Stress = Death

I must be stressed out. I always have death dreams when I'm stressed out and last night's was quite interesting. I was in a group of people, maybe 20 of us, at some sort of summer school or training or something. We would return from a session or dinner or whatever and there would be a dead body and a sign. I don't think I ever saw what the sign said, but I think it was elaborate (like typed, of all things!). The last victim was the guy who plays Mini-Me. One of my friends had already died. For some reason, I wasn't scared that I would get killed.

Movie of the Day: Bourne Identity. Matt Damon is an awesome action hero! He wakes up in the ocean with a bullet hole in his back. His memory is sketchy, at best. And people are trying to kill him. Run, Jason, Run!

Only the beginning

I think my classroom is jinxed. You read about the MacGyver-style monitors this morning. Today, I had a calculator do the weirdest things I've ever seen. Multiple cursers, numbers jumping around, shutting off at random, nutsy stuff. Then, mid-lesson (no periscope yet), I notice that the lock on the middle drawer of my desk is loose and it then falls out! It hasn't worked in the 6 years that I've been using it, but at least it stayed in! Yikes.

I shudder to think of what's next. (Knock on wood).

MacGyver, help!!!

I need MacGyver to make a little visit to my classroom. Soon! I have one of those gizmos that will focus a camera on my desktop and then show a picture on two tv screens. It's very helpful for notes, demonstrations, etc. It also has a tiny little monitor so I can see what I'm doing.

Somewhere between my first and second classes yesterday, the monitor went black. Nothing. Now, I have to either lean way over to see what the tv is doing above my head (have I run off the page? Is it too small?). OOOOORRRRRR...... I can rig up some mirror system to tell me what it looks like.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have about 100 aol discs in my room. I did take one and tape it to the top of the camera and that worked so-so. Everything was backwards and I needed to half stand up to see it. I tried moving it down, but it got in the way of the paper. Ideally, I would have two big mirrors, but I haven't figured out how that would work.

Maybe I need a periscope.....

Movie of the Day: Strictly Ballroom. It doesn't have anything to do with MacGyver, but it's a great movie about risking being yourself. The first couple minutes are a little frantic, but it calms down after that, so have no fear.

Save the Children

Right before I fell asleep last night, I had an image in my head. I was a huge bird and I was trying to gather all of my students under my wings to protect them from the world.

If only...

Movie of the Day: Lady Hawk. Michelle had the church movie group watch it. Very interesting. A little cheesy-80's-esque, but good.

Bead Happiness

I like beads. I like looking at them, making jewelry with them, or just plain shopping for them. A coworker had an awesome necklace on the other day: a strand of grape-sized agates. She said she bought the beads at Spirit Bay in Canal Park!

After work today, I took a little detour to Spirit Bay and found some lovely grape-sized agates for myself. Can I repeat her necklace? Sure. Will I? No. I would never be able to wear it to school without feeling like a cheat. But, I was looking around and found an awesome agate slice (with bead hole) from Botswana, where my friend Nate doctored for 6 weeks. I figure it'll do nicely as a center to the ten other agates. When I finish it, I'll post a picture.

Three more days of Trudge, everyone! Hang in there!

Un-snowing

We have the phrase "to unearth" but is there a phrase for the act of revealing things that were buried in the snow? I'm not talking about the permanent things in our yard, but everything (specifically garbage) that blew in for the Winter.

Everywhere I turn, there's some sort of fast food wrapper, wind-blown "recycled" item, or just plain salt and silt from the snowplows.

Wouldn't it be cool if someone hired people to clean up the junk? Sort of an FDR-esque movement.

The saddest thing I've heard of after a Winter melt is my parents' neighbor finding a dog who had tried to stay warm by curling up next to their house. It didn't make it. That poor dog.

Movie of the Day: O Brother, Where Art Thou? It starts with men in a chaingang. They escape and go on any journey. Great music. Great lines for George Clooney.

Bottled Up

I'm one of those people who likes to look calm until I've finally been pushed to my limit. Once I hit that limit, I start speaking quickly and poignantly, trying to make my case. I can't give details, but some parents riled me up tonight. Luckily, I had some nice conferences afterwards to settle me down.

Conferences are always kind of an interesting night. Sometimes, it's a little weird. A little creepy. Sometimes, it's just long or boring.

The important thing about tonight, though, is that my 27 hours of conferences for the year are OVER!!!!!! I actually did a little happy dance in the hall afterwards. Well, it was more like a gallop with clapping, but whatever....

T - 9 days and counting `til break!!!

Gregy Brown

I saw Greg Brown last night with my friend Michelle. His voice was as deep as usual, but his biceps were covered in a suit coat. Drat. For some reason, I had a hard time understanding his words, so I would close my eyes to try to concentrate. I only caught about 25% of the words, but he music was good.

The man next to me reeked of alcohol; it was permeating from his skin into my air space. Drat. Maybe it added to the bar feel of the evening?

I tried to keep my mind from wandering, but it didn't work very well. Some random thoughts:

What should I wear for parent/teacher conferences tomorrow (today)?
How can I get the kids in my club to DO something?
What "teen slang" should I teach Michelle?
Do I really say "Yeah" a lot (as Michelle claims)?
How do I befriend new people my age at church?
Could I pull off wearing cowboy boots like them? (No.)
How many drinks DID the guy next to me have?
Who is the weird guy in the front row with the camouflage rain gear?

Yep, it was an interesting evening, folks.

Your Movie of the Day: Junebug. I watched this on Saturday with my folks. Amy Adams was up for an Oscar for her role as Ashley, a cheerful pregnant woman. It's a good movie once you get over the fact that two of the actors who play a married couple also played siblings in Mansfield Park (Alessandro and Embeth).

Who are you?

So, it's come to my attention that some of my readers (hi!) are a bit leery to make comments for fear of being traced or whatnot by government entities. This is a valid case, but sad for me because I don't know who all is reading this little chunk of cyberspace called my blog.

If you would like me to know that you read it, but don't like comments, feel free to drop me an e-mail at silentvelcro333@yahoo.com

Aside from that random thought, the only thing going through my head this morning is that the sun is shining, I'm going to lunch with my favorite 6-year-old (and his cool family) and I hope my band does well at church today.

(Okay, there are a ton more thoughts going on, but who really wants to hear them all?)

Movie of the Day: House of D. Watched it last night with my folks. My dad and I counted how many Kleenexes (Kleenices?) we used and then picked on my mom for not crying at all. Ha ha. It's a movie about a guy who finally tells his wife and son about his early childhood and everything that happened to him when he turned 13. Very sweet and moving. Hence, the Kleenex.

Glitter

I mentioned yesterday that I wanted to make things a little goofy. So..... I brought glitter to school. It's a roll-on glitter thing that I bought at Bath & Body a while ago. I put some on my cheeks and then offered it to the kids who came in before school for help. Most of them were boys, but they tried it any way. Then, a girl started trying to put some on a reluctant boy. She won. Everyone laughed which is a great way to start a Friday. Now my kids sparkle!

Movie of the Day: 13 Going on 30. Jennifer Garner. Mark Ruffalo. She gets magic dust on her that grants her wish to be 30. Very cute movie.

Yikes

So, it's Friday evening and the weekend is a blank slate until Sunday night (minus church, of course). What to do?

Clean? Watch the old Alias episodes that I taped (even though this season sucks)? Read Kite Runner (good, but a downer)? Who knows? Weird. Weird.

I'm even done with all of my homework for the weekend. Everything is corrected, recorded, and entered into the computer. Sometimes, I boggle my own mind. Ha.

Maybe I'll dust off my treadmill and even turn it on!

Goofy

I could go for some goofy right about now. I had some scheduled in on Wednesday when I had tickets for Steven Wright. However, his show was cancelled and I'm left without my two hours of laughing. Drat.

Sunday night, I'm going to hear Greg Brown with Michelle, which will be awesome. I probably won't giggle a whole lot, though. He tends to bring out the sighs and drool.

So, my mission this weekend is to laugh, relax my tense muscles, and see if I can share some goofiness.

Movie of the Day: Benny and Joon. Johnny Depp. Mary Stuart Masterson. Aidan Quinn. Julieanne Moore. Silliness at it's best.

My Classroom

It's officially Spring and yesterday I started taking things down in my classroom. I like to start slowly. (Anyone remember me doing this in college too?). Any way, in the Fall and Winter, I tend to put up random things that I find funny: a pencil sharpened to within an inch of it's life, an empty box of chocolate fish from Japan, Homies (collectible gangster figurines), a teddy bear, a fake plant, calendars, a tiny ceramic piggy bank that has "bribes" printed into it, a Snoopy piggy bank, foam flowers (from a craft store), etc.

My two favorite things are my wall of aol discs that come in the mail and a freaky holographic picture. The aol discs started when I felt weird throwing them out from the mail. So, I kept a stack of them. This Fall, I put pushpins in a bulletin board and hung them up. They're quite pretty, actually. Kids started donating their discs and I now have an entire board full. It's pretty when my fan hits them and they wave in the breeze.

The picture was something I picked up at a church rummage sale in the Cities. It's a house in the country, but apparently it looks like the Bates house. Ha! It has a plastic coating that's ribbed so it sounds funny when you run your nails across it. Best $1 I've spent in a long while.

My room didn't seem cluttered to me, but now that things are starting to get packed away, the room is opening up. Now I just need to figure out how to wash the floors more than twice a year (yep, twice) and I'll be good to go.

Does anyone else have quirky work spaces?

Movie of the Day: Office Space. Work angst. Funny.

The Screw

When I was in college at St. Olaf, my JC's (Junior Counselors similar to RA's) decided our corridor should go on a "screw." It sounds dirty, I know. The name is short for Screw Your Roommate. The idea is to find your roommate the weirdest date and then everyone goes out as one big group. By the time I got there, though, it had morphed into "Who do you want me to ask out for you?"

I went on three screws during my college career:

Screw # 1 (Freshman Year): Bowling and pizza. Went with my physics TA who was super nice. Found out he was back with his girlfriend (now wife) the day of the screw. Bummer.

Screw # 2 (Freshman Year): Picnic and the Minnesota Zoo. Fun. Hung out with my date and my friend's gay date. Oops. Fun, though.

Screw # 3 (Senior Year): Made spaghetti in our dorm and had guys over. Played boardgames. Many guys left around 9 PM and most everyone else went into their rooms to play drinking games. Good food. Not so fun entertainment (since I don't drink).

Imagine going on a screw now! Of the 9 other girls I lived with my senior year, only two of us are single. Four have kids (some three!).

Movie of the Day: Blind Date. Bruce Willis. I saw it a LONG time ago, but remember liking it.

Torn

My school had two incidents of threatening notes last week. The police caught the kids who did the first note and are closing in on the second. The names of the two boys were going around school yesterday. Most kids who know them were defending them and saying that they didn't mean it and didn't want anyone to see it.

Well, that's not going to cut it these days. The teacher that the first note targeted, spent a terrified week worrying about her safety and her child's safety. Add in 1100 freaked out students and 100 staff, 20 plus police officers added to the building and their little note caused a lot of damage.

Schools need to be safe. Calm. A place to learn and grow.

Movie of the Day: Stand and Deliver. A great movie about a school in East L.A. where students go from taking basic math to the Advanced Placement Calculus test. Inspiring!

Okay....

In an effort to come up with something interesting to write about this morning, I decided to wander around my house. I looked out my front window to see if the paper carrier's minivan was there (can't imagine accidentally opening the door when she's right there).

I didn't see a minivan, but I did see a deer. It was crossing the street and then went through my yard. I ran from the livingroom to my office and watched it disappear.

My friend Catharine thinks that deer might be my animal totem or something because I see them a lot and have spiritual promptings to be on the lookout for them. Beats me. It could just be that there are a ton of deer running around Duluth.

Movie of the Day: Walk the Line. I saw it last night, as probably one of the last people in the country to see it. Very good! Joaquin and Reese both deserved their Oscars.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Michelle!

Movie Prescriptions

"I need a ______________ movie." Romantic Comedy? Tear-Jerker? Action? Artsy? Political?

Some people will stop and think about what they feel like eating or listening to; I stop to think about what I feel like watching. Yesterday was such a good day, that I wanted to keep it upbeat.

My grandma passed away almost 5 years ago and what did we do? Bought food and rented a movie to help us zone out. What movie would we select on a day such as that? Dude, Where's My Car? Yep. The brainless wonder of Aston Kutcher and three other people I can't remember. I watched it with my siblings, aunt, and uncle (the cool ones I'm visiting in CA). The rest of the week, through planning, funeral, and "lunch", we quoted the movie: "DUDE!" "SWEET" "SHIBBY!" "And, then?" We're weird.

Haven't seen the movie since. I wonder if it would conjure up emotions that have passed (for the most part)?

If you haven't seen it, check it out, if for no other reason but to understand what teenagers are talking about.

Good Day

After 11.5 hours of sleep last night and a shining sun this morning, I'm ready to face the world with a smile on my face. It's been a while, actually. I might even get past trudging! Woo hoo!!!

My Spring Break plans are working out: San Francisco. Not the warmest, but it's somewhere I've never been and I have cool relatives there! Adventure awaits!

I'm also going to see Steven Wright next Wednesday with my mom and my sister. Should be worth a couple hours of laughter.

Now, where to start the day?

Movie: The Wedding Planner. Matthew McCutie, J.Lo, San Francisco. Great dancing scene, sculpture encounter, and integrity. Lots of laughs.

Skittish

I'm a little jumpy tonight. It's been a long week in Lake woebegone, dear readers. Long. To unwind, a group of us went to Failure to Launch tonight. It won't win any Oscars, but it was good for some laughs. Much needed laughs. Then, we went to Green Mill for dinner and Thrillz for some Skee Ball. Yep. Six women, 29 - 39, hanging out at the arcade. Good times.

Now, I'm hopped up on diet Coke and grenadine (no green beer for me, I'm afraid). What to do? What to do?

The Community Ed class listings came out today and I'm thinking of trying Tai Chi. I was at a conference with the instructor a couple weeks ago and he seems cool. Might be worth rearranging my schedule for it....

Well, I should quit babbling before I start sharing weird secrets or telling REALLY boring work stories.

I hope you all had a lucky St. Patty's Day. Next stop, Easter!

Early

I've always been prone to waking up early and zoning out for a bit before I had to be somewhere. In elementary school, I would wake up at 6:45, catch the end of "I Dream of Jeannie" on The Super Station WTBS and then watch "Bewitched". THEN, I would get ready for school. Weird? Yep. I've actually had debates about who is cooler: Jeannie or Samantha. I always go for the women's lib favorite of Samantha (who still isn't THAT liberal). Jeannie had to say "Master" and dress all scantily. Not to mention, she wasn't that bright. Samantha at least had the upper hand with Durwood. I was bummed that the recent movie "Bewitched" didn't live up to the show. Oh well. Who can replace Elizabeth Montgomery?