Lydia Schoch

Every once in a while I like to share some of the strange, funny, and just plain weird search engine questions that lead bots and new readers to this blog. My comments are below each phrase or sentence. A have been lightly edited to make them more legible, although all of them are 100% real.

Bonsai story.

I have never told any stories about bonsai trees to anyone at any point in my life. Now I have the sudden urge to do so.

How to leave a spouse who is doing you wrong and pretends everything is fine.

I’d do this without any explanation at all. Just go.

How to talk more when you’re quiet.

Longterm readers know that I read everything when I was a kid. Reading was my drug of choice, so to speak, and I loved almost every genre at least occasionally. One of the books I read while growing up actually addressed this question. I don’t remember anything about the characters, but I do remember one of them being told to go through the alphabet, pick something that started with one of its letters, and then ask people what they thought of it.

To be more specific, the character started asking people what they thought of apples at a party. I found it hilarious as a kid, although I do admit to giving it a try now and again when I’m truly stumped and my conversation partner is as quiet as I am.

Is it normal to read compliments over and over again?

I vote yes. Or at least I’ve done it!

Imagine a world where money wasn’t an issue.

It sounds good to me, although I’d guess we’d come up with some sort of barter system fairly quickly.

Nephew doesn’t talk to me. Should I go to his wedding?

No. There will be much better times to fix your relationship after he’s married.

Right wing asshole.

There are assholes in every wing, corridor, and magical wardrobe you can imagine (and probably a few you can’t).

Is it moral to brag?

It’s not a question of morality. It’s a question of whether or not you want to be the kind of person that other people enjoy spending time with. Bragging isn’t a good way to make or keep friends.

How talk more when you’re quiet?

I’m still figuring this one out. It’s not an easy thing to do.  Can anyone else help?

An autumn’s tale from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo.

This is a video for people watchers. It’s a little over two minutes of people (and a few animals) doing all kinds of things in a park: playing, talking, exercising, hanging out.

I really like seeing how people behave in a natural setting like this. Humans are fascinating.

This has been the friendly debate in my household lately. Are surprises a good thing or a bad thing?

My opinion changes depending on what kind of surprise we’re talking about.

Presents of any shape or size are a good thing in my book. You definitely don’t need to tell me in advance that I’m getting one, what might be in it, or what it might involve if it isn’t a physical item. (I like giving them, too, although I’ll save that topic for another day!)

A surprise party? Not so much. I really want to know ahead of time if I’m going to be spending an evening or longer in a large, noisy group, There are people who would be thrilled to walk into what they thought was a dark, empty room only to be suddenly surrounded by a hundred of their loved ones, though.

A smaller surprise party can be okay if I know everyone involved in it really well.

What about negative surprises? No, thank you. If you have something bad or off-putting to tell me, don’t beat around the bush. I want to know as soon as you can possibly get ahold of me. There is absolutely no reason to delay these conversations. They only get harder and more hurtful if you do.

Everyone has different preferences, of course, so I also like to find out how others feel about surprises before I even think about giving one to them.

My husband, doesn’t like them. When I do something nice for him, he wants to know about it as soon as the idea first tickles the back of my mind. I’ve always respect that wish of his.

I wouldn’t have a problem throwing a surprise party for someone who would absolutely love that kind of thing while also sending a picture of a gift I was planning to get for someone else who really wants to know everything ahead of time. This isn’t the sort of thing that has any kind of ethical dilemma attached to it. It’s simply one of those things that two equally reasonable people can have completely different reactions to.

How do you feel about surprises? Do you like planning them? Which ones – if any – do you enjoy being on the receiving end for?

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, comic strips, photographs, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

From Why #IStandWithAhmed and Why You Should Too via shyvish:

There are two things I want to call into focus here: One is the question of racism and the other is the threat to creativity.

Yoh! When I was a kid, my dad used to point out deer to us when he was driving down rural roads. It was pretty rare for me to spot a deer before he did. This picture reminded me of those memories.

4 Misconceptions About Genre Fiction that Really Mean You’re Just Missing Out via fixedbaroque. This is a fantastic argument for reading stuff like science fiction or romance.

Hypocrites, Drugs, and Mental Health via LivinwithBATman. There’s a lot of truth to this.

Cheshire Cat. I love it.

From The “Almshouse” Story:

 I assume that most medium to large cities have houses such as the one in Lancaster, but most probably have not survived as the almshouse in Lancaster has.  Matter of fact, an easement guarantees the remaining part of the original building can never be demolished and its exterior can never be altered.

What have you been reading?

I have a challenge for you today: describe your current mood for me in the form of a gif, short video, or picture.

For example, this is how I feel:

That is, I’m insatiably curious. Lately I’ve been devouring short Youtube videos that explain certain scientific facts and theories, and I want to know much more than can be condensed into five minutes.

The site where I found it used this description: “when a post is worthwhile enough to pull a lurker out of hiding.”

That flexibility is the beauty of this kind of communication. A lot of people will use the same gif or picture to share the same emotion, but there’s always room for creativity and new interpretations.

I’ve used this gif in the past to describe my hay fever:

This one when I’ve accidentally stumbled across the weird parts of the Internet:

And this one when a conversation takes such an unexpected turn that there simply isn’t anything left to say:

What have you used for non-verbal communication online?

Cargo from Daniel Foeldes on Vimeo.

I could have sworn I shared this on my blog when I first found it a few years ago. Apparently I didn’t after all.

This is a short horror film. It does have a small amount of gore, so this might not be the best video to watch for those of you who hate that sort of thing.

What I love about this story is how much emotion is packed into every scene. The horror genre doesn’t only have to be about what frightens us. It can also be about what gives us a reason to live.

Photo credit: Jim.

Sometimes when seasons change, my husband and I have a conversation that goes something like this:

“It’s finally autumn!” I’ll say.

“No, it isn’t,” says Drew.

“Um…it’s the middle of September.”

“Exactly. It’s the end of summer. Autumn doesn’t officially begin until the 23rd this year.”

“But it’s September!”

“Yes, but not fall. Not quite yet.”

“Everything tastes like pumpkin spice! Look at that dead left on the ground! Plus, I’m wearing a sweater!”

“Nope, still not autumn.”

Apparently we have two different definitions of what each season means and how it arrives. 😉

When do you think the seasons officially change? Is it autumn yet according to you?

And why does everything taste like pumpkin spice?

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, poems,  and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

 In Praise of Appreciation: The Birth of the Weed Lady via colleen_m_story. A certain scene in this post reminded me of an incredibly kind, gentle dog my uncle owned when I was a kid. I can’t for the life of me remember which breed she was, but she was an extremely large dog who weighed more than I did for most of her lifetime. She’d always come up to greet us when we visited my uncle’s house. You couldn’t get into the house until she’d gotten at least a short round of petting. Ha!

Travel 500 Years Back in Time – The Mystifying Park of the Monsters, Italy. Isn’t this cool? I wonder how many other places like this have been forgotten over the course of human history.

My Crave Is Not a Butterfly via Brudberg. This sent shivers down my spine. Wow.

Taking a Year of My Retirement Now via RHTDaly. My Twitter buddy, Ruth, posted this about a month ago. It’s been fascinating to follow her along on her adventures so far. If you want to follow along with me, go check out the rest of her site as well.

From Boom and Rust:

A Gold Rush-era mining town, Bodie was swiftly populated in the late 19th century and just as swiftly abandoned in the early 20th century, leaving behind a husk of a city…. Now, hundreds of thousands of visitors come to Bodie every year to wander the streets on guided tours and peer into the site’s dilapidated houses and storefronts.

From When Summer’s End is Nighing:

When summer’s end is nighing
And skies at evening cloud,
I muse on change and fortune
And all the feats I vowed
When I was young and proud.

What have you been reading?

My fall allergies are really acting up this week. Real autumn can’t come quickly enough.

Rather than subject you to a whiny rant about how congested my sinuses are (haha!), I thought I’d share this TED talk about how gender equality benefits everyone.

I’d love to know if there have been any studies done on other forms of equality. I’m guessing we’d get the same conclusions.

NO-A [Short Film] from Liam Murphy on Vimeo.

It’s hard to tell you about this film without giving away major spoilers. What I can say is that it’s about a robot named NO-A [Noah] who is trying to save the woman who created him.