This made me unbelievable happy this morning. I may have to watch it several times to get through the day. Thanks for sharing Mario!
Okay loyal readers, you have spoken. I prepare a well-written and thoughtful post that receives not a single comment. So, from now on, cute videos and pictures of Van. You can't complain, you asked for it.
Van Singing Gwen Stefani
Van Asking for His Cousin Isaiah
Derek and I were discussing why we thought so many Olympic athletes are in their "prime" at age sixteen. Is it just a physical reality? Can too many years of high-intensity training just be too hard on the body? Or is it mind over matter? That they just don't know enough about life and experiences to question their ability to set a world record or win a gold medal?
It made me think about my realities at age sixteen. Was I fearless? Did I think I could accomplish anything? I don't have many memories of high school. I didn't have a great experience, and I didn't have a bad experience. My life-stamp for those years is mainly neutral. I just existed, and that was fine with me.
But in retrospect, I did have goals that now seem extraordinary to me. I was captain of my swim team; waking up at 6 am everyday to practice. I even swam two times a day during the summer. I wanted to be the best. I also wanted to be active in performing arts, in fact, I was our school's thespian society president. I never landed the lead in the school play, but I did cut off all my hair for a role in Playing for Time. I was dedicated... devoted.
Investigating that youthful intensity is interesting to me. What would sixteen-year-old Brooke think of me now? Honestly, I think she would be content. With that past intensity came a lot of disappointment, stress, and unrest. She would be proud of my ability to create a peaceful family lifestyle, and wonder how writing became the center of my career. She would probably chastise me about the extra pounds and inability to get into the pool, and perhaps I can use her "motivation" to start getting up at 6 am again.
Which reminds me of a Wired story, "What Kind of Genius Are You?," I read a couple of years ago that examined people's major accomplishments in conjunction with their age. They found an interesting pattern, some extraordinary people are destined for a lot of success very early, and some other equally extraordinary people garner success over a long periods of time. It is all so random. What else can explain forty-one-year-old swimmer Dara Torres? Or a fourteen-year-old diver Tom Daley?
This came from Wordle, a website that creates visual word clouds from blogs or words you like. I thought it was cool!
Me on Reality TV: I was so excited to see a Cut & Color on my Outlook calendar this Thursday! My last haircut was in March, yikes! Just to disclose, I have started going gray since I was pregnant with Van. Darn family genes. I was very surprised to be greeted with a Release Form from E! Television when I walked in the door of the Velvet Monkey Two Salon. I reluctantly signed the form, knowing my stylist Kara would have all the details. Apparently, the Style Network was filming an episode of Split Ends, and they even took some shots of my hair getting cut. My reaction? Hysterical laughter. I probably wont' make the cut... ha ha... I have a dry sense of humor.
Twitter Fever: It really should be called FriendFeed Fever. I've started Twittering, partly because of my job and partly because it is fun. You'll notice my new Twitter feed to the left. (Google Reader and Blogroll audience, please click through to view). Since I am now a Twitter expert--with four days of experience under my belt--I feel confident that Jessica, Derek, Emily, Kim, Charly, and Andrea should all be joining the Twitter family. Liz, you can Twitter after you finally get a new cell phone! :)
Red Pin Bowling Lounge Birthday: We celebrated Derek's birthday on Friday with a party at Red Pin Bowling Lounge, Bricktown's new uber-trendy bowling facility/hip bar. It has taken us almost six months to get a reservation! Our thoughts? It was a fun experience, but it didn't live up to the hype. Here are some pics!
Van Update: Van is getting cuter by the day. He is really working on developing his talking skills, adding new words to his repertoire every day. Some of my favorites include: bubble, Isaiah, green bean, and more (in sign language). Derek and I had our first parenting meeting this week, we had to figure out a consistent punishment for his screaming/crying fits during church. We had to come up with a game plan, because 1) he has never had screaming/crying fits and 2) we have really never had to punish him. Well see how it works out! Here are some pics of Van the Man.
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