Brushed & Flossed

[pacitarae]

Charm Bracelet Trail

Saturday saw our Darling Family strolling about Historic Downtown Glendale. Darling Son received a camera for Christmas. Since Darling Husband is a particularly adept photographer (he used to paint his oil on canvas masterpieces from his photos of striking Arizona sunsets), he offered to go along. I’ve loved watching them share this journey of artistic discovery. I sprang for lunch at Bitz-ee Mama’s and snapped a couple of pictures of them. Darling Son is framing a shot and Darling Husband is walking to a new destination.

Darling Son’s Photo Framing:

Darling Husband On the Move:

Although the purpose of the outing was to get out, move, and search for photographic subject matter, I succumbed to one of my great weaknesses: charm bracelets. I’ve loved them since I was a little girl when my Nana Moman started my first charm bracelet; it came with a birthstone charm. Since then I’ve collected Disney princess charms, assorted fan charm bracelets, and started a couple of tourist charm bracelets. I even have a flat charm bracelet from when “Italian Charm Bracelets” were all the rage in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

When I walked into the starting point for “Historic Downtown Glendale Charm Trail” I knew I had to participate. The concept combines two of my favorite things: walking trails and charm bracelets. I started at #20: Spinning Wheel Antiques and Gifts. I dutifully picked up a trail map and purchased my starter bracelet with the first charm, a spinning wheel. I told the boys that our Saturday jaunt was all about them, so I was done being Geeky Girl Mom. Then, they drove me to a second purchase. Darling Husband suggested I enter a boutique to look at their great socks and purses. Oh, I wish I had more disposable income. The shop had all sorts of temptations. I settled for a pair of kitschy cactus earrings and their signature dress charm. They actually have a color choice for their charm! Patrons may select between a number of eye-catching hues; I chose brilliant red. There was no purple or green, and everyone and their dog is gonna’ want an LBD or Little Black Dress charm. After the stop at Pink House Boutique, #24 on the trail, I told the boys the rest of the day was theirs. Darling Son took some great pics and we loved being out and about.

Today the boys are off on a different Father/Son adventure. I’m going back for a solo trek of Historic Downtown Glendale; I’ll walk the trail and hopefully pick up some more charms. At two dollars a pop, the cost is not prohibitive, even for teacher Sonja. It looks like most of the locations will be closed today as many of them have listed no Sunday or Monday hours. Even the Monday hours may be different today because of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Regardless, I may end up with a few more charms, and will definitely enjoy walking in the crisp air of an Arizona winter day.

[pacitarae]

Faux Oatmeal

Faux Oatmeal – Sunday, 5 January, 2020

Reboot 201. Which means the reboot of the reboot? Or… third time’s the charm?! Regardless, fingers crossed and ready to roll!

On January First, 2020… which was NOT the first day of a new decade, rather the first day of the tenth year of the decade which began on 1 January, 2011. Geez. Now that we’ve got that straight.

On January First, 2020 I set forth to begin a new year with healthy eating. I already had put my black-eyed peas in the crockpot to simmer all day before plunking in the already washed and chopped collard greens. We always “eat poor” on New Year’s Day so that my Southern Girl Soul and her family will “eat rich” for the remainder of the year. In retrospect, I should have gone with the cornbread mix rather than making it from scratch. I used whole wheat flour that was not as fresh as it should have been. It did not destroy the cornbread I baked in my cast iron skillet, but it did not enhance the flavor. I am not willing to give up my 12-inch cast iron skillet, but it makes so much cornbread, that even in our buttermilk and cornbread binging family, we are still eating leftover cornbread, five days later!

Now that my sidebar tangential meandering is complete: With the dinner already in the making, it was time for one of my favorite breakfasts: A Jethro Bowl of apples and oatmeal. I cheat. I use instant oatmeal packets so everything is contained in a single bowl of breakfasty goodness. I used to just put this concoction into a regular cereal or soup bowl. It was too much food for a single bowl, but I wasn’t willing to give up any of the ingredients. I don’t have time to eat it during the regular week; it takes a long time to eat that much food. I save it for the weekends. See below for my recipe.

I was at the stage where I add my instant oatmeal to my yummy apple concoction when I discovered that the only instant oatmeal was Darling Son’s maple and brown sugar variety. Yummy on its own; not so appealing with apples and cinnamon. What to do? I had already cooked my apple up with the chia seeds and sweetener. Rather than waste it, I thought I just needed to add some other healthy cereal to meet my breakfast preference of healthy grains. I dumped in a half cup each of Fiber One® and Cheerios®. It didn’t hit me until I went to wash the measuring cup that I had just added cereal to WATER. WATER! Vegans out there may think that is super cool. I drink soymilk and almond milk, but I remain a lacto-ovo vegetarian.  I gasped as I realized that my Peace Corps self was not able to let all this food go to waste. I ate it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. I snapped a picture before I ate the final bites:

When Darling Husband came into the kitchen he asked, “What is THAT?!” Yes, his emphasis of incredulity was in the original conversation. After I explained my oatmeal faux pas to him, he wanted to know why I still ate it. My simple, “I couldn’t waste it,” sufficed to abate his curiosity.

So, what’s my point? Well, we could go with good intentions gone awry… or Stupid Mistakes played to the end, even when we know they’re stupid… or Making the Best of a Bad Situation, a la making lemonade when life gives you lemons... Since I made my own lemon situation by adding dry cereal to water instead of milk, I needed to make it right. I did. I ate it. So, maybe my mantra might be Stupid Mistakes Made Right? I just need a catchy theme song such as the Horrible Histories’ Stupid Deaths!

Jethro Bowl of Apple Cinnamon Chia Oatmeal  

1 apple

1 T chia seeds

1 t cinnamon (or shake it out to your heart’s content and taste buds’ preference)

1 t equivalent preferred sweetener (less or more…YOUR taste!) (honey, agave nectar, brown sugar, Stevia, etc.)

Water to cover apple mixture

1 packet instant oatmeal, plain

Chop apple into bite-sized chunks. Add to bowl along with chia seeds, cinnamon, and sweetener. Add enough water to amply cover apple mixture. Heat in microwave, on high, for about two minutes. Stir. Return to microwave and heat on high for another two minutes. Repeat heating mixture until it boils. Times are approximate to your microwave and taste/texture preferences. Add instant oatmeal and mix thoroughly. Let sit a couple of minutes for oats and chia seeds to absorb water. May add boiling water to adjust consistency if needed. Eat it up!

 Works Alluded To:

Connelly, Steve (Creator) “Stupid Deaths” theme song on “Horrible Histories” 2009-2019. Uploaded to YouTube by mark1dart. 13 May 2017. Video. 5 Jan. 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dES8ldFlFrA

Feller, Dick. “Makin’ the Best of a Bad Situation.”  1974. Uploaded to YouTube by Wayne Harvey. 8 Nov. 2014. Video of Audio. 5 Jan. 2020.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XH-bV6g3X8

Henning, Paul (Creator) The Beverly Hillbillies. 1962-1971. Television Series. “Jethro Bowl Granny’s Special Feed,” Jethro Clampett played by Max Baer, Jr. Jed Clampett played by Buddy Ebsen. Uploaded to YouTube by Sulcy. 30 Sep. 2016. Video. 5 Jan. 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJwgJ-Bsvio

[pacitarae]

AZ Future Cities

Brushed & Flossed

 Future Cities – Sunday, 20 January, 2019

Yesterday at approximately six o’clock in the morning, Darling Son and I got in our vehicle and drove for an hour to the Arizona Future Cities competition. It is an engineering and creative hotbed of creativity. Read about it here:

Future Cities

Dr. Camille Casteel High School hosted the Arizona regional competition from seven in the morning until about 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a long day. Teams of middle school students present models of cities in the future. Their models are backed by other key elements that include a simulated city, an essay, and sound science and engineering practices. Many of the presentations featured green concepts as well as sustainable energy sources. The judges’ questions included what the teams learned about engineering as well as collaboration. Judges wanted to know how the students’ visions altered over the course of their preparation. Additionally, the celebrity judges for the five finalists wanted to know not only how the teams planned to minimize crisis situations, but also how to recuperate from a crisis.

The students were well prepared. Their creativity amazed me. I loved their energy and sense of humor. The teachers and engineer mentors worked hard in guiding the students to bring their futuristic visions to fruition. Wow. Congratulations to all the winners. Congratulations to all the participants. Thank you to all the teachers, mentors, and volunteers who made this experience possible for our students, our future.

That’s all I have time to write, but the brevity of the post does not reflect the power of the experience.

[pacitarae]

Comic Conventions

Brushed & Flossed

Comic Convention – Woot! Woot! – Sunday, 13 January, 2019

Woohoo! What a ride this week has been! I continued classes with my freshmen and juniors. I started a new class with sophomores. I attended women’s basketball and boys’ soccer matches. I won tickets to Ace Universe Phoenix 2019.

During Friday afternoon’s fifth hour frosh English class I received a call from the principal; I won two tickets to the weekend gathering of comic nerd-dom and all things pop culture. I revel in my geekiness and any opportunity to gather with brother and sister geeks is time well spent.

Darling Son joined me Friday night for a presentation by John Eaves, prop artist extraordinaire. We were almost ready to head home when we discovered a world of more geeky wonders awaited us on the top level. I struck up a conversation with one of the vendors on the main concourse.  As Darling Son explored the purchase possibilities of their display I commented on what a nice location he had secured for the convention. He shared there were vendors on the top level who were not getting much foot traffic because many convention patrons did not realize there were exhibitor displays beyond the ground level. Evidently, those vendors made their voices known because I began to notice announcements admonishing conventioneers to visit the exhibits on the upper level. We did. I’m glad we did. That is where I found my copy of an 11”x17” replica of the movie poster for the upcoming Captain Marvel film. Darling Son found a couple of Funko Pops to add to his burgeoning collection, and he also discovered a wonderful print of Captain Rex helmets by Rob Taylor and his Herofied Art.

Another first: Darling Son decided to begin collecting patches for a jacket. I told him that I already had a patch jacket; since I was wearing it at the time, it was quite evident. He didn’t even look up from his search for the perfect three patches to commence his collection. He just said, “That’s a travel jacket, Mom. You need a geek jacket.” I concurred. With special convention pricing of three patches for twenty dollars, the three fandoms he selected to honor are Star Wars, a mash-up of Jurassic Park/World & Aliens, and Big Bang Theory. I joined hime by starting my collection with a Ravenclaw crest from Harry Potter, an anti-demon possession glyph from Supernatural, and a stylized Black Widow symbol from Marvel. Hence, we did our due diligence of supporting exhibitors with our small purchases at art, toy, and miscellaneous booths.

Yesterday was a solo con day for me as Darling Son had other plans. Before we went our separate ways for our scheduled day, we went shoe shopping. Now I totally understand what my Darling Mom meant when she said, “You’re growing like a weed!” Growing kids means purchasing new shoes and clothes. Aarrgghh! I don’t know how she did it with three kids; I have a heck of a time doing it for one kid.  $$$$$$$

As we entered our first shoe shopping stop the clerk commented on my t-shirt. He courteously greeted us and then joked that he took exception to my shirt: “That’s not R2-D2!” I was wearing one of my all time favorite geek tees: a depiction of a Dalek with the inscription, “OMG! R2-D2! I loved him in Star Trek!” One would have to be a fan, or at least knowledgeable of, three fandoms to understand the shirt: Star Trek, Star Wars, and Dr. Who. I had worn it in honor of seeing David Tennant as one of the honored guests of Saturday’s Ace Universe comic convention. Upon reflection, I wonder if I am a geek snob. I don’t think so. I’m always willing to talk about or answer questions about my fandoms. That must be the teacher in me as well as the geek in me. Goodness knows, there are far too many fandoms to keep up with all the hot and happening goings on in popular culture. I often ask Darling Son for fandom references. My little know-it-all does not know it all as he frequently admonishes me that no one can know everything about all the options in pop culture. I get that. Yet, I also recognize that fans with different interests will have knowledge I don’t have. I ask questions because I truly want to know. My curiosity may spawn a new personal interest; it may simply engender a simple, “Oh, that’s cool.” Whatever the reaction, it is awesome to share ideas with other fans.

Today I get to geek out with other fans of Tom Hiddleston and his representation of Loki in the wonderful world of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. Today I also get to haul student essays to the convention. Darling Son will join me so I will be able to bring a bag of grading with me. Thus far this weekend, I’ve managed to ignore the work I need to do. I refuse to miss Tom Hiddleston, so my solution is to bring the work with me. When I have to get up and move and stretch, I am able to leave stuff with him to secure our seats. One of the things I miss at this convention is that there is no space for sitting and working/eating/veging that is not in arena style seating. There are no tables. There are a very few spaces for standing and eating or perusing materials.

So, with all this great stuff at Ace Universe, how is it different from the early summer Phoenix Fan Fusion (formerly known as Phoenix Comicon and Phoenix Fan Fest)? One of the big differences is price. Two adults can attend Phoenix Fan Fusion for the price of one general admission to Ace’s convention. Phoenix Fan Fusion is longer: Ace Universe is one evening and two weekend days. Phoenix Fan Fusion is four days and three nights of events. Ace Universe provides space for exhibitors. Phoenix Fan Fusion provides two exhibit halls (one is titled “Hall of Heroes”). Ace Universe spotlights a single headliner or group of headliners for a large number of people in a large space. Phoenix Fan Fusion provides a large headliner hall and multiple special interest presentations in convention style scheduling. So, what is the take away here? If you have plentiful disposable income, by all means, attend Ace Universe. It is a fun time filled with great headliners and motivating music. If your entertainment budget dollars need to stretch, wait for Memorial Day and Phoenix Fan Fusion. Regardless, you will have a good time if you geek out over pop culture and you are surrounded by fellow fans.

[pacitarae]

New Year? New You!

Brushed & Flossed

New Year? New You! – Sunday, 6 January, 2019

Well, last year I crashed and burned on the 100th day of my 365 days of writing. There was major end of the school year stress. There was the excitement of getting it together for a new job opportunity. There was whatever there was. I even began the 100th entry, I just never posted it. Soooooo… in honor of the need for humanity, and the queen of second chances, here I am with a new challenge. I’m going to set a goal to write a weekly blog. The daily thing is just too much with everything else going on. I’m okay with that. I have to be.

It is actually a combination of Darling Son and Friend R who have inspired this entry.

Darling Son got me started with talking about the silliness of people making New Year’s resolutions they don’t intend to keep. I tried to get all cheerful about it and explained how good intentions and goal setting aren’t bad things. He is already jaded at a wise old age of thirteen. His adolescence sees him as ready to judge others’ failures without taking into consideration extenuating circumstances and the just plain craziness that makes for modern life. Example: We are in the midst of finding a new gym as the fees for our current gym are outlandish for the services provided. I loved belonging to our local YMCA. There’s a pool, some yoga classes, a weight/cardio room, a just-getting-started weight room, and discounts on youth recreation programs. Slowly the hours have dwindled down to nearly nothing; the pool is no longer year round (in Arizona!?), and Darling Son has outgrown the recreation opportunities that fit his interests. So, we are spending WAY more money than is sensible for the services we use.

Challenge? Well, Darling Son does not want to go looking for a new gym in January because that is when all the posers are looking for a new gym. I delayed in canceling our Y membership, so we are good to go until the beginning of February, but all the excitement and ganga deals for new gym memberships are happening right now! I’m going to have to just get jiggy with it and maybe use this month to explore the specials. Thing is, I HATE the high pressure sales deals. The use of the word “hate” is a whole other blog entry. So I will just state for the record that I do not use that word lightly.

In addition to the whole gym membership thing, I have the added incentive to evaluate New Year? New You! because my Friend R was talking about getting a new planner for her life organization. We met up on New Year’s Eve afternoon and were talking about how goal setting and life organization is easier with an interactive calendar or planner. I used to keep a planner! Those were the days when I was more organized, or at least when I held delusions of organization. I have spiraled into quite a disarray of organization so her words of wisdom have inspired me to give that a try again. When I went online to look for a new agenda to note my plans and responsibilities I discovered the new trend of “bullet journaling.” Let’s be honest here, part of me wants to decry the “next new thing” as one more task designed to make people like me (disorganized and overcommitted) to feel inferior to people with “perfect” little systems of organization and clean bathrooms. The other part of me wants to la-di-dah something that is a been-there-done-that-called-it-something-different-then. I started keeping calendars, agendas, planners, etc. back in my middle school days…not teaching middle school, but living it. I noted, I color coded, I doodled, I highlighted. Yeah. I’ve survived (and sometimes thrived) multiple incarnations of keeping a portable date book.

Hey, does anyone else remember those little calendars we picked up at the Hallmark store and carried in our purse to note all our important dates? Wow! I just remembered that! I don’t remember when I started using those, fifth or sixth grade? By seventh grade I know that I had already committed to something that was a bit heftier in the way it allowed me to keep track of deadlines, important dates, and spend time to save time. I had a little tan-colored, faux-suede agenda with a snap to keep it closed in my purse. Oh, and a little brown etching-like illustration of a wildcat kitten. Awwwwwwww.

Okay, enough with the memory lane. This makes me want to dig out some of my old calendars, planners, agendas and look at the things that kept my life busy in years gone by. But, that is a digression. My focus today is on the third part of me that desperately needs and yearns for the chance to reboot my organizational skills and make time for what really matters. So, here is to all of us finding time to make the time for what really matters in our lives. I wish you good times…whatever that means to you…Happy New Year! New You!

[pacitarae]

Sunday

Brushed & Flossed

Sunday – Sunday, 8 April, 2018 99/365

Celebration: Sunday – Just kickin’ back…whatever…relaxation & rejuvenation

All right…so I sorta’ started this month of celebration writing with a Sunday, but that was a special Sunday since it was for Easter Sunday. Today I’m writing about just kicking back and relaxing Sunday.

I celebrate every Sunday with a deep sigh and a sense of rejuvenation. Sunday is the day I claim for me. Today I spent it binge watching Supernatural; I’m a bit behind. I hadn’t even seen the Scoobynatural episode! I almost wish I hadn’t; now I want a tee-shirt. Of course, HotTopic is sold out of them, so it doesn’t look like it is gonna’ happen anyway.

I also managed to get five loads of laundry done. Well, four, since I still have to fold the last load. I need to get some grading done, too.

That’s the thing about Sundays…celebrate as much as I can for as long as I can…because eventually I have to put on the grown up shoes and be an adult to get ready for the next work week. We’re going into standardized testing this week: writing and make-ups for writing. Next week is gonna’ be the crunch week of testing: two days filled with reading and math testing followed by a day of science testing. Yup…living the dream.

Sunday, the eighth of April of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 99 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

Saturday

Brushed & Flossed

Saturday – Saturday, 7 April, 2018 98/365

Celebration: Saturday – Game Day! Or …Saturday Night!

As a child Saturday was the day that marked the fullness of weekend time. Sometimes our family had car-trip travel plans. I’m old enough, or grew up poor enough, that the term “road-trip” didn’t really hit me with any kind of meaning until I was in college. Sometimes we had scouting events. Sometimes we had Job’s Daughter or DeMolay events. Sometimes we had church youth group events. And sometimes…oh, those blessed sometimes, we had a full Saturday just to ourselves. We could head out to the pool in the late spring or summer. We could play board games or card games. We could go to the movies. We could just chill…reading a great book. We didn’t have to have plans. The day was all ours once we had cleaned our rooms and watched Saturday morning cartoons.

By mid adolescence Saturday was just a day to get through until Saturday night arrived. I remember singing the Bay City Rollers song before I really appreciated it. Our Girl Scout troop had gone to the art museum, and we were having a picnic in a nearby downtown park. There was a gentle hill that rolled from a bench down to a little plaza. At the time we were Cadets, that’s middle school age for those unversed in Girl Scout age groups. I laugh now to think I was the age then of the students I teach now. Back to that tiny plaza in downtown Tucson. We had finished our lunch and were a bit restless. I don’t even remember what we did afterwards. I remember the art museum and I remember that picnic. It isn’t the picnic so much that I remember, it is that we were singing “Saturday Night” during Saturday Day. We also regressed to a childhood state and repeatedly rolled ourselves down that small hill in the very rare thing of a grassy knoll in Tucson, Arizona.

By late adolescence and college days, Saturday night became the Bay City Rollers song for me. I loved dancing. That is what Saturdays came to mean: dancing. I miss dancing.

Now Saturday is pretty much a game day for Darling Son. Today is no exception. I need to get going, but wanted to reminisce a bit before I wake up Darling Son and begin our shared family day.

Saturday, the seventh of April of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 98 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

TGIF!

Brushed & Flossed

Friday – Friday, 6 April, 2018 97/365

Celebration: Thank God It’s Friday! – Duh!

Woohoo! Just about everybody celebrates Friday. I always feel as though I am in good company on Fridays because it is a great day to be in a great mood. On Fridays my classroom has a bit of a different feel. Although that is the day homework is due and my students take the weekly quiz; it is also the day the disco ball spins a celebratory welcome to the weekend.

In 1978 the group, Love and Kisses released “Thank God It’s Friday” on the movie soundtrack by the same name. I had it on 8-track. I loved it. I played it until I wore out the tracks. So, in honor of the weekend…go start yours. I’m starting mine when I post this blog.

Friday, the sixth of April of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 97 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

Thursday Premiere Night

Brushed & Flossed

Thursday – Thursday, 5 April, 2018 96/365

Celebration: Movie Premiere Night! – Movies come out after dusk!

Thursday gets lost in the craziness of the work week’s end. I love Thursdays because it is where I take a deep breath and think, “Looks like we made it!” Barry Manilow sang it in 1976; it’s been a refrain for me for four decades. Yeah, the work week is not over, but there is so little to go and so much to look forward to on the weekend.

One of my all time favorite things to do on Thursday nights is to go to the after-dusk premiere of movies with a theater release date of Friday. Right now our family is looking forward to Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War. This will be our next big opening night film. We’ll be there on Thursday, April 26th with the hard core fans who want to experience it on opening night.

Thursday, the fifth of April of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 96 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

Wednesday Humpday!

Brushed & Flossed

Wednesday Humpday – Wednesday, 24 April, 2018 95/365

Celebration: Wednesday @ Lunch – We are on the rollercoaster ride of WOOHOO! and headed for the weekend!

Well, I didn’t mean to do it, but I began this month of celebrations with days of the week. Every day should have its own celebration. I might just keep this up. Technically, my Sunday entry was about a holiday and not about celebrating our run-of-the-mill Sunday. But there I was, writing about Mondays and then I followed that with a Tuesday entry. So be it. I have cast the die. Here’s to Wednesdays!

I love Wednesdays. I don’t remember when people started referring to them as “Humpday,” as in, “We are over the hump of climbing the workweek hill and sliding down to Friday afternoon.” I get it. People still use the term “Wednesday Humpday” to encourage themselves and others to hold on to their sanity until the weekend’s arrival. I’m always happy to celebrate, but this one reminded me of those old Argus posters from the 1970s that we kids hung on our bedroom walls and our teachers posted in their classrooms. You know the one I’m talking about: a cat is hanging onto a tree branch and underneath the text encourages us to, “Hang In There, Baby!”

Actually, I just looked that poster up; on eBay it sells for $69.99! Geez! If I woulda’ known, I woulda’ saved mine! Actually, that one might have belonged to my Darling Sister or my Darling Brother.

Regardless of the poster, the idea behind Humpday makes me think of barely making it through the week rather than celebrating the week. In college we started our weekend on Wednesday nights. We went dancing at a club called The Bum Steer for White Wednesdays; all well drinks were 89 cents. Those were the days! On Thursdays we danced at The Wildcat House. On Fridays and Saturdays we’d head out to any number of dance clubs with drink specials for “starving college students.” I always looked forward to Wednesdays. I still do. Now instead of getting into the dance groove with pulsating music and low drink prices, I usually just look forward to a quiet night at home…we don’t have soccer or basketball practice on Wednesday nights.

Happy Wednesday! “You can dance if you want to…” (Safety Dance, by Men without Hats, 1982, Rhythm of Youth album).

Wednesday, the fourth of April of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 95 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

DVD Tuesdays

Brushed & Flossed

DVD Tuesdays – Tuesday, 23April, 2018 94/365

Celebration: DVD Tuesdays – Revisit the movies we loved in the theater!

One of the best things about seeing a movie in the theater and absolutely loving it is that we know it will be coming to a DVD (or computer screen) near us! When a great movie comes to the big screen I used to go on opening night and again on the first showing of Sunday morning. When it was really awesome, I would find myself going to see it the following weekend as well.

Life changes. Now I seldom go to that second showing of opening weekend, and it’s even rarer for a third outing for the same flick. True; nothing beats the big screen for a full movie experience. However, the home video option allows for wonderful benefits that we miss in the theater. Perhaps the most important is that we can stop the movie anytime we feel like it if we need to run to the little-movie-watchers’–room. We can throw more popcorn in the microwave or refill our water bottles at our leisure – no rushing back. No worries that we’ll miss something important while taking care of bodily functions. Oh, and no youngsters who are too young or too ill-behaved to be in a public theater. And, of course, nobody talking, texting, or whatever else on their phone.

Even with all the aforementioned benefits, my favorite part of having my own movie experience at home is that I can always rewatch something I missed or review key dialogue. There’s also the thrill of watching the special features that are included on the disc. We had a crazy week last week and missed the Tuesday DVD release of The Last Jedi. I can’t wait to explore all the extra geeky stuff. May the Force be with you.

Tuesday, the third of April of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 94 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

Not So Manic Monday

Brushed & Flossed

Mondays – Monday, 2 April, 2018 93/365

Celebration: Monday – Start the week with a smile!

Previously I’ve confessed to being that Morning Person that tends to annoys non-morning people because I am chipper, even before my first cup of coffee. Here’s a follow-up confession: I love Mondays.

True, I sang along with others of my generation when The Bangles sang, “Manic Monday.” Yet, deep down, it wasn’t my true self. Sure, I cherish my weekends and time I spend with friends, family, and self, but I also love the beginning of the work week. Maybe that is why I love Mondays: it is a new beginning. As Queen of Second Chances, I believe in the power of a fresh start.

So, today I celebrate Mondays. There is a pep in my step and a shiny new week before me. Happy Monday!

Monday, the second of April of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 93 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

Easter Celebration

Brushed & Flossed

Easter – Sunday, 1 April, 2018 92/365

Celebration: Easter – ecclesiastical, spiritual, or secular

It’s time for a new Month of Something in my quest to achieve a Year of Writing via 365 Days of Writing. I could have gone with practical jokes as my month of blog entries. My family played a few practical jokes for April Fool’s Day, but it wasn’t a huge thing in my family. Easter on the other hand, that was a big thing in my family. We celebrated this holiday both ecclesiastically and secularly. That is what made me think of my theme for this month of writing: Celebrations! When I was an undergraduate my Teaching Reading in the Elementary Classroom professor introduced us to a beautiful book by Byrd Baylor: I’m in Charge of Celebrations. The theme of the book is…celebrations! Not the kind you expect, like the sorts of celebrations you find on a calendar or miss school for civic parades or religious services. In Byrd Baylor’s book the celebrations are the ones that come up unexpectedly such as dust devils or rainbows. Some of the celebrations arrive daily or with scheduled regularity such as cloud formations or the beginning of spring. I used that book with my intermediate grade students to remind them that we have many events and achievements to celebrate. So, in spirit of celebration, I want to honor both expected and surprise celebrations during the month of April.

In honor of Easter falling on the first of April, I’m going to go with Easter for my first celebration blog entry. Easter was big in my family. We celebrated it twice: once in church with the solemnity and joy of the risen Christ, and once again in nature with egg hunts and picnics. In the jumble of Easter memories there is much to celebrate. Some elements of my own Easter celebrations have continued with Darling Son, some of them have fallen by the wayside.

I have to confess that my favorite part of Easter was the new clothes. We usually got something fancy for the church service and something casual for the family picnic. My favorite memories of these come from much younger days. One was when we were still living in Alabama. Darling Cousins were visiting. My wonderfully creative and brilliantly talented mom made matching Easter frocks for Darling Cousin I, Darling Sister, and moi. Each dress was a different pastel shade; mine was green, Sister’s was yellow, and Cousin’s was pink. We each had matching bows for our hair, a handbag, and cute little Mary Janes for our feet. Somewhere there’s a great picture of the three of us all dressed up for services and squinting into the sun as Mom or Darling Auntie snapped the picture.

In addition to new clothes, Easter was always about picnics in public places. One year we got a late start after worship services; when we arrived at the park, there were limited places to park our brood and set up our picnic. Daddy tried to get Mom to race a grandmotherly looking elder to a ramada. Mom played along and got out of the car and actually acted like she was going to run to the table. She let the older woman arrive first. We found another ramada and it was fine. Daddy wouldn’t let it go, but Mom just continued to pretend that she had raced and lost to a grandmother. That’s my wonderful Mom: she is always thinking of other people.

Another family tradition that my beautiful mother upheld for us was the Easter morning basket of goodies. There was always a chocolate rabbit, marshmallow peeps, and speckled jelly beans wrapped up in colorful cellophane and topped with an equally colorful ribbon. These baskets almost always had a book in them. Now I can’t remember a single title. I do remember a plush yellow duck that I received one year. Its bottom was styled like a bean bag and I plopped it on my head for an afternoon snapshot. That picture’s around somewhere, too.

Because of my wonderful mother, Darling Son gets an Easter basket replete with chocolate, jelly beans, and a book. Alas, we don’t do Peeps because our vegetarian lifestyle doesn’t include gelatin. Bummer. Now there are some companies that provide gelatin free marshmallows; I’d love some vegetarian friendly Peeps. My childhood favorites were always the purple ones because, well, because they were PURPLE!

Sunday, the first of April of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 92 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

Comic-Con

Brushed & Flossed

Comic-Con – Saturday, 31 March, 2018 91/365

Fandom: Comic-Con – fan conventions of popular culture

For my final fandom entry it seems only fitting that I close out this month with a blog entry dedicated to the grandmother of all fandoms: the fan convention known as Comic-Con.

Darling Son and I tried to get tickets to San Diego’s Comic-Con International for three years before we scored tickets. Last July we went for the first time. Woohoo! As if we hadn’t already become mega fans, we loved our experience. We are going again this year. Yesterday the email went out for presale of hotel rooms. Today I went to make our reservations and there was only ONE hotel left where we were able to reserve rooms. We wanted to return to our same hotel as last year because although it was not in the heart of downtown, the shuttle got us there within a half hour. I’m sure we will also love our experience this year; according to last year’s shuttle schedule we will spend the same amount of time on the shuttle for our new hotel. I can’t wait.

This May will mark our fourth experience at the Phoenix convention; they have rebranded themselves from Phoenix Comicon to Phoenix Comic Fest. This is where we cut our comic-con teeth, so it holds a special place in our hearts. The first year we just wore what we thought were funky cool pop culture reference t-shirts. Then we added a combination of cosplay and cool t-shirts. It takes a lot of energy to do cosplay! Now we do two days of t-shirts and two days of cosplay. I don’t know what we’ll do this year. We need to decide soon…it’s already April, well, it will be tomorrow!

Our second year we wanted to avoid the whole parking ordeal. I splurged for a hotel room so we would just walk to the convention. I waited too late and our hotel was almost a mile away. In one-hundred teens temperatures we walked to and from the convention center and our hotel. Last year I knew better, I reserved early and was only a block away. This year I reserved super early; we are at one of the convention hotels. I can’t wait.

Two years ago we did a Tucson Comic-Con. The idea was that Darling Brother would join us because attending a Comic-Con is on his bucket list. Darling Son and I had a great time. Darling Brother missed it. We had already purchased a ticket for him for the final day, Sunday. When Darling Brother couldn’t go, we looked for a family who was in line to buy tickets for the day. We found one with a mom and three young kids. We handed her our extra adult ticket and felt all warm inside for being able to do a good deed.

That was also the fall that Pokémon Go was at its height. Darling Son cosplayed Pikachu on the first day of the con. While we were milling about with other convention goers on the first morning a preschooler was following Darling Son and started raising his arm and releasing his open hand towards Darling Son. I must have looked up with an expression of, “What?” The little boy’s mom explained, “He’s throwing poké balls at Pikachu; he’s trying to catch him!” It was hilarious! That day I had cosplayed Harley Quinn (the old school Harley, not the new one with an expletive tattooed on her belly). Darling Son repeatedly announced, “More people want pictures of my cosplay than yours.” As if I didn’t know I could never be as cool as Darling Son. ;-)

Since we did San Diego’s Comic-Con in 2017, we let the Tucson Comic-Con slide this past autumn. I will say that while the Phoenix Comic Fest attracts more headliners, the Tucson Comic-Con has better night energy for walking around downtown after the convention closes.

So, what is it about Comic-Con that people pay ungodly amounts of money for hotels and tickets to participate in the experience? I think I touched on it yesterday. Our fandoms take us away from the tedium of daily trials and tribulations. True, it is a bit escapist. True, that money might be spent elsewhere. Yet, sharing time and space with others who geek out over favorite popular culture events and experiences is a treasure. I’m willing to spend money on the memories we’re making in these shared experiences with Darling Son.

53 days until Phoenix Comic Fest!

109 days until San Diego’s Comic-Con International!

216 days until Tucson Comic-Con!

Saturday, the thirty-first of March of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 91 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

DragonVale

Brushed & Flossed

DragonVale – Friday, 30 March, 2018 90/365

Fandom: DragonVale – freemium game by Backflip Studios

I religiously played DragonVale from 2012 through 2015. It was my first video game love affair. I’m old enough to have lived through arcades. It was never my thing. I think it was mostly because I never had the pocket money to spend on them as a priority luxury. When I was younger my expendable income almost always went to something fashion or music related. As I got older that expanded to include travel.

So much time was required to be a part of intricate and interactive simulation and/or role-playing games that I didn’t make them a priority. It was an idea that sounded fun, but that I just didn’t have time to include in my schedule. By the time it became possible for a new generation of gamers who played multi-player simulation games, I was entrenched in career development and/or seeking extra funny letters after my name. It wasn’t that I didn’t think it was worthy of my time; I just didn’t see myself having the time.

Then…in late fall of 2011 I got my first iPhone: the 4S. Woohoo! A friend and colleague kept telling me that I needed to make the change from my Blackberry. She loved her iPhone and her iPad. I won an iPod at a teacher tech conference and fell in love with the ability to have my music with me anywhere I went. I gave Darling Son my iPod and I became an iPhone groupie. In my overexcitement to seek cool apps I discovered DragonVale in the early months of 2012.

After all the years of listening to people talk about their games and thinking that I’m sure it was very cool, but knowing that I just didn’t have the time or money for it, I finally succumbed to video game fever. There was even a time when I set my alarm to go off every twenty minutes so I could check on hatching dragons and collect my dragon gelt. I bought an iPad just so I could see my dragons and my dragon park on a bigger screen! Eventually, I became satisfied with checking in on my dragons two or three times a day. I was okay with that. I maxed out on every level until I quit playing.

Although I became disenchanted with the crazy structure for collecting coins and experience, I kept a soft place in my heart for my dragons. I understood how people could devote so much time and energy to creating imaginary worlds. At one particularly low time, I remember telling Darling Husband that I was going to spend the day with my imaginary dragon friends. I was trying to hatch a Rainbow Dragon at the time. I did.

Other games have caught my attention since then; some of them are word games, some of them are mindless games to divert me from reality. That’s the deal: these games take us from our own daily grind; they transport us to a place where the small escape grants us enough of a repose to face the challenges of our real world. Stuck on my refrigerator is a quote from writer Anton Chekhov that encapsulates what video games do for me. “Any idiot can face a crisis. It’s this day-to-day living that wears you out.”

I don’t remember if I’ve shared this or not, so I’m going to go for it. We were talking about our fandoms when one student gushed to another that she just had to check out such-and-such a fandom. The other student looked a bit exasperated and declared, “I just don’t have time for another fandom.” At the time she was an eighth grader. She was then and remains now someone who puts incredible amounts of energy into the elements of her life that hold meaning: her family, her friends, her studies, her music, her sports, and her fandoms. It takes a lot energy to not be a “faux fan.” It was the same student who later declared that I was a faux fan of Twenty-One Pilots because I only knew a couple of their songs.

That means that there are degrees of fandom; some engender in us an all-consuming passion and for others we are just passing through. Well, here’s to any fandom that provides a sense of community via a shared interest, even if it only lasts for a little while.

Friday, the thirtieth of March of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 90 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

Wonder Woman

Brushed & Flossed

Wonder Woman – Thursday, 29 March, 2018 89/365

Fandom: Wonder Woman – 1941 comic created by William Moulton Marsden and Harry G. Peter; played for television in 1970s by Lynda Carter; depicted for 21st Century fans by Gal Gadot and directed by Patty Jenkins

The original Kick-A Warrior! Take an Amazon, mix in some powerful accessories/weapons, and you have the makings of Wonder Woman!

I grew up watching Lynda Carter play one of the few female super heroes as a live action Wonder Woman. I watched Super Friends on Saturday morning cartoons and was riveted by every appearance of Wonder Woman. One of my best friends during college years brought Wonder Woman back to life for me. Dear Amiga was an accomplished story-teller; whenever she depicted evidence of an amazing accomplishment or strength, she would criss-cross her wrists back and forth three times in a re-enactment of Wonder Woman’s famous bulletproof bracelets. Then, oh-how-glad-I-am, DC and Warner Brothers brought Wonder Woman to life for a new generation of fans with Gal Gadot.

Woohoo! In the midst of all the male super heroes, we need a strong woman to stand up for justice and all the good in the world. As I was double checking my dates and spellings of names I came across a wonderful essay by Angelica Jade Bastién for Vulture. She wrote about the origin and the feminist power of Wonder Woman. Check it out here: The Strange, Complicated, Feminist History of Wonder Woman’s Origin Story. Wow! I wish I had written that!

Thursday, the twenty-ninth of March of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 89 of 365 writing entries!

[pacitarae]

Ready Player One

Brushed & Flossed

Ready Player One – Wednesday, 28 March, 2018 88/365

Fandom: Ready Player One – text written by Ernest Cline, film directed by Steven Spielberg

I came across Ernie Cline’s book, Ready Player One while browsing in the bookstore. I only discovered it last year; it had already been in print since 2011, so I was a late bloomer on the RPO front. What I lacked in punctuality, I have more than compensated for in fervent fandom.

I present evidence of my compulsive fandom. As I read the book I immediately thought of two people who would geek out with me over the 1980s pop culture references. I knew that Darling Brother and Dear Amiga would both enjoy the book and the upcoming film.

I had spent the previous year enjoying what I call book discovery boxes. I met the owner of Once Upon a Book Club at a Tucson Comic-Con. Michelle Wolett designs fantastic book geekery. One of her products is a monthly book box of gifts to open when you get to a specified page number. I was entranced. About half-way through my year’s subscription I switched from the adult books to the Young Adult books so I might share them with my students. Last school year I changed my final book project to offer one of these discovery boxes as a literary response option. I created my first book discovery box for my students using Full Metal Alchemist as the text. When I read Ernie Cline’s Ready Player One, it screamed at me: “This would make a great book discovery box for a gift!”

I began my second complete read through of the book with sticky notes flagging key pop culture references from the 1980s. Then I began compiling copious notes. I covered quite a few pages of a composition book with my scratching. I looked for gift ideas. I listed music, movie, comic, game, and television references. I separated them out and then compiled them by genre. I totally geeked out over the multiple references to my youth.

Eventually I left the world of the book’s pages and my own notes; I began collecting gifts to create the discovery box. I couldn’t just leave it there; I also culled the pages for media references and created media playlists for myself and my gift recipients. The final boxes weren’t pretty on the outside, but inside they were excellent! I wrapped the gifts in two different fabrics: a pixilated gaming print and a comics print. Here is the picture of what went into each box:

So, I finally finished both boxes and got them in the mail to the recipients. Then I started rereading Cline’s book to get myself ready for the Spielberg film. I couldn’t resist. I ended up adding more sticky notes and now I feel like I want to redo the media playlists to encompass the additional media.  

Regardless of the fan mania, I went to see Ready Player One, the movie, with Darling Son and his friend. We had a great time! I know that Rotten Tomatoes only rated it 76, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, some of the references were altered. I can only imagine the licensing nightmares they encountered in the making of the film. The sense of the fictional Halliday’s love affair with the 80s of his youth has remained. The enthusiasm of the gunters’ search for the famed Easter Egg as well as the depiction of reprehensible Sorrento and IOI are in place. Any fan of the book should definitely see the movie. Anyone who lived through the 1980s should read the book and see the movie; whether you loved or hated the era, it shaped our future – as all eras shape the future. Some of the reviews claim that those without a grounding of the 1980s will find the multiple Eighties references tedious. I don’t think so. I watched the movie with two twelve year olds who had not read the book and, evidently, not experienced the Eighties. They LOVED it.

Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of March of 2018: I brushed and flossed. Day 88 of 365 writing entries!