Before I begin, I must tell you that I am probably one of the few people who agonize even considering watching yet another production of The Music Man. I saw a high school production of it years ago, I saw it on Broadway during its most recent revival and I have seen the Robert Preston movie so many times that it just makes me want to pull my hair out (someone had the nerve to get it the DVD for me for Christmas years ago). However, I attended a local production of it and I must say that (while still not the world’s biggest proponent of the show) I really enjoyed the production.

All of the fluff and goodness were still present but the performances and entire production was very well done. I had a vested interest because some of my hometown residents were in it and some of the other people involved have been on stage with me before. The lady who played Maude Dunlop was the drama director of my high school’s production of Annie when I played Rooster. The actress portraying Alma Hix is someone I admire greatly and is a joy to know and work with.

I have to say that the gentleman in the role of Marcellus was perhaps the most talented performer on the stage. He was in our theatre’s production of School House Rock last September. He stole every scene he was in with his captivating presence and is a genuine triple threat (able to act, sing, and dance and make it look flawless).

Another scene-stealer was the young boy who stepped into the role of Winthrop. Everything about him just made you want to run up and give him a great big hug. His lisp, his shyness, everything about him was adorable. One of those fluff parts but enjoyable nonetheless.

I would have to say that the real star was the entire ensemble cast in the big production numbers. The routine for “76 Trombones” harkened back to my days in the marching band with precision drills, pinwheels, and straight lines. And yes, there actually was not seventy-six in the pit or on stage as someone sitting next to me pointed out 😀 . After the segment, the applause was so great that you would have thought that it was the show’s finale.

So, everything about the production was very well done. I am still not a fan of the show itself, but maybe in another 10 years I will be able to endure another trip to River City. I would rather watch Mr. Preston as Centauri another great con-man from The Last Starfighter.

If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and get on down to jibjab.com to see the video they have for this year, then go ahead and put yerself into it!  I was going to but in the end decided not to.  I was also going to post a Youtube video but their recompression doesn’t do it justice- just go to jibjab.com and get campaignin’!  Still reading?  Well let me just say that I thought this was every bit as good as their original four years ago.  I was disappointed in their second one that seemed to have a leaning toward the Democratic side, but they seem to be back in the original non-partisan comedy routine.  Now would you do yourself a favor and just see it already? 😀

My boyfriend has asked me to marry him and it was in a way that totally surprised me. He took me to George Bible Park and handed me a lightsaber. We started to fight and after killing him many times, my friend Monica and her boyfriend, Jesse, came at us from both sides of the bridge we were on. I went after Monica and killed her, along with Jesse. As I was killing Jesse, Tony asked me to marry him! I cannot believe that it has happened, but I’m not going to say it was a bad thing. I couldn’t be any happier at the moment.

Since my blogging friends are big movie buffs, I thought I would mention a couple of movies that I have watched recently.  While they likely saw them in the theater when released, I of course watched them on DVD which provide nice extras in the form of deleted scenes and such.  Recently I checked out from the library called The Transporter.  This movie was about a professional driver named Frank Martin (played by Jason Statham, someone I had never heard about before this movie), and I don’t mean racing.  This driver works for whoever needs him, no questions asked.  He is organized to a fault and has a strict code, or set of rules he follows.  When I say organized to a fault I mean he has spare suits neatly folded and wrapped in the trunk of his car for those occasions where someone tries to off him and messes up his clothes.  Of course, he is well versed in the martial arts and can hold his own against over half a dozen opponents at once though with his normal GQ demeanor you would never guess until the first roundhouse.

At the start of this movie you find him making a transaction on the phone and then he is off on business, precisely on time.  He stops in front of a bank, the alarms go off, and the clients run out the bank to his car.  Only there’s a slight problem- the clients have suddenly changed the negotiated terms and that just won’t do.  No leaving until things are settled, Frank’s way of course.  Never mind the sirens getting closer and closer as he refuses to leave until the terms are met.  Once they are about to be busted, they settle things, Frank starts his car, and they are off on a chase that involves a lot of destruction and closeups of him changing gears.  When the dust finally settles, the pursuit has been shaken and his obligation met and paid for (the precise amount- see the movie for what I mean) he heads home, calmly changes the license plates on his car with one of several backups and walks in, eventually joined by an inspector who noticed Frank’s car happened to match the description of the getaway vehicle.  If only the plates matched…

Anyway, soon he is off on his next assignment.  On it, he happens to break one of his own rules and the movie takes off from there.  Lots of action in this movie as you can imagine.  I recommend it to action buffs.

I didn’t realize there was a sequel to this movie until just last week when I saw Transporter 2 at the library (can you tell where I get the majority of movies I watch? 😀 ) just waiting for me to snatch it up.  I just watched it the other day and it was every bit as action-packed and entertaining as the first.  This time, however, the transportation job he has is a bit more legit.  Once he takes care of some would-be car-jackers at the beginning, he straightens up his clothing, complains about being off schedule, and heads off.  Of course he is precisely on time when he arrives, meaning he must have made up for the time on his way.  Eventually, he learns the hard way eventually that his clients are the target of someone who is not too happy with the work one of them is doing in cleaning up crime.  Long story short, Frank becomes the victim of something more than his own misdeeds and is falsely accused of being involved, a big chase scene occurs, and Frank is left to his own to take care of the real criminals and clear his name.  The inspector (played by François Berléand who has a very long resumé at IMDB) is back, this time on vacation at Frank’s place, getting caught up in the middle.  In both movies he is an invaluable resource for Frank helping him get things taken care of.

In any event, again I highly recommend these movies for those interested in action flicks.  Transporter 3 is due out in November of this year and I will probably be seeing it in the theater instead of waiting for the DVD.  For those who know me, that’s a recommendation in itself.  😛

In the last few days, my recovery from tthe emergency c-section has not been going well.  I awoke from a nap Thursday night feeling awful, but luckily my medication kicked in, and I was able to enjoy the midnight showing of The Dark Knight – more on that later.  Friday we met Grandma in South Bend Indiana which is halfway between Chicago where she lives and Ohio where we live to transfer my kids for a week’s vacation with Grandma.  I felt awful all day, and I started shivering in the restaurant.  I knew there was something really wrong when I went outside into the 90° oven and actually enjoyed it – uh oh.

When I got back to Ohio, I had an appointment with my doctor for her to take out my staples (yes, they had to actually use staples to put me back together, yuck) and that actually went well.  Hardly hurt at all, just a little pinch, and it didn’t take long.  I brought up my symptoms to my doctor and she said everything was normal, and I believed her because when I had my other babies, I would heal up right away, so I figured these were all just side effects from the cesarean.  But I took another nap when I got home and when I woke up, I felt like I was dying – that’s really the only way to describe it.  We took my temperature and it was 102.7°, so of course I had chills, the sweats, headache, and pain.  A quick look on the internet gave us the diagnosis:  mastitis – a common infection often suffered by breast-feeding mothers.  We called the doctor and they wouldn’t prescribe any antibiotics over the phone, so we headed to the hospital for the 2nd time in a week…

The admissions people panicked when they saw us coming in with the baby, but we quickly explained it wasn’t him, thank goodness.  Anyway, after a quick look, the ER doctor confirmed our internet diagnosis and sent us home with a prescription.  But since all the pharmacies were closed in our town, they gave me some medicine right then and there.  “Name and birthdate”, they always ask at the hospital before they give you your meds, and I was like, FLASHBACK!  I thought I was done with this for awhile!  But for spending a Friday night in the ER, it wasn’t so bad; we were actually in and out in an hour.  If this had happened in suburban Chicago where I used to live, it would have taken 3-4 hours to wait our turn in the ER, and they would have wheeled a few body bags past us while we were waiting.  So today, I feel much better comparatively, and since the girls are with grandma, I slept until 11:30, so I’m sure that also helped.  The antibiotics seem to be working already, and it was nice to wake up and not feel like I was dying, something that hasn’t happened for a few days.  I also feel better that now I think my recovery from everything is headed in the right direction, whereas when I felt crappy and didn’t know why, it was discouraging because I was thinking, will I ever feel better?

My husband is peeved at my OB-GYN for not checking me more thoroughly during my visit with her yesterday.  I agree; Idid mention my symptoms and she was too dismissive, but being a man (especially one who won’t listen to doctor’s orders – if the doctor tells him to do something or recommends some sort of exam or test and he doesn’t want to do it, he just won’t) I don’t think he understands how important to me it is to have a woman OB-GYN, and she is the only one in town.  Besides, I do like her, she is gentle and she has been through 3 c-sections herself, so she knew exactly what to tell me about what to expect.  If we do have any more children, there will be some debate about which doctor we will use.  Well, anyway…  off to Walmart to get my third prescription this week!

I was going to make a quick post on the new Batman movie, but that can wait. Watching the movie made me think of other things.

Earlier post is in Bold print, newer thoughts are in the regular type.

Things like if doing good makes things go bad, are you still doing good, are you in the right?

Heroes in movies are always trying to do good and the right thing. It doesn’t always work out for them. We see that in everyday life too. We try to do what is right, or good, and sometimes the way things work out, a different path should have been chosen. We can tend to dwell on this, constantly asking “What if?”. Dwelling the “should ofs” and “could ofs” will inhibit our chances of make the correct choices on later issues. We can’t always be assured that doing the right thing, means things will turn out good for us. Sometimes being right is worth the effort, no matter what the outcome.

What would it take to go from good to bad, or bad to good? Is it that big of a difference?

This is something I have some experience with. I know exactly how far I can be pushed. It isn’t so much of going from good to bad, but it is going from easy going to violent or fairly relaxed to a nervous wreck. Major events in ones life can do a number on how you behave. You think beforehand that you know how you will react, but once in the situation, you did something you never would have believed possible. For me those experiences revolve around protecting the weak and innocent, and protecting and loving my family and friends. Since I have been in these situations more than once, I know I would put my own health/welfare on the line if anyone I care about is in trouble. This is something deeply ingrained in who I am. I also know that if pushed too far, I could fall apart. I’ve been close to that too.

At what point do you have too much power?
My feelings is that you can have too much power, when power is your goal. I’ve always found that the people who handle power the best, are the ones that really don’t want it in the first place.

What sort of circumstance would break your will? What would drive you forward? What would stop you dead in your tracks?

I had a daughter in a very serious car accident. I did things I never thought I could do. At the time it was the most difficult life experience I ever had. Just the possibility of losing a child brought me to the brink of stopping my dead in my tracks, but I pushed through and drove forward. Not much more than a year after that, my wife was told she had cancer. 1 1/2 months later it would take her life. This loss was almost to great for me. Even with my children needing me, I almost fell apart. They pulled me back from the abyss. This was something that broke my will. If my girls had not been there, or I had people pushing me in a different direction, the person I am today would not be around. Frightening thought is that I don’t know who or even if I would be today. There are things that happen, that will change the person you are today. Sometimes for the good, sometimes not. I never take abrupt changes in behavior for granted any more.

Before I get into the meat of my post, I would like to apologize to my new theatre chum whose name I could not remember until tonight. All I have to do is recall the name of a state capitol that shares its name with an omelet… hopefully, it does not come to that. I am terrible.

Anywho, The Dark Knight is an interesting problem. There are pros and cons to the latest caped crusader adventure. As anyone who has access to any type of media knows, this is Heath Ledger’s swan song. His Joker is the highlight of the movie. Everything about him just reeks of sadistic villainy. Just looking at him is enough to send chills up and down one’s spine. But more than that, his entire characterization was evil to the core. I am sure that there will be parallels drawn to the performance (there already have been) and his untimely demise; yet, he was utterly phenomenal and should be remembered for it.

I found one aspect to be both a plus and a negative. I actually liked some of the depth of the key players. However, there was a bit (or A LOT) more than we needed. It seems that we knew the life story of EVERY character who has a name and this made the movie drag at times. Anyone who is remotely familiar with Batman knows that he fights to clean up the corruption within Gotham City… However, it seemed you could only count on one officer to be totally uncorruptable. I will say that it is a case of too much of a good thing. That being said, I believe that Mr. Nolan has gotten the characters and the overall atmosphere right in this film as well as Batman Begins (there are no nipples in the batsuit, and Bruce Wayne IS a playboy millionaire… although it is probably billionaire by now… and who is not above falling asleep in his own board meetings after an evening of “fun”).

So, while it was lengthy and had lots of down time between action pieces I did consider it worthwhile to be among the first to see The Dark Knight. The major action scenes were fun to watch and as I keep commenting, Heath Ledger was phenomenal as the CLown Prince of Crime. The hype about that is totally true. Plus, it was awesome just to be among friends old and new (if I can just remember names). Also, I was the only person brave enough to bring my bucket for BYOB night at the movies. We did arrive before midnight after all 😀 .

I almost forgot to mention my favorite bit. DA Harvey Dent’s line:

You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Prophetic sentiment.

decidedly not when I have been waiting for this movie for 3 years when Lieutenant James Gordon showed Batman a new villain’s calling card during the last scene of Batman Begins setting the stage for The Dark Knight that I am going to watch at 12:01AM. As I predicted, my day at work could not have gone any slower. However, there was one moment that I am sure many who work with me (and now the readers of my blog) will not let me soon forget.I was completing the transaction of a customer I have known for years. While I was doing this, she asked me a question:

“Does your wife still run the beauty shop up the street?”

I had to ask to have the question repeated, because I knew that I must have heard incorrectly She straight-faced repeated the question. To which I replied…

“Well… my MOTHER owns a beauty salon about a block north of here.”

She apologized about five times in 30 seconds while I was trying not to die from laughing. After the customer departed, I commented to the manager that I was not sure if that was a compliment or not. She just cracked up laughing and could not stop and of course she had to tell everyone she could. I realize that I just turned 35, but please let’s not add 30 years onto that. I think I got the boss to stop laughing when I told her:

“Of course if I were 30 years older, you would be the same age as I.”

For some reason, I heard very little more on the matter from her the rest of the day.Ok… now if I don’t get a nap, at least I can lie in the cool confines of my Fortress of Solitude (oh… sorry… have to wait a few more years for the Man of Steel) and relax.

Rent Batman Begins and other hits at Blockbuster.com

Does anyone view the videos I post?  There have been no comments at all on either the Godtube one I posted two weeks ago, nor on the Archie videos.  Are they just uninteresting?  No time maybe?  I’m thinking of posting more videos, but if no one watches them then there’s probably no point.

As for this site, I suspect if I continue it will have to undergo a name change.  Now that I am no longer on a track to teach, at least for now, I am not likely to go back to subbing.  I usually enjoy it, but it really doesn’t pay the bills.  If I was capable of running an online business in addition to it I would probably continue, but I have to find a real job, doing what is still to be determined.  I still believe God was trying to tell me something those years ago when I was reading an article about teachers. I can only trust that if it wasn’t to be a teacher, then that something is still out there waiting for me to determine what it is.

I would like to thank everyone who offered help to us when we recently had to face the unplanned decision to find another home for one of our beloved pets.  Our dog Scooby, had bitten one of our kids in the face.  I sent out a plea via email to everyone I knew looking for a new home for Scooby since she was not a vicious animal, just so overwhelmed by fear and tension all the time that a house with kids was not a good home for her.  Lots of people wrote back to me offering support and great tips to help find her a home, and I’d like to thank everyone.  I’d also like to let you know that there is now a very happy ending to the story.  Scooby was adopted by a board member of the humane society where we took her.  She was taken home, and the board member just fell in love with her.  She has a fenced in yard and some other dogs to play with, which is just perfect because Scooby LOVES to run and she also LOVES other dogs – it was just kids that nade her nervous.

My 8-year-old daughter is a little upset, only because we told her we could go visit Scooby and we never did.  We just didn’t want Scooby to smell us and get excited about coming with us until she had found a happy home of her own.  Now that she has, we don’t know who it is that adopted her, and my daughter is sad because she really wanted to see Scooby.  It’s gotten better for her though, and it’s tough for an 8-year-old to understand, but we’ve explained how Scooby is truly better off where she is now.

So thanks again to everyone who offered their help.  It was a heartbreaking decision, and I am certainly not one who is in favor of “getting rid” of animals…  but I think anyone in my position with 4 kids would understand how a dog with a history of biting cannot be a part of our household.  Thanks goodness she was able to find another forever home!