Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Rubber Duckie


Rubber Duckie, you're the one... My sister tried to convince me to visualize floating on a big rubber duckie when I go to my department meeting today. I think she means I shouldn't internalize the stress of it, for surely there will be stress. From there, I go to a meeting with a parent, and then sit in my room and pray that my dad's surgery is a success.

Rubber Duckie.....take me away!

Movie of the Day: The Shipping News. Kevin Spacey always kind of creeps me out (think Seven), but this is an interesting, dark movie.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Spring Break

March is in full force and I'm ready for Spring Break. Sadly, Spring Break isn't ready for me. We have four more weeks until the happy event. I'm trying to calm my antsy-ness by planning a trip to somewhere warm. Interesting and warm would be best. I'm not much for sitting at the beach all day. I like to see the sights and learn too.

I've been going to www.weatherunderground.com to try to predict April weather in different areas. It's kind of fun and odd when a place is cooler than I thought it should be. We'll see what I come up with.

Movie of the Day: How to Deal. Mandy Moore is a high schooler whose parents are divorcing. Teen angst. Excellent soundtrack!

Monday, March 13, 2006

It's here!!!

The Best Loved Poems of the American People book has arrived!!! The book that shaped the inner philosopher Becca into who she is today. I shall share a few of my favorites over the next few days:

Don't Quit
~Author Unknown

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road your trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and its turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When they might have won, had they stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victors cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when your hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit!

Surreal Connections

Have you ever "Googled" yourself? Do you ever wonder who is reading this blog or your blog or you dog's blog? My sitemeter tells me what city and country the visitors come from and I'm always fascinated by places outside of Duluth. What do these visitors think? Can they read English? Has anyone famous from Sundance googled themselves and found my blog?

Whenever I am cruising "Next Blog" land, I keep going when I can't read the language. Next time I should at least look at the pictures and try to figure it out.

Is that the same case here? Do some people see "English" and hit "Next Blog"? I'll probably never know, since they can't read this either. Yikes! I bet some see US and keep going...

Movie of the Day: Scooby Doo 2. I watched it this weekend with friends. I prefer the cartoons, but this was funny too.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

A Question

I have a book called "If?" It has a ton of questions, so I pose one to you, dear reader.

If you could occupy the world described in a novel, which would you choose?

Rocks


One of the best places to think in Duluth is Brighton Beach. It consists of a variety of rocks in a variety of sizes. The beach is less than a mile long and has picnic areas and a playground, but I don't recommend the playground if you go there to think (unless it's deserted and you like swings).

I like to do one of two things while thinking "at the shore": wander up and down the shoreline looking for cool rocks (agates, sea glass, pretty stuff) or sit on a big rock and stare at Lake Superior. You can't see the other side, so staring is more meditative.

Movie du Jour: School of Rock. Different kind of rock. Jack Black is well, Jack Black. The kids are funny. Joan Cusack is awesome.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Weird Dream

I was hoping to wake up naturally with the sun this morning, but it turns out the sun took a raincheck. So, I slept a nice, long time.

My last dream had me married to a guy that I knew in college. We lived in different towns and barely acted like we were married. He lived in Madison in a HUGE house, with a girlfriend and I lived in Duluth. Alone. Hmmmm.... how fair. I went to see him and ran into old friends who tried to help me sort out what to do. They kept telling me how great he is now and that I should talk to him. I was pissed that he had a girlfriend, though I was trying to find a boyfriend. I woke up mid-trying to decide what to do.

What the heck does this mean? Who knows. Should I look up the guy from college (who was married as of 8 years ago)? Who knows. Maybe I'll Google him. Weird.

Movie of the Day: An Ideal Husband. All about love and marriage. Minnie Driver, Rupert Everett, Cate Blanchett, Jeramy Northam, and more star.

Friday, March 10, 2006

HBO

I don't get HBO, so it takes me a while to catch on to the HBO trends. I've resorted to renting the shows I want to see. While at Sundance, I met Justin Kirk who was in "Angels In America," an HBO miniseries. It's 6-hours long and I carved out time to finish it last night.

I think if I'd seen it before Sundance, I would have been more chicken to talk to Mr. Kirk. He was so humble when I got his autograph. He introduced himself "Hi, I'm Justin." So cool.

I get into movies (duh) and the movie at Sundance was so intense/realistic/sad that I felt like he was his character and I was therefore less thrilled at meeting him than I would have been if I'd seen AIA beforehand. He's an excellent actor.

Movie of the Day: Angels in America. It stars Justin Kirk, Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Jeffrey Wright, Ben Schenkman, Mary-Louise Parker, and Patrick Wilson. It's about AIDS in the 80's.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

No More Teenagers!!!

Yesterday, I had one more hour of school and I had reached my max on speaking to teenagers for the day. I mentioned this to a colleague and two kids heard and said "You're supposed to wait until we're gone." I said that it wasn't them specifically, just all teenagers in general for today.

I think I'm starting today with a low threshold. Oh well. I thought about making a sign to hold up every time they ask me if I know their grade (gradebook closed yesterday and I have a couple inches of papers left to grade). Some of the sign options that I won't use but will giggle about later:

"Keep off the teacher"
"Beware of Teacher"
"Don't bother asking"
"Ask at your own risk"
"No, they aren't done."
"Just leave me alone."

Now, the polite thing is to explain, blah, blah, blah, but they don't really want to hear WHY the grades aren't ready. They just want to know when and will they make honor roll or merit roll or $50 from their folks.

I can understand where they're coming from. When I took calc in 12th grade, I was teetering between an A and a B for my final grade and it hinged on my final exam. I bugged that teacher, I'm sure. Maybe it's Karma for me now.

Can you pay off Karma?

Movie of the Day: Election. Reese Witherspoon as an annoying high school girl. Matthew Broderick as the teacher trying to survive a student council election.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Well...

I cant' think of a theme today, so my theme will be "Randomness". I sometimes cause people to go "huh?" when I'm rambling because I only say a fraction of my thought process and they get lost. I've always thought I was "Abstract Random" vs. "Concrete Sequential" but I haven't really taken any tests to prove it. I could be Sequential with Random sharing? That would be the perfect Becca category.

Years ago, I went to hear a jazz band with one of my best friends, Kim. She's a musician who plays multiple instruments. Afterwards, we were discussing what we were thinking during the set and I had a h-u-g-e list that I rattled off. She said "I was thinking about the music." Ha. Story of my life. I'm overthinking and she's enjoying the music.

Movie of the Day: Immortal Beloved. It's about Beethoven's life. Interesting and sad. It has a wonderful soundtrack.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Mystery Stairs

There are mystery stairs at the school where I teach. They look like ordinary stairs. They feel like ordinary stairs when you step on them. The mystery is that no matter how physically fit you are, you end up winded and "feelin' the burn" after climbing just two flights. Honest.

Yesterday, I was chatting with some fellow teachers and they were going to take the elevator. I figured I'd go with them even though I usually take the stairs. When I walked to my room, I realized I didn't have that shortness of breath and strain in my chest. Hmmmmm..... Elevator? STAIRS!!! Or, lack there of. Interesting....

Is it the distance between each stair? The material of the staircase? The air quality in that stairwell (one friend commented that she can do one set of stairs but not another)? Weird, huh?

Maybe the school should station a monitor/trained CPR specialist in that stairwell. If you're ever at my school, avoid the middle staircase!!!

Movie of the Day: Wayne's World. "No playing Stairway to Heaven" but you can sing along in the car!

:)Becca

Monday, March 06, 2006

The Oscars!

Any interesting question, Anon. I have conflicted feelings about the Oscars. I love seeing magazines with dresses and cute guys on the red carpet. However, I was at a Movie Club last night! I know, the irony. I'm happy that Rachel Weisz won. I haven't seen any of the other winning movies yet! I actually bought Crash at Block Buster and haven't watched it yet. I do want to see Walk the Line and Syriana. Capote? Maybe. I liked Brokeback Mountain.

Here's the conflict: Part of me thinks it's just superficial "Let's get gussied up and pat ourselves on the back". After going to Sundance, part of me wants to take movies even MORE seriously. So, it's weird. I taped it, in case there was something that I just HAD to see for myself.

Did anyone out there watch? Did I miss anything really amazing?

:)Becca

Open for Suggestions

So, I tried to blog this morning and I couldn't get the webpage to call up. Hence, I'm blogging tonight. Sorry for any concerns you might have had about me. I'm all right! Ha ha. Well, I guess I'm a bit sore from shoveling. New muscles discovered and all. Overall, I'm fine.

Any way, I've been spending random parts of the day trying to come up with something witty to blog about and nothing is coming at all!!! Oy.

I've decided to take requests. Anything you'd like me to rant about? Any random stories that you've heard before that you think I should share with The Net?

Speaking of The Net. Excellent movie!!! Jeremy Notham is creepy! I like him much better in Emma (Two for One Monday!).

Oh, another question: Has anyone rented/gone to a movie because I recommended it? If so, what did you think?

:)Becca

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Wage Peace

I heard this poem at a Spirituality conference this weekend and thought I'd share.

Wage Peace
By Judyth Hill*

Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildingsand flocks of redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping childrenand freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallenand breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening:hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Celebrate today.


* Sometimes mistakenly attributed to Mary Oliver

Yes!

I just heard a bird outside and I think it might be the first sign on Spring!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Friday, I decided to count how many Christmas wreaths are still hanging on houses between my house and the freeway. 9. Then, I've been counting them ever since. I'm at 15. Come on, people. It's time. Are you planning to lodge Easter eggs in them? Think Spring!!!!

I have a flag hanging off of my garage that says "Winter Welcome." Yep, I need to take that down and find something like "Winter Scat," "Winter, Go Away Already!," "Winter's So Been Done."

What would a Winter Scat sound like "Doot Dwee Bop Wow. Get Out Winter"?

Movie: Reality Bites. An early film of 20-something start-ups. Angst. Tons of stars: Ethan Hawke, Ben Stiller, Winona Rider, Steve Zahn, and Janeane Garofalo.

:)Becca

Friday, March 03, 2006

Craving Comments

What is your middle name?

Feel free to comment as an anon.

:)Becca
P.S. No comments for days. Getting sad. May start crying any minute now.... (snif).

Spirits

Spirits are up today. It's Friday!!! What a relief!

I've been living vicariously through one of my friends, as of late. She has a first date tonight with a man who has been courting her for a month! I'm so excited for her! She's going to have an awesome time and I CANNOT wait to hear about it (remember to call me!!!)!!!

I will be at a Compassion Conference tonight and tomorrow morning. I think it will help my restless soul. Or at least, I hope it will.

Oh, Steven Wright is coming to Duluth and I'm hoping to get a group together to go. If you would like to read some of his one-liners, click here. If you're interested, drop me a comment. It's March 22nd at the DECC and tickets are about $30.

Movie of the Day: My Best Friend's Wedding. Cameron Diaz is annoyingly perky, Julia Roberts is kind of scary, Ruppert Everett is hilarious, and Dermot Mulroney is hot. An interesting take in "always the brides-maid..."

:)Becca

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Oy

I'm a believer in signs. I think it's a bad sign when the first words out of my mouth for the day are "Oh, crap!". I overslept an hour. I get up way, way early so I can chill, read my favorite blogs and just ease into being human. Not today. I wasn't late for work, but today, I was pissy for most of the day. People mostly could tell something was up, but couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was bugging me. You would think that extra hour of sleep would have helped my mood, but no. Oh well. I think it was a bunch of little things that I can normally handle.

So, now I am home, facing a little bit of shoveling before book club. We read "Peace Like a River", which I recommended. Did I reread it? No. Luckily, the next book is new to me.

Is it bad to need a day off only four days after returning from vacation?

:)Becca

Ugh

Overslept an hour. Ugh.

Movie: Rush Hour.

More tonight....

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

I'm Not Crazy, Just Weird

For some odd reason, I was so cheerful yesterday, that I tried to convince my first hour "earlies" to call March "Trudge". ("Earlies" are kids who hang out about 20-30 minutes before school starts because it's a relatively quiet place to sit) . The only people who have opposed Trudge are those with March birthdays. This, of course, is bound to happen. I wouldn't like November messed with either. But, overall, people agreed with me. They also kind of shook their heads in a "I think she might have finally gone off the deep end." I just laughed (which probably didn't help my sanity rating, huh?).

My fourth hour on Monday would NOT stop talking while I gave notes. Sometimes I tell my classes that I'm going to send them the bill from Miller-Dwan (the local padded room institution). They don't understand until I explain and then they might be quiet. Or, they might keep talking... This is a class of 34, with a leaning toward girls with lots of make-up and football players who would rather be charging into something than multiplying letters. They are masters of "distract the teacher" but oddly, it feels like a family. If only I could get the family to do some math....

Movie du jour: Pride and Prejudice. The new one. I'm sure I've recommended this before, but it came out yesterday and I already have it. Watch it. Fall for Darcy or Lizzy or the dad (Donald Sutherland). If you are hooked on the BBC miniseries, there will be room enough in your heart for both versions. Honest.

:)Becca