Don't Do It, Fonzie...

...he did.
And in my opinion, so did George Lucas.
Star Wars has jumped the shark.

Let me back up for a second....
My Halloween decorations are still up and I don't have clean clothes for work tomorrow; arguably I have more important things to do.  Still, rumor has it that today is November 1st and therefore the beginning of NaBloPoMo.  Always up for a challenge, and possibly against my better judgment, I'm once again diving in.  Things are so crazy that I make no promises about quality this year, but I will do my best to get something posted every day. 

Now, back to the topic at hand; one that is very dear to my heart:  Star Wars.

Most of you are probably aware that a few days ago, it was announced that George Lucas has sold Lucasfilm to Disney for 4 billion dollars.   I understand that he wants to spend more time on indie projects, and heck, if you have something worth that much money, I guess I get the appeal of cashing out.  But Star Wars?  Really?

I'm a purist.  Give me a line from A New Hope...I can quote the next line back to you.  Seriously, I used to have the whole movie memorized.  I took my beloved Return of the Jedi lunch box to school every day in elementary school.  Oh the scorn that I was subjected to, a girl with a RotJ lunchbox, but I held my head up and carried it with pride.  I was once Princess Leia for Halloween; I considered naming one of my children after one of Han and Leia's children. I can obliterate most people at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit.  I'm telling you, I'm hard core.

That said, I'm not on board with the sale of the franchise.  I endured all of George's blasted tinkering; after all, he's the creator.  But to sell it to Disney?  No, the two shouldn't mix.  There's a photo floating around now with Vader bowing to Mickey.  SO not okay.  And check out this quote that I read, discussing the casting of Han, Leia and Luke for the next movie: "...Disney was not likely to take the risk of casting no-name actors and actresses as Lucas did, opting for “tried and true” as opposed to “new, young hotshots.”  Have you read some of the names floating around?  Rooney Mara or Jennifer Lawrence as Princess Leia?  Anton Yelchin or Liam Hemsworth as Luke?  And heaven forbid, Ryan Gosling as Han?  Are you kidding me?  From Harrison Ford to Ryan Gosling?  They might as well come out and admit that Greedo did shoot first!  Granted, these just various suggestions from people, but it goes to show you how irreverently this could be treated!  They're also going to be mass producing and mass marketing everything; the schedule that they've alluded to is nutty.  I'm afraid that there can indeed be too much of a good thing. 

Maybe I will be proven wrong.  If I end up enjoying the transition and subsequent films, I am more than willing to come back and post a retraction.  At this point though, I'm not very hopeful.  I love Disney and I love Star Wars.  I just don't see them being a winning combination.

Old Habits Die Hard

This afternoon, I found myself laying in bed while watching the Steelers at the Raiders.  Hey, it was almost one hundred degrees at our house today and our bedroom is the only room with air conditioning!

Upon seeing the baseball diamond on the field (which I hate during football season), I rolled over and asked Andy, "Who plays at the Coliseum?  Are the Dodgers playing there now?"

I'll let you figure out where I went wrong.

While America is Sleeping

As I sit here watching the news, I am confronted with continual stories flooding in from the Middle East.  Hundreds, even thousands of people, in multiple countries, are now protesting our embassies.  They are protesting America. Why?  Because we happen to disagree with them.  The movie was just the catalyst; it's our difference in ideology that is the problem.

If these were normal, rational, peaceful protests, I would have no issue with them.  Everyone doesn't have to agree with me.  Sadly, this is not the case. Riots, fires, vandalism, gunfire, killings....these are not normal, rational people.  These people, frankly, are animals.  They are lawless, godless, animals.  They are a people who would take the lives of our citizens and drag their bodies through the streets.  They are the scum of the earth.  They are evil incarnate.

My question is this:  Where is the outrage on our side?  Why aren't the American people, and people of all faiths around the world, outraged and incensed at the atrocities that are unfolding before us?  Or, if you would prefer to take religion out of it, why aren't other foreign governments appalled at the treatment that our officials are receiving?  Our embassies are sovereign territory.  Why doesn't our government take this seriously and handle it swiftly?  Why do we continue to tip-toe around these monsters?  Why are we giving them aid?

 Oh...that's right.  Our farce of a government is busy with more important things, like banning large-sized sugary drinks in New York's public places.  I'm not even kidding; they just did.  I realize it's not an apples-to-apples comparison, but do you see my point?

I hope that our country wakes up.  In November, we must make some changes, but it needs to go further than that.  America needs to get back to the basics.  Read some history books, study our Founding Fathers, heck..even watch The Patriot!  We need realign our priorities, beginning with protecting our own, and quit worrying about the blood sugar levels of Coke lovers.

Communication is Key

Tonight, I have a quick Public Service Announcement for those of you who are employers.

If you hire a (super-fabulous) new girl and she happens to begin work on...say...August 9th, as you're showing her the ins and outs of the various office machinery, you might want to spend a few minutes on the phone system.  This is especially pertinent if she is to be the main voice of your place of business.

Some functions are basic: transfers and voice mail transfers.  Some are a little more tricky:  "all calls."  She may be quite anxiously looking forward to the first time that she will need to make an all call, it may sound like a lot of fun.  She might also wish that her best friend lived across the street so that she could sneak code words into said all calls and see if her friend hears them.  But I digress.  Most basic phone functions can be picked up with minimal effort and in time, she will undoubtedly memorize all 45 extensions.

You may, however, want to take a moment and discuss the red light.  It's not blinking or doing anything annoying; it's more of a soft, continual back light.  You know, it just looks like a normal part of the phone.  So, imagine the surprise of said new girl if on...say...September 5th, you casually mention, "...you are checking your voice mail regularly, aren't you?" 

If this happens, be prepared for her to give you a deer-in-the-headlights look and voice a mild, yet emphatic  exclamation about not having any idea that she had her own voice mail to monitor.  She might not be aware that the pretty red light is in fact an indicator of voice mail and not just a little bit of Christmas cheer each and every day.

In closing, please remember that in between discussions about amazingly fancy copy machines and electric three-hole punchers (so cool!), you should probably mention the phone.  It'll make her feel like much less of an idiot a month later, and she won't have to spend a half hour listening through and deciphering a zillion messages.

This ends tonight's PSA; you may now carry on with your regularly scheduled evening.

Late-Night Questions

1.  Why is it that when there's a special event where you need your make-up to look perfect, it disappears?  And yet on an average, ho-hum day, it lasts forever?  Seriously, I put it on 18 hours ago...

2.  Why do the 7-Eleven people always act so put out when I ask them to stamp my Slurpee card?  I didn't ask for the card; I didn't create it.  They did, and they offered it to me.  So what's with the attitude?

3.  Why on earth did I agree to both the football boosters and the Little League presidency at the same time that I was beginning a new job?  I might be insane.

4.  What does it say about my current state of affairs that the highlight of my day was finding all of the necessary roly-polies for Matthew's lab tomorrow?  I'm not kidding, I went out this evening and found him more than a dozen.  I was much more excited than I probably needed to be.

5.  Why am I blogging all of this when I should be working or sleeping?  Oh, I know....because I miss blogging.

Slightly Fairy Tale-ish

 Papa Toyota...

...Mama Toyota...

 ...and (not so) Baby Toyota.

I just spoke the following words for the first time ever:

"John, I'm going to put this in the front seat of your car."

Very strange.

Also of note: 

Eight days ago, I had the coolest, nicest vehicle in the family. 

Now I have the oldest.

Weird.

 

My Employment Journey

About a year and a half ago, we started kicking around the idea of me going back to work.  My home-schooling days were numbered; John was successfully navigating public high school and I was mid-way through my last year of Matthew being at home.  I decided that I would start looking for a position within the Poway Unified School District; while the kids are still in school, it seemed like a good idea to be on their schedule.  I quickly found an opening on their job board and I applied.

Yeah, I didn't get it.  I didn't realize that there is a multi-step process to being hired; two to three tests, then several in-person interviews.  Can't they just know intuitively how wonderful I am?  If memory serves, I passed the first test, but not the second.  Apparently finding a job wasn't going to be as easy as I thought.

Last summer, I found another opening that looked promising.  I applied, was selected to test, passed three tests and was one of 8 applicants (out of 200) chosen for an interview.  Nope.  Didn't get that one either.  I was told, however, that since I'd made it that far, my info would be kept on file for one year, and if something else came up, they would call me.  Yeah right. I figured I was done.

I let the subject drop throughout last fall, but after the first of this year, I figured that we really could use some more money.  My kids want to go to college.  Whatever. 

Since nothing with PUSD had worked out, I started looking at the medical/reception field.  That's where I got my start, and I've always been comfortable in that setting.  From January through mid May, I watched all kinds of job boards, applied to six or seven jobs, interviewed for a couple of them, and nothing panned out.  I was seriously frustrated.  Actually, I gave up. In fact, one Wednesday late in May, as I was running around doing my volunteer work, I actually said out loud as I was driving to the boys' school, "You know, God, I guess I'm where I need to be right now.  Nothing has worked out so I'm going to quit trying to force something that isn't there.  I'll be content for now."

My best guess is that that was exactly what He was waiting for. The very next afternoon, as I was eating some Tostitos and watching some trash TV, I got a phone call. 

There was an opening at an elementary school that is four miles from my house.  They had selected me as one of three people to interview for the position if I was still interested.


As I went to the interview the following week, I tried not to get my hopes up.  I only had a one in three chance.  When I opened the door to the office, a friend of mine from the kids' school was sitting at the front desk.  Apparently, she's in the sub pool and had been filling in at that position since the gal who worked there left.  Upon finding out that I was there to interview, she hopped up and said, "I'll go put in a good word for you!"  The interview went well and two days later I was offered the job.

And so begins a new chapter in our lives; I start tomorrow.  I'm at a school within the boys' district and therefore on their schedule, it's four miles from my home, it's part time, but it's enough hours that I receive benefits.  Seriously, it seems rather perfect.

I'm anxious and nervous and excited all at the same time.  It's going to be a bit of an adjustment.  But mostly, I feel very, very blessed.