Whatevertober Parts 3, 4, & 5: Memento (2000)

Good evening, illusions! This is your host, Thing Two! I'd like to personally apologize for the late update(s). You see, we came down with a severe case of vagueish problemitis. Also, I was busy watching and rewatching Memento (sadly, without any guest commentators), which so happens to be tonight's film! I apologize in advance for the lack of spoilers. I know how much everybody loves spoilers to a really good recent movie that shouldn't be spoiled.

Memento isn't really a horror flick so much as it is an intellectual thriller (we can do thrillers as well as horror films, and this apparently even extends to Godzilla movies); the kind that demands your attention. And damn, but do you have to pay a lot of attention to this one!

The whole film is viewed from the perspective of the protagonist Leonard Shelby, who has memory problems and something to do with a murder or two. There are sequences filmed in color, which go in reverse chronological order, and sequences filmed in black and white, which go in regular chronological order. "Confusing" is an understatement. There was a mind-boggling number of mind-bogglers the first time I watched it through. I had so many questions that needed to be answered, I resolved to watch it a second time the next night. And so I did.

The second viewing absolutely floored me. It was like watching a different film. Now so much more made sense! So that's why *SPOILERS* was *SPOILERS* to *SPOILERS*! They were trying to *SPOILERS* the entire time! Well, almost the entire time. However, there were still a few things that I still did not understand, so, having never watched a movie thrice in a row, I decided to watch it for a third time! And that's what I did tonight. I think I get everything, but I may have to let it all sink in for a while.

Anyway, if you like psychological thrillers and repeated viewings (read: Inception), then you'll probably like Memento! Four out of five reverse-reverse-antireverse-rereverse plot twists!

Tomorrow night, we eat bullets! Or, y'know, watch Poltergeist. Whatever.
I truly am really, really sorry for the short update. I promise it'll be better tomorrow.

Octoberfest Part 2: The Exorcist (1973)

Good evening, children of God! This is your host, Thing Two! Welcome to the second spine-chilling sequence of Whatevertober, with guest commentators Thing One and Katy herself, who picked out tonight's movie! Speaking of which, let's get to that. Tonight's feature: The Exorcist!

THING TWO: I know I promised not to do summaries or recaps, but I couldn't pass this one up. All right, so tonight we watched The Exorcist, a touching yet bittersweet tale of a loving mother, her sweet little daughter, a down-on-his-luck priest who's offered a second chance, and an vengeful Iraqi spirit that hates friendly upper-class American families for some reason.

The movie starts off with an aging Indiana Jones on an archaeological dig in northern Iraq (sometimes called Kurdistan), where he eventually confronts an ancient statue. It is revealed to him through nonverbal psychic exchanges that the time-traveling ghost of Saddam Hussein is seeking revenge on the decadent and corrupt Americans. Naturally, Indy rushes back to the USA as fast as dotted red lines can carry him.

Back in America, we meet two more of the main characters: Julia Roberts and Reagan. Reagan complains about how that meanie Gorbachev won't put his book down during tests to let Reagan copy his answers. Oh, and there's something about a space cowboy, too. Captain Howdy, I think his name was. Then we get to meet the other protagonist, Rocky Balboa, who is undergoing a faith crisis.

The storyline is split between Julia Roberts and Rocky for a while. Julia Roberts finds that the vibrating massage bed isn't working out for Reagan, and she gets it replaced with a non-malfunctioning one. But tragedy strikes again, as Reagan listens to too much heavy metal and in the middle of the night starts headbanging a bit too enthusiastically. Then Reagan wets herself at a party, embarrassing poor Julia Roberts to no end. The montage is quite the comedy of errors. Reagan is taken to Asshole Psychiatry, Inc. where the doctors misdiagnose her in every imaginable way before admitting to their quackery and advising Roberts to seek out a professional archaeologist (preferably a WWII veteran) or a rookie boxer.

At this point, the storylines merge. Up until now, Rocky had been mourning the death of his personal trainer Mickey and questioning his faith. Indiana Jones had been battling clockwork Nazi golems offscreen. Julia Roberts asks Rocky for help, who in turn asks Indy for help. They all meet up at the Roberts household, where they find Reagan restrained, bruised, battered, and wearing hideous puke-green contact lenses. At first they have trouble figuring out what's wrong with Reagan. Initially, they dismiss the possibility of possession by an angry Middle Eastern dictator's spirit (since Reagan's room is like an icebox, and one would think that some like it hot over in Arabia), but the contact lenses give Saddam away (Hussein was famous for his terrible fashion sense).

To counter Hussein, Indy and Rocky read aloud Led Zeppelin lyrics and sprinkle Reagan's body with the tears of Kurdish children. It proves to be ineffective, as Saddam kills Indy with the constant mental image of Shia LaBeouf's face (this truly was his last crusade). Rocky, inspired by the memory of Mickey's training, grabs Saddam's ghost in a stranglehold and wrestles him out the window. Rocky's sheer willpower manages to banish Saddam Hussein back to Hell once and for all. Unfortunately, Rocky lands on a flight of stairs and breaks his own neck. Julia Roberts and Reagan live and move to Argentina (or possibly Connecticut). But what about Rocky and Indy? Oh, don't worry...Darth Vader resurrects them in The Exorcist II. No, really, James Earl Jones is in the sequel.

But seriously, I liked The Exorcist. It's not really a scary movie, but I like it as a thriller nonetheless. It's a story of faith and connection, and it works. As for everyone out there? Well, if you're old enough to get over Reagan's demonic makeup and distorted voices, then check it out! As long as you aren't expecting Ghostbusters, it won't disappoint! I give it five out of five pea soup regurgitations.

KATY: The scariest thing about the Exorcist is the idea of losing a child. Poor Regan is lost to her mother and that is the ultimate boogeyman...someone taking your baby. So very very scary...

Thing 2 is the Antichrist, I'm gonna have to become catholic now.

Whatevertober Part 1: Dracula (1931)

Good evening, counts and countesses! This is your host, Thing Two! Welcome to a new feature of Whatever that we like to call Whatevertober! Every night of October, I will be watching a horror or thriller movie and providing short afterthoughts with one or a few guests watching it with me and providing even shorter afterthoughts. So you now all have thirty-one entertaining blog posts to look forward to (thirty, if you don’t count this one)! If you are familiar with Cinemassacre's annual series, Monster Madness, then you should recognize the similarities. As in, this is exactly the same as Monster Madness, but in blog format. And it isn’t recaps, it’s afterthoughts on the viewing experience. With guest stars. But anyway, let us move on. Without further ado, here is the first entry of Whatevertober, with guest commentator Thing One! Tonight’s film: Dracula!



THING TWO: Several years ago, we purchased the two-disc 75th Anniversary DVD edition of Dracula. (Whew! There’s a technical mouthful for you!) Tonight, I finally got around to watching it. Really, it was actually Thing One’s idea to dust it off and give it a try. I think that he nailed it (pun intended) with Dracula. There couldn’t be a more appropriate choice for the first entry of Whatevertober. And here’s why.

Dracula, to put it bluntly, is a timeless classic. It’s a masterpiece, truly ahead of its time. Vampire movies are now a cornerstone of the horror genre. There are so many vampire movies nowadays. How many good vampire films that have come out in recent years can you think of? What vampire movies have you seen growing up? Thirty Days of Night? The Lost Boys? The 90s remake of Dracula? Everyone’s seen a few. But the original…is Nosferatu. The original with sound is Dracula, starring the master himself, Bela Lugosi. Oh man, Bela Lugosi…he’s awesome. Bela Lugosi is like the Chuck Norris of horror. (Boris Karloff is the Bruce Lee of horror.) That iconic cape, that spine-chilling stare, the etcetera etcetera. I really don’t feel like repeating what has been said a thousand times over. You all know how iconic Dracula is. Let’s skip ahead to my actual thoughts on the film.

It’s awesome. ‘Nuff said.

What, you want more?

Oh, fine. I’ll start with the music, or lack thereof. There is only one bit of soundtrack in the entire movie, and that’s at the opening credits. But that single snippet of score is more than enough to set the unnerving mood. The omnipresent silence that follows for the next hour and a quarter is downright disturbing. It’s…well, it’s creepy. What else can I say?

I can talk about other stuff. Like the performances. They’re a little cheesy sometimes, but what would you expect? Dracula was released in 1931. (That sentence sounds funny. For me, it just now conjured up a mental image of Dracula being let out of a cage after waiting since the 1800s.) The set pieces are absolutely fantastic, and do a wonderful job of setting the mood. Speaking of the mood, the atmosphere is so thick, you could slice it with a knife. (That’s a good thing.) The one special effect is the bats. I saw the string at one point. But again, it’s from 1931. It’s more than forgiven.

All in all, Dracula is a treasured gem of cinema. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out! I give it five out of five Lugosi creeper stares.

THING ONE: The grand daddy of horror. A must-see for any fan of anything ever. Five out of five delicious Hungarian accents.

See you tomorrow, when we tackle another thriller! Until then, counts and countesses, good night.

Thing 2 is doing this as an extra-credit project for his drama class, I'm not sure his teacher knows exactly what he has unleashed upon the world!

What A Year

If someone had told me what a roller coaster the past nine months would be I don't know that I would have gone ahead with grad school on top of it all. This cake that a classmates wife made for our end of the year grad school cohort party made (representing a sick inside joke :) is pretty much how I feel right now...

Roadkill baby.

But I survived the twins first year of high school, my first year of grad school, daughter driving, losing Nannie, sending my babies to the other side of the planet, and having a bloody obnoxious puppy. Phew.

Grade report - 4.0 in all three of my classes for spring quarter. Even though I know that grades don't matter in grad school, it is impossible for me to not work my ass off in search of a perfect grade. It may not matter to anyone else but it matters to me. And, I'm guessing, my parents. They're always really happy to hear that I did well in school. It makes up for all the slacking I did in high school. Heh.

My summer is going to be busy but FUN! Next year will be even crazier than this year has been so I intend to make the most out of the next three months. Saturday our friends and family are gathering to celebrate Nannie's life...I'm both looking forward to it and dreading it. I still burst into tears at weird times and haven't begun to work thru all my feelings about losing her but it will be nice to hear everyone's memories and stories about her. Family is coming from all over, including her Canadian nephews who we don't see very often and it will be a wonderful party to say goodbye to an amazing woman.

July is my travel month. I get six days of doing NOTHING while visiting Dad and Stepmonster in Vegas with BFF Cousin and then three and a half weeks dodging Sharks With Frickin' Lasers in Australia with Marvelous Mom.

August will be a blur of drivers ed classes for Thing 2, band camp for daughter and the dance team, parades, 2 days of student teaching seminars, sunshine (I hope) and training the damn puppy so I don't have to kill him.

Life marches on.

The Snowball Effect

The ubiquitous "they" say that getting started is the hardest part. They're right.

For my Organizational Change class I had to pick something I wanted to change about my habits and keep track of it over the course of 8 weeks. At first I picked something way to big with too many small habits to change all at once, so I revised it to be "Drink 72 ounces of water a day".

In six weeks I have managed to develop the habit of drinking water all day and it has snowballed all out of control. I drink less Diet Coke because I am not thirsty. I sleep better at night. I've been drinking wine less frequently and when I do, drinking fewer glasses. On Friday I spent four hours mulching the gardens, on Saturday I walked my first ever 5k and daughter and I are signed up for another 5k next Sunday. The more water I drink, the more energy I have, and the more I want to move around.

Wow, I could really get used to this!

Grad School Part One

Yeah. So. First quarter of grad school is over. It was painful. I have to be honest, there was more than one day that I thought I'd have to quit - that I couldn't do it. But I stuck with it and it's over. I got a 3.8 in one class and worked my ASS off for it. The other class - well - I worked my ass off for that one too but don't have any feedback or graded assignments to even begin to judge how I did so I'll have to wait until next week to know if I worked hard enough or not.

Here is a gratuitous picture of the cutest puppy on the planet. He came shopping with me and quite enjoyed it. Very popular with the over 60 and under 6 crowds...

The good news is that I love school, love what I'm learning about, and am so excited to move forward in my academic career. I'm learning more every day than I ever thought was imaginable and cannot wait for next quarter!!!

Well...maybe I can wait a couple of weeks. Long enough to clean the four inches of dog hair off the floor, catch up on organizing the house, and enjoy Christmas with my family.

Smooches!

Not Homework

It's amazing how having three weeks, one day, 10 hours, and thirty-seven minutes (but who's counting) until finals week inspires me to do all KINDS of things...

I really want to make a quilt.

The kitchen cabinets need to be thoroughly cleaned out and the wood oiled.

It would be so nice to be able to have a single bay of our FIVE CAR DETACHED GARAGE to park my car in - maybe I'll clean it out.

Boy does Thing 2's room need to be painted. And re-decorated.

DAMN that mudroom is a mess, time to sort out all the crap.

And I have laundry, cleaning, and cooking that needs to get done.

Funny how none of the jobs calling my name are homework. Even though that is what I have GOT to get done. Or waste a bazillion dollars. And suffer being mocked by my family.

But look what needs to be done that is NOT HOMEWORK...

Spelling Simpleton

I am a good speller. A friend of mine claims that spelling knowledge is contained in an optional lobe of the brain - some people have it and some people don't. Luckily for my k-12 career, I got the spelling lobe. (I didn't get the foreign language one but hey, you can't have everything.)

But there are some words that my brain has decided it will not allow me to learn the correct spelling of.

No matter how many times I write it, say it, spell it out loud, or tattoo it on to my forehead, I will always have to correct the word 'restaurant'. (Red underline just now, I spelled it wrong.) It's a stupid word that should be spelled 'resterant' and whoever decided on the spelling is obviously a mental miget. Er, midget.

As I grow older however, my spelling lobe seems to be shrinking. Or shriveling. Or melting. Because I am LOSING WORDS.

Now I can't spell 'refrigerator' or 'vacuum' correctly the first time. And for the love of GOD I misspelled 'friend' the other day. 'FRIEND'. WTF?

We're not going to talk about 'miget' up there. It'll be our little secret.

So is it only me? Am I the only one with road blocks going up left and right in my grey matter? Do I have brain bugs eating the few brain cells I have left?

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go spend some quality time with Messieurs' Merriam and Webster.

I Got it In Writing

I've talked before about how my journey to becoming a college graduate was one that has made me the person I am today. It wasn't easy, it wasn't always fun, but it was important and worth every drop of blood and tear shed along the way.

Now I have something to hang on my wall and remind me of that journey every time I look at it.

The concrete proof of all our - because it was my family's journey as much as my own - hard work is here. And I couldn't be more thrilled!

Homecoming Game 2010

The past two years have not prepared me for the total chaos of Homecoming Week with three kids involved in three different school activities - all of which are part of the Homecoming bru-ha-ha.

Here is our politician, Thing 2 Freshman Senator. He came to me a couple of weeks ago asking if I could make a flag that he and his fellow freshmen representatives had designed. I cut, I sewed, I ironed and voila - it turned out great. The best part is they can use it for the next four years. And the Freshman Golf Cart (each class decorates one) was the BEST EVER! Ha!

He was at school at 7am three days this past week (which of course meant I had to drive him instead of just kicking him out the door in time to catch the bus), had three evening events to set things up for assemblies, and then stayed after school Friday to set up for the dance on Saturday, decorate the golf cart and worked at the game.

Thing 1 plays trumpet in the marching band. They've had three evening practices in the past week on top of all the prior practices plus have been practicing every day at school. They ROCKED the halftime show!

This is a shot from the halftime show. Thing 1 is one of the trumpet players and Daughter is the tall dancer in the back (the girls with their hands over their eyes). The Dance Cats have also been to all the evening marching band practices PLUS practicing twice a week after school. This was - without a doubt - their BEST PERFORMANCE YET. I was up in the stands watching the whole show and they were amazing!!! Daughter had never danced before joining the school dance team (1 year in ballet at age 4 hardly counts, I just wanted the tu-tu pictures!). She has worked her ass off and I can't believe how much she has improved. And the whole team has really come together - their performance was polished and seamless.

This last pic is "my girls". Daugher is on the left, her BFF Monty - who pretty much lives at our house - is in the middle and her other BFF Bee is on the right. Daughter and Bee have been friends since middle school and even though Bee goes to a different high school now they have stayed close.

I'm exhausted but so proud of my kids. We had a great time at the game and I'm looking forward to chaperoning the dance tonight. If I can stay awake.

I'm Just Not That Into It

Grad school started. I have an unbelievable amount of reading to, um, read. A research project proposal to write. Classroom curriculum to observe and link to the readings. Group projects to do.

And I just don't care very much.

I waited until the very last minute to pay my tuition for this quarter. (And almost hyperventilated at how much it was.) WHAT THE HELL IS MY PROBLEM?!?!

Is it burnout? Does it mean I have doubts about wanting to teach? Am I just lazy?

Motivation...I needz it.

Parade Day

Saturday was Parade Day for our high school marching band which includes the flag and dance teams. Thing One plays the trumpet and Daughter is on the dance team so we left the house at o'dark-thirty to drive over the Cascades and into Leavenworth. The parade was part of the Autumn Leaf Festival and last year was our school's first year participating. They won FIRST PLACE in their division last year and guess what...they won FIRST PLACE again this year! Woot! Their band director and assistant have built an amazing performing arts program at our school and they get the kids to perform above and beyond every time.

Here is the band marching down main street in Leavenworth, a funky little Bavarian themed village in the gorgeous Cascade Mountains. If you are anywhere close to driving distance, I urge you to visit it during the fall when the leaves are changing. It will take your breath away.

Here is daughter posing - I was going for an "artsy" shot with her shadow in the background. It's not fine art but she loves it and I think it's pretty cute. Dance Cats is the name of the dance team.

And here is daughter and Thing One - posing together against their will. I told them if they didn't pose for a picture then I'd make them walk home. Ninety-five miles. They knew I meant it too.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and we all had a great time. Good thing I got some sunshine because it's gray and rainy today. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Oh Happy Day

Last week was a doozy. Tuesday morning I was on my way out the door (in flip flops and pajamas, I'm pretty classy ya know) to take daughter to dance practice when I slipped and fell down the stairs. My - not inconsiderable - entire body weight fell right on my tailbone and broke it.

I wailed. My two extra kids - friends of daughter's who pretty much live here - had spent the night and all five of the kids were a bit freaked out at the sight of me rolling around screaming in pain while Husband tried to determine if he was going to be a widow or if I was just being hysterical.

So when the kids had their first day of school the next day, Husband was in charge of taking pictures since I was unable to move without howling. This year the Things are starting High School - lowly, lowly, Freshmen - and all three of the hellions will be at the same school with Daughter lording it over them as a Junior.

If you see Husband would you mind asking why the hell he thought taking pics from the top of the stairs was a good idea?

With the lack of actual GOOD pictures, I decided to go for comedy instead. Presenting - OH MY GOD I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL WITH MY BROTHERS!

"So Daughter, are you excited for the first day of school? With Thing 1 and Thing 2?"

"I guess that's a no..."

"So what are you going to eat for lunch?"

"I don't care what your friends are doing, you may NOT eat your brothers for lunch!"

"Don't worry Thing 2, she won' REALLY eat you for lunch. She'll just stuff you in a locker."

"Have a nice day!"

Unfortunately my injury has prevented me from doing my annual back-to-school happy dance all over the neighborhood. But I'm THINKING it really, really hard.

Slacker Grade

Apparently I worked my ass off to graduate with honors for nothing. Slacking in the Washington State History class got me a 3.8

Summer School

I did it - I finished the Washington State History class without going totally insane! The amazing campus at UW Seattle had a lot to do with it. C'mon, is this not completely gorgeous?!?

This is another iPhone photo that I took with one of my new photo aps. They are Old Camera, Hipstamatic and Tilt Shift Generator. I read about them on ONE of your blogs but now I can't remember whose it was so let me know if it was you so I can give you props! Any ap that can make even me look like I know what I'm doing while taking pictures is sheer genius - and for less than two bucks!

No I'm not being paid for my endorsement of these aps, I just happen to think they rock and would like to share that with y'all.

The class was very interesting and I really liked the professor. Being a lecture class it wasn't exactly exciting, but his dry sense of humor and powerpoint slides that ADDED to the information instead of simply REPEATING it kept the lectures from being sleep-inducing.

We read a book that I highly recommend for anyone who likes the outdoors, history, or sailing. It's called "The Northwest Coast: Or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory" by James G. Swan. He was a Bostonian who bailed on the East Coast (and his family but that was pretty common at the time) in favor of exploring the Pacific Northwest in 1849. Despite being over one hundred and fifty years old, it is a fun, exciting, and informative read. It's fascinating to see the difference in attitudes back in the day. For instance, he and his fellow explorers started a forest fire while celebrating the fourth of July and he nonchalantly adds that it continued to burn until the rains started in November. And by that I mean that it was almost an afterthought on his part to even mention the months long fire!

What's more, this actually happened TWICE!

We also read some of Capt.George Vancouver (snore) and the Hudson's Bay Co. employee George Simpson (double snore). Their writing hasn't held up nearly as well as Swan's.

Another good book I can recommend is "Native Seattle: Stories from the Crossing-Over Place" by Coll Thrush. I literally couldn't put it down. VERY unusual for a book I've been assigned to read!

All in all it was a good class. I wasn't *quite* as type-A about my papers or getting to class every single day - after all I just need this class for my teaching endorsement and the grade isn't going towards my graduation GPA since I already GRADUATED (woot!) but I'm glad I took it.

I'm also glad it's over. Heh.

Now I am done with (my) school until the beginning of October when grad school starts. On Thursday I am driving to Vegas with the kids and Grandmother (god help us all) for our annual road trip. Then Marvelous Mom and I will be driving to Berkeley to move Scientist Genius Brother out of his apartment so he can jet to Melbourne, Australia *sob* to do his post-doctoral work. After that it's back to school prep with Thing 2 practicing with the marching band, Daughter practicing with the dance team, Thing 1 getting ready for student government work, the fair, and the parade that will have TWO of my offspring in it.

I'm tired just thinking about it.

Seven Years in the Making

In 2003 I started taking a class here and a class there at the local community college.

Seven years later, here I am.

It's funny - I didn't cry during the ceremony but now, looking at the pictures, I'm bawling my eyes out. After all the blood, sweat, and tears I finally finished!

Many, many, many times I've wanted to quit. When I had to miss field trips with the kids classes because I had school, when I did homework in the emergency room waiting for Grandmother to be seen by a doctor, when we had to come up with another quarter's tuition and book money, when the kids had to get their own dinner because Husband was working late and I was studying, when, when, when...

But my family got me thru it. Mom and Stepdan were only a short drive away anytime I needed any help at all.

This diploma is for them too.

Dad and Stepmonster Shelly hopped on a plane more than once to help care for Grandmother when I was buried in schoolwork. They let me rant on the phone and always encouraged me to keep going and not give up.

This diploma is for them too.

Super Scientist Genius Brother inspires me to aim higher and take chances.

Grandmother did Thing 1 and Thing 2's laundry and made sure they did their homework when I wasn't home.

The kids were quiet when I had to study, waited patiently for me when I was late picking them up, brought me Diet Coke when I was writing, and gave me love and support when I really needed it.

But it is Husband who has been my rock. Night after night he would come home from working 10 hours and make dinner because I was still studying. He attended band concerts alone during finals week, cleaned the house and did laundry, wrangled the kids into doing their chores and homework on weekends I spent at the library, and never EVER complained. He listened when I needed to talk, hugged me when I got a bad grade, and encouraged me every single step of the way.

This diploma is for him too.

I tell my younger, more 'traditional' classmates, that going to college is a million times easier when you are young and don't have family, home, and business responsibilities - and it's true. But my experience in college, while more difficult logistically, has shown me in a million different ways how amazingly lucky I am.

The diploma may have my name on it but it belongs to my whole family, they have earned it just as much as I have.

Walking on Sunshine

Today THIS is how I'm feeling! (I can't embed the video *pout* but it has been one of my favorite songs forever and is on high rotation in my iPod.)

The letter I received in the mail today starts:

Dear Ms. Whaever,

Congratulations! I have approved your acceptance to the University of Washington Graduate School for Autumn Quarter 2010 as recommended by the graduate admissions committee...

I'm pretty sure that wherever you were when I read that, you heard me scream.

Accepted. To. Grad. School.

Husband - sweet, sweet man that he is - told me that he never doubted I'd get in. I've heard the same thing from other people, including my senior advisor. But I doubted it. I had nagging doubts that maybe I was too old, too out of touch, not quite smart or witty enough - do you know those doubts? Do they sometimes keep you up at night too? I am my own worst critic. No matter how hard I work I think I could do more, do better, go beyond. But not today - today I am silencing my inner critic.

And I'll sleep like a log tonight.

Brutal Honesty

My senior thesis is a play. Yup. When the opportunity presented itself I took the plunge and wrote a play instead of yet another research paper. This from a student who has taken ZERO creative writing courses. I took English 101 and 102 and then lost myself in the awesomeness of history and political science classes.

Naturally my play is historical. It's about the Nat Turner slave rebellion of 1831. With Malcolm X. Take my word for it, it works. I'll put it out here eventually - my vision is for it to be part of an entire curriculum for high school students about slavery and racism in the United States. For now you just have to take my word for it that it's come together quite nicely.

And that is entirely due to all the amazing feedback I've gotten from real live high school students.

One of the benefits to being a serial volunteer is all the contacts I've made at my kids schools. The drama teacher at the high school is amazing. According to all the performing arts parents he walks on water, and judging from the exceptional quality of his students performances I'm inclined to believe them. He was kind enough to allow me to borrow one of his classes to be guinea pigs for my play. After my first draft was complete I took it in, they did a table reading, and then gave me their feedback.

I was amazed at how articulate, thoughtful, and helpful their comments and notes were. It was exactly what I needed to make my project something that might actually be useful rather than just mental masturbation for a grade.

My re-write was substantial - all based on their feedback. I changed the format, scrapped the ending and wrote a new one, and added dialogue. Today I went back to amazing drama teacher's fifth period class and they did a second reading of my play. (I brought cookies and brownies this time, don't want them to feel unloved and taken advantage of!)

Again they blew me away with their maturity and I now have a kick-ass play. Well - as kick-ass as it can be coming from a non-playwright.

But - my favorite comment of ALL TIME was from one kid who came up to me as they were packing up their stuff in preparation for the bell to ring.

"That was SO much better Ms. Whatever - I actually ENJOYED it this time!"

Brutal honesty. I love it!

University of Washington Rockin' Librarians

Just had to take a minute to share this awesome video made by University of Washington Librarians. THIS my friends is why UW is so freaking awesome!

Thanks for sharing it Seattlejo!

Masochist

Look at these ridiculous goats - are they not adorable? I love the head tilts, they look so perplexed. They have settled in nicely and are eating their way through the blackberries and evil, evil scotch-broom in our pasture. Now that we've fenced it, our next door neighbors bring their horses over for a snack of grass sometimes and the goats don't mind them at all. Unless they move suddenly - that causes a mini stampede of goats running for their lives. Very very funny to watch them running from a horse who is just shaking his head to get the flies off.

I made it through the first round of cuts for grad school and interviewed with two faculty members last Saturday. Now all I have to do is pull my hair out while I wait to hear if I've been accepted. Hopefully it will be soon because I'd look pretty funny with bald patches all over my head.

Because I seem to get a kick out of torturing myself with too much to do, I've started a mini-war with a certain member of our local school board. So far I've spoken, ahem, VEHEMENTLY at two board meetings and written several letters to the editor - two of which got published. What I'd really like to do is lobotomize her with a rusty spork but judging from her lack of mental ability, it looks like someone has already beat me to it. I'll rant more about that in the future I'm sure, it is NOT OVER!

The end of the year insanity has begun at the kids schools. Schools plural. As in three. I cannot express what a relief it will be to have then all in the same damn place next year. Even if I do have to bribe the dean of students weekly so the Things don't get suspended for beating on each other in between classes. Daughter has already informed them that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES are they to speak to her, look at her, touch her, or let anyone know that they are related to her at all. I'm planning on putting fluorescent signs on their backs that say I AM [Daughter's Name] BROTHER! She will love it. The poor girl doesn't stand a chance. Between our impossible, weird, foreign and memorable last name, the Things *cough* reputation as "the super smart and slightly odd identical twins who beat the shit out of each other at school", and my over-involvement as a volunteer she will never be able to blend into the woodwork at school.

I have so much I want to write about - the recent legislation in Arizona, an amazing NGO working in Africa, awesome (and slightly scary) teaching blogs I've recently discovered - but it all has to wait until after June 13th when I will officially be a college graduate.

Someday I'll have enough time to do everything!