Week the First: New Year's Resolutions

That's right, you heard me. New Year's Resolutions. Get ready for a blast from the past!

Well, it's only my second blog for Internet Social Hour and it looks like I'm already going to twist things up. I had planned for the Saturday topic to be the current week's topic, but because this week's topic is more or less a sequel to a previous one, it seems odd to do it. So I'm going to go back and do another old one and wait until next Saturday to do a new one. Deal with it, kids.

The first week of actual topics was New Year's Resolutions and this is actually something that I've needed for some time to write about. I have a long-standing tradition regarding this and I didn't do it this year because of some things that happened and I feel like I should explain and rectify that as much as I can. I can't tell the whole story because part of it isn't my story to tell, but I'll tell what I can and it will be enough.

 

I've never done NYRs, exactly, but most of my adult life I've used that time of year to set goals for the coming year. It may sound like a fine line, but to me there's a big difference between saying "I resolve to..." and "This is the goal that I plan to achieve." One is about looking to the past and trying to do better through sheer will power; the other is about looking to the future and working to do good things through careful planning and thoughtful action. It's also different from what most people do because I make pretty specific statements rather than nebulous ideas. This isn't currently one of my goals, but for example, rather than say "I want to lose weight" I would say something like "I plan to lose at least x pounds". Both the planning and the specificity just work a lot better for me than the normal kind of resolutions.

The second thing I've done differently for many years is the timing of my goals. I used to do them at the beginning of the year just like most people, but I don't anymore. In 2006 I met a person who was to become a good friend. He's a very private person so I won't say much about him except to say that he had completely turned his life around a few years earlier, and the anniversary of his change was February 1. His story was extremely inspiring to me so, in order to honor it and him, I started making my new goals on that date too. I've done that ever since.

For several years, I published a blog post every February 1 giving a progress report on my previous year's goals and outlining my goals for the coming year. It's become such a tradition for me that several people will ask me about it during January, and this year was no exception. But I didn't do it this year.

It wasn't because I forgot or procrastinated or got lazy or gave up on it or anything like that. Believe me, I felt that day come and go and I thought about my goals a lot, but I just couldn't bring myself to publish a post. The reason was that I hadn't talked to my friend for several months and I missed him and it hurt too much to write the thing. There were several reasons that we hadn't talked, none of which had anything to do with any bad feelings between us. Some of the reasons were on my end and some were on his end, but the one that made it the most painful for me was that he was suffering through a bout of depression so deep that he couldn't even bring himself to communicate with anyone beyond the absolute necessity.

Fortunately, he finally found his way out of the worst of it, at least far enough that he can see a little light now, and we're talking again. But by the time that happened, February 1 had long since come and gone, so I figured it was too late for a post on this year's goals. I did intend to write a post explaining what had happened, but I haven't gotten around to it until now. So this is serving double duty. In addition to being my second post for the Introvert Social Hour, it's also an explanation to my friends about what happened this February. I hope you can all understand my feelings about it.

I did set my goals for 2013, though, even though I didn't post them, and I imagine you're probably curious to know what they were. That's understandable. I'll list them with minimal commentary for now, and then tell you more when I make my official goals post in February 2014. I hope everyone will stick around for that! With no further ado:

1. Get back to the Wellness Center (my local gym) regularly -- Not overly successful yet but there are pretty good reasons for it. Soon to be more successful if all goes according to plan.

2. 90% passing on TAKS, 70% on EOC -- This is state testing stuff. I had 100% pass last year, which is PHENOMENAL and just never happens, so I want to do at least reasonably well this year. The EOC is significantly harder than the TAKS. I won't know the results of either for several weeks.

3. Get the house deep down super clean -- It's reasonably clean but the plan was always to do the deep down stuff in the summer, so that hasn't happened yet.

4. Write at least 25 blog posts this year -- This one wasn't looking too good (though I was planning on writing a lot more during the summer to make it happen) but with this new project it'll be easy. At two per week for ISH plus all the normal ones I do, this will easily happen.

And that's about it. We'll see how it goes for the rest of the year!

For now, if you have questions or comments please feel free to leave them below. I'd love to hear from you! And if you're interested in such things you can also find me on Twitter.

Thanks again for reading! If you've somehow landed here from some other source and haven't seen the videos that go along with this post, they are:

Jill, Kristina, Cat (who's no longer on the channel), Frieda & Amy

And that's it from me on this Saturday. Best wishes! <3

Introvert Social Hour, An Introduction

tl;dr: Check the bold print.

 

Hi! Thanks for coming by to read my contribution to the Introvert Social Hour. You're probably wondering why I'm not making videos like the others. Unfortunately, I don't own a video camera and don't foresee getting one any time soon. But I enjoy the channel a lot and wanted to join in on the conversation, so Jill, Kristina, Frieda, and Amy were kind enough to let me try this unconventional "collab" method. We'll see how it goes!

Not only am I going to be participating in the channel, but I also wanted to go back and put in my two cents on all of the topics that have been discussed from the very beginning. So for now I'm going to be doing an old topic every Wednesday and the current topic every Saturday until I catch up. At that time, I'll continue doing the Saturday blogs and drop the Wednesday ones. That means that today's topic is the very first one that the group discussed at the beginning of the project: Introductions. This will be long because I want to give a well-rounded picture of who I am, but I'll try to keep it moving so it's not too boring.

So here we go!

 

My name is Edi and I live in a town of about 2000 people in the West Texas desert. The area where I live looks very much like something you would see in an old western movie: cactus, tumbleweed, sand, rattlesnakes, buzzards, cattle, oil wells, pickup trucks, and even bona fide cowboys in boots, hats, and giant belt buckles. My town's population actually hovered around 1500 for several years but the oil business is doing very well right now – we call that a "boom", or say that oil is "booming" – so lots of people are moving into the area to take advantage of the prosperous conditions and the town has grown by about 30% just in the past year or two.

I'm married but don't have any kids or pets. I live a pretty quiet life and am a very, very quiet person. I'm also very shy and it takes me quite a while to warm up to new people and situations. Once I know a person well and feel comfortable, I loosen up considerably, but even then I'm rarely what you'd normally call "talkative".

 I do talk all day at work, though, because I don't have a choice about it. I'm a high school science teacher. At the moment I'm only teaching chemistry and physics, but that's because we're switching chemistry from 11^th grade to 10^th, so I have all of both years, which doesn't leave much room in the schedule to teach anything else. I've taught both of those classes for many years, and I normally have others as well. Over the years I've taught biology, human anatomy and physiology, AP chemistry, an enrichment class for gifted students, and a science remediation class. I expect at minimum to have chemistry, AP chemistry, and physics from next year and on into the foreseeable future, and possibly some other stuff as well.

Like most good nerds, I'm very much into reading. I stick mostly with literary fiction and a little young adult fiction but I also get pretty strong doses of sci-fi/fantasy and nonfiction along the way, too. I also write a lot, and editing is the love of my life. There's a fair bit of my work on this blog, plus I have three books in the works (but not ready any time soon, so don't get too excited!), I stay busy with contracted freelance projects, and I'm also a writer/editor for the Crash Course channel on YouTube.

Speaking of YouTube, I'm a proud Nerdfighter since mid-2007 and my badge of honor is that John Green once called me a "hardcore Nerdfighter". Sadly, I was far too shy to interact with the community until early 2008 so I watched a lot of the early fun from the sidelines rather than getting involved, but since I finally opened up and started getting to know people it's been an even richer experience. The community has changed drastically in the past six years, and I'm unhappy about a lot of things that I see happening, but I still believe that the core ideas are good and right and I want to spend my life decreasing worldsuck and not forgetting to be awesome.

I love movies but because the nearest theatre or rental outlet of any kind is about 60 miles from me, and I don't have Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, or any other such service, I don't see nearly as many as I'd like. (To be honest, I don't really have time to watch many movies, which is why I don't have Netflix, etc. I don't want to pay for something I won't use, and if I use it as much as I'd like I'd never get any work done.) I mostly love comedies and romantic comedies, but there are a lot of great dramas too. I don't like westerns or military/government/spy kind of stuff very much as a general rule, but other than that I'm not overly picky. I just like movies.

I rarely watch tv but I do watch AMC on most Sunday nights at 9 pm Central US time because that's when Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead are on and I love love love those shows. The only other thing that I would watch if I could is Doctor Who, but I don't get BBC America so I have to watch that online. (Sorry, BBC. I'd pay for it if I could but I'm not gonna skip it just because I have no way to access it legally!) If I happen to turn on the tv at any other time, it'll almost always be for a movie or a comedy of some kind.

Music, oh man. I love music. I'm a rocker at heart but I love many styles of music, depending on my mood. You name it, I probably listen to it at one time or another, and the harder the beat the more likely I am to enjoy it most days. Just about the only style that I don't ever like much is modern country. I love country music from the 1920s through about the 1960s or so, including bluegrass, and even a little bit in the '70s and '80s was still good. But most of what's come out after the early '70s isn't even country, in my opinion. I always say it's just pop music with a steel guitar and a twangy voice thrown in, and these days I don't think they even bother with the steel guitar most of the time. It's not bad music; more power to you if you like it! It's just not my personal cup of tea.

I'm not an exercise-y kind of person at all, unfortunately. I hate to sweat and my philosophy is that if outside were really so great human society wouldn't have spent thousands of years perfecting inside. I love my air conditioner and I won't give it up without a fight! I do, however, LOVE to swim. That's the one place that I'll exercise until I'm exhausted and won't mind it a bit. I love everything about water -- drinking it, rain, swimming, boating, the sound and smell of the ocean, even showering -- you name it, if there's water involved, I'm in. And fortunately there's a very nice indoor pool at the (beautiful, grant-funded) Wellness Center in my town, so I spend a lot of time there.

I'm not an overly creative type but I do enjoy photography and drawing, and I flatter myself to think that I'm pretty good at both. I'm often told that I have a good eye for interior design and decoration, but I think that's all just a matter of taste. My style is "the sort of thing you'll like if you like that sort of thing".

I think that covers all the main bases about me for now. You'll obviously get to know me better as I write about more of the weekly topics, but if you have questions or comments please feel free to leave them below. I'd love to hear from you! And if you're interested in such things you can also find me on Twitter.

Thanks again for reading! If you've somehow landed here from some other source and haven't seen the videos that go along with this post, they can be found at:

Jill                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4vCmgWP1h8

Kristina          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xKFp8O1Ksw

Cat, who's no longer on the channel       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8HXk6g8q5w
And Frieda     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8HXk6g8q5w

And that's it from me on this Wednesday. Best wishes! <3

How to Stop Whining and Learn Teens Are the Bomb

For several years, and especially since the publication of The Fault in Our Stars, author John Green has discussed over and over and over (to cite just a few examples) the failure of most adults to appreciate the intelligence and insight of teenagers. I agree wholeheartedly. Adults who do value teenagers' thoughts, ideas, and activities are clearly -- and unfortunately -- not the norm.

And that makes me wonder: Why do some see it when others don't? Why do a few adults respect and enjoy the teen mind while most see it, at best, as immature and vapid, and, at worst, as willfully ignorant or even malevolent? Maybe it comes naturally to a few, but most of us who value teens highly have been led to this vantage point largely by two factors.

First, we simply spend a lot of time with teens. John's work -- in his writing, on YouTube, and elsewhere -- more or less revolves around teens and their world and, as a high school teacher and a highly involved aunt of several teenagers, mine does too. We're both constantly surrounded by and communicating with teens. We not only hear about their ideas and stories, relationships and solitude, dreams and fears, joys and frustrations, loves and hates, creations and mistakes, triumphs and disappointments, but we are in actual, meaningful contact with those events.

This constant interaction allows us to see them at their worst, it's true, but it also showcases them at their best. We get to know them as a whole -- a beautiful, variegated, complex, sometimes frustrating but always exciting mass of humanity -- and, if we are very lucky, get to know a few of them as individuals too. We have the privilege of seeing both the diversity of the group and the individuality that is inherent to all of us. Only a person with an utterly closed mind could experience that kind of interaction day after day and not ultimately recognize the depth and beauty of the teen mind.

I would be both remiss and dishonest if I didn't concede that teenagers, on average, do and say stupid things more often than adults do. Of course they do! Certainly even the most intelligent teenager still has a lot to learn.  But we don't disparage all adults based on the immaturity or ignorance of some, or on the bad decisions of which all of us are occasionally guilty. Exposure to the sheer volume of teen interaction that people like John and I get makes it much harder to ignore the bright spark of adolescent intelligence simply because the dark side gets more press.

The second factor that's vital to appreciating teens is caring deeply and sincerely about them. Unfortunately, merely caring isn't enough to make us appreciate teens as we should. Many adults truly care about teens but don't fully understand them, causing the adult to view teenagers with more concern than admiration. Caring deeply and sincerely about teens can easily coexist with an attitude that brands them as dull, lazy, immoral, unethical, unintelligent, troublemakers who just need to be rescued from their own ignorance and lack of integrity. And yes, certainly some teens need to be rescued from various situations. But many others are smart, industrious, and motivated and it's disheartening when adults are blind to that fact.

In the end, the two factors affect us most strongly when they are hand in hand. If we interact frequently with teens but don't really care about them, we'll tend to fall back on stereotypes rather than take the time to see their true potential. And if we care about teens but don't have enough meaningful interaction with them to learn who they really are, our concern may take us only in negative directions. But if we truly care, and if we allow that to motivate us to spend lots of time getting to know the teens in our lives and interacting with them in ways that allow them to be who they really are, their value will become not only obvious but vitally important to us.

I'm fortunate enough to have teens in my life even outside of my work. My 19 year old niece has been one of my best and deepest friends for several years, and I'm very close to several of my nephews too. I also talk online to several teenagers and young adults that I've met through the Nerdfighter community and various extensions thereof. I am constantly amazed at the intelligence, insight, creativity, humor, kindness, generosity, and otherwise strong minds and characters that I see in the teens everywhere around me. I'm thankful for the opportunity to know so many wonderful teens and I feel sorry for people who either don't get that opportunity or don't care enough to take advantage of it.

Teenagers, take heart. Yes, many of us don't appreciate you as we should and I apologize on behalf of all adults for that lapse. But some of us know what you are and, more importantly, what you can be and we're cheering for you. You have our respect, our support, and our love. And as for you adults, get on the ball and start paying more attention to the teens around you! I can promise you won't regret it.

Influenster Review: Palmolive Fresh Infusions

It's time again for an exciting review of a product that I received from Influenster! This time it's Palmolive Fresh Infusions dish soap and it has been a pleasant surprise for me. (Pssst! Be sure to read all the way through for information about an upcoming giveaway! More on that below.)

I was a bit apprehensive about reviewing this product because I've been a huge fan of another brand of dish soap for decades. The last time I used any other brand was probably in the '80s, when my parents bought the cheapest stuff available and it was terrible. (To be fair, we were quite poor back then and they didn't have much choice regarding their shopping choices. I'm just saying that experience traumatized me a little about other brands.) When I found out that I'd been chosen to receive the Palmolive Fresh Infusions, I committed to keeping an open mind and reviewing it fairly and honestly, but deep down I feared I wouldn't like it.

When the box came and I opened it, I was immediately impressed with the packaging design. The labels are pretty and I like the unusual shape of the bottles. That alone set it apart in some small way from most dish soaps. As I unpacked the three bottles, I smelled each soap in turn and the scents are fantastic. There's Lemon Thyme, Lime Basil, and Ginger White Tea. All three scents are clear and true to their names. I was quite pleased so far.

I was supposed to give one bottle away to a friend but I had a hard time choosing which scent I was going to give up. In the end, I gave the Lemon Thyme to my husband to use at work, took the Lime Basil to work with me (it's my second favorite so I wanted to be able to use it from time to time!), and kept the Ginger White Tea (my favorite) for my kitchen. I must confess that I used a little of each one before giving them away because I wanted to experience all three scents in a real dish washing situation.

Even with the lovely scents and the pretty bottles, I was still skeptical that this product would meet the standards set by my favorite brand, but I dutifully reminded myself to keep my mind open. When the time finally came to wash some dishes, I made my dishwater the same way I always do, a quick squirt of detergent followed by hot water from the spray attachment, and at that point I noticed two important things about the Fresh Infusions:

1. Its viscosity is far lower than the soap that I'm used to and I accidentally used a lot more on that first occasion than I intended. Not a huge problem; just an adjustment I had to make. I only mention it in order to give a complete review of my experience with the product and to warn others who might try it.
2. That cool, hip bottle shape that no one else is doing? Yeah, there's a reason they're not doing it. The bottle is actually kind of hard to grip, especially when it's wet. It turns out the stereotypical shape is actually a functional advantage because it provides a nice fit for the hand. The round bottle isn't terrible by any means, but it's definitely awkward when it's wet.

Once I got down to business, actually washing the dishes, I found that the Palmolive Fresh Infusions made nice, dense suds with good lasting power. A light scent remained in the area while the water was hot and that was nice. It cleaned the dishes well and was mild on my hands. Overall, a very good, high quality product that did everything that I would normally ask of it.

As a matter of curiosity, I did do a direct comparison between the Palmolive Fresh Infusions and my usual brand. Several days after receiving the Fresh Infusions, I cooked a chicken dinner that left me with a very oily, somewhat burnt-on pan to clean. I took advantage of the situation by carefully cleaning one side as well as possible with the Palmolive and then repeating the procedure with my usual brand on the other side.

Both sides ended up equally clean and the Palmolive side did reward me with a delicious fragrance while I worked, but I have to say the other detergent cleaned the mess somewhat more easily. It seemed to dissolve the grease and cut through the burnt areas faster and with less effort from me, which is reasonable because that's its main claim to fame.

Along with the detergent, Influenster also sent five coupons for $1.50 off further purchases of Fresh Infusions, with the suggestion of giving those to friends as well. I've given most of them away but I did keep two of them. The first of those is, selfishly, for me. Despite the side by side test with my usual brand, Palmolive Fresh Infusions did win me over and make me want more. I think I'll keep buying both detergents and use the Palmolive for regular dish washing and the other for more hardcore cleaning jobs.

The second coupon is for a giveaway here. You guys have been so cool about reading my blog posts that I want to share the wealth a little. If you've made it this far and you want the coupon, just leave a comment telling me what I've said here that makes you want to try Palmolive Fresh Infusions. I'll choose a winner at random one week from tonight (midnight, Sunday March 3) and send that person my last remaining coupon. Be sure to tell me in your comment how to contact you if I don't know already! If this goes well, I may start doing more giveaways connected to my product reviews.

In the meantime, thanks for reading. Definitely check out Palmolive Fresh Infusions dish soap the next time you shop. I think you'll like it a lot. And most of all, don't forget to check out Influenster on Twitter and sign up on their website to receive your own free products to test. Then you can write reviews too, or make video reviews if that's your thing. Either way, it's the coolest!

My LifeScouts Badges, Part 1

These are some of my life achievements, represented in badges and short narratives. You can start your own collection (including physical versions of the badges if you're interested in such things) at the LifeScouts website. As for me, I'll make new posts periodically as I earn more badges. Fun!

So without further ado, my badges so far: 

#1 Sunrise

I am definitely not a morning person so I have to admit that I've never seen the sunrise on purpose. However, in almost every person's life there come times when we have to be up and out before dawn, so I've seen it rise many times in my life. It's a beautiful thing to watch and I highly recommend the experience at least once for everyone, even night owls like me. (Protip: Just try not to be driving east when it happens. That tends to detract significantly from the joy.)
  
#2 Driving

Due to various factors in my life, I wasn't able to get a driver's license until I was 20 years old. I realize that's not unusual for some parts of the country/world, but in my area it's highly unusual for anyone over 16 to be without one. Once I finally got it, I discovered that I LOVED driving, and I still do. It's among my very favorite activities and it's nothing for me to drive 6, 8, even 12 or more hours per day (with breaks of course) when I travel. If I could make a good living as some sort of driver (WITHOUT having to maintain a truck and/or lift heavy stuff) I'd be on it in an instant. That would be wonderful to me.

#3 CPR

I was first certified for CPR when I was in college, probably about 22 years old or so. I've let my certification lapse briefly a couple of times, but for the most part I've been certified continuously since then. I've had to use the skill a few times, too, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. In either case, though, I've been thankful that I was capable of at least trying. I'd definitely recommend getting certified if you're not already. (And it's actually a lot easier to do now than it was when I first started doing it. Research has taught us better techniques and it turns out that less is more in this case.) Saving a life is an amazing thing, and you just never know when it might happen to you.

#4 Parade

This is a fun one for me because I wasn't in a parade on purpose, but I was definitely a part of one once. Many years ago (in the early '90s) I was driving home from visiting my family for Thanksgiving and was about to pass through a tiny town along the way. It was nearly dark and I could see from several miles down the road that there were a lot of police lights flashing in the town. As I approached it looked like more and more of them and I could see that the road was blocked and I thought there must have been a terrible accident. I was unsurprised and even deeply sympathetic when I was detoured a block off of the main road. The two streets were completely parallel so I just kept going straight, checking at each intersection to see if I was past the blockage. After about 4 or 5 blocks, there was no police car blocking the way onto the main street and it looked dark over there, so I turned and got back on the main road.

As soon as I turned onto it, I could see that both sides of the street were lined with people for several blocks both behind and ahead of me and I was very confused for a few seconds, especially when I saw that a lot of the people were smiling and waving at me. Then I happened to glance in my rear view mirror and... holy crap, there was a float coming up behind me. I suddenly realized what was going on and took a better look around, and that's when I realized that I was smack in the middle of a parade to kick off the Christmas season.

I would have gotten off the parade route immediately, but the intersection where I had entered it was the ONLY one that wasn't blocked. I don't know why it wasn't, but the fact remains that it wasn't. All other intersections almost to the end of town (again, it was a very tiny town) were blocked either with cars or with people. So I had no choice but to finish the parade and I thought I may as well make the best of it. I found a radio station playing Christmas music and turned it up loud, rolled down my windows, and waved at people until I could escape. It was mildly embarrassing, but also hilarious and fun. It's certainly an experience I won't soon forget and I love that I can commemorate it with a LifeScouts badge! 

#5 Picnic

I've had many picnics in my life, both as a child and as an adult. At one point I even owned TWO fancy picnic baskets, each complete with its own dishes, etc., and I still have one of them. Amazingly, even though I'm not at all an outside kind of person, I don't mind going outside for a little while (as long as it's not too hot and there aren't too many bugs) for a meal with friends and/or family. It has a way of making a mundane meal time into a fun adventure. If you haven't tried it, give it a shot some time. You may, like me, enjoy it more than you think you will.

#6 Swimming

Oh man, swimming. I don't know if there's another thing on earth that I'd rather do than swim. I don't do it as much as I'd like simply because it's a pain in the neck taking care of my hair afterward (I have yet to find a swimming cap that will hold my hair, and yes, I've tried the ones that claim to be for long hair), but if I could eliminate that issue (without cutting my hair! I love my hair!), I'd be in the water at every single opportunity. 

#7 Fishing

I've only actually been fishing a few times in my life and it's not something I particularly love doing, but I HAVE done it and I'm claiming my badge, dagnabit! The two times that stand out the most in my memory are fishing in a pond that was on the property of the people who babysat me when my youngest brother was born. (My mother was in the hospital for about 10 days and I stayed with them that whole time. I was just a few weeks short of 6 years old.) I caught a little bluegill but it cut me with its dorsal fin spines while I was trying to take it off the hook and that (along with all the nastiness of the worm and the hook, etc., not to mention watching the men clean the fish that evening) pretty much turned me off of fishing altogether.

Several years later (my youngest brother would have been in elementary school by then) my parents took us to a trout farm where you could fish in the tanks and then take home what you caught. They gave us corn for bait (no worms!) and they cleaned the fish for us, but I still didn't enjoy it. For one thing, there was no sport in it at all because the tanks were bursting with fish so as soon as you dropped your hook in the water, you had a bite immediately. And secondly... yeah, I'm really not so much into catching my own food. I'm kind of squeamish about eating animals in the first place and was a vegetarian for many years, largely as a result of watching people do things like butcher hogs and clean fish. I don't have any ethical objection to it; it's just icky to me and I can do just fine without it. So yeah. That's my fishing story.

#8 Drive-In Movie

I've seen many, MANY movies at drive-ins in my life. When I was growing up in West Virginia, my parents were friends with some people who own a restaurant and drive-in that are side by side. We were very poor so we couldn't afford a lot of extras, but if we had dinner at the restaurant on a Friday or Saturday evening, they would let us into the drive-in for free, so we were almost always there. It was always a double feature, with the first film being intended for families and the second containing more mature subject matter, inappropriate for kids for one reason or another (Bonnie and Clyde, The Owl and the Pussycat, etc). After the first one finished, my parents would make us lie down in the back seat and (hopefully) go to sleep. Sometimes I slept and sometimes I didn't; my brothers always did.

The first movie I ever remember seeing at any other drive-in was Star Wars, which I saw in Texas. I was super-excited about the movie itself, of course, but it was also an unforgettable evening because on the way home we encountered a terrible car accident that had happened literally just seconds earlier. Someone had taken a curve far too fast in a residential neighborhood and had put his car right inside someone's house, on top of the bed of a little girl who was about 5 or 6 years old, as I recall. She was miraculously unharmed other than some bruises, burns, and abrasions, but it took them several hours to get her out. (We stayed until it was all over because we felt deeply emotionally invested in the outcome.) One detail that I don't think I'll ever forget: One of the firemen crawled under the car and stayed there with the girl, talking and singing little songs and anything else he could do to keep her distracted from the pain until they got her out. I've always thought that was a wonderful, caring thing for him to do.

I hadn't been to a drive-in for many years as an adult until about 5 years ago when one opened near me. (Well, I say "near". It's near by West Texas standards. About an hour and a half drive from me, but that's nothing for us.) I've been to several movies there and it's a lot of fun. The video quality is usually pretty poor and it's been so long since I've seen a different one that I'm not sure whether that's just them or whether it's just how drive-ins are. If they could fix that I'd probably go a lot more often. I really do enjoy the comfort of seeing a movie right in my own car.

So that's it for now. As I said above, more badges and stories will be added as I earn them. Stay tuned!

Influenster Review: Head & Shoulders Damage Rescue System

For the past few weeks I've been using a shampoo and conditioning system that was sent to me (for free) by Influenster to test. It's called Head & Shoulders Damage Rescue System and it's a very nice set of products, though probably not completely suitable for me.

I should point out before I describe my experience that my hair is not particularly damaged. Like my skin (including my scalp), it's very dry but that's its natural state, not the result of damage. I do color it -- essentially just root touch-ups every couple of months -- but I don't blow dry it (except for my bangs), curl it, straighten it, or otherwise "torture" it. I don't even use any styling products on it. The only things that ever touch my hair are shampoo, conditioner, and a leave-in moisturizing/conditioning serum.

For that reason, I'm not sure that my review is as valuable as it perhaps should be, but I'm happy to tell about my experience and hope that others will benefit from the information.

I like these products a lot. Both the shampoo and the conditioner work quite well. The shampoo gives a rich lather and leaves my hair feeling clean, soft, and healthy. The conditioner is equally rich and works as well as any conditioner I've ever used. Better, in fact, than some. And it's not your grandma's Head & Shoulders. When I was young, H&S was considered almost medicinal and it treated the scalp and hair that way, too. It offered none of the fancy packaging, texture, scent, etc, that we expect today. Its single focus was preventing dandruff and it did that well, but it didn't do anything else. In contrast, the products that I received are modern, high quality hair care products and I've enjoyed using them.

I will say, however, that my usual shampoo and conditioner are also excellent and I honestly didn't see any difference in the condition of my hair from using the Head & Shoulders products. This may possibly be because, as I noted above, my hair is not technically damaged. But on the other hand it may be because most hair products (and, indeed, most cosmetics and personal hygiene products in general) are more or less the same except for superficial qualities like scent, packaging, and various gimmicky features. To be honest, I'm a bit of a cynic and I do believe this second theory is probably pretty accurate.

Again, that's not to say that the Head & Shoulders products weren't fantastic, because they most certainly are! It's only to say that, in my opinion, they're no more fantastic than my regular products are. Overall, I'd give both the shampoo and the conditioner a score of 9/10, with the one point being deducted for a couple of minor packaging annoyances. (The bottles are too easy to tip over due to their shapes, and the lids are too hard to open.) I've enjoyed testing them and I look forward to sharing more products in this blog.

If you want to receive free products like this one to test and share your opinions, check out Influenster today! It's a free membership and it's a lot of fun trying all sorts of new and unusual products. Visit http://influenster.com and tell 'em Edi sent you. ;-)

For Nigel, the inventor

I'm pretty sure you look at my blog sometimes. I'm hoping you'll see this post so you'll know what's going on. I've tried several times to email you but I keep getting a failure notice. Nothing will go through.

Please email if you can. If it won't work for some reason, comment here. No one will be able to see it except me because I have comments set to require approval.

I miss talking to you and, if I'm honest, I'm worried about you. Please get in touch, ok? Thanks. <3

Influenster Review: Latina Beauty VoxBox

It's that exciting time again, time to review my latest free products from Influenster! This time it was the Latina Beauty VoxBox, which contained:

• a box of 40 Veet Ready to Use Leg & Body Wax Strips, plus 6 Perfect Finish wipes
• a 0.24 oz (7.2 mL) tube of NYC Liquid Lipshine lip gloss
• a 3 oz (89 mL) bottle of Bath & Body Works Shea-Enriched Signature Collection Shower Gel
• a 2 oz (59 mL) bottle  of Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Lotion SPF 30 Sunscreen
• a box of 16 Always Radiant Infinity scented feminine hygiene pads, which also contained a $2 coupon for two Tampax Radiant products, a $2 coupon for two Always Radiant products, and a $1 coupon for Secret body spray when you buy Scent Expressions or  Fresh Effects antiperspirant
• an Always Tampax Radiant Collection sampler, containing a variety of tampons, pads, and panty liners in a pretty purple-y fabric pouch

My impressions:

I am in love with Veet wax strips even though I admit I was scared of them at first. I wasn't scared of being waxed -- I'm an old pro at that and don't mind it a bit -- but that I wouldn't be able to do it by myself. I've tried other home waxing systems and they invariably turned into disastrous messes. But these strips work like a charm and they're amazingly easy to use. Literally within a few minutes of opening the box my legs were as smooth as could be, and no sticky mess at all!

My other concern was that they wouldn't be economical, but I used one strip per leg and it was plenty. (I did use the backing as a separate strip so that may count as two, I guess, but there was plenty of wax on it and I wasn't about to waste that.) Admittedly the hair on my legs is fairly sparse, but even so it should be fine for most women. I probably could have gotten a couple more passes out of them if I'd tried.

The Perfect Finish wipes surprised me by being (1) oily and (2) scented. The oil absorbs fast but it did leave residue on my hands that transferred to things I touched and only went away with soap and water. My legs also remained oily but that's less of a problem and, besides, my skin can use all the moisturizing it can get. The wipes also left both my legs and my hands nicely scented with a sort of floral/botanical perfume. It comes on strong when the wipe is first opened but soon settles down to a pleasant background sensation.

Overall, the Veet wax strips are a big plus. I will definitely be buying them in the future.

The NYC lip gloss is a more complicated story. I like it more than expected but I'm not a big fan. First, the packaging described it as "Non-Sticky" and, while it is less sticky than most glosses I've used, I found that misleading. I normally don't even use glosses and stickiness is the #1 reason. I hoped this one would change my mind; alas, it did not.

My second disappointment was the color I received. That was just the luck of the draw and it's not a complaint about the product in general, but I got a color called "Nude York City" and it's basically clear. It has a tiny bit of caramel-ish tint and a slight shimmer but neither is enough to be noticeable. I have very pale lips and I like to have a little color on them. I thought this lip gloss might be a good option for times when I don't want full lipstick but this particular color just isn't enough and I don't think I like the product enough to try a tube in another color.

That's a shame because I think it's probably the best gloss I've ever used. It's less sticky than most (as I mentioned), it has a nice scent, and I like the applicator a lot too. I'd recommend it highly to people who normally use lip gloss; unfortunately, it just isn't for me.

The Bath & Body Works shower gel is beautiful. It has a lovely scent (I had Sweet Pea) and it's wonderfully thick and much richer than I expected from a transparent, nearly colorless gel. It only takes a small amount to make a nice lather and it leaves my skin soft and moisturized. My only complaint is that the scent didn't stay with me as well as I'd hoped but, being from B&BW, I'm sure there are coordinating products (body spray, lotion, etc) that could be used to intensify the effect.

I do like the B&BW gel and I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to try it, but I'm a supermarket and drug store kind of girl and I honestly don't see me going to the trouble of buying from B&BW just for some shower gel. I would, however, definitely recommend this product to people who are willing to go to a specialty store (or its website) to get it.

The Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen is another big hit for me. I'm an enormous nerd who doesn't spend much time in the sun but I also have very fair skin that requires sunscreen. Most sunscreens that I've used have been runny and, therefore, messy and I hate them. But this is in a lotion form so it's super easy to apply and goes on beautifully. And not only is it in lotion form; it is lotion so it moisturizes while it protects -- perfect for my skin. The biggest bonus of all is that delicious classic Hawaiian Tropic scent. I'd wear it as perfume if I could. I love everything about this product!

I found the Always Radiant Infinity pads to be as impressive as Always products... er, well... always are. I've been an Always fangirl since the '80s so I already knew that they make a quality product. I use pads daily as panty liners and I normally use Always Ultra Thin Overnight Pads with Wings because they're thin enough to be comfortable but large enough to stay securely in place and protect a broad area. Using those means that I'm used to a longer, thicker pad than the regular size Radiant Infinity ones that I tested, but the regular size came through just fine. I wouldn't use them again simply because I do like a longer pad, but the thinness was amazing. It literally felt like I was wearing nothing, and yet I was invariably well protected.

There is an overnight version of the Radiant Infinity line but I'm not sure what sets them apart from the Ultra Thins. I think they may just be lightly scented (as the ones I tested were) but I'm planning to use the coupon I received to find out. (I'll also be using the Secret body spray coupon because I'm a Secret fangirl as well. Wonderful products!) In any case, I highly recommend Radiant Infinity or any Always product. They never fail to impress.

We were instructed to give the Always Tampax Radiant Collection sampler to a friend, and that's what I did. I asked her what she thinks of the products and, like me, she has been using Always and Tampax for years so she wasn't surprised to find that they worked great. She also likes the bag a lot.

I guess that's it for the Latina Beauty VoxBox. (Incidentally, I'm not sure what made it "Latina", but I enjoyed it, so I guess that's ok.) In summary, everything in the collection was wonderful with the slight exception of the NYC lip gloss, and even it was pretty good. Another big thank you to Influenster and to all the companies that sponsored this box. It was fantastic!

Check out all of these great companies here:

Influenster
@Influenster

Veet
#veetsmooth on Twitter

New York Color
@NewYorkColor
#LiquidLipShine on Twitter

Bath & Body Works
@LUVBBW
#sheashowergel on Twitter

Hawaiian Tropic
#HawaiianTropic on Twitter

Always
@Always
#infiniteprotection on Twitter

Tampax
@Tampax
#RadiantCollection on Twitter

Secret
@SecretDeodorant