Wordy Wednesday

An interesting (or maybe not-so-interesting) fact about myself - I enjoy words I can add suffixes to. 

The word: Ballyhoo

This week's selection is doubly satisfying because I am able to add 'ed' to the end to make ballyhooed, or 'ing' to create ballyhooing. It would only be that much better if I could add 'er' to the end and call someone a ballyhooer. Sadly, some words simply don't exist yet. 

I would be lying if I told you I didn't choose 'ballyhoo' mostly because of the way sounds. Go on, say it. Out lout. Now, tell me it didn't make you smile. Every time I say it, my brain conjures up this extravagant scene of a big top circus with bears in bowler caps and monocles juggling Chihuahuas and pineapples as intoxicated ballerinas dance for portly penguins. Wild and extreme. 

Here's the interesting part that actually makes me feel a bit like a numpty. I only 'kind-of' knew what the word meant. Yes, I understood it was a clamour or extravagant exhibit of sorts, but I didn't realize this ruckus was created on purpose for promotional purposes to gain clients. The most common cases of ballyhoos are when directors and actors create media stunts in order to promote their movies. Like when the footage of Deadpool was leaked at Comic-Con and the internet went crazy. 

Now I am wondering if I was simply interchanging hullabaloo and ballyhoo. The two words are closely related, cousins - if not siblings.

Another word in this chaotic family: hoopla, which also happens to be a really fun Cranium game. 

And don't even get me started about brouhaha. 

On a side note, ballyhoo is also a fish and a punk/reggae band.

If you ask me, the fish is cute. 

 

For The Love Of Fonts

Today my friend Reb Rebs contacted me on Facebook with a very important question. You see, there's this project she's interested in recreating. Of course, she's pinned it to her 'I'm so crafty' board on Pinterest (really, it's the home decor one). The project is totally doable. A couple pieces of driftwood with places painted on them and how many miles away they are. When she does this project she will choose places relevant to her, instead of Nantucket she might pick Tofino, and she will use kilometres, not miles. (Because she's Canadian).

Personally, I'd choose really far away place just for humour's sake, like Weeks Bay in Alabama. Only 4837 KM away.

Back to the very important question and the point of this post. She needed my expertise in deciding what the writing font on the signs was. After much consideration, I went with Calibri, but swiftly changed my mind to Arial. Then, the conversation took an even more nerdy turn. 

Sometimes there is no doubt who your real friends are. 

So, I'm Sitting Here

Trying to come up with something to write. Some days are harder than others. A blog a day seems like a good idea (not really) but on those bone weary dog tired days it's hard to come up with a subject, let alone write anything worthy of reading. Just between the two of us, I sometimes half-ass things. I don't really know what that means. No, really. What's the difference from half assing and full assing. I mean, I know it comes down to the amount of effort put in, but where did this colloquialism come from?

In regards to blog topics, many a things are running through my head. Mindy Kaling. Hitting the proverbial wall. Snacking. Powering through a less than stellar day. Knitting. Being appreciated. Crappy gifts. These all could be good, if I were in the right frame of mind, feeling witty and whatnot, but these topics aren't really striking my fancy. (What is a fancy? And why does it need striking?)

This is when I notice I'm not alone in this room. Dixon is with me. And he's up to no good. He's half on the coffee table and sitting on the couch. And he's pulling a box of Hot Tamales closer to him, inch by inch, ever so slowly. His little teeth and flappy gums have the edge of the red box. There is such concentration on his face.

I am sitting right here. Does he not see me here? Am I invisible? Does he think this is okay? What is his next step?

Last time I checked he wasn't allowed on the coffee table and we never let him eat candy. In fact, I am pretty certain the last time he ate a bunch of food off the coffee table was a year and a half ago when he overindulged on a bunch of Christmas goodies when no one was looking. Mostly chocolate. But there was some severe scolding.

I thought he learned his lesson.

When I asked, "What exactly are you doing?"

He jumped. Like he hadn't factored into the equation getting caught. It kind of seems as if he forgot I was sitting here. I have no doubt in my mind he would have eaten the whole box. Chances are I would have been waking up at four in the morning to let him outside.

Dogs are the best.

Moss Stitch

The Sidekick bought me a wonderful little book about knitting. It's a knit stitch guide.

Fancy right? Look at all those colours and patterns. And the book fits in your bag! If that's not a selling feature, I don't know what is. Actually, the price was. It basically ran the Sidekick around six dollars. Hey, big spender! 

Anyhow, for those of you who don't know, knitting is really only comprised of two basic stitches - a knit and a purl. But here's the fabulous thing: depending on how you combine these two stitches, you can actually create other stitches. Wowza! So, the two basic stitches then turn into ninety-six other stitches. Some of them even involve three different colours! How can you even contain your excitement? It's hard, I know.

Because I am what most people call an über nerd, I have decided to work my way through the Knit Stitch Guide. Not only to become more awesome, or awesomer, but to teach myself all the different stitches. Obviously so I can engage with others and dominate conversations with the awing things I know, like the Moss Stitch, which just happens to be the very first stitch in the book.

On a scale of one to ten, ten being the hardest thing ever and one being super duper easy, this stitch is actually a one. A very very soft one. That being said, it`s kind of pretty! And it feels lovely. Now, onto the next!

And because some of you might have read this post and are seriously wondering why you wasted the five minutes, here is a picture of Dixon and I to make it up to you:

Inception Selfie

This morning, I was trying to take a picture of my hair. Not because I take daily photographs of my hair for my Lovely Locks Log, but because I have to ensure my hair looks half decent for work. The problem with this is, I have no idea how to craft a cool coiffure, so I exist in a world of trial and hairror. See what I did there? Instead of error I wrote ... never mind.

Back to the point, because I don't have a second mirror, I sometimes take photos of my hairstyles to ensure they don't look like a rat's nest with bobby-pins sticking out of it. This morning's hair actually looked pretty good too, but before I snapped a decent picture of the back, I turned the phone on. BAM. The camera was on the wrong way and there was a huge, up close and too personal shot of my face. This never makes me feel attractive. It's almost as if the front camera makes me way uglier than the back camera does.

Anyhow, when I went to turn the phone around, the reflection caught the mirror and I noticed myself in the camera and in that camera too. Then I realized, if I angled the camera just right I could see myself three times over. And a light bulb went off over my head and trumpets played as I thought to myself:

INCEPTION SELFIE.

So, being the total nerd I am, I took the picture in order to share it with all of you. Isn't it magnificent when phones, cameras and mirrors come together in such a highly entertaining way?

Or maybe I'm the only amused by this.