yeah man, she's hot. She's got the brain of a 35-year-old." Sigh...

Now where was I? Oh yes, Busch Gardens. Of course, it's been over a month now, but Grover and Ollie are still talking about how much fun they had. We met Fishmonger & Co. there, which was really cool because we hadn't seen each other in 11 years. Grover and TheGirl hit it off pretty much instantly (after the typical 8/9YO hesitation and eye-rolling) and ditched us for most of the rides. We rode roller coasters, played a rousing game of Whack-A-Hun (which you can view on Fishmonger's Flickr page) and drank lots of water. It was quite possibly the hottest day of the summer that day, topping out at a toasty 102 degrees. And of course, it wouldn't be the South without a bit of oppressive humidity thrown in. I was a big ball of sweat by 11:00 a.m., which I'm sure was muy attractive but lucky for me, I don't give a rat's petutie. It was so hot that we only ate one meal all day and let me tell you, folks, half of the attraction of Busch Gardens is the food. Typically we work our way through the "countries", sampling delicious European fare (hardly authentic, I'm sure, but having never been to Europe, it's good enough for me) and drinking beer. After all, it is BUSCH Gardens although it may be InBev Gardens before long. That could be a good thing - bring some authentic Belgian beer to an already great theme park - I like that idea. But I digress.

The BG trip was followed by Ollie's actual birthday, which we celebrated quietly. Well, not entirely, because there was still all the Kung Fu Panda stuff lying around that Ollie felt the need to use to demonstrate her kung fu skills. Then school started. On July 28th, Grover went back to school and Ollie started kindergarten the week after. I'm still not quite out of my funk from not having my little sidekick with me most of the day. Yeah, she had preschool, but it was only four days a week and I helped out on two of those days. When she got out of the Mom Taxi in carpool with hardly a backward glance, she might as well have ripped my heart out and taken it with her. Ollie loves school, which is great because I want her to have a good foundation for her educational career. Homework, however, not so much. Trying to get Ollie to sit down and get her homework done is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall. I am usually somewhere between pulling my hair out and locking myself in the bathroom counting to ten when my husband gets home from work. And it's kindergarten - the homework isn't even that hard and she did it all in preschool anyway so that makes it even easier. The thing is, though, that when Ollie doesn't want to do something she just doesn't do it. Period, end of sentence. I've tried positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, rewards, bribes, taking away toys - nothing works. I don't know what to do with her. I dread her becoming a teenager. Now, Grover on the other hand, is exactly the opposite, thank goodness. She does her homework and rarely even asks for help. I used to worry that I wasn't involved enough in her schoolwork, but she was doing everything right and getting good grades.

With school starting, I thought I'd have all this time to get stuff done, both regular housework (which I'm avoiding right now - hi, honey, I promise as soon as I get up I'll clean the bathroom!) and all these projects I've had planned. Nope. Not happening. Well, first of all I was stupid enough to volunteer to be the PTA Treasurer. I can only claim temporary insanity on that one (and actually, my shrink agrees). I'm still a Girl Scout Leader for Grover's troop and I'm also helping the new leaders of Ollie's Daisy troop get started. I also volunteered to help with Math Stars in Grover's class and help Ollie's teacher once in a while. Then, when I am home with time to get stuff done, I get sidetracked and can't get anything done. My shrink has suggested that I have ADD (ya think????) and started me on Ritalin the other day. In spite of my pharmaceutical chemistry background, it baffles me that a stimulant can actually calm you down but I'm a believer now. The first day I took it, it actually made me sleepy enough to want to take a nap. I have found it helpful, though my husband hasn't seen enough evidence to buy into it.

And on that note, I think I'll go clean the bathroom.

I haven't had much time to sit and write about what's going on in my life, mainly because there's so much going on in my life. I mean, it's easy to take a few minutes to post interesting or funny videos from YouTube or MySpace, but that requires little thought and energy. To put pen to paper (or in this case, fingers to keyboard) and regale my loyal readers with the entertaining stories of my everyday experiences, well let's just say that takes a little more effort. Not that it's hard to find the humor in everyday situations, it's just difficult to find words to adequately describe the event so you get the true feeling of whatever emotion I'm trying to share. Blah, blah, blah... Enough about me, what do you think about me?

So I'll start with a brief recap of the last month. I survived Day Camp yet again. Armed with the knowledge that lots of Propel water and a bottle of Advil prevents my heat-induced migraines, I braved the heat and actually had fun this year. It helps that the organizers put me in charge of all the Brownie activities. Why would I want to be in charge? Doesn't that require more work that I don't have time for? Well, yes, but you see (as I may have mentioned previously) I'm a bit neurotic and I like things done a certain way. So when I'm in charge, I get to pick what we do and how we do it and everyone else has to suck up and deal. (I believe the aptitude tests I took in high school recommended dictatorship as my ideal career choice, but those positions are so hard to obtain without staging some sort of coup and ultimately assassination.) Anyway, Day Camp - good.

Next up was Ollie's 5th birthday party. Being the typical girl, wait strike that... being Ollie, she chose Kung Fu Panda as her theme. And she asked for "boy toys". Not like Madonna in the 80's boy toys, but Transformers, Batman, stuff like that. Ask and you shall receive... she got a Transformer (that I have learned how to change from robot to car and back in under 5 minutes - the new ones are infinitely more complicated than the ones we had when I was younger), a pirate ship with cannons that launch cannon balls (let me tell you how much the dogs love that), a Kung Fu Panda set with a dagger and nunchucks, and a Batman action figure that's really cool. You press a button on his stomach and his cape springs out just like in the movie. It scared our poor babysitter the first time Ollie demonstrated it for her. Ollie has slept with Batman every night except the night we spent in a motel before we went to Busch Gardens (that post comes later). Ollie and I shared a bed and I said in no uncertain terms was Batman joining us. I sleep poorly enough on cheap motel mattresses; I don't need to roll over on top of a hard plastic 11-inch action figure. Now if it were Christian Bale, that would be an entirely different situation... But I highly doubt that situation would involve a Motel 6, my husband and 2 kids. Ollie's party was complete chaos. In spite of having done this with Grover a couple of years ago (do I learn from my mistakes? NO!!!), I invited all her friends from preschool and a few other friends. I think somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking 'it's the middle of summer, a lot of them will be at the beach or elsewhere on vacation, they won't all come'. So much for my genius status. We had 16 kids plus Ollie running around screaming like banshees. I will never do that again. Really. But I did make really cool cupcakes. Wanna see?


Can you tell I'm an overachiever? A bit of advice here, though: don't give black icing to a bunch of five year olds without having lots of soap, water and carpet cleaner at the ready.

That's all for now - gotta go get my hair cut and highlighted. More on Busch Gardens with Fishmonger & Co., our kitchen remodeling project and Ollie's first day of kindergarten later.

So a California parole board has denied Susan Atkins' motion for release. Seems the poor woman is suffering from brain cancer which has left her paralyzed on one side and completely debilitated. Her husband who is acting as one of her attorneys says there is no reason to keep her in prison.

Hmmm... here's a reason - she committed murder! Of a young woman who was 8 1/2 months pregnant. And then she tasted the woman's blood and used it to write "PIG" on the door. Compassionate release, my left foot! So if Manson himself were in the same state of health, would they advocate for his release?