My first night in Orlando was spent at a dinner theatre entitled Arabian Nights.  The theatrical portion was a charming story featuring a female genie in training.   However, the story took second place to the real stars of the show: a group of beautiful horses and their acrobatic riders.  There was daring stunts, magical scenes, a chariot race, and (my favorite part) the antics of the clownish rider.  Amazingly enough, the riders were varied in terms of experience although they all seemed to have been riding since birth.

The activity was not limited to the stage. The two year old member of our group decided that she was going to venture out on her own.  “I’ll be right back,” she said.  Fortunately, her escape was thwarted and all was well with our band.

Following the show, I got my first glimpse of the accomodations I would be using AFTER we made a slight detour back to Old Town.  At the condo, we decided to place an order that would become a staple the next two nights: pizza (specifically, Domino’s… if you want to call it pizza).  So, if you are planning a trip to Orlando and want to break away from the parks for a few hours, plan a trip to Arabian Nights, especially if your family includes small children.

The last 4 days have been some of the best times I have had in ages.  I was invited to go along to Orlando with my closest and dearest friends and their four children.  I flew out to meet them Sunday afternoon.  I flew from Toledo to Detroit (airtime a total of 17 minutes… strange) to Orlando International Airport (total airtime 2 hrs. and 2 mins).  On board the flight from Detroit, I shared my row with a family of four from Detroit.  The mother and 4 year old daughter shared my half while the father and little boy were across the aisle.  The little boy had a heart condition which caused him to need an oxygen tank.  And he slept the entire flight.  “He can sleep through anything.”  On the other hand, the precocious girl kept peering around asking all the pertinent questions (“Are we there yet?”) and looking out the window.  She even commented that the could see her house the we left behind hundreds of miles ago.  Adorable.

Before leaving, I wanted to take something to read to pass the time.  While approaching the gate for my flight in Detroit, I looked into the Borders Book Store to see if anything caught my eye.  I found Ian Fleming’s complete James Bond short stories in a volume entitled Quantum of Solace
.  AHHA… that is from whence the new movie takes its name.  I have gottem through the first  couple of stories and find it interesting that many of the movies are spliced together from plot lines from these stories.  The movie For Your Eyes Only is derived from the story of the same name as well as another entitled Risico.

Onto Orlando… Upon arriving, I decided to check in with my hosts.  After claiming my bag, I proceeded to the shuttle service and ATTEMPTED to get a transport to Old Town.  Unfortunately for me, the people at the counter knew nothing about where I wanted to go.  An older gentleman did not know the area at all.  His female counterpart acted like I was from outer space.  Via cell phone, Chris attempted to locate a stop at which the shuttle could drop me off, to no avail.  In the end, I took a cab to the amusement area that was reminiscent of a county fair or small amusement park.

After arriving at Old Town, I walked through the park rolling my suitcase and my carry on bag.  I’m sure that more than a few strange glances were given.  I did not care because I was about to join my friends and have a great few days.  I did get to ride the roller coaster that was very similar to the Wildcat at Cedar Point (I think the ride is still there), and the giant pirate ship that swings back and forth.  I’m glad Lisa and I decided to ride in the middle of the boat because she said that she was unsure if she would have been able to survive the ride closer to either of the ends.

Before we left the park, Chris and I looked at a ride that seemed to sling shot its riders high in the air.  Although the ride looked like a lot of fun, the $25 ticket price was more that I wanted to spend.  One thing though, I left my folder containing my flight info needed for my return on a bench inside the park.  Thankfully, some good soul found it and we were later contacted.

Well it has been quite some time since I played Dungeons and Dragons. Even longer since I played a Paladin. And I found out that sometime between the time I last played one to the current time, the Paladin (Holy Knight) went from being a scourge to all that is evil, to a joke commonly referred to as Lawful-Stupid.

If you are familiar with the game, it is one that takes place in the minds of the players. One person sets up the location/world/adventure, the others take their generated characters through this world. There are many different types of “Role Playing” games. Some take place in modern times, others in the realm of comic book heroes. I’ve played both of these types and many more. My favorite by far has been the realm of fantasy fiction dealing with Swords and Magic. That is the realm of Dungeons and Dragons.

I played at the time when many religious groups thought this was nothing better than evil incarnate. I had many conversations with them in my college days. What they never knew was that good generally triumphed over evil. Good characters of the “worlds” were generally more powerful than the evil. Good characters would band together and stay together more easily by the very rules of the game. Playing evil characters could be fun, but you generally ended up playing alone, or you hid your evilness from the others of the group. After watching many games, movies and reading a whole lot of books, my general rule for life is “Never work for the Bad Guy”. That only gets you a really short life. In the realm of Dungeons and Dragons, evil rarely prospered. This did change occasionally from group to group, but for the most part the rules stayed consistent in this.

Now back to the Paladin character. They were the protectors of all that was lawful and good. And if played well, they could become the most powerful characters in the game. They would have the backing of their order, followers and religion to help conquer evil. As I was saying, somewhere from the time I last played this type of character and today, they became a joke in some circles. From what I can gather, and have seen this was true in a lot of cases. The people playing this character did not know what it was to be Lawful and Good. The character from this ended up somewhere between “Dudley Do-Right” and the “Super Friends”, without the dumb luck of Dudley, or the massive power of the Super Friends. The name “Lawful-Stupid” was a good fit. Hopefully I can play this character with a bit more flair…

This of course got me wondering why would someone have a hard time playing a character that was “lawful-good”. By definition this is someone who obeys orders, follows the rules, deeply devotional, regimented in all they do, looks out for the poor, helps the needy and cares for the weak. All in all sounds like a good type to be around. But this was not somebody who ‘blindly’ followed the rules, or obeyed corrupt orders. They should help the poor, needy and week, but not just by charity. Teaching them to fend for themselves, lifting them out of their need and weakness would be the best choice. Too much devotion to the spiritual can make you blind to the world around you. If you have this spiritual calling, it is best to share it with those around you, at least by example. Regimented life can also go too far. Being too picky about the order of the day, can make you miss out on opportunities to help others. Sometimes this can be very difficult, especially with peer pressure. Do you then scale back your beliefs, or follow them to an extreme. In either case you have warped them from what they once were. You are no longer a person of conviction, but one of wishy-washy behavior. In other words somewhat of a joke.

Now in the preceding paragraph was I talking about the game, or real life? I don’t think that matters a lot. People have a hard time playing a Good character, and some have trouble being Good in real life. It is all in how we view the world. I am trying to play a “good” character in a game I get to play with my oldest daughter and her (dare I say my?) friends. I try to be a “good” person in my daily life. I’ll let you know which one is easier….

It is a specials time for me this week.  Yes, I did mean to spell it that way.  Monday I subbed for art in an elementary school and today I did music in middle school.  This day was one of those times where I did the same lesson for all classes.  Yes, that means all grades from 1st to 4th did the exact same thing.  Why would they all do the same thing?  Well, apparently Metra is sponsoring a safety poster contest and have done so for the last couple of years.  Kids from kindergarten through high school make posters that have to deal with safety around trains.  Each grade competes in their own contest so a 1st grader, for example, doesn’t have to go up against a middle schooler.  Some of the posters from last year are really good.  Too good in some cases I think.  Check out this poster for example:

This looks like a fine 2nd or 3rd grade entry, but kindergarten?  Hmm…  The previous year’s kindergarten winner looks a bit more age-appropriate.  So the kids got the details and started working on ideas for their posters, due in a short four months.  Anyway, check out all the previous winners at:

2007-2008 Winners
2006-2007 Winners

Today as I wrote above I did music.  This was a most enjoyable experience for me because I got to show videos for movie musicals.  6th grade got to see one of my favorites, Oliver! Well, the start of it.  Having been in Oliver! I was really able to get into it with the kids and talk a little about it and my own experience.  8th grade was next and they continued watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.  That’s right, the old one which in my opinion has the better Willy Wonka, played by Gene Wilder.  No offense to Johnny Depp’s acting, but that interpretation of the character just didn’t work at all for me.  Not much to say about this.  They were engaged 8th graders, and that’s what was important. 😀  A couple in the second class asked if I could skip the songs.  Let’s see now, the class is music and he wanted me to skip the music.  I think you can guess what my answer was as we continued to listen to “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket.” 😈

Moving to 7th grade (last classes of the day and relevant to the topic title) we got to see the start of Singin’ in the Rain.  I’ve never seen this before believe it or not.  It is now on the reserve shelf at the library waiting for me to pick it so I can finish it since I saw only the first 35 minutes of it, twice.  If you’ve seen this movie then you know there are some kissing scenes in it, several of them.  I couldn’t believe it when one of the seventh grade classes had some boys going “ewww” during these scenes.  I heard “cooties” as well, but to be fair this was probably a joke reaction to the ewws.  I would expect this from 4th graders, but I would have supposed the sex education the kids get in public schools would have desensitized them to things like kissing.  I guess not.  I guess I learn something every day. 🙂

Check this Oliver Twist picture out (click image for larger version)- funny! 😀

Mike R. Baker

Okay, I’m shifting gears for a post.  I really have nothing exciting to report for the last couple of days.  The second 6th-grade day went much like the first, though my perception of it was better because I really enjoyed working with the kids.  5th and 6th are probably my favorite age group to work with, though sometimes with a class that is a real problem I might let that get in the way and no longer enjoy it.  Friday was an ELL primary day.  It was a resource class so I worked with groups an hour at a time.  All we did was play board games.  Educational board games, but still.

So, why not talk about probably my favorite game series of all time?  I believe 1986 or 1987 was the year that the first Legend of Zelda was released here in the US.  When I received this game (gift I think) I was impressed with both the gold-colored cartridge and the fact that it actually saved games, no need to enter a long password to continue a game.  Never mind that later I would find out the consequence of this battery-backed save system was the game periodically being erased, something that couldn’t happen with a password system, though incorrectly writing down one could generate the same frustration.  I played and played this game, making my own book of maps which I still have somewhere.  When the quest was finished it really wasn’t because now there was another quest to play and map.

About a year later a new game game out- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.  Though very different than the first, I still played this game a lot though I don’t remember mapping it like I mapped the first.  There is an interesting story to this one.  The US wasn’t the first to get a release of this game.  I was able to get an imported copy of it for a little over $100 at Gamer’s Paradise.  This was apparently a European release, or at least it had a multilanguage manual indicative of European releases.  The funny part of this story is that our admin here may have provided Gamer’s Paradise with the very copy I purchased, according to him!  I hadn’t even met him at this time but now of course we are close friends.

The third and fourth games in the series, for the SNES and Gameboy I had to wait to play as I didn’t own the systems.  I think C lent me his SNES to play that Zelda game, but the Gameboy one would have to wait for emulation on the computer before I would play that one, the color version of course.  Similarly, I would play the two Oracle games this way as well.  I never did try linking the two games with the emulator to get the bonus content that owners of both games would get after completing both.

In 2000 two programmers would make waves in the emulation world, fielding the wrath of Nintendo with their release of an emulator for a system that was still selling in stores- the Nintendo 64.  It required a 3DFX card and didn’t play many games, but one of the games it was made to play was none other than Ocarina of Time- the first Zelda in 3D.  Nintendo did an excellent job updating this game for 3D which was unlike many older games updated to a first-person 3D perspective and I soon found myself buying a 3D card for my computer to play this game.  Why didn’t I just spend my money on the N64 system and Zelda?  I don’t know- I guess I am more computer-centric and it must have been cheaper.  When the next title came out, Majora’s Mask, and it didn’t play well with emulators, C came to the rescue again and lent me his N64 this time so I could play this.  Different than the first N64 title, but still quite fun.

Over the last several years my need to play games, including Zelda, has been waning.  I did eventually obtain a Gamecube with Windwaker and eventually Twilight Princess (which I stopped about halfway through over a year and a half ago and haven’t picked up since), but I haven’t played games like the Four Swords adventures, the Minish Cap, or the Phantom Hourglass to name a few.  One of these days I may pick up a used DS, but considering how much I actually play games these days my money is probably better spent on other things.

Want to play Zelda-style games for free?  I’m not talking about emulation here, and certainly not about theft :o.  I’m talking about a program that can make and play games in the style of the original Legend of Zelda.  While the games are in the style of the original NES game, the graphics and sound on the adventures many people make are more in the line of later systems.  Some even use custom graphics to make non-Zelda games.  Zelda Classic can be had for Window, Linux, and OSX.  You can get Zelda Classic and quest files (the custom quests) at:

Zelda Classic main site (https://www.zeldaclassic.com/) (You can also get the main program for Windows here)

PureZC (https://www.purezc.com/)

Both sites have forums too, for discussion of Zelda Classic and quests for it.  If you want Zelda Classic for Linux, OSX, or just recent builds for Windows (only recent builds work correctly with Vista) you have to get it at https://www.shardstorm.com/. You will have to scroll down to find the latest Linux or OSX builds as the most recent are for Windows only.

Well, I hope you don’t mind my post on retrogaming.  I’ll get back to subbing news when I have something interesting to post.  Until then.

Tonight, I was one of two ushers for WCCTs latest production (more on that in a bit).  The theatre was decorated with many Halloweenish spizzerinctum.  We also advertised the cookbook to which many of our resident theatre regulars contributed recipes.  In addition, samples of two of the desserts were distributed.  Tonight featured a Greek dessert called Galatobouriko (a “Cream of Wheat Custard”) and a lemon/pineapple offering… both of which are featured in the cookbook that can be purchased during the run of the current production. I was told that many years ago punch and cookies were furnished in the reception area free of charge.  Not very feasible in today’s economy.  My co-usher and I were given orange, pointy witch’s hats to wear as we passed out programs.

On to the play itself.  First, there was Lucy and Ethel.  Years later came Laverne & Shirley.  Now… brace yourself for Dolly and Isobel, The Kitchen Witches.  The only difference is… Dolly and Isobel detest each other.  The two cooking godesses are thrown together to star in a cable cooking show.  Food and insults are constantly flung which leads to great amounts of hilarity.  I adored the accent Dolly employed in the opening scene as she was filming the last scenes of her own cooking show.  What follows is a madcap mixture of Martha Stewart (or almost any other cooking show you can imagine) and Jerry Springer.  A cameo performer from the audience was pulled for a pivotal scene (not mentioning any names but the initials are C.D.).  When it was good, it was very good.  A few moments of downtime but a fun show.  There is also an uproarious nod to another classic 70s television series that is not to be missed.

Following the performance, I was invited to try a bowl of the director’s chili.  WOW is all I can say.  It actually was not too spicy until AFTER I had finished.  But it was delicious and spicy.  I had heard about Jose’s chili and am pleased to say that I was not disappointed.  So, if you are a fan of cooking shows and mudslinging television talk shows (is that what Mr. Springer’s show is categorized) hop a ride on your broomstick and catch WCCT’s latest offering.

Or should I say it was?

Last Sunday, two of my daughters, 1 son-in-law, and a few friends went to the Apple Butter Festival in Grand Rapids Ohio. It was a wonderful fall day, sunny, warm and the smell of gun powder filled the air.

Gunpowder? Yep, gunpowder. Part of the Apple Butter Festival are various re-enactments. Solders from the Revolution were parading in the street. Civil War solders were shooting across the river. Every so often a Tank would fire off a round. Yes, there was the smell of gunpowder. I was talking to one of the Civil War solders, who kept in character the whole time, about his life and the things he did on a day to day basis. Very interesting stuff. As I was leaving I commented how well he stayed ‘in character’. He kept in character for that too, but I had to remind him that a civil war soldier would not have had a tongue stud. Oops, forgot to remove that one. Hee, Hee!!

Then there was the food. Good food. Brats, buffalo, apple dumplings. I didn’t get to sample all of it. I was looking for one place that last year sold some of the best salsa I’ve tasted. I couldn’t find them. The spot they were in last year was occupied by a person selling stuffed animals. Oh well.

My youngest and I did lose my oldest and her group. We were going to communicate by cell phone, but only one of our phones got decent reception in the town. Stick with the carrier that gives better service where you live. I don’t think the “Can you hear me now” guy was ever in this town.

I imagine a good time was had by all.

I did something to my shoulder to re-aggravate an old injury. For the first three days of this work week, I was unable to lift my left hand over my head without pain. Back to starting the old rehab exercises. Turn my head one way then the next, lifting up that ol’ soup can (1 1b weight to start). Keep stretching and moving…. Not too much weight, you can re-injure that thing. Trouble was I forgot them.

Yep, all that stuff used to be in my head. There was a sheet of exercises that I was supposed to do to keep the shoulder in shape. Me, I stopped doing them when the shoulder felt better. I kept up with a couple of the stretching routines, because they helped with headaches too. I did the ones I remembered, but I know there were another couple on the routine. Oh well, I guess I can try to find the list again. Maybe the rehab place has a website? Or I can just stop in and ask for another sheet…

Anyway with a bit of patience, lots of heat applied, and a few exercises, I was able to function at around 90% today. I was able to pull on a shirt, brush my hair with my left hand, type all day at work. and my shoulder is only starting to complain. I think before dinner, I’ll apply a bit of heat again.

I would say that this is a getting old problem, but mostly it is an out-of-shape problem. I move wrong, or sleep wrong and I put the shoulder out of whack. I am hoping that my trips to the “Y” will help with this, but I haven’t been able to get much exercise in since I joined. Just after I joined, I pulled some leg muscles that kept me from doing a lot there, and now this. I know I can’t push myself on exercise equipment, when it just hurts (like crazy) to move. I can’t say the “Y” did it either, I wasn’t there both times I was injured…. Just plain dumb luck and my body trying to move like it was in better shape than it is….

Maybe next week….

And this was the reason why there hasn’t been a post since the weekend. I have one more post started, but never finished it. I’m not a one handed typist.

Coming to EHS on October 31 is America’s Finest Singing Machine, The Bowling Green State University Men’s Chorus.  I was a four-year member of the group and some of the best times were spent on a Lakefront tour bus traveling to one nighters during our Fall mini tour and our week long Spring recruitment tour.  We would load up the 3 buses (with risers, luggage, garment bags which held our tuxes) at 5am.  Our director, the legendary R.D. Mathey, corralled his “Little Critters” by feeding them Crispy Critters (or as they are more commonly called Krispy Kreme cinnamon buns… I’ve mentioned those in a post previously).  It was on  these excursions that we were treated to “Host Family Horror Stories” every morning on the 8″ television/VCR that each bus was equipped with.  Also, I made the acquaintance of one “Richard Hurts” during roll call.  It was also on the Spring tours that I had my first experiences of Broadway…. not just any Broadway but the theatre district in the heart of Manhattan.

So, anyway, one of the little stops the chorus will make will be at my high school alma mater.  Halloween afternoon at 12:30.  In the past, alumni have been called down to perform the traditional barbershop number “Please, Mr. Columbus” to close the concerts.  Although the group is under the direction of a new leader, I would not be surprised if the tradition did not stand.

Massage the teacher = bad.  Just remember that, m’kay?  In reference to a previous post we learned that while paper passer, messenger, and librarian are good jobs for teachers to give their students, massaging the teacher doesn’t quite fly.  However, apparently not all service jobs are a problem.  From the title I think you can guess what unusual job I ran across today.  Coffee.  That is, making and serving coffee to several teachers in the school.  That’s right, this teacher is training her students up for the type of job they can only hope to achieve should the economy not pick back up.  Another 733 points today- sigh.  There’s more to this story though.  Apparently today was something like clothes mismatch day.  Some students traded a shoe to have mismatched shoes.  One boy had a sandal on one foot, a gym shoe on the other.  Other students turned shirts inside out or wore them backwards.  It was quite funny to see hoodies with the hood in front, like they were made for people who get carsick… 😮

So one student was wearing an apron.  A forest green apron.  I walked up to him in the morning and joked with him, “could I have a grande latte, please?”  I had noticed the coffee job by this time by the way, so it wasn’t coincidence much like I would like to say it was.  There were two girls assigned to this.  As a non-coffee drinker I don’t have much experience making coffee and I guess they didn’t either as we tried to set the older-type coffee maker up.  Guess who did know what he was doing and came over to help?  Mr. forest green apron of course.  That was the coincidence and what I found funny.  I left it to him and the girls and started with the lesson.

Let me tell you that this had to have been the noisiest group I ever worked with.  Sixth grade and social.  This sort of group should have been in a middle school still trying to learn the new system back at the bottom of the food-chain.  Some people disagree and say that sixth graders in elementary school is better for them.  I was in a sixth grade middle school class myself, so I guess it’s just what I’m used to.  When I first got there today I found out they had a sub yesterday.  I read some of the notes she left about their behavior.  Great…  It could have been worse though.  There is bad behavior and annoying behavior, and chatty behavior falls into the latter category.  The ELL class I mentioned several posts ago would be the bad behavior, as would some of the BD classes I have subbed for.  Talking I didn’t mind so much, except when I or someone I have called on is trying to talk of course.  They turned out to be good kids, just chatty.

And I will be with this class again tomorrow (a two-day assignment, yay!), so more on this in another post.