Saturday, August 22, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
You Never Had It So Good
Because that's what this job is - so good!
I'm exhausted and I hate getting up at 4:45 every day and the drive is long but I love teaching again. And that feels so much better.
I want to tell you more about it, and I will, but I have to leave early tomorrow morning to catch my flight to Chicago (Early? Hah! I get to sleep in until 5:30!). I'll be live-blogging my trip, so stay tuned this weekend. There'll be pictures!
I'm exhausted and I hate getting up at 4:45 every day and the drive is long but I love teaching again. And that feels so much better.
I want to tell you more about it, and I will, but I have to leave early tomorrow morning to catch my flight to Chicago (Early? Hah! I get to sleep in until 5:30!). I'll be live-blogging my trip, so stay tuned this weekend. There'll be pictures!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
I'm Getting Myself Ready for You
My grayboard is ready.
My desk, the seating charts, and my plans are ready.
The stars and the river are ready.
And the poster wall is ready.
But am I ready?
My desk, the seating charts, and my plans are ready.
The stars and the river are ready.
And the poster wall is ready.
But am I ready?
Monday, August 17, 2009
Marry Me/A Quiet Thing
A vignette:
I actually made it to Sunday School yesterday for the first time since I got my calling in January (that hour in between is just too tempting to use for getting other things done!). And what do you think the lesson was about? Marriage, of course!
The teacher handled it about as well as she could have in a singles ward. She showed a video at one point. In between clips from talks by Presidents Hunter and Hinckley, there was this awful, cheesy church music video. The kind with a synthesized, high-pitched sentimental song played over clips of a family going horseback riding and playing Frisbee. When they ran out of family activities, the video switched to a montage of chandeliers from different temples. It was terrible enough that my neighbor, Nick, nudged me.
"I'm actually feeling inspired," he whispered.
"Oh, yeah?" I whispered back.
"Yeah. You seem really spiritual, being Relief Society President and all. You want to get married?"
"Sure," I shrugged. "Why not? How's Tuesday for you?"
"Well, I have a doctor's appointment Tuesday, so maybe in the evening?"
"I don't know," I said, "I have to leave for school by 6:00 the next morning...."
"We can totally make it work. We meet at the temple around 5 or 6, and the ceremony takes, what, five minutes?"
"True. Plus, we'd get everyone off our backs."
"Exactly," he nodded.
So perhaps there was something to the connections my Young Women's leaders drew between going to Sunday School and finding a husband!
I actually made it to Sunday School yesterday for the first time since I got my calling in January (that hour in between is just too tempting to use for getting other things done!). And what do you think the lesson was about? Marriage, of course!
The teacher handled it about as well as she could have in a singles ward. She showed a video at one point. In between clips from talks by Presidents Hunter and Hinckley, there was this awful, cheesy church music video. The kind with a synthesized, high-pitched sentimental song played over clips of a family going horseback riding and playing Frisbee. When they ran out of family activities, the video switched to a montage of chandeliers from different temples. It was terrible enough that my neighbor, Nick, nudged me.
"I'm actually feeling inspired," he whispered.
"Oh, yeah?" I whispered back.
"Yeah. You seem really spiritual, being Relief Society President and all. You want to get married?"
"Sure," I shrugged. "Why not? How's Tuesday for you?"
"Well, I have a doctor's appointment Tuesday, so maybe in the evening?"
"I don't know," I said, "I have to leave for school by 6:00 the next morning...."
"We can totally make it work. We meet at the temple around 5 or 6, and the ceremony takes, what, five minutes?"
"True. Plus, we'd get everyone off our backs."
"Exactly," he nodded.
So perhaps there was something to the connections my Young Women's leaders drew between going to Sunday School and finding a husband!
The Roses of Success
Still cautious, but so far? I'm loving this school.
By no means is everything perfect. But that's okay. In fact, I'd be a lot more worried if it was.
I'm going to lots of meetings still, yet I am getting things done. We have one more day tomorrow before the kids come. There's a meeting or two in the morning, then more time in the afternoon to work on our rooms.
My room's coming together. Here's how I set it up for Back to School Night last week:
And I think I discovered the reason to have a separate office:
That's where I stashed the unpacked goods right before the parents started showing up.
Rachel came in after she finished work on Friday to help me decorate. She gave me good opinions on things (like moving my desk) and helped me hang stars.
(Note her safety goggles - she's so prepared, she must be a nurse!)
Here's the result:
I like it. I'm not certain about the student desks yet - I spent the last hour today fiddling with them again and wound up with this:
I might change it again tomorrow. As those of you who had me at DPJH well know, I tend to change my desks around a lot. Mostly, my puzzle here is how to fit all of the desks into this room without making the ones on the left seem like they're sitting in the hall. See?
The commute is getting a little old after a week. It's not bad, certainly, but I am tired at the end of the day, and it's a longer drive. Still, I did the math last week and I got 34.78 miles to the gallon. Not bad, considering that half of those miles were with a backseat and trunk full of books.
I'm happy to do the commute, though, for the sake of being at a school I like. I like the people, too. The other new teacher at the school and I have really hit it off (she's teaching Spanish and French), the orchestra teacher seems great to work with, and the secretaries are absolute delights. For example? When I walked into my room this morning, I found this on my desk:
The note wished me a wonderful week and was signed by the principal's secretary. I KNOW! How sweet is that?
So, I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and to Wednesday, and to the rest of this year. And that's really, really nice after last year.
P.S. Weird blurriness with the last two photos, right? Silly iPhone doesn't like Mountain Town High School at all!
By no means is everything perfect. But that's okay. In fact, I'd be a lot more worried if it was.
I'm going to lots of meetings still, yet I am getting things done. We have one more day tomorrow before the kids come. There's a meeting or two in the morning, then more time in the afternoon to work on our rooms.
My room's coming together. Here's how I set it up for Back to School Night last week:
And I think I discovered the reason to have a separate office:
That's where I stashed the unpacked goods right before the parents started showing up.
Rachel came in after she finished work on Friday to help me decorate. She gave me good opinions on things (like moving my desk) and helped me hang stars.
(Note her safety goggles - she's so prepared, she must be a nurse!)
Here's the result:
I like it. I'm not certain about the student desks yet - I spent the last hour today fiddling with them again and wound up with this:
I might change it again tomorrow. As those of you who had me at DPJH well know, I tend to change my desks around a lot. Mostly, my puzzle here is how to fit all of the desks into this room without making the ones on the left seem like they're sitting in the hall. See?
The commute is getting a little old after a week. It's not bad, certainly, but I am tired at the end of the day, and it's a longer drive. Still, I did the math last week and I got 34.78 miles to the gallon. Not bad, considering that half of those miles were with a backseat and trunk full of books.
I'm happy to do the commute, though, for the sake of being at a school I like. I like the people, too. The other new teacher at the school and I have really hit it off (she's teaching Spanish and French), the orchestra teacher seems great to work with, and the secretaries are absolute delights. For example? When I walked into my room this morning, I found this on my desk:
The note wished me a wonderful week and was signed by the principal's secretary. I KNOW! How sweet is that?
So, I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and to Wednesday, and to the rest of this year. And that's really, really nice after last year.
P.S. Weird blurriness with the last two photos, right? Silly iPhone doesn't like Mountain Town High School at all!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Back to School
It's third period during our Back to School Night, so I've got a quick ten minutes in between class periods.
I met some of my English students (may 1/3 of them?) during the first period block and four of my Drama kids. The drama kids were quite the range - from a boy with skater hair who immediately put his head down on the desk and answered me with grunts, much to his dad's chagrin, to a vivacious girl who had one of the leads in the musical last year and was very excited to be in the class. Man, I love teens!
Speech is next, which I am the most nervous about. I've been cramming like crazy in between meetings this week, trying to learn all of the terminology and protocols. It's a very, very beloved program here. The class is huge (by Mountain Town High School standards, anyway. It's 35 kids, average at Dead President Junior High), and some of the students have even taken the class before.
I've been nervous about tonight for what may be a silly reason - I'm just not that used to educated, involved parents. At both of my former schools
(Oop! Interruption! I just met one of my assitants (MTHS' name for T.A.s). She's been assigned to me during my planning period. The counseling secretary raved about her, Ruth recommended her, and she seems delightful. Yay! Anyway...)
At both of my former schools, the parents just weren't that involved. Heck, at Small Town Middle School, less than 2% of parents in the district had a college degree of any kind. So, I've been intimidated all week by the thought of parents who are highly involved, who care, and who speak English.
On the other hand, and this is certainly a result of the former, I'm also delighting in being at a school that feels so normal. There are many things that make MTHS unique, which I'll elaborate on in a later post, but mostly it's a school that isn't so consumed by low test scores and high-need kids.
---
The bell rang just as I was typing that last sentence, and the classroom immediately filled up. The kids seem great, and the parent seem supportive, even of me. One of the moms who lingered stayed just to tell me that "We're excited to have you and we'll do anything to support you." How great is that?
So, yeah. I'm in a good mood, I'm feeling more confident about this whole thing, and I will definitely post more later when I have a bit moretime sleep - ah, who am I kidding? I'll just squeeze it in sometime.
I met some of my English students (may 1/3 of them?) during the first period block and four of my Drama kids. The drama kids were quite the range - from a boy with skater hair who immediately put his head down on the desk and answered me with grunts, much to his dad's chagrin, to a vivacious girl who had one of the leads in the musical last year and was very excited to be in the class. Man, I love teens!
Speech is next, which I am the most nervous about. I've been cramming like crazy in between meetings this week, trying to learn all of the terminology and protocols. It's a very, very beloved program here. The class is huge (by Mountain Town High School standards, anyway. It's 35 kids, average at Dead President Junior High), and some of the students have even taken the class before.
I've been nervous about tonight for what may be a silly reason - I'm just not that used to educated, involved parents. At both of my former schools
(Oop! Interruption! I just met one of my assitants (MTHS' name for T.A.s). She's been assigned to me during my planning period. The counseling secretary raved about her, Ruth recommended her, and she seems delightful. Yay! Anyway...)
At both of my former schools, the parents just weren't that involved. Heck, at Small Town Middle School, less than 2% of parents in the district had a college degree of any kind. So, I've been intimidated all week by the thought of parents who are highly involved, who care, and who speak English.
On the other hand, and this is certainly a result of the former, I'm also delighting in being at a school that feels so normal. There are many things that make MTHS unique, which I'll elaborate on in a later post, but mostly it's a school that isn't so consumed by low test scores and high-need kids.
---
The bell rang just as I was typing that last sentence, and the classroom immediately filled up. The kids seem great, and the parent seem supportive, even of me. One of the moms who lingered stayed just to tell me that "We're excited to have you and we'll do anything to support you." How great is that?
So, yeah. I'm in a good mood, I'm feeling more confident about this whole thing, and I will definitely post more later when I have a bit more
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A Room With A View
Here's my new classroom:
Pretty, huh?
The school is designed so that each subject (English, History, Science, Math) has classrooms grouped around a central computer lab and a shared teachers' office. Here's a picture of the computer lab (you can see part of one of my walls on the right):
Opposite from the entrance to my room are some large windows. They look out onto the library below, and if I stand in just the right place, I can see out of the library's windows onto the river:
You know the scenery around Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies? Especially the scenery you can see during the Quidditch matches? That's my school's setting now, baby - as close as you can get to England's hills in the Colorado mountains. It's definitely the best view from a classroom I've had so far, even if it can only be seen from one corner.
I tried to set my desk up in the back so I could look out there, but the phone jack is up front. They moved my desk to the front of the room last night and set up my computer (it's now in front of and parallel to that corner cabinet you can see in the first picture). I'm torn between being able to look at the river and trees while also keeping an eye on students from behind (which I prefer when I'm at my desk during class), and the inconvenience of having the phone across the room from my computer.
Oh, also? Did you notice the lack of doors? Behold:
That's the entrance to my room. I'm skeptical about the practicality of putting the drama and the speech class in a room with no doors in a shared pod.
I'll probably put up some more pictures here next week when I get the room all decorated and such. They've booked us pretty full of meetings this week (naturally), so I've only had time to haul boxes of stuff from my car up to my room. I'm taking my theater books from my bookcases at home to the (should-be-arriving-Friday) bookcases at school. I have a lot of theater books.
On the plus side, I'm liking this school far better than STMS (FAR better), despite my I've-been-burned-before caution. I'll tell you more about this later, but as a teaser, here's a direct quote from the head of the English department today:
"I'm not going to tell you exactly how to teach or that you should be on this page by this date. Teach your students how to write, how to read, and how to think. How you do that's up to you."
Sound cue: The "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah
P.S. Check out those boards in the first photo again. Oddly, those aren't chalkboards - they're white boards.
Gray boards?
I'm confused by them.
Pretty, huh?
The school is designed so that each subject (English, History, Science, Math) has classrooms grouped around a central computer lab and a shared teachers' office. Here's a picture of the computer lab (you can see part of one of my walls on the right):
Opposite from the entrance to my room are some large windows. They look out onto the library below, and if I stand in just the right place, I can see out of the library's windows onto the river:
You know the scenery around Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies? Especially the scenery you can see during the Quidditch matches? That's my school's setting now, baby - as close as you can get to England's hills in the Colorado mountains. It's definitely the best view from a classroom I've had so far, even if it can only be seen from one corner.
I tried to set my desk up in the back so I could look out there, but the phone jack is up front. They moved my desk to the front of the room last night and set up my computer (it's now in front of and parallel to that corner cabinet you can see in the first picture). I'm torn between being able to look at the river and trees while also keeping an eye on students from behind (which I prefer when I'm at my desk during class), and the inconvenience of having the phone across the room from my computer.
Oh, also? Did you notice the lack of doors? Behold:
That's the entrance to my room. I'm skeptical about the practicality of putting the drama and the speech class in a room with no doors in a shared pod.
I'll probably put up some more pictures here next week when I get the room all decorated and such. They've booked us pretty full of meetings this week (naturally), so I've only had time to haul boxes of stuff from my car up to my room. I'm taking my theater books from my bookcases at home to the (should-be-arriving-Friday) bookcases at school. I have a lot of theater books.
On the plus side, I'm liking this school far better than STMS (FAR better), despite my I've-been-burned-before caution. I'll tell you more about this later, but as a teaser, here's a direct quote from the head of the English department today:
"I'm not going to tell you exactly how to teach or that you should be on this page by this date. Teach your students how to write, how to read, and how to think. How you do that's up to you."
Sound cue: The "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah
P.S. Check out those boards in the first photo again. Oddly, those aren't chalkboards - they're white boards.
Gray boards?
I'm confused by them.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
I Guess This is Good-Bye, Old Friend
This is my old reading chair:
My parents gave me the money to buy a reading chair for Christmas five or so years ago. Inspired by a similar chair at my friend Annie's house, I picked out this over-sized chair-and-a-half and I've loved it. Natasha has, too, as you can tell from that picture. See her peeking over the red cushion? That's her favorite napping spot. You can also see the corner she shreds and the stain left from a little fight she got in with Roman (Andy's cat).
The chair is really too large for that room, and it's been well-loved; so I finally gave in and decided it was time for it to go. Oh! It was comfortable, though.
The problem was how to get rid of it. It's awkward to move by itself, let alone hoist up into a dumpster. I got the ottoman out without any stress; then I pulled off the cushions and took a pair of scissors to it to see if I could break it apart, make it smaller.
45 minutes and a hacksaw later, and I had this:
The back view isn't as neat:
Next was the seat:
Which I also attacked from below:
Two hours into it, and I finally had it split in half:
Almost.
I suspect the only function of that red wire is to annoy me. But I shall not be foiled!
I fetched a file and some wire clippers and, finally:
I hauled the two halves out to the dumpster and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't get in trouble for disposing of a chair in the bin.
Next up, I cracked open the boxes for my new chair from Ikea. When I cut the tape and lifted up the flap, a red spider dropped from the packaging onto the chair parts. I squashed it with a flip-flop, wondering if it came from Sweden and whether it had a name like "Årächne".
I had spent the first part of the afternoon sorting through my music on iTunes. That's another big project I had been putting off. I found an app that lets me control the music from my computer via my iPhone - nice, right? But for putting a chair together, I wanted to watch something. I have been slowly catching up on the "So You Think You Can Dance" (DANCE, Dance, dance) I missed while in Utah, but I wanted something I could listen to without being glued to the set. Browsing the On Demand listings, I found that some episodes of Series 3 of "Torchwood" was listed as complimentary. Mmm... John Barrowman....
This is a picture-laced post, so I'll find one of him for you, too.....
Yummy, right? Captain Jack ties the dear Doctor David Tenant for cuteness in my book; and although I haven't tried "Torchwood" yet, I was certainly game for some more Captain Jack.
What I didn't realize is that Series 3 of that show was done as a 5-episode story arc. I'm almost to the end of the third episode now, and I'm wrestling with whether to stay up and watch the whole thing, or drag myself to bed at a reasonable hour to nurse my blistered thumb. It's my last week of summer, so I'm thinking the first option will win.
Oh, yeah. It's going to be a late night.
(Also? You youngins can keep your Edward. I'll take the musical John Barrowman over Robert Pattinson any day)
I did get the chair assembled, though. I moved my Turkish rug into the room as well, although I'm skeptical about the outcome:
It's an improvement, space-wise, but the layout isn't quite right, is it? The rug is a little small, and I'm not sure about the light wood/dark cushion combination. What do you think?
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm being summoned....
My parents gave me the money to buy a reading chair for Christmas five or so years ago. Inspired by a similar chair at my friend Annie's house, I picked out this over-sized chair-and-a-half and I've loved it. Natasha has, too, as you can tell from that picture. See her peeking over the red cushion? That's her favorite napping spot. You can also see the corner she shreds and the stain left from a little fight she got in with Roman (Andy's cat).
The chair is really too large for that room, and it's been well-loved; so I finally gave in and decided it was time for it to go. Oh! It was comfortable, though.
The problem was how to get rid of it. It's awkward to move by itself, let alone hoist up into a dumpster. I got the ottoman out without any stress; then I pulled off the cushions and took a pair of scissors to it to see if I could break it apart, make it smaller.
45 minutes and a hacksaw later, and I had this:
The back view isn't as neat:
Next was the seat:
Which I also attacked from below:
Two hours into it, and I finally had it split in half:
Almost.
I suspect the only function of that red wire is to annoy me. But I shall not be foiled!
I fetched a file and some wire clippers and, finally:
I hauled the two halves out to the dumpster and crossed my fingers that I wouldn't get in trouble for disposing of a chair in the bin.
Next up, I cracked open the boxes for my new chair from Ikea. When I cut the tape and lifted up the flap, a red spider dropped from the packaging onto the chair parts. I squashed it with a flip-flop, wondering if it came from Sweden and whether it had a name like "Årächne".
I had spent the first part of the afternoon sorting through my music on iTunes. That's another big project I had been putting off. I found an app that lets me control the music from my computer via my iPhone - nice, right? But for putting a chair together, I wanted to watch something. I have been slowly catching up on the "So You Think You Can Dance" (DANCE, Dance, dance) I missed while in Utah, but I wanted something I could listen to without being glued to the set. Browsing the On Demand listings, I found that some episodes of Series 3 of "Torchwood" was listed as complimentary. Mmm... John Barrowman....
This is a picture-laced post, so I'll find one of him for you, too.....
Yummy, right? Captain Jack ties the dear Doctor David Tenant for cuteness in my book; and although I haven't tried "Torchwood" yet, I was certainly game for some more Captain Jack.
What I didn't realize is that Series 3 of that show was done as a 5-episode story arc. I'm almost to the end of the third episode now, and I'm wrestling with whether to stay up and watch the whole thing, or drag myself to bed at a reasonable hour to nurse my blistered thumb. It's my last week of summer, so I'm thinking the first option will win.
Oh, yeah. It's going to be a late night.
(Also? You youngins can keep your Edward. I'll take the musical John Barrowman over Robert Pattinson any day)
I did get the chair assembled, though. I moved my Turkish rug into the room as well, although I'm skeptical about the outcome:
It's an improvement, space-wise, but the layout isn't quite right, is it? The rug is a little small, and I'm not sure about the light wood/dark cushion combination. What do you think?
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm being summoned....
Monday, August 03, 2009
I've Got a Little List
In defiance to my procrastinating denial, I drove up to Mountain Town High School today. The premise was to turn in the stack of paperwork I received in the mail this summer, but really it was to ask "Um... I'm a new teacher? And I was wondering if I have a classroom? And if I can get keys? So I can move everything that's in my garage outta my garage? And, also, can you please help me not feel so nervous by giving me some more details about what to expect?" except in a much more eloquent, much more subtle way.
After tracking the commute (46 minutes, 37 miles), I dropped off the papers at the Human Resources office and chatted with the woman there for a while. The secretary from the high school happened to stop by and she offered to walk with me back over to the school and show me my room.
She explained the process for getting keys (essentially, she needs to request it in writing and I'll get them sometime later. In the meanwhile, she offered to let me in if I need anything.
My room is upstairs in the English pod (the school is designed so each subject has classrooms grouped around a computer lab and an office area for the teachers). It's small, but there's a window that looks out to the library's two-story windows that look out on the mountains. I'll have to arrange my desk to see that. (Oh, also? There's an interesting issue with the room, but it's one I can't write about here. Do ask me about it, though.)
I also met the counseling secretary/registrar. She's very nice and helpful and she ran off the class lists for my drama classes at my request. I've been holding back on script hunting since I had no idea how many kids to expect for that class. Turns out? 8. Yes, 8.
It'll go up. The drama class second semester has 33 students, which is quite large for that school apparently. There will be the usual shuffling of schedules the first week of school, and I'll do some recruiting, like usual. My English 10 class, though? 16 kids. That makes me feel a heck of a lot better about grading more papers!
I also found out that there is an Advanced Drama class, which is taught by another English teacher at the school. The counseling people told me the class is "more academic, more literary" in nature. I'm, well, jealous. I want to teach that class! And I have absolutely no context to know anything about this course, other than it's existence, so I shouldn't feel jealous, but I do. I loved my Advanced Drama classes in the past. I know, I know. Give it time, find out more, it'll be fine, etc.
So, I've got some more information, which is helping. The people I met are all friendly, welcoming, and generous in offering help. I'm starting to look forward to getting things started, although I still have a lot of work left to do first.
After tracking the commute (46 minutes, 37 miles), I dropped off the papers at the Human Resources office and chatted with the woman there for a while. The secretary from the high school happened to stop by and she offered to walk with me back over to the school and show me my room.
She explained the process for getting keys (essentially, she needs to request it in writing and I'll get them sometime later. In the meanwhile, she offered to let me in if I need anything.
My room is upstairs in the English pod (the school is designed so each subject has classrooms grouped around a computer lab and an office area for the teachers). It's small, but there's a window that looks out to the library's two-story windows that look out on the mountains. I'll have to arrange my desk to see that. (Oh, also? There's an interesting issue with the room, but it's one I can't write about here. Do ask me about it, though.)
I also met the counseling secretary/registrar. She's very nice and helpful and she ran off the class lists for my drama classes at my request. I've been holding back on script hunting since I had no idea how many kids to expect for that class. Turns out? 8. Yes, 8.
It'll go up. The drama class second semester has 33 students, which is quite large for that school apparently. There will be the usual shuffling of schedules the first week of school, and I'll do some recruiting, like usual. My English 10 class, though? 16 kids. That makes me feel a heck of a lot better about grading more papers!
I also found out that there is an Advanced Drama class, which is taught by another English teacher at the school. The counseling people told me the class is "more academic, more literary" in nature. I'm, well, jealous. I want to teach that class! And I have absolutely no context to know anything about this course, other than it's existence, so I shouldn't feel jealous, but I do. I loved my Advanced Drama classes in the past. I know, I know. Give it time, find out more, it'll be fine, etc.
So, I've got some more information, which is helping. The people I met are all friendly, welcoming, and generous in offering help. I'm starting to look forward to getting things started, although I still have a lot of work left to do first.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Chicago Bound
A few years ago, I went to hear Ira Glass of This American Life fame. He delivered a fascinating lecture on the nature and necessity of storytelling. He mentioned as one of his inspirations a play by Mary Zimmerman called "Arabian Nights". I ordered the script the next day, and fell in love with her writing and that show in particular (you theater people may better know her from Metamorphoses, which she won a Tony for directing in 2002). I'd love to direct any of her plays and hope to someday.
So when I was browsing for theater companies to submit our "Making Waves" script, I checked out the company that she works with, The Lookingglass Theater in Chicago. To my shock and absolute delight, I discovered that a production of "Arabian Nights" is playing there right now AND it's directed by Ms. Zimmerman.
I bought plane tickets today. How could I not? Well, there are many reasons why I could not. And I am being reasonable - I'm not going to miss any school to see it. I found round-trip tickets for $199 that let me fly out on a Saturday morning and back on Sunday. I should be refilling my savings account after my travels this summer and in preparation for my travels next summer, but how often will I get a chance like this?
I've had conversations with people on planes before when they're asked me the "business or pleasure?" question. They're always surprised when I say I'm flying across the country to see a particular play. Sometimes I try to explain, like when it's Madame Butterfly at the Met and the sets are so pretty they make me cry or when it's West Side Story and it's bilingual, but they don't get it.
I think you, my faithful blog readers, will get it, though. You know me. It's Mary Zimmerman and it's "Arabian Nights". And I'm going to go see it in a few weeks.
(Ooh, also? I think I'll be able to see Kelley that day, too! I haven't seen her since she moved to Chicago last year, let alone her cute new little girl. So, bonus! Right?)
So when I was browsing for theater companies to submit our "Making Waves" script, I checked out the company that she works with, The Lookingglass Theater in Chicago. To my shock and absolute delight, I discovered that a production of "Arabian Nights" is playing there right now AND it's directed by Ms. Zimmerman.
I bought plane tickets today. How could I not? Well, there are many reasons why I could not. And I am being reasonable - I'm not going to miss any school to see it. I found round-trip tickets for $199 that let me fly out on a Saturday morning and back on Sunday. I should be refilling my savings account after my travels this summer and in preparation for my travels next summer, but how often will I get a chance like this?
I've had conversations with people on planes before when they're asked me the "business or pleasure?" question. They're always surprised when I say I'm flying across the country to see a particular play. Sometimes I try to explain, like when it's Madame Butterfly at the Met and the sets are so pretty they make me cry or when it's West Side Story and it's bilingual, but they don't get it.
I think you, my faithful blog readers, will get it, though. You know me. It's Mary Zimmerman and it's "Arabian Nights". And I'm going to go see it in a few weeks.
(Ooh, also? I think I'll be able to see Kelley that day, too! I haven't seen her since she moved to Chicago last year, let alone her cute new little girl. So, bonus! Right?)
Salsation
I'm back. Huzzah!
Yeah, that's fake enthusiasm. I know, I know - you could tell. Really, I am glad to be back home. I was getting a little tired of being a perpetual guest, despite the outstanding and generous hosting of my parents, my grandmother, and Heidi. As much as I'm enjoying my own apartment, I am already quite nervous about the imminent start of the next school year.
In fact, I'm going to continue to try to ignore it's approach. Other subjects!
While in Grand Junction, my mom and I decided to make ourselves some salsa! (In my head, "salsa" is always said with an exclamation point and jazz hands. Please imagine along with me.)
We picked up a box of Palisade peaches from the farmer's market and set to work. We started using these recipes, but quickly moved into more of a winging-it approach.
Just laying out all of our ingredients made quite the mess:
Our first salsa! pretty much followed the original recipe. It was really mild, and when we canned it, it looked like mustard pickles. But look how pretty and yellow!
Salsa! #2 had the addition of tomatoes:
I didn't take a picture of Salsa! #3. We experimented with a peach-mint-ginger-pineapple juice blending. It worked great as a marinade (I slow-cooked a pork roast in it for dinner tonight), but not so much as a dipping salsa!
We were out of peaches by Salsa! #4, so we threw together everything we had left and wound up with a very tasty tomato-corn-black bean version. I took a picture of this one, but the focus and the coloring was off and made it look, um, non-appetizing. Here's a picture of #5 instead:
The last salsa! we made came from the Salt Lake farmer's market. I had purchased a really, really yummy green salsa! there and copied down the ingredients to try to recreate it. I've had requests already for the recipe. Which I don't have, since I was totally making up the amounts as I went. Here's the ingredient list with amounts to the best of my recollection/guess:
Tomatillo-Avocado-Anaheim Salsa!
Tomatillos (4 or 5)
Avocado (1.5 medium ones)
Anaheim Pepper (about 3/4 of a large one)
Cilantro (maybe 1/2 a cup while leafy? So, probably a couple of tablespoons chopped?)
Apple Cider Vinegar (a big squirt of it - maybe 3 or 4 tablespoons?)
Honey (I used a honey substitute because of my dad's allergies. Probably 3 tablespoons)
Lime Juice (half of a large lime, squeezed)
Rosemary (I forgot to add this, actually)
Cayenne (didn't find any, so I used a good dash of paprika instead)
Ginger (also a good dash)
Sea Salt (about two pinches)
Toss it all in a food processor and blend.
And so I add another archaic skill to my list of Hobbies-That-Are-Not-At-All-Cost-Effective-But-I-Hope-Will-Come-In-Handy-During-The-Apocalypse.
Thanks for the canning lesson, Mom!
As a bonus thank you to my parents, who very nicely allowed Natasha to live with them for a good seven or eight weeks this summer despite her neediness and plant-munching tendencies, I gratefully present this embedded video:
Yeah, that's fake enthusiasm. I know, I know - you could tell. Really, I am glad to be back home. I was getting a little tired of being a perpetual guest, despite the outstanding and generous hosting of my parents, my grandmother, and Heidi. As much as I'm enjoying my own apartment, I am already quite nervous about the imminent start of the next school year.
In fact, I'm going to continue to try to ignore it's approach. Other subjects!
While in Grand Junction, my mom and I decided to make ourselves some salsa! (In my head, "salsa" is always said with an exclamation point and jazz hands. Please imagine along with me.)
We picked up a box of Palisade peaches from the farmer's market and set to work. We started using these recipes, but quickly moved into more of a winging-it approach.
Just laying out all of our ingredients made quite the mess:
Our first salsa! pretty much followed the original recipe. It was really mild, and when we canned it, it looked like mustard pickles. But look how pretty and yellow!
Salsa! #2 had the addition of tomatoes:
I didn't take a picture of Salsa! #3. We experimented with a peach-mint-ginger-pineapple juice blending. It worked great as a marinade (I slow-cooked a pork roast in it for dinner tonight), but not so much as a dipping salsa!
We were out of peaches by Salsa! #4, so we threw together everything we had left and wound up with a very tasty tomato-corn-black bean version. I took a picture of this one, but the focus and the coloring was off and made it look, um, non-appetizing. Here's a picture of #5 instead:
The last salsa! we made came from the Salt Lake farmer's market. I had purchased a really, really yummy green salsa! there and copied down the ingredients to try to recreate it. I've had requests already for the recipe. Which I don't have, since I was totally making up the amounts as I went. Here's the ingredient list with amounts to the best of my recollection/guess:
Tomatillo-Avocado-Anaheim Salsa!
Tomatillos (4 or 5)
Avocado (1.5 medium ones)
Anaheim Pepper (about 3/4 of a large one)
Cilantro (maybe 1/2 a cup while leafy? So, probably a couple of tablespoons chopped?)
Apple Cider Vinegar (a big squirt of it - maybe 3 or 4 tablespoons?)
Honey (I used a honey substitute because of my dad's allergies. Probably 3 tablespoons)
Lime Juice (half of a large lime, squeezed)
Rosemary (I forgot to add this, actually)
Cayenne (didn't find any, so I used a good dash of paprika instead)
Ginger (also a good dash)
Sea Salt (about two pinches)
Toss it all in a food processor and blend.
And so I add another archaic skill to my list of Hobbies-That-Are-Not-At-All-Cost-Effective-But-I-Hope-Will-Come-In-Handy-During-The-Apocalypse.
Thanks for the canning lesson, Mom!
As a bonus thank you to my parents, who very nicely allowed Natasha to live with them for a good seven or eight weeks this summer despite her neediness and plant-munching tendencies, I gratefully present this embedded video:
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thinking
1) Sorry for the cryptic nature of my last post. The text in it was automatically added when I forwarded the picture from my iPhone - it wasn't intentional. But the snow cones were delicious - I highly recommend the ones from the stand outside Liberty Heights. Yum!
2) We performed "Making Waves" for SLAC today. I'll say this about it - it went well. Really well. But there's a lot that I'm processing and thinking through right now, and it's 10:45pm after a very long night, so I'm not going to say anymore about it tonight.
Except this (forewarning - R-rated language ahead):
During the feedback session after the performance, when we told Nancy B. (the very respectable theater lady and director of SLAC) that we had put together the play in one week, she said, "Holy fucking shit!"
That felt good.
2) We performed "Making Waves" for SLAC today. I'll say this about it - it went well. Really well. But there's a lot that I'm processing and thinking through right now, and it's 10:45pm after a very long night, so I'm not going to say anymore about it tonight.
Except this (forewarning - R-rated language ahead):
During the feedback session after the performance, when we told Nancy B. (the very respectable theater lady and director of SLAC) that we had put together the play in one week, she said, "Holy fucking shit!"
That felt good.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
And?
A trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland!
I can't embed it, but here's the link.
This one I can embed, though:
I'm a fan of the book series, and read the last two of them one day last week, wondering why they hadn't been made into a movie yet. Then I go see Harry Potter and behold! A trailer!
Hey Mr. Spaceman
Spaced is on Hulu!
Love this show. Very geeky, very funny. I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed "Shaun of the Dead" or "Hot Fuzz".
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Morning Glow
I've missed my daily workouts while I've been gone, so I woke up early today and got to Westminster (where we've been rehearsing) two hours before rehearsal. I went to the gorgeous gym on campus (built after my time here, naturally) and inquired about a guest pass for alumni. A little paperwork and $6.00 later and I had myself a guest pass for the week - woot! I changed into my workout clothes, discovering that hey! You need to bring a combination lock to a gym!, took my purse with me along with my waterbottle and my script, and found an elliptical on the bottom level.
The facility was pretty quiet (not surprising, since it was 7:00 am in the middle of summer), and I had a lovely 40-minute workout on a much nicer machine than my one at home. I even ran all of my lines, which probably made the few people who walked by wonder about the crazy lady in the orange pants with green shoes who was talking to herself. As I mouthed the last of my paragraphs, I grabbed my stuff and headed for the showers only to discover that hey! You need bring a towel to a gym!
(Side note: I had a friend in college who was very squemish about some things. She once heard a radio DJ offer someone $500 to lick a tanning bed, and she obsessed about the grossness of that for weeks. WEEKS.
If you're at all like that friend, then please just pretend that I made that discovery before I got in the shower and got all wet and that it turned out that the gym actually provides all of its guests as many lovely, fluffy white towels as they want and I dried off and it was all perfect. The end.
The rest of you, read on.)
I think I found a very creative solution to the problem - I wrapped my workout shirt around my head turban-style to dry my hair, and I used my terry-cloth-like workout pants to dry off the rest of me, avoiding the sweatier parts of the fabric as best I could.
In trying to figure out what to do, I did consider my recent adventures in Turkey. I am, after all, awesome at being naked, and I thought about just walking out of the stall dripping wet to find an outlet to plug in my hairdryer. Sadly, while this was a nice gym, it was no hamam.
The facility was pretty quiet (not surprising, since it was 7:00 am in the middle of summer), and I had a lovely 40-minute workout on a much nicer machine than my one at home. I even ran all of my lines, which probably made the few people who walked by wonder about the crazy lady in the orange pants with green shoes who was talking to herself. As I mouthed the last of my paragraphs, I grabbed my stuff and headed for the showers only to discover that hey! You need bring a towel to a gym!
(Side note: I had a friend in college who was very squemish about some things. She once heard a radio DJ offer someone $500 to lick a tanning bed, and she obsessed about the grossness of that for weeks. WEEKS.
If you're at all like that friend, then please just pretend that I made that discovery before I got in the shower and got all wet and that it turned out that the gym actually provides all of its guests as many lovely, fluffy white towels as they want and I dried off and it was all perfect. The end.
The rest of you, read on.)
I think I found a very creative solution to the problem - I wrapped my workout shirt around my head turban-style to dry my hair, and I used my terry-cloth-like workout pants to dry off the rest of me, avoiding the sweatier parts of the fabric as best I could.
In trying to figure out what to do, I did consider my recent adventures in Turkey. I am, after all, awesome at being naked, and I thought about just walking out of the stall dripping wet to find an outlet to plug in my hairdryer. Sadly, while this was a nice gym, it was no hamam.
Memory
I'm in Salt Lake at the moment. As you may recall, I'm up here with one franctic week to rehearse and perform our play for SLAC. On Monday, Heidi, Katharine, Andy, Melissa, and I met for the first time since our quick little preliminary read-through in May. We had left that read-through with the expectations to all come back memorized. And we were close! Really, given the amount and nature of the texts, I think we did pretty darn well. Monday was a bit rusty, but Heidi and I spent a few hours running parts with each other that night. We spent most of Tuesday's rehearsal drilling ourselves on the most cumbersome pieces, and it all seems to be sticking. Even my freakin' long "Lorenzo" piece. I can complain about it since I wrote it, right?
So, we're three rehearsals into the thing, and it's going really, really well. In fact, we did a full run-through of the play for the second half of rehearsal today and we a) were all off-book except for a very little bit at the very end and b) shaved 24 minutes off of our last run time, putting our show at 104 minutes. To me, 90 minutes is ideal, 100 is totally liveable. So I'm pleased!
We're figuring things out - how to create a show with no budget whatsoever (seriously, zero. Heidi's been generously providing snacks for everyone, Melissa brought bottled water from her own supply, and I spent $4 on books yesterday for props, all out of our pockets. I know! 4 whole bucks!), how to run rehearsals without an assistant director or any technical crew, how to study and rehearse such long monologues, and so on.
We're figuring out our roles, too. I'm finding it hard to take off the director and the playwright hats and be only an actor. Melissa (our director) keeps saying things along the lines of "Amanda with her extensive acting background..." and I keep wanting to clarify that um, no. I don't have an extensive acting background. I'm a director, which is very, very different. For example, a director is allowed to snap her fingers and swear and stomp her foot when she forgets something, while I got chastised today for doing that whenever I forgot a line.
It's a good exercise for me in a lot of ways -
1) I'm getting really good experience memorizing, which will help me help my speech class this fall,
2) I'm watching a director from the perspective of an actor, and I'm making notes to myself about new things to try or new ways to approach directing,
3) I'm learning to let go of the play as its writer and let it be on its own,
4) But at the same time, I'm getting a lot of validation for how good it is. I'm not saying that to be egotistical; instead, it's an acknowledgement of the fact that Heidi and I have been writing this thing for five years, and that's a lot of time to spend editing and tightening a text - it's polished, and it works.
5) I'm also working not being in control of everything. I sometimes still respond to suggestions from the others with visceral, gut reactions (which are not at all subtle) when I don't agree with what they're suggesting. I'm trying not to do that, and I'm slowly getting better at it. At least, I'm getting quieter at it. The others now usually only notice if they're looking at me, since I'm not so good yet at controlling my face when I really don't agree with something. Okay, I still suck at not being in control. But I am trying!
I certainly don't envy Melissa her job - heck, if I had to direct someone who was the playwright of the piece AND was a theater director herself, I would be a whole lot more nervous and (therefore) probably a lot less gracious than Melissa is. But, like I said, I'm working on letting go of certain things, and that's a good exercise for me. And, really, I'm very lucky to be able to work with this group - they're a talented, gracious, fun group of people, and I'm really enjoying myself.
I came up here thinking about how nice it is to have a whole week in SLC this time, that I'll have lots of time to see people and get things done. I found instead that my time filled up very quickly. It'll be a crazy, crammed-in week; but it'll be fun.
Oh, and apparently I'm missing all of the weather fun in Denver this week. I'm hoping the storm stayed north of my place so I don't come back to a bunch of broken windows.
So, we're three rehearsals into the thing, and it's going really, really well. In fact, we did a full run-through of the play for the second half of rehearsal today and we a) were all off-book except for a very little bit at the very end and b) shaved 24 minutes off of our last run time, putting our show at 104 minutes. To me, 90 minutes is ideal, 100 is totally liveable. So I'm pleased!
We're figuring things out - how to create a show with no budget whatsoever (seriously, zero. Heidi's been generously providing snacks for everyone, Melissa brought bottled water from her own supply, and I spent $4 on books yesterday for props, all out of our pockets. I know! 4 whole bucks!), how to run rehearsals without an assistant director or any technical crew, how to study and rehearse such long monologues, and so on.
We're figuring out our roles, too. I'm finding it hard to take off the director and the playwright hats and be only an actor. Melissa (our director) keeps saying things along the lines of "Amanda with her extensive acting background..." and I keep wanting to clarify that um, no. I don't have an extensive acting background. I'm a director, which is very, very different. For example, a director is allowed to snap her fingers and swear and stomp her foot when she forgets something, while I got chastised today for doing that whenever I forgot a line.
It's a good exercise for me in a lot of ways -
1) I'm getting really good experience memorizing, which will help me help my speech class this fall,
2) I'm watching a director from the perspective of an actor, and I'm making notes to myself about new things to try or new ways to approach directing,
3) I'm learning to let go of the play as its writer and let it be on its own,
4) But at the same time, I'm getting a lot of validation for how good it is. I'm not saying that to be egotistical; instead, it's an acknowledgement of the fact that Heidi and I have been writing this thing for five years, and that's a lot of time to spend editing and tightening a text - it's polished, and it works.
5) I'm also working not being in control of everything. I sometimes still respond to suggestions from the others with visceral, gut reactions (which are not at all subtle) when I don't agree with what they're suggesting. I'm trying not to do that, and I'm slowly getting better at it. At least, I'm getting quieter at it. The others now usually only notice if they're looking at me, since I'm not so good yet at controlling my face when I really don't agree with something. Okay, I still suck at not being in control. But I am trying!
I certainly don't envy Melissa her job - heck, if I had to direct someone who was the playwright of the piece AND was a theater director herself, I would be a whole lot more nervous and (therefore) probably a lot less gracious than Melissa is. But, like I said, I'm working on letting go of certain things, and that's a good exercise for me. And, really, I'm very lucky to be able to work with this group - they're a talented, gracious, fun group of people, and I'm really enjoying myself.
I came up here thinking about how nice it is to have a whole week in SLC this time, that I'll have lots of time to see people and get things done. I found instead that my time filled up very quickly. It'll be a crazy, crammed-in week; but it'll be fun.
Oh, and apparently I'm missing all of the weather fun in Denver this week. I'm hoping the storm stayed north of my place so I don't come back to a bunch of broken windows.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Stool Boom!
As I mentioned before, I bought a vanity at the Antique Market. The stool that came with it was covered in a basic white fabric, like so:
and I decided that I wanted to reupholster it. I blame going a year without needing to make any sets, props, or costumes. But can you blame me?
So blah.
With Rachel and Miranda's fabulous company/opinions, last Saturday I picked up this pretty, off-white fabric embroidered with green vines and orange/yellow flowers. Darn my good taste - it was $45/yard. It was also, however, on sale for 40% off, and I only needed about 20 inches, so I splurged. Rachel, in her sewing wisdom, suggested that I get a bit extra so I went with 24 inches. Good thing, too, since even while ironing carefully, this happened:
Whoops.
After successfully ironing the rest of it, I arranged it on the stool to see how I wanted to line up the pattern. Fortunately, I had help for this part:
Well, not so much helping as disdainful looking to reproach me for doing something other than scratching her.
A bit of cutting, stretching, folding, and stapling later, and voila!
Ain't I handy?
For the heck of it and for those of you who can't name the musical today's title comes from, here's a little clip for you:
In other news, well, there isn't much. Life just isn't very interesting when I'm not in Turkey. I am cooking delicious things (like these and this) instead of going out to eat, and I'm sleeping according to my natural hours (about 12-8), which I'll have to wean myself off of pretty soon. I'm getting some projects done around the house, as you can tell, and I"m reading a lot. I also get to hang out with Rachel and co. a bit more than usual, including watching one of Rachel's favorite movies with her, the soundtrack of which has given my workouts a nice pick-me-up. Here's a clip:
Tomorrow I'm going to see Harry Potter with some people from the ward, then Thursday I'm off to Junction to hang out with my parents/celebrate my dad's birthday/play with Emily before going to Salt Lake for the next week-and-a-half to rehearse and perform my play. Not a public performance yet, this is just a private preview for the SLAC people before they schedule us in their upcoming season. Believe me, I'll let you know when the public performance is.
So life is good, if a little slow, and I hope your summer is treating you well!
and I decided that I wanted to reupholster it. I blame going a year without needing to make any sets, props, or costumes. But can you blame me?
So blah.
With Rachel and Miranda's fabulous company/opinions, last Saturday I picked up this pretty, off-white fabric embroidered with green vines and orange/yellow flowers. Darn my good taste - it was $45/yard. It was also, however, on sale for 40% off, and I only needed about 20 inches, so I splurged. Rachel, in her sewing wisdom, suggested that I get a bit extra so I went with 24 inches. Good thing, too, since even while ironing carefully, this happened:
Whoops.
After successfully ironing the rest of it, I arranged it on the stool to see how I wanted to line up the pattern. Fortunately, I had help for this part:
Well, not so much helping as disdainful looking to reproach me for doing something other than scratching her.
A bit of cutting, stretching, folding, and stapling later, and voila!
Ain't I handy?
For the heck of it and for those of you who can't name the musical today's title comes from, here's a little clip for you:
In other news, well, there isn't much. Life just isn't very interesting when I'm not in Turkey. I am cooking delicious things (like these and this) instead of going out to eat, and I'm sleeping according to my natural hours (about 12-8), which I'll have to wean myself off of pretty soon. I'm getting some projects done around the house, as you can tell, and I"m reading a lot. I also get to hang out with Rachel and co. a bit more than usual, including watching one of Rachel's favorite movies with her, the soundtrack of which has given my workouts a nice pick-me-up. Here's a clip:
Tomorrow I'm going to see Harry Potter with some people from the ward, then Thursday I'm off to Junction to hang out with my parents/celebrate my dad's birthday/play with Emily before going to Salt Lake for the next week-and-a-half to rehearse and perform my play. Not a public performance yet, this is just a private preview for the SLAC people before they schedule us in their upcoming season. Believe me, I'll let you know when the public performance is.
So life is good, if a little slow, and I hope your summer is treating you well!
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
We Are the Champions
One of the perks of summer is that I get to go play on school nights. Rachel, Brian, and the Walkers have a Monday night tradition of playing trivia at a bar downtown. They cordially invite me along, and I enjoy going when I don't have to get up at 5:30am.
I am pleased to tell you, then, that last night our team took 1st place for the second week in a row!
Sadly, Rachel has taken my place as the early-morning worker and chose sleep over trivia last night. We struggled without her (a category on 1999 Dance Divas AND an "It's Always Sunny" question, Rachel!).
I was excited to hear there was a Musicals category, but it was painfully easy. They named three characters, we name the musical. C'mon, though - how hard are characters like
"Cosette, Eponine, Javert"
"Nala, Zazu, Scar"
"Lisel, Freidrich, Kurt"
"Grisabella, Mungojerrie, Rum Tum Tugger"?
I won Brian a free beer with the bonus question, too - "Mrs. Potts, Chip-" and I missed who the third name was, since I was already showing my answer to the quizmaster. It was sad.
My team could have taken the category without my help. However, I also answered a sports question! I know, I know - pick your jaws off the ground. Do YOU know what major league West Coast team plays at PetCo Stadium? 'Cause I do!
There was also a visual round about weird utensils. I had, in my 5 minutes of pre-trivia research, happened across a quiz on unusual utensils. It turned out that they pulled the images for the round straight from the same quiz! (Hmm... seems like there's more than one Queen of the Search Engines in the family...) You can take the same quiz here, if you're interested.
Happily, I'll be in town for next Monday's game, when we'll get the chance to go for three wins in a row. And Rachel better be there! :)
P.S. If you want to try your hand at a better Musical quiz, try this one, just released by Mental Floss today.
I am pleased to tell you, then, that last night our team took 1st place for the second week in a row!
Sadly, Rachel has taken my place as the early-morning worker and chose sleep over trivia last night. We struggled without her (a category on 1999 Dance Divas AND an "It's Always Sunny" question, Rachel!).
I was excited to hear there was a Musicals category, but it was painfully easy. They named three characters, we name the musical. C'mon, though - how hard are characters like
"Cosette, Eponine, Javert"
"Nala, Zazu, Scar"
"Lisel, Freidrich, Kurt"
"Grisabella, Mungojerrie, Rum Tum Tugger"?
I won Brian a free beer with the bonus question, too - "Mrs. Potts, Chip-" and I missed who the third name was, since I was already showing my answer to the quizmaster. It was sad.
My team could have taken the category without my help. However, I also answered a sports question! I know, I know - pick your jaws off the ground. Do YOU know what major league West Coast team plays at PetCo Stadium? 'Cause I do!
There was also a visual round about weird utensils. I had, in my 5 minutes of pre-trivia research, happened across a quiz on unusual utensils. It turned out that they pulled the images for the round straight from the same quiz! (Hmm... seems like there's more than one Queen of the Search Engines in the family...) You can take the same quiz here, if you're interested.
Happily, I'll be in town for next Monday's game, when we'll get the chance to go for three wins in a row. And Rachel better be there! :)
P.S. If you want to try your hand at a better Musical quiz, try this one, just released by Mental Floss today.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Fourth of July
Happy 4th of July, or thereabouts!
My parents came to town, so we celebrated the holiday weekend by doing the following:
- Scoping out possible "cabins" in Mountain Town
- Our annual visit to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival
- Checking out the Paris Vintage/Antique Street Market in town (where I bought a vanity! I've been lusting after one since I tried out my sister's a few years ago. As soon as I get a mirror for it, I get to put on my makeup like a real lady!)
- Grocery shopping at Whole Foods
- Enjoying the company
Unfortunately, my current cold did not make me the best company - I spent a lot of the weekend trailing after my family, coughing and trying to stay awake. Rachel busted out her awesome purple stethoscope to see if I had pneumonia. My lungs are clear, but she and my mom laughed at the way I couldn't take a deep breath in without yawning on the way out.
See? Just typing the word "yawn" made me yawn. Stupid cold.
I went back to my ward today. It was nice (really nice) to escape the arduous parts of my calling for the last month, but it was also nice to go back and see friends and catch up with people.
I wound up teaching the Relief Society lesson today (surprise!), so I started by telling them about the interruption during Transformers (I opened with the line, "Last week I was in Istanbul," and was interrupted by some of the girls laughing at the statement and commenting on my saying it with such casualness), then talked about the call to prayer (I played a version of it for them to hear), which lead to a discussion (via a small group activity with five different scripture references) about how people worship. It was a good lesson; and to my surprise, it felt really good, natural even, to teach again. I also enjoyed the studying and cross-referencing and research I did in preparing for the lesson - it's been a while since I've felt both compelled and challenged in my thinking about a gospel topic. But that's a topic for a different post.
In general, I'm still bummed about being home, and I still don't feel settled into reality; however, there are a few things I've enjoyed this week:
- Internet!
- Tap water and ice cubes
- Making my own food
- Putting on makeup and doing my hair and in general not looking like a dusty, sweaty traveler,
- Public toilets that are generally clean and not scary (although I still reach for a knob on top to pull rather than for the lever to flush. Odd how quickly that habit formed.)
- Air conditioning
- My bed
- My currently-short-haired kitty-cat
Speaking of which, I'm going to go enjoy those last three items on the list now. Good night!
My parents came to town, so we celebrated the holiday weekend by doing the following:
- Scoping out possible "cabins" in Mountain Town
- Our annual visit to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival
- Checking out the Paris Vintage/Antique Street Market in town (where I bought a vanity! I've been lusting after one since I tried out my sister's a few years ago. As soon as I get a mirror for it, I get to put on my makeup like a real lady!)
- Grocery shopping at Whole Foods
- Enjoying the company
Unfortunately, my current cold did not make me the best company - I spent a lot of the weekend trailing after my family, coughing and trying to stay awake. Rachel busted out her awesome purple stethoscope to see if I had pneumonia. My lungs are clear, but she and my mom laughed at the way I couldn't take a deep breath in without yawning on the way out.
See? Just typing the word "yawn" made me yawn. Stupid cold.
I went back to my ward today. It was nice (really nice) to escape the arduous parts of my calling for the last month, but it was also nice to go back and see friends and catch up with people.
I wound up teaching the Relief Society lesson today (surprise!), so I started by telling them about the interruption during Transformers (I opened with the line, "Last week I was in Istanbul," and was interrupted by some of the girls laughing at the statement and commenting on my saying it with such casualness), then talked about the call to prayer (I played a version of it for them to hear), which lead to a discussion (via a small group activity with five different scripture references) about how people worship. It was a good lesson; and to my surprise, it felt really good, natural even, to teach again. I also enjoyed the studying and cross-referencing and research I did in preparing for the lesson - it's been a while since I've felt both compelled and challenged in my thinking about a gospel topic. But that's a topic for a different post.
In general, I'm still bummed about being home, and I still don't feel settled into reality; however, there are a few things I've enjoyed this week:
- Internet!
- Tap water and ice cubes
- Making my own food
- Putting on makeup and doing my hair and in general not looking like a dusty, sweaty traveler,
- Public toilets that are generally clean and not scary (although I still reach for a knob on top to pull rather than for the lever to flush. Odd how quickly that habit formed.)
- Air conditioning
- My bed
- My currently-short-haired kitty-cat
Speaking of which, I'm going to go enjoy those last three items on the list now. Good night!
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