Do you get to laugh at work ALL THE TIME?

Well, I do. And I feel so lucky. Several times a day it is with colleagues and friends, but I constantly laugh with (and at) kids. Oh, they are so funny....especially when they don't mean to be. I told my grade nine's today that I want to start a random quote book of totally hilarious things that they say. It all started today, with a scene where one student was playing the "wife" in the scene being performed, and went up to her "husband" in all serious drama mode and asked, "Honey, have you seen my chicken knife?" I have no idea why the idea of a chef's knife that is reserved solely for cutting chicken makes me laugh so hard, but it does. And then there was a scene (very serious, too) with a character named Dick. They thought that was clever, but the hilarity didn't really happen until a moment of intensity in the scene when another character grabbed the dying Dick by the shoulders and shouted, "Dick! Don't let me down!" Oh God. I almost couldn't breathe. The hardest part for me is when I REALLY want to laugh, but I can't, because the kids are being so SERIOUS and DRAMATIC and EMOTIONAL in their work. It's not really an urge to make fun of them, more like their insights into the adult world just hit me sometimes...and I am thankful that I teach in the dark so often so my babies can't see me laughing at them. What a great, great, great job. I am reminding myself of this particularly on nights like tonight because I just got home (8:45) and need to be back early in the morning. It definitely wouldn't be worth it without their charming little personalities waiting to greet me.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I love this picture of my mom. For one thing, it is just so her, in her big floppy hats and practical sandals. Also, it was taken at Butchart Gardens, and if you know my mom, she kind of seems like she belongs in one all the time. She is just so gentle and sweet and patient. And then there are SUNBEAMS visible in the photo, which just completes it for me. She HATES having her picture taken. I think I sucked all the attention-seeking away from her. She gifted it to me when I was born, so she hates to be the centre of attention, hates to be photographed, hates to be noticed...sounds like the opposite of me, right?

Anyway, I helped her book a little trip for her spring break a couple of weeks ago, which was majorly momentous because she never takes vacations. And she is going with a friend, not a family member, so I am so proud of her. Girl gonna have some fun! But now she has caught the vacation bug. The woman who needed me to look up flights for her a mere few weeks ago, is now hopping around on all the travel web sites, looking for "deals" and just reported to me that Vegas is on sale for $99. She is making grandiose plans for roadtrips down the California coastline, with maybe a stop in Louisiana, followed by a quick jaunt to Stockholm to see where the Olsons originated.

I get it. Planning vacations is completely addictive for me. In fact, I think I like planning the trip more than taking it. I love pouring over web sites looking for that ideal combination of beautiful beach, delicious food, and most importantly "bargains". I love reading tripadvisor comments and assessing, based on the person's demographic, whether I want to trust their opinion or not (like, why do all of you Americans expect Mexico to be like Los Angeles?). My favorite challenge now are non-package combinations, where I have to search for flights, hotels, cars, all seperately, because the destination is not package-friendly.

It's a problem. Yet another addiction to overcome. Well, I got over Bread Addiction, I can get over this. Because of course, the moment I hit PURCHASE, the rush ends, the trip is booked, and I have to look for another way to get my travel-booking hit. That is why planning trips for other people is so great. You can have all the fun of careful planning, but then they have to fork out the money and take the trip. Perfect.

Spring Break

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3df7661QadM

This has definitely been a strange Spring Break for me...it has really been all over the place. Having spent the last one in the Dominican, and pretty much all of the last four before that in Mexico, I really didn't know what I was going to do. It turned out to be mostly nice, but so different. I got lots of opportunities to see friends, sometimes for extended periods of time that normally would be hard to squeeze in. It helps when your friends are also teachers on spring break, but I even managed to see the non-teachers. And go to some places in the city that I never normally visit any more - like Chinatown. Spending time with people was lovely.

I rehearsed with my students twice, on Tuesday and Wednesday. They are so cute and so committed. Honestly, how can you say no when they are willing and wanting to take time out of their break to come and do theatre? We made good progress too, which is very good since we have to perform in three and a half weeks. They are a good group, very instinctual, and have a really solid understanding of what has to happen in order for the piece to work. It is so easy to get feeling blah about work, but for me, when I can actual dig into something good with the kids, it makes all the other crap worth it. They give me an energy that does not compare to anything else, when we really get grooving together.

Banff was a great escape, but I felt like I needed another night. It's amazing that you don't have to go very far to downshift, but just when I started to mellow out, it was time to come home.

This weekend I have ended the break by just trying to do things that would make me start the week feeling on top. Caught up the laundry, changed all the beds (you never know when someone might need one), cleaned bathrooms. The glamorous parts of life that I am always so excited to do. Cleaning, I found lots of messages from Scoop too, which mostly makes me smile now, just barely a lip twitch. I found one of my most favourite and fairly new shirts in a heap behind a piece of furniture. Just as I was excited to have found it and pulled it out, I saw that it had been absolutely shredded on the whole right side. Scoop was not usually a dog to chew things he wasn't supposed to, but I must've pissed him off one day because the shirt was in hilarious pieces. Anyway, that was one...little things like dog claw scratches in furniture that I hadn't seen before and the odd toy wedged in strange places still pops up. But the positive side is I get to do things now that were out of the question before, like sleep in, and leave out this goofy puzzle someone gave me at Christmas that I never could have left on a table before because it would have been gnawed on.

And that's that for Spring Break. April is going to be nuts, so I am taking a deep breath and just plunging in. Got your Wicked tickets yet? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFMPAvZ0BzU&feature=fvsr

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