He Ain't Heavy

He's my brother...and he's in Chicago!

Ryan flew in Friday evening and we headed out almost immediately to dinner and an improv comedy show. The show was at a place called Comedy Sportz and it was pretty darn funny. I cried at least 3 separate times. It was a lot like Whose Line is it Anyway? and the funniest part was this thing they did where they read out the text messages from two people's phones in a scene.

On Saturday while I was in class, Ryan went to Game Day at Wrigley Field. He saw Mike Ditka and some other people. We went to the game and watched the Wildcats lose to the Illini. When Illinois scored twice in, like, the first 5 minutes, Ryan wanted to know why I didn't tell him NU was awful and why I bought him an NU hat. My only response is, knowing how little I know about football, why would he think I knew anything about it?

Either way, it was fun. He got to see Wrigley Field and I got in some good people watching.

Yesterday we went out for some more heartache and watched the Browns lose. We went to a place called the Old Town Social. Ryan was a bit dismayed to find out that they didn't have wings or nachos or $2 drinks, but it was nice to meet up with some friends.

Today was the Shedd and a trip Longman & Eagle. The Shedd was packed (it took us a good hour to get in) but the restaurant was great. They made awesome drinks and the food was great. I will definitely be going back.

Anyway, tomorrow we are off to Minnesota for Turkey Day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Something I'm Loving This Week...

I feel like I do quite a bit of complaining on this blog, so I thought I'd change it up and give you something that makes me smile.

A Very Potter Musical has been around for over a year, but I just got around to watching it this past week. I had heard of it, but I didn't have a clue about what it actually was until Tuesday. It was a ground-breaking day for television with Glee's "Never Been Kissed" episode. It may not have been the best Glee ever, but it had some pretty great moments, the best of which you can read about here (Tom and Lorenzo say it better than I ever could).

The new character on the show, "Blane", is played by Darren Criss. I kept reading about how great this Criss guy is, but I figured he was some sort of pop singer or something. Well he is, but not really. He wrote the lyrics and music for A Very Potter Musical and played Harry as well. It is a hilarious homage to the Harry Potter books from people who are clearly fans, but are not blinded to its "flaws".

If you are a Harry Potter fan (and since I know you all personally, I'd say that applies to about 75% of you) you need to watch this. It is all available on Youtube, but I'll get you started here. Just be warned, the sound is a bit wonky at times but it is well worth that frustration.

Also, if you don't leave this thinking "damn, Voldemort is pretty hot!" then I question your taste level!

21 Jump Street

I'm not sure if this is the worst thing or the best thing I've heard in a long time.

Remember the show 21 Jump Street? The show that launched Johnny Depp's career (for which I am eternally grateful). Well, Hollywood has seen fit to make it a movie due out in 2012. Same name as the TV show, same premise...cops who look like teenagers go undercover in schools to snuff out crime. When I say "look like teenagers" I mean that in the loosest sense of the phrase. At least where the original show was concerned. Peter Deluise looked 30 on his best day!

Don't get me wrong. I LOVED the show. My brother and I watched it anytime it was on. I took it pretty seriously, as well. A few years back, I got the DVDs from Netflix and had a marathon. Nothing could have prepared me for the heaping piles of cheese that show was serving in earnest. At the height of "Just Say No to Drugs", Jump Street was showing that not doing drugs was cool. It tackled other issues including a very special episode where Holly Robinson Peete goes undercover to expose a modeling agency for taking advantage of High School girls. She can't get the photographer to make a pass at her and, if I remember correctly, she suffers a crisis in self-confidence as a result. Powerful stuff.

The question is, will the new movie go the cheesy rout? Will it be more of an action movie? Or will it recognize that its premise is ridiculous and go full-on comedy? With a rumored cast including Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, I think (and hope) it will go the intentional comedy route.

I guess we can only wait and see.

Purely (almost) a Work of Fiction

Yesterday I went to a meeting in which we discussed the hazards of teacher expectations upon their students. Expectations based on race, religion, socio-economic background, etc. Lower expectations for some students, higher for others, with little regard for actual abilities. It was an interesting conversation. We were asked if we had ever seen this happen either as students ourselves or as teachers. Everyone had.

The story I told concerned my move from a Montessori school to a public school. I don't remember the details (I have a horrible memory) but the gist was that I was quiet and shy in class so my teacher thought I didn't know the answers and didn't read well. To my horror, I was placed in the "Foundations" reading group. I may not have been a genius (or maybe I was) but it wasn't difficult to figure out the difference between the "Foundations" readers and the "Skyscrapers". Apparently I went home every night and cried about this until my mother (who wasn't thrilled about my choice to switch schools) finally had a talk with the teacher. She had ot inform the woman that I could read. I was switched to the higher level reading group, but the fact remains that the children in the class were divided along such sharp and thinly-veiled lines. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one to see through the ruse.

Anyway, the meeting (particularly some of the horror stories told by others) got me thinking about my first year in that new school and what a scary place it sometimes was. I wrote a short story as a result. I know you are supposed to say that any resemblance to people, places, or events is entirely coincidental, but that can never be true. At least, I cannot imagine coming up with a story that had no frame of reference from my own life. I debated about whether or not to post it. It seems extremely self-indulgent to do so. I had to remind myself that if this silly blog isn't self-indulgent enough, I don't know what could possibly make it more so.

With no further ado, here is the story. Mark Twain it is not, but maybe someone will enjoy it.

New Toy

A quick trip to the pet store today had me pick out a new toy for my cats. They really love their "Cat Dancer" (a wire with some cardboard on it that costs about $2), the laser pointer, and a couple of cubes that were donated by my friend, Alice, when she moved.

The new toy is a crinkle sack so it make noise and actually has catnip inside the lining. I thought they would freak for it.

It wasn't until Turtle was all hopped up on the catnip I added that she started to get frisky. I swear, my cats are hilarious until I turn a camera on them. I really think they are in some sort of cat witness protection program...why else would there be such reluctance to be caught on film. Most of what I record of them is un-useable.