Eye of Modok

Optical illusions have gone hi-tech at Michael Bach’s site 61 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena. This guy certainly knows his stuff!

I especially like “Lilac Chaser”, “Stepping Feet”, and “Reverse Spoke Illusion”

I’m always on the lookout for ways to squeeze some exercise into the daily routine. Yesterday, I took the kids to the park and we found an old-fashioned teeter-totter. Usually, I only see newer metal ones that are really quite small and therefore, I suppose, safe - translated - boring. This one was like the ones I remember from my childhood - big, strong and wooden.

Blysse is rather sizeable compared to Ellie, so I found myself adding some extra weight for her by pushing down behind her. Ah, an opportunity, I thought! I positioned myself so that I was centered and balanced behind and then proceeded to attempt the “perfect” push. The kids were enjoying themselves and didn’t seem to notice but with each push I used only my hands and a flick of the wrist. I focused on my core strength and felt the qi pooling up. I grew stronger with each push until I could send the teeter-totter crashing to ground, bumping the delighted Blysse in the process, with almost no movement of the hands.

The real fun came when I climbed on with Ellie, while Blysse was trying out the monkey bars, and there was obviously a huge weight difference. I maximized fun and workout by arching my back arranging my legs so that I could perform small, tightly controlled leaps. I found myself working parts of the legs that just don’t get worked and soon tired, though I achieved a similar economy of motion that allowed for a very short but intensive burst of energy. Fun!