I’ve done a bit of a disappearing act lately.  No real reason.  Just nothing to say and no motivation to think of anything.  Is it winter blahs?  To borrow a page from Cecily’s diary:

But I don’t like [winter]. It isn’t at all a becoming [season]. I know perfectly well that I look quite plain after [a month or two of winter].

Did I mention that Mom and I went to The importance of Being Earnest?  No?   Despite what those with pedestrian tastes might think, it was delightful.  Perhaps at a later time I’ll write a fuller synopsis, but right now I find myself abuzz with energy at 10:30 on a Sunday night when I should be headed to beddie-bye.   How does this work?  I was a complete slug all weekend and got nothing done.   Now, when I need to be sleeping, I can’t!  Grrr.

So, where does that leave me?

Mourning the conclusion of Emma, for one.  Alas, it’s over. **le sigh**  To compound the tragedy, this  is the final Jane Austen adaptation for the foreseeable future.  No more bonnets, or barouches, or bachelors.  **le sigh x2**  Sure, Masterpiece is rerunning Northanger Abbey and Persuasion in the next few weeks, but it’s not the same as having a new adaptation to savor and analyze.  And I admit that I really enjoyed this version.  I thought the portrayal of Harriet was a bit washed-out and the dueling Edmunds took me a minute to get over but those are minor complaints of an otherwise entertaining mini-series.  It was beautifully filmed.  Michael Gambon played the worry-wart better than I expected and  Christina Cole seemed to have a ball being Mrs. Elton.

I know this story so well, mostly due to the fact that I love the 1996 Gwyneth Paltrow version.  I’m undecided about which adaptation I pefer, but I know for sure that Ramola Garai’s hairstyles were 50 times better than Paltrow’s!

Regardless of my familiarity with the plot, I still held my breath until the end.  How could these two headstrong characters ever get together??  But, of course, they did.  Happily ever afters for all! Although, did anyone else feel short changed out of an Emma/Knightley wedding?

Did you see Emma?  What did you think?

Here’s a bit of a summary if you want to relive the highlights.

Now maybe I can get some shut eye.  Morning will be here all too soon…

First off, Emma is on Masterpiece Classic tonight, so set the Tivo.  It’s the new 2009 BBC production.  I’ve heard mixed reviews, but am very excited to finally get to see it.  Also, I really like her dress.

I think Emma is one of Jane Austen’s best–even if this particular heroine makes me all too aware of my own shortcomings.  And I’m interested to see if Johnny Lee Miller (aka Edmund Bertram from Mansfield Park ‘99) can pull off Mr. Knightley’s mix of humor and fedupness.

Also, we have a new game finished.  It’s for practicing beginning sounds and is available on Etsy through Hearts for Haiti.  All the money (minus Etsy/Pay Pal fees) goes to Doctors Without Borders.

If you don’t need to practice your beginning sounds, Hearts for Haiti has lots of other items listed.  I bought some printable Valentine cards that I’m going to have my students do and donate to Cards for Kids.  Two great causes all at once–talk about multi-tasking!

And, Bright Star comes out on DVD Tuesday.  Are you psyched, or what???

It’s such an elegant movie that I feel like I need some sort of grand unveiling in order to watch it.  Any ideas?

I just tried to leave for church an hour early.  Fortunately Misty stopped me before I got to the door, otherwise I would have been chillin’ with the Samoan ward for awhile! 

Oops.

The really embarrassing part is I just spent last week teaching 2nd graders how to tell time.  Well, what are you gonna do?

Well, I’m going to take this chance to update my blog.  Nothing too exciting, these are just some music videos I’ve come across over the past year or so and thought someone else might like them, too.

I know I’ve posted this before, but it’s so good, I had to do it again!

Ok Go always has the quirkiest videos! Embedding has been disabled, but you should definitely watch it.

The roomies and I had movie night last night and went to see Leap Year.

They get bonus points for including Snow Patrol in the trailer, even if the song isn’t in the movie.

I thought it was charming–surprisingly so!  It was the perfect cure for the winter “blahs.”   I laughed way more than I expected.  It helped that:

1. I had way low expectations.  I was expecting Chasing Liberty: Dublin Nights.  It was, thankfully, much better.
2. Matthew Goode = adorable in all his sarcastic, scruffy, Irish accent glory.
3. Ireland    Beautiful country.  Beautiful country that will eat you alive if you let your guard down for a single moment.

The premise of the story is that Amy Adams’ character (Anna) is trying to get to Dublin by Feb. 29th to propose to her boyfriend.  It ends up in a cross-country trek.  One movie reviewer was hung up on how they stretched a short journey (Dingle to Dublin) into several days.  After all, Google says you can make the trip in 4 1/2 hours.

False.

You cannot drive from Dingle to Dublin in 4 1/2 hours.  One website recommends taking the Google suggestions and multiplying by 1.75.   Which would explain how my trip from Killarney to Galway (130 miles), a supposed 3.5 hour trip, took nearly 7.

Such is the beauty of Ireland.  But, what can you expect with roads like this?

I think Anna and Declan got off lucky by not having to face an on-coming semi at 45mph.

The traffic jams don’t help.

But if you can’t figure out where you’re going, it doesn’t matter how long it takes to get there!

And then the changeable weather makes everything just that much more exciting!

However, if you’re not in a hurry, Ireland is incredible!

Amazing views (Queen Victoria liked this one, too.)

Incredible ruins to stumble across.

Windswept cliffs

Charming villages

With a variety of bright pubs

And sheep.  Loads of sheep.  Sheep everywhere.  Actually I don’t think sheep made it into the movie, but they should have.  Ireland is full of sheep.

It was great to relate to so much in the movie, and not just the abundance of livestock.  There was the time I shorted out the plug.  Who makes a plug for “shavers only.”  That’ s just ludicrous!  The bathroom is down the hall, but we can cater to all your shaving needs!  I guess that’s what you get in a dumpy B&B.  Thankfully we didn’t push our car off any cliffs, though we did wind up with a flat tire and scratched paint from having to jerk onto the side of the road to avoid collisions.  Basically my trip to Ireland was pretty much like being in the movie, but tragically, there wasn’t a single hint of Matthew Goode anywhere!

I just stumbled onto Part 1 of This Emotional Life on PBS and got sucked into watching the whole thing.   There were tears.  And not just because I had to go back to school today.

There was the part where  the dad who had adopted a boy from Siberia with reactive attachment disorder was talking about his son and said something like, “This isn’t the dad I wanted to be.  Letting go of that was hard.  But this is being the dad he needs.  And maybe that’s what being a dad is all about.”

Or when the brother of the man with Asperberger’s was talking about how brave his brother is and how proud he is of him.

Or when the man in marriage counseling says that his only memory of his father is being given a basketball and suddenly his wife realizes why he relates everything to basketball and you just see her let go of so much anger…!

Real life is so much better than fiction!!

Part 2 is on tomorrow, but I bet they repeat Part 1 soon.

I’m off to Betsy’s in a bit to watch the finale of Doctor Who.  This is David Tennant’s last episode and I’m already feeling a little verklempt.

The fact that I like this show, let alone like it  A LOT, is very strange to me.  I don’t typically like science fiction and the writing in this is incredibly uneven.  A few episodes are almost flawless, but most of them have huge chunks of dialogue or plot that must be ignored.  The only thing I can figure is that the credit goes to the amazing actors.  Christopher Eccleston was brilliant.  David Tennant was phenomenal.  Just looking at these pictures brings a lump to my throat.

Poor Doctor!

I had some predictions of how I thought this finale would play out, but then I came across someone else’s predictions and I’m reminded that I know nothing of Classic Who (pre-2005), so I probably have no idea what’s going to happen.

Here’s a look back at some of DT’s great moments over the past 4 years.  There are a few clips from The End of Time (if you haven’t seen part 1), but nothing too spoilery.

ETA:   I cried.

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On the whole, I really liked the finale.  But, in his traditional style, headwriter Russell T. Davies left with a very uneven story.

What I didn’t like:

• The Master’s resurrection.  Can we say Harry Potter?  Was it really so important to redeem Lucy Saxon’s character?  I’d always assumed that her shooting the Master had been the escape route in their evil plot.  I think that would have been a better story than what RTD wrote with magic potions and the widow’s kiss.  Lame.
• Donna was back, but doesn’t really do anything the whole time.  I know that her brain will explode, but it would have been nice if she could have been more proactive.
• Jumpy, skeleton head Master.
• Watching the Master eat.
• The green, pokey aliens seemed like a mistimed joke in the midst of all the angst.  Could have done without them and the Naismiths.  The storyline was cluttered enough without introducing extraneous characters.
• Captain Jack’s new boy toy.
• Who was that woman?  I’m assuming it was the Doctor’s mother, but no one explains.  Would that make Wilf his father?  Sure wish we had a final answer on that one.

What I liked:

• Minnie the Menace–ha!
• The Doctor got married!  Interesting.  I guess we understand why Queen Elizabeth hated him at the end of The Shakespeare Code.
• “Skeletor.” Ha!
• RTD may not be well suited to action plots, but he’s fabulous at the long, emotional speeches.  And there were several.
• The Time Lords were bonkers!
• The Doctor categorically refuses to take the gun.  Until he finds out Galifrey is back.  Brilliant way to show how menacing those Time Lords are!
• His face when he realizes who really has knocked 4 times.  Didn’t see that coming!
• I love that his last wish was to make sure all the people he loves are taken care of.  I know a lot of people hated the sentimentality, but I thought it the best possible tribute to David Tennant’s Doctor.
• Martha and Mickey!  Didn’t see that coming, but it makes a lot of sense.
• It’s the Star Wars cantina!
• Joan!  I knew he still loved her!
• Donna gets a lottery ticket purchased with money borrowed from her late father.  Ahh!
• Rose!  Just wish he would have kissed her.  It was New Year’s Eve, he could’ve made it work!
• “I don’t want to go!”

The episode ended with the change to the new Doctor, Matt Smith.  It’s completely unfair to judge him based on his 30 second performance, but I’m going to judge him anyway: I wasn’t impressed.  But I guess I’ll have to wait until the spring to really complain about him. 

Wow-2010. It seems weird to type and weirder to say. I keep sneaking a peak at my computer screen to see if it’s really true.  As I type this it’s 11:11 on 1/1/2010.  That’s a lot of ones.  And I should probably make a wish.

There.  Done.

Truthfully I’m not all that sad to say farewell to the old year.  2009 was not my best year.  I realize that I had more blessings than non-blessings (what’s the term there?).  Nothing tragic happened last year and in at least one case, with Em and Jacob’s accident, a near tragedy ended very happily.  It’s just that I spent most of the year feeling distanced from everything.  And while I’m grateful for the resolution to that problem (let’s give a cheer for Vitamin D3!!), I can’t help regretting all the months I sleepwalked through.  I’m grateful that the length of that trial can be listed in months and I’m also grateful that I did photo-of-the-day for a lot of that time so I have some sort of record of what happened.  Most of the details are muddled in my brain (or missing), but at least there’s photographic record that I was actually alive at the time.

Looking back at January of ‘09, I was in a real funk.  I attributed the angst to an existential crisis.  In truth I just felt like crap and couldn’t find a reason.  Now we know better.  In an effort to alleviate my dissatisfaction with life, I decided to leave the single’s ward life behind and join the family ward.  Existential angst aside, it was still the right decision.  I’m much more at home in the new ward (and we just switched to the 11 a.m. meeting time–woohoo!).  Such was January.  That and report cards and feeling lousy.

I spent February sick.  The doctor didn’t help too much, but on the plus side he did prescribe Prilosec and I haven’t had ulcer trouble since!!  That’s a huge blessing, right there!!

In March I focused on teaching my crazy class.  I still don’t miss most of those kids.  Some of them were complete sweethearts, but a lot of them were the opposite.  I hated my job.  It didn’t help that I felt so lousy.  I was happy to get away for a few days in April.  I met up with Em in San Francisco.  We had a fun vacation and I finished my Project 365 on my last day of being 29.

I spent May counting down the days till summer vacation.  And I killed a bird.  Not my best month.  I purposefully didn’t schedule anything during my summer break so I could focus on getting healthy.  I made an exception to that rule by agreeing to help write the new 2nd grade science core.  It was an insane amount of work and it made me realize just how much politics goes into a curriculum.  I’ll be interested to see what it looks like after this year of piloting.

When June’s “get healthy” push didn’t work, I went to the doctor.  That didn’t work either.  Thankfully I finally took my dad’s advice and started taking Vitamin D3.  Problem solved!  I finally felt better than I had in months (years?), so I did the obvious thing: I put every waking moment into getting ready for school.  Good times.

In August, Emily came for a week to help me get ready.  We worked hard, but we also tried to cram a summer’s worth of fun activities into 7 days.  Lots of movies, lots of restaurants, lots of shopping!  Mom came to help often, as well.  And Aunt ‘Nette and Aunt Claire even got in on the fun!  It was all worth it, though, when the kids got there.  They are an adorable group!  It’s nice to like teaching again.  I could focus all my energy on my class in September without getting worn out.

October means Halloween, of course, but for me the real highlight was the Snow Patrol concert.  Loved it!!

In November, Grammy came for Thanksgiving and Emily did as well.  Em and I had fun shopping and watching New Moon.  We really enjoyed that one.

December is always all about Christmas.  I wouldn’t want it any other way!  I love spending the month planning and preparing.  I just wish there were a way to stretch the celebrating out a little more.

And now we’re onto a new January, a new year, a new decade!  Already 2010 has taken an interesting turn.  I got a phone call this afternoon from Betsy.  She called to confess that she’d gotten caught up in the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America.  Ha!  How the mighty have fallen!!  That’ll teach her to mock me.  Oh, and we’re watching David Tennant’s last episode at her place tomorrow. 

And in the “someone has too much time” category, here’s a mashup of the top 25 hits of 2009.  I must be old because I only like 5 of the songs!  (I’ll let you guess which 5.)

It seems only appropriate that a year that began with some Proustian reflections (and had absolutely zero Proust moments in the middle ((although I did think of him while eating madeleines in San Fran))) should end with Proust as well.

When Proust was 13 he went to a party where they made everyone fill out a detailed questionnaire.  Later, when he was 20, at another party there was a similar questionnaire.  I’m guessing Twister hadn’t been invented yet.  The questions and Proust’s answers have survived. In the back of Vanity Fair every month, they print some famous person’s answers to the same questions.  And now you can answer the questions on-line and find out which celebrity you most resemble!  My celebrity brain twin (93% match)?  Joan Didion.

Who?

Apparently an author whose works are permeated by a sense of anxiety and dread.

Yup.  Sounds just like me.

So maybe the matching thing doesn’t work, but you can still answer the questions.  Here’s my go at it.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Feeling understood.

What is your greatest fear?

Not being in control.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Mata Hari.

Which living person do you most admire?

My mother.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

How easily I trade what I know to be the best choice for the comfortable choice.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Weakness of character

What is your greatest extravagance?

Travel

On what occasion do you lie?

When it will get me out of trouble.

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
My arms

When and where were you happiest?

I’m happy almost all the time.  Though I was probably most blissfully happy during my semester in Nauvoo.

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

To gain the ability to balance my time between demands and desires.

If you could change one thing about your family what would it be?

That we’d all be millionaires.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

That my students like math.

If you died and came back as a person or thing what do you think it would be?

I get jealous every time I see bird circling in the air, so probably a hawk.

What is your most treasured possession?

My journals?  I have a lot of stuff, but I don’t know if any of it qualifies as a “treasure.”

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Being without the Spirit.

Who are your heroes in real life?

People who are true to themselves regardless of situation.

What is it that you most dislike?

Contention.  And finances.

How would you like to die?

Having taken out more of their side than they got of mine.

What is your motto?

I would like it to be “Never dismiss a charitable thought.”  It’s more of an aspiration than motto at this point.

Here are the last of the Holidays in Hands prompts that I didn’t finish before Christmas.  Next year I’ll plan better.  And since I now own Photoshop maybe I’ll be able to give digital scrapbooking a try!

• December 14: Smile (I had to stretch this one!)

I spent today at art training.  Talk about “Bah Humbug!”  We had to make these stupid color wheel Christmas trees from Play-doh and construction paper.  I got so fed up with the process that I just threw it all in the bag.  But at least I drew this cute elf!

• December 15: Hope

For centuries in France, the entire village gathered at midnight mass on Christmas Eve.  There they welcomed the holiday surrounded by a life-sized depiction of the nativity.  During the Revolution, the churches were closed and religion outlawed.  In secret, the people began making little crèches for their homes.  There was tender Mary and strong Joseph, humble shepherds and glorious kings.  But that was not all.  In the homes of Provence, the village came again to the manger.  There was the baker from down the street and the spinner who sold the cloth, the peddler and the laborer found sanctuary in the stable, too.  It’s this depiction of everyday life that I love so much.  Because that Baby didn’t just come for the shepherds and wisemen, he came for us all.  He came for the old and the young.  He came for the mayor and the fool.  He came for the hardworking and downtrodden.  And because He came the work seems a little easier, the burdens of life are lighter.  He came to make it better.  He came to make us better.

• December 16: gifts

For the first time I got to write “Aunt Heidi.”  I can barely wait until April!

• December 17: Santa (I really stretched this one!!)

This is one of my very favorite Christmas traditions.  Every year the kids in the Special Ed. class make a Christmas movie.  This year it was A Pirate’s Night Before Christmas.  But it’s not the Santa hats that make this such a festive occasion.  It’s the smiles on the faces of the kids.  Pure joy.  A pure reminder of the Savior and the love He bears all his children.  Especially these sweet little ones who live so close to His spirit.

• December 18: family party

The family party wouldn’t be complete without the White Elephant presents.  I gave a half-eaten box of chocolates.  Emily appreciated it.  I received a fart machine.  I’m not sure where that ended up…But the hit of the night was Uncle Jess’s new Afro.  Far out, man!

• December 19: School celebrations

School went late this year.  We had to go clear through the 22^nd!  As long as I didn’t worry about teaching, things went great!  We made Santa faces and Christmas ornaments.  We wore PJs and read Christmas books.  We listened to kindergarteners and the junior high choir.  We sang The Twelve Days of Christmas and Donde Esta Santa Claus (complete with red and green maracas).  We watched Polar Express and The Nutcracker.  It was a weeklong Christmas party!  Thankfully Em came to help out.  She could catch up my grading and make a start on the report cards that need to be finished soon after we get back.  Ugh!

• December 20: Gratitude

The scriptures become so dear at this season.  We treasure the prophecies of His birth, the testimonies of His life, and the witnesses of His resurrection.  We read again of the journey to Bethlehem, of angels and a star.  But this year I keep returning to the words of King Benjamin who saw in vision the glorious life of the Savior. (Mosiah 3:5,8)

For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.

And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.

• December 21: Roommate Christmas

We celebrated our traditional roommate Christmas tonight.  We went to IHOP to have breakfast for dinner then got some hot chocolate and attempted to see the lights, but that part didn’t work too well.  After partially freezing we headed back home to open some presents.  I gave them each their own copies of season 1 of The Big Bang Theory.  Adrienne gave me a binder to store birthday card.  Misty gave me some hairspray and a T-shirt with my favorite quote from Glee.

• December 22: stockings

In a moment straight out of O. Henry, Em and I found the very last bottle of eggnog for Jacob’s stocking.  Fortunately she kept it tucked away in the fridge until the big moment.  I still don’t understand what he likes about this stuff…

• December 23: driving home

I wait until the traffic his so heavy everybody comes to a stop.  Then it’s time for a little Michael Ball.  “I’m driving in my car.  I’m driving home for Christmas.”  Hey, you’ve got your traditions, I have mine.  I’m just glad my journey doesn’t take any longer!

• December 24: Christmas Eve

Shopping for Mom.  That’s priority #1 on Christmas Eve.  Next, lunch with Dad.  He prefers to support locally owned business instead of chains.  That’s how we ended up with Greek food on Christmas Eve.  I guess Paul could have eaten it, right?  Then it’s home to wrap and label.  For dinner a Bethlehem Supper.  I prefer the decidedly unkosher ham pitas.   A quick round of “You’ll shoot you eye out!” and leg lamps followed by new PJs (although now I buy my own) to encourage dancing visions of sugar plums.  Ready or not, Christmas has come!

• December 25: Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas when the house can officially hold no more presents!  I had the most fun with Dad’s gift.  Stumped for ideas I finally asked him what he wanted.  He emailed back, “You got me a shirt.  It was $15.  I had a coupon.  I’ll love it.”  Practical, but not too exciting.  On Christmas morning he opened his shirt box and found…bacon bits!  He’d been talking about how bacon is the new “it” food and you can get bacon flavored cupcakes, bacon wrapped meat loaf, etc.  (The effect of too much Food Network.)  Then I gave him his real gift.  He lifted out the shirt he’d bought and found orange sticks (he’d complained about not getting any last year) and the Star Trek DVD.  That seemed a little more festive.  I received wonderful, thoughtful gifts from everybody.  Spoiled?  Probably.  But not as spoiled as the Wee One.  She made a definite haul.  Just from me she got a hooded towel, 2 books, a math game, and DVDs.  That, plus what she got from Santa and Grandma, made for one lucky fetus!

I wanted to make some predictions for the new decade, but ran into two problems.

1. I am shockingly uncreative.  I couldn’t come up with a single original, witty idea.
2. That left me with real predictions.  They all came out sounding like doomsday prophecies.  Nothing says “Happy New Year!” like “The world sucks!”

So instead of predictions I listed some hopes for the next ten years.  Hope need not be tied to what is probable.  That’s the beauty of hope.  So, in that grudging spirit, here are my hopes for the next decade.

• I hope we realize that we rise and fall together and find common ground to build on instead of using differences as walls.
• I hope that common sense takes the place of popular opinion.
• I hope that we recognize that restraint is an integral component in finding happiness.
• I hope that we simplify.
• I hope that instead of throwing money at the effects of problems we seek to cure their causes.
• I hope that we accept that there is no liberation from consequences.
• I hope that they will breed even tinier micro pigs.
• I hope that we listen to opinions different from ours without marking the other as an enemy.

I think this makes a good “let’s make this the best decade yet!” theme song. (Ignore the song’s title.)

I did some investigative Googling and I found this list of hopes from the Boston Herald that is much more eloquent than mine (and spot-on about that reality TV thing) and this list of predictions about technology and social change that is much more positive than I am.  I particularly like this quote:

At some point over the last ten years I became an adult – and found out very quickly that being an adult is hard. There is no manual or guide to reference. You are on your own. By comparison, changing the world isn’t so difficult. Ten years ago, there was little that one individual could do that would produce meaningful, measurable changes in our society. Today, there are websites and widgets to help you navigate and a global community to join or help to mold. Being an adult will always be hard. Changing the world is getting easier by the day.

- Brian Reich, communications specialist and Media Rules! author