Total Eclipse of the Heart

Whether you do or don't know the original song, check out this video. Yes, the background is the originally created video - by the artist. The redone song is in response to the spazzed video.

Tenure

So there I was, sashaying into class. Not a care in the wo . . . Hey, there are some hot girls in this freshman-level class. Maybe I'll sit nearby.

First day, senior-level swagger. Safely stowing my studious materials under my chair. An empty desk is best for learni . . . flirting. Pzzt! Ahhh! Mt. Dew in the late morning. Cheetos for pre-lunch.

An outgoing girl in front of me. Her quiet friend whispering to her. Sure, fine ladies, you can have some Cheetos. I don't mind. (Note to self, Cheetos = conversation starter.) Hey, why don't we sit together every class.

Physical Science teacher preparing for class. First overhead says, Phisycal Sceince 101. It's going to be a good class; I can tell.

The relative easiness of the class means I don't really have to pay attention or work too hard, but I don't dare use any of my alloted "skips" for this class. Our crew is now 3 good-looking girls and me. Why would I skip?

As the months roll by, I start hanging out with one of the girls and her group of friends outside of class (the quiet one, though not so quiet anymore). She intrigues me, but more in the lifelong-friend category. Spending time together, forming bonds of shared experiences, meshing personalities.

A sudden-onset smidge of jealousy forces her to confront her feelings for me and to confront me with these feelings. The subsequent roller coaster ride.

That was ten years ago when it started......when I met Hanna......over Cheetos. The lifelong friend. Romance is just a bonus!

Congratulations, you officially have tenure, babe. Along with the many other benefits you will receive, the most important one now is that I cannot fire you.

Class #8 - Copy Editing

The half-way mark has been completed. This class was the perfect storm for me to fail. The assignments were more busy work than educational, my wife and I went through a miscarriage, and I transferred to a new job. Kind of lots going on to distract me.

My grades went up and down during the 5 weeks. My test scores ranged from 102% to 72%. I think I received 2 of my 3 worst grades on tests in this program in this class. About 1/5 of each test was fill-in-the-blank. This is absolutely my Achilles' Heel in test taking. I left most of the blanks as pristine as when they were handed to me. I know from experience that if I don't know an f-i-t-b answer, guessing won't work.

Heading into the final week with the final project (that was both huge, ambiguously confusing, and required very little actual copy editing), I knew I needed to ace the project and presentation. I only lost 14 points of the 250 possible!

This helped me make the grade. I earned 93% of the potential points, giving me an A- for my final grade.

For a class called Copy Editing, we sure did very little actual editing. The class should have been called Print Media given how much story creation, source gathering, research, and layout was required.

Music Videos

I used to love music videos. But they became more and more overproduced while showing less and less of the band. This generally goes double for songs created to go along with movies. The music videos become about the movie rather than the band.

Here's one that turns overproduction into art, with surprisingly amazing results. I love it! Notice the theme of the latest Transformer movie and the transformations between the movie and the video of the band.



I remembered black skies, the lightning all around me
I remembered each flash as time began to blur
Like a startling sign that fate had finally found me
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve

So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies across this new divide

There was nothing in sight but memories left abandoned
There was nowhere to hide, the ashes fell like snow
And the ground caved in between where we were standing
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve

So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes across this new divide

In every loss, in every lie, in every truth that you'd deny
And each regret and each goodbye was a mistake too great to hide
And your voice was all I heard that I get what I deserve

So give me reason to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean
Let the floods cross the distance in your eyes
Give me reason to fill this hole, connect the space between
Let it be enough to reach the truth that lies across this new divide
Across this new divide, across this new divide

Birthday Awesomeness--there is no charge for awesomeness

So, I woke up alone today. My wife is away. On my birthday. (You see what I did there?)

As I got ready for work, I noticed that my sister-in-law left me a little sisterly b-day card and some wonderful cookies from the restaurant where she works (I can't even begin to spell the name). It was a cool affirmation card about how she's really like my sister, part of my adopted family! Such a nice sentiment.

Then I got to work and found a couple cards and a letter on my chair. My wife had given a friend a card to give me. Technically, I dislike sappy cards, but this one did it with elegance and practically spoke with my wife's voice.

My boss had a card for me. I don't know how he guessed one of my humor styles. If you're reading this now, Hanna, skip the rest of the paragraph as this will be much better to see it first-hand. For the rest of you, highlight the next section to see the description more clearly. It's a card with The Joker, from the most recent Batman movie, gracing the cover. His infamous words, "Why so serious?" are writting in violently large and psychotic font. When you open it up, the card has a voice player that plays his voice, saying, "Let's put a smile on that face," in the most aggressive manner, followed by his insane laugh. What an awesome card!

I also got a letter from Home Coupons, Inc., renewing my subscription. A year ago, my wife gave me about 30 coupons to be used in various circumstances. Well, I started classes a month later and so have been pretty busy with other things. This letter, written by my wife :), allows me to renew the coupons for this upcoming year! It was hilariously executed.

My friend bought me the best Risk game created to date - called Godstorm. It's Risk, but also not really Risk. While it's similar to the original game in concept and feel, it plays quite differently. What great fun!

Tonight the plan is to have some guys over, consume food, and kill zombies in a video game's apocalyptic scenario. Amber made me a lemon cake and put it, along with other food, in my house! What a sweet lady! Some friends are coming over. And, of course, killing zombies is always good fun, because, well, they're already dead! No morally shaky ground there!

Class #7

Another class with the wonderful Dr. Kelton. Another nearly perfect score. I put a lot of thought and time into the assignments and got an A to show from it. I missed around 20 total points on the tests.

4.0, here I come.

Time wasted, and not in a good way

Class #8 has really sapped my motivation to receive an A. Fifty percent of the time, both sitting in class and doing the assigned homework, feels like it's wasted.

In my last class period, the teacher spent 2 hours, half the class, passing around papers of cute things and showing off stuff. She went over points verbally, which is dangerous for her, because she gets her tongue twisted and ends up saying the wrong things and just confusing the lesson. For instance, at one point she saw the words "He was 30 years old." She said the "30 years old" should have been hyphenated, a side point to her main objective. Knowing this should not be hyphenated, I just pointed the phrase out to her and asked a leading sort of question like, "You said that should be hyphenated?" Another student looked at me and said in her mommy voice, "That's what she said," sounding as if she was implying that the teacher knew what she was saying. Of course, the teacher then corrected herself. I wanted to stick out my tongue at my fellow student.

So anyway, then we were divided into groups to determine which of our selected headlines (cut out and taped to paper like an elementary school project) were the best. We talked aimlessly about what makes a good headline. About an hour later the teacher presented a PowerPoint which gave us this lesson. It would have been nice to have had that information first and then practiced our learning.

Anyway, after wasting two hours, the teacher rushed us through a good PowerPoint, skipped our second break (after she shortened our first break), and handed us the 50-point test with 15 minutes remaining in class.

There's no feeling quite like that of being sandbagged by your teacher when your entire being is crying out for a much needed break.

Hope you enjoyed reading this rant as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Democrat told off for rascist tactic

Barbara Boxer mumbles, stutters, and impotently repeats herself as she is taken to task for her comments.



Perfection.

Job Transfer

Woohoo! I am transferring to a new job. I'm a bit sad to leave my current one, but it's time. I get a fairly substantial raise also, which helps. The best part is that I'm staying in this company, so I still get an extra week of vacation next year!

My title will be Research Assistant. I'll be working with just my boss - no official coworkers. I'll be working right next to some people I consider good work friends, a couple of whom I hang out with outside of work.

I'm pretty excited, all around. Thanks, Kristi! :)

PS. The interview was the most fun interview ever. We talked for 1 hour 45 minutes.

Movie Review: Up

Pixar just might be the most entertaining movie producing company out there. Let's see how their 10th attempt worked out for them.

Gains: +6
Up is either a funny movie with serious undertones or a serious movie with a comedy streak. The depth of emotion conveyed, especially in the opening 10 minutes showing Carl and Ellie meeting as kids and growing up to be old married people, is fantastic. Knowing the history in such an intimate fashion is a boon to the audience and increases the power of the themes shown.

This movie did not have me rolling with laughter the entire time. But at certain moments, I thought I couldn't breathe because I was laughing so hard. I had to wipe laughter tears from my eyes at least three times.

The plot was interesting, both in it's inplausibility and in it's realism. One kept you grounded in reality; the other shot you deep into the fantasy world of a child. The main characters were intricately layered, though the bad guy was stylized, as most bad guys are to children.

The animation was great. Nothing new for Pixar here. Their attention to detail astounds me.

Losses: -1
For a kids' movie, the themes were a bit deep. I'm not sure this is a bad thing, necessarily, but I know I did not expect it. Not having kids myself, I cannot be sure what their reaction would be. Perhaps they just ignore what they don't understand like I did for Disney cartoons.

The bad guy dies, and though they didn't show it, you know. He falls from a great distance and disappears, heading downward through the clouds. I'm not sure I want endings like this in my kid movies.

Final Judgement: +5

Go see this movie if you like Pixar. It's worth your time. If you bring small kids, they may ask you annoyingly deep questions while you are trying to rush to the restroom.