13 October 2008

Origami es mi amigo?

One recent evening, my wife J- was rigorously preparing for a lesson in origami, which is tied to a book her class has been reading, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. She's got to earn that big-time teacher's salary, with its infamous golden parachute and "consulting fees", somehow, right?

As she happily found out, gone are the dark days when you had to rely on boring old written steps to work magic with paper. No, folks, now we have the wonder of full-motion video at our fingertips 24 hours a day.

So now, whole fractions of an hour later, J- is a largely self-made expert in this ancient art. I know she would be more than happy to know I am passing on the lessons I learned by watching her study under her master sensei.

From piles of crumbled paper emerged this golden craneI've decided it's most appropriate for me to impart my learning in a format as cryptic as a 7-minute video called How to make an Origami Crane in five minutes.* So without further adieu, here are just a few of the pearls of wisdom that my wife was so gracious to hand down to me:

Alright, I'm starting over.

The f***???

Wait, what??!? How??

Fold this, a**hole! Slow down!!

This... is not a crane.



* In all fairness, I think the extra two minutes were the pumpkin pie breaks and requisite loud chewing, and since the value of those moments is unquestionable, I won't push my critiques any further for fear they might get edited out.

31 comments:

Goldfish said...

My sister made me 1000 paper cranes when I got married (she was living in Japan at the time). It took her *ten* months. That's love. Or boredom.

Anonymous said...

And now we can wonder how she will show her class and how they will manage. Maybe she should teach M- first.

Anonymous said...

On the brighter side, I did finally learn how to make the cranes, though it took me days and a lot of mumbling... oh all right, loudly swearing at the computer and other things.

I have many of the trial versions available for the low, low price of $100 (please don't call them crumbled balls of paper: they have feelings, too).

Vodka Mom said...

That's why I slip over to the ESL room and rope in a couple of Chinese kids to come over and make those cranes FOR ME. Ha. I'm resourceful.

Russ said...

The next thing she should try is towel folding. My Dad took a short course on it and learned how to make bears, snakes (that one can't be tough), flowers, and other stuff. The best part, no risk of paper cuts!

Mrs. B. Roth said...

The how to make a paper crane lesson is one of the few things I remember from second grade.

Kori said...

Clearly J is a better woman than I; I would have given up after the very first F*#k, and then decided that I really didn't like teaching anyway.

Debbie said...

Now the thing about those videos is that they are manipulated and edited to make these things look easy when, in fact, they are a plot to drive us all insane.

LiteralDan said...

Russ: I like your idea even better than origami, but I think both J- and I will need to start by actually folding towels once in awhile before we move on to folding them artfully.

unmitigated me said...

Fold, schmold. They work the same right out of the basket.

Anonymous said...

you're not doing a guest lecture that day, are ya!?

Issa said...

I think I could spend the rest of my life trying and not be able to do that. I never could get the hang of paper airplanes either.

Jenny Grace said...

I think I might love your wife.

TerriRainer said...

I hope you were at least wearing protective eye-wear...those things look sharp!

:) Terri

Ali said...

I'm embarrassed to say that I had to watch the video example of how to print on the back side of the paper after it comes out of the printer for 5 minutes. There's no way I'd perfect origami in the same amount of time!

Brittany said...

I am with your wife, I get equally frustrated folding things, especially clothes. Though I rock at folding jeans, thanks to too many college years resigned to the denim wall at The Gap.

Leslie said...

Vodka Mom makes me laugh.

And Russ? I can make a very phallic looking towel. It's strange skill I acquired in college. Maybe if Vodka Mom shares one of her martinis, I'll show you!

Whiney Momma said...

Whoa, these take a whole lot of patience that I don't have. I am a bit jealous of your wife. There is nothing like a good origami.

thegirlof510 said...

I loved that book when I read it in 6th grade! I wanted to make 1,000 paper cranes. I know I started on it, but I can't remember how many I ended up with...

LiteralDan said...

Hey, if you all need some spare cranes, J-'s got herself a regular sweatshop set up at the school-- place your orders now!

Ringleader said...

I made 100 paper cranes once and it took me approximately 100 years give or take. I was nice and culturally sensisitve and asked the 1st Japanes person I could think of to show me how- cuz- all Japanaes paople are born knowing how to do it- right? They rolled their eyes and taught me anyway. I would rather staple myself in the forehead than do it again. I can't even make paper dolls that son't fall apart.

Carolyn...Online said...

The only thing worse than trying origami is your kid trying origami.

Kevin McKeever said...

Put is there a video that teaches them to fold clothes and put them away.

Laski said...

Yeah . . . no way.

I admire her.

But, I have to say, I'd totally pay attention to a video with those fabulous pearls.

Chris M. said...

I wanna see some origami air planes come out of this deal.

If there's not one kid in the class that's throwing a plane around the room, I'm going to be sorely disappointed.

-Chris
Weather Moose

Anonymous said...

I'm more of a squares expert. Give me a piece of paper, (ANY paper!) and I'll fold it into a nice, neat square for you, in under 5 minutes.

I'd also be willing to give lessons.

Anonymous said...

Does every school do that lesson? Last year my daughter's class did it...and I'll admit, I cried over the story.

I think you should've posted a video of yourself attempting to make the cranes after J's example--no?

BTW--thanks for your comment yesterday. It really helps to hear that others have gone through similar situations & come out ok in the end. :)

Donna Reed In Blue Jeans said...

Came over from Terri's blog.

How FUN for you wife's class! We have that book, Sadako. My daughter loved it.

I love origami! I actually covered my nieces gift with origami flowers, butterflies, frogs, and cranes. It took me DAYS to do it. My husband summed it up in one sentence, "What are all these little paper and why are they all over the house?" Lovely.

Irrational Dad said...

I can make a paper airplane that barely flies, and a kootie-catcher. That's the extent of my origami.

OHHHH... wait.. I think I can still make a paper football if I really concentrated.

The Microblogologist said...

My sister sent me this link, this might help for future origami projects: http://www.instant-origami.com/

That book is very sad, I remember reading it at some point and learning how to make cranes. I can also make frogs and totally got a detention for making them and having jumping contests with them in math class in 7th grade, as if it were my fault it was boring and I had paper...

LiteralDan said...

I'm thinking maybe J- should start a series of instructional videos featuring mediocre results and a filthy mouth.

They could be appreciated on so many levels!