073119 — Blog — Rulerless

"Not because they are easy, but because they are hahhhd."

The 50th anniversary of the moon landing has come and gone. Nothing has changed as a result of marking that moment. In fact, the argument is that not much changed as a result of the moon landing itself.

That may be true for the moon itself, cold and still and untouched since the Apollo missions. But we are still reaping the benefits of the technological advancements that were required to achieve Kennedy’s ambitious goal to put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s. Many decades of research and development were compressed into just over eight years. That is the benefit of a clearly defined, time-bound objective.

Casey von NeumannJuly 30, 2019073119, change, 072020, 072820, 022321Comment

Letting yourself be who you want to be

At her first piano lesson, Sophie asked me how many instruments I play.

I thought a moment. “Hmmm…piano, guitar…ukulele…a little bit of drums…so…four?”

“I play seven instruments,” she proclaimed. She breezily counted them off on her chubby six-year-old fingers. “Drums, harmonica, shaker, tambourine, recorder, guitar, and, well, now I play the piano.”

Casey von NeumannJuly 23, 2019073119, 072320, 120320, 071221, 071421, 051023Comment

Take the plunge

I went swimming the other night. (Yes, I swim at night — being a pale creature, it is best for me to venture out after the sun disappears.)

Anyway, the pool was unheated, which always presents a challenge for me. I’m fascinated by the tension of that moment when I can visualize myself swimming but haven’t actually jumped in yet. At any time, I could simply immerse myself in the water. It’s entirely up to me whether I am swimming or stalling.

Casey von NeumannJuly 18, 2019073119, 071620Comment

You don't have to be the hero

Years ago, I accompanied my grandmother’s choir on a trip to Italy. It was one of those regional tours that involve early wake-up times, many hours trapped on a charter bus, and surprise trips to Tuscan wineries for which your tour leader gets a kickback.

I have a number of grim stories to tell from the experience, but one mundane one always stands out: As I was tearing my way through Audrey Niffenegger’s inspired novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, my grandmother was poking her way through a thriller by a second-rate author. She would read half a page, grumble about how boring the book was, and read a little more.

Casey von NeumannJuly 1, 2019073119, 072420, 110920, 042221, 061522Comment

How to change

A fellow math teacher presented an intriguing brain-teaser involving coins. I think of myself as someone who enjoys problem-solving, so I gave it a whirl.

Solving the problem took several hours of work over the course of a couple of weeks, including some time spent talking it through with my husband. There was some eccentric behavior on my part, like staring off into space with a frown and sitting on a park bench manipulating a lap full of coins. I found myself in some tricky blind alleys that required challenging mental three-point turns to get out of them. I thought I had the solution, but then discovered that I didn’t; I thought my husband had figured it out, but he hadn’t; then I went for a walk and finally got there.

Casey von NeumannJune 20, 2019072319, 073119, 061920, change, 091520, 092821Comment

Do your rules make you feel like a loser?

I was playing outside with one of my nephews (because I am an exceedingly lucky person, I have five of them). We were throwing poorly inflated balls back and forth, following the kind of arbitrary and unfair rules favored by young children.

In other words, he made the rules, and I followed them.

We threw our balls in the same direction, where they landed side by side in the wet grass. “You lost that time,” he said. “You say, “Darn!”

Casey von NeumannJune 11, 2019073119, 062920, 103020, 111320, 042221, 113021Comment