What Did You Do This Weekend?

• Went out to eat to celebrate my father's birthday. He had to wear a sombrero and be serenaded by the less than enthusiastic staff. It was amusing.
• Went to a crab feast. (Yum)
• Attended a theatre party where a recorded production was screened. (Groan)
• An 8 O'Clock 3K Walk For Breast/Ovarian Cancer, which in reality became a 9 O'CLock 5K Walk!
• Took another beating in my Fantasy Football League.
• Had a sick 4 year old lick my face... twice.

Odd Bumper Sticker!

'If You Love Jesus...

TITHE

Anyone Can Honk!'

____________________________________________

Unless you don't have a car... or arms.

Then I pictured a poor, armless girl waiting at a bus stop crying because Jesus would never know how much she loves him.

Fame VS Flame

Student: Hey, teacher do you want to hear a joke?

Teacher: You have a good joke? Sure, let me have it.

Student: (Reading from a joke book.) Where do great dragon athletes go when they retire?

Teacher: I don't know. Where do great dragon athletes go when they retire?

Student: To the Hall of Fame! (Laughs hysterically.)

Teacher: Um, are you sure that's not supposed to read, "Hall of FLAME!"?

Student: (Without missing a beat.) Hall of FLAME! (Laughs hysterically.)

Teacher: Get it? Dragons! Flames!

Student: Yeah, flame! Hall of Flame! That's a good one, huh?

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

This past weekend I visited my very first Renaissance Festival!

The history buff in me appreciated the atmosphere, and spectacle of it all, but the geeky child in me giggled at all the corseted bosoms, and theatre geeks.

It was fun. A few acres jam-packed with what are supposedly Medeval games, foods, crafts, foods, sword fighting, foods on a stick, jousting, fried foods on a stick and kid friendly shows. I especially enjoyed the jalapeno cheeseburger fries. (I hear they were popular among the Knights of the Round Table.)

I plan on going back at a time when I am not chaperoning my nephew, or parents. It was fun to experience it all through a child's eyes, but I look forward to returning at a time when I can be more adult. Nothing combines history and fun like plastic cups of light beer, a smoked turkey leg, and the battle axe toss!

Britney Blunder.

I don't know how it happened... okay, that's a lie.

This morning on the news there was a story on Britney Spears' performance on the MTV Music Awards. Apparently it didn't go well but the rest of the event was a smash.

Then on the way to work today Howard Stern was discussing it. Apparently Britney was bad, and the rest of the show was horrendous.

Then I logged on to my email this morning before class and there was an article on her performance along with a video. I watched it. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen. The article talked about flubbed lip-synching, a bad wardrobe, and poor quality of her performance but was under the opinion that the Awards Ceremony was a huge success.

So, today in my TV Production class someone brings up Britney Spears. We were discussing celebrity news, and her name popped up so I used her career as an illustration of a story line. Cute little child star - Fresh-faced Pop Newcomer - Pop Superstar - Hollywood Celebrity - Mrs. Federline - Mother - Divorced - Wild Child - Bald - Cannon Fodder for Jay Leno, etc.

We skipped all of the beaver shots, and acts of hedonism that wouldn't be appropriate to discuss in a school environment. We ended the time line with Britney's MTV performance. One of my students asked with what appeared to be genuine concern, "What's going to happen to her?"

I confessed that I couldn't be sure and that that is what makes her story interesting. The news is how will she respond to the criticism and uber negative, vicious comments being posted on-line about her? What will be her next move? Will her star rise again or be trampled under the foot of that slack-jawed, oafish, tempermental beast known as Fame? I then told them that during the course of the semester if they spotted any Britney Spears News to bring it to class and we would update the story line.

They seemed to enjoy the class.

Limping Through The Sky

Once again I stood against the stiff breeze - (Hehe, I said Stiff) - string in hand, guiding my lame dragon through the air. Suddenly, a gust of wind kicks up around us and the patio umbrella takes flight. Sara reaches up and prevents the umbrellas escape, and I, kite in one hand, cellular phone in the other, rush over to lend a free hand.

I don't have one.

1 minute later & the umbrella was secure, my phone call prematurely terminated and my kite, once again, floating in the Chesapeake Bay. So I waded in after my cheap, plastic dragon kite which cost me $2. I rescue it.

Unfortunately, the string has come unwound and caught up in the rocks of the shoreline. I work against the rising tide to untangle the tangle. I get free, only to be confronted by the single worst, monstrosity of a knot ever to be seen on a string.

Part of me wants to just say, "Fuck It!" Throw the string into the bay and forget about my little lame dragon. But I don't.

I spent close to a half hour working on that knot. Yeah, okay, a half hour isn't that long but it seems like an eternity when your working on a knot. I did it. Freed the dragon, fought down my impatience and lived to tell the tale... and all for a kite.

Sometimes the little victories are the sweetest.