working 9 to 5

So I’ve blogged about my love of Allison Janney previously, specifically my excitement over the musical 9 to 5. Well, the sad news is that the musical is being cancelled after one season on Broadway (apparently not everyone was as in love with the concept as I was). But the amazing fantastic news is that Rachel Heath and I bought tickets to go the last Broadway performance!!!! I’m a tad excited! Wooohooo!

bitch-in-kitchen will never do this, well at least not on accident

For those of you who don’t know, I am going to be starting a blog soon (hopefully leading to my eventual stardom as a Food Network Personality) titled Bitch-In-Kitchen. It will be amazing. I am currently jotting down notes that I think are good ideas, as well as bad ones. And let me tell you this Paula Deen mishap is going on the bad list, I mean if you are going to be dropping your drawers you should at least have on fun undies.

when will i EVER use this?

Choosing the most annoying question high schoolers ask is a tough call. Because honestly I think it would drive anyone insane to realize they have so much responsibility over other people’s bladders, I am asked up to 10 times an hour if someone can go to the bathroom. I mean I control when 76 people urinate, that is power.

Urination aside, the most frustrating question students ask is, “When will I ever use this?” (or some variation of that idea).

When will you use it? When will you use it? I don’t know,  when do you think it might be important to know what the government can and can’t do? One of my favorite math teachers had a student ask her last week when would he ever need to use parallel lines. She answered him (with a straight face), “When you are painting the white lines in parking lots. ” He didn’t understand, in fact his buddy had to draw him a diagram before he could laugh at the joke.

However, questions relating to specific content aren’t actually the most irritating. The most irritating question came last week as my students were complaining about the fact that I required them to read the whole paragraph in order to figure out the context of the vocab terms. One student asked, “When, if I am not going to college and don’t get an office job, when will I EVER need to read a WHOLE paragraph?” I was flabbergasted. A whole paragraph? When won’t you need to read a whole paragraph? If nothing else you will need to read your eviction notice when you are kicked out for breaking parts of the lease that you didn’t read.  I guess whole paragraphs are just one more causality from the whole 6,473 texts per month situation.

probably her fault

so as a high school teacher I am constantly coming face to face with how today’s teenagers view the world around them. I am repeatedly knocked off my feet. sometimes I’m overwhelmed with the potential and creativity in my students and sometimes I’m shocked at the stupidity and ignorance. and often I’m sad, even heart-broken, and then infuriated at the way they process things, at their view of the world. this article, which talks about teenagers viewing abuse as the victim’s fault, is one of those shocking things. how can we expect more from them if this is what they expect of the world?

randlings mlk jr day

Today was MLK Jr Day, lots of Americans donated time to service projects around the country. I applaud every one of them.

Other Americans bemoaned the fact that we even celebrate the holiday, I reprimand them.

randlings 12.14

I decided I had a few links I want to share this morning, which happens every now and then, so I’m going to title such posts as “randlings” because they are a mix of random news as well as my own ramblings about the stories.

• up first, the fire in Sarah Palin’s home church. First off, and I’m not sure this is even needed, but - Come on people. Setting fires to churches you disagree with? This is not acceptable in the US in the 21st century, it’s a sad enough story that it was acceptable for so much of the 20th century. – Now the reason I’m not sure that commentary is needed is because there is no proof yet that it was arson, all we know is the fact that much of America doesn’t like one of the members of the church. There was a crafts group meeting at the time, aren’t most fires started by electric appliances (think hot glue gun, warming plate for the snacks) left unattended? So I’m not sure we need to be throwing around the term arson yet, let’s wait on the investigation.
• next up, just a really funny wedding blooper.
• and finally, the Auburn head coach situation. After being heartbroken by Tommy’s forced departure, I knew I was going to be unhappy about or unsettled by whoever took the the job, but seriously? yeah this guy may have been a great defensive coordinator, and he may have potential, and maybe we should all take a cue from Shug Jordan’s son and say, “Everybody deserves a chance,” but SERIOUSLY? He was 5-19 the past two seasons, at least Tommy won 5 this season. And I’m not gonna buy the whole, “Well, could anybody really have done much at Iowa State?” line of thinking, because if you can’t make it happen there how are you going to make it happen against Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, and the wild cards of Ole Miss and South Carolina (let’s be honest they have a decent Ball Coach)? I don’t neccessarily agree with the line of thinking that we needed to find someone cut from the same cloth as Saban or god forbid that other Bama coach (you know, the one who is the answer to every bama coaching trivia question), but I’m not sure that hiring from the direct opposite end of the spectrum is the answer. Now I’m sure by next football season I’ll be ready to get behind Chizik, but for now I’ve got a beef to pick with Jay Jacobs.

ode to walgreens

One of my dear friends loves Walgreens more than is normal. I’ve always kind of just tagged along in that fetish, if she was going I would accompany her and probably buy something like lipgloss if I didn’t have any actual drugstorish needs (posterboard, greeting cards, sunblock, eye drops) in my life.

I realized recently that times have changed, I love Walgreens on my own now. It feels like home. No matter where I am in the country, I find the familiarity of that cheap shit mixed with the usefulness of cough medicine takes me back to college. The random product selection is probably my favorite feature about the place. Because they are so dependable to almost have exactly what you need. Example: I wanted to buy salsa this weekend but didn’t want to bother with a big grocery store. I thought about it and decided that I had definitely seen salsa on the aisles at Walgreens before. Sure enough they had salsa, but only one kind: mango-pineapple medium salsa. Hells yeah, cause if you are only going to stock one type of salsa why let it be boring.

The second item on my list of familiar comforts at Walgreens is the consistent customer service. I’ve long assumed that the Walgreens hiring and training process consists of an application, a stint in the firey pits of hell, Chinese water torture, and exposure to hungry grizzly bears. How else could the entire chain manage to replicate the complete disdain everyone of their employees seems to have for humanity? It’s like the cashiers feel that it is your fault that they work night shift at a minimum wage job, like I was somehow pulling strings at their high school to ensure they would never get into that vocational college. So you can imagine my surprise when I stepped up to the counter to buy my mango-pineapple salsa and was greeted by quite possibly the nicest cashier I’ve ever encountered (walgreens or elsewhere).  He seemed to take a real interest in each customer and attempt to start a conversation based on what they were purchasing (but not in the “oh shit that guy is breaking his parole” way that sometimes happens at check-out registers). He mixed folksy with sincerity and humor for the perfect blend that resulted in a pleasant atmosphere. I wanted to give him an award or at least buy him a light up pen that had Mississippi printed in neon orange on the side. On the other hand I’m sure the other employees must hate him, I imagine the wall in the break room is covered with his beaming face on hundreds of employee of the month plaques dating back to when the store opened. Win some, you lose some, I guess.

allison janney worship

There really is no other title for this blog, and honestly I don’t know how I haven’t blogged about my fascination with her or Kate Walsh or Geena Davis before now. Many of you will be quick to note that my favorite actresses are all tall red heads (or have been red heads at some point). Go figure. So yeah, I’m heightist, I completely discriminate against short women. Sorry, just the way it is.

Anyhow on to the important stuff, Allison Janney basically stole my heart as C.J. Cregg on The West Wing. She made me laugh at her off-beat characters in movies like Drop Dead Gorgeous, 10 Things I Hate About You,  Juno, Hairspray, and let us not forget her role as the starfish in Finding Nemo. Her more serious acting has been superb whether in small parts (The Hours, American Beauty) or larger ones (Our Very Own, How to Deal). 

A dear friend pointed out to me at some point last year that Allison would be reviving Lily Tomlin’s Violet character in an upcoming musical version of Dolly Parton’s 1980 film hit Nine to Five.  Needless to say, I was thrilled,  I mean mixing my love for Allison Janney with my love for Dolly Parton, hella good combination right there.

It is open now in LA, and although some of the reviews aren’t tremendous it still seems like a great show. It will be moving to NYC in April (seems like a good reason to go visit friends in New York and New Haven next spring!). I just thought I’d share a little taste with everyone!

Interviews with various cast members, plus the title song!

 

and I might as well include one that has footage from the show in it!

books

So, I spent yesterday afternoon in Books-a-Million. It’s been awhile since I’ve wasted a few hours in a bookstore, it felt nice. Anyhow one of the tables in the middle was themed with the “101 books to read before you die” First off I was pleasantly surprised with the number I could check off the list. I was also thrilled that one of the books on the table was actually the book I had walked into the store to buy (Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert). But I ended up just grabbing it and a few others and reading a bit of each before leaving the store without purchasing anything (payday is coming soon I can feel it). Anyhow I got home and wanted to look up the list, so I’ve found it in a few places and although it seems pretty standard there are several variations floating around. The Waco Books-a-Million employees seem to have added their own favorites to the list in their display. A few I noticed on their shelves that haven’t appeared on internet lists are Marley and Me, Eat Pray Love, On Beauty, and Lamb (plus several others, but those are the ones I noticed). Even without their additions, the list is a nice one. I encourage everyone to read through one of the lists (each of these links is a different list) and maybe pick out a few novels to read at somepoint in the near future. The lists obviously show a bias towards more recent novels, and I’m sure they have left out some of your favorites, and they are not too consistent on whether they are simply novels, or also non-fiction; but all the same I encourage everyone to take one of these and start a book list of your own that you know you want to work through.