Last night, after doing a nine hour shift in the salt mines, I went to a WAY long overdue game night.  We even had a new very fun couple participate.  For some reason, they decided to play one of my favorite games without yours truly.  Why was that?  I a no understand.  I did arrive in time to join in another game in which you show your knowledge of the people participating around you.  One of the questions asked of everyone was “What is the most embarrassing thing that you own?”  I won’t go into detail on some of the other answers, but I received a pair of Spongebob Squarepants pajama pants from my nephew a few years ago.  Not necessarily my most embarrassing thing, but that is all I could come up with at the time.  I even wore them in my performance as a rather disturbed patient in The Clinic a couple of seasons ago.  Ironically, some of the other players had recently watched a recording of the show so my response was easily guessed.  I was pleasantly impressed with the guesses I made on my question “What one thing would you take to a party?”  I matched 4 responses to the correct people… not tooo bad… I know half of them well.  So… anyone own any mentionable items they may wish not to own… unlike one of the responses at the game table?

Last week when looking for jobs, an assignment for this week came up and I jumped on it even though it’s an age group I normally don’t work with outside of specials like gym or music, or potluck (floater) assignments.  However, it was a two-day assignment so I figured why not after all the middle school assignments I’ve had lately.  It was first grade.  It actually turned out not so bad.  One of the reasons I tend to stay with older kids is the type of management younger ones require.  It’s not just teaching with them, but mediator, parent, shoe-tyer, and other roles.  Well, I didn’t have to tie any shoes this time around in any event.  The first day had a slow start.  After taking attendance, bilingual kids (some Hispanic, many Indian) would leave ordinarily, a good third of the class, but this time only a few left while a teaching assistant came in to help with the rest.  Teaching assistants- always good to have.  They are a familiar face to the kids when there is an unfamiliar face like mine there- young kids love consistency.  The slow part was when we did calendar.  The lesson plans, generally well-detailed, was not so with the calendar time.  They pretty much just said the kids would help me.  The thing about that is younger kids always want to help, so as expected I had at least half a dozen little ones all trying to show me what to do.  Once the chaos was sorted out, I flipped through the cards they gave me and let each child do one of the dozen calendar activities until we made it all the way through.  We started the next activity, reading, about 15 minutes late.  I had to skip independent reading, but we eventually got back on track.

So the morning went- reading, stations (centers), some writing, and then the Spanish teacher came in for his lesson before lunch.  During centers, there were a couple of students who were at the computer center.  Unfortunately in this district there is no general log-in, and the teacher didn’t log in for me beforehand or leave me the password, so- no computer center.  They got to read instead.  Once the Spanish teacher came, it was a little break for me, but I stayed in the room anyway.

Following lunch the kids always spend five minutes quietly listening to music to settle down from recess.  Then the “star student” talked about her family, showing some photos.  I presume all the children get to do this throughout the year.  Once she was done, it was gym time, then music.  Another break- yes!  As asked in the plans, I graded homework while they were away.  The final part of the day was math.  I had two teaching assistants this time helping out, so it went well.  They learned about fact families for addition and subtraction.  Well, most of them learned.  I found out on day two, a rarity since most assignments are one day, when grading their homework that five or so did not in fact understand.  Well, I tried.  Finally, at 2:30 they were dismissed, I straigtened up, and left a note.

The next day was mostly the same, except no Spanish, art instead of PE and music, and dismissal was 3:00 (Wednesdays are early days in this district for teacher meetings- why they don’t just have the teachers stay a half-hour later one day I don’t know; I guess it works for them [and for me 🙂 ]).  The math lesson was more fun though- candy heart math in the spirit of upcoming Valentine’s Day.  They of course got to keep the candy hearts to take home afterward.

I should probably note that the biggest issue was one boy in particular.  He was one of the ELL kids, and he was all over the place- so much so that one of the counselors came in and marked off an area for him that he had to stay in.  I wonder what the teacher thought of it when she came in today?  Fortunately, her class uses a behavior plan where the kids have to change cards if their behavior is unacceptable.  They start on green and get two warnings, yellow and orange, before landing on red which means trouble.  For the one student, it meant a note home to his parents.  I’m not sure if it’s the same for the rest of the class, but whether it is or not as I said it means trouble for the student.  Only that one ended up on red one of the days, but several more wound up on yellow or orange.  The Spanish teacher was most unhappy about the class today- something about “worst day in five months…”

Well, in any event I survived the two days in first grade.  Next up: Friday’s ELL.  No silent h before that this time, but I do have things to say next post.

We were grocery shopping the other night and my 9-year-old daughter was jumping around and telling us about some kind of dance she was learning in gym class.  “And then you dance with the pole…”, she said, and that got our attention – pole dancing in gym class?  She then went on to explain that they have 2 little poles (closer to stick-sized, it sounds like) the kids dance with…  but you can see where I’m coming from.  In this day and age, pole dancing has a much different meaning.  It’s something popularized in the adult entertainment industry, and because I’ve heard that it’s recently found its way into normal (?) families’ homes as a form of exercise.  Not that I know of anyone who actually exercises this way (and if any of my friends or family reading this have taken up pole dancing, I really don’t want to know about it, even if it is just for exercise!), but for a minute during my daughter’s story, I was worried that this form of “exercise” had become SO mainstream that they were teaching it in the schools!  I couldn’t be happier to be wrong, but the misunderstanding makes for a funny story!

Today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.  The 16th president of the United States would be 200 years old today if he was still alive.  Unfortunately, an assassin’s bullet cut his remarkable life short at the age of 56 – not that he would still be alive today, but his assassination was still very tragic of course.  Because this is such a milestone “birthday”, Lincoln has been in the news a lot lately.  I learned something really interesting about his widow, Mary Todd.  Ten years after Lincoln’s death, Mary was hospitalized in a mental institution for being delusional and for spending too much money.  I guess her delusions were caused by a sleep medication she was taking, but intriguing to me is the fact that the institution where she was hospitalized was in Batavia Illinois – a stone’s throw from where I spent most of my childhood.  Next time I’m in the area, I’m going to have to take a look at the place – it’s now apartment buildings, but I think it would still be cool to see the land that used to be the mental institution which housed Mary Todd Lincoln.

Another interesting Lincoln tidbit; I found this picture on the internet, and I thought it was so cool I had to share it.  It captures Lincoln in real life, not just posing for a portrait as many people are used to seeing him.  The man on his left was his bodyguard, Allan Pinkerton, and the man on the right was Major Gen. John A. McClernand.

Last night was the first night we have been on the Huber stage.  I have been in the audience to watch a production of School House Rock, Jr (think I’ve mentioned that before).  However, stepping onto the stage was something else entirely.  An actual stage raised above the audience with an orchestra pit beneath.  Even a balcony in the audience and a thrust stage.  For being our first time on the stage, I thought it went really well.  We did manage to plunder our way through Act 1.

When I was not needed on stage, I was in the costume room looking for costumes.  I was enamored by the number of hats I found… everything from a fez, to a beret, to a genuine deerstalker which Sherlock Holmes himself would feel at home in.  I just need to find a light, summery suit.  Meet Me in St. Louis is set over the course of one full year so the actors on stage need to convey the change of seasons.  There is a Halloween and a Christmas scene as well as summer and spring.  Many costume changes.  Ever time I come on stage, I have at least one article of clothing unlike any other I wore previously.   So… night one on a new stage was fun and inspiring.  Different, not necessarily better, from the stages I have been on in the past few years 😉

You might have noticed a decrease in the frequency of my blogging.  I am still super-busy with my 4 kids, but now that the horrible months-long-lasting illness has run its course through our house, I have more energy and time than I’ve had in a long time…  so why am I posting less?  Because I’ve gone and gotten myself addicted to a video game, of all things!

It’s called Farm Frenzy Pizza Party, and it’s addicting to play!  Basically, you get this little plot of land where you choose what animals to buy and manage.  Each different kind of animal drops a type of product, and you can either use these products to make other products, or you can sell them.  You can upgrade your warehouse to make it store more products, you can upgrade your factories to produce products more quickly, and you can upgrade your vehicles to make them faster.  The game is surprisingly complicated, yet easy to learn.  Ultimately, the more difficult levels consist of making pizzas, and each pizza is made up of five types of product.  Complicating the game player’s goals is the fact that some of the pizza components are made up of two different products themselves, so you have to choose which animals and factories to buy and it what order to make the products with the funds you have.  There are also bears that drop down from the sky that eat your animals and even trample your factories!  It’s really fast-paced (you get rewarded for completing the levels in a timely fashion also), and like I said, it’s very addicting.

I was looking for a hobby, but this is ridiculous.  I could have chosen something a little more productive than sitting on my butt and playing a video game.  But this is  fun.  And I haven’t let myself indulge in a hobby that’s non-productive in a long time…  Usually in my spare time I organize our family photos or work on our kids’ school memory books or things like that…  What’s that you ask?  What about my blogging?  Well, ok, I see your point.  So I have a few hobbies now; they’ll have to compete for my time.  And right now, Farm Frenzy is winning!  Here is a screen shot:

happenings my life for the past 50 years. Not that your things aren’t important too, but it is my birthday. 😉

1) 1959 I was born — That made this post possible
2) 1983-1984 I met my future wife and married her
3) 1981 thru 1991 My four daughters were born
4) 2003 My wife of almost 20 years died (not good important, but it did make a big impact)
5) 2000 and 2002 Parents died (see above)
6) 1981 Graduated College (set up for all jobs since then)
7) 1982 First job in computer field
8) 1990 Second job in computer field
9) 1992 3rd and current job in computer field (no longer automotive)
10) 2006 Oldest daughter got married (first “step”-grandchild let’s drop the step, it doesn’t mean anything to me)
11) 2007 2nd daughter got married (2nd and 3rd grandkids)
12) 2008 3rd announces pending wedding
13) 2009 1st daughter announces pending grandkid 🙂
14) … To be continued

While looking over my Firestats, I came across an interesting link.  I have known for years that a common misconception surrounding the song “Edelweiss” from The Sound of Music is that it is an Austrian folksong.  This is false. It was the final lyric written by Oscar Hammerstein II and had nothing to do with Austria aside from the flower that the title comes from.  The misconception seems to have arisen during the emotional reprise of the song by Captain Von Trapp during the festival near the end of the musical.  In the movie, the overwhelmingly Austrian audience is moved to tears and join in song before bursting in thunderous applause.  This could give the impression that the song is of great importance to Austrian people.

Also of note is the fact that the musical is not widely known in Austria.  Although Salzburg makes quite a haul by giving tours of the city and surrounding countryside to fans of the show,  very few of the tourists are  Austrian.

Below is a German translation of Hammerstein’s original by an unknown translator:

Do you remember the days back in the 1980s and early 90s when cable television was  (and some of us still think) having issues and it seemed that every time you turned around, there would be some technical problem?  Ok… at least one of my commenting readers does not   Attempts made to correct the scrambled channels and finally you had to call the cable guy who seemed to take forever to arrive.  This is a running gag in the deliriously ingenious comedy from the decade of excess aptly entitled Delirious.

The late great John Candy stars as Jack Gable, writer on a popular soap opera full of the stock characters, outrageous situations, big hair, shoulder pads,  frequent plot twists, aaaaaand serious OVERACTING that frequent the suds.  Everything I love to howl at while having the rare occasion to catch a glimpse of during a dull weekday afternoon is there.  Through a fateful highway accident, Jack is transported into the world of the soap opera.  At first, it is a nightmare until he discovers that he can control the action by simply creating scenes on his typewriter (yes, a few people still used them in 1991).  So…. he writes himself into the role of the adventurous, handsome (?), rogue Jack Gates.

As I said, stock characters from every soap opera imaginable are present.  We have Carter Hedison, the rich industrial head of the central household (played by Raymond Burr).  His b-witchy  daughter, Rachel (played by Dynasty’s Emma Samms).  Plus the two sons vying for their father’s attention: the outcast with a patch and the terminally ill simpleton.  On a side note, the outdoor facade of the Hedison mansion bears a striking similarity to Stately Wayne Manor (60s Batman series).

Also along for the ride are the hapless physician who is the fiancee of Rachel and the goody-two-shoes heroine, Janet (played by Mariel Hemingway).  Twists and turns abound and some characters are not who or what they appear to be.  One of my favorite bits is the old “Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 in C-Sharp Minor” by Franz Liszt gag.  Not familiar with the classical piece? Think Daffy and Donald and their piano duo from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

I believe a similar movie from the time, Soapdish, got more press but if you love to laugh at the ridiculous nature of everyday sudsers, check out Delirious.

I’m not exactly sure what I did, I don’t remember deleting a post, but one I spent a bit of time on is gone. This will hold a place until I find the missing text. Maybe tomorrow.

Original Post Title.

The Last 50 Years.