Monthly Archives: December 2009

TTI

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Hey, a new category today. The Truth Is…

It kind of runs along the same lines as the RNFs, but too important to be considered random. It deals with what I think are the gut-level, bottom-line truths in life, relationships, work, and basically dealing with people in general.

The Truth Is that mean people, sooner or later, get what’s coming to them.

The Truth Is that the current school calendar in my district is antiquated and largely irrelevant…but I adore it.

The Truth Is that going through the fire can really be for the greater good. My brother-in-law was just diagnosed with emphysema. Prayers and positive energy going up for him and for Mavis, who are both now smoke-free, cold-turkey. Day three of their new life begins today — go for it, guys! We love you.

The Truth Is that doing the right thing or doing good is not always repaid in kind. Indeed, sometimes it’s slapped across the face.

The Truth Is that there’s no such word as “acrost.” (OK, that was trivial.)

The Truth Is that many difficult, obnoxious, unkind people don’t know they’re being difficult, obnoxious and unkind. They just think everyone else is stupid and they have to show their impatience with it all.

The Truth Is that you will live a better life if you take people like that in stride. Lean and smile, so a good friend once told me.

Welp, it’s the last day of school and I have a bunch of gifts to load up and errands to take care of before I even think about pointing the Finkmobile north and west. Truthfully, even though my “vacation” will be quite busy with school-related stuff, I’m really looking forward to the time off. Them agrarians had more on the ball than what you might realize…

A fab Finkday to all.

Various & Sundry XXII

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  1. This is fantastic. Love the choreography!
  2. I am done with performances until March 2010. Nice.
  3. All of my choirs sang like angels this week. Wonder what’s up…
  4. My family have gone through some amazingly tough times over the past four days, and have persevered. I heart them all.
  5. Am I the only person on the planet who thinks Alex Rodriguez is not pretty? Ew. He creepy-lookin’. But he’d most likely think the same about me, so there it is. Women are likely drawn to his radiant personality.
  6. OK, the Tiger thing. Truthfully, at first I said, “The guy had an affair. Leave him alone and let him sort it out.” But a dozen ladies later…yikes, brother has a problem, and not just with public relations.
  7. I was talking to a 6th grade teacher before my concert last night, and she said that she feared her students grasped only about 20% of the instructions they’re given. I’d say the fact that I had told my 5th grade boys approximately 90 times over the last three months that they had to wear neckties to the gig — and several still showed up without them — supports that assumption. (But props to the 7th and 8th grade guys who let them borrow their ties while they performed.)
  8. Happy birthday, Artillius Merchclod! Many happy returns, pal.
  9. The next two days are going to be extraordinarily busy, but with good stuff.
  10. What all are you doing over the holiday?

Welp, time to get going. I have detention duty at the high school this morning. Detention, right before Christmas break? Yep. Knuckleheadedness apparently keeps no calendar.

FO

The oncoming light…

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…at the end of the tunnel is, for once, not a train.

What will I do with a Christmas break not filled with reading, research and writing papers? A lot of fun stuff. OK, well there’s that Dinner Theatre thing and building the new Joomla website for the school district, but outside of that, it’s grandsons, girl talk, good times, and Greektown. Now whaddya thinka that.

Last night was my high school choir Christmas concert. I have been doing these for many, many, mazenny years, and I must say that this one could have topped most for overall sound, smooth operation (except for the 2nd number when I apparently motioned Travis down to do his solo and we weren’t to his tune on the program yet) and general comments from the audience on the atmosphere and programming. I was delighted.

Most of my students know I do not specifically adore Christmas music. I guess the rules change when you have to sing it. And singing it for 3.5 months nonstop (and in my case, multiple times in several rehearsals a day) can be downright brutal. But listen — I ain’t grindin’ no ax. I love my job and my students too, though I’m sure they might very much like me to slip and fall off a pier some days. But he who say there is no fun to be had in public school, and that the youth of America have gone sour need only come out to my 30-by-60-foot cage next to the football stadium.

All right, enough of this happy carp. Time to gear up to do it all again tomorrow night for the middle school. Same circus, smaller clowns.

How’s yer Tuesday so far?

Fink out.

Review: A Christmas Carol

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Kay and I went to Mansfield last night and saw Robert Zemeckis’s A Christmas Carol. Truth be told, I wasn’t overly thrilled about going; it was to have been the umpteenth retelling I’ve seen, and I was cold and a bit tired, and I had my concert (tonight) on the brain, and those blasted 3-D glasses anyhow…

Boy, was I glad we went! It was a delight. You can hardly match anyone’s CG appearance with their voices (with the exception of Gary Oldman, who plays Bob Cratchet, and Bob Hoskins as Fezziwig). I saw almost no likeness to Jim Carrey in Scrooge’s character at all. Kinda bugged me because I really tried to find some. It ended up not being an issue, though. The movie was nothing grand or groundbreaking; it was just a great way to spend a couple of hours with a friend. Very entertaining.

The fly-action shots reminded me of the Back to the Future attraction at Universal Studios in Orlando. My guess is they closed the ride long ago, but if you ever had the chance to go on it, you know it was a huge thrill. And effects like watching the snow fall were fun — you could almost reach out and touch it. Of course, the message of the story is timeless and true (life isn’t about the things you amass, but the love you give away), so there was no reality grappling or paradigm shifting involved. Just a nice night out with a friend before three days of insanity starts.

And since the insanity starts in about 2.5 hours, I’d better get the move on. Come to the high school choir concert tonight, 7 p.m. Good times to be had. Bando, break a leg on your concert as well. Looking forward to some serious Panera time with you over break.

Happy Monday — if there is a such an animal.

FO

Image credit: Disney

Baffling.

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Now listen here.

I’m not one to poo-poo the likes and dislikes of others — although the favor is not often returned, if you know what I mean. Case in point: my love for the Browns and dislike of the Ohio State Buckeyes. People give me grief about it alla time. Do I give other people the evil eye because they like the St*****s or the Vikings? No. To each his/her own, and I’m happy that the world is a diverse playground. After all, if there were no Pittsburgh team, to whom would the Browns customarily lose in historic rivalry games? I mean, come on.

HOWEVER…

There is something that is so baffling to me — so utterly incomprehensible on a positively cellular level — there are almost no words for it.

Almost.

I speak about caviar. Fish ovum, scooped out of the sturgeon’s girly parts. *blink*

I guess slimy can be tasty.

~

They also do it to salmon:

Just not feelin it.

I’m sure there are Finkites who will say, “Hey, I like caviar,” or “Your taste is archaic,” or “Just like coffee, it’s an acquired taste.” That’s all fine. I mean, people in, say, India, might think that anyone who eats marshmallow creme (Yay for Fluff!) is a couple of rupees short. I don’t mind. But I still can’t process the caviar thing. Same goes for bird soup (although I eat chicken soup — I guess it’s the visible beaks in the broth that trip the creepy meter) and chicken heads.

I should probably be a vegetarian, but I think that actually liking vegetables is a prerequisite. Snap.

Hey, speaking of food…Mavis and Hannah are coming over today for some dandy Christmas baking fun. There’s something I can wrap my taste buds around! Then Kay and I are going to see Jim Carrey’s A Christmas Carol. Has anyone seen it yet?

FO

Caviar photos: Amazon.com