Special Saturday

ONE AND ONLY: Saturday afternoon we winged our way to The Museum of Flight for a very special presentation. The star attraction was Soyeon Yi, South Korea's first - and only - astronaut.

Needless to say, Yi was proud to represent her birth country, but she is also one of the most humble people you'd ever care to meet.  Her mission to the International Space Station spanned 11 days in 2008.

Soyeon Yi's return to Earth in a Soyuz capsule didn't go as planned. The trajectory of descent a was much steeper than normal, subjecting the crew to gravitational forces of up to 10 times those on Earth. The capsule landed late and some 260-miles off target.

 Yi said the moon doesn't look much different from the ISS than it does on Earth.

She loves to sing, and shared a clip of herself singing her favorite song, "Fly Me to the Moon" while on board the International Space Station. 

Here's what CJ had to say about his astronaut encounter: 

Yi So-Yeon is a biotechnologisty and South Korea's first and only astronaut. Recently, she gave a speech at the Museum of Flight, about being an astronaut, and some of the things she went through while becoming an astronaut. Yo So-Yeon beat 32,000 other Koreans to become the one and only Korean astronaut so far. The South Korean government paid equivalent to twenty million dollars to give her a seat on the Soyuz TMA-12 mission, making her the 49th astronaut that was a woman. Yi So-Yeon has a PHD in biotechnology, but her grandmother and mother were not as fortunate. So-Yeon's mother wasn't able to go to high school, and her grandmother wasn't able to get an education at all!One of the barriers that made it difficult for So-Yeon to become an astronaut out of 32,000 other Koreans was the fact that she was a single, young woman. Many people in Korea and Russia thought that single, young women were mentally unstable. Yi So-Yeon said on stage that singing was one of her favorite things, and proceeded to show us a video of her singing "Take Me to the Moon" on the ISS. Near the end of the presentation, she let the audience ask some questions. My sister asked if, and how often she was told that she couldn't do it, and So-Yeon said that she was told "no" *a lot* while becoming an astronaut.

And here are Annabelle's thoughts ... 

Soyeon Yi is the first, and only, South Korean astronaut. She was chosen out of a pool of tens of thousands of people, and it’s a miracle she was picked because back then, young single women were thought of as “unstable” both mentally and physically in her culture.

When she did get up to space, she was working almost 24/7, with the exception of her required sleeping time. She even got a call from the president of her country! It was like a primitive version of Skype, with the president (and anyone watching tv!) being able to see her but not vice versa. She let her hair loose and it went everywhere. She could hear the president’s reaction, but couldn’t see him. So she started doing flips to show everyone down on Earth what it’s like in zero gravity. The thing about talking with the president was that you had a script you had to follow, so you would be in trouble if you said something wrong. But up in space, you only had a short window of time where the signal could reach and they couldn’t call you to ask why you did that. The president said he was happy to fund the space program, but Soyeon went against the script and said that she wanted to make sure he would.  It went something like: “Are you sure? You’re inviting me to The Blue House? I’m going to record this.” Her friends were surprised she was making sure the president wasn’t lying, but they were proud of her because of when she went off the script in space. 

Fast forward to when she’s leaving space. She sang at the farewell party (singing was her hobby and until then, because she had so much work he had just hummed) and she came home. She made a point at the end of her presentation that you should be very glad you were born with the circumstances you had, and you shouldn’t give up because other people might not be as fortunate.

Soyeon was very generous with her time, and made a special point to connect with the kids in attendance.

We didn't see anyone recording Soyeon's presentation on Saturday, but she has given an identically titled talk before, which you can check out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDPiX9rBjp0

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You can see an interview with her about the selection process and her landing here: https://youtu.be/mc5GT9lmbz4 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mc5GT9lmbz4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

PONY PREMIERE: Our Saturday morning started with a little pony party. Specifically, a My Little Pony party, as it was time for the Season 6 premiere of "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic."

Annabelle printed out special cereal box covers for the occasion, and invited a whole lot of ponies to the party. 

HERE WE GO A CAUCUSING: At 9:30 we headed over the hill to a local elementary school to participate in the Democratic caucus.  On our way in we passed the staging ground of the community Easter egg hunt. Guess Democrats had to choose between participating in the caucus and taking their kids to the egg hunt. Unfortunate timing on planners' parts. 

 Above, all the white dots are eggs. On our way out, the field had been wiped clean.

Once inside the caucus space, it became clear people had a choice between two candidates.

Though they're not old enough to vote, CJ and Annabelle got in on the introductory part of the process. 

UPWARD SPIRAL: There was an estate sale in the neighborhood today. There were the usual items (Christmas ornaments, kitchenware, and garden tools), none of which we needed. But stacked on a shelf in the living room we discovered a gem - a "new" Spirograph. Incredibly the 50 year old set was complete, right down to original papers and pens. 

The kids test drove it straightaway once they got it home.  No surprise, the ink in the half century old pens was dried up. However, the rest of it was good to go.

 The kids started with some of the simpler designs. 

It took a bit to get into the groove (literally) of the art tool. Playing with it sure brought back fond memories for me!

YOU SAY POTATO: A few weeks back, Bee planted her Martian (yes, really, in a way) potato. In this BREAKING NEWS announcement, the Earthbound potato is growing. The signs of life above the surface are about the size of a dime. 

Stay tuned for further developments.

BACK TO THE BARD:  Come Monday, we'll be checking out Shakespeare's First Folio at Seattle Public Libraries' Main Branch. Given that, we brushed up a bit more on the Bard today by watching a couple of videos. 

We started with good ol' BrainPOP, which the kids always love. https://youtu.be/uxPVVEq0E5I

We also checked out a video, "Draw His Life," posted as part of a school project by ErikHFilms on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/WK1YVRlOowE

PAROLED: Looks like an airport gate waiting area, doesn't it? In my case, it ended up being a ticket to nowhere - "it" being the juror pool holding bunker at the King County Courthouse.

I call it a bunker because it's completely devoid of any windows, skylights or natural daylight of any kind. And it's full of bad carpet and upholstery and 'inspirational' posters.

I spent hours and hours here this week, along with hundreds of other fellow citizens. During that time, only 20 were called to potentially be jurors. The experience (which paid a whopping $10 a day, which is ridiculous) left me wondering how long it's been since anyone did the math regarding how potential juror pools are summoned. 

Anyway, we did our part and won't have to go back again for another year, at the least. Happy to serve, truly, but not happy with the process, whatsoever.

Summoned

DOING THE DUTY:  Today was not normal. It was not normal in the sense that I spent it encased in an unfamiliar building, in a room with ugly carpet and no windows, surrounded by a 100 plus strangers and doing NOTHING.

Welcome to jury duty.

I've actually kind of always wanted to be called to serve. But today changed my mind about that, LOL. 

I knew it wouldn't be the courtroom drama one sees on TV, but I was hoping for something more than, well nothing. Out of the enormous pool of dozens upon dozens of potential jurors, not a single person was actually called to potentially serve on a panel. 

I explained my experience to the kids and Annabelle recreated it in this sketch.

I purposely sat in a far off corner of the room. My nearest seat neighbor was about 20 some years my elder and he was also purposely sitting in a remote corner of the room, I'd guess. About every 28 minutes he'd mutter something under his breath to no one in particular, and it would always be peppered with profanity.

When the Person in Charge of the jurors' pool announced we were released for the day, the gentleman turned to me and said, "I missed my bridge lesson for this?!"

I commiserated with him and he went on to mumble that he was too old to learn bridge anyway. At that, I actually disagreed with him, and said science has proven that games like bridge are very good for the brain. I had my "I Heart NASA" bag over my shoulder, so hopefully that gave me some kind of scientific street cred.

Can't wait to go back tomorrow!

In other news, random shot of pretty tree against cool main branch of Seattle Public Libraries.

While I was doing NOTHING, Christian and the kids did the daily something at MPA. I trust their day was more entertaining than mine.

Artsy Adventures

SATURDAY SONGS: On Saturday afternoon, we headed to the heart of the city, destination Town Hall. Our reason for going was to see a concert by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter-illustrator Morgan Taylor, creator of Gustafer Yellowgold, an intriguing character who immigrated to Earth from the sun. 

We were a little early thanks to uncharacteristically light traffic and no trouble finding parking, so we checked out a park across from the venue for a few moments. It was our first visit there.

Surrounded by skyscrapers, it's a good-sized urban oasis. We bet it's full of office people on break during the work week.

Eventually, we wandered back across the street to the concert venue. 

Taylor was standing near the merch table and recognized the kids as soon as we walked in. CJ and Annabelle were fortunate enough to spend a week last summer in a songwriting workshop with him.

Taylor told Annabelle he still has the Gustafer Yellowgold art she made him (a melted Perler bead project) as a thank you for the workshop. In fact, the gift is on his fridge! How high an honor is that? Having your artwork on an artist's fridge - that's the big time! :)

We talked to Taylor for awhile, including about a book project CJ and Annabelle just finished. During the show, he shared that his third grade report card complained that Morgan is often in the back of the class, drawing and singing to himself. I'd say that turned out OK. ... 

The concert was fantastic, as always.
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ART DEPARTMENT: As always, our days have been filled with arts and crafts as of late.

CJ is a campaign manager/strategist for a local school girl running for class president, so he worked on some promotional materials.

 Annabelle worked on posters, too, but also created some original characters, just for fun. At one point she needed just the right brown, but had none in her supply bag. She asked me if perhaps I had something that would work.

Lucky for her, I like brown lipstick. ...

 It worked just great for Tuffy the Teddy Bear.

 She also created a character that embodied trepidation.

 I love this illustration.

Crystal Clear

SNOW ZONE: Friday we took a far afield trip to Crystal Mountain, about 2.5 hours southeast of Seattle, in the shadow of Mt. Rainier.

As we walked up to the ski area from the parking lot, harsh winds pelted our faces and sucked the air from our lungs. We feared we wouldn't be able to manage a day on the mountain. Fortunately, within a half hour things had settled substantially.

 Between nine a.m. and noon, the hill in the background of the photo below became CJ and Annabelle's 'home.' (It's looking east, toward the still rising sun.)

 Below is a view to the south. So many pretty peaks!

 The kids spent about 2.5 hours in a lesson. Some of the time was better than others.  Below CJ was doing OK on the barely-downhill-decline.

And below, Annabelle wound up in a mound on the conveyor belt 'lift' for the hill. Oops. 

 And then her hair got caught in the instructor's zipper. :/

But they caught on before long, and were ready for the chairlift by noon. Bee is with Glenn below, while Christian and CJ are bringing up the rear. 

Up, up and away!

And down they come!

https://youtu.be/b-8YuB3uo7M

https://youtu.be/_yZwQ26uiLQ

On our way home, there was a diagonal yellow sign warning of elk. I looked to my left and toward a river and sure enough, they weren't kidding!

 We doubled back to take some photos.

O THANK HEAVEN:  Saturday was a busy day, but we made time to take advantage of BYOC (bring your own container) day at 7-11 for a Slurpee fill up. 

Just $1.50 to fill up the vessel of your choice. Whoooo could pass that up?
The kids have made their scores stretch 3+ days.