Natural disasters, wars, accidents, illnesses and George Bush. The news is too depressing to watch. I spent my day cleaning and the house is STILL too filthy for visitors. Doug made me a cake unlike any cake I have ever had before. I asked him to take all the children to Boy Scouts so I could have an hour to myself. I mopped the floors for that hour. I’m tired. My hands smell like dust. I still don’t have Tommy’s graduation gift. Or food for Friday. At least I am not hysterical yet.
My mother is in her 60s, but she has the same love for music that she has always had. Unfortunately, she never buys music for herself. Most of the time, I buy her CDs that are safe and easy bets. Crooners from the 60s & 70s always get played over and over. Bubble-gum boy bands usually meet with her approval. Every so often, I go out on a limb and get something risky. This year, I knew what I wanted to give her for Mother’s Day. The problem was that as much as my mother loves music, she also loves pop culture and I knew that this singer was more familiar to her as someone in the news than as someone on the radio. I seriously considered covering the disc label and putting it in a blank case. Part of the fun of something new is peeling off the wrapping, so I didn’t try to conceal the artist. She opened her gift and looked shocked. “I knew you wouldn’t buy it for yourself, but I really think you will like it.” “No. I would not have bought this. She is a very troubled young person.” Odds of the music getting played based on that reaction? Slim to none. Next time, I’ll just get her the best of the Bee Gees.
I know I’m over my post quota today. At least there will only be one more week of the endless “my baby is graduating” posts to ignore. Today, to everyone’s surprise, Tommy was awarded Bearden High School’s Achiever Award. It comes with a scholarship. As if I needed an excuse to cry. Again. The paragraph below was written by Tommy on the scholarship application. His grammar skills are atrocious, but the sentiment is sincere.
I feel I deserve this scholarship because I have overcome a lot of problems and improved greatly. When I was younger, I could not go more than two or three years without having to be removed from society and sent to alternative schools or the like, however, I have improved tremendously and can now handle normal school just fine. I used to be extremely antisocial, avoiding people no matter what, but now I have friends. I ride horses with people on Thursday afternoons and even have a small club I go to Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Saturdays I play dungeons and dragons with some friends as well. I dislike failure a lot and try very hard to get things done and succeed. I work hard and usually get good grades. I also try to help out whenever I can with other students and I try to help my teachers.
You know how I get a little bit crazy the week before Christmas? Shut up, Doug. The next week is going to make PCS (Pre-Christmas Syndrome) look like a week of quiet reflection. Tommy is done with classes and has entered some sort of graduate la-la land. He has a grin permanently plastered across his face and can’t be motivated to do anything but play, eat and sleep. We still haven’t found his graduation present. I am allowing myself one evening of playing hooky from the massive list of things to be done before next Friday. Tomorrow night I will be at Versus from 7 until 9. The rest of the week? Chaos. Tonight?
“WHY does Richard Alpert wear so much eye liner?”
I think it has something to do with this.
If you are running behind on your LOST viewing and don’t want to read about what has my brain in a twist, go to: Dark UFO.
Still here?
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Let’s talk about Claire. I fall into the she’s gotta be dead camp. Eventually, someone is going to go back to Ben’s cabin and we are going to see that Claire’s body is still in one of the bedrooms. Apparently, when you are dead, you are soooo calm and accepting of everything that you don’t care if your baby is in a war zone. The thing I don’t like is Claire sitting around smiling with the father that she barely knew instead of with Charlie. He died for her and he has to spend all his time at the crazy hospital while she gets to be in the Tardis? That’s just not right.
How about Locke? He spent his entire life fighting his destiny. He deliberately chose the wrong object. He said no to science camp. He only moved toward his destiny AFTER destiny threw him out of a window. From the moment he started moving toward his destiny, Ben started being pulled away from his. Are Ben and Locke the island’s Cain and Abel? Did Emily say no to one son while the other son said no to his Emily?
Was giant ego Jack supposed to avoid Keamy or go running to him? I’m thinking avoid. Is Smokey really all of the island’s dead spirits acting together as a unified force? Why didn’t they kill more of Keamy’s bad guys? Is the island in a different dimension that allows it to move through time and space? Are the four toes on the giant statue a reference to the fourth dimension?
I really like Barry’s Clash of the Pirate Titans theory. Take it a step further to the fact that there is no reproduction on the island. The Titans travel time and space to give birth elsewhere. Their children are the “gods” who are the earth-bound royalty. Locke is the most obvious example. What about Claire? Do we know for certain who the father of her baby is in the grand scheme of LOST mythology? Remember the artwork in Australia matching the artwork in the first hatch?
I still think the series will end where it began. The plane will crash on the island, but this time, things will have been corrected so that the events after the crash are completely different.
Didn’t last night’s episode feel like they waved the answers right in front of us, but just beyond our reach?
Me: “What would you like for lunch today?”
Amy: spelling “I w-a-n-t a p-e-a…”
Me: “You want peanut butter and jelly?”
Amy: “…n-u-t b-u-t-t-e-r a-n-d…”
Me: “Strawberry or grape jelly?”
Amy: “…j-e-l-l-y. I w-a-n-t g-r-a…”
Me: “You are getting grape jelly.”
Amy: “…p-e j-e-l-l-y. C-a-n I h-a-v-e c-h-o…”
Me: “I will make chocolate milk. Please quit spelling everything.”
Amy: “…c-o-l-a-t-e m-i-l-k. O-K.”
Right out of the starting gate our new superintendent is either drawing a line in the sand or not aware of the rules of small town, southern politics. I suspect it’s the latter. Knoxville has several charming, diamond-in-the-rough schools inside the city, but he chose a safe, easy school. Choosing a school in a financially secure, culturally bland area whose worst problem is a decrepit building instead of a school that he is expected to lift to greatness is not the best way to begin. Blue Grass Elementary is not high on the priority list for new schools and his presence there just knocked them down lower on the waiting list. His presence at a school like Carter Elementary would have helped them get the new building they so badly need. Double edged sword? Absolutely. I don’t want to watch our new super get eaten alive by bloggers and the acid tongued commenters on the newspaper’s website. I want him to make smart moves that unite the community in support of our schools. If I didn’t want him to succeed, it would be entertaining to sit back and watch this. I’m not part of the audience of critics. I am riding the train and he is the conductor. I don’t like the way this trip has started. Prove me wrong Mr. Conductor. Get this train moving in the right direction.
