Joy is Random

Sometimes, there is no rhyme or reason to things that make you happy.  Today I'd like to share a few that help me...

 

So there you go.  Random joy.  May your weekend be filled with it!

WoodBadge, SmoodBadge....

Genius Golfer has had his hobby interrupted this week.  He was "called" to attend Wood Badge.  What is Wood Badge, you say?

"Wood Badge is a training course for Scouters which finally results in their receiving a certificate, a small neckerchief, a leather slide, and two small wooden beads on a leather thong. Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, directed the first course in 1919 and gave each of the participants one of the beads which he had captured from the African chieftain Dinizulu. Thus did the course name develop, for its symbol was literally a badge of wood.

"Wood Badge is, further, Scouting's premier training course. Baden-Powell designed it so that Scouters could learn, in as practical a way possible, the skills and methods of Scouting. It is first and foremost, learning by doing. The members of the course are formed into patrols and these into a troop.  The entire troop lives in the out-of-doors for a week, camping, cooking their own meals, and practicing Scout skills.

"The uniqueness of Scouting is the patrol method. The use of the natural gang of six or eight boys who elect their own leader and plan and carry out many of their own activities is a democracy in microcosm. Here young men learn the give and take of working with people as they must surely do all their lives. Here, too, they are given leadership and learning opportunities which prepare them for their future roles as citizens. It is for this reason that it is so crucial that all adults understand thoroughly the patrol method.

"Thus it was that Baden-Powell developed a practical course built around the operation of a troop and its patrols. Yet this is only the most well-known of three parts in the entire Wood Badge experience. The practical course--the week in the out-of-doors--was originally scheduled to follow a "theoretical" part 1, which consisted of answering a series of questions about the aims and methods of the Scouting program. Part 3 then followed the practical course and required a 6-month application period while the Scouter practiced in his home Scouting situation what he had learned in parts 1 and 2. In actual practice, once Wood Badge became available in the United States, the theoretical questions and the application were carried out simultaneously after the practical course was taken.

"But Wood Badge is more than just mechanical course work. Wood Badge is the embodiment of Scouting spirit. Like many intense training experiences, it has always relied on a busy schedule forcing the participants to work together, to organize and to develop an enthusiasm and team spirit to accomplish the tasks and challenges placed before them. Carried out in context of Scouting ideals and service to young people, the course brings out a deep dedication and spirit of brotherhood and fellowship in most participants. Certainly were it not for the common goal of the movement and its program for young people, it would be hard to get grown men and women to endure the 16-hour days required by a program that runs from early morning to late at night.

"The course is designed to be a highlight --"a mountaintop experience" -- for the course participants. Careful planning and strict attention to detail provides a physical/logistic support and program second to none. Add to this a thoroughly prepared and enthusiastic staff and it is little wonder that most Scouters return from Wood Badge inspired and prepared to do an even better job of providing Scouting to boys. In addition to a fine course, all the traditions and heritage of Scouting are stressed and used to inspire those attending. Wood Badge in one form or another is used throughout the Scouting world. Tens of thousands of Scouters proudly wear the Gilwell neckerchief, woggle, and beads of Wood Badge-trained leaders. Because it was begun by Baden-Powell in England in 1919, it is clearly backed by the finest thought and tradition of the founder and thus carries with it great prestige. Wood Badge is then, a great force for world brotherhood, for though it uses the local traditions in each country, it emphasizes the international aspects of the movement and the heritage of Baden-Powell and Gilwell Park."

Well, that is what woodbadge,org say to explain it all.   This particular training is hosted by our stake, so the teachers and leaders are from our stake--many of whom I loved working with when I was in YW.  My hope is with GG is that he might make some new friends from our stake.  I know that he would have been JUST fine for me to go and him to stay home--well, to golf while the weather allows, at least.  Several of the staffers have mentioned to me that this will "chance his life".  We'll see about that, but I'd be happy if he just doesn't come home hating scouting ore than he already does.

Whoops...

Suddenly, I realized it is Thursday.  Another Wednesday blog post has been overlooked.  I am sorry.  I think part of my distraction is a recent preoccupation I discovered this week.

I have the luck of having friend who bought herself a treadmill for Christmas, and then gave me a key to her house so I can use it during the day when she is at work.  She has a sweet set up--TV and DVD player/NetFlix receiver all ready to go.  So I hvae been watching old BBC miniseries --one episode per day of walking/jogging.  I recently finished MiddleMarch, and tried out "Call the Midwife".  I was hooked from the first episode.

Watch Season 2 Preview on PBS. See more from Call the Midwife.

It is on locally on PBS, which is showing Season 2 currently.  NetFlix had the first season, so I was catching up.  Well, I finished off the first season this afternoon.  It is a charming, heartbreaking, uplifting look at a slice of British life I was totally unaware of, to be frank.  It is set in 1957, around London's East End...the tenement filled, poverty stricken, filthy and out-of-luck part of post war England.  It is lovingly made and really wonderful.  To think that the British National Healthcare sent our young twenty something girls to deliver these babies in all degrees of squalor!  And the mothers were lucky to have them!  This batch of midwives work and live along side an order of nurse/midwife nuns.  There is a lot of personality between that many women in one place.

I have fallen for it, hook line and sinker.  Which is the closest thing I have to an excuse for not writing yesterday.  Not that this is a good excuse, but an excuse, nonetheless.

Here's Hoping The Third Times The Charm

Today The Boy had an appointment with a plastic surgeon to look at his face and see if we can get the cyst on his temple removed, once and for all.

This is what it looks like today:

Even with his overly shaggy hair, you can see the pinched looking bit straight back from his eye.  This is the third doctor we've had look and make an attempt to remove it.  His appointment will be May 1st in the morning.  It will be an in-office, local anesthetic, half hour long procedure.  He could be back to school that afternoon.

I just want it done, for his sake.  He hasn't wanted a real "missionary" hair cut because he's wanted to hide this growth.  I can't really blame him.  But he's getting closer to needing the mission-cut and he's going to need some time to adjust.

The Cost of Procrastination

Since about November, and even before, The Girl has been working on her applications for all things college: scholarship, housing, FAFSA, etc.

For the FAFSA stuff, she had everything ready to go and even submitted with the notice that her parents 2012 taxes were "in process" of being filed.  Well, she and I have been asking Genius Golfer  to do this via Turbo Tax since January 31.  And considering we haven't made any money for 18 months, I figured this would be a piece of cake.  We've been asking probably weekly, and he just brushes us off saying, he'll "get to it when I get to it."

But he procrastinated until last night.  Because today is tax day across the nation.  The paperwork wasn't due until today, so he felt no rush.  Apparently he stayed up last night working on this and filed it electronically.  Just now, this morning, pre-seven o'clock, The Girl checked her email and discovered a notice from the FAFSA folks who were notifying her that she only qualified for a loan, no grant at all, and that the expected parental support for her collegiate experience was estimated to be $38,000.

I am sure that if we had submitted our taxes on February 1, her chances of getting the full Pell grant would have added up to $5,000 or so for her schooling this fall.  Now, because she is getting in at the very last, legal minute on the taxes being filed and thus finishing her FAFSA application, she gets diddly squat.

And this Pell grant qualification has been the only bright spot in our unemployment situation for me.  I kept telling myself, "Well, at least it is good timing to not have an income because it will help her with the FAFSA.  Now that isn't even true anymore.

Gut punch even before the day is officially started.  Lame way to begin the week.

Video Sunday