Opera

Last week my students preformed the opera they wrote. It was called "Goblin Attack." I am going to put the summary that was in our program here. It sounds a little high-falutin' and silly because we wanted it to seem like a real grown-up opera.

Synopsis
We open on a small village some time in 1619. The town’s royalty and villagers are preparing for a goblin attack. The Goblins arrive and kidnap a princess; then they start casting spells on the people of the town. The villagers try to cast their own spells with no success. As a back up plan the villagers have been making a time machine and they now use it to escape from the Goblins.

This is a photo of three of the goblins and the Princess they kidnapped.

The townspeople step out of their time machine in the year 1201. There are several warriors who are drawn by the strange machine. The royals ask if the warriors will help them fight the goblins. The warriors agree to this, but only if they are paid with pie. The warriors and townspeople get in the time machine and head back to the village.

Meanwhile, the goblins have turned the castle into their lair. They begin attacking the warriors with spells as soon as they arrive. The villagers pay the warriors with pie. A warrior throws a pie at one goblin, who is staggered by the creamy pie. Seeing this, other warriors attack the remaining goblins with more pie and then chase them into the time machine.

The warriors and villagers work together to free the captured princess. When she is free they turn on the time machine and send the goblins to the present day. We close with the townspeople and warriors rejoicing over their victory.

The opera was a great success. I had so much fun working with my mom on it, and all of the students learned so much.

This is a photo taken after our family performance. There were about 80 cameras so we are all looking different ways.

Wishing for a Divorce

Today I had lunch duty, which means I had to watch a playground full of little, and not so little, kids in case of any bloodletting or attempts at a coup. Today was a stellar day, no major threats where detected, and I made at least one kid cry uncontrollably.
The best part of the duty, though, was when I was herding the students into their classes. One little girl was trudging to her line, when I asked if she had had fun playing with her friends. She mumbled and said it was ok, but what came next was truly special. She said, "But [they] are going to a summer camp just for divorced kids, and I can't go. I wish my parents could be divorced." I managed not to laugh and I asked if it would be sad if her parents didn't love each other and had to live in seperate houses. She shrugged and said, "Yeah, I guess, but then I could go to the camp!" I guess its hard to be a kid, either your being left out or coming from a broken home, and neither one feels good, though I would have thought a broken home would hurt more.

Edward?

For those who don't know I teach at a private school that goes from pre-school through high school. I get to know, or at least see, most of the older students during breaks, before and after school, and at lunch. In the last few weeks I've noticed a strange new student. He is tall and thin with nice, wavy, longish, brown hair. He is remarkably pale and rarely speaks to the other students. His clothes are nicer then most of the students; he wears button down shirts with fancy shoes.
I know what you are thinking (at least, I do if you are a girl who reads silly books). This kid is freakishly like Edward Cullen. I'm actually surprised that none of the girls at our school seem to be thronging him, especially since many of them have t-shirts with Robert Pattinson, and turn pink and/or scream when anything Twilight-esque is mentioned.
The cherry on top of this story, though, is that today on the way to school my mom (who teaches next door to me) asked if I had noticed the strange new high schooler. She described him briefly, and I said, "The one who is like Edward Cullen?" She burst out laughing and said that was just what she had thought about him too! *Chuckles*
So, to sum up, I may have a real life vampire at my school, or he could just be a really strange 16 year old. I'll let you know if I ever discover the truth.

Long Lost Blogger

I am the worst blogger in the world! Its been more then 5 months! Wow! I finally decided to revisit the good old blog after I googled myself and saw Christmas pictures pop up from this blog. Sad!
There are two exciting things I want to talk about here. First is a new band I just discovered. Tinted Windows is a "power pop" band with members from bands as diverse as Fountains of Wayne, Cheap Trick, Smashing Pumpkins, and Hanson. I've only heard a few of their songs so far, but I like what I've heard pretty well. I'm going to download their whole album this weekend. I think checking them out will be well worth your time.
The second exciting thing I want to blog about is the bridal shower I threw for my little brothers fiance, Roxy. Last night I had 15 or so relatives and one of Roxy's friends over for the shower. We had super yummy hummus (thanks Laura), great guacamole (thanks Jen) and cheesy, fun games (all me). I also have to dish about the fabulous cake balls Ami made. My sister doesn't bake often, but when she does, look out. These seemingly innocent balls are addictive and insanely good. Most of the gifts were tame but fun, like a crock-pot and lovely dishes. Laura gave her a sexy leopard print teddy (ohh lala), and Roxy blushed like crazy. She was bold enough to pose for pictures with it, but her face got even redder then. My mom, sister, and I gave her a homemade rag quilt. We did it in their wedding colors (mango and cranberry, not orange and red) and we even put their hand prints on it. I had so much fun planning and having this shower. I hope I get to plan many more. (so, if any of you reading this are in need of a bridal shower in California, let me know *wink*)

Christmas Laughs

I hope you had as wonderful a Christmas as I did. I got to spend a lot of time with my crazy and funny family. One of the best parts of the day was when Larry tried on the gift I gave him. I hope you enjoy watching as much as I did.

Merry Christmas

I love this time of year! The music, the stories, the food, the parties, the three weeks off of work! I love it! I hope you love it to, and if you don't then you should go jump in a lake and/or find a job that lets you off for the holidays.
Today, some of the older kids at my school preformed their own adaptation of Dickens A Christmas Carol. They stayed after school last night to set up this pretty detailed set (for a 20 minute show for 3rd graders) and then first thing this morning they did their stuff. It was really fun to see all of them (even the exchange students) preform their parts with such feeling. I especially liked that in the end Scrooge gave Tiny Tim a puppy, after which they both wished us all a Merry Christmas, and passed out fancy chocolates. I hate to admit that I haven't read the Dickens version but it seemed pretty off. I liked it all the same, and my kids loved it!

This is a blurry shot of Scrooge handing "Tiny" Tim his new puppy

(who was surprisingly ferocious).

A close friend of mine recently admitted that she hates A Christmas Carol, in all its many forms. I was so shocked by this. I have always loved it. My dad played the Ghost of Christmas Present several times when I was a kid and I loved to go see him. The story and its characters seemed real to me each time I saw it. I also played Scrooge's sister, Fanny, (coming to bring him home from school) when I was in junior high and fell even more in love with it (I'm willing to admit that this may have been more due to the cuteness of young Scrooge then anything else). Any way, to the point: As I said earlier I haven't actually read it, and so, along with a little book club I'm in, I am going to read it this year. I expect to love it even more, but if I don't, I probably won't admit it. And now you know.

The Walk

As you may know, I am a big Hanson fan (yes, the ones of MMMBop fame). I've loved them and their music for a long time now, and although I did have a door covered with their pictures in junior high, I would not classify myself as a crazy fan. Their latest two albums (The Walk and Underneath ) are full of songs I find myself singing at random times (like when I wake up).


Recently the band has created a charity called The Walk, which raises money for and awareness of social issues in Africa. It does things like pay for medicine for mothers with HIV, build schools, make irrigation systems, and give shoes to children. Before each of their shows on their recent tour they have been doing a one mile walk without shoes, and for each person who joins them they donate a $1 to the charity. So, this weekend I got to take The Walk with them (and about 100 other people).


Somehow I managed to talk my perfectly reasonable sister and sister-in-law into coming with me (disclaimer: they are not big fans of Hanson, and thus not a dork like me). We took my cousin Sam (who is 3) and drove to Chapman University (in Orange, where I live). When we got there a bunch of people where milling around, and after we registered Sam was bored, so Marissa taught him how to throw rocks at things (okay, it was only a fountain, but it sounds more fun the other way).

I think their faces say it all (I hope he didn't just hit something or someone important).

After a while Hanson showed up and we strolled over and took off our shoes (even Sam). They gave a rousing speech about how our generation can change the world and that the first step is to get out there (which I did by going to The Walk). They also encouraged people to take off their shoes, to help us realize all of the things we take for granted (like shoes to protect our feet from poky things). Then the giant heard (which felt a bit like cattle) moved at a relatively slow pace around the campus. After one mile the band stopped to talk again, about the true needs in Africa and how much we have to give and then they asked us to walk an other mile (basically black-mailing us, but I didn't mind, I want to save Africa!).

On the huge fan front, we got to see the band up close and personal, and although I didn't talk to any of them I got to take some fun pictures.

This one is of Zac Hanson. Megaphones are so cool!

This is one of Taylor Hanson (he's the pretty one). Issac Hanson was right behind us (at the end of the long line of people).

After all of the walking our feet were pretty gross, but I felt special. I have decided to sponsor The Walk at my hippie school, and I hope that it goes well (it won't be until after the holiday break, though).

Thanks for caring! I love you all!