Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living: October 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

Moments with Joey - Fairies

SCENE 1, INTERIOR. NOON, CLASSROOM. HALLOWEEN DAY. A few students have reentered the classroom from lunch. One boy that has returned to the classroom is wearing nothing for his costume with the exception of a pair of purple butterflyish-looking wings.

JOEY: Mr. Z, guess what I am for Halloween.

TEACHER: I’d guess that you’re either a butterfly, or a flying unicorn without a horn.

JOEY: Nope, I’m a fairy [Pause]. I borrowed these from my sister.

[The teacher looks at the boy for a second or two as the youngster cracks a large smile and starts to ‘flutter’ about the room—his hands flapping in small movements like a beauty pageant contestant drying her nails].

TEACHER: So, what would happen if I said that I didn’t believe in fairies?

[The boy stops for a second, clutches his throat, and then falls to the floor making gagging sounds and then lies still. There is silence for a few seconds as a few students notice the boy lying on the ground].

TEACHER: However, I do believe in fairies [The teacher claps his hands]. I do, I do.

[The boy springs back up to his feet and continues to ‘flutter' about the room and a few nearby students begin talking loudly back and forth].

STUDENT 1: I don’t believe in fairies.

[The boy falls to the floor].

STUDENT 2: I believe in fairies.

[The boy leaps to his feet].

STUDENT 3: I don’t believe in fairies.

[The boy falls to the floor].

STUDENT 2: I believe in fairies.

[The boy leaps to his feet again. This process is repeated over a minute or so, and it soon becomes apparent that the boy is getting tired and the students are rather enjoying the ringer they're putting Joey through. The teacher finally decides to put the boy out of his self-inflicted misery].

TEACHER: But Mr. Z believes in fairies, and that’s what’s important. Besides, everyone needs to get to work if they’re staying in from recess.

[The students get to work as the boy rises from the floor and walks over to the teacher].

JOEY: Boy, I never knew that being a fairy would be such hard work.

TEACHER: Just try remember that the next time you leave a tooth under your pillow…

[Pause].

JOEY: Maybe I’ll just go and pack up my dreams in empty cardboard boxes right now.

[Fade to black].

Weekly Kodachrome - Kindled Candles

Pin It

In the dim light of the living room, the guttural light of the candle flickered back and forth as I worked long into the night. The cadenced tapping of keys seemed to form a vague tune of sorts for the flame as it danced backward and forward behind the jarred images, making it appear like they were alive and moving.

I thought of the upcoming night’s festivities: costumed visitors, trick or treats, and the certain thrill that Halloween always seems to bring with it—as well as a trove of memories, and I smiled.

Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? If so, feel free to include it in the linky below.

Remember, by adding your photo into the Weekly Kodachrome meme you are agreeing to do one of the following: display the linky or button to your post, or link back to this post so that everyone gets a little more exposure for the image they’ve uploaded. Those who don’t help to ’share the love’ will have their links removed. You can find the code for the linky here.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Halloween - The School Hallway

Pin It I'm proud of the work I've put into the hallway thus far.

I'd use the smoke machine again this year, but last year I set off the fire alarm.

Yeah, lesson learned...

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Moments with Joey - Just Checking

Pin It

SCENE 1, INTERIOR. LATE MORNING, CLASSROOM. The class is returning from the Science rotations at the other fifth grade teachers’ classrooms. As the kids file back to their desks, the teacher is approached by one of his students.

JOEY: Mr. Z, do my eyes match my shoes?

TEACHER: What?

JOEY: My eyes. I was wondering if they matched my shoes.

[The teacher looks down at the boy’s shoes – black with green stripes – and then back up at his brown eyes. As he opens his mouth to answer to the boy’s question, the boy feigns a look of shock and his voice takes on a tone of disbelief].

JOEY: Mr. Z…were you just checking me out?

[The teacher stands for a silent beat as the boy breaks into laughter].

TEACHER: Nope, I was just trying to decide which orphanage to send you to…

[Fade to black]

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Weekly Kodachrome - Into the Sunset

Pin It

The sun descended beyond the ruddy and milky cliffs surrounding Green River as I followed behind the Trooper into the rolling hills. As we drove the distance beyond the small airport in the west end of the community, I was thinking how much the vistas around me didn’t look at all those that were featured in An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West.

As we pulled off the blacktop, reaching the spot where everyone piled out of our vehicles, the kids raced to the top of the hill where the scenery was of God’s own creation—a burning, fiery ember left behind as a reminder of the extensive day—serving as our backdrop: ambers, maroons, and mauves mixing together into a kaleidoscope of awesome...

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? If so, feel free to include it in the linky below.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Photoshoot - Cheaper by the Dozen

Pin It

What do you get when you cross a good set of friends with their amazing photographer?

Well, I'll let you be the judge...

I think I already mentioned that they are awesome, and you can see just why...

Monday, October 17, 2011

Weekly Kodachrome - Autumn's Fireworks

Pin It

I thought about corn today—hot, buttered corn—fresh on the cob. It practically made my mouth water in anticipation.

Husking—oh, how I love that word.

It also made me think of autumn. That canonical closing of the year when the air grows chill, the days begin to grow shorter, and the trees take on the fireworkian hues of amber and gold displays for days—or even weeks on end —before becoming stark and bare, their skeletal arms then reaching toward ashen skies, and the wintery desolation which awaits in the wings and slowing of life before the winds bring with them the blusterings of white.

…the proverbial closing of the year.

But for now, orange crème pumpkins sit in the fields, waiting to be gathered in before the frost. Gardens are burgeoning with their bounty—zucchini will be left on doorsteps, and piles of leaves anticipate their moments to be raked together and leapt in, children swimming in their sea of multicolored wonder.

“Autumn is where my heart belongs, where it can be tempered by the early snows of winter and bound to the beauty of fallen, dead leaves. The air has a bite and the wind a fierce howl, driving you to the comforts that are so often left by the wayside: the hot cups of coffee, tea, and cider, the warm bowls of oats, and the sublime feeling of being wrapped in a blanket in front of a roaring fire, a book firmly grasped in hand. Yes, this is the season for me, where my soul is content, where I belong.”

— Unknown

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? If so, feel free to include it in the linky below.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

A Slice of the Journey...

Pin It

The challenge is pink.

The idea is to share your story.

The story about someone you loved.

For those of you who’ve weathered the past few years here at Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living, you’ve heard the story…you lived it with me, back when it was a shattering of what was once reality.

To those of you, don’t expect you to relive it all over again.

Whether or not you choose to go any further, thanks for coming here in the first place. Thanks for those of you who were there years ago, and for those who are here still.

Thanks for keeping coming back…for whatever reason.

Post 1: Come What May
Post 2: Laughter
Post 3: Let it Be
Post 4: Diving In
Post 5: 100 Years
Post 6: Hide & Seek
Post 7: Lessons from an Empty Room
Post 8: The Long Fall
Post 9: I Just Wanted to be Sure
Post 10: Tributary
Post 11: Messages to Heaven
Post 12: Echoes
Post 13: November 26, 2009
Post 14: Out of the Ashes, Beauty Will Rise
Post 15: It's Been a Year
Post 16: Two Years, and I Write

Saturday, October 15, 2011

So, I Meant to Post This Fourteen Months Ago...

Pin It Such is what happens when one is delving into the contents of their external hard drive and notices that they had never posted about their trip to the Redwood Forest from the previous year. Well, I mean, I had posted a few photos of the trip that I had forgotten about, but I never told anything about my adventures or misadventures.

Well, it so happened that I was looking for something else and found that I needed to post a few video clips to warm you up for my adventure...

I will post a few of my photos in a few days - you know, sometime next week. Until then, enjoy the exploits. However, should you choose not to watch the videos, I will not be offended...after all, they are just of me. I can only be so awesome without an entourage.

Meanwhile, miles away (and a day or two later) I hiked out to the middle of nowhere in search of a cave that turned out to be pretty cool...but suddenly while out there I remembered that episode of The X Files; you know the one where Mulder and Scully get trapped by those swarming bugs that suck people's juices out?

Yeah, it got kind of freaky there for a bit...

Now, while on my way out to Willow Creek and The Redwood forest, my TomTom decides that I need to take the scenic route. I guess I deserve it for having originally bought the cheap version instead of the deluxe.

This is probably one of my favorite parts of finally arriving at the coast (well, besides the Bigfoot museum in Willow Creek).

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Moments with Joey - Mistaken Identities

Pin It

SCENE 1, INTERIOR. AFTERNOON, CLASSROOM. The teacher is having a few students call home before heading off to remedial classes if their math assignment was not completed. Three students are waiting to use the phone. One boy, waiting at the back of the line, waits his turn. After a few minutes, he picks up the receiver and dials a number. The teacher is getting a few items ready as the rest of the class is transitioning to their other groups and overhears the boy’s side of the conversation.

JOEY: [Spoken into phone] Hi, Mom, it’s me. [Pause] I didn’t finish my math assignment today when we corrected it, and I was told that I had to call home to let you know. [Pause]. I didn’t have time to finish it all last night. [Pause]. I wanted to, but I got busy. [Pause]. Okay. [Pause]. Okay. [Pause]. Yeah, I love you, too.

[The boy hangs up the phone and then stands for a moment, staring at the receiver. He looks somewhat bemused. By this time, the most of the class has filed out and the remedial group has started to enter the classroom].

TEACHER: Joey, is something wrong?

JOEY: My mom said I should have gotten my homework done. [Pause]. She also said that I’m grounded for two weeks.

TEACHER: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, but you know you really should have gotten it done.

[Pause].

JOEY: Mr. Z?

TEACHER: Yeah?

JOEY: I think I dialed the wrong number…I don’t think that was my mom.

TEACHER: What was that?

JOEY: I said, I think I called the wrong number. When I was talking to that lady I was thinking she was my mom, but then I think that maybe she wasn’t. I think I mixed up two of the numbers and dialed the wrong house.

[The teacher is trying hard not to start laughing, and also not to also show a look of complete shock at the same time. Somewhere, there is a boy who has just been grounded for two weeks and who will arrive home from school for the surprise of his life].

JOEY: Do you think I should try to call her again?

TEACHER: No, I think you’ve done enough damage for one day, you’d better get to class.

[The boy hurries off after his classmates as the other students take their seats and the teacher begins the lesson].

SCENE 2, EXTERIOR. MORNING, SCHOOL. It’s now the next day and bell has rung. The teacher walks to where his class is lined up to bring them inside to begin the school day. Upon seeing Joey, the teacher remembers the phone call from the day before. As the students begin to file into the school, the teacher pulls the boy aside.

TEACHER: Joey, did you call the right number after all?

JOEY: No, Mr. Z, when I got home, I asked my mom and she said I didn’t call her. I guess I talked to somebody else’s mom yesterday.

[A few classmates who are passing that heard him making the call the day before start whispered gasps of horror amidst comments of, ‘He called the wrong mom!’ and ‘Another kid got into trouble!’ The teacher sends these students into the school building].

TEACHER: So, I guess another kid got into trouble instead of you then, eh?

JOEY: Yeah.

TEACHER: Bummer for him.

JOEY: Yeah, but I guess it could have been worse.

TEACHER: Really? How’s that?

JOEY: My mom could’ve grounded me, too.

[Fade to black]

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Photoshoot - My Brutha

Pin It There is something special about my brother. It’s something I cannot explain properly with words.

Maybe it came from being forced to share a room with him all those years ago.

But whatever the reason, it’s a connection that I cannot describe. I can only say that I love him, more than words can say. He’s my confidant. My friend. He’s my brutha.

This connection seems to be transferring to my sister-in-law…and to my nephew, too.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Weekly Kodachrome - Hide and Seek

Pin It

He bolted away from the rest of his siblings and knelt down in the tall, winter wheatish-looking grass. Silent for a moment or two, he held a few of the golden straws before his eyes with a grin, as if to say, ‘you can’t see me.’

But indeed, I could.

And to prove it, I took his picture.

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? If so, feel free to include it in the linky below.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Media of the Week - Whack

Pin It Oh, you’ll want to click HERE to start it all off, because once you do, you can then enjoy the rest of the Media of the Week.

I recommend utilizing the drop down menu you’ll see on the top left once you’ve clicked the above link. I probably shouldn’t admit it, but “Hand of God” is one of my personal favorites and I highly recommend it…I also recommend both “Paintball” and “Shaver” as being kind of cool as well. Oh, and don’t forget to click “Unicorn” on the bottom left hand corner.

I won’t even mention what the cow leaves behind…

Enough said.

Friday, October 7, 2011

I'm no Superman...

Pin It Oh, this will sound an awful lot like that posting from this past May.

Mostly because it is very similar.

I’m a regifter at times; I am also a reposter sometimes, too.

Of course, I changed it up because parts of it didn’t work this time, but as I was writing this post, I thought to myself, didn’t you already write something like this already?

After a quick blog search I saw that I indeed had.

So I edited, tweaked, and rewrote.

Now, here it is - refitted and reworked - what I’d already written about today’s experience.

Yet it’s still coupled in some of the original packaging (video and photos). You know, just in case you wanted to take it back to the store for a full refund…

This morning I awoke—not to my alarm, but nearly four hours earlier—to the throbbing pain in my skull. My head was pounding, and it felt like someone had been using my brain as a punching bag.

In fact, do you remember that scene from The Wrath of Kahn? You know, the one where Kahn puts that little worm into Chekov’s ear and it burrows its way into his brain?

Yeah, you could say that it felt something like that.

I took three ibuprofens and two Tylenol—my own little migrane cocktail and put my head on ice deciding that I would be fine—after all, I was a teacher. I wasn’t just any teacher either; I was the hero…the one who never missed school because of being ill or anything like that. I guess you could say that I usually pictured myself as something like this as I traversed the distance from home to work:

It was a few hours later that I awoke still to the pain, but I was determined to go to school. Today was the day for school pictures. You don’t miss the day for school photos! After all, could you imagine a shot of the entire class with the teacher absent from it?

Yeah, neither could I.

I got ready and drove the torturous distance to work. I even rolled down the windows and breathed in the cool morning air, hoping to alleviate some of the pain throbbing in the confines of my skull, but it did little to nothing to lighten the agony. But, being the teacher that I am, I put on my ‘game face’ and went into the classroom. I smiled, I tried to be excited, and I even tried to joke around with my class as we crammed an entire day into our early-out Friday, making it feel akin to the last ten minutes of getting ready for house guests, but it felt like I’d already had a double-kryptonite power shake for breakfast.

By 11:00 - and a visit to the school restroom to vomit - I came to a stark realization…

I am not Superman.

And you know what? I realized that nobody expected me to be either.

As the pain kept increasing, it became progressively harder and harder to stay. Light hurt. Sound hurt. Thinking started to hurt. My students had seemed to sense earlier that something was wrong because I caught a final few words of the class president before I’d entered the classroom from our three-minute break earlier in the day. She’d said something about Mr. Z having a migraine and they all needed to keep things quiet and not make it worse.

Well, despite their efforts, it got worse.

I’m happy to say that I made it through class photos, but shortly afterward I admitted defeat, turned to the office staff, and allowed my Friday parent helper, Jaqs, to take over as sub for the rest of the day and drove home amidst pain, vomiting, and wanting to crack my head open with an ice pick and letting the insides out.

Five hours later my migrane was finally gone, and I felt better. The world was again a beautiful place. Tonight will go to the Rooftop Concert to listen to Dustin Christensen. Tomorrow night I will voice at ComedySportz.

Next week?

Next week I will again be Superman...but I’ve realized that being Clark Kent is okay, too.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Moments with Joey - Career Opportunities

Pin It

SCENE 1, INTERIOR. NOON, CLASSROOM. The teacher is helping a few students with their assignments at the back kidney table. As they watch the teacher enter scores on the computer, move from student to student with assignments, and call other students back to task in the classroom, the kids at the table start a discussion on careers.

BECKY: When I grow up, I think I want to be a teacher…just like Mr. Z.

MARK: Not me; teachers have to work way to hard.

TANNER: I want to be an airline pilot.

JENNY: I don’t know what I’m going to be…

JOEY: I’m going to be Spiderman.

[Pause]

TEACHER: Spiderman? Wouldn’t you have to be bitten by a radioactive spider first?

JOEY: Oh, yeah…I’ll have to find one of those.

TEACHER: Well, since they have those in all the pet stores, that shouldn’t be a problem.

[The boy thinks for a second].

JOEY: Maybe I’ll find one in the neighborhood.

TEACHER: Good luck with that...

[Pause]

JOEY: You know what, Mr. Z? I’d save you every time someone was jealous of you and threw you off a cliff because of your handsomeness…

TEACHER: Um...thanks, Joey.

JOEY: I think I’d be saving you a lot.

[Fade to black]

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

This Friday Night - Dustin Christensen

Pin It There are certain musicians we enjoy listening to; they’ve found a place in our playlists, iPods, and mixes. They’ve earned our trust. The music they’ve written found a way to connect with you in some form - it reached out and grabbed you, swirling in the very air in a cyclone of wonderment which caused you to roll down the windows, and belt out their lyrics at the top of your lungs as you drove on your way to work, a friend’s house, or wherever it is you happened to be traveling.

Ah yes, these are the artists for which music was created.

Jerrytown - more especially Dustin Christensen - is one of these artists...

And he’s playing THIS Friday in downtown Provo as part of the Rooftop Concert Series.

I’d love to invite you to come as my special guest...along with everyone else who is planning on being there. I know that Dustin would love to see you - and you would love to hear him.

If I see you this Friday, that would be wonderful...but if not, just know that I will be singing along with that cyclone of sound I talked about earlier and having the time of my life.

Oh, and I’ll pick up his new album while I’m there, too.

Just to give you a taste: