Um...What the Heck, Brain?

Okay, let's get the nerdy part out of the way: I am adding lyrics with Miyu to a video (that I totally didn't -- even though I own it -- rip from a DVD) of Nights From the Alhambra.

And, yet, what my brain is stuck on is that Loreena McKennitt looks an awful lot like Amanda Plummer.

Observe:

Amanda Plummer in the Outer Limits episode "A Stitch in Time"

Loreena McKennitt in Nights From the Alhambra. 

I Heart Adama, Redux

"About time."

I'll just be in a puddle over here....

ETA:  The ring.... (Sigh)

So Close

(The IEP was 95% fine; it turned out as I wrote it that I did, in fact, have all her goals planned...just subconsciously, like normal.  I'd even taken the appropriate data.  I love how my brain works.  The 5% not fine was that the parents were excited to meet the middle school teacher -- who emailed me to let me know that she has been put on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy.  Whoops.)

Anyway.

Picture this.

You're a mostly-shy, mostly-retiring girl who doesn't really enjoy the spotlight of lots of people.  However, you are pretty excited to have a family gathering of both sides of the family to celebrate your sixteenth birthday.  You, by a large margin, don't want to be the sole focus of attention...but it's a fairly small gathering of very familiar people, and you're mostly okay with it.

Except...

...that five days ago, these two people, that you've never heard of, were killed in Brentwood.

And the suspected killer -- who you had also never heard of -- is driving his white Bronco down a local freeway at 35 miles per hour, pursued by every CHP officer in Southern California.

And everyone -- everyone -- is glued to the TV.

You find yourself thinking things like: I know I didn't want to be the center of attention, exactly, but this is ridiculous.  It'd be nice if people actually noticed I existed.

It's not that I'm bitter, per se, it's just --

Okay, I'm a little bitter.

And then I hear that California was going to start issuing same-sex marriage licenses on June 17, and I thought -- finally, something good for people to associate with the day (which, of course, cheerfully ignores that not everyone shares that opinion, but that's a rant for another day).

But then I hear that San Francisco county officials asked if they could begin after the end of business hours the previous day, and so now county clerks across the state have permission to grant same-sex marriage licenses beginning at 5:00 p.m. June 16th.

Dang.

So close....

Slow but Steady

Hmph.  While not the pulling-every-tooth experience of last year, I am struggling a bit with this one.

Of course, it could be that my eyes hurt with fatigue (yup, it's approaching that time, and, yup, I'm getting messed up now that Sleeping Beauty started her cycle too).

Or it could be that the middle school teacher wanted to talk about goals but never got back to me, and I'm hurting my brain trying to figure out what she would have wanted.

ETA:  Three hours.  That's a whole lot better than last year, which ended up being about 7, if you can trust the time stamps on the old blog posts.

History Repeats Itself

Or, rather, I hope it doesn't.

Exactly a year ago, I was writing Sleeping Beauty's IEP.  Of course, we got out of school later last year, so it wasn't so close to the end of the year.  It was not easy -- because I came into it knowing more or less what goals I wanted for her.

This year, I have no idea, so based on my IEP-writing history, it should be relatively easy.  Right?

Also?  And unrelated except that I'm watching an Extinct Attractions video, I miss Horizons.  And its music.

ETA:  June 10th is a depressing day.  Except for the last one...but that's a rant for another day.

The Green Drop Drink

Congo.

It's the only Michael Crichton book I have ever read, even though I enjoyed (the first) Jurassic Park very much -- I think because of all the science in it.

(Though my nitpicky soul cried out at this exchange:

Mr. Hammond:  It's just a delay; that's all it is.  All major theme parks have delays.  When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked.

Dr. Malcolm:  But, John, if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists.

Ahem.  Disneyland opened in 1955.  And Pirates didn't exist until 1967.)

Anyway, I had seen the movie (for some reason, I allowed a friend to drag me to a variety of gory movies at the time...Congo was pretty gross, but Outbreak was the worst).

Shakespeare, it was not.

And what I remember most was Amy the gorilla, who was terrified of flying, and who had been fitted with a glove that voiced her signing, repeatedly asked for a "green drop drink" (a martini).

Now, at the time, I had very little understanding of how ASL differs from Signed English, how much facial expression and hand position affect ASL, nor even really an understanding of how very different word order can be in ASL, and I thought that it was a pretty neat idea.

(I still do, but the software would have to be seriously upgraded.)

In any event, that was about the last of it.

Then, of course, A&E produced its heavily marketed (at least on the Discovery and History channels that I primarily watch) Andromeda Strain miniseries.  So, like a good sci-fi fan, I TiVoed it.

Now, in the interim, it had been pretty roundly panned by critics and bloggers alike.

Also -- it took me three days to watch.

And I think the writers may have had too many green drop drinks.

Okay, it was earnestly acted by people that seemed good at their craft.  I was particularly amused to see Ted Atherton play yet another FBI-government-agent type, plus former SG-1 annoying guy Maybourne as...well, another annoying guy.  Eric McCormack was good, but I didn't really get what his character was about.

And then, there was the plethora of sci-fi cliches, all plugged into one movie: bucky balls, time travel, wormholes, aliens, killer viruses, mutations, surviving the virus because of something random, X-Files-like conspiracies...I'm sure I'm missing some here.

So, tonight, I went to pick up a copy of the book to see if all of that was actually in there.  (Did they even know about bucky balls when Crichton wrote the novel?)

ETA:  Googling says, "No, not by a long shot."  Huh.

Anyhow, Borders was out.  Weird.  I'll try to remember to update after I read the book...and find out what else was...err...enhanced.

Anyway, I did, because I'm a nerd like that, buy two other books.  I can't remember the last time I've entered a book store and left without a book....

D'oh!

I was working on the sixth graders' graduation presents (a photo book of their 1, 2, or 3 years -- Angel, Sleeping Beauty, and Superhero, respectively -- with us), and I realized that I don't have any pictures of New Boy B!  Whoops!

Guess I'm taking my camera tomorrow.

The Great Convention in the Sky

Good grief.  Another one.