Half assed, but its a start.

Main Street shutdown OKd

Huntington council approves making stretch pedestrian-only for 12 Tuesdays. By JENNIFER MUIR

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER





HUNTINGTON
BEACH – The City Council on Monday night voted to shut down the city's
main drag on Tuesday for 12 consecutive "Local's Nights," striking a
compromise with business owners who were concerned about making Main
Street a pedestrian-only thoroughfare.
More than a dozen
people urged City Council members to back off proposals to transform
Main Street into a pedestrian-only mall during weekends for three
months. Some called the idea of a pedestrian-only thoroughfare
"ridiculous" and "horrible." One resident spoke in favor of the plan.
"If
you close it, it's going to hurt everyone's business down there, said
Rick Fignetti, who owns Rockin' Fig surf shop on Main Street. "There's
an excitement of Main Street, with all the classic cars coming down."
The
city began looking at ways to close Main Street to cars earlier this
year, hoping to make it more like the Third Street Promenade in Santa
Monica. Think street performers, shopping, landscaping and more outdoor
dining.
Now, the city will close off two blocks of Main Street
for Local's Nights for 12 consecutive Tuesdays beginning March 6. The
events will include a farmers market, two hours of free parking, street
performances by groups like local high school bands and family
activities. They'll also shut down the street to coincide with five
already-scheduled special events.
Councilwoman Debbie Cook was one of six who voted to support the compromise.
"I
think downtown Huntington Beach is as close to a downtown pedestrian
mall as McDonald's is to a high-end restaurant," Cook said. Mayor Dave
Sullivan, the only member who voted against the compromise, said
downtown business owners needed to do more to support the city.
"All
they ever do is whine and ask more and more from the city," Sullivan
said. "I don't see them doing any part to do anything for the city."
Various plans to shut down the thoroughfare started floating around
town nearly a decade ago, economic development director Stanley
Smalewitz said.
City officials resurrected the idea earlier
this year when they began considering revising the plan for downtown
Huntington Beach in the face of two major developments: A hotel and
retail center a block away from Main Street called The Strand, and the
31-acre Pacific City development on Pacific Coast Highway, Smalewitz
said.
A group of city officials and downtown business owners in
May visited the Santa Monica pedestrian mall to begin brainstorming
ideas for shutting down the street.
Business owners on Monday
urged the council to back off the plans, saying their businesses will
suffer if the street is shut down and convenient parking is eliminated.

Downtown residents also spoke out against the plan, worried about detoured traffic clogging their streets and increasing noise.

OJ

Ok, folks. So OJ has written this book. Its all over the news. So much damn publicity. Everyone talking about how horrible it is that he would write such a book. How awful for the families to have this all brought up so publicly.

I happen to agree. Whether you believe OJ did it or not, writing such a book is distasteful and disrespectful. Does he even think about his children?

So I intent to do something about it. I refuse to watch the special. I refuse to buy the book. To me, the ultimate voice to OJ and his publisher would be if the book didn't sell. Talk about it. Spread the word. Pass it on.

DON'T BUY THE BOOK.

The fog rolls in...

Grant and I just got out of our salty jacuzzi,
with the fog rolling in all around us.

I'm feeling limp and relaxed like a noodle.

We had a nice conversation, too. You know... sometimes you just have a very pleasent talk. Special, memorable. Makes me thankful to be married to such a wonderful man.

I've been thinking a lot lately - what else is new, right? Anyways, I suck at making decisions becasue I take too long to make them, to weigh both sides. One of the biggest fears I've ever had is making the wrong choice.

Is that Libra like?

Let's put it this way - it doesn't suprise me at all that the symbol for Libra is scales.

I am so behind on my tv watching. I have 2 7th heaven's, 2 Ugly Betty's, 2 Drawn Together's, a South Park, an Amazing Race, A Survivor, and a Ghost Whisperer sitting on my DVR.

Luckily I have thanksgiving week coming up.

Also, I have report cards coming up. Finally, we have electronic report cards. We'll see if I prefer that or not. At first I was very excited, but now I wonder - all of that inputting data!!! Oh well, I am sure it will be better then writing them in - and I am SO excited about the comments - I always spend so much time worrying about how to phrase everything. What is super cool is that it will automatically translae the comments into the home language, and we can send home both an English and a hone language (instead of just a triplicate.) I am so happy about that!

Ok, I am getting droopy, so, night yall!

Tahoe

Man, its been a while...
I need to blog about Tahoe on my vacation page, but I'm still not finished updating Alaska.
That is very, very bad.
I am way behind.
School starts, life gets crazy,
I must find balance...
I'm a Libra
Balance is key...
its hard for me...

So I am in Tahoe with Grant,
Our Marriott one bedroom suite is awesome...
I'm about to go take a bath in the BIG tub...
love vacation clubs...

I just watched the rest of 24 season 2.

Our room has a fire place. It is cold outside.

On the drive from the airport,
I downloaded "Diner Dash" on my cell phone.
Unbelievably addicting.
I played the version on some game website,
to see how it compared...
The cell phone version actually really rocks.

I'm thinking of downlading the sims 2 for my cell as well.

Ok. I am going to go take a bath now...

Bye!

Sims 2 Pets

SO, The Sims 2 Pets finally came out. I installed it and played on Wednesday and then for a long time last Sunday... (I haven't had a chance to play since, but I plan to play a bit this weekend.)

Anyways, the pets are so cool. I really like this expansion pack because it is one of the few packs that really pervades every day Sim life.

So, I made a Belle and a Kanga.

I made a little grey kitty named Cosette, and a Beagle named Porthos (hmm???)

Then I made a boy Belle, named Peek - a - Boo and a boy Kanga named Roo. I moved Belle and Kanga in with the Loves, and I moved Peek-a-Boo and Roo in with two of my other families. Then I tried to get puppies. Not so easy.

In the game, you can't directly control the pets like you can with the Sims. Which makes the game challenging. In order to have puppies (or kittens), you have to have a high relationship score among the Sim and each of the two dogs, AND the two dogs have to have a high score with each other... but it isn't easy to get the dogs to play with each other since you can't control them. (Once the sim has a high enough relationship with the dog you can tell them to go play with another dog, but they don't always listen.)

SO, I get Belle and Peek-a-Boo to be great friends, and both of them have high relationships with Mrs. Love. But the option to have puppies never comes up. Wha??? So finally I check closely and realize, I had accidently made Peek-a-Boo a girl.

Damn it.

Don't ask how long I'd been playing.

SO. I make another Belle dog, this time a male, and name him Scamp. I move him in with the Love's, and work hard to build Scamp's relationship with Belle and Mrs. Love. No easy feet since Mrs. Love had gotten pregnant and gave birth to twins, Jessie and Tessie, during this time.

But finally, after ?? hours of playing, Belle and Scamp had three little puppies. Two girls, Smokey and Lucky, and a boy, Squirt. Too Cute!

Salt Water Pool

So our salt water pool is installed now. Grant and I used the Jacuzzi the other night. Such a difference! I can totally tell that the water feels way softer on your skin. It is way awesome. No more yucky chlorine smell!

Universal Studios Halloween Horror Night

For our October date (two weeks ago,) Grant and I went to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Night. We had never been, so I thought it would be fun. Besides, as passholders we got a really good deal on the tickets.

Grant found a really good deal at the Universal Sheraton and we decided to drive up on Friday and stay Friday night and Saturday night. On Friday night we had dinner at the Micelli's by Universal Studios. On Saturday we had lunch at the Saddle Ranch Chop House - OH. My. GOD. they had this sweet potato casserole that was to die for.

We went in to the park and did our thing - the tram tour, Terminator 2 3-D, etc., and then we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit before the late night.

Halloween Horror Night was fun. We did Jurassic Park in the Dark, The tram tour maze (which was way cool - you got to walk along the Bates Motel patio, up around to the Bates House, and through the War of the Worlds/Ghost Whisperer plane wreckage, all the time while being chased by monsters of all sorts. Very cool. I especailly liked the guy in the plane wreckage who was walking around carrying a shopping cart full of found body parts.

We didn't do the other two mazes because the waits were too long. We went to the shows, which were, ok. Well, not really. They were kind of lame.

Here is the problem. When you've been to Knott's Berry Farm, nothing compares. Knott's really does it right. Any other Halloween event I've been to pales in comparison... (Although the Queen Mary did do a really good job, and much of that is the ambiance.)

In any case, we did have a lot of fun. It was a very enjoyable weekend.

Just saw the coolest thing

Just saw the coolest thing.

Thought I'd share.

I was walking back from the office, and i was looking at the sky. It is a beautiful, clear blue today; a shade so true it looks like a crayon melted in the sky...

Here and there are puffs of clouds, some those stretchy, cotton candy ish stratus clouds, an a few solid, puffy culmulus clouds that look as though they could easily support your weight as you rested on them.

As I past the overhang of the building, this low hanging cloud came into view. At the same time, a flock of silvery birds flying in formation passed just in front of it and off to the right.

From my vantage point, it appeared as though the birds launched staight from their resting place on the cloud. They stood out vibrantly against the clear blue sky flying off, as though they had just appeared there to fly after a morning rest in the clouds.

beautiful

Happy to share my birthday with....

Celebrate National Coming Out Day
October 11, 2006

NCOD 2006 Theme: “Talk About It”

“Talk About It” will be the theme of this year’s National Coming Out Day to be celebrated on October 11, 2006. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Coming Out Project is an on-going campaign to empower gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and allied Americans to live openly and honestly about their lives.

"Understanding is curing ignorance and curing ignorance is abolishing fear."
Author: Matt Marty

Domisticated? Not so much!

So... today is my birthday!!!!!! Happy Birthday to me!!!!!! I'm 28. Lord. Where did the time go.

I wore jeans to work today. I sang a song to my doggies, "Its my birthday I'll where jeans if I want to, jeans if I want to, jeans if I want to... ' I made up a whole verse. Sadly (or maybe not so much?) I can't remember all of the words. Sort of a spur of the moment thing.

So last night, I made 22 beanbags on Donna's sewing machine. gary was so shocked he wanted to take a picture to prove it.

I made the bean bags out of this leftover denim we used to make our bedroom curtains. It felt very Sound of Music ish.

I have a whole stack of presents on my desk from the kiddos. One is this huge Santa Bear stuffed animal. yeah.

Andrew is getting his tonsils taken out today. He is going to feel so much better in a few weeks. He'll be able to sleep much better!

Ok I better go teach now.

Buybye

Obsession

I am watching Nip/Tuck.

Never seen it before, so I don't really understand the story line, but Rosie's on it. Only some of my blog readers remember me from my Rosie-obsessed days, but hear I am again. Watching The View, reading her blog a few times a week, and now, here blogging with Nip Tuck in the background to see her. Seriously. Crazy. I know.

Anyways. I have so many papers to correct. I am looking at them.

"Hi papers. I know I should be correcting you. I see you.

But really. It is a friday night. If I tried to correct you right now, I couldn't truly give you the attention that you deserve. You understand, don't you? I thought so."

I desperatly need to go get my nails done with my seester. Tammy??? When are we goooooing???

SO, I wrote an email to my friend today and I thought part of it was pretty funny, so I thought I'd share it with you:

SO, the excitement of my week was when I got to yell at Brett for peeling the candy shell off of his M&M during a descriptive writing lesson and saying, "look, my M&M is naked! It can be a stripper now!" for his whole group to hear, including my most niave little girl who still can't figure out why 5th grade girls have to watch a movie about periods when she's been punctuating sentences since the first grade. Lord.

hee hee. That was a pretty good sentence. I enjoy a good sentence.

I went to dinner with Angie and Andrew and Cori. Cori has the Little Mermaid toy closet with all of these rubbery-plstic clothes tha you can dress Ariel in. Ariel has this ball gown, complete with these white elbow length gloves. Problem? Instead of two white cylinders with an opening at one end, they created a thicker, round outline at the end of the glove where Ariel's hands go, which makes the "gloves" look like two little condoms.

So inappropriate. (my brain, not so much the toy...)

Cool - this episode has scientologists in it... kinda kooky...

By the way, I wasn't crazy about the first episode of South Park - it was ok. not great. Yeah, really not worth mentioning.

Ok. I am going to go now, becasue I am absolutly rambling senselessly. Becasue itis Friday. I am always soooo tired on Fridays. I always type the word becasue incorrectly. Also studnet. I don't know why. My fingers just hit them in the wrong order.

Ok. Night.

Mish Mash

This week has seemed so long! I haven't been able to watch hardly any TV (poor me!) and my shows are just piling up on the DVR. (Oh how I miss my other boyfriend, Tivo.)

So anyways, Student - Led Back to School Night was a total success for everyone who tried it, so I am super happy.

Fall seems to be a cosmic time for me to reconnect, as I am once again back in touch with another old friend from high school. (Last fall, if you recall, Angie and I started talking again - and now we hang all the time.)It is really nice emailing with this other friend, too. I almost can't really believe it, but it is pretty cool.

Its 7:30 already, and if I leave for school now, well that would be good.

OH! I got two moled removed (gross? sorry!) They looked kind of funny so we just wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with them. They have some stitches in them, I guess so that the scar is not as noticable. It is itchy!

Have I mentioned Cathy? She is my new 5th grade partner and she is becoming a fast friend. We have a lot in common, it seems! I so LOVE my 5th grade team this year - we are all so awesome! We work together so well and support eachother. Seriously, its very cool. It helps because my class, well, there not gelling like they did last year. I know, though, that my last years class was amazing - a once in a lifetime expereince.

Ok. I really should go now.

Love you, peeps!

new phone, new pool

New news...
So I got a new cell phone - its cool because it is super skinny and light. Also, it is black and it has a color screen on the outside and on the inside. I downloaded "Seasons of Love" for my ringer and Grant downloaded "La Vie Boheme," for me...

I need to send some pictures to it so that I can customize it even more!!!

Also, we are changing our pool to a salt water pool - no more chemicals, no more chlorine! I am so excited! That should be done in the next few weeks... Very cool.

I am going to watch "Ugly Betty" tonight - thats new, too.

later - gator

WTMI

I suffer from "Way too much information" syndrome. I know. Sometimes I just talk - its annoying.

Anywho. Thats what my blog if for.

So. I love playing around with my blog. I think it is way cool and way fun to change the colors and stuff andit is so east to do! I love the way I can play with the layouts. DO you dig the pic I put up? And the text? Col.

I love my new teaching partner. She is awesome.

I watched Chasing Amy this weekend. I'd seen it before, but it had been a while. Dogma is still my favorite - loving the religious stuff - with Mallrats a close second. View Askew, baby!

This is just the randomness of random. But hey, its my blog, so whatever...I'll do what I want!

My principal likes South Park. She gets it. I love that she gets it.

One of my students had her cell phone stolen out of her back pack today. We found it in the trashcan of the class next door. Our classes switched today - which makes me think I may have a little thief in my class who used the opportunity of being in another class to dump it off. wunderbar.

Its almost October... what the????

In touch with an old high school friend... so strange - I have thought about this person so much, it is almost surreal to being touch with her...

So I am so excited - I am going to go watch 7th Heaven - thank goodness it is on for one more season!

Ok, I am outtie. Talk to ya'll later!

Hmmm... so country music does suck?

Los Angeles no longer has a country music station. KZLA, the only counry music station, switched to a pop station this summer.

The 15 fans are protesting to get their station back. Its a fun fight. I'm glad I got my Jamie Jack and Stench back! Maybe they'll get thier wish too...

IN any case, if your here in LA, and you want to have country, you better have the satellite radio or your out of luck, chuck.

SO sad. Maybe someone should write a country song about it.


(RE: COMMENT: Sorry Ang! KFROG is San Bernadino County. You may be able to get it, but technically, there are no stations broadcating from LA anymore!)

Block

I have had such a block lately. I feel like there are so many things I want to blog about, but when I sit down to type them, they just seem to be incomplete. I save them to publish later or I delete what I have written altogether.

I am not sure why I have been so choppy in my thoughts lately. It is very odd.

I started to write a blog yesterday about how irritated I am that people are still so eager to blame a whole group (the muslims) for something radical extreamists chose to do. But once I started writing it, I realized I wasn't getting my point across the way I wanted to.

Today I started to blog about loose ends - how much they drive me crazy. How I can pinpoint specific loose ends but I think that my dreams bring up many more that I'm not consciously aware of.

I don't know. My head is playing tricks on me! And I'm going to be late if I don't get going.

September date and catch up

So, Grant and I went to the LA COunty Fair yesterday for our September date. "Something old, something new," as I have never been to the LA Fair (although I have been to many others.

As expected, going on a Saturday, it was insanely crowded, but lots of fun. We ate, of course, way too much, but who doesn't love carnival food? We looked at all of the exkibits. We watched the horse racing (I picked a horse to win and it did - too bad I didn't bet!) We ran in to Jessica and Alan who took us over to the animals from Jessica's school. We watched a hypnotist (not Mark Yuzuik, who I love.) Over all, it was a good time. Mostly, we just enjoyed being togehter. And we didin;t ride a single ride - who would have thought? Sigh.

I always think of random little things to blog about, but I'm usually in the car so I forget to actually blog them. I have to try to be better about that.

I love that Rosie is on the View. I still find Myspace to be annoying, run as it is, and yet I have a profile - however my name is not posted to it at all so no one can find me, which is nice. I mostly use it to look up other people.

I still haven't finished blogging about my Alaska trip.

I find that I am barely treading water at work- - doing lesson plans literally day to day. I will be so excited when I am actually ahead of the game! Speaking of which, I need to go to work to meet my partner in a while, so I have to get some stuff done.

Later

Karaoke Revolution: American Idol

It's official! The songlist for Karaoke Revolution: American Idol has now been released!


1. All My Life
2. Alone
3. (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me
4. Be Without You
5. Breakaway
6. Build Me Up Buttercup
7. Can't Help Falling In Love
8. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
9. Dilemma
10. Do I Make You Proud
11. Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me
12. Don't You Want Me
13. Easy
14. Every Rose Has Its Thorn
15. Flying Without Wings
16. Heartbreaker
17. Heaven
18. Hungry Like The Wolf
19. If You Don't Know Me By Now
20. It's Not Unusual
21. Just The Way You Are
22. Let's Stay Together
23. Love Will Keep Us Together
24. More Than Words
25. Photograph
26. Piano Man
27. Proud Mary
28. Rock With You
29. Saving All My Love For You
30. She Bangs
31. Stand By Me
32. Stickwitu
33. Straight Up
34. Sugar, We're Going Down
35. The Real Thing
36. Total Eclipse Of The Heart
37. Unwritten
38. What A Girl Wants
39. You And Me
40. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

Back to School

I have 31 students again this year, same as last. 16 girls, 15 boys. I was nervous starting todayy, but I have to admit, what was really hard was watching all my wonderful students from last year walk into other classes. Sigh. I know I;ve been teaching a while, but in my career I haven;t had many opportunities to see former students in another grade. I also have not had a class that was so wonderful as my last class was.

My new class is pretty cool so far. I have good kids. I have a group of boys that are quite chatty, and funny. I have some spunky girls.

We have a new teacher in my grade level, and I really like her. I think this is going to be an awesome year again!

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

On Tuesday, Grant and I and mom and Bobby went to the OC Performing Arts Center to see Dirty Rotten Socundrels. this was our first play in our subscription. It was really good! I had only seen the movie version, but it transfered very well into a musical. The stars were hill-air-ee-ous.

Our seats are really good, too! Awesome anniversery present for us!

Expect the Unexpected

SO... tomorrow we leave for Alaska.

The flight we have scheduled to take from Long Beach to Seattle tomorrow has taken off late for the past four days - we only have like a 45 minute layover before our flight to Fairbanks leaves, so chances are we will be sleeping in Seattle tomorrow night. We have a hotel booked just in case, so we'll see...

Have you heard about the heavy rains? Yeah, apparently some of the bridges have closed, and the train we are scheduled to take later next week is closed at least today and tomorrow due to a mud slide.

I am so excited! I know that sounds odd, but wow - who knows what is going to happen! It is a little exciting, don't you think? As long as everyone is safe, who knows what kind of adventure we'll end up having!

Our credit card was declined
at Target today...
What?

So we call,
and the had put a block on our card,
so we could verify some recent charges...

$1500 at a car dealership in Lansing Michigan
Another $500 charge,
and 3 or 4 other charges

So our credit card is stopped,
and we will be getting new ones.

Grant asked them to rush the card since we'll be leaving for Alaska on Friday.

So, yeah,
Grant and I leave for Alaska on Friday.
ALASKA! It is almost surreal.
I am so excited.
I'll be doing my vacation blog for that one,
so check there.

My classroom is all set up.
Ready for a new year.
Well, mostly. Enough to make me happy, anyway.
Enough that I won;t be worried while gone.
Last thing I need in Alaska is to think about what I have left to do.
So why is it almost done?
Well, I printed up a bunch of new posters,
and decided to save ink and trees,
I would laminate them before I put them up.
Unfortunatly, we are out of laminate.
SO when I get back,
I will laminate.
If we have it then.
If not.
Oh well.
I'll put them up and laminate them later.

All supplies are bought.
folders for each kid,
pencil boxes,
book marks...

Ready to go.

Big Brother -
Kaysar gone
unbelievably sad
But its true -
he is too good for that game.
too good of a person.
I'd like to see him on the Amazing Race.
Anyway - HOH redo, due to technical difficulties.
Janelle won!
Unbelievably happy.
At least she is in for one more week!

Our August Date

So, as an anniversery gift to my hunny, I made up this dating game. I thought it would be fun to plan a special date every month that is out of the ordainary or not neccesarily spontaneous like most of our dates are. We have to pick cards on the 23 of each month to determine who will plan a special date for the following month. There cards have different things on them to make planning the dates fun.

So on July 23, our 1 year anniversery, we chose three cards to determine who would plan our August date. Grant (card 1) had to plan a medium length date (cad 2) that involved spending less then $20 (card 3.)

I was so excited when we went on our date - to Disneyland! Once upon a time we went on a date to Dinseyland every Wednesday. Now are dates there are less frequent or involve going with other people, so it was really nice to have our first date be there.

Also, we were able to eat at the new Cafe Orleans - we ordered the Monte Cristo (I got the classic and Grant got the all cheese and we went halvsies.) Grant got around the $20 rule becasue he used our Disney reward dollars.

We went on Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters and I got the highest score I'd ever earned - 604,800

You can check out the proof here - for 30 days, anyway!

Visit http://disneyland.com/buzzphotos and enter the following code number into the code box to view a photo of Star Command's newest hero:

*********************************************
CODE NUMBER: 056A42BCE915F316F354C1759D70CD8B

The Alligator

Well, maybe its a crocodile. I am not really sure.

It is a statue over at Westminster Mall. Right now its on the first floor, I think on the Macy's branch.

Kids crawl all over it. They start at the end of the curled tail, (some kids skip that part and start higher up), and they work their way up the animal until they get to the snout, which is raised off of the ground about 2 feet. Some kids crawl up, the braver kids walk up. When they get to the snout, they sit a minute, enjoying their accomplishment, and then they get off. Some jump, some slide around... and then they go back to the tail to start again.

It has happened this way for decades. When I was a child, I would start at the tip of the tail, and follow the curl around.

Another part of the mall has bear statues, but they don't have as much appeal. Sure, you'll find kids crawling on them - anything is a welcome break from being dragged from store to store full of clothes, or worse, shoes (no racks to play in at shoe stores!), while being carefully steered clear of KB toys.

But kids really love to play on that alligator.

Yesterday, I went with Angie to the mall. She wanted to buy some shoes that were on sale. Drew wanted to go play on the statues. I was more then happy to take him and Cori. Right outside the shoestore, and a couple shops up, was that dear old alligator. I was oddly excited to be hanging 'round my old freind again.

I watched as Cori and Drew, along with other children, played on the alligator. I watched the younger ones crawl up. I watched the bigger, braver ones, balance, like on a balance beam. I watched one girl, 10 or 11, just passing by, trot quickly in and take her turn among the little ones, while her mom watched from outside... the girl ran up the alligator, savoring the memory of her younger years... "just one more time, Mom," and then she jumped off the snout, joined her mom, and they continued on their way.

It was such an odd, surreal experience. Watching Cori and Drew play, and having such powerful feelings about it.

In those moments, I thought about how amazing Drew and Cori are. Drew is such a caring big brother. He is thoughtful and considerate, inquisitive and charming. Cori is a character, dramatic and emotional, funny and charismatic. I realized how much I love those kids.

I had a memory of an old friend.

I had a glimpse of what it will be like when I have my own children, when Grant and I take them to expereince things that we did as a child. Disneyland, swimming in a pool, the alligator at the mall. I know that, in itself, will be emotional, but I didn't realize how much so.

An acknowledgement

I know my blogs are often full of typos and misspelled words.

I am not the greatest speller in the world, something I tell my students at the very beginning of the year, and I am not a very good typer, either.

In addition, I often type out my blogs quickly, because what is on my mind wants to come out, quickly.

Yes, I could use spell check. I do know how to use it correctly.

However, I think of my blog as my journal, and like I tell my students, a journal is all about content. I'm not concerned with mechanics and grammar. I am concerned with thoughts.

Saved!

I watched the movie Saved! last night.

I love that movie.

Loved it more this time then the first time I saw it.

Its a comedy/drama

Plot: Christian girl at a Christian high school,
Her Christian boyfriend admits to her that he is gay,
she prays and feels that Jesus has told her to have sex with her boyfriend
to help him with his perversion, to make him straight.
She thinks Jesus will resore her spirtual virginity.
His parents find a guy mag, realize he's gay, and send him to rehab.
She finds out she is pregnant,
and thus starts her senior year.

Great movie... some of the funniest scenes ever...

Awesome cast, too, Macaulay Culkin, Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Heather Matarazzo, Mary Louise Parker, Eva Amurri

Here are some good quotes:

Mary: [about the Virgin Mary] I know this is wrong, but do you ever wonder if she just made the whole thing up? I mean, it's a pretty good one. It's not like anyone can ever use virgin birth as an excuse again.
[pause]
Mary: I don't really think she made it up, but I can understand why a girl would.

Lillian: I keep trying to remind myself that when Jesus closes a door he opens a window.
Mary: Yeah, so we have something to jump out of.

Cassandra: There's only one reason Christian girls comes down to the Planned Parenthood.
Roland: She's planting a pipe bomb?
Cassandra: Okay, two reasons.


Hilary Faye: I mean you're not born a gay, you're born again!

Pastor Skip: Let's get our Christ on, let's kick it Jesus-style!

Cassandra: I always get this really left out feeling at Christmas time
Hilary Faye: [to Patrick] Jewish.
[Back to Cassandra]
Hilary Faye: Well, if you decided to accept Jesus into your heart you and your people could join in on the fun!


Mary: So everything that doesn't fit into some stupid idea of what you think God wants you just try to hide or fix or get rid of? It's just all too much to live up to. No one fits in one hundred percent of the time. Not even you.....

Why would God make us all so different if he wanted us to be the same?

Random Stuff

I love Exercise on Demand...
My current favorite?
Jab, Kick.
When I started, last month, it was Jab, Kick episode 2
That expired yesterday,
and now it has Jab, Kick ep. 3
I love it.
But now I am all yucky sweaty,
and too lazy to do anything but sit here and type.

I've been back to my classroom,
starting to set up,
organizing,
cleaning out cupboards.

Last year, with my broken wrist,
everything just sort of got thrown in,
in a semi organized fashion.

I have so many great ideas for this year!
I am excited. It will be a good year.

So summer time
brings my summer shows...
watching the random episode of Days of our Lives
doesn't take many to catch up,
A Baby Story
which is on all year,
but I only really watch in the summer,
Bringing Home Baby,
a new TLC show about the first 36 hours home with a newborn,
and of course, Big Brother,
Go season 6 alliance,
James, Janie, stay cool, don't screw it up...
I hope Janelle or Kayser wins.
Also, watching the new Treasure Hunters.
It would be much better is it were not one long commercial
"lets use ask.com and then book our best option on Orbitz before our next Motorolla message comes through."
gag

I've been back on AIM
off and on,
I haven't used Instant Messanger in years,
but I sign on now,
to see if Amy is on,
Its odd not seeing her three times a week.
She is doing well by the way,
recovering from her Bone Marrow transplant,
if all goes well, she will be back in school in September for third grade.

The puppies are being lazy,
Kanga is laying on the dog bed,
curled up,
Belle on the couch next to me,
both napping,
you know, busy day,
eating, barking, sniffing,

I love summer

The Sims 2 Pets!

It is officially confirmed. The Sime 2 is coming out with a expansion this fall called "Sims 2 Pets!" The main features are the dogs and cats, which you can create yourself (as with new sims), adopt from the pound, breed from your own pets, or adopt strays.

Becasue this game is so sophisticated there are supposed to be some pretty funny intereactions.

For example, you have to train your pet, or you may end up with a house that has been compleatly trashed. One interaction includes teaching your dog to "play dead." The sim puts his hands up to his throat and wobbles around dramatically before falling down dead. The dog is concerened and walks up to sniff the owner. When the owner opens his eys, the dog gets excited and wags his tail (so cute!!!) Then, the dog tries it... and proceeds to wobble around the room up on his two legs inan even more dramatic fashion then his woner before falling down "dead"... then he peaks with one eye to see if he has an audience! So CUTE!

Other than dogs and cats, you can get parrots, wombats, and a new salt water aquarium. These animals don't breed... when they die, you buy another one, so they don't mix genes or anything like the breeding doggies and kitties do.

Here are articles if you are interested:

The official EA site

An article with lots of screen shots

An article from TheSimsResource Website

Clarification

"but whgat is overwhelming is the amount of things I can do with these tools Iove learned... and of course, the fear that I am not using them to their best potential."

I'm confused, can you clarify? Thanks.

But what is overwhelming is the amount of things I can do with these tools I've learned... and of course, the fear that I am not using them to their best potential.

See, when it comes to these GATE strategies, there is not one cut and dry way to use them... its not spelled out in a curiculum book (like everything else is) which is one of the reasons that I love teaching GATE so much. There are so many things you can do with them!

The thing is, I can sometimes think of 5 ways to apply GATE strategies to a lesson (which would be overkill, redundant, and frankly there just isn't time) so choosing which way to apply the strategies on a particular lesson, which way would be the best, the most meaningful,

- and then the fear that the "best way" hasn't even occured to me...

or, if there is no "best way" then the knowledge that there is probably a better way that I haven't even thought of yet. Does that make sense?

GATE trIaining

On Monday and tuesday I attended a GATE training through USC. I signed up for the novice section, but spent most of the second day ant the intermediate section. First, can I say that it is SO COOL that my fifth=grade team partner (and former master teacher) is one of the demonstration school teachers! That is so neat.
Anyway, the training was very helpful for me and clarified a lot of things. I felt really good becasue I feel like ai have more of an understanding of the basics then I realized... but whgat is overwhelming is the amount of things I can do with these tools Iove learned... and of course, the fear that I am not using them to their best potential.

I face every year the guilt that since I have learned so much more (through training and the experience I gained from the previous year) I constantly think of all the things I SHOULD have done with my previous students. I know thats silly, and part of learning, but I do twist it around to the positive and think, because of what I've learned, think of how much better I will be for next years students! Well, I try to think that anyway... but I constanly think there are so many things I need to do to become a better teacher.

Anyways, I have lots of ideas swimming and next week (when I have 3 weeks at home) I will spend some time planning and getting ready for the next school year. I have so many ideas!

July 23, 2006

Celebrated our one year anniversary. WOW... Its so amazing... in one sense, it seems like a year went by so fast. In another, it feels like Grant and I have been together forever... it is such a natural fit.

We celebrated by going to the Blue Bayou at Disneyland. We waited for a water table so that we could watch all of the boats on the Pirates of the Caribbean go by.

Grant ordered the Filet Mignon and I had crab legs (which they cut in half lengthwise for you, making it very easy to eat!) Then for dessert, Grant got the Flying Dutchman cookie boat, a wedge of cookie with a scoop of icexream and an edible sail, while I got the trip of creme brulee, which was a dessert that consisted of two timy portions of passion fruit and chocolate creme brulee, and a small portion of vanilla bean creme brulee, that was servrd with a few cookies in an edible treasure chest. very yummy. The creme brulee was arranged on the plate to look like a mickey, with the vanilla up front and the two smaller ones as the ears.

After dinner we rode the new, updated Pirates of the Caribbean. We both felt they did a very good job on it. The classic attraction is still there, but they put in some sound track changes to create a tighter story line and added a really cool special effect.

We are now in Vegas (Its Wednesday morning as I write this) where we'll be for the next few days celebrating more of our anniversery!

Fun Day At Sea

Thursday was our "Fun Day at Sea." After breakfast, Gina and I read by the pool for a while, and Jessica went to the Casino. Jess didn't want to sit in the sun anymore. Meanwhile, I had a soar throat and felt a cold coming on so I didn’t want to be in the casino around the cigarette smoke, so I joined Gina by the pool.

We all met up to watch the Newlywed/Not-so Newlywed game, which was funny, but could have been much funnier if he had the contestants say their own answers. Instead, they wrote their answer down and he read them aloud to us. However, it was all quite funny!

While there some girls dressed up in costumed handed out a flier that announced that the San Juan Sensations would be performing on the ship at 4:30 (not a Carnival sponsored event.) We thought we might come back for it.

Jessica went back to the cabin to take a nap while Gina and I went back out to the pool. I was reading "The Other Women," and almost finished with it. At around 4:30, Gina and I decided to go check out the girls dancing thing.

It was awful. I don’t know what other way to put it. It was so awful it was funny. It was like this weird classical dance. The thing is, the choreography was the same for every single song. Fast or slow, strong beat or melodic flow, the dance moves were these same slow spins leg lifts, strange jumps, and circles. I don't know how to describe it to you without Gina and I doing our fabulous demonstrations. The craziest thing was, at the end, the dance coaches came out on stage with the girls and clapped and danced along... like, I don't know, the girls doing their finale by themselves wasn't enough. Then, as the girls took their bow, their coaches came out at the end and took one, too, and stayed center stage until the curtains closed, with the girls behind them. It was very odd.

My theory? Some yuppie ex cheerleader couldn't stand that her glory days were over, so she started this dance club. What did you need to join the dance troupe? Not talent (The even announced that this was their last stop for touring this year - you would have thought the mistakes would have been adjusted by this point...) - Now, all you needed to join was $3000 to pay for your costumes and you Carnival Cruise trips. You may not be able to dance, but at least your outfit would look good.

Anyways, we went back to the room, took showers, and began packing. Before dinner, we went out and found our favorite photographer (Dushyant), and he took some more cute pictures of us.

Dinner was, as usual, madness. The main event for this evening was that one of the girls had persuaded one of the cabin stewards to give her their Carnival Name tag. SO for the rest of the evening, any Carnival person who walked by (waiters, photographers, bar tenders...) the girls would ask, repeatedly, "Can I have your name tag????" Over and over again, even when the person said no. Again, the parents said nothing.

After dinner, we went up to buy our last minute pictures. There were so many good ones to choose from! We ended up buying a total of 8 pictures. Most were taken by Dushyant. (If you go on Carnival's Paradise and he is there, get him to take your pics. He is awesome!) Then we swung by the casino to play that game where you try to bump quarters off of the ledge... we won a t shirt! Jessica put the quarter in that won it so she got to keep the shirt.

The show that night was Shout, and I thought it was the best show of the cruise. We knew almost every song, the singing and dancing were incredible - very high energy. After dinner we headed back to the casino to play the quarter game some more. At midnight we went to the adult comedy show which was pretty good, although by this time I was feeling really tired and congested.

The next morning, I was up by 6 (I couldn't sleep anymore I was so stuffy...) but that was fine because there was a problem on our fun pass bill that I had to go resolve. (They charged us for pictures that we didn't buy.) It was a mistake and they refunded it.

The girls got up around 8:00 and we went and had breakfast before departing the lovely Carnival Paradise.

What a fantastic trip!

Mexico Day - AKA Get the boat to ourselves day!

Today the boat docked at Ensenada... or so we were told,. although we really never got off of the ship to find out for sure. Instead, after breakfast, we grabbed books and towels and sun block and went up to the pool deck where we proceeded to lay out on lounge chairs, read, chat, and drink daiquiris and pina coladas. (Good thing they're cheaper without alcohol... gave us an excuse to order more!) We ate lunch when we were hungry from the nearby Lido Grill or Paris restaurant, but other then that. we didn’t really move for the next five hours. Sweet....

Around 4:30, we headed back to our cabin (M156) to compare sun burns. Gina has a skinny stripe right on her lower belly along with the edge of her bathing suit. I have some random spots here and there that the sun block just missed - the insides of my ankles, my right side under my arm 9I guess I was holding my book up, and a little patch on my belly. Poor Jessica, though, has a pretty painful burn on her thighs, and a little on her belly.

yes, we reapplied. Apparently not often enough. Also, although that new spray on sunscreen looks easy, the jury's still out on whether it works as well as the cream stuff, over all....

After showers and phone calls, we went up to the photo gallery, found all of the pictures we took last night, and chose 5 to purchase. The lines were super long, however, so we put them in a corner of one of the racks to get them when we returned. Then we rushed off to dinner.

I believe our waiter sort of avoids us because of the other people at our table, which sort of sucks,. They are rather rude. For example, the "grownups" showed up 15 minutes late again. Around 8:30, one of the kids(the daughter) shows up. Around 8:45 2 more show up (the 16 year old little shit sitting down next to me and saying, "Hi, I'm sexy, what's your name?" Um, ha ha...?) and the hyper little girl who is the daughter's friend. (the other boy never showed up at all)

These two (the friend and the boy) order dinner, and then decide to just leave. Um, rude much? And the grownups didn't say anything about it! (I did - 'Um, your leaving? Didn't you order food?") I also thought it was odd that the 16 year old boy was spending so much time with the 11 year old girl - they weren't siblings. Strange.

Anyways, dinner was yummy overall (The couple had requested escargot, which was served on the first night, and they brought out 6 double bowls of the stuff...we had a few but it was way too much.) I had a chicken quesadilla, won-ton soup, and sweet and sour shrimp. (I had also ordered a tomato and mozzarella dish, but in the confusion of the escargot and the kids coming late and then leaving, my tomato dish never came out. )

Gina ordered the quesadilla, lobster bisque, a salad (which never came out) and chicken pasta. She didn’t really like the pasta, but she had some of my shrimp, and also, the girl who left had ordered shrimp so Gina had some of that since they would just have thrown the food away anyway.

Jessica had the tomato/mozzarella, the lobster bisque, and filet mignon.

Dinners just seem so chaotic with this group. It doesn't feel, to me, as special when people don't take it seriously or respect the other people. Showing up late, taking off after ordering food, leaving a mess, ordering about the waiter, impolite manners... it is a bit frustrating at times. I wouldn't say its awful... at times it is funny, but it does sorry of take a bit of the special feeling out of going to such a nice dinner when people are behaving as though it were chucky cheese on free pizza night.

After dinner, we went back to buy our pictures... but they were gone! Apparently the staff moved pictures around and separated our stack.... but we looked through all of the pictures and couldn't find any of them except the top one!!! We both it but we're kind of bummed because there were some really good ones. The crew said they might show up later or they could look for them on the computers.

We took a few more pictures. There is one photographer who is very cool. He does a good job of really making people relax. I liked him.

At 10:30, we went to see the show. It was cool close-up magic and then a comedian.

(Another problem with having the late dining time - by the time your show is over its 11:00! It bed nice to have the early dining time and then a show at 8:00 so that you could hang out in one of the lunges or the sing along piano bar for a while - not to self for future cruises.)

We're back in our room - the girls are reading... I love fellow book worms.

Night!

Catalina

Day 2 of our cruise!!! Today we went to Catalina. The boat anchored at 8:00, I guess, although we didn't really wake up until 9:00. After showers, we went down to the Internet Cafe and posted the blog and then we had breakfast in the Paris Buffet. Jessica liked the pancakes, Gina liked the hash browns, and I had a yummy omelet.

After breakfast, we took a tender over to Catalina. We rented bikes and rode all over the place (there... we exercised!) and did some shopping. We had a snack (ice cream, shaved ice...) and then rode our bikes some more. The day was nice, warm but not too hot, with a nice breeze that made biking pleasant.

Around 3;30, we went back to our ship. We changed into our bathing suits and went out by the pool. we grabbed snacks from the Lido Grill and read books as we sailed away from Catalina.

By the way, I just finished George Orwell's "1984". Very interesting read - I want to read Brave New World later... Jessica is reading "The Trickster’s Queen" by Tamora Pierce, and Gina is reading "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory."

At 5:00, we went back inside and took showers and got all dressed up in our fancy formal clothes. We headed to the Casino and played some slot machines, and then took our picture about a thousand times at all of the different photo backdrops they had set up. Hopefully we'll find one or two that we all agree look nice.

Dinner was at 8. The funny couple showed up with their whole group. its all quite confusing because we have no clue how these people are related. The adult couple (we don't believe they are married,) showed up with four kids. Two somewhat sulky, bored teenage boys and two giggly, energetic (and in the case of one, very hyper) preteen girls. We suspect that one of the girls and one of the boys belongs to the adults (but we are not sure which one goes to which adult.) and that the other two are friends of the kids.

Tonight dinner was awesome. I had the Southwest egg roll, strawberry bisque, lobster (I had two lobster tails... yummy) and soufflé for dessert.

Jessica had the mushroom soup, artichoke, tomato, and celery salad, the lobster tail, and the soufflé.

Gina had the mushroom soup, the southwest egg roll, lobster, and banana sponge cake.

Ok, I admit that I am the stereotypical person who loves to cruise because of the food. Not that it isn't totally obvious.

After dinner, we took a few more pics and then we went to the 10:30 show. It was a tribute to Hollywood and the movies. The dancing and singing and costumes were good, but it would have been nice to have more songs and movies that we recognized. I don't think I could even venture a guess at what movies half of the songs were from. We were stoked when they finally started singing, 'Let's do the time warp again..." Something we could sing to and actually recognize!!!

Let's all sing along, shall we? get up and move if you'd like...

"It's just a jump to the left...

and a step to the ri- i-i-i-i-i-i-ight....

Put your hands on your hips...

and pull your knees in ti - i-ight...

its the pelvic thru -u -u - ust that will drive you in sa -a- a - a - a - a - a -a -ane

LETS DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN"

After that, we went to the other side of the ship to the Queen Mary lounge to see Jerome do his adult show. It was SO FUNNY! I was in tears laughing so hard. Well worth staying up for!

However, it is now 1:45 in the AM and I must be going to sleep!

Good night, y'all.

Mexico Cruise with the gals!

Hi All! I am on a 5 day Mexico Cruise with my gals, Jessica and Gina! We got on the boat around 1:00 and stopped by our cabin (M156). I like our deck because the cabin halls are painted blue.

Next, we went up to the Lido Deck for lunch... my favorite lunch entree was the eggplant tart (yummy! A thin pastry with eggplant mozzarella and tomato), Jessica liked the broiled fish and Gina (and Jess!) liked the cheesecake.

Sorry, but those of you who have read the "Grant and Bobbi vacation blog" know my obsession with describing food - particularly cruise food.

After lunch, we explored the ship some, and then came back to our cabin to unpack. After the lifeboat drill, we dropped off our lifejackets and headed up to the aft lido deck and got three lounge chairs to sit on for sail away.

We all called our men to say goodbye as we sailed away from port, and watched someone fly a kite off of the back of the ship.

Now, we are back in the room getting dressed for dinner!

Dinner was yummy. We ate in the Destiny Dining room at 8:00. By 8:20, we were still the only three at our 9 person table when two, well, interesting people showed up. (Around the time our soup was served, you could really begin to feel the ships motors shaking - the lady leaned over and said to us, "Is it just me or are your panties vibrating too?" And by dessert, we got a lovely joke from the man about two cowboys, a sheep, and well, you don't really need to know the rest.)

Anyway, for dinner, Jess and I both ordered the escargot, and Gina ordered a portable mushroom appetizer. We all got the pumpkin soup, and then Gina had linguine, Jessica had a seafood spectacular with prawns, scallops, and fish, while I had the beef Wellington. Dessert was strawberry cheesecake for Gina and I and Orange sponge-cake for Jessica.

After dinner, we went to see "Deal, or No Deal." Basically - you payed 10$ for a raffle ticket (or $20 for 3) and if your ticket was drawn you got to be a contestant. It was played just like the-real show, except there were 18 briefcases, and the most you could win was $1000. When they drew the ticket (Jessica, by the way, bought tickets to try to play) They had a little girl come up and draw. The man who played (and won $140) gave the little girl $20 of his winnings... ahhhh... so cute!

Then we went to the Queen Mary Lounge and watched a dating game. it was pretty funny, but we were pretty tired....

I am excited. These girls are like sisters to me. I have hoped for a long time that we could do something like this. I hope that this trip if full of fun memories and good times for them!

Tomorrow, Catalina!

RENT times 2

Oh. My. God.

SO Grant asks me, "what do you want to do tonight?"

"I don't know, what do you think? Take it easy?" I ask.

"Well," he says, "We could see Rent," while pulling out two tickets to Rent for the July 12th show.

"Wha...wha...what?"

I stare, blankly, confused... "Rent? Tonight? We just ... wha ...?"

I stutter about, and Grant watches, amused, until he fijnally decides to explain.

After he had bought our tickets for last night (Tuesday, July 11,) he went out to search for information about the new RENT tour. The website had a contest you could enter, and low and behold, Grant found out a month later that he had won... two more tickets to RENT!

So, we got to see Rent two nights in a row. I know your jealous.

So this time, we were in Orchestra section, row D, towards the right center.

So cool. It's neat becasue when you are farther back, like in the balcony, you can take in the whole stage, the big picture. But when you are so close, you can really focus on details. Its a different experience.

Roger (Bryce Ryness) and Mark (Jed Resnick) were both so full of expression from closer up. Again, I loved Joanne (Chante Carmel Frierson), amazing voice, and Collins ( Warren G. Nolan Jr.) showed so much emotion tonight!

"The opposite of war isn't peace... it's creation."

Officially a Renthead

We took the train down to San Diego today to celebrate Grant's birthday to see Rent.

This is my 5th time seeing it live on stage (London, LA, Orange County, New York, and now San Diego.) I read once that if you have seen Rent 5 times on stage, you are officially a Renthead. Yipee! Pretty good considering I don't live in New York and don't buy tickets to every performance while it is in town.

God, there is nothing like seeing Rent live. Hearing the first few notes, Mark's narration, and the stage lighting up in music and energy...it is just amazing!

At one point, Roger's ear mike stopped working and he had to use a handheld for a few numbers. He was so natural with it and made it blend right in.

Angel (Ano Okero) had a very deep, soulful voice... not what I'm used to as Angel, but he really acted the part well. Mark (Jed Resnick) did a great job all around, and I liked this portayal of Roger (Bryce Ryness - soulful, not overly angry or sulky, just introspective.) Joanne (Chante Carmel Frierson) had a very beautiful, powerful voice, I loved whenever she sang.

The crowd was FULL of RENT HEADS. Lots of cheers and screaming and loud applause. It was way cool to be there. Other then New York, this was the most energetic crowd I've seen... and actually, because the theater was so much bigger, the crowd seemed almost more enthusiastic, in my opinion.

"I trust my soul, my only goal, is just to be."

On Demand

I'm babysitting Cori today.

No worries about Belle with kids. The first few times the kids came over, Belle was very hyper. Now, Belle knows them so she can be calm around Cori... when she lets him. But let me tell you, the amount of abuse that girl inflicts upon Belle, that Belle patiently takes, makes me realize that Belle will be just fine around kids.

Ever seen Tiny Toom Adventures with that little girl, Elmyrah, I think was her name, and how she "loved" all the animals and she would "squeeze them and hug them and kiss them and make them all her own..." yeah, Cori could have given her a few lessons.

No kidding, Cori's hands are all over Belle's snout and Belle just lays there, with a kiss now and then.

And when Cori gets so overwhelming, Belle just goes upstairs to lay down for a little bit. Its awesome.

In any case (subject change!!!), we just swapped out our satelite for cable. Cable or Satelite, don't care much, but they do have some side effects.

The bad news? Tivo has been demoted to the upstairs bedroom for the time being. I miss my Tivo, but I know it is only temporary, and I promise my Tivo that I will visit upstairs occasionally.

The good news, we get a DVR that records in hi-definition, and that can record two programs at a time. (When the new Tivo box comes out, we will bring Tivo back downstairs, most likely, unless we fall in live with our new DVR, which I don't really see happening. Tivo is my second love.)

The other good news is that Cable has "On-Demand," and it includes "On Demand Exercise," which has a whole unch of diferent exercise programs - short ones (10 minutes) long ones, cardi, aerobics, kick boxing, yoga, pilates, dance, you name it. Its really cool!

So today, I decided to play around with it. First, I picked a cardio dance mini (10 min) work out. (I thought Cori would like dancing with me.) The workout itself was challenging and fun and I enjoyed doing it, but Cori wasn't into it so much. But she was occupying herself torturing the dog, so after I finished the first workout, I decided to do a mini yoga workout.

Again, I enjoyed the workout... and so did Cori! She was more interested in doing the yoga with me then the other one! Well for a while anyway, until she decided to just come and sit on top of me while I finished the workout. Yeah, the extra weight helped burn more calories, I'm sure!

Anyway, I know its weird, but when its so easy to access the workout (just like picking a show to watch on, sigh, tivo...) I am more motivated to do it... if I can sit from my lazy ass and click it on, rather then have to get up and walk all the way over to the dvd case, set up the system to play a dvd which involves pushing, you know, like 3 buttons, putting the dvd in, sigh, what a pain (stop laughing!!!)

Plus its new stuff, and so many options, so I can try new stuff each time!

It is pretty cool!

Anyways, Cori is on the other room screaming, "Belle!" and Belle is in here pleading with me with her big brown puppy dog eyes...I best go intervene.

Really???

Wow! I just checked my blog and saw that I haven't published here in a month! That 4th of July post isn't going to cut it! What have I been up to??? Well, I admit, It has been pretty hectic since that last post about my all time favorite Sex and the City episode.

First there was end of the year stuff. Which of course means report cards, goodbye stuff for my kids, thank you cards.

Then there was the fact that I was leaving for Florida the day after school let out, which means that the stuff I normally do on check out day Ihad to have done early... so I was at school packing things up and putting stuff away. I also had to pack for Florida.

Then June 22 hit and I was on a plane to Florida, finally relaxing! I just got back Saturday... so... there. All caught up!

Happy 4th of July!

One thing I love about living in Huntington Beach is our annual 4th of July Parade. It is so neat being there!

Belle and Kanga were such good puppies at the parade today! It was hot already, but luckily our friends showed up - and had umbrellas, so Bellers could sit in the shade. She wasn't always too sure about those drums, but she did good!

Happy 4th of July!

One

Season 6 Episode 12 -

Best episode so far. I actually cried. Please let them stay together until the end of the season!!!

Sex in the City

Old to many, new to me..

Grant's Aunt got the Sex and the City Seasons 1-6 on dvd and she generously lends them to me. I started watching in January and really enjoyed the first few seasons... But starting at Season 4 I got hooked.

I swear to God, I spent 5 months on he first 3 and a half seasons and in the last two weeks I zoomed through the rest of 4, and 5, and now I am on episode 9 of season 6. AAAHHH

There is one major thing driving me... Miranda and Steve!!! I have loved them since they first dated and, well, they HAVE to get together!!!!!!!!!! They have to!!! This has to be one of the most HAVE TO moments of TV history. I know you all know. Please don't ruin it for me! Just be waiting for my screams of joy or shouts of frustration!

Graduation

High school
I graduated ten years ago
So much has changed
Yet my fear of them stays the same.
So freakin odd.

Michelle graduated from 8th grade today.
It was so interesting to see her today.
Such a beautiful, intelligent young woman,
and yet a little girl...
She knows so much
She thinks she knows so much
This odd gap with us, a distance -
So much has changed,
so much stays the same.

Two weeks left,
and my students will be
6th graders..
another ending
another beginning

For one who hates change
hates goodbyes
hates endings,
hates new beginnings
I sure picked an odd career.

7th Heaven Returns

Thank goodness. After such a horrible season finale, 7th Heaven has a chance to redeem itself.

It has been picked up on the CW Network for one more season. My Monday nights will be complete again.

I can't dance

My students are learning a dance to "Men in Black" for our school's dance festival.
I am trying to learn it too.
Pitiful reminder of how bad I am at dancing.

I want to make a family website this summer.
Reformat the wedding site into a family one.
Not exactly sure what I want on it yet.
I am reading "Creating Family Websites for Dummies..."

I got me a nice sunburn this weekend, while sitting outside to read The DaVinci Code.
Very painful on my legs.
I'm so stoopid.

16 days of school left.
Two weeks.
Two half weeks.
Yikes.

Summer. Takes forever to come.
Flies by so fast.

I live my life like I play the Sims.
Looking impatiently forward to what will come next,
instead of enjoying the moment.
When will my Sims graduate from University?
Will their marriage plans work out?
What kids will they have?
When will my next vacation be?
How long until summer?
When is Cafe Oreleans reopening at Disneyland?
Bad habit I need to break.

"After all that we've been through, I know we're cool"

The DaVinci Code

In the past eight days I have:

Seen The DaVinci Code movie

Attended a talk by Josh McDowell at a nearby Church

Read a book called "The DaVinci Code: A Quest for Answers" by Josh McDowell

Reread "The DaVinci Code", by Dan Brown

I had planned to blog about my reaction to all of these things put together, but I feel as though the blog would be inadequate. My hope was to have some equal examination of both points of view: The theories presented in The DaVinci Code and why parts of them could be plausible, and the point of view that these theories are absolutely fictional in basis.

I understand that much more evidence than this would be needed to really come up with a historical response, but I was hoping to just come up with an intellectual one.

Unfortunately, I found McDowell's book, overall, to be extremely unhelpful.

First of all, it seemed to me that the McDowell was too interested in laughing at the characters and making subtle digs at the author. I could have done without the cheap shots.

Secondly, he tries to point out Brown's inaccuracies with a few examples of mistakes Brown made when describing architecture (the same examples he used both in his speech and in his book.) However, I was astounded to realize when I reread the novel, that Brown points out hundreds of "clues," and McDowell seems only to be able to refute a few of them. Not very convincing.

Granted, Brown claims at the beginning of his book that all descriptions of architecture and art are accurate and McDowell was able to find one mistake that I have confirmed thus far.

Next, McDowell sometimes argues irrelevant claims. I am not sure why he chooses to dispute claims that aren’t made in the book. For example:

McDowell states that Silas is referred to as a monk but that there are no monks in Opus Dei. However, the book refers to Silas as a monk because of the way he dresses, but when he officially announces himself, (or anyone officially talks about him) he is then referred to as a "brother," or a "numerary", which Opus Dei does have. So he is arguing a moot point. Brown never states in his book that Opus Dei has monks. He describes Silas as a monk from other's perspectives because that is how he appears.

Finally, and most irritatingly, every time McDowell made a really good point that I wanted to follow up on, he would reference me to another DaVinci code debunking book. How irritating. He complains about Dan Brown's sources, and yet many of his own (and most of which that claimed really intriguing points) simply refer to other authors who are clearly writing with the same agenda: "The Truth behind the DaVinci Code", "Breaking the DaVinci Code," "The DaVinci Deception," "DaVinci, Fact or Fiction." etc. This is not to say they are his only references. McDowell has many more. But again, almost every time he stated a fact and sited it that I was curious about the source, it was one of these books. Very frustrating.

So, as such, I do not recommend McDowell's book. Also, I feel I have much more research to do to look for the answer I want. If the authors of all these DaVinci-bunking books are merely a ring of authors quoting each other, I may have a problem. We'll see.

“…every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith – acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we can not prove. Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegory, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians through modern Sunday school. Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessible. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors.” – The DaVinci Code

The Da Vinci Code Message Boards

I've been hanging out over at the Da Vinci Code message boards on the IMDB and I have found some thread titles that were quite amusing.

For example:

"Is atheism a religion?"

"There is more truth to the Da Vinci Code then the Bible, True or False?"

"what has God done for us lately? Let's see..."

"The DaVinci COde is setting the stage for the Antichrist!!!"

"I bet a lot more athiests will be praying..."

"Why Christianity is fake"

"Who are you guys talking to"

"This is about movies. Not GAYS or RELIGION please respect"

"To all the ITS JUST FICTION parrots"

"STOP IT! I'M JEWISH! AAAAGGGHHHH!"

"If we evolved from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys today?"

"Can anyone be intelligent and religious?"

"Why did God give us unwanted body hair if we came from Adam and Eve?"

"INTELLIGENT DESIGN"

"Regarding all the "Why do Christians say I'm going to hell" questions."

"This book was written on a fourth grade reading level."

"Jesus Saves"

"Athiests - IF GOD WERE PROVEN TO EXIST"

"You guys need therapy"

Hooray for Hollywood

So this weekend, Grant and I went to LA! We took the train up after school on Friday (It was very close, the train pulled up a minute after we got on the platform... yikes!)

We arrived at Union sation and took the redline to Hollywood and Highland and checked into the Marriott Reniassance Hotel at Hollywood and Highland. Our room was on the 14th floor, overlooking the Hollywood hills.

Then we hopped back on the redline and took it to Hollywood and Vine, where we walked to the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood to see The Da Vinci Code. COmplete with protesters and a news van. Sweet!

After the movie we went to dinner at Miceli's Restaurant which was very cool, complete with a piano player and at an opera singer and great Italian food.

Finally, we swung by Coldstone Creamery at Hollywood and Highland before heading abck to our room to watch some TV and go to bed.

On Saturday we went to Universal Studios. We went ahead and got an Annual Pass, which is good because Fear Factor Live was closed, and that was the one thing we wanted to see because it was new since we'd last been.

And I was SO excited (Ok my nerdiness comes out, again, here) on the tram tour we went by the old courthouse square... you know, my favorite part where the clock tower scenes from Back to the Future were filmed... Yeah, well its dressed up for something else, and it happens to be one of my current favorite TV shows... Ghost Whisperer!!! The courthouse Sqare is the Grandview Mainstreet, complete with the plants, the memorial in the middle, and on the left "Same as it Never Was" antiques shop!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! How cool is that???

We left Universal at about 6 and had dinner at the City Walk before catching the redline back to our hotel to pick up our bag, and then taking the redline to the Union Sation to catch the Amtrak home.

What a great weekend, and I still have all day today!

Amazing Race Finale?

I can't take this stress!

Will it be TTOW or Damn you frat boys???








Crap!!! This is a great final task!!!






breathe breathe breathe










Please we REALLY need a good season ending this year!!!!









TTOW!!!!!!!!!!

YES!!!!!!! THE HIPPIES ROCK!!!! THE HIPPIES HAVE WON!!!!!!

SEE, GOOD WILL ALWAYS CONQUER!!!!

why i do not like the frat brothers

Ok, the frat brothers are like mean ol' bullies. They are just like those jerks who keep talking trying to make people feel bad and deflect what they've done.

You know those people. They are jerks, and do jerky things. And then, someone plays along, follows thier game, jumps in... so the jerks wine and loudly talk abou what the other people did, becasue they are mad that they got a taste of their own medicine. They're goal is to embarrass and make the others feel guilty.

The worst part about jerks like that is when they prey on those that actually have a conscience... because the guilt trip can sometimes work.

When BJ and Tyler beat the frat boys in a paddle race to the pit stop, the boys were embarrassed and angry that they'd lost, and loudly in fromt of Phil, complained that the hippies were "playing dirty" because they mislead the frat boys about a clue... Thne frat boys saying the hippies are playing dirty? Thats the pot calling the kettle black... the frat boys once called the taxi company and canceled everyone's taxis! The most annoying thing was that they wouldn't shut up about it! It was irritiating...

God, I hope the hippies win!

TTOW!!!!!

Subscribers!

Well, Its official. Grant and I are subscribers to the Orange County Performing Arts Center Broadway series. WOW!

Grant and I have talked about it often in the past, but we've always opted not to, due to the expense.

This year, I had decided to get the tickets for Grant and I for my first year anniversey present to him (built in dates throughout the year, plus, traditionally, the first year gift is supposed to be paper, right?)

SO last week, Grant says to me, "Hey! Let's get season tickets to the broadway season at the Performing Arts Center!"

"Well," I stutter, "Isn't it kind of expensive?"

"Come on, we've talked about it, and I know you want to!"

sigh. "yes Grant. I do..." IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR ANNIVERSERY GIFT!!! grr..

Well, see, on the bright side, that's why we belong together. We think alike, and like the same stuff!

So this season, we will be seeing:

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Sweet Charity starring Molly Ringwald

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Annie

The Light in the Piazza

All Shook Up

Pippin

Chita Rivera - A Dancer's Life

Mamma Mia!

Riverdance

And the most disappointing finale ever goes to...

The 7th Heaven Series Finale was tonight, and it was majorly dissapointing.

The first 50 minutes (of the one hour episode, mind you) was the same Simon and Rose, will they or won't they get married debate. Sigh. Then, they come back from a commercial, and show everyone at the reception!! (Waaaa? What happened to the wedding? Well they keep us guessing for the next 8 minutes...)

In the mean time, they squeeze in that Matt and Sarah are pregnant with twin boys, Lucy and Kevin are pregnant with twin boys, oh and Carlos and Mary (who calls - and doesn't even join the family in person) are back together and, guess what? They're pregnant with twin girls.

Uh huh...

SO then, Sandy shows up with her baby and Simon explains that he and Rose were NOT married. They both realized that they shouldn't go into a marriage so undecided. (Good decision - 1 thing that made me happy)

And then Sandy says, "Did Rose talk to you about the baby?"
Simon says, "No.."
and Sandy says, "We need to talk." and the freakin episode ends. Waaaa???

So lets start with the positive:
Rose and Simon don't get married.
Carlos and Mary are back together.
Mary is suprising her parents with the fact that she is graduating from college.
Mary, Sarah, and Lucy are pregnant.

The negatives:
Mary, Sarah, and Lucy are pregnant... with twins (how unbelievably cheesy corny retarded is that? You could argue that fraternal twins are genetic, but that doesn't exactly help Sarah's case... and besides... at the same time??? whatever.)

Mary comes back for a "what if" sequence with the family, but doesn't appear in real time with the family... which she should have... this is the series finale! A phone call doesn't cut it! I'm glad Jessica Biel came back for the episode, but it should have been more connection with her family. Even if she only came in at the very end. It would not have been unlikely for her to show up for a wedding.

Dropping a bomb by implying that Simon might be the father of Sandy's baby. I mean, I understand that they want us to realize that life with the Camdens is going to continue, but seriously... a bomb like that in the series finale?? Totally unneeded. That's more like a season finale cliff hanger. Series finales are supposed to tie up loose ends, not create a bunch more!

Where was Martin?

No emotion. Except for a couple of flashbacks, there was very little different about this episode then any other. I didn't get all weepy (I can cry at the drop of a hat, especially on goodbye episodes...) I mean, it was so empty, with so much crammed in the last 10 minutes, most of which was idiotic.

that's it??

I seriously hope the show comes back on the new CW station. That the script was so bad, because they really believed that they were coming back, so they left a cliff hanger...

If this was truly the last episode, they should have ended it with Matt and Sarah's graduation from Med School, which was happening the next day, or with Mary's graduation, or some big momentous ceremony or event, that left us believing that life was good, the family was together for a special event, and some hints about the heppy future they would have together...

...an ending is not a 50 minute, will-they won't-they build up to a half-assed wedding that didn't even happen... followed by 10 minutes of hurried conversations to tie up loose ends in the crappiest manner possible, only to put the icing on the cake by dropping a bomb that could totally alter the course of a major character's life...

...and not one tear. Not even a sniffle.

Vote for your favorite Survivor

Watch Survivor? Terry made it to the final four, which by default gets him to the final 3. hee hee.

Anyways you can vote for your favorite Survivor to win a new GMC.

I voted for Cerie, because Terry already won. It was between Cerie and Dan, the astronaut for me, and I thought with three younger kids she could possibly use it more.

Hodge Podge

I love the new Strawberry Mini-wheats. They're not as good as the old kind, but I dig them.

I rode my bike home from school yesterday. That was fun. I might try to do that once or twice a week. It really wiped me out, though.

I am so sad Paris was voted off American Idol. I think she is SO GOOD, and truly an American Idol.

I love 24, but it stresses me out so much!!! I almost bit Grant's head off the other night while I was watching it because he asked me a question in the middle of a particularly stressful part.

I hate state testing.

I am SO EXCITED that Rosie is going to be on The View in September.

Bye now.

BJ and Tyler

I LOVE BJ and Tyler. LOVE THEM!

Here's why: They are so friendly. They are so nice and goofy and happy-go-lucky.

But what I really love is that they have learned to say something (at the very least, "thank you,") in the language of all of the countries they visited. AND THEY USE IT!!!

Often times, people will know how to use the language but not actually do it (so often you hear them say thank you in English with attempting the other language... in the case of The Race, it could very well be the stress of racing, being in a hurry... but often it is being nervous about saing it wrong, or just not knowing it or whatever...

BJ and Tyler are SO GRACIOUS!!! They ALWAYS talk to the locals and always say something in that language. I LOVE that about them... They are so fun and happy and unselfconscious and friendly.

They are my All Time favorite Racers

Glad I'm an HB Barbie

Irvine Barbie
This princess Barbie is only sold at The Irvine Spectrum. She comes
With an assortment of Louis Vuitton handbags, a Lexus SUV, a toy dog named Honey, and a cookie-cutter house. Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with "augmented" version.

Orange Barbie
This modern-day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Windstar
Minivan and white silouette stickers of family members on the rear
window. Known as a "soccer mom" she gets lost easily and has no full time occupation or secondary education. Has PTA membership and comes with Tupperware accessories. Cell phone sold separately.

Garden Grove Barbie
In addition to perfect English, this Barbie also speaks fluent
Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Mandarin and Tagalog. Comes with her own
street-racing import car, complete with Japanese animation decals. Large collection of video games sold separately. Careers or homes for this Barbie are not available, because she will stay with her parents until they die. If you purchase a Ken doll, he must move into her family's home and wait for their inheritance.

Buena Park Barbie
This recently paroled former "Porn Actress" Barbie comes with a 9mm
handgun, a Ray Lewis knife, a Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a
meth lab kit. This model is only available after dark and can only be
paid for in cash.

Tustin Ranch Barbie
This yuppie Blond Barbie comes with your choice of a convertible
Mercedes AMG55 or a Cadillac Escalade. Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card, and Curves membership. Comes also with Giorgio Armani fragrance, Gucci bag and Kate Spade sunglasses. Additional options for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. (You won't be able to afford any of them).

Yorba Linda Barbie
This brunette Barbie is the sister to Tustin Ranch Barbie and comes
with or without highlig hts. She comes with a BMW convertible or Hummer H2, Kenneth Cole Sunglasses, a Country Club Membership, and a Pier 1 credit line. Options for Yorba Linda Barbie are the Shiseido makeup kit; the Bvlgari jewelry set, or the Prada shoe collection. Yorba Linda Barbie has optional yuppie Ken doll complete with Corvette, hair gel and Rolex watch.

Newport Beach Barbie
This collagen injected, rhinoplastic Barbie wears an Yves Saint Laurent leopard print bikini outfit and drinks cosmopolitans while entertaining friends at the beach house. Percocet prescription and monthly alimony checks are included. This Barbie is only sold in Fashion Island.

Laguna Beach Barbie
This doll comes complete with craft set. She has long straight brown
hair, archless feet, no makeup, and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her "Willow." She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Laguna Beach Barbie's, you get a rainbow flag sticker free.

Long Beach Barbie
This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll. Optional
accessories include a GED and a bus pass. Gangsta Ken and his '79 Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of an infant.

Huntington Beach Barbie
This very tan Barbie comes with string bikini, wet suit, 3 friendship
bracelets and surfboard. An MP3 player, Blockbuster video membership, pair of Vans and a beach cruiser are also included. Optional is her Lifeguard Yellow Ford Ranger with board rack (free KROQ sticker included!) Spicolli Ken can be purchased separately and comes with Hawaiian shirt and board shorts.

Rancho Santa Margarita Barbie
She 's perfect in every way. Her home is perfect. Her family is perfect. Comes with a part time job to earn her own spending money and a bible for church on Sundays. Also has a pre-assigned carpool day. We don't know who Ken is because he's always away hunting or biking or something...

Santa Ana Barbie
This Spanish-speaking-only Barbie comes with a 1984 Toyota with
expired temporary plates and three baby Barbies in the back seat, but
no car seats. The optional Ken doll comes with a meat-packer's uniform and is missing three fingers on his left hand. Green cards are not available for Santa Ana Barbie or Ken.

OUT OF TOWN BARBIES:
Fontana Barbie
This pale model comes dressed in low rise Levi's, a NASCAR shirt, and a Tweety Bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Coors Light and a Hank Williams, Jr. CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and
kick mullet-haired Ken's ass when she is drunk. A mobile home is also
available.

Norco Barbie
This tobacco chewing, brassy-haired Barbie comes with her own horse and dog! Her ensemble includes pair of Wrangler jeans (2 sizes too small), straw hat, fake rhinestone belt and belt buckle bought from the local paw n shop. Purchase her pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free!
Hemet Barbie
This aging Barbie is best kept indoors. She comes complete with wire
grocery stroller, Omni Trans bus pass, food stamps, coupon book and
sewing machine. Optional mobile home comes with choice of colored rock and various cactus varieties.

West Hollywood
Barbie/Ken
This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by
Simply adding or subtracting the multiple "snap-on" parts.

Happy Birthdays

Not long ago, Brooke Shields bravely shares with the world her battle with postpartum depression.

Tom Cruise gets on the Today show and tells the world that there is no such thing as chemical imbalances that need to be treated with drugs.

Brooke lives a happy, peaceful life with her family, and recieves kudos and support from many in the community who have faced similar battles.

Tom jumps on people's couches, and delivers unintelligible interviews which typically involve the interviewer asking a question, and Tom Cruise responding by staring down the interviewer with a glazed look, complete with a half-smile, before answering with incoherent statements that badly dodge what the interviewer was looking for.

(And this behavior is proof that drugs are not needed for chemical imbalances?)

Today, April 18, Brooke Shields gave birth to her second daughter, Grier.

Also today, April 18, Katie Holmes (Tom Cruise's fiancee) gives birth to their daughter, Suri.

Let's hope Katie doesn't suffer from any depression.

Let's hope Tom comes out of the closet.

Let's hope Suri isn't totally screwed up by the time she's 10.

In Michigan

I'm in Michigan this week spending time with my mom and Bobby. We are having a blast. Lots of talking, lots of singing karaoke. Oh and I keep playing on their treadmill. I want a treadmill! We went shopping yesterday and I bought a really cute skirt that I am going to wear on my Mexico cruise this summer!

Poor Ginger is blind now. Her eyes are kinda freaky looking becasue they are all cloudy white and covered with cateracts. However (and I guess this sounds strange about a dog, and really, what other choice does she have?) but I just feel such a sense of pride and admiration in this dog. She could just sit in one place every day, but she doesn't... she still roams about the house and out in the back yard... she moves slowly and cautiously, but to navigate the world blind like she does, its amazing to see. I know many people who aren't as brave as this little dog is.

We are going to Skyline Chili tonight. I am SO excited. I am getting a four way (for those of you who don't know the lingo, a four way is spaghetti topped with chili, cheese and onions,) and a coney. YUMMERS! I can't wait!

I'm going to hop in the shower and we're going to go to the mall now. Bye!

Good Morning

I saw a rainbow this morning on may way to work. The bottom half in front of me led me all the way here. And then when I got out I was greeted by the whole arc.

Beautiful.

Crash

Wow. I just saw the movie Crash. What an amazing, thought provoking movie. It was, in many ways, painful to watch.

Perspective.

Moving.

SO many amazing, powerful scenes. So many seemingly minor, yet incredibly thought provoking.

The odd thing about this world is that you can never really get inside someone else's head.

I could go in and describe scene detail by detail and analyze it (like I am doing on the phone with my mom right now..) but I can't because I don't know if you've seen it.

See this movie.

I like facts. I like dealing in facts. I like dealing with what is. The rational. The logical.

But the problem is we live in a world of people. And not all people are rational or logical or factual. People are emotional. People are opinionated. People often rely more on their beliefs then anything else. And no facts can change that.

If someone believes that one race is superior to another, their beliefs are going to create an alternate reality, despite the fact that no race is superior.

If someone believes that being gay is wrong, then it is their beliefs that are creating the reality.

If someone believes that people on the street have a choice, then their beliefs create the reality, despite what may be true for each individual.

If someone believes that a person with a tatoo is morally indecent or trashy, then every person they meet with a tatoo has entered into the reality of that person.

People's opinions, people's beliefs, create their reality. But that reality extends beyond their lives. It reached out and touches others.

People hurt each other, disrespect each other, call each other names, honk at each other, spread anger and hate... because they believe the person they are doing it to... what? doesn't have feelings? deserves it? Was a born a certain color? Lives a certain lifestyle?

If someone is pissed off and decides to pull a gun on someone, no amount of fact or logic or reason is going to change that situation.

But what I really liked about the movie is it wasn't all about death. Death isn't the only bad thing that can happen when people's opinions invade into other's lives.

This is the world that our opinions and beliefs are creating.

Are we happy with it?

When I was in high school, my friend wrote me a letter once. She has a child. She is white, and the baby's father is black. My friend was worried about being a good mom. She didin't know how to raise her daughter... in the black culture or the white. I thought that was the most ridiculous thig I had ever heard. I wrote back that she should raise her daughter to be herself. Why does she have to be raised black or white? My friend wrote back, "You live in such a bubble out there in California. The real world isn't like that."

That line resonates in my head to this day. What does it mean? I grew up rarely seeing racism. Or did I? Maybe I BELIEVED that racism didn't exist, so I never saw it. Maybe my beliefs made me just as blind?

When I see a movie like Crash, I want to think that it can't really be true. People don't really treat each other like this. Do they? It doesn't make sense.

But then I start thinking about beliefs that I have heard... "She has a tatoo, wow she must be pretty messed up" "Isn't being Gay totally sick?" "Asian drivers" "illegals working at the drive through."

Sigh. I'm not living in a bubble. It exists all around me. And whether its a choice (tatoo, piercings,) you were born with it (your race), or the jury's still out (being homosexual), not a single one of these things, in and of itself, is a reason for hate, meaness, disrespect. Its only people's beliefs that make it such.

I know people with tatoos who wouldn't hurt a fly, who are caring and respectful. I know Asians who are good drivers. I know Mexicans who have come legally to America and worked hard to learn English so that they could work at drive throughs. And I know gay people who are more family oriented and moral then many straight people I know. I've seen them. I've had their children in my classrooms.

Why the tendancy to have opinions that assume the worst out of people?

What good does that do? To make a more peaceful, humane, better society, wouldn't it be better to assume the best of people?

Think of it this way. If you go into a situation where you think negatively, how hard does the other person have to work to make you change your mind and view it positively? On the other hand, if you assume a positive view and need to change your mind, well, it is a lot easier to change your view to the negative then to the positive.

Another point the movie brought up is those within a certain stereotype who choose to perpetuate it. In this movie, blacks who continue to steal and rob was a major example.

Some great examples:
1) Anthony: That waitress sized us up in two seconds. We're black and black people don't tip. So she wasn't gonna waste her time. Now somebody like that? Nothing you can do to change their mind.

Peter: So, uh... how much did you leave?

Anthony: You expect me to pay for that kind of service?

2)
Anthony: Look around! You couldn't find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean, look at us! Are we dressed like gangbangers? Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared, it's us: the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the triggerhappy LAPD. So, why aren't we scared?

Peter: Because we have guns?

Anthony: You could be right.

And the response, later in the movie?
Cameron: [to Anthony] Look at me. You embarrass me. You embarrass yourself.

SO true. When people behave badly, they perpetuate stereotypes. WHen someone does something wrong, it reflects on their type. Someone commits a crime? Well, its becasue their black, or Mexican, or an Asian gang banger, or a spoile rich white kid, or poor white trash, or a punker with tatoos and piercings...

So what else needs to change? Not just people's beliefs, but people's actions. Represent. Remember, for every action you take, you are representing. Yourself, your family, your culture, your community, your "type."

And what about those who truly do represent in a positive way, but are still assumed to be "less then..." Keep fighting the good fight, people. Its a vicious cycle. Don't fall into it.

Where am I going with this? Sigh. I don't know either. Maybe that's why Crash "ended" the way it did. Kind of like this blog. It didn't really end.

Officer Hanson: Something else funny?
Peter: [laughing] People, man... people.