So, Shannon and Jolene came out this weekend, which was nice in and of itself (I attribute the niceness to Jolene). But what was above and beyond the call of duty was that they came all the way out here to primarily to teach a high-level (Shannon insists on “master class”) improv class for the Royal Fools improv group (which I coach). They got here about 1:00 on Friday and Shannon helped me do a few tech things (like formatting an Apple drive and answering a tech call or two). Shannon and Jolene got to sit in on Mer’s period 9 English class, where the class was reading out of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The two primary actors were in costume, which was fun, and they both have acting experience, so they did a fun job. One of the great moments was when they read a line from the play that went something like, “The only thing that keeps us going is the irrational belief that at any minute someone is going to show up,” and at that moment a student came in though the classroom door, which was unplanned. It was great. The class did that for about 10 or 15 minutes and then played a review game for their upcoming Hamlet test tomorrow. At that point, I went back to my desk to finish up some things.

After school, Shannon and Jo and Mer and I got together with the Fools. We started around 3:30 and went until about 5:30. Shannon and Jo ran the whole thing. They introduced us to a hectic warm-up game called “Bunny Bunny” where you keep chanting one of three different things depending on who “has the bunny.” It is very high energy, and got things off to a rousing start. Jo then went over some of what they were going to cover in the class, and they started in with exercises. They had games and exercises that concentrated on heightening “to the grotesque.” They had Fools in scenes with specific personality traits, they had Fools doing three-line scenes, they had Fools heightening to the point where they were having trouble breathing (the Fools were given a specific task like laughing or singing where they had to keep raising the bar until Shannon yelled “scene”). The Fools responded really well, trying all the exercises even if they pushed the Fools hard. Shannon and Jo did a great job. I wish I could have them come back every 4 or 5 weeks – we’d be a much better group than with just my coaching.

After the Fools practice, we took Shannon and Jolene to Aladdin’s restaurant in Hudson, where we met our friends Zach and Londa. We had a great meal with much laughter (Zach and Londa are fun people). We saw several other CVCA people, students and even a board member. We went to pay for our meal after a leisurely pace only to find out that the CVCA board member had paid for the meal before he left with his family. That was tremendously kind, and we were very grateful. Zach and Londa and Mer and I headed to Coldstone Creamery for dessert while Shannon and Jo went to a coffee shop (they have given up dessert for Lent). Zach gave us a 2-for-1 coupon for ice cream, so the dessert was going to be cheap, which was happy. A CVCA student was behind the counter and helped serve us, and then he used his discount to bless us as a group, so we ended up with two ice creams for under three dollars. What a remarkable evening for people being kind to us. After the ice cream, we met back up with Shannon and Jo and went home, where we watched an episode of the BBC version of The Office. Shannon and Jo had seen it before, but still found it really painful to watch again. For those who have not seen The Office, it is very much humor based on making the watchers uncomfortable because the characters are so very  unaware that they are jerks. It is fun to watch, but very painful at the same time.

Saturday morning, we all went to Yours Truly where we had a huge breakfast. I was finally able to pick up the tab this time to thank Shannon and Jo. After the meal, we wandered around Hudson and went into a great coffee house that was fair trade and helped employ people with disabilities. Good for them! We got hot chocolate (me and Shannon) and coffee (Jo), and then wandered over to a very cool toy and games store, where Shannon bought a card game called Stupiduel where you have to explain how your odd cards will help you win. I’m looking forward to playing it (we did not get a chance this weekend). We finished up in the Learned Owl bookstore, where somehow Shannon and Jo did not buy any books. We went home and chatted while Mer went to get groceries. We got a chance to listen to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. We chatted some more, then went to the upscale West Point Market in Akron for “tea” and scones. We actually had scones with cream and hot chocolate and coffee (and Mer had water and a sandwich). We spent about a half hour wandering around the store after “tea,” and Shannon bought a 4-pack of a very good root beer. We went home, where Shannon and Jo napped while Mer made supper and cinnamon rolls (yum!). After the sleepy ones woke up, we watched a short animated Hamlet and talked about it. Once supper was ready, we watched one more episode of The Office, which was even more painful than the one Friday night. Once that was over, we broke open season one of the new Doctor Who, which Shannon and Jo very kindly brought to give to me and Mer. It is really well done – well written and very good productions. It was quite wonderful to see Doctor Who again – I had only seen two new episodes (which were lost episodes released a few years ago) in 17 years. I was a HUGE Doctor Who fan when I was in high school, and it was comforting to see the Doctor again and hear the theme music once more. Ahhhh. That was wonderful. We chatted some more after the show, and eventually made our way to bed around 11:30.

Sunday we slept in a little, and Shannon and Jo left about 8:30 (Mer and I decided to go to the second service at church, which starts at 11:30). It was a fine weekend – I’ll have to see if they’ll come back out again, if not this year, then at least next year for the Fools again. It really was a great practice.

Yesterday, CVCA had its second annual talent show. I was most excited because the Ceili Club (Irish dance club) was going to make its public debut. We had 12 students lined up (ha!) to dance, and they were (almost) all able to wear their Ceili shirts and dark pants or skirts. It was visually really impressive. We went sixth in the talent show (I say we, but I was not dancing – I’m just the advisor). For organizational reasons, they had the acts waiting in the wings to go on stage, which was okay except it meant we did not get to see the first five acts, which was too bad. CVCA has always impressed me with the amount of talent it has, and the talent show displayed that well. There were about 14 acts total, and many were vocal and/or guitar acts, which is what I would expect from high school (lots of singers and lots of guitar players). They were very good; in fact, vocal and/or guitar pieces took all four prizes at the show (1st-3rd place and the audience’s “people’s choice” award).

In addition to the vocalists and guitar players, we got to see “devil sticking” (where you keep a third stick moving with two sticks held in your hands), a Rubik’s-cube-solving race (how very 80s!), instrumentalists playing flute, oboe, piano, and violin. And, of course, Ceili Club!

There were three judges, who really did judge the competition, but they also commented on the performances for entertainment purposes. Taking the cue from reality TV, there was a nice judge who always said nice things, a mean judge who always said bad things, and a confused judge who always wandered off topic. The mean judge was amusing since it was one of the nicest teachers at CVCA. She pulled it off, but did tell me later that it was really hard.

I’m super proud of the kids in Ceili Club. They did a really great job. Getting 12 students on stage and coordinated is no mean feat, and then they had to do the dance three times (it’s a progressive dance where you keep switching partners). It was a great evening.

The quest for getting to 10 mph on the treadmill continues to be interesting. I got fairly sick last week (the week of the 4th), and I could not run that whole week. I also did not do well running leading up to getting sick (I think my body was starting to fight the bug), so in all, I did not run for about 10 days. Enter this week. I decided I’d take it easy and run at 9.3 mph (I had been at 9.7). I was gasping for air by 10 minutes, dumbed the speed down to 9.0 mph at 12 minutes, and quit around 15 minutes. I just felt lousy. That was Monday. Tuesday and Wendnesday were busy, so I did not run. Thursday I managed to run for over 20 minutes by slowing down to 9.1 mph. What happened to my endurance? Shesh. Friday I got lazy and did not run (bad me!), but I finally managed 25 minutes of gasping along this morning. At 9.3 mph. Sigh. How do you lose 0.4 mph in 10 days? It takes me a month to train up to that speed, and I lose it in 10 days?

I’ll try to get back to 9.7 mph next week. Even if I manage that, I’ll still have lost 3 weeks of training time for getting sick again.

One of the great bonuses of being married to an English teacher is getting to go along on field trips to see theater. On Wednesday, Meredith, Mrs. Dubbs (the Latin teacher), and I got onto two buses with Mer’s English classes and Dubbs’s Latin classes, and headed off to Barberton to see The Magical Theater Company’s production of The Odyssey.

A few weeks ago, the director of the production came and gave a talk on concepts and design elements for the show. That was pretty great – it gave a little preview of what we would see. He talked about working with the playwright (who was also an actor in the play) about trying to tackle a huge epic and work it into a 75-minute play. He talked about the design elements – about how he used huge strips of muslin in different configurations to suggest different locations. He discussed the challenges of creating the Cyclops on stage (he went with a puppet head about 8 feet high and two actors dressed as arms) and how to make the boat work in the limited space they had.

All of this was a good lead-in for seeing the play on Wednesday. Mer and I got front-row seats after several students decided they did not want them (why? I have no idea.). The play did a fine job. They hit all the major elements of The Odyssey that I remembered from reading it as a little kid. There was the Cyclops, and the witch Circe (where the crew was turned into pigs). They had Aeolus (the master of winds), and Odysseus traveling to the underworld to find out how to get home. The had the Scylla and Charybdis (the monster and the whirlpool – the whirlpool was not on stage, just pointed at off-stage). They included the stay with a very dizzy sea nymph, Calypso, and finally the killing of the suitors back in Troy. That is pretty impressive to do that on stage and in 75 minutes.

The acting was very fine, especially Odysseus. Most of the actors had many roles, and they pulled that off really well (especially with the rapid costume changes!).

I loved the Cyclops. He was a huge puppet head with an eye that moved and a mouth that moved. An actor inside supplied the voice and the animation. The head was not trying to be realistic – it was suggestive, and that was the way to go. If they had tried for a super-realistic head, it would not have worked. The head was still able to eat one of the crew, even stuffing the crew member in his mouth – the Cyclops had two “hands” that were played by actors. It really worked for me.

The Scylla was also a puppet – just three serpent heads (instead of six). The heads were still big enough to grab sailors by their heads and throw them off the boat (and off stage). Again, it was more suggestive than realistic, but it is theater, and it worked.

After the play (and the excellent question-and-answer period), we got back on the buses and headed to Chapel Hill mall, where we took good advantage of the food court. Mer and I got good food from the Great Steak and Potato company (what good fries!), and then I was able to get my second Blizzard from Dairy Queen in less than a week! Yum!

The kids were great throughout – we had no trouble, and they seemed to enjoy the show. It makes me happy and proud that our students behave themselves so well on these trips – it makes the experienc much more enjoyable for me and for Mer.

We get to take another field trip in March to see Macbeth. That should be another good time (in a tragic sort of way).

Last weekend Mer and I celebrated my birthday (which was on Thursday, Jan. 24th). Friday was an unorthodox celebration – after school, I came home and ran and showered, and then I went back to school to meet Mer. We then went to the (wait for it…) CVCA cafeteria, where the music department was throwing their annual fund-raising spaghetti dinner. What is fun about the dinner is that the various musical groups sing for the entertainment. The students that are not singing wait on the various tables. It is a good way to get to interact with the students and still support them for their choir tour (which is in NYC this year).

After the dinner, I just HAD to go to Dairy Queen, where I had my first Blizzard (oreo and peanut butter cup) since we bought the new house (going on seven months). Boy, was that good!

Saturday we slept in, and then once again used Mom and Marc’s kind b-day gift of $20 to go to Yours Truly and get breakfast again. I had French toast with real (Vermont!) maple syrup, which was quite good. Mer got the NotSo omelette – an omelette made with home fries. It looked REALY good – I’ll have to get one next time.

We made our way home, and I napped while Mer went to get groceries. When she got back, we listened to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!, one of our favorite Saturday pastimes. We then got in the car and headed south to Canton to see Beowulf at the ONE DOLLAR! theater.

Mer teaches Beowulf as part of her Honors English class, and so she was looking forward to seeing how the adaptation went. I was looking forward to it because of the animation and to see the story. We were not disappointed. I was sucked in right away. The animation was an interesting choice – it was *almost* photo- realistic. Everything looked very real, but not quite – there were always little things that reminded you that you were watching an animated film. I think it worked – it reinforced the other-worldly feel of the tale.

Mer thought the film was very dark (so Sonotmu should like it). It took a very black-and-white/good-vs-evil story and made things a little more gray. What was impressive to me was that the film managed to do this without gutting the original story. They made one major change concerning Grendel’s mother, and a few minor changes concerning Beowulf and later with the dragon, but I think they really worked. I think Beowulf comes across as a better hero for being flawed and for trying to correct his mistakes. I also love the layers the film lays down – they very subtly drop in early hints concerning Beowulf and women, and then late in the film not-so-subtly have Beowulf mirror earlier action. What a great film. It is dark, and it is violent, and some of the principal characters need some clothes, but on the whole, it is a very worthwhile film to see. Oh, and they did a great job of rendering Grendel – one of my questions was how they were going to animate the main demon, and the film makers did not disappoint.

After the film, Mer took me out to eat. We tried a local Italian restaurant, but there was a two-hour wait. We then went to a restaurant strip to Outback; the parking lot was literally full, so we did not even try. We went to another Outback across town, and they had a two-hour wait! I have not even had that happen in Chicago (three restaurants over-full). So, I decided we should head to a mellower restaurant, so we headed back to Yours Truly. It marked the first time we could ever remember eating breakfast and supper in the same restaurant. We got the Lotso Notsos – a HUGE plate of cheese-covered home fries, which I supplemented with a chocolate shake. By the time our actual meal arrived (Mer – Monte Cristo, me- burger), I was pretty full. I could not finish my burger (until Sunday for lunch!). It was a nice day.

So, not a bad little birthday celebration at all.