The Beginning of Wednesday: Fun Fact Thursday

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Fun Fact Thursday

I run groups with adolescent substance abusers. Running groups is my very favorite part of my job.

Something I've found so very helpful with this population of kiddos is structure. Every day we have the same schedule: at check-in (the beginning part of group where we come together and get ready for the day) we do a quote of the day which a group member must volunteer to read and interpret to their peers, we talk briefly about our weekend or day, our clean time, and our rose (best part of the day) and thorn (worst part of the day).

The only thing that is not rote is the opening part of group. Opening happens right before we begin "check-in." The purpose of opening is to get the kiddos to relax, center themselves (many come rushing from a job, or school, or a long commute) and to become cohesive for the day. On Tuesday (every Tuesday) opening is excerpts from Barbara Ann Kipfer's 14,000 Things to be Happy About. We read several things to be happy about and then move on. The kiddos love it!

On Wednesday, opening is usually a short story, or poem by Shel Silverstein, Mr. Rogers or something from Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Thursday happens to be the kiddo's favorite opening. Fun Fact Thursday! My co-facilitators and myself scour the Internet to find interesting little quotes/factiods to read to the kids. Our first words after "Grab a snack, get a drink and sit down" are usually "Are you ready for Fun Fact Thursday?!?" We deal with a rough population, but this small thing we do for them gets them so excited. They LOVE fun facts.

I'm going to start doing this on my blog. If the kids like it so much (and I do too, that 's why I instituted it) then maybe my readers will also. Who knows? Like all other topic days on my blog (Wednesday, Oui? Top Ten Tuesday, Say What (formerly Quote of the Day) and Photographic Friday) I will do Fun Fact Thursday if I don't have any other blog-worthy material.

So for the first official Fun Fact Thursday:

1. Hitler's private train was called "Amerika."
2. On average, in any given hour, there are 61,000 people airborne over the United States.
3. Diseases spread by fleas have killed more people than all the wars ever fought, combined.
4. The apparatus used for measuring feet at a shoe store is called a Brannock Device.

There you have it. Fun Fact Thursday :)

5 comments:

Nicki said...: yay for fun facts and useless trivia you know I love that sort of thing!; June 25, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Anonymous said...: Oh I have fun facts!!!
The average cat sleeps about 2/3 of the day

There are 10 parts of the human body that can be spelled with just 3 letters

Mario, from Super Mario, was originally named “Jumpman”, although his name was later changed to honor Nintendo of America’s landlord, Mario Segali

When you place a seashell over your ear you are hearing the blood in your veins rushing, rather than the ocean.This works with any object of similar shape.; June 25, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Jessi said...: I know you love fun facts, Amy. I actually thought of that when I wrote this. I too LOVE them.

I didn't know about the seashell.
Wow, interesting!!!; June 25, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Stephani said...: Hey, you spelled America wrong... ;) hehe jk fml; June 25, 2009 at 5:53 PM
Anonymous said...: :) aww you thought of me! YAY!
I heart you, and your blog.; June 26, 2009 at 2:34 PM

Quotes that define my life:

"Now this is the Law of the Jungle -- as old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back -- For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack." -- Rudyard Kipling
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -- Dr. Seuss
"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." -- Unknown
"Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it." -- E. Lutzer
“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, There is rapture on the lonely shore, There is society where none intrudes, By the deep sea and the music in its roar; I love not man the less, but Nature more.” -- Lord Byron
"There are times when explanations, no matter how reasonable, just don't seem to help." -- Mr. Rogers
"If you don't crack the shell, you can't eat the nut." -- Persian Proverb
"Real peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mountains we climb

+ Currently: Life
+ Magalloway Mountain: Pittsburg, NH: 3,350 ft. Fire tower @ summit
+ Uncanoonuc Mountains: Goffstown, NH; Elevation: North Peak 1,324 ft. South Peak, 1,321 ft. *Indian Translation: "woman lying down" or "breasts"*
+ Mt. Major: Alton Bay, NH: Approx 4 mi. round trip; 1,100 ft. @ summit.
+ Monument Mt., Berkshire Area, MA: Approx 3 mi. round trip; *Beautiful waterfall* 1,735 ft @ summit.
+ Welch-Dickey- Loop Trail, Waterville Valley Area: 4.4 mi. round trip; 2,605 ft. @ Welch summit, 2,734 ft. @ Dickey summit.
+ Mt. Kearsarge- Barlow Trail, Winslow State Park, Wilmot: 2.8 mi. round trip; 2,937 ft @ summit.
+ Mt. Monadnock- White Dot Trail, Jaffrey: 4.2 mi. round trip, 3,165 ft. @ summit
+ Mt. Layafette- Old Bridle Path, Franconia Notch State Park: 8 mi. round trip, 5,260 ft @ summit.
+ Mt. Cardigan- East Side Loop, Alexandria: 5.3 mi. round trip, 3,121 ft @ summit. * some of the mountain was left bare from a fire in 1855
+ Mt. Morgan & Mt. Percival- Squaw Mountains, Holderness & Center Sandwich: 5.1 mi. round trip; 2,220 & 2,212 ft. @ summit
+ Mt. Osceola- White Mountain National Forest: 6.4 mi. round trip, 4,340 ft. @ summit

Mission Statement

This blog is much like my home. When you click on my blog you cross a boundary into my world; what I would like to be a judgment free world. You’re in my house now. Don’t come in if you want to pollute my environment with negativity.

As a guest in my home would you pick apart my style, critique my furniture, or want me to spend your entire visit complaining about my life's trials and tribulations? No. The same goes for my blog. You’re a guest here. The virtual world is a "boundary" between what I am going to post here, and what goes on in my “real life.”

This is my forum. Much like if you were a guest in my house, I would scurry around cleaning up, presenting to you my best self. I do the same with my writing. You come here for a smile, an anecdote, a laugh, or a oui. You don't come here to hear about the bad parts of my life. Just because I don't post about them, doesn't mean they don't exist. That part of me just happens to be none of your business.

I choose to blog about things that make me happy, things I want to look back on and relish. I am constantly recovering (on a daily basis) from things that are unpleasant, I need no reminders via written word. That is what my diary is for. If that omission makes it appear as though my life is easy, then you are more than welcome to turn back now, don't waste your time. I have an amazing group of people who I can vent to and get feedback in regards to those matters, I don’t have an overwhelming urge to hang my dirty laundry out to dry in front of strangers.

My greatest fear about blogging is that someone, anyone, would rob me of this right. To instill in me a need to gauge my every word, for me to feel intimidated to speak, to share, or to write. I would never take that privilege, liberty, or luxury from any one person. It’s not mine to take. If you're here for the taking, I hope you come up empty.