I want to go

I want to go to Bonnaroo....but WOW, it's expensive. There's no way I'm paying that. Maybe I'll win tickets, though, and that would be awesome!

I also want to go to the Hilton El Conquistador 4th of July Extravaganza again this year. No Lifehouse (and no false hopes of a Kiefer Sutherland appearance), but I thought the whole experience was fun. Jason Mraz is headlining. I don't lovelovelove his music, but I like it. Anyone in town want to join me? C'mon...what else are you going to do? You don't really want to go to the Sidewinders......

Handlebars

The first time I heard this song, I thought, "Okay, kind of catchy." The second time I heard this song, I really listened. Wow. It still blows me away.

Handlebars by Flobot

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars
Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rapper
even when the paths're all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:
I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome
I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone
Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can raise funds open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can change the nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule
Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die in exasperation
Have'em all grilled leavin lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

There's a link to the You Tube video for this song HERE.

More evidence of my bird's brilliance

Yesterday, I slept in late (Saturday) and didn't want to get out of bed. Pippin tried chirping at me, but I wouldn't respond. So...she made the EXACT "beep, beep, beep" that my alarm makes! Pretty smart, eh?

The other day, I was laying on the couch (really, I do move occasionally), and Pippin was perched on the cushions with me. I must have rolled onto the remote because it switched from CNN to a Spanish station. Pippin perked up, flattened her feathers and turned her head toward the tv. She definitely noticed a change when the language changed. Very interesting. I'd like to do some more experimenting with that!

If

I was reminded of this poem while taking the Never-Ending Book Quiz on Facebook. Right now, my global rank is 1509. That's pretty good, I think, since people start out at around 40,000.

Anyhow....

If by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

After the End

I think I've mentioned this before, but really, if you're a Harry Potter fan, you MUST read this novel-length story here. It's so good. It was written somewhere around the time of Goblet of Fire's publication, but it's set after Voldemort's death. Honestly, I think I like it better than Deathly Hallows...and MUCH better than the Epilogue. Yeah, it's long, but it's well worth the time!

ETA: If you want to download the whole enchilada (aka, the complete PDF version of After the End), click on this helpful link. Oh, and what I said about it being long? It's only 826 pages. :) But I promise you, if you're a Harry Potter fan, you will thank me for sharing this with you.

As Good As It Gets?

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that You will make all things right
If I surrender to Your will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with You
Forever in the next.

-attributed to Niebuhr

Someone close to me just re-entered AA after a long period of sobriety and then a period of relapse. As this person told me about getting a white chip, I could hear the resignation and disappointment. Yeah, it's good to be back in AA. Yeah, it really sucks to need to be back in AA. I know that feeling (though not with alcohol). I call it my "Sick Cycle Carousel" feeling, from the Lifehouse song by that title: "Never thought I'd end up here/ Never thought I'd be standing where I am/ Guess I kind of thought it would be easier than this/ I guess I was wrong now one more time."

I think most people can relate in some way. Most of us have some problem (or many!), some issue that just seems to resurface, and we can't believe that we're back HERE again. Again. Still.

Sigh.

Sorry, I don't have much of an answer for that one. Um...keep praying the Serenity Prayer? And keep trying for "reasonably happy".....

Not dead yet

Just sayin'. I felt like I was going to die from that stomach bug (and kind of wanted to die), but I'm still here. Word at school is that I look too pale and too thin. But not dead. Yet. :P

Walmart called me to say they would donate something for the drop-out prevention program I run. (I had previously asked a zillion places, but I didn't hear back from quite a few...so whatever.) So...I went over there and waited FOREVER but was very polite and patient, and they gave me a check for $1000!! Heck yeah! I was expecting a couple of $10 gift certificates. I may have to re-consider my hatred of Walmart. Now I have to find out how to cash the check through the district. I'm really excited because we can't use any grant money for incentives....and these kids need incentives (besides the intrinsic value of education). Now I can buy some really good stuff!

BTW, I recently put together a website for one of my programs at school. Clicky-clicky if you want to see it.

Detention

One of the Language Arts teachers for the 7th grade is having students write acrostic poems. He shared this one that his 5th period class wrote about detention:

Down in a small room

Empty and quiet

Time ticks slowly

Elsa watches

Need to escape

The light bulb turns on

Illness is faked

On my way to the nurse

No more detention for me…