That's what I go to School for....Jonas Brothers cover Busted

This was the song of the summer for me my last summer in Savannah 2004.  I knew I was moving back to Los Angeles. I always thought I'd like the city of Savannah if I wasn't in the job I was in-and I discovered the truth in that. That summer I also met my Scotsman-Craig.  He was lovely and quite a few years younger. He started chatting me up at the real O'Connell's- the location before Paula Deen kicked 'em out. I remember flirting back and had my hand on his knee when I he told me he was 7 years younger and I pulled that hand away pretty quick! He was the same age as many of the students I had just been teaching. Craig kept up with the wooing for weeks and he won.  I justified it as he had been earning a wage as long as I had so he was mature-and not being American made him more mature! Yeah!
 What I learned that summer was to laugh and enjoy the moment. I also learned to be open to many more things and quit writing people off from initial impressions. Craig would play this song and tease that I was a cradle robber. This song was in my head and it makes me laugh when the one time at work I looked it up and listened to the Jonas Brother's rendition it had been squeaked up clean by the mouse at Disney.
Here are the two renditions of my favorite pop song of 2004.



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How Alice In Wonderland!

Forget about the KoolAid! Found this in the stairwell at the community college and felt it had sooooo many story possibilities behind it. _______________________ _________________________________

Day of Rapture

photo by Mike Guerena 

So, I am still here and all my friends are here after Saturday's misinterpretation of end of the world.  For my possible last day on earth or last day in Los Angeles, I decided to make plans all about me. There were many loose ends and plans in the air, but I knew I had ingredients for a good day and hoped it would all come together. In the end it was a perfect day-one I will remember for many months to come.  When sharing this over lunch with a friend on Monday,  I shared a perfect day story and he suggested I write the preacher predicting the end of the world.  I decided blogging was enough.
The day started as most of my Saturdays start-at Mother's Beach in Marina del Rey on the water.  I've been rowing for about a year and enjoy the people I've met through the club and the sport.  Saturdays are a regular thing where I am on a late boat with mostly a ladies eight crew but often we have a mixed with a few fellas joining in.  I was the coxain-the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering-according to wikipedia-(yes yes-lovely source).  That definition is just what I do-not a lot of coaching or drills but the main goal is not to hit anything and keep composure in the boat.  The boat was my first time in the "new" boat and as my friend says is steers like the Titanic and I found the statement to be true.

Since we hit nothing, I chalked it up to a good day on the water. I had coffee and a bagel with a boat mate and then headed downtown.  The variable was to meet up with the SCV twitta crew or a few friends that live downtown.  I missed the twitta crew but did find my downtown peeps and was able to look at the pitcrews, the soapbox cars, costumes, and the crowds. Pershing Square worked the best for dealing with crowds but the heat and sun was too much.

I said good bye to Ava as she'd had enough fun after watching a few runs and Frank and I watched a few more then headed to the bar of the Boneventure Hotel and had drinks and snacks.  It was there where we met Mike and Maiya taking a set of Rapture photos that I ended up posing for as well. Boneventure bar food was good. We had lobster rolls and fried chicken sliders (waffle bun) as well as chicken sausage. I'd skip the lobster rolls but the fancy take on fried chicken and waffles was so good! I said good bye to Frank and had an hour or 2 to kill before meeting Jeremy for dinner.

I ate too much in the snacking department that I killed an hour walking around downtown LA so I'd be ready to eat again and just to see what activity was still happening with the Soapbox Derby. The Derby was over but there were lots of happy people on the street and lots of hills and stairs to take so I got a mini workout and as my grandmother would say, "went  'kodaking'" (taking many pictures) downtown.

Jeremy works the graveyard shift so his day was just beginning. As I drove toward Eagle Rock, I started to wonder if he really wanted to see me since he told me to meet him at 6pm-time of Judgement or whatever with Rapture. That just brought a smirk to my face and it widened into a smile since I have been wanting to eat at CaCao in Eagle Rock ever since I heard of it a few years back. They have a sampler plate of duck and boar that I've been dying to give a go but even some of my food blogger friends weren't having it. If this was going to be my last meal, CaCao Mexicatessen was the place. Not only did we get the Maya Sampler, the chips and salsa were out of this world and I had Camorones and Jeremy saw the Don Marcos-very hot- taco and seemed pleased.
Nothing much to do after an early dinner and an early day out plus sitting in the sun- so I headed home. I was gone a good 14 hours and really had a wonderful day of rapture! _______________________ _________________________________

Science Fair

I have had way too many things happening this year to make it clear that I've gone over a precipice-yes age is just a number but that number sometimes means something.  Although I still feel 16 inside, I am not and sooo I was asked to be a non biased judge in the elementary school science fair.
As a college professor, I now know where the bad education starts.  Yes, as a college professor, I get the young adult but at 5th and 6th grade, apparently using youtube, the internet in general, and wikipedia as sources is acceptable.
Bad habits begin early and it looks like I found out Pico Canyon is an enabler when it comes to that.  My first assignment in my Media and Society class was a current events assignment.  Basically read an article and tell me who, what, when, where, why, and how.  Many of the 18-20 year olds taking the class couldn't do this and all I ever wanted to yell out in the class was that this was an assignment I was doing in 6th grade!
I also recall learning in 7th grade how to do a research paper.  We had notecards and developed an outline. This is something that many California Community College students can't do.  We also learned that year what was acceptable and credible sources to use in a research paper and how to document them as well as how to create a bibliography.
8th grade at Hawthorn Junior High had us spending a 5 week module on scientific method and how to run an experiment.  Although I saw many creative and inventive things at the science fair, I saw many kids projects that could barely follow directions and barely earn a passing grade.
This just brings me back to when I would grade papers in my classes and weep for the future. I always had exciting and well written papers but I expected it to be the majority and not the few notable exceptions.  Many students didn't even bother to spell check before turning in the schlock to me.  Often I would return it to students and refuse to grade it until they gave better work.
All I am saying, is when doctors start to practice that are younger than me, I might one day ask someone with me to just smother me with a pillow, knowing what I know and what I've seen. _______________________ _________________________________

Civil Wars cover BIllie Jean

Been hearing buzz about this duo and I think they are growing on me.-Doesn't hurt that they have a touch of the Southern in 'em and it's amazing that their second performance ever resulted in the digital album that catapulted them to where they are now. Once again, here are darlings from South by Southwest-the festival that matters.
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