Parties

I always seem to make an ass out of myself at parties. Say something I regret or act stupid or something. I always spend so much time thinking DOH! I shouldn't have said that!

I wish I could be more like Grant and just be like "whatever..." I spend WAY too much time thinking about what others think about me.

Anyway.

Happy Leap Day!

10 things on my mind lately

10 for Tuesday
10 Things on my mind lately...in no particular order...

1) Earrings. I must admit, some people look cute with earrings. But seriously, it is weird. It is cute to punch holes in your ears and dangle metal from them? Strange.

2)Amsterdam - we're going in June. I am SO EXCITED!!! We are staying on a house boat! Check out here to see where we're staying!

3) Sims 2 Free Time - the New expansion pack. It ships today, so I could probably buy it tomorrow at Gamestop - but I am going to wait until the weekend and get it on sale at Circuit City (They better put it on sale again - they've done that with every EP so far...$17.99 instead of $29.99.) Trust me, with as many EP's as I've bought, I need to save whenever I can. This might be the last EP before SIms 3 comes out.

4) Survivor, American Idol, Big Brother. Thank God the Writer's Strike is over - more of my shows should be coming back on. I miss The Big Bang Theory. I hope that Rosie O'Donnell's new sitcom is a hit!

5) Dinner. I am hungry. I think we are having fish tacos at Rubio's. Yum!

6) Correcting - I am SO behind. I know I have barely blogged - I just feel like I have SO MUCH to do and I am always catching up! Hee hee - I know, I know, don't we all feel that way?

7) Relationships - A certain type of relationship, actually. I am trying to think of the correct word for it. You know the type - like your doctor or a teacher - where they are like YOURS, so you feel comfortable around them, but to them, you lare like one of many. For example, As a teacher - I am the only 5th grade teacher that 125 kids have ever had (and the only first grade teacher 20 kids have had and 32 in 4th grade...) but yet I have had that many students. You know what I mean?

I need a name for those types of relationships. Not unbalanced or uneven or unequal (or maybe one of those would work) but those names remind me of relationships that are unbalanced - like a parent/child - obviously that has to be unbalanced - or you know, certain types of friendships where one person does all the work...

8) The democratic race. I am on pins and needles. I know who I want SO BADLY, and I fear the other. I just feel like Obama is a big speaker - but he doesn't have any solid plans or enough experience to back them up. I think Hilary is ready. My mother in law is probably freaking out as she reads this.

9)Writing. I want to write. DO you have any idea how many stories I;ve started and never finished?

10) Science Pilot - We are getting a new science program in our district. I am piloting it, so tomorrow, I will be at a training to learn how to use it. Yipee! I hope it is a good program - after all, we're stuck with it for the next 7 years! Speaking of new programs - I asked to be on the new math consult to help pick the new math program. I hope I get to be on it!

Survivor

Now do you remember why we don't like Cerie?

CAG

I just spent the weekend at the CAG (California Association for the Gifted) conference in Anaheim.

The conference itself was pretty good - I went to some fantastic talks and some pretty good talks.

I stayed at the Anaheim Hilton. Grant and Belle came up to spend time with me on Friday night, but they didn't spend the night because Grant had to work the next day. It was kind of cool that Belle was able to come to the hotel - they had a very liberal dog policy!

Also, my room faced the parks, so I got to watch the fireworks from my hotel room!

On Saturday, as part of CAG, I got to attend a panel of nine Disney Imagineers, including Marty Sklar!!! More on that in a future blog!!! Needless to say, I was ecstatic, emotional, and excited to be sitting in on such a panel, listening to such bright, creative, and energetic minds talking about some of my most beloved problems that now exist in parks around the world and previewing future projects. So FREAKING amazing!!!

So of course, I was in such a Disney mood. Unfortunately, I was blocked out this weekend. Fortunately, Grant and I had reservations at Hook’s Point at the Disneyland hotel, followed by watching the fireworks from our hotel room.

A great weekend - very educational... very inspirational... but I am SO tired now! Thank GOD there is no school tomorrow!

stressed

I am feeling very stressed at work, due to a few students, but one in particular. In addition, I have the most HIGH MAINTENANCE parents on the planet this year. I have one parent who wants to meet to discuss her son's progress - her son is doing JUST FINE! I have another parent who makes so many excuses for her son that the kid has never "failed," and thus has learned NO coping skills.

Sigh.

I had my evaluation today, though, and it went well, so that is certainly a relief.

Family

Dinner tonight at Souplantation - Tammy and Dave's treat.
Dave's daughter, Alexis - a ready made niece. She's almost 6. She likes me. I like her.
Mom, Bobby, Grant, and Danny, there as well.
Melted chocolate cake night. Yummy.

I love when my mom and Bobby are in town. I feel like my life is more complete when they're around.

Buzz Lightyear

Last Wednesday, I went to Disneyland and rode Buzz. (This ride is equipped with lazer blasters, and as you progress through the ride you aim at targets to try to build up a high score. )My average score on this ride is about 250,000 - 280,000 points. My goal when I ride it is to get above 300,000, which I've done a handful of things. This includes times when the ride has "stopped" for special loading (usually about 30 seconds).

On Wednesday, I scored 950,000 + points! Yes, the ride stopped, and I was able to lock on to a high scoring target, but still. That blew any score I've ever had out of the water! In addition, I was in the Top 10 for the DAY! (That includes anyone else who was stopped on the ride at the same time I was!) CHeck it out!

That is me with the blaster in front of my face. (Trust me, it is me!)

And that is me: Number 8 BJB.

Mom's in town

Mom's in town this weekend. She, Grant, and Bobby are rocking out on Guitar Hero as I type. They're good. Me? Not so much, but that is okay. I am perfectly content to listen as I blog and read about the upcoming expansion pack for Sims 2 (Free Time, being released in February...) and fan speculation as to whether there will be another expansion pack before Sims 3 comes out. Since there are a lot of "hints" about sims 3 in this expansion pack (for example, a painting that can be hung on one of the walls is of "the future" and shows a neighborhood where the houses are more interactive with each other, and one of the new video games your sims can play on their pc's is "Sims 3."

ALso, I am watching the debate between Obama and Clinton on You-tube. I think tonight we are going to go in the jacuzzi, especially if it starts to rain (fingers crossed!) and maybe watch the rest of Clerks 2. I just noticed that Jay is wearing a "Buddy Christ" shirt (from Dogma...) SO cool. I want one.

Vegas - thoughts

Vegas is getting a new revival for me. There was a time when I was sort of sick of the place. Really over it. I mean, it was just "ok." But now, I am all over the place again, and mostly just sticking with the strip!

First of all, the smoke situation is vastly improving, with more and more areas being limited in where you can and can not smoke. I don't come home with all of my clothes reeking of cigarette smoke. blech!

Second, I can now afford to attend some great shows. I LOVE that! In the meantime, they are developing more and more of my favorite types of shows: musicals and Cirque's. That thrills me.

Third, and, well, I never didn't enjoy this aspect.... I do love to eat. And what better place to eat then Vegas? hee hee.

Vegas

Hi,
Sorry about the lack of posts. Back to school, slight addiction to my Nintendo DS (more on that later....)

But I wanted you to know that I am in Vegas with Grant, so check out the our vacation blog if you're interested!

Nintendo DS

I got a Nintendo DS for Christmas. It is way cool - it is a gold one - a limited edition. I really like it!

One of the games I got is called "Brain Age 2" I like it because it is fun puzzles that you do to get your brain thinking and working. It also has Sudoku on it.

I also got Zelda - Phantom Hourglass - but I've just barely begun that game. I'll probably play that more in depth on the plane to Vegas in two weeks.

The third game I got was Super Mario Brothers, but I haven't really been able to play that - Andrew got a DS also, and he got Mario Party - so we traded for a while, and I have his Mario Party and he has my Super Mario Brothers. I have already beat the story mode on Mario Party, but it really is more fun to play together. (A cool thing about the ds is that if someone else has a ds, and they are within 30 feet, you can play some games together - like Mario Party, for example, with just one game cartridge... the other player temporarily can download the software.)

Other games, like Mario Kart (which Grant ordered in the mail and we got today) can connect online and play with other people who have the game around the world. SO far tonight, Grant has raced someone from India, someone from Japan, and people from around the US. cool, huh?

The last game I got, which could very well by my new video game obsession, complete and compact in my traveling Nintendo DS world (which can go every where I go) is Animal Crossing - Wild World. It consists of my little person (named Beejay) who has moved into a town populated by animals (I named the town Nahtazu - like Disney's Animal Kingdom's old slogan "Nahtazu" which let people know that the Animal Kingdom is "not a zoo..." get it?)

One of the cool things about it is it runs on real time - it is set to the time you set on your nintendo ds - so assuming it is set to real time, then if it is night time in real life, it is night time in your game - if it is noon, then it is day time in the game. It also follows seasons - if you play in January (as I am) then it is winter in the game - with snow on the ground sometiems, sometimes it snows, and the days have a cool blue cast to it - when you play in the summer, then the game is brighter and the weather adjusts accordingly.

The game is very open ended - you can fish and you can catch bugs, you can write letters to your new animal friends, and they will write you back. You find ways to earn "bells," the currency in the game. It seems like fun so far!

I am going back to include links in the post so check them out.

New Year's Eve

Check out my New Year's Eve

My sister's big news!

So, my little sister is engaged! Her fiance proposed to her on Christmas morning, by giving her a gift from under the tree with an engagement ring and asking her to marry him!

No wedding date set, yet, but his daughter, Lexi, (my soon to be step-niece!), who is 6, suggested next Tuesday. Tammy mentioned that it would take a bit longest then that to plan, s Lexi reconsidered and suggested the following Sunday, instead!

Congrats Tammy and Dave - I am so happy for you guys!

43 things / 43 places

Well, it is the end of the year - people review last year and think about next year...

resolution time...

I think I've blogged about this in the past, but I love the website 43 things... on it, you can list 43 things you'd like to do... you can look at them as goals, short term goals, long term goals, resolutions, or just things to check off your "things to do in your life" list. It can be as simple as "Watch the movie "Rent"" to "Climb Mount Everest" or anything in between.

It is fun, a neat way to track progress... (for each thing, you can leave messages or log entries tracking your progress, if you wish. You can also find others who are working on similar goals, or who have succeeded in meeting doing that "thing" and read their entries or ask the for ideas. You can also opt to have the website email you to remind you that it is something you want to do... currently I have 18 things on my list, and I get emailed about 4 of them once a week.)

It has a sister site - 43 places, where you can make a list of 43 places you want to go.

So, if you're thinking about making a resolution this year, give yourself a break and head over to 43 things. Make a list, set some goals, big and small, achievable tomorrow or in 20 years... And resolve to try and tackle at least one of those things in the next year...

After all, I did learn to solve a rubik's cube.

Corteo - Cirque du Soleil

Last Night, Grant and I went on a date.

We had dinner at Bella Terra at the Japanese restaraunt and then had pink berry for dessert. (Pinkberry is okay - I am not a huge fan of frozen yogurt, and it is expensive...but it was tasty.)

Then we saw Corteo at the OC fairgrounds. It was AWESOME! The musicians and singers were stellar, and the acrobatic acts were amazing! Some of the standout acts were the trapeze act - except there was no trapeze, the acrobats swung each other - a human trapeze! Very cool! They also had a gymnastic - bars at that I particularly enjoyed, as well as a cute scene with "children" bouncing on trampoline "beds."

A fantastic show!

Radio City Rockettes

Last night, Grant and I got to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular - performing in Orange County! It was SUCH a fantastic show! It was so neat to see it live - you know - it is one of those things you hear about growing up but living out here on the west coast, you really don't think you'd ever get to see it. It is really cool - like seriously - the American version of "Lord of the Dance."

Really puts you in the holiday mood!

The Von Trapp Children

On Saturday, Grant and I went to the new concert hall at the OC Performing Arts Center, and saw the Pacific Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Pops concert. The guest singers were the Von Trapp Children, the great grandchildren of Captain Von Trapp, and the grandchildren of Werner Von Trapp, the 2nd eldest son (portrayed as "Kurt" in the movie.

The concert was fantastic - and the Von Trapp children are REALLY good. They can really sing. It was so neat to heat them!

Here is a youtube clip if you'd like to hear them - but as good as they sound here, they sound SO MUCH BETTER live!

Dad

So my dad went to the hospital with severe stomach pain last night and it was appendicitis. He had an laparoscopic appendectomy, because it hadn't burst yet, so he should heal more quickly.

It was all over so fast. I was at the hospital at 8, they took him in at 8:30, they were done by 9:30 and he was out of recovery at 10:30. Just amazing.

I am sure he had a crappy night at the hospital, but hopefully he will be home today where he can sleep and heal.

It was weird seeing dad like that, though - he's one of the guys, you know, who's never sick and has a very high tolerance for pain.

Typical dad. He goes to work even though he's in pain. Decides to come home early becasue it hurts so bad, but decides to swing by Costco to pick up a Christmas present and then swing by Target to pick up another one. Then he goes home, lays down for a minute, decides the pain is too bad, and then heads to the doctor. :::roll my eyes and sigh::: that's my dad!

Against God's Plan

I don't know if I can convey the hilarity of this moment to you.

But I will try.

SO, last night I was at a party, and one of the girl's brings a friend. This guy is loud, exuberant, and needless to say my gay-dar alarm was going off, full blast. (As it turned out, I sort of "knew" this guy from someplace else, which made the story all the more hilarious when I came home and described this to Grant - because he sort of had an idea of who this guy was, and how gay this guy was.)

A few hours later, I heard the girl who brought this guy introduce him as her fiancee. What? Just about everyone's jaw hit the floor. Seriously and I kid you not. We we're all in shock. I mean, it was so against any prediction we could have possibly made.

So, I am talking to another friend of mine who happens to be gay, Brad, and he sits down next to me and another friend. We kind of glance over at the gay-guy-who is engaged-to-a-girl and Brad is like I know, IKNOW. So we just keep shooting each other these looks whenever he does something that elevates our gay-dar alert. Honestly, this guy wasn't just "maybe-gay." We were honestly confused. At one point, he leans in and kisses his fiancee, which was shocking -

and a scene from "My Best Friend's Wedding" popped into my head. Let me take you back... Julienne (Julia Roberts) has this best guy friend, Michael (Dermot Mulroney), who is getting married to (Kimmy)Cameron Diaz. Julia's character decides she is madly in love with this guy and decides to crash the wedding. In desperation, she calls her other best friends, George (Rupert Everett), who is very gay. However, Julienne introduces him as HER fiancee, to try to make Michael jealous. When Sammi finds out she comes squealing up the aisle in excitement, "This is so great so wonderful, it just makes everything so perfect..." And George, very gay, and very exuberant, has his arm around Julienne - so obviously where it doesn't belong, and Kimmi says "This is just, so... so...." and George jumps in and says, "Against God's Plan?"

And that line just jumped in my head... to see this guy at the party that seemed so unbelievably, desperately gay...and not just in a "poor sap he's clueless" kind of way, but in a "he is so exuberant in his word choices and song dedications and movements that he is out and proud" kind of way... to see him kiss this girl... it just seemed so... against god's plan.

So I am looking at Brad and he's looking at me, and he's like, "oh that is just so wrong." So I say, "I know... I KNOW ... Brad says, "It would be like if I kissed...." (sigh of utter disgust) "....you!"

So my friend and I are cracking up and Brad puckers his lips with a look of utter terror on his face, as if he is about to kiss a cockroach. So I lean in and kiss him and we both jump apart as if it were... well... against god's plan. hee hee.

So he jumps up and runs outside shivering like... "That was so wrong..." and I can't stop laughing about the whole thing. Brad pulls out a cigarette and lays on the driveway fanning himself... it was so funny... it was just so freakin' hilarious. The look on Brad's face...

Sigh... just one of those moments that hits so perfectly... I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time!

Spanglish

***possible spoilers***

I really liked this movie. I wasn't satisfied with the ending, but I think it has a lot to do with how you look at the movie. It was sort of like "Little Children..." movies that go for the more realistic ending rather than the expected/romantic ending.

I really liked Adam Sandler in this role. I love when he plays the more serious roles with the hint of comedy.

The problem is when you try to look at the story from too many angles. I mean, you want to look at the story from Cristina and Flor's perspective, but you only see their lives in relation to the Clasky's, with very few references to their home life. Who were Flor's friends in America? What about Cristina's friends? cousins? We were rooting for John and Flor because that was all that we saw of Flor's life?

On the other hand, ug... when you look at John's story - well, he's got great kids, a great staff and a great job, but a neurotic wife - who is AWFUL for him and their daughter. I feel badly for him. He deserved better. But really, it wasn't his story.

All in all though, I thought it was a good movie... thought provoking, for sure.