Just a Bite 10-17-09

Quote to ponder under the apple tree

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.
~ Kurt Vonnegut (born Nov. 11, 1922)

Resources to bite into

1.Maintain Your Sense of Wonder

The upcoming holidays means it’s time to check on your attitude. Some people view this season with anxiety and others with distaste for its commercialization. Some of us want to be sensitive to friends of multiple faiths. For all these reasons, I especially like the following quote by the late author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. whose birthday was last week:

I don’t know about you, but I practice a disorganized religion.
I belong to an unholy disorder.
We call ourselves “Our Lady of Perpetual Astonishment.”

Mr. Vonnegut also said he wanted his epitaph to be, “The only proof he needed for the existence of God was music.” To order A Man without a Country, from which these quotes are taken, click here.

2. Game for the Holidays

Next week is Fun with Games Week. Here’s one worth considering: Dizios, from MindWare. As you can see from the illustration, this is a game of visual delight. It’s a variation of dominoes in which the object is to match the colors on your tile to the tile (or preferably tiles) next to it. There is strategy involved for those who play to win, but I especially like that because it involves no letters or numbers, virtually anyone of any age or ability can play. It’s great for all those multi-generational holiday gatherings, and it can also be played like Solitaire where one person makes his own designs.

Order Dizios from Amazon by clicking here. Order a MindWare catalog at http://www.mindwareonline.com/ or call 800-999-0398.

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3. Sniglets
Also featured in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly is a singlet matching quiz. Sniglets are words that don’t exist, but should. For example, “exaspirin” is any bottle of pain reliever with an impossible-to-remove foil top or cotton wad. An alternative is to come up with your own names for words that don’t exist. What would you call:
• The light switch with no discernible purpose that seems to exist in every house?
• The maze that bank customers and airline passengers must walk through while waiting in line?
• The leftover liquid in the bottom of spray bottles where the tube doesn’t reach?

Tips/ideas/insights to savor

Have you heard of the icebreaker Human Bingo where everyone fills in their bingo card by having people initial the square that describes them (Can touch their toes, was born in New Jersey, is one of 5 children, etc.)? The current Brain Aerobics Weekly has an exercise that’s adaptable to Human Trivial Pursuit. Gather up a list of inventions and events from various decades and give one item to each participant. See if the participants can arrange themselves into the appropriate decade. For example, does the person with an “Astroturf” sign fit the 1960s, 70s or 80s? Here are a few suggestions:

• 1960s – Astronauts land on the moon, Valium and permanent press fabrics were invented, “Bewitched,” “Beverly Hillbillies,” and “Andy Griffith” were among the most popular TV shows, and the Beatles rose to fame
• 1970s – Brought us post-it notes, snowboards and the first Walkman, “The Brady Bunch,” “Bob Newhart,” and “Charlie’s Angels,” and the end of the Vietnam war
• 1980s – Gave us “Oprah,” “The Cosby Show,” and “The Golden Girls,” the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court (Sandra Day O’Conner), Doppler radar and Prozac
• 1990s – Brought “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Friends,” and “Seinfeld,” Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa, Beanie Babies, Tickle Me Elmo, and the World Wide Web

You can find many more ideas by looking up “timelines” followed by a subject (inventions, history, popular TV, etc.)

To order Brain Aerobics Weekly,
go to http://www.wisernow.com/ now!
It’s a great “I am thankful for you” gift.

Let the ever-ripening Wiser Now website
become the apple of your eye.