*The King's safe arrival home from Baltimore
*Wonderful people who hold on to the memories of the past, and then share them with others.
Good Night
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
All That Promise, and So Little to Show For It......
A long time ago, in a city once known for it's absence of stop lights and ever present odor of cow manure, lived a very chubby 11 year old named Loma who was in love with her big hair bows, pegged Guess? overalls and really, really big hair. Loma and her fellow 6th grade Draper Elementary Dragons were given the exciting assignment to rewrite, direct and film a movie adaptation of a popular movie (we're going waaayyy back to 1988 here). Loma's class chose "Ghostbusters" and she was excited to be given the assignment of screenwriter (mostly because she didn't have to actually act). She did, however, get forced into being one of the extras in the "Thanksgiving Dinner" scene- you can see her playing the role of the big brown head with a giant white bow on the right hand side of the screen.
Thanks to dedicated preservation over 21 years by a classmate, the award winning "Ghostbusters 4" recently made it's way on to YouTube (it really did win an award at our 6th grade movie reveal/Emmy night. I think we were assigned to make our own awards though because I distinctly remember having to make a giant sugar cookie notebook and pen for the screenwriting award, and then being presented it at the assembly. It was very yummy). The film quality may not be as good as today, and the sound is spotty at best, but the brilliance of the acting comes through perfectly.
If you found this movie enthralling, there are 3 others posted on YouTube by the same student, Stryxad. They are "Revenge of the Nerds", "Summer School" and "Ferris Bueller"- but I must say, none holds a candle to "Ghostbusters" for it's dedication to great film making. For a good 3 months after filming, Loma was determined to move to Hollywood to become a famous screenwriter. But then her class was assigned the task of publishing a 6th grade newspaper and her ambitions turned to the fast paced and dangerous world of investigative journalism.
Update: "Where is she now??"
Loma is now 32 years old and is a stay at home mother of three. Despite all the promise she showed first as a screenwriter and then as a journalist, she never pursued either career. Loma got a degree in English but has not done a single professional thing with it since. She does, however, frequently correct her children's grammar, rarely uses spell check, and edits the occasional book report or term paper.
Thanks to dedicated preservation over 21 years by a classmate, the award winning "Ghostbusters 4" recently made it's way on to YouTube (it really did win an award at our 6th grade movie reveal/Emmy night. I think we were assigned to make our own awards though because I distinctly remember having to make a giant sugar cookie notebook and pen for the screenwriting award, and then being presented it at the assembly. It was very yummy). The film quality may not be as good as today, and the sound is spotty at best, but the brilliance of the acting comes through perfectly.
If you found this movie enthralling, there are 3 others posted on YouTube by the same student, Stryxad. They are "Revenge of the Nerds", "Summer School" and "Ferris Bueller"- but I must say, none holds a candle to "Ghostbusters" for it's dedication to great film making. For a good 3 months after filming, Loma was determined to move to Hollywood to become a famous screenwriter. But then her class was assigned the task of publishing a 6th grade newspaper and her ambitions turned to the fast paced and dangerous world of investigative journalism.
Update: "Where is she now??"
Loma is now 32 years old and is a stay at home mother of three. Despite all the promise she showed first as a screenwriter and then as a journalist, she never pursued either career. Loma got a degree in English but has not done a single professional thing with it since. She does, however, frequently correct her children's grammar, rarely uses spell check, and edits the occasional book report or term paper.
Want To Know Our Deepest, Darkest Secrets? Just Ask My Kids.
Why is it that any time any adult comes over my children decide to share our very most embarassing stories with them? If I've lost my temper that day, or burped really loudly, Fox feels the need to tell the world.
The HT's were here tonight, and despite being threatened with spending all of tomorrow in his room, Fox couldn't help himself and out came the stories. Saying embarassing things is almost a compulsion with him- I could almost see his insides shaking from the stress of trying to control himself. But sure enough, his will power failed and the HT's were treated to a full tirade about why his mom is so mean, and doesn't care that he is bored, and won't ever let him have any fun (well kiddo, you're definitely not getting out the slip-and-slide tomorrow). When he tried to start telling the story of how I decapitated a mouse with a shovel, I'd had enough. I think he could see the moment in my eyes when the threatened grounding became a reality. He shut up pretty quickly after that.
But Fox is not the only guilty party. Not by a long shot.
Man Child lasted exactly 60 seconds on my lap before the battle to keep him restrained began. He defeated me only because I didn't want to use excessive force in front of the police detective HT. Once free, he ran to the patio doors and tried to escape outside but fortunately TQ was too quick for him. His plan being thwarted, Man Child went upstairs to the TV room and turned on a movie (when did he learn how to turn on the TV let alone the DVD player?). I probably should have made him sit throught the visit, but all I could think was "at least he's being quiet".
I give up. If I didn't have TQ to keep my sanity when The King is out of town I'd probably have to be locked up. I'm pretty sure the HT's know that I'm crazy, but when they looked at me with sympathy and understanding I recognized a comraderie bewtween us that all beaten down parents share. It feels good to know that I'm not the only one drowning in the sea of parenting.
The HT's were here tonight, and despite being threatened with spending all of tomorrow in his room, Fox couldn't help himself and out came the stories. Saying embarassing things is almost a compulsion with him- I could almost see his insides shaking from the stress of trying to control himself. But sure enough, his will power failed and the HT's were treated to a full tirade about why his mom is so mean, and doesn't care that he is bored, and won't ever let him have any fun (well kiddo, you're definitely not getting out the slip-and-slide tomorrow). When he tried to start telling the story of how I decapitated a mouse with a shovel, I'd had enough. I think he could see the moment in my eyes when the threatened grounding became a reality. He shut up pretty quickly after that.
But Fox is not the only guilty party. Not by a long shot.
Man Child lasted exactly 60 seconds on my lap before the battle to keep him restrained began. He defeated me only because I didn't want to use excessive force in front of the police detective HT. Once free, he ran to the patio doors and tried to escape outside but fortunately TQ was too quick for him. His plan being thwarted, Man Child went upstairs to the TV room and turned on a movie (when did he learn how to turn on the TV let alone the DVD player?). I probably should have made him sit throught the visit, but all I could think was "at least he's being quiet".
I give up. If I didn't have TQ to keep my sanity when The King is out of town I'd probably have to be locked up. I'm pretty sure the HT's know that I'm crazy, but when they looked at me with sympathy and understanding I recognized a comraderie bewtween us that all beaten down parents share. It feels good to know that I'm not the only one drowning in the sea of parenting.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tonight I Am Thankful For.......
*The King's safe arrival in Baltimore.
*A fun family night of movies and ice cream and very little bickering.
Good Night!
*A fun family night of movies and ice cream and very little bickering.
Good Night!
Inspiration, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?
For the past week I have really struggled to make myself open my laptop and write. I have no idea where the fire and drive that has pushed me for the last six months to blog as much as possible has gone. Did I give it to the kids? The spouse?? The puppy I gave away because it peed on my floor?
Today I can count probably ten things that happened in the course of the day that I would consider "blog worthy". The Man Child took off his diaper 4 or 5 times this weekend and left "surprises" all over his bedroom floor, so I headed to Walmart today and picked up some Pull-Ups and thus committed to beginning the most horrible ritual of parenthood, potty training. Luckily the kid loves sitting on the toilet and trying to force a pebble or trickle out. But that's all they are- pea gravel and drips. He saved the flood and boulders for 10 minutes after he got off the pot, and we discovered that Pull-Ups are no where near as absorbent or leak proof as their diaper counterparts. It's a good thing I picked up a bottle of carpet cleaner when I got the training pants.
Tonight we watched "superman Returns" as a family (sans The King, who is in Baltimore yet again. *sigh*). Tween Queen and I were pretty content to sit back and enjoy the newbie Superman eye candy (When was the last time Hollywood found a male lead over 6 feet tall? He is seriously delicious- boy next door charm, chiseled face, beautiful blue eyes...), while Fox found the movie pretty insipid and decided to provide a running commentary on the story line and dialogue using Wipeout's John Henson as his muse. He was more annoying than funny until the movie reached the scene where the giant ball on top of the newspaper office began to fall in an earth quake. Fox immediately jumped on the "ball" humor, and got off a few zingers before the action was over:
My ball, it's dropping!!
My gaint ball is falling down- it might hurt someone!
Can't someone save my ball??
My ball is going to explode!!
I don't think he knew exactly why TQ and I were finding his jokes so funny. He just appreciated the laugh. I think my son learned an important lessone tonight, that you can never go wrong with some good ball humor.
How ironic- I began this blog complaining that I couldn't find anything to write about, and here I am twenty minutes later contemplating sharing more stories from todya but knowing that I should stop because I've probably already gone on too long.
Venting is truly therapeutic.
Today I can count probably ten things that happened in the course of the day that I would consider "blog worthy". The Man Child took off his diaper 4 or 5 times this weekend and left "surprises" all over his bedroom floor, so I headed to Walmart today and picked up some Pull-Ups and thus committed to beginning the most horrible ritual of parenthood, potty training. Luckily the kid loves sitting on the toilet and trying to force a pebble or trickle out. But that's all they are- pea gravel and drips. He saved the flood and boulders for 10 minutes after he got off the pot, and we discovered that Pull-Ups are no where near as absorbent or leak proof as their diaper counterparts. It's a good thing I picked up a bottle of carpet cleaner when I got the training pants.
Tonight we watched "superman Returns" as a family (sans The King, who is in Baltimore yet again. *sigh*). Tween Queen and I were pretty content to sit back and enjoy the newbie Superman eye candy (When was the last time Hollywood found a male lead over 6 feet tall? He is seriously delicious- boy next door charm, chiseled face, beautiful blue eyes...), while Fox found the movie pretty insipid and decided to provide a running commentary on the story line and dialogue using Wipeout's John Henson as his muse. He was more annoying than funny until the movie reached the scene where the giant ball on top of the newspaper office began to fall in an earth quake. Fox immediately jumped on the "ball" humor, and got off a few zingers before the action was over:
My ball, it's dropping!!
My gaint ball is falling down- it might hurt someone!
Can't someone save my ball??
My ball is going to explode!!
I don't think he knew exactly why TQ and I were finding his jokes so funny. He just appreciated the laugh. I think my son learned an important lessone tonight, that you can never go wrong with some good ball humor.
How ironic- I began this blog complaining that I couldn't find anything to write about, and here I am twenty minutes later contemplating sharing more stories from todya but knowing that I should stop because I've probably already gone on too long.
Venting is truly therapeutic.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tonight I Am Thankful For.......
*the many great kids I get to work with in church. Our Youth COnference in 2 weeks is going to be a blast.
*My wonderful mom, who had "espn" tonight and was just picking up the phone to call me when I called her (if you don't get the "espn" reference, you really need to see "Mean Girls". It's one of the best movies ever). 45 minutes later and we had rehashed an entire week's activities, planned the 4th of July party, and solved all the world's problem. I sure love that lady.
Good night!
*My wonderful mom, who had "espn" tonight and was just picking up the phone to call me when I called her (if you don't get the "espn" reference, you really need to see "Mean Girls". It's one of the best movies ever). 45 minutes later and we had rehashed an entire week's activities, planned the 4th of July party, and solved all the world's problem. I sure love that lady.
Good night!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
My List of.....Posts That Will Never See the Light of Day
It's been said that for every great idea for a story, an author first comes up with a hundred bad ones.
Now, I'm not claiming that I'm anywhere close to being considered a good- or even mediocre- writer, but by the overwhelming number of incomplete posts saved in my draft box I am due to write the greatest blog novel of all time any day now. There have been so many times (usually in the middle of the night and motivated by mental and physical exhaustion) when I have began a blog post only to stop a few lines or paragraphs into it. From there it goes to the post graveyard (aka. the draft box) until it's time to be resurrected. To this day I have a 0% rebirth rate. They never even make it to reincarnation.
I'd like to blame my habitual failure on the excuse that it's too hard to get back into the groove of a post once you've stopped writing, but more often than not I fear that what seemed hilarious or vitally important at two in the morning just doesn't cross over very well in the light of day.
So, to give the ghosts of my dead posts some peace in their afterlife, I now present the "List of the posts that will never make it to the light of day"
(May I never rhyme that much again)
*If the Double Wide's a Rockin', Don't Come A Knockin'........
*Flashback To....The Single Dumbest Thing I've Ever Done...
*How Many Bad Habits Can I Have Before I Should Voluntarily Stay Away From Humans?
*Dr. Cox...Wickedly Lovable or the Boss From Hadies???
*Don't Ever Chew Gum Around Ticket Tom's Truck......
*Farewell Sleepless In Seattle, and Take Forrest With You!
* My List Of...Things I Refuse To Spend $250 On- aka, The List of Why My Children Don't Like Me.....
*It Kind of Makes You Think.......
* So That's Why He Keeps Asking us to Build a Bathroom in the Fort....
*Tonight I Am Ornery...... (commentary: I could write a post entitled "Tonight I am ornery" almost every day, so I figured this one was more than ridiculously redundant)
*Fox's Mom Has Got It Going On......
*The Man Child is Sticking it to The Man!
*Ode to the Emos.... (commentary: of all the posts, this one might get resurrected. It's an important contemporary essay that delves into such questions as: is wearing girl's skinny jeans worth the sterility for boys, is there such a thing as too much black, flat greasy hair or mohawk greasy hair, does white makeup clog pores...... But that might just be the 3 AM talking)
I really need some sleep
Now, I'm not claiming that I'm anywhere close to being considered a good- or even mediocre- writer, but by the overwhelming number of incomplete posts saved in my draft box I am due to write the greatest blog novel of all time any day now. There have been so many times (usually in the middle of the night and motivated by mental and physical exhaustion) when I have began a blog post only to stop a few lines or paragraphs into it. From there it goes to the post graveyard (aka. the draft box) until it's time to be resurrected. To this day I have a 0% rebirth rate. They never even make it to reincarnation.
I'd like to blame my habitual failure on the excuse that it's too hard to get back into the groove of a post once you've stopped writing, but more often than not I fear that what seemed hilarious or vitally important at two in the morning just doesn't cross over very well in the light of day.
So, to give the ghosts of my dead posts some peace in their afterlife, I now present the "List of the posts that will never make it to the light of day"
(May I never rhyme that much again)
*If the Double Wide's a Rockin', Don't Come A Knockin'........
*Flashback To....The Single Dumbest Thing I've Ever Done...
*How Many Bad Habits Can I Have Before I Should Voluntarily Stay Away From Humans?
*Dr. Cox...Wickedly Lovable or the Boss From Hadies???
*Don't Ever Chew Gum Around Ticket Tom's Truck......
*Farewell Sleepless In Seattle, and Take Forrest With You!
* My List Of...Things I Refuse To Spend $250 On- aka, The List of Why My Children Don't Like Me.....
*It Kind of Makes You Think.......
* So That's Why He Keeps Asking us to Build a Bathroom in the Fort....
*Tonight I Am Ornery...... (commentary: I could write a post entitled "Tonight I am ornery" almost every day, so I figured this one was more than ridiculously redundant)
*Fox's Mom Has Got It Going On......
*The Man Child is Sticking it to The Man!
*Ode to the Emos.... (commentary: of all the posts, this one might get resurrected. It's an important contemporary essay that delves into such questions as: is wearing girl's skinny jeans worth the sterility for boys, is there such a thing as too much black, flat greasy hair or mohawk greasy hair, does white makeup clog pores...... But that might just be the 3 AM talking)
I really need some sleep
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