In honor of Mia

My adik Mia had this in her blog, so I stole it.

Here are the rules:
~Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.
~They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up!
~If you can’t think of anything, skip it.
~You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Deb
1. Famous Singer/Band: Duke Ellington
2. 4 letter word: duel (also, dual)
3. Street: Demaree
4. Color: dandelion yellow
5. Gifts/Presents: DVD
6. Vehicle: dump truck
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: decorative figurine
8. Boy Name: Daniel
9. Girl Name: Doris
10. Movie Title: Destry Rides Again
11. Drink: Diet Coke
12. Occupation: DMV clerk
13. Celebrity: David Beckham
14. Magazine: Doll Reader
15. U.S. City: Dallas, TX
16. Pro Sports Team: Dodgers
17. Reason for Being Late for Work: Didn't wake up when my alarm clock went off.
18. Something You Throw Away: dirty tissues
19. Things You Shout: Doggone it!
2o. Cartoon Character: Darkwing Duck

I'm just wild...

... about Harry.


And yes, I've seen so many articles using that line, but oh, well.

Anyway, it is true. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released to the world in two hours, and has already presold more copies than any other book ever written. No, I didn't order a copy. No, I don't know when I'll be able to get my hands on a copy. I just know that if anyone spoils it for me, that person will not be my friend. Ever.

[As a side note, I found it extremely disturbing that when I searched for "Daniel Radcliffe" on Google images, in order to put a pic in this post, the first several images that popped up were naked pictures from his role in Equus. Eek!]

HP Madness (not too many spoilers)

Well, life goes on.

Jeff and I took some time yesterday afternoon to follow the example of millions of children and teens, and went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. What can I say? Either we are lemmings or we just really like Harry Potter.

I liked a lot about the production, and the casting was, as usual, spot-on. However, both Jeff and I thought the book-to-movie adaptation could have been a little better. I know that such adaptations are challenging even with routine material, and with Rowling's books, everybody has an opinion and many people are dissatisfied with their favorite parts or characters being given short shrift. However, the movie axed some aspects of the book that really contribute to the unfolding of the plot (for example, the actions of the house elf Kreacher, the significance of Harry's growing isolation when Ron and Hermione achieve important roles at school, and so forth), and the emotional climax was hurried in favor of a showier action-fueled climax. And (most offensive of all) there is not a speck of quidditch anywhere in this movie! If you've read the book, you know that quidditch plays as important a role in the fifth story as in the previous four.

Dramatically, the film hits its stride and is most comfortable when showing scenes of the DA students training and growing in skill (we feel their exhilaration when they cast successful spells), and in the few quiet moments when the three close friends (Harry, Ron, Hermione) are talking with one another. We see the ease the actors have achieved in their years of working together, and director Yates seems to know how to handle them. On the negative side, the action and the smooth flow of the plot have, regrettably, suffered. To be fair, if you've read the book, you know the plot gets pretty convoluted in the parts when Harry isn't overcome with teen angst (although if any teenager has the right to a bit of angsty self-pity, it must be Harry Potter) and in some parts even when he is. However, other directors have managed to keep some complicated plots afloat (cf Alfonso Cuaron with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which plot involved time travel, of all things), so we'll hope that we get good writers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and give David Yates another chance at directing (per IMDB, he is currently set to take that chance).

As noted above, the film's greatest strength is in its cast (the Potter films have always been fantastic in this respect), and the actors do not disappoint, even when allowed only disappointingly small roles in this entry (Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid, for example, is in only a few short scenes, and Maggie Smith's Professor McGonegall is much less in evidence and much less spunky than in the book). We see a bit more of Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, but David Thewlis as Lupin and Natalia Tena as Tonks are practically absent (we hope this will be remedied in the sixth movie). Likewise, talented Alan Rickman has little to do as Professor Snape, but he makes as much as he can out of it. Props also to newcomer Evanna Lynch as a perfect Luna Lovegood (even if the writers took the Quibbler away from her), as well as solid Matthew Lewis, still portraying the put-upon Neville Longbottom. So far, the Potter series' best secondary villain (the primary villain being always Voldemort) is Dolores Umbridge, and gifted actress Imelda Staunton brings her to life in an amazing way, her pink suits and floral teacups contrasting perfectly with her cruel punishments and destruction of students' rights, all done with a creepy smile on her face. Other evil-doers are also done well, with showy Helena Bonham Carter making good with the crazy as Bellatrix Lestrange, and series veteran Jason Isaacs still collecting his paycheck as the menacingly silky-voiced Lucius Malfoy. As the self-styled Dark Lord himself, Ralph Fiennes is acceptably scary, if not particularly charismatic.

Overall, I thought the film's unintended consequence was to aptly illustrate why government should not be in charge of education. The attempt to control minds and thoughts, the intentional subjugation of truth for the purpose of political agenda: these seem to be the exaggerated fabrication of fiction, but they could happen in real life. [Obviously, they have happened in other nations.] The state's selection of standards and curricula already have garnered a predisposition of the state-run schooling system to sacrifice the next generation to an arbitrary set of expectations. If some person decides that controlling students' access to certain information and training in certain areas would be a desirable end, the means are available and such a person need only apply slight manipulation and force of will to achieve his or her ends.
Education, like journalism, should be free from government tampering. This will produce better citizens in the end.

I'm still alive

I can't say that I haven't had time to blog in the past few weeks. I've had plenty of time. I just haven't blogged.

Things have been eventful in our lives since the end of my school term, last month. I am enjoying my time of relaxation, prior to finding another source of gainful employment. We experienced a tragedy in our family, as Jeff's grandfather became suddenly dead.

I am currently down in LA, helping Mom and Dad pack up and move. We are hard at work, and I have gotten to see two of my siblings (Mia and Mike).

Yet another wedding

So, last Saturday, my cousin Becky got married in Moorpark, CA. I attended the wedding, and it was nice, mostly because I saw my family, both immediate and extended. I don't really know Becky, so while it was nice that she got married (and to a reputedly very nice young man), it doesn't really affect my life at all.

I drove down in the middle of the day, and discovered that Ventura County is very beautiful during the late spring. I spent the afternoon with fam at Mom and Dad's new house in Camarillo. We all got ready and carpooled over to the wedding site.

It was an outdoor wedding in a place called Walnut Grove. I sat with Mom and Dad and Dan and Jen and Mike.

This was my view of the wedding ceremony: the back of someone's head.

I finally got to see the bride and groom as they were walking down the aisle.

At the reception, I mingled with family and relatives. Like Tim and Mia.

And my aunts Rachel and Martha. Both of my dad's sisters are a hoot! I'm actually a lot like my Aunt Martha.


I met my Aunt Rachel's boyfriend Prentiss.

And chilled out with my cousins Steve and Jesse (remember them from pics at Dan's wedding?).

And chatted a while with my cousin Beth:

All of the Price cousins gathered for a photo op. Unfortunately, this is not a good picture. However, I'll try to identify folks from left to right: Steven (in law school), Jesse (student at UCSB), Michael (brother, hidden behind Jesse; engineer/physicist in aerospace), Bob (fireman for LAFD), Deb (obviously uber-cold when this was taken), Tom (tech guru for TEAM), Matt (does something technical in Chicago), Becky (The Bride), Dan (brother; chaplain in US Army), Mike Smith (The Groom), Jen (married to Dan; librarian), Billy (no clue what he's doing with his life), Beth (going into child development and early childhood education), Mia (sister; student at SDSU, working on BA in anthro), Tim (married to Mia; works for USMC).

Blogger lies

I wrote a post and saved it to publish later.

It didn't save. It is gone forever.

Blogger, you have failed me. Why, Blogger, WHY? Why say that you are going to save something if you actually don't?

At least we can be thankful that Jesus is more reliable than Blogger when it come to saving things.

What's on YOUR plate?

Once upon a time, in the not-too-distant past, Jeff and I were eating at a Chinese buffet. I somehow (well, it was influenced by a futile effort to find sweet-and-sour chicken among the sweet-and-sour shrimp) stumbled upon the brilliant conclusion that one might analyze one's food according to their kingdom/phyla in the taxonomic classification system.

I wasn't too sure about many of the foods (Wouldn't broccoli, rice, and zucchini be closely related-- flowering, seed-bearing plants-- even if they don't taste similar? Answer - Yes.), but my plate turned out to be fairly boring. Jeff's, on the other hand, bore the plants (rice, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, carrots; phylum Anthophyta), crustaceans (shrimp; phylum Arthropoda), mollusks (scallops; phylum Mollusca), and fungi (mushrooms; phylum Basidiomycota). However, he had no vertebral animal meat on his plate, and I immediately began worrying about the fact that there was no representative from the phylum Chordata. I quickly forked some of my orange chicken and deposited it on his plate. And then realized how weird it was that I was worrying about such a thing, and then proceeded to worry, instead, about being weird.

Notes written by middle school students, Part Whatever

I confiscated this today.

One person wrote:
iz yo Mom going to buy some chips or somethin for the party?

Another person replied:
i don't know, cuz hopefully it's not at the time when we going shopping, but i think she told yo daddy she will.

Yeah. Boring. My students just didn't come through with the laughs for me. When the end of the school year comes around, not only are they not focused on their work, but they aren't even focused on writing solid, communicative, hilarious [illicit] notes.

Weekend Report

Nothing much.

I have only 1.5 weeks of school left. Whoop-dee-doo! I'll be sad to let go of some of my kids, but overall, I'll be happier when I'm done with the teaching-middle-school phase of my life. It's been a great experience, overall, and I am glad that I had it. But I know it's not a permanent thing.

Currently, I'm trying to find what is my permanent thing. Folks, I need a destiny!

Happy Birthday!

To my dear friend Rebekah (Newell) Farber, who is someone that I've known literally as long as I can remember. Bekah has been almost everywhere and done almost everything, since she was born in Bandung, grew up in Irian Jaya, went to high school and college in the American Midwest, then worked in the Philippines before getting her masters degree at Moody and then getting married and moving to Phoenix, AZ. A diligent, intelligent, godly woman, Bekah is someone that I greatly admire and appreciate.

To my brother-in-law Tim, whose birthday is actually on 30 May, but I was deceived by his MySpace, which claimed that it was the 31st. Tim is a great addition to our family, and I enjoy spending time with him. He is especially nice to me, considering the fact that I apparently scared him when he first met me. I know, I know. Me scary? Pshaw. But anyway, by all appearances, Tim makes my baby sister happy, so he's acceptable to me.

Broaden your horizons

I'm really tired and on my way to bed, but I wanted to share some pretty music with you, and to show an example of 1960s music video.

Quel était dit?

Or, Less Eloquently: Huh?!

I am currently cleaning out boxes in my house, and am sorting through vast mounds of papers and stuff. These papers can be anything from Jeff's old photos to my old school work. We have lots of paper. And much of it is going to be recycled...

At any rate, I've found quite a lot of stuff that relates to my various studies through the years. Tonight, I found some notes that I'd made for a class presentation I was doing on Kierkegaard. The text in question was Fear and Trembling, and for some reason, I'd seen fit to write, in the margin of my notes, "Knight of Faith's noble steed is an ass".

I'm sure I had a reason, at the time, for writing that. I only wish that I could remember whatever it was I was thinking then. Must have been really profound.

Another Personality Test

Go to www.kingdomality.com and take the personality test.

Mine is the Prime Minister.
Your distinct personality, The Prime Minister might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. You are a strategist who pursues the most efficient and logical path toward the realization of the goal that you perceive or visualize. You will often only associate with those people who can assist you in the implementation of your plan. Inept assistants may be immediately discarded as excess baggage. To do otherwise could be seen as inefficient and illogical. On the positive side, you can be rationally idealistic and analytically ideological. You can be a bold decision maker and risk taker who can move society ahead by years instead of minutes. On the negative side, you may be unmerciful, impatient, impetuous and impulsive. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today's corporate kingdoms.

What is yours? Post in comments, preferably with links!!

Seven Random Facts

As requested by my mother:

1. My hair is naturally blonde. Not profound, but random, and a fact. I can assure you that, over all, blondes don't really have more fun. Or maybe most blondes have more fun, but not blondes that are INTJ. Whatever the case, I do think that blondes, particularly ones with pale skin, occasionally do get more attention, but it's only because we are more noticeable: We reflect more light than people with darker hair and complexions, and so tend to draw the eye a bit more. Simple physics. At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

2. I am excessively fond of not-quite-ripe guavas. Mmmmmm.

3. I can dance the Charleston.

4. I like to play Sudoku. I find it soothing.

5. One of my life goals is to visit the location and/or see remains of each of the ancient wonders listed in the book, The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World. I've already been to 22.

6. As indicated above, my personality is INTJ in the Myers-Briggs personality profile. It is a fairly rare personality type (estimated at 1% of the population). Yes, yet again, I am a freak of nature.

7. One of my first jobs in science education was working as a teaching assistant in my biology department at college. I got paid something like $5/hour to push cadavers around on carts, and dissect worms, and stuff like that. I actually loved it a lot.

Sunday report

We are currently enjoying a visit from Sam and Melissa, which is very nice, but sadly, I am rather sick. I have a pretty bad cold, and am constantly snuffling, sneezing, and hacking up nasty phlegm. Last night, matters were complicated by the fact that I started having spontaneous nosebleeds. I do not, as a general rule, spew bodily fluids at random. It's just embarrassing.

We have stuff planned for the week, such as taking Sam and Mel to see the big trees (you know, THE big trees in the big tree park), although I may not be able to go, due to health issues. We are currently playing a lot of WoW and watching Futurama. That's good stuff.

Guilty Pleasure

I've recently started watching a TV show that I secretly really enjoy, even though I know it's trashy and all that. No, it's not American Idol or some other reality show. It's Sex and the City. The reason I really like it is that it's such a portrayal of how empty one's life is when one seeks only pleasure and self-indulgence. The four characters in S&tC supposedly have it all: money (most of the time), great clothes, status-filled jobs, and a lifestyle of guilt-free promiscuity. They were supposed to represent, I suspect, "liberated" women, living it up in New York. But art can cheat life only so far, and eventually, these characters are portrayed as being among the most miserable and directionless creatures one can imagine. Life without a guiding moral compass can be devastating. Instead of being independent and powerful, they are utterly obsessed with men and relationships, enslaved to the very masculine domination they wanted to escape. It's like a female fantasy suddenly gone horribly wrong. But they are often witty in their misery, sort of like a post-modern version of women from a Noel Coward play. Which is why I like to watch their agony.

Winding down

Not much to report of the exciting nature. I've reached the just-under-four-weeks point at work, so of course I'm just as antsy as the students are to get out for summer break.

Don't know what I'm going to do after June 12. I guess we'll take it one day at a time and find out.

Ho Heortay Tes Metrothen

Okay, so my Greek is a little rusty and I'm only hoping that the genitive singular of "mother" really is somewhat close to my English transliteration above... At any rate, I was thrown into a grammatical quandary on Saturday when discussing the "holiday" that is present in current US culture as "Mother's Day" and realized that I've seen the title written, variously, as Mother's Day, Mothers' Day, and Mothers Day. Most cards favored the singular possessive noun version, so I think that may be how it really ought to be. However, is that appropriate? Is the day really just belonging to one mother? Shouldn't it be plural possessive, as a day for all mothers? Or is the maternal address really just descriptive, and not possessive at all (as in, "a day relating but not belonging to mothers")? I just don't KNOW. And for a grammar stickler such as myself, that is agonizing. I discussed it at length with Candace, the English teacher; she had no answers for me. Must... do... research...

We had a few celebrations over the weekend. On Saturday, Candace and Rob were up from the LA area, so we had brunch for Debbie and Rosalee (Jeff's mom and grandma). It was pleasant and genteel and quite tasty (Debbie made quiche, the only quiche I've ever liked!), and marred only by the fact that Jerry was on holiday in Moab. Then on Sunday, Jeff and I took Debbie to lunch for Chinese food, and then strolled a bit through downtown Visalia. Jeff and I hadn't gone to church, because Jeff held forth that he would NOT subject himself to having to sit and listen to me gripe about exegetically inexcusable "Mother's Day" sermons. He didn't entirely escape, though, because sure enough, Debbie told us about the morning's sermon she'd heard at the E Free church, and while she said she found it true-to-life and encouraging, I spent most of the time pointing out to her all the ways that it wasn't actually doctrinal and drawn from the Bible. What can I say? I'm a tough audience.

I called my mom in the early afternoon, but she was about to sit down to a late lunch of BBQ salmon, so she had to hang up. She called me back several hours later, and we had a nice chat.

Last week, a student had an assignment to write a short essay about his mother. I told him, "You write about your mother, and I'll write about mine, and then we'll trade and read about each other's mothers." [Anything to get this kid to do his work.] I am not at liberty to publish the student essay, but I thought I'd share mine. Disclaimer: This was written in the course of 10 minutes or so, and has not been edited.

My Mother

My mother is physically small, but is a giant in many other ways. Her heart, her mind, and her talent are all very large.

Mum loves people. She has spent most of the years of my life in active Christian ministry. She lived in the jungles of New Guinea for 12 years, enduring many illnesses, hard work, and adventures. She made a home for her family, despite limited resources. Later in her life, she worked as a teacher for the urban poor in Los Angeles, and lived among them in South Central LA. She also devoted herself to loving and serving not only her children, but their friends.

Mum is a very smart lady. She is a voracious reader and enjoys non-fction (historical books, as well as tomes on gardening and fiber arts) and fiction (such as books by Dorothy Sayers or Dorothy Gilman). She continues to teacher herself about math and science and other subjects, even though she is no longer a student in school.

Finally, Mum is very gifted and talented in such things as knitting and crocheting. She is certified with the Knitting Guild of America, and loves fiber arts. She even cards, dyes, and spins her own wool. Mum will soon launch her own line of specialty knitted goods, and it's sure to be very popular.

Wouldn't you like to meet my mom?

[Note: After reading my essay, the student simply wrote "yes" under the last line.]

Day Trip

Last weekend, on Saturday, I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. You see, our school's EL (English Learners) Department had organized a field trip for good, high-achieving students, and on a whim, they asked me to participate as a chaperone. And I had SUCH A GOOD TIME. Since I am accustomed to working with budding criminals and just plain naughty children, it was a revelation to be among hard-working, well-mannered young people. Nobody cussed at me or threatened to sue me; nobody threw things or argued unnecessarily. Wow, I thought, if I had the right group of students, life could be almost this good EVERY DAY. Whoa. Almost enough to make me want to teach in middle or high school again. Almost, but not quite. I was given five young ladies as my charges. We stuck together throughout the day, learned some stuff, and had fun.

We saw some jellyfish:

And a kelp forest, including some tiger sharks:
And penguins:
We also visited the Monterey State History Park, which was well-done and educational. Did you know that Monterey was the first capital of California? And that it was a center of the 19th century whaling industry? [Why, oh why, didn't I take pictures? Guess I was too busy learning and having fun.]

Then we walked along the historic Fisherman's Wharf (although we avoided infamous but boring Cannery Row). We had a close encounter with a sea otter, that swam right up to the dock where we were loitering. The girls named it Cecilia the Sea Otter, for reasons never revealed to me.

I particularly enjoyed the quaint Bruce Ariss Wharf Theater. They were doing a production of H.M.S. Pinafore at the time. In addition to being an active participant in the thriving local arts scene, the Bruce Ariss Theater is a sort of little theater museum, with posters and artifacts from its history of more than half a century of performing great dramatic and musical productions, as well as a little gallery showcasing local artists. Very cool. I took the girls inside and pointed to posters and pictures on the walls, identifying musical plays (Annie, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, Cabaret, to name a few) and explaining their origins and plots, and occasionally, even singing some snatches of the scores. My young ladies bore it with patience, although one or two betrayed genuine interest. Most interesting of all, we could go into the actual theater and see the set for their current play. There was a man working there, who was about five feet tall and 100 years old, who creaked over to turn on the lights and let us in, and gave us as much time as we wanted to see the Pinafore set. Again, I wish I'd had presence of mind to take pictures. *sigh* But I was able to explain some principles of set design and demonstrate to the girls how clues from a set can aid a viewer in understanding a play's setting, even with no actors on the stage to speak dialogue. In the case of Pinafore, I pointed out that we could immediately tell that the play was set on a ship, thanks to the set, and we could also see that the ship was named the H.M.S. Pinafore, because the ship's life preservers had that name on them. We could tell that Pinafore was a British ship, thanks to the Union Jack and portrait of Queen Victoria (which also signaled to the viewer the time period of the play's setting: mid-late 19th century) on display.

I also enjoyed spending time with some great coworkers, who were fellow chaperones.

And I can't forget the quality time spent with the candy cigarette, given to me by a student who had bought a pack.

Believe It or Not

Believe it or not, today, I had standardized testing interrupted because the police dogs had to search the room in which I was proctoring.

And believe it or not, I will really miss a lot about my school when I finish my job there in mid-June.

Don't forget to read about some adventures of the past few weeks.