I applied for financial aid back on May 4th. I am still waiting for my summer aid to come in. Why? Because the director of financial aid is in charge of 3 different sites. He spends 1 day a week in my city, so he's just always behind on his paperwork.
Nice. Assmunches. Get your butts in gear. I'll be done with class by the time it goes through.
Sometimes I think that I'm not really a happy person unless I'm going 15 things at once. I've formally applied to the teaching licensure program at CSU. My schedule for the next 2 years is going to be friggin' insane. I'll have my 3 MFA classes per semester. I have 7 classes that are pre-req's that I must complete by next Fall. Then, I have the lisencure classes themselves.
Fall Semester:
1 class through CU online (pre-req.) - Shakespeare for majors
1 pre-req - Teaching Reading
MFA - 3 classes
Spring Semester:
MFA - 3 classes
1 pre-req - Adolescent Lit.
1 pre-re1 - Teaching Composition
Summer Semester
Phase 1:
3 Licensure Classes
Phase 2:
4 Licensure Classes
Fall (2010)
MFA (3) - including a "how to teach creative writing class" and a form/technique class.
2 Pre-req's - Grammar class / Survey of American Literature Class
Spring 2011
MFA (3)
3 licensure classes
Fall 2011
Student Teaching
Now, each semester, I'll be helping teach the workshops at the county detention center.
I'm going in for a job interview tomorrow for a part time job. It will be teaching adults Microsoft Office.
I have a 2 year old.
I have a husband.
I need sleep.
I still need to write.
Gonna be a fun ride!
My World Mythology teacher is an idiot. She lost all respect in my eyes after yesterday's class. She said that Eskimos would kill their babies or their young if the food ran out. Since infants don't have teeth to chew meat, many died. WTF? I guess Eskimo women don't have breasts?
I'm still trying to make myself believe she was kidding or something. I have a bad feeling that she was dead serious.
It's been a while since I've done some photos. I took a few tonight while downtown with the family.
Surrender!
Reflection
Reflection #2
Self Portrait
E and the flowers
Swinging!
Just for kicks. 
A fun place J and I want to check out sometime...
MOON
This looks great! I love me some psychological sci-fi. Too bad it hasn't been promoted for caca. I think it's already out in limited released and will likely be gone before I can see it. But, it'll have a spot in my Netflix queue when it hits DVD.
I'm doing an essay on Jainism and how Gandhi used Ahimsa (non-violence/non-harm) to protest British rule in India. I have to say, I'm developing an all new level of respect for this guy. Just sayin' . . . with all the violence in the world today, we could use a little love for the "whole" in our lives.
I had to throw out some love to Michael Jackson. The news of his death really hit me yesterday. I know the man is eccentric, reclusive, (to some) creepy. But he rocked the music world at a time when I was a young, impressionable girl. I still have my Thriller album somewhere and I remember listening to that record over and over and over again. Billy Jean will always be what Michael Jackson is all about. Hooo hooo hooo.
Obviously, issues in his past with children is a note of concern. However, I have never been fully convinced that anything wrong every happened. There is suspicion, of course. But, I guess I see it like this. If someone were to harm my child in a sexual way, there is no amount of money that would ever make that "ok." The people who accused him of molestation/abuse were all over that "settlement money," money they could have likely obtained in civil court anyway. Maybe I'm just looking at this all wrong. Maybe I'm naive, but I honestly think that we will never know the truth.
What I do know is that Jackson lived a really bizarre life, probably grew up in an abusive family. Somewhere along the way, I think he reverted back to being a child in his mind, going to a place where he was happy, before the pressures of adulthood. It's really difficult to say.
I'm not condoning any ill action toward children. I'm on board with the belief that child molestors/rapists should be put to death. I do not believe in rehabilitation for these individuals. But, I don't think a case has ever been proven against him. For all I know there could be something out there I'm missing, but the guy was cleared. I know, I know, so was OJ. Well, there you have the conflict.
Anyway, my husband and I both agree. We're pretty torn up. And these younger folks who keep making the stupid jokes and the nasty comments, I guess I just have to toss it up to the cliche/tired "generation gap." I guess you just had to be a child of the late 70's and early 80's to understand? I don't want to believe that's the case, but I'm seeing otherwise (more often than not.)
Top Vampire Stories
Vampires in the news! Vampires in books, on the screen on television. I’ve been a fan of the vampire for a long time. Every type, every kind. I love seeing what can be done with the vampire myth. So, here is my top 10 best vampire stories (television, movies, books included.) Keep in mind that this list will be a modern list—stories within the last 30-40 years. We’re not talking Nosferatu or Bella Lugosi. Love me some Bella, but I thought I would stick to more recent vampire goodness.
10. From Dusk Till Dawn
Santanico Pandemonium: I'm not gonna drain you completely. You're gonna turn for me. You'll be my slave. You'll live for me. You'll eat bugs because I order it. Why? Because I don't think you're worthy of human blood. You'll feed on the blood of stray dogs. You'll be my foot stool. And at my command, you'll lick the dog shit from my boot heel. Since you'll be my dog, your new name will be "Spot". Welcome to slavery.
I can’t help it. I love me some Dusk Till Dawn. The whole premise was friggin’ hilarious and spell-binding. Salma Hayek dancing half-naked with a giant snake? What isn’t to love? No holds barred here. One of the best exchanges in any vampire story is the following between George Clooney and Harvey Keitel:
Seth: So what are you, Jacob? A faithless preacher? Or a mean motherfuckin' servant of God?
Jacob: I'm a mean, mhm mhm servant of God.
Kick ass. Stake those bloodsuckers.
2. Blade
Deacon Frost: I'll tell you what we are, sister! We're the top of the fucking food chain. The Blood god's coming and after tonight, you people are fucking history. He's a hurricane.
Fleener will do a backflip on this one. Blade rocked when it came out. It was one of the first movies that had really bad-ass fight scenes (before the Matrix!) I remember rewinding the final scene between Blade and Deacon Frost about 17 times when it came out on DVD. Though puny now in the scope of bad-ass fight scenes, it’s memorable. And the movie? Well done in my opinion. Modern technology is awesome: silver katana, ultraviolet bullets, pure sunshine, imho. Blade is the ultimate vampire hunter and tragic daywalker all in one. We feel his pain. We love his moves.
8. Salem’s Lot
Danny Glick: Open the window. Open the window, Mark. Open the window, Mark. Please! Let me in! It's OK, Mark, I'm your friend. *He* commands it!
In 1979, there was Salem’s Lot, Stephen King’s version of the vampire tale. More reminiscent to the nosferatu era and scary as hell for me as a girl who was obsessed with horror movies. I remember watching this one with Lo in the basement of my parents’ home. Salem’s Lot has one of the creepiest scenes in any vampire movie. A young boy who has gone missing shows up outside his friend’s hospital room window, scratching. . . . Let me in . . .
Today, that scene still freaks me out. The movie’s charm (for lack of better word,) is the buildup and the suspense. Today, it’s all about special effects and cheap horror thrills. The movie was created during a time when horror films were (in my humble opinion) at the height of their magic. A few years earlier, we had The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen, the original Halloween and the original Friday the 13th. Salem’s Lot is a reminder, in a sad way, how far the horror genre has fallen today. By letting the story unfold slowly, teasing things out, I think your ultimate “bang for the buck” is worth far more than the ADD/instant gratification of today’s horror films.
7. The Lost Boys
Edgar Frog: I think I should warn you all, when a vampire bites it, it's never a pretty sight. No two bloodsuckers go the same way. Some yell and scream, some go quietly, some explode, some implode, but all will try to take you with them.
A band of rebel youths, turned bloodsuckers. Keiffer Sutherland, two Coreys, Jason Patrick, Bill (from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,) Diane Weist, and Gramps Gilmore as the head vampire. Pure awesomeness.
Yeah, it’s Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. It’s magic, what can I say? The Frog Brothers are by far some of the funniest vampire hunters out there. And, I have to admit, the 80’s know how to blow you away with a movie soundtrack. The Lost Boys is no exception.
6. Interview With a Vampire / The Vampire Lestat / Queen of the Damned
Maharet: I tell you, we would be hard put to determine what is more evil -- religion or the pure idea. The intervention of the supernatural or the elegant abstract solution! Both have bathed this earth in suffering; both have brought the human race literally and figuratively to its knees.
I need to be clear. I’m speaking of the books here. Although I thoroughly enjoyed Interview With a Vampire on the big screen (Tom Cruise and all,) Queen of the Damned was one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. The books, however, speak for themselves.
The first book, Interview, was released in the mid/late 70’s, and brought in a new element to vampire stories. Rather, it gave the vampire genre back to Stoker’s romanticism. This wasn’t about vampire hunters seeking creatures of the night to stake in the heart—this was about love, sex, blood, agony and pure, immortal tragedy.
For the first time, we were taken inside the world of the vampire: sires, “children,” vampire creation. The seduction of the sire and the sired. Delicious!
5. True Blood
Sookie Stackhouse: [surprised] You're alive?
Bill Compton: Technically, no.
I admit it, I’m a fan. I’ll also admit that I’ve never read the books. The series on HBO, however, is absolutely “doing it” for me. You hear about a vampire story set in the south and you think Anne Rice. Far from it. Sookie Stackhouse is quirky, a bit naïve and absolutely in love with her vampire boyfriend, Bill Compton. True Blood doesn’t shy away from other supernatural creatures and takes the vampire story to the next level. Vampires in the news! They want equal rights. Vampires on Larry King. They are speaking out against hate crimes. Addiction to vampire blood (V.) Jesus/Vampire-Killer/Bible Camp. Only in the south . . .
4. Fright Night
Jerry Dandrige: Do you realize how much trouble you've caused me Charlie? Spying on me. Almost disturbing my sleep this afternoon. Telling policemen about me! You deserve to die boy. Of course, I can give you something I don't have. It's a choice. Forget about me, Charlie. Forget about me, and I'll forget about you. Well, what do you say Charlie?
Fright Night had to be on here. It had to be pretty high up. Good 80’s cheesy, campy fun. Peter Vincent, Vampire Slayer! “You’ve got to have faith” for that cross to work, boy. And who knew? Evil became a gay porn star. All in all, Fright Night is awesome. It’s everything an 80’s, campy vampire movie should be. Chris Sarandon? Hot hot hot!
3. Brahm Stoker’s Dracula
Dracula: Listen to them: the children of the night. What sweet music they make.
Winona Ryder? Keanu Reeves? Ugh. What the heck is this doing on my list? Two words: Gary Oldman. Ok, there’s more credit to pass around. Anthony Hopkins was a blast and the scenes/cinematography were phenomenal. The costumes were lush, the overall feel of the movie was purely decadent. But, let’s get back to Gary Oldman. He’s amazing as Dracula. He’s sexy, creepy, scary, hypnotic and dangerous all wrapped up in one. Bella who? Seriously.
2. Near Dark
Mae: Y'know, the light that's leaving that star right now will take a billion years to get down here. You wanna know why you've never met a girl like me before? Because I'll still be here when the light from that star gets down here to earth.
You have to wonder if James Cameron saw this film before casting Aliens. We have Bill Paxton. We have Lance Henrickson. We have Jenette Goldstein. The new girl in town, Mae (who you might recognize from Pink Floyd’s The Wall,) seduces a young man. She gives him the vampire kiss and asks him to join “the vampire gang.” Sounds pretty simple. The movie is much more than that, taking the vampire to a new, rebellious level (which one will see echoed in The Lost Boys.) Sheer brilliance! And definitely not one to miss if you’re any kind of vampire fan.
1. The Hunger
Miriam Blaylock: You'll be back. When the hunger knows no reason! And then you'll need to feed, and you'll need me to show you how.
In the movie we have Catherine DeNeuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon. Beautiful movie. Breathtaking and lush. When this movie came out on VHS, you had to fork out a $50 dollar deposit because people were renting the tapes and never returning them. I truly believe that this movie (and book, along with Rice’s series,) was one HUGE ingredient in the goth, death-rocker craze. People were wearing the ankh, listening to Bauhaus and connecting the vampire with night clubs and high fashion.
Both the book and the movie give us a slightly different variety of vampire. The vampire in Whitley Streiber’s world are not “made” so easily. As a matter of fact, vampires that are created never last. Vampires are genetic in this story. If you delve into Streiber’s books, you learn that vampires are a race unto their own, and a delicate one at that. They’re stronger, faster and can live for eternity, but childbirth and procreation is rare, often killing the mother in the process. Over the years, Miriam (the main character in the story,) has watched her family and her kind dwindle. So, she creates her own companions: nearly drains their blood then offers her own. The thing is, after a few hundred years, things go wrong and they begin to deteriorate at an alarming rate. But poor Miriam, she can’t stand to be alone, even if her creations never really die, but lay in boxes in the attic in a never-ending, eternal sleeplessness and decay. Pretty trippy!
I could go on about The Hunger all day, but the truth is, it’s at the top, numero Uno. The movie may not be your cup of tea, but I read the book in one sitting. I could not move until I finished. Amazing work.
Obvious omissions:
It was bound to happen. I thought we were safe. I thought we'd somehow passed the ominous possibility. But . . . tonight, my friends, my little girl pooped in the bath tub. It was the first time she had done it. We miraculously escaped infant/newborn nasty poop. We've avoided all of it . . . until tonight.
She was in the bath and I was in the sink area, washing my face. She was really quiet. J walked in and saw her squatting and said "what are you doing?" and she stood up, looked down and saw 3 turds in the water.
She absolutely lost her friggin' mind. I mean, she really freaked. She started crying and screaming. She couldn't get out of the tub fast enough. My husband is trying so hard not to laugh and trying to wrangle her at the same time.
I grabbed a towel and hugged her. I kept telling her it was ok. I told her: "everyone poops. Mom poops, dad poops. Grandma and grandpa poops."
She looked up to me and said, "And Sara too?" (Sara is my parents' DOG.)
I said, "Yes, especially Sara. She poops too."
She seemed to be ok after that. I just kept her busy until J cleaned the tub and gave it a good lysol rinsing. It took her 5 minutes to get up the nerve to go back in the tub again.
Come to think of it, she probably hasn't seen her own poop and it really just freaked her out. Poor thing!
And J had to clean the turds out. Happy Father's Day! Hahaha.
I'll be writing this one down in her journal.
For all the dads!
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