<p>Chose my undergrad major at random. Continued with it 'till Ph.D.</p>
<p>Sci-fi folks: Cordwainer Smith! There’s no one else.</p>
<p>SBMom: If we are quints we are definitely qualified for our 15 minutes of fame. And, given the nursing tie-in, good thing we both live in California and managed not to get arrested…We could start another thread, i.e. what term did your kids who nursed long enough to be talking use for their favorite activity. Or not:)</p>
<p>both my kids did nurse for a really long time- of course we had the Birth & Life bookstore in our area which was a great resource, Lynn Moen is a goddess</p>
<p>If I remember right they both called nursing * milky* from a book about a nursing preschooler that they enjoyed.</p>
<p>OptimizerDad: your use of cuprous/cupric nitrate dates you. These days chemistry textbooks refer to it as copper (II) nitrate meaning that the charge on the copper ion is +2. (<a href=“http://www.flinnsci.com/Documents/MSDS/C/CopNit.pdf[/url]”>http://www.flinnsci.com/Documents/MSDS/C/CopNit.pdf</a>) It’s easier for students but of course it takes away that whole “insider knowledge” thing. </p>
<p>Copper compounds are often blue or green. Malachite and turquoise are examples. <a href=“Physical and Chemical Properties of Stones”>Physical and Chemical Properties of Stones;
(And I’m sure we all know that the Statue of Liberty’s green color comes from oxidized copper.)</p>
<p>Yulsie:
Yes, Cordwainer Smith is one of the <em>best</em> SF authors I’ve read. But (and this is a matter of personal taste) there are others right up there. Ray Bradbury for his dazzling usage of words to conjure images (‘A Sound of Thunder’), Orson Scott Card for his ‘Ender’ series…</p>
<p>Dmd77:
Go ahead, rub it in - I’m on the wrong side of 50 
. Just turned 52 last week…</p>
<p>Oh, OptimizerDad, don’t feel bad. I’m turning 50 this year. it happens. Consider the alternative, after all. (I’m quoting my brother–that was his reply when I asked how he felt about 65. I’m considerably younger than him–he turns 75 this year.)</p>
<p>My husband is turning 50 this year too!
We bought him a turn on a ship simulator at an auction for him and his buddies cause he doesn’t like parties too much.
50 doesn’t seem old- not like when I was little and thought 24 was ancient!</p>
<p>I have a hook no one else has mentioned. I do a world class turkey gobble. My younger D, the musical theatre performer, is quite proud of me for this. But, 
I can’t trill my R’s. I had to fake them throughout 4 years of Spanish class. I really would love to know if this is some sort of genetic speech impediment. My older D can’t trill R’s either. Younger D and H can. Are my older D and I genetic freaks, or is just that we can’t do it because we didn’t learn during early childhood?</p>
<p>I was another “champeen” nursing mom. Both Ds nursed well into toddlerhood. They were well-mannered nurslings. They would ask if they could have some milk when they wanted to nurse. We had to refer to the white liquid that comes in jugs from the grocery store as cow milk. </p>
<p>I volunteered with La Leche League for over 12 years and did childbirth very speedily sans drugs. I think I could use them now though. Raising adolescents is a lot tougher than childbirth!</p>
<p>My real hook is having raised two great Ds and perhaps having learned an encyclopedic amount about musical theatre programs in the last 2 years.</p>
<p>Hey, dancersmom - another LLL retiree who can’t roll her Rs despite 4 years of Spanish here, so maybe we were separated at birth, too? I think the tongue thing is genetic - isn’t the ability to tongue-scoop also supposed to be hereditary?</p>
<p>Can’t turkey gobble, though. My only hook (at least I don’t personally know anyone else with this interest) is an obsession with classic Hollywood films of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Tons of DVDs/videos, shelves full of books about the era, and way too much time spent watching TCM and AMC. I also hang out at IMDB a lot more than I should.</p>
<p>Lately I’ve been wondering if it should be Claude Rains/Herbert Marshall/George Brent/Adolphe Menjou, or if Herbert Marshall should be ranked first (Menjou definitely stays last).</p>
<p>my daughters can roll their Rs but I can’t
I wasn’t exposed to taking a language till well after I had children , but both the girls had language in grade school , I think that made a difference.
( none of us can do a cartwheel - however)</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know if this qualifies as a “hook” or a personality disorder, but here goes…Y’know that scene from, THE SHINING, where Jack Nicholson hacks through the door with a hatchet, sticks his head through, and announces, “Heeere’s Johnny!”? Okay, I can do that. I mean, I have a Jack Nicholson shark’s grin. The secret is in the eyebrows. Keeps people on their toes, anyway. </p>
<p>Besides my scary eyebrows, let’s see…a hook…all I can think of are pirates and last week’s episode of Arrested Development. I’m pretty sure that I astrally projected myself right out of the maternity ward while giving birth without freaking drugs!! Pictured myself in a jungle swinging from a vine like Tarzanella…AH-ah-ah, uh-oh…OH-NOOOO! </p>
<p>Well, I guess that’s all I can come up with. If I think of any more, I’ll let you know. :)</p>
<p>Here’s my hook:</p>
<p>I was conceived during the riots in Detroit - 1967 - to a 19 yr old white woman and 21 yr old black man who found refuge in each other as their apartment building was under siege of the national guard. Unfortunately, her father was a Klan member in rural Michigan, so upon learning of her pregnancy, she fled to Florida to have me. Convinced that I would come out brown (not sure why she thought this since my father was a black man with very fair skin), she arranged to put me up for adoption. However, she attempted to keep me once I was born and she determined that I was as blonde haired and green eyed as the rest of her family. But, too late. The adoption people assured her that I would darken up and the best thing was to let me go - finally resorting to telling her that I had already been adopted by a doctor in the hospital in which I was born (not true). So, off I went to the orphan’s home…and off she went to have that part of her memory erased with some sort of insulin treatment (othrs may know more about this, it’s all very weird to me - the memory erase thing). A few months later I was adopted by a black american couple living in the Caribbean - and off I went to a life of adventures. </p>
<p>21 years later I reunited with my biomom - as she was still living in rural Michigan, in a double wide trailer home, across from her father’s double wide trailer home. She had married and had a couple of children. She flew here to see me…and I looked at this woman who looked just like me…from whom I had come…and from whom I couldn’t have been more different. She mentioned, during our first meeitng, that she was surprised that I didn’t “talk jive”. Wow…lol…can you imagine the confusion on my face when I had to ask her what “jive” was. </p>
<p>And so my hook is that I can relate to discussions about heredity vs. enviroment…and I’m biologically a Klanman’s grandaughter - but live happily in a black world…and he has learned of me during the past year, and now wants to meet me. Stay tuned for that decision…</p>
<p>Sluggbugg, I LOVE that movie!!! I can do the “Redrum” voice and finger movement. We could have lots of fun at a CC dinner… :)</p>
<p>Question: What are top-siders? I’ve seen several of you mention them.</p>
<p>Man, that is a world-class hook, Momsdream! Pull up a chair…I’m treating everybody in the Caf</p>
<p>Momsdream, that is an incredible story.</p>
<p>BTW Topdiders are a style of shoe: Sperry Topsiders. They are intended for sailing or boating with leather uppers, and rubber bottoms. They look like loafers but more casual.</p>
<p>VErrrrrrrrrY preppy gear. :could you hear the roll?:</p>
<p>frazzled, dancersmom: me too, LLL for 10 years still do phone helping. We could do our own thread!</p>
<p>momsdream, you are far ahead of the rest of us in the hook category. That is as compelling a story as I’ve ever heard . I can’t help but wonder if some eagle-eyed made for TV movie people won’t pick up on this thread or , Heaven forbid :eek:, daytime talk TV . You have enough there for a week of Maury , a Sally Jesse or two, and an Oprah special.</p>
<p>Momsdream: Standing ovation.</p>
<p>Momsdream, that is an unbelieveable story! If the daytime talk people are sending anyone to college they will be on your case, as curmudgeon says Heaven forbid! :eek:</p>
<p>And, you’re so young - just a baby! Get that boy outta the house!</p>