Sweet, sweet voices

There's nothing much sweeter in life than the sound of children singing. 


That is the sound of my students spontaneously breaking out into song today.  They were all "quietly" working at their desks on various projects when it started.  It was so precious I decided to record it.  I had to covertly record it because if the kids knew I was recording them the moment would have been ruined.

Of course it was just a cacophony at first, but eventually they found their unison sound.  Then they started the song all over because I guess they thought it was just that much fun the first time.  I think they would have kept it up for 30 more minutes if I hadn't had to take them to another class.  

There's only about four weeks of school left.  Four  looooong weeks.  Listening to this recording just might be the perfect medicine for me when (and I do say "when", not "if") I need an attitude adjustment.  

A new mystery

There are age old mysteries in life.
What does the dryer do with all my socks?
Why do we touch things that say "wet paint"?
Why do I seem to always find the slowest line?
Why does my cat just stand there when I hold the door open for him?


Here's another mystery that I find truly baffling.

How can my pencil caddy go from this

to this

in less than ten minutes.


Now that's what I'd like to know.

I surrender

So it's a possibility....

Maybe....

It could be...

that 2013 will be the year I give up believing in my own super powers.  The super healing powers I've relied on my entire adult life to zap my colds into submission.  

Since January I've been in a continuous cycle of feeling a cold coming on, being in the midst of a cold, or getting over a cold.  And my superpowers have finally met their kryptonite this year.  

So when another round of cold symptoms came back right in the middle of spring break, I raised my white flag.  I took myself and my pair of 75-pound lungs to the doctor.  I loaded up on antibiotics and went to bed for the next four days.  Sweet Brown might not think that anybody has time for bronchitis, but I actually did have time.  

I slept, I drifted in and out of NCAA basketball games and ten episodes of Monk, I slept, I played a lot of words with friends and song pop, and then I slept some more.

And I'm feeling better.  

Don't feel bad for me.  I have had a really nice spring break.  I got a lot of things accomplished before that day of surrender.  The greatest moment was completing this bad boy of a jigsaw puzzle.

2,000 pieces in less than four days.  Of course I didn't do it all by myself.  My sister was in town to help do most of it.  She brought the puzzle with her.  It seems that puzzling has become our thing to do whenever she's in town.

It's a family thing.  A gene passed down on the 18th pair of chromosomes.  

I can hear you raising your eyebrows.
Jigsaw puzzles?  Really?  
Yep.  They're a party in a box.

It's Not Complicated

AT&T has these commercials out in TV land that have caught my attention.  I'm sure you've seen them.  A man sits down with small groups of kids and asks them questions like "What's better - faster or slower?" 
Here's a few of them in one clip:

My teacher buddies and I were talking about them over lunch the other day.  We all agree that the kids in these commercials act very authentic - not like paid kid actors.

Most of the time when you see movies or TV shows with kids in a classroom setting, it looks so artificial.  I'm thinking of movies like Kindergarten Cop.  There's a director telling paid kid actors how to act like kids.  The classroom set is all decorated with fake kid artwork and fake kid writing created by adults trying to make it look like kid art and writing.  No early childhood teacher would be fooled.

But these commercials get very close to the real thing.  This one is my favorite:

Did you notice the boy who played with his lips the whole time?  Now that's authentic, AT&T.

I hope they make more of these commercials.  However, I want them to add a few things.  Include a kid blowing spit bubbles, someone picking his nose, and another one chewing on his shirt collar. Oh! And don't forget the kid with slobbery fingers wiggling a loose tooth. Add those things in, and you've got a accurate depiction of an early childhood classroom.

A virtual boo-fay of germs.  It's no mystery why I've not felt completely healthy since January.

The Sound of Ultimate Suffering

Are you familiar with the sound of ultimate suffering?

This is it:

That is the sound I would make if I were ever forced to watch the State of the Union.  

Hey, torture specialist.  If you ever need to get a secret out of me, don't bother dunking my head under water or peeling off my fingernails.  Just tie me to a chair in front of the TV and turn on the State of the Union.  Any year will do.  I'll spill the beans faster than you can say "Vee have vays of making you talk."

I mention this obviously because is was just a few days ago that I, once again for the ??? year, made the decision to not participate in the circus called The State of the Union and all it's sideshows.  Sideshows like senators and congressmen acting like children or media spouting on and on about how important a night like this is and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I can't remember the last time I watched a SOTU speech.  Probably when I was a young adult and felt like it was my civic duty or something like that. The event usually passes by without me even noticing.  

This week, however, I did notice and decided to do a little research into the whys, whos, and hows of the whole thing.  I started... then I got distracted (probably by a massive sneezing attack from the cold I've been fighting)... and never thought of it again...

...at least until I read George Will's column in today's paper.  Here it is.  Take time to read it.   It's a good one.  I didn't even have to look up any words in the dictionary.  I usually have to keep a dictionary handy when I read George because he regularly uses words I'm not used to hearing.  He uses words that no common man or woman is used to hearing.

Anyway...Thank you, George.  You answered all my questions about the history of the SOTU.  The constitution merely recommends that the president inform Congress "from time to time" on how things are going.  Thomas Jefferson disliked the sound of his voice so much that he merely sent a written report to Capitol Hill.  And that practice continued until Woodrow Wilson.  The SOTU in its modern form is a ridiculous farce and entirely unnecessary.

OK.  I've written myself into a hissy fit.  It's time to leave the subject behind and resume enjoying my good Sunday.  

P.S.  Any day that I get to use a Princess Bride reference is a good day.

A Month of Stories

Winter in Oklahoma.
Blech.
Not much wintery beauty here except for some magnificent sunrises and sunsets.

Winter sucks out a lot of my zest for life.  I spend a large amount of time lying around under a blanket thinking about all the things that I could be or should be doing.
My motivation and creativity are as dormant as my lawn and garden.
As a result nothing on this oddblog of mine has changed since I encouraged my tens and tens of readers to spend time admiring Eddie Redmayne's upper lip.

I started writing several different posts in the last month, but none of them kept my interest long enough for me to click the publish button.  
I feel a little sad for those posts.  It's not their fault they didn't make it.  It's winter's fault.  
Here's a little thumbnail of a few of the posts that never were:

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I like the banjo.  
There.  
I said it.  
I've always felt a bit of shame whenever I enjoyed a song with a lot of banjo in it.  
"It's a banjo, you hillbilly," I'd say to myself.
I think I now have the courage to go public with my affection for the banjo because of two bands I listen to a lot:  

Mumford and Sons 









and NEEDTOBREATH.  








They use a good bit of banjo in their songs and......yes...I like it.

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I absolutely love these two guys.

Russell and Kevin bring out powerfully strong feelings within me.  Whenever I watch them my heart just swells.

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My nephew hopped off to Vegas with his girlfriend a couple of weeks ago and came back with a wife.  I'm so happy about that.

I hope he's OK with looking like his dad, because the likeness grows stronger with every breath he takes.

A memory from his toddler years hits me.  I was changing his diaper.  It was a really gross, stinky mess.  I suppose Phillip correctly interpreted my grimaces and moans of disgust because after I was finished cleaning him up and dressing him again, he ran straight to his mom, crying all the way.  She mildly reprimanded me for hurting his feelings.  

Whatever, dude.  You pooped your pants.


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This has been a great holiday movie season - going all the way back at Thanksgiving.  My favorite three movies of the season are Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, and Les Miserables.  
I was really looking forward to Les Mis and it didn't disappoint me, but it did surprise me.  I wasn't prepared for how well the film version would be able to show the emotion that the stage musical can't.  People can complain about the singing, but I say the message of God's grace and mercy and how it can change a person's life drowned out everything else.  

Just the way it should be.

Eddie

This is Eddie Redmayne

These are Eddie Redmayne's freckles.

This is Eddie Redmayne's upper lip.

Let us take a few moments to think on these things.