Do your views align with your chosen political party?
Have you taken the test on Political Compass lately? As you learn and as the world changes around you, your politics may change as well. I had a tour through today and it was very interesting to check the compass for the Canadian and New Zealand elections through the years (They’ve got elections back to 2008 for NZ and 2005 for Canada). It shows how the political parties have moved around the compass through the years.
You may be interested to note that Trudeau’s liberals are not anywhere close to the communist left side, despite claims from the convoy. Both the liberals and the conservatives are deep into the authoritarian right quadrant as of the 2020 Canadian federal election.
It is my theory that if people took the Political Compass test, they may find out their chosen party isn’t even close to where they fall on the graph.
So that’s my challenge for you today. Take the political compass test, especially if you never have before. If the results surprise you, maybe it’s time to take an in-depth look at the party you think speaks for you. Maybe it’s not the right party for you, after all.
Political Compass
It’s my SITS day!! Yay!!
Welcome to the blog that is lost in a sea of blogs!! It’s my SITS day!! A SITS day is when I get to be the featured blogger on The Secret to Success is Support website. We are a group of 10,000 women bloggers dedicated to supporting one another by leaving comments. Lots and lots of comments. We’d love to have you join us!
I’m Broot, and you’re right, that’s not my real name. I try to keep some semblance of anonymity around here, to protect my children’s privacy. I have two children; The Boy (the elder) and The Girl (the younger). Why Broot? It’s a nickname I earned during the 20+ years I’ve been with Hubby. We’re all Canadian New Zealanders. Dual Citizenship, and all that. We moved here from Vancouver, Canada, about 8 years ago, after The Boy was born.
This blog is about things I’ve learned and things that have given me a new or different perspective on things I see in my everyday life. Sometimes I talk about Playcentre, where I help educate parents to be the best first educators of their children. Sometimes I talk about stuff that has happened in my neighbourhood or while I’ve been out and about. And sometimes I just post what I’m thinking about.
Like what, you say?
Well, at one point I tried to answer some common questions I get about how I see colour when I read text. Another day I discussed why Common Knowledge sometimes Isn’t. I’m hoping I deftly sidestepped controversy in my post about pendulum swings. You could also check out my post that was mentioned on the BlogHer Facebook page – my discovery about Primary School Math.
But today isn’t just special because it’s my SITS day. It’s also Hubby’s birthday, AND it’s my 200th post!! Celebrations abound!
I hope you enjoy your visit! I’m happy to see you all today!
Me and the Children
Everything happens for a reason
When I was thirteen, my parents decided to move from a fairly “wealthy” town to a smaller, less wealthy, farming community. When Nan & I talked about it, she said “everything happens for a reason!”
And indeed, if we hadn’t moved there, I wouldn’t have met my husband.
When I was at university and couldn’t get accepted into the major I wanted, Nan said “everything happens for a reason!”
And indeed, if I had completed that major, I probably wouldn’t have applied to the writing diploma program later. And I know I learned more from the diploma than I would have from that major. (I got a BA anyways – just a different one.)
When my hubby (before he was my hubby) moved back to New Zealand without me, and both of us were extremely upset, and my life seemed upsidedown, scary, and unhappy, my Nan said “everything happens for a reason!”
And indeed, my hubby fought for what he wanted, worked his way back to Canada, and became independent for the first time. Our relationship was stronger after that.
When my permanent residence application was passed without any hitch, and our house in Canada sold at the exact same time our mortgage came due for renewal (saving us thousands!!) and everything surrounding our move went so smoothly we were expecting (but not finding) Murphy around every corner, Nan said “Clearly you’re meant to go to New Zealand. Everything happens for a reason!”
And indeed, Hubby’s career took off, I found Playcentre and improved my parenting skills, and discovered my love for adult education.
When Hubby was offered a job in Kerikeri, New Zealand, and aspects of the move and details weren’t going so smoothly, I said to Hubby, in my Nan’s voice, “Everything happens for a reason. Maybe we aren’t meant to make this move.” So we didn’t.
And indeed, 3 months later, Kerikeri flooded, and the house we would have rented was severely damaged.
Clearly, my Nan was on to something.
Googling names
Image via CrunchBase
Last night I discovered that my high school is planning an all-years reunion next year. It coincides with one of those important milestone years for my graduating class.
No, I’m not going. I’m not travelling all the way back to Canada just for that, first off. Second, I remember what happened at the 10th year reunion (I didn’t go to that one, either). And third, the people that I might go to see won’t even be there.
That’s right, they’re too busy or successful, or just can’t be bothered.
So I figured I’d google or FB them instead and have a look. I found almost all of them. About what you’d suspect, really. Kids, no kids, married, not married, successful career, or still trying. No surprises.
Except one. (There always has to be one, doesn’t there?) I couldn’t find him at all. No matter what I tried (I’m a bit of a google goddess, you know, I can usually find what I’m looking for, no problem!) I could not find him on the interwebz.
Extremely unusual, since I had him pegged for an IT career.
But then, I remembered that you can’t find me, either. If you google my maiden name, you’ll get pages and pages of tributes for a woman who died in 9/11. I think I get one entry about half way through if you’re being thorough and looking carefully. Most people would give up by then.
If you google my married name, you get pages and pages of amazing lawyers, writers, artists, real estate agents, musicians, and mums who share my name. But not me. I looked through all the pages, and I’m not there.
By contrast, my two online pseudonyms come up as second or third on google. So if you don’t know those, you don’t find me.
I’m guessing that the fellow I’m looking for is online, but using a pseudonym that I don’t know. Darn him for being privacy-conscious like me! Ha.
Have you googled yourself or other people? Did you get the result you expected?
Interview with The Boy, 8.
Part of the Heroica Lego set. Image by woordenaar via Flickr
This is a meme, courtesy of Karen at Solodialogue. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to grab a kid or two, and ask them the following questions.
Kids with budding language skills
What’s your favorite color? (you can even ask them to point at picture cards)
Who is the best — Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck?
What’s your favorite TV show?
What’s your favorite food for breakfast? Lunch? Dinner?
Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry? Which is the best ice cream?
What is your favorite toy?
More developed talkers
What do you want to do when you grow up?
Favorite holiday? What makes it best?
If you could live anywhere, where would you move?
Who is your best friend? What do you like about him/her?
What toy would you buy for your best friend’s birthday?
What do you want for your own birthday?
What family rule do you think is the most unfair? Why?
Once you’ve got your children to answer the questions, tag 7 bloggers to do the same. Or not. My 7 have already been tagged.
The Boy was not impressed and kept asking why he needed to answer all these questions. Then informed me he was hungry.
What’s your favorite color?
Red.
Who is the best — Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck?
Donald Duck.
What’s your favorite TV show?
What’s your favorite food for breakfast?
Frosted Chocolate Booger Bombs (Coco pops – and as I said, they don’t get these often.)
Lunch?
Nachos and sometimes popcorn.
Dinner?
Cheese and noodles. (That’s rotini pasta with shredded colby cheese on top.)
Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry? Which is the best ice cream?
Chocolate.
What is your favorite toy?
Lego Heroica.
What do you want to do when you grow up?
Lego Creator.
Favorite holiday? What makes it best?
Christmas. Spending time together. (He said presents first.)
If you could live anywhere, where would you move?
Who is your best friend? What do you like about him/her?
H. He’s funny, sometimes. (name shortened to protect privacy.)
What toy would you buy for your best friend’s birthday?
Beyblades. H really likes beyblades.
What do you want for your own birthday?
Lego Heroica.
What family rule do you think is the most unfair? Why?
Cleaning my room. Because I don’t get to go on the computer that much. (He can’t play on the computer if his room is messy.)
Interview with The Girl, 5.
This is a meme, courtesy of Karen at Solodialogue. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to grab a kid or two, and ask them the following questions.
Justin Bieber Bear - aka "Chinook" by Ty.
Kids with budding language skills
What’s your favorite color? (you can even ask them to point at picture cards)
Who is the best — Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck?
What’s your favorite TV show?
What’s your favorite food for breakfast? Lunch? Dinner?
Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry? Which is the best ice cream?
What is your favorite toy?
More developed talkers
What do you want to do when you grow up?
Favorite holiday? What makes it best?
If you could live anywhere, where would move?
Who is your best friend? What do you like about him/her?
What toy would you buy for your best friend’s birthday?
What do you want for your own birthday?
What family rule do you think is the most unfair? Why?
Once you’ve got your children to answer the questions, tag 7 bloggers to do the same. Or not.
The Girl liked answering the questions so much she insisted on answering both sets, and asked for more. Perhaps this should be a regular writing prompt with new questions, and not a meme?
What’s your favorite color?
Purple.
Who is the best — Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck?
Mickey Mouse.
What’s your favorite TV show?
What’s your favorite food for breakfast?
Coco Pops. (Please note she does not get these on a regular basis. Dad bought them once (ONCE!) as a special treat and she has not forgotten since.).
Lunch?
Grilled cheese sandwiches.
Dinner?
Cheese and noodles. (That’s rotini pasta with shredded colby cheese on top.)
Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry? Which is the best ice cream?
Chocolate.
What is your favorite toy?
Justin Beiber Bear. (See picture of very loved, dirty bear above. His real name is Chinook, made by Ty.)
What do you want to do when you grow up?
I want to be a dancing star.
Favorite holiday? What makes it best?
To the Swimming Centre – I like it best because I like the hydroslide. (Note, she named the swimming centre specifically but I changed it to protect her privacy.)
If you could live anywhere, where would move?
Who is your best friend? What do you like about him/her?
N. (Name shortened for privacy.) She lets me play with her toys.
What toy would you buy for your best friend’s birthday?
What do you want for your own birthday?
Zoobles and My Little Ponies. And a Pillow Pet unicorn.
What family rule do you think is the most unfair? Why?
Not allowed to run in the house. Because I like running.
I think that:
Jenn at Out of the Mouths of Gamers’ Babes
Jenn at You know…that blog?
Whispering Writer at Airing My Dirty Laundry, One Sock At a Time
Simone at GreatFun4Kids (because her children can answer on their own blogs!!)
and Latte Junkie at Latte Junkie – ramblings of a caffeine addict
Should give this meme a go!!
The Boy’s turn will come later. 🙂
This is my home, O Canada!
Two nanaimo bars on a blue plate - Image via Wikipedia
Last Friday was Canada Day. 144 years of Canada. (How gross, ha ha ha… get it?)
I made nanaimo bars for the very first time. Yum!
I sang a lot of Canadian songs for the kids. Like
The Canadian version of This land is Your Land
and I even found a few versions of “This is my home, Oh Canada” which I sung with a bunch of choirs at Expo ’86.
Yesterday, we hung out with the local (but unofficial) Canadian club. They get together every Canada Day weekend. We wore our Team Canada hockey jerseys. People knew to ask me where in Vancouver I was from, instead of assuming that I was from downtown Vancouver. I didn’t have to translate myself. One of the main topics was “how long have you been here and when were you last home?” It was great to hear all the different Canadian accents. There was even a lovely lady from New Brunswick with her lovely East Coast accent.
On the way home, Hubby asked if I was homesick. And after I thought about it, I wasn’t. Funny that. I was happy that I got to commiserate with my fellow Canucks about kiwi idiosyncracies, but not homesick.
Then I realised that the title of this post has two meanings. “This is my home: it’s Canada”, but also, “New Zealand is my home, oh Canada.” 🙂 Fitting, because I can totally identify with both.
Who needs the Easter Bunny?
I know it’s supposed to be Wordless Wednesday. This is a follow-up to There’s Already Too Much Candy in my House.
It’s not Easter yet. This is what my children already have in terms of Easter Chocolate. And they still have those bags in the other post. And the Well-Meaning Grandparents (Kiwi and Canuck) have not even contributed yet. Some of these were sent by a Well-Meaning Grandparent-in-Law From Overseas. Others were won at hubby’s work Easter Hunt Event.
I think it’s a conspiracy to rot my children’s teeth and make them overweight.
**Sorry, no letters yet. 😦
I did the Backstroke when boarding my plane.
This past weekend I was in Wellington, NZ for a national meeting. Here’s what I learned.
1. Sometimes it’s not a good idea to talk to the hotel’s pet bird. Unless you want to hear an ear-splitting SCREECH!! Everytime we walked by the cockatoo would say “Hi!” “Bye” “Hi Pickles!” (his name), make kissing sounds, or screech at the top of his lungs. But he’d only screech when we responded to him.
2. Sometimes sitting at a table on the outskirts of the room isn’t a good idea. The glare from the lights gave me a horrible headache. When I moved to the centre of the room (right in front!!) my headache went away. Also, my table was never last called for mealtimes.
3. Sitting at the front of the room (see #2) is also not necessarily a good idea. It meant the team leading the meeting saw everytime I checked or used my mobile phone and saw when I was doing a sudoku instead of participating in the discussion. My table was never first for mealtimes, and I couldn’t sneak out of the room during a discussion!
4. If you leave your table to go get food and other tables (on the outskirts of course) are left behind, be prepared to have your seat, your cutlery, or even your chair stolen.
5. If another table steals your seat, cutlery, or chair, wait until they go to get their food and then do the same (or worse) to them. It’s fun. Even better when the other tables join in.
What? Yes. We were all adults. (smirk)
6. Learning how to play a ukelele and taking it with you to a National Meeting is an excellent idea. Especially if you can play songs that everyone knows and can join in. If that’s not possible, convincing the Facilitating Team that it is a good icebreaker or group activity works well. (No, it wasn’t me!! But I can sing you a new song!)
7. Watching a room full of 70+ delegates from all around the country discuss, argue, stand their ground, discuss some more, but eventually reach a consensus is extremely humbling, motivating, and amazing.
8. Sometimes reaching a consensus means not getting everything you want, and instead involves convincing other people to meet you half way.
9. Ordinary white glue WILL stick metal to wood. And sequins onto wood that has been coloured over with green pastel. The sequins will fall off the wood before the metal does. And it’s very hard to get one pastel to colour over another pastel. By the way, Canadians and Kiwis pronounce pastel differently. Clarification was required as to what the heck I was talking about.
10. Wellington airport does not encourage air travellers to run through the rain on the tarmac to their plane. The tarmac is slippery when wet and they don’t want people to slip and fall. However, they do allow the breast stroke, butterfly, freestyle, or backstroke, and show extreme good humour when you take them up on that offer.
Accents can be funny things
As I type this, I’m listening to my daughter sing a song she learned at school.
It amuses me greatly, but probably not for the reason you’d think. I’m amused, because my children switch their accents around when they sing it!
My son, who was born in Canada, has a definite New Zealand accent. Well, to *my* ears, anyways. To Kiwi ears it is a bit diluted. He changed his accent during his preschool years, to match his playmates.
But my kiwi-born daughter has a Canadian accent, despite her preschool mates, and despite almost a full term of school. I’m sure that this will change, bit by bit. I’m sure of this, because today, I noticed something about the song she’s singing.
“Watch out all you two legged mice
Two legged mice in the pantry
A sign on the door says ’Danger Zone, R16 – No Entry’
But there must be a hole in the wall
They’ve got in and they’ve eaten all…” (Radha Sahar)
It’s a cute little song. Both my children know it and sing it. When my daughter sings it, a funny thing happens.
Her “R” sounds, usually the rolled, hard “R” of her Canadian accent, turn to the soft “ah” sound of the Kiwi accent. Think “ah16” instead of “R16.” The long “a” sound changes for her, too. Instead of the open “ah” sound in “wall” that is common to the Canadian accent, she switches to the closed “aw” sound. “Wahll” vs “Wawll.”
When she’s done singing, her Canadian accent returns.
My son does the opposite, and returns to the Canadian accent when he sings.
What does one make of that, do you suppose? Just makes me think that accents are funny things.
THESE WORDS ARE MY TAONGA (treasures).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Craving a Little Perspective 
