Aug17

Quiz: Are You 65+ Years Old And Cool?

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Quiz: Are You 65+ Years Old And Cool?

Are you one of the cool seniors, or are you lame regardless of your mobility status? Answer these questions truthfully and total your score to discover your coolness quotient.

  1. How many grandchildren do you have?
    1. Heck, I don’t even have kids!
    2. Maybe someday.
    3. One.
    4. Two or more.
  2. How many of these musicians are you familiar with: Jonas Brothers, Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, Panic! At the Disco, Drake, Khalid, Tool, Skillet, Post Malone, BTS?
    1. Zero to three.
    2. Four or five.
    3. Six or seven.
    4. Eight to ten.
  3. How many of these superheroes are you familiar with: Green Lantern, Flash, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Wolverine, Superman, Iron Man, Spiderman, Batman?
    1. Zero.
    2. One to five.
    3. Six or seven.
    4. Eight to ten.
  4. How do you watch movies?
    1. On VHS.
    2. On network television.
    3. I rent DVDs from Red Box, borrow them from the library, or buy them.
    4. I stream them (Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc.) or go to the movie theater.
  5. Do you have an iPhone?
    1. I only have a land line.
    2. I have a flip phone, a Jitterbug, a Blackberry, or some other non-smart phone.
    3. I have a Pixel, a Moto, a Nokia, an LG, an Android, or some other non-Apple phone.
    4. Yes.
  6. What year was your car made?
    1. I don’t have a car.
    2. Before 2000.
    3. 2000-2018.
    4. 2019-2020.
  7. How do you connect with your friends?
    1. Snail mail.
    2. Text or social media.
    3. Telephone, FaceTime, or Skype.
    4. In person.
  8. Do you know all the restaurants with senior discounts and only go there during those designated days and times?
    1. I prefer to eat at home.
    2. Of course. I tip based on the discount price.
    3. Of course. But I tip based on the full-amount price.
    4. No, I go when I can pay full-price.
  9. What time do you go to bed?
    1. 8:00.
    2. 9:00.
    3. 10:00.
    4. 11:00.
  10. What would you like people to remember about you?
    1. To stay the heck off my lawn.
    2. That I made lots of money.
    3. That I have lots of friends.
    4. That I am kind and generous.

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How to Score

Question If you answered: Give yourself: Rationale
1 a or b 3 points Even though it’s cooler to have grandkids, if you don’t, it’s not your fault.
  c or d 4 points Super cool!
2 a 1 point Pathetic.
  b 2 points Not bad.
  c 3 points Pretty cool.
  d 4 points Super cool!
3 a 4 points Obviously, you have better uses for your time.
  b 1 point A little bit cool.
  c 2 points A little more cool.
  d 3 points Very cool (in some circles).
4 a 1 point You get one point because your VCR is still working.
  b 1 point Super old-school.
  c 3 points A little bit old-school.
  d 4 points This is what the cool people do.
5 a 1 point You are invited to join the 21st century.
  b 2 points You are also invited to join the 21st century.
  c 3 points Pretty cool.
  d 4 points Super cool.
6 a 4 points At your age, not driving but using public transportation could be the sexiest alternative.
  b 3 points There are some way cool classic cars in that range.
  c 2 points Boring.
  d 4 points Super cool.
7 a 3 points Thank you for keeping letter-writing from being a lost art.
  b 3 points Way to be tech-savvy.
  c 3 points There’s something special about a human voice.
  d 4 points Coolest of all.
8 a 3 points There are health and financial benefits to eating at home.
  b 1 point Too cheap to be cool.
  c 4 points Super cool!
  d 1 point Why would you do that?
9 a, b, c, or d, if you get less than 8 hours of sleep 1 point You’re not getting optimum rest.
  a, b, c, or d, if you get at least 8 hours of sleep 4 points Well-rested is super cool.
10 a 1 point Not cool.
  b 1 point Cool people don’t care about that.
  c 3 points Being friendly is cool.
  d 4 points Super cool.

What Your Score Reveals About Your Coolness Quotient 

Score What it means:
1-15 Dude, you’re just not trying.
16-23 You’re sort of cool.
24-31 You’re cooler than most.
32-40 You’re beyond cool—you’re awesome!

Now it’s your turn. Did you learn something new about yourself? Are there other criteria for coolness that you would take into account? Share in the comments below.

If you enjoyed taking this quiz, please make my day by clicking the “Like” button and by sharing on all your social media. Thanks!

Aug16

Creative Juice #151

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Creative Juice #151

Inspiring stuff:

  • Beautiful fungi.
  • You become more skillful as a result of practice. One watercolorist’s story.
  • Kinetic art made out of paper.
  • Advice you can take even if you’re older than 21. You’re never too late to grow wise.
  • How to write 12 books in 12 months.
  • Helpful resources for the journey called Life.
  • Wish your exercise routine could make you more creative? Think color.
  • Crumpled art.
  • I’ve only seen a few of these, and some of them were hard to watch, but this list of classic movies is noteworthy.
  • I wish I’d seen this article before we remodeled our home. . .
  • This article is from a few years ago, but the reasons to read and suggested books are still compelling.
  • Some sketches from Amsterdam (and links to lots more).
Aug16

In the Meme Time: Stop Holding Back

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Stop holding back

Aug15

Guest Post: What Kinds of Social Media Go Viral? by Jenny Hansen

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Guest Post: What Kinds of Social Media Go Viral? by Jenny Hansen

Thank you to Jenny Hansen and to Writers in the Storm for strategies you can use to promote your work.

In last month’s post, I shared social media strategies that support your brand and let you have a life. I don’t know about you, but I like having social media be something I fit into MY life, rather than the other way around. The big question everyone wants to know is: “How do I get my post to go viral?”

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First, we need to understand what kinds of posts get shared extensively and why.

There are many many schools of thought on what gets others to share your content, but I decided to go with science because we want results that can be duplicated. Scientific American published a fascinating article that concluded the following:

“..content that elicits an emotional reaction tends to be more widely shared. In addition, stories stimulating positive emotions are more widely shared than those eliciting negative feelings, and content that produces greater emotional arousal (making your heart race) is more likely to go viral. This means that content that makes readers or viewers feel a positive emotion like awe or wonder is more likely to take off online than content that makes people feel sad or angry, though causing some emotion is far better than inspiring none at all.”


For max impact, I’d recommend focusing on the following types of content:

1. Lots of photos and branded graphics.

Whether it’s photo platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, or more chat-based media like Twitter and Facebook, photos are more likely to grab attention and get shared. In fact, Facebook algorithms always show a photo before a link. That means, even if you’re going to include a link, be sure to put your photo in first. Better yet, add the link in the comments so the Facebook status update is all about your gorgeous photo.

Make your photos awesome! I recommend Laura Drake’s Canva post for help with this. Also, here’s a good social media rule set to live by from Sendible.

2. Short videos provide traction.

This can be achieved by a Facebook Live, a quick Snapchat video, or just some vid you shoot on your phone. The key word here is short. NO more than five minutes. Preferably, no more than three minutes. Get in, say what you want to say, and get out.

Don’t be afraid to edit your video! You don’t have to learn a program like Camtasia to do this. YouTube has tons of editing tools that are free with your YouTube account. Plus, it’s owned by Google, which means your videos here will show up higher in the search rankings. Score!

To continue reading this article, click here.

Aug15

Video of the Week #214: Little Swans

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My favorite part of my favorite ballet. I could watch this all day.

Aug14

Wordless Wednesday: Gauze Clouds

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Aug13

The Red Priest

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The Red Priest

On March 4, 1678, in Venice, Italy, a little red-headed boy was born, and was immediately baptized by his midwife, though the exact reason for the haste is no longer remembered. It could have been because he was such a sickly little infant; or it could have been due to the earthquake that shook Venice that day.

It’s likely that the condition which afflicted him was asthma, but it didn’t prevent him from exercising his gifts, particularly his musical ones. Fortunately for us, he learned to play the violin and to compose music, because he was Antonio Vivaldi.Vivaldi; the Red Priest

He also studied for the priesthood (possibly the result of a deal made by his mother with God during the ordeal of delivering him in the midst of the earthquake) and he was ordained in 1703. He became known as the Red Priest because of his vivid hair, which ran in his family.

Vivaldi was granted a dispensation from saying daily Mass because of his ill health. Instead of parish work, he accepted the position of Master of violin at an orphanage, Ospedale della Pietá (Devout Hospital of Mercy). The boys at the orphanage learned a trade; the girls studied music, and the most talented were invited to perform with the orphanage’s famous orchestra and chorus. Over the years he was assigned additional musical duties at the orphanage. He was devoted to the girls and composed a large body of work for them, including sacred music, such as this Gloria:

His relationship with the board of directors of the orphanage was often contentious. His contract had to be reviewed and renewed every year, and one year the board voted 7 to 6 against him. Vivaldi freelanced for the year, and the next year the board voted unanimously to hire him back, apparently recognizing his valuable contributions to the girls’ education. Again, lucky for us, because he continued to compose beautiful music for them.

Perhaps Vivaldi’s most famous work is The Four Seasons, a group of four violin concertos. Here is Summer, with soloist Mari Silje Samuelsen:

At the height of his career, Vivaldi received commissions from various European royalty. In addition to more than 60 pieces of sacred music, he also wrote over 500 concertos, 46 operas, 90 sonatas, and assorted sinfonias and chamber music.

In his later years, Vivaldi’s work fell out of fashion, and he fell on hard times. In 1740, he relocated to Vienna, hoping to receive financial support from Emperor Charles VI, but the Emperor died before that could happen. Vivaldi died in poverty on July 28, 1741.

“Cessate, omai cessate” performed by countertenor Andreas Scholl:

This is a “Best of Vivaldi” two-hour playlist. I have embedded it to start with his Concerto for Two Horns. (You can also watch it on Youtube navigating from the description below the screen; then you’ll be able to read the names of the selections. Click “Show More.”)