The Not-So Daily News

Well, the beauty part of having time off is that the DN
deadline disappears, leaving me with a LOT of
goof-off time. So keep checking, I may just
add some things just to go with a
warm cup of joe!

Have you tried the Starbuck's holiday drinks?

Big endorsement here, especially the Egg-Nog Latte.

**************

I saw this goof on some website or other.  It was entitled
THE EVOLUTION OF BEAT

okay...

thus spake zarathustra.

happy winter solstice.

peace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

~H~

 

 

 

The Daily News

1  I just got home. It's 10:30 at night as I write this. I spent all afternoon and evening delivering Christmas trees to people who couldn't afford them, a rather amazing experience. We got lost, drove hither and yon, and walked into all sorts of different places. Everywhere we went, we were rewarded with huge smiles and appreciation, especially from community members. It really felt nice.

2  Funny, but even when you are GIVING, there are still people who will complain!  This one lady was absolutely livid that her neighbors got a bigger tree than she. She insisted that our students go BACK into her house, remove the tree we gave her, and get her a bigger one, because she was the one who walked around the neighborhood asking who wanted a tree.

3  She almost wound up being the angel on top of that tree, lemme tell you.

4  It's ALWAYS fun to give and give, and then have people STILL treat you like crap. It's something that I have noticed over the years. Teachers, in general, and MOST people in education, are pretty good givers. They give a lot of their time and worry giving to others, and quite often, are met with amazing acts of rudeness, almost sputteringly incomprehensible.

5  That's the nature of the beast. More often than not, they are going to be rewarded with truly appreciative people, and people who respect and understand the dedication and sacrifice it takes to be a giver. In fact, most people who give really don't want much in return; the satisfaction of doing the world a little better is generally reward enough.

6  So that lady was just one of many like that, who just come down the pike, and you just smile and tell them that they are right. In the long run, you can't change people; if they don't get it, they don't get it.

7  It's never stopped me from continuing, nor will it. I think of the grandmother who was sitting outside on her lovely porch, telling us about how she needed all her Christmas money to fix the heater in her old house, which had a whole bunch of grandchildren, and no tree, nor money for Christmas. She sat on the porch and charmed us, and was so appreciative, that nothing else mattered.

8  It's moments like that which put the little annoying things in perspective. Sometimes you just have to look at the larger picture, of the people whose families were truly touched by the heart of one student who wanted to make it all happen for everybody, and wound up doing just that. Thanks, Sunshine, for all the spirit and love.

9  May all of you have a wonderful Christmas and a cheery New Year!

10 Peace.

The Daily News

1  What an amazing day yesterday was!

2   First, we had some great things going on in the Theatre, courtesy of  ATFNL, and several community groups. The kids did skits about domestic violence, and it was pretty well done, considering it was an all-student performance. Different than the work of the Drama Workshop, but it sort of had an outreach feel to it. The acting was pretty good, especially for kids who were new to the stage. I was pretty proud.

3  Plus, I got interviewed by Channel 48, which means BILLIONS of people have now seen my face.

4  That's pretty frightening.

5  We rehearsed, and after the rehearsal, several of us were just chilling in the Theatre, stuffing Christmas stocking with Bears, Mooses, and stuffed Snowmen for a fundraiser, when Sunshine burst in with Bobby, of ATFNL fame.

6  We went out to Bobby's truck, and it was filled to the brim with brand new TOYS!! Sunshine has been working steadily for two straight days to get trees and toys to 21 families who can't afford Christmas.

7  So last night, we were literally a Santa's Workshop, instead of a Drama Workshop, separating toys, putting them in boxes, figuring out how many presents would go into each box, and all the rest.

8  The true Miracle in the YB Theatre was that Sunshine did all of this with blind faith. He hoped, phoned people, talked, and eventually, came up with the goods! The good cheer was palpable.

9  We STILL need to wrap a bunch of presents, and to secure more trees and ornaments, but it's been really a fun go of it.

10  It's been a real giving season, one of my favorites of all time, because the students are learning about charities and good causes. I was pretty proud of Sunshine last night, and I still am as of this writing.

11  Does Santa exist? I think I caught a little bit of Santa on film! Here is the Workshop, hard at Work!!

 

Peace on Earth.

 

~H~

The Daily News

1   Remarkable.

2   I guess that's my summary for last night's Christmas at YB, followed magically by the Winter Concert.

3   Christmas at YB, a relatively new tradition at the school, is, for the lay person, a night where every club gets a tree and decorates it, and all the trees are placed on the lawn, in a huge circle, and everything is decorated in major Christmas style. I had four trees for the different things I've been in: Camp Anytown, an absolutely AWESOME tree, with clearly the coolest lights and most creative ornaments, the ATFNL tree, which had leftover ornaments from the TWO trees we have downtown at Christmas in the Park, AND a snowman on the top, stolen, of course, from Rocha; the Drama Workshop tree, complete with a candy-cane light pole with a candle in it, and programs from shows ornamenting the face, and ornaments with names of shows, parts, etc., our best tree EVER!, and finally, the Class of '05 tree, which was decorated with donation ornaments, the money of which will go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

4  And THAT's just ME!  A lot of students had the same thing: multi-trees, multi-clubs, the usual same 60 kids who do EVERYTHING at school. But it was all just right, and a lovely evening, with hot chocolate, entertainment, and the joy of watching little kids running about and enjoying it all.

5  Great job, ASB kids, Loan, Jonathan, and Mr. Rocha!

6  At one point, they called me to the amphitheatre stage, where Santa was roasting in the fireplace, and we did a rousing job of learning, then singing the Twelve Days of Christmas.

7  This was followed by the Winter Concert, which brought a bit of a tear to my eyes <everything brings tears to my eyes these days! oy!> because I remember back to when Ponticelli and Fleming left, and how everything looked like it was pretty much over for Performing Arts. Well, last night wiped those thoughts off the face of the Earth. I looked at that stage and saw 45 Choir people singing like there's no tomorrow.

8  A tear in my eye?  I remembered when this girl named Jeanie Nuia, a Senior several years back, was the Choir director!! She had like fifteen or twenty kids who were hanging in there, and actually kept the dream alive. Those kids worked, and loved singing, and kept the Choir alive, even WITHOUT a teacher.  Last night, I saw 45 choir members, and one of the hardest working teachers on campus!! Yeah, Heidi!!

9  After that, the Band came out, and sounded AWESOME!  Jenny was right there with me, and Maggie, and Sparky, and we were pretty amazed (annoyed, if you will, by some RUDE gal getting loud down in front; Maggie almost fainted!) at the Band. Jenny cried; I know exactly why. We remember when the Band began to unravel and fall apart, the days when everything was dead and dying all around us, and I was watching Performing Arts getting lost in the rust and the weeds. We all thought it was the end, and if you were there, it was absolutely agonizing.

10  So if there WERE tears, they were tears for all we had gone through, and the miracle that is Heidi Hooper.

11  Jenny and I later met up at Joe's. I ran into Eric Barrett and LeAnn, these guys from "back-in-the-day", and we chatted and enjoyed war stories from days gone by. Just lovely, talked of the Class of '98, '99, and the fun times, the Golden Era, if I may be so bold as to dub it that.

12  After I left, I stopped at Wal-Mart to get a DVD for the next two days; Christmas is a GREAT time to pop in a film. So I found what I needed and headed for the register.

13  In line, I was doing my usual daydreaming, waiting for the clerk to actually become undead, when I heard a voice yell, "HEY, MR. H!"

14  It was Jeanie Nuia. We caught up for a sec. I then left, looked at the stars, and went home on this wonderful wintery night.

15  Peace.

The Daily News

1   Isn't it a pity that people would actually applaud a death sentence? Amazing...

2   Well, I had to make SOME sort of comment on the Peterson trial.

3   That's about it.

4   Applause, for gawdsakes.

5   I imagine.

6   Know what was fun? Re-reading yesterday's DN during school. I had forgotten what the heck I had written, but had a little downtime in class today, and just kicked back and read all about the BEACH!

7  It's sorta funny, because I write this drivel every single night, so I sometimes forget what it was I wrote literally minutes after having typed it. It's a bit like shopping, in a way. I shop not because I actually NEED stuff, but because I just like to goof off in a supermarket after all the madness that is daily living at YB. I could spend an hour in Save Mart by my place, and just goof on people, on what they're purchasing, on workers, on all the stupid normal stuff I always seem to need: toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo (YES, shampoo!!!), toilet paper, and oh yeah, food.

8  Half the time I can't remember what I had just purchased. There's always the immediate Cheez-Its (low fat, okay?), cheese, bottle water, and then I pretty much forget after that.

9  That's probably a terrible analogy, but hey, I JUST got in from school a half-hour ago.

10  Yeah, so sometimes I just don't remember what I just wrote! This is pure therapy, kicking back and goofing on everything and anything. A lot of times I just stare aimlessly as this colorful nonsense flits into the garden of my mind like a little lost butterfly.

11  The news just reported that doctors in England are ready to release a diabetes vaccination. Suddenly, I am listening to things about heart disease, strokes, and all the rest of whatever it was that doctor told me I had. So yeah, that England stuff suddenly sounds pretty cool!

12  I love adapting to a new lifestyle. Yesterday, I had two Dove milk chocolates <terrible boy!!!>, a cuppajoe from Starbuck's, a small piece of meat, an apple, a heaping plate of fresh vegetables, and tankards of water. I'm also starting to find places to walk: malls, flea markets, Wal-Mart, and most Vietnamese restaurants that feature Pho.

13  I don't imagine that Dove milk chocolates <the ones with the fortunes> are any good for someone with blood-sugar concerns, but they were just too screamingly tempting. In a funny sort of way, it worked; this behavior triggered my infamous Catholic guilt, and as penance, I made myself say seventeen Our Fathers, sixty Hail Mary's, one Act of Contrition, and I made myself eat bushels of rabbit food and a trough of pure water.

14  Nothing like a good, old-time religious jump start to keep your body and your soul in absolute check.

15  The News. It's now morning, and the TeeVee News just reported something about a guy called "The Sausage King", who is involved in some other murder trial. My wife, Helene, mused: "Is this the REAL Sausage King, or just the Self-Proclaimed Sausage King?" I mean, you can BET there are probably better sausage companies out there, right?

16  Sometimes you just gotta laugh.

17  Well, we have Christmas at YB tonight at 6; come on down and enjoy the tree-lighting.

18  The ceremony will be followed immediately by the Winter Concert, featuring the Choir, the Orchestra, Piano students, and our awesome school Band. This begins at 7 p.m. so come on out and enjoy the good music, as well as the good cheer!  Free, but donations gladly accepted.

19  It's getting close to my departure hour; another day begins.

20  May you have a lovely day.

21  Peace.

 

 

 

The Daily News

1  The totally AMAZING 49ers finally walked off with a win yesterday. I'm glad that they were classy enough not to run up points just to land a good bowl game. The Merc News' headline this morning: No Choke: 49ers win in overtime. Whew. I guess I could now switch my focus to the beach. Sunny day...winter beach...the very essence...sifting sand...seque...to....

2  I loved reading in yesterday's Merc about how Huntington Beach has beat out Santa Cruz as being the sole owner of the now trademarked handle, Surf City. The article, written by Ken McLaughlin, was as sunny and breezy as a winter day at the beach, with fun tidbits, such as this: "Dean Torrence, half of the legendary duo of Jan & Dean, is backing Huntington Beach...Torrence co-wrote the 1963 surfing anthem 'Surf City' with partner Jan Berry and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys...Huntington Beach...was indeed one of his favorite surfing spots..."

3  I never knew that Brian Wilson, the irrefutable rock genius, penned that great surf song which begins, "I got a '34 Wagon and they call it a Woody..." Clean, fun, and breezy.

4  Stating a case for Santa Cruz bearing the title of Surf City, Mclaughlin informs us that "In 1885, three Hawaiian princes, using milled redwood planks as surfboards, introduced the sport to the mainland at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz." So, just who really is THE Surf City?  Santa Cruz, or Huntington?

5  Either way, I'm all about the BEACH in the winter. I have been itching to jump the hill and go Christmas shopping in Capitola. Good idea, no? The weather lately has been absolutely beautiful beach weather. The BEACH in the winter, d00d.

6                                   The beach is a place where a man can feel he's
                                         the only soul in the World that is real...
                                                                            ---Pete Townshend

7  The past few years we have taken a few excursions, and every single time it has been magical! One evening last year, the Christmas lights danced on the tips of the waters off the Capitola pier. From a distance, the lights of that small town twinkled at us, and we smiled at the moon and the stars. Another time brought a few of us out there at sunset, where a bunch of people in wetsuits gathered in a formation on the BEACH. Turns out it was a surf wedding, complete with bride in veil and groom with tie, but in wetsuits!

8  Another time, three of us stood on a third balcony overlooking the beach, and I brought out the guitar, and we serenaded Christmas Caroles to a delighted populace below.

9  We once gathered ourselves the nerve to walk into the Capitola Theatre, where we were met by a rather gracious gal, who gave us a little talk about the history of the place, as well as its ghost. Just grand stuff.

10  Perhaps my favorite moment was when this old lady saw me with my guitar, and wanted me to serenade her, so I obliged with "I Only Have Eyes for You", which I knew she would know, and watching her lips move to the song was a whole bunch of the stuff of life...

11  Even earlier this year, a small group of us just decided to pop over the hill and get to Capitola, where we rented a motor boat and a kayak, and cruised around the ocean just to revive our spirits. We finished up, went into some shops, and goofed off, but it was just great.

12  Good times.

13  As always, in this life, and in the next, I always look to the sea...

14  The sea tells our story.

15  I'm convinced it also knows our story...

16  Look to the sea.

17  Peace.

17  d00d.

 

 

The Daily News

1   I went to the Independence High School Winter Concert last night to watch the immortal Ken Ponticelli direct a TON of great musicians. All his performers were top rate, from the Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Strings, to the absolutely stunning Wind Ensemble. What an awesome performance! Proud uh ya, Ponch! It was definitely good times.

2  Afterwards, we went to Joe's, of course!  Now, on my NEW health diet, I ordered the grilled salmon and vegetables. At JOE'S! No carbs, no wine, no anything resembling fun. But you can't go to Joe's and not have fun! Just sitting in that place for a few hours, I could write a book. Our dinner got delayed,  so they brought a plate of appetizers (for free, naturally!), and I munched down some fresh baked sourdough, gratuitously dipped in olive oil, parmesan, and maybe a dollop of balsimic vinegar.

3  We talked and talked and talked.

4  I've been a little bit loony lately, so I have been chatting with great friends. When your health is suddenly suspect, you begin appreciating everything and everyone around you. You want just to bond with virtually everyone, and to love everyone.

5  I'm starting to see all of that. I guess I always did, but man! Until you start having all this sort of thing, you just seem to take everyone around you for granted.

6  How bad we are, sometimes, at this living thing.

7  Laughing with my dear friend at Joe's was a step in the right direction.

8  Dipping sourdough in olive oil wasn't, really. Or was it?

9  I'm thoroughly convinced that a lovely time with a GREAT friend can counter a whole bunch of dietary and health regulations. If the bread causes me to go over, so be it. I'm betting it would take a good bit more than a piece of bread to put a guy like me down.

10  Ha! Remember that great Elton John song called I'm Still Standing?

Doncha know that I'm still standing better than I ever did,
lookin' like a true survivor
feelin' like a little kid...

11  I always loved Sir Elton's little tribute to the Beatles in that song, when the chorus would ring out, "I'm Still Standing, yeah, yeah, yeah!"

12  Fun. I LOVE having a cool song running through my head all day. I've mentioned that in here before, the whole concept of music that plays in your head all day when you are going about your normal business. It's a GREAT psycho HAHA! to the goofy world you see on a daily basis. That person who is a pain-in-the-ass in your life comes up and starts their usual stuff, and you have like the Rolling Stones' Brown Sugar screaming through the echoing stereo in your head, and they just keep a-chattering away, and you are having this MONSTER concert blaring all through you.

13  Wanna thank my GREAT friend MISS GOLLY for sending me the straight dope on how to knit yesterday. You are, and always will be, a doll, dudette! It made my day, I swear. I almost went out and bought some yarn, but as you know, I could spin a good yarn and save money.

14  <drum. cymbal.>

15  Okay, that...

16  Well, I'm just biding time 'til I have to go back into the battleground that is my Daily Life at YB, so I advise that you put your head into a good song, or better still, a good CD, and enjoy being YOU today. Before you know it, day will be done, and you will have won.

17  Peace, yo.

 

The Daily News

1   So...Dime Bag Emmett walks into a bar...

2  Might have something to do with the fact that his mother should never have named him "Dime Bag" to begin with.

3  It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, at least in my book.

4   Deep Freeze, Dept. Yesterday was one of those days that made perfectly hyper people want to lie down under a pile of warm blankets, crank up the heater, and drift off to sleep. We got into the Theatre to rehearse for the one-acts, and it was seriously hopeless. They were setting up for the parent meeting, and it was cold, and we just sat around, bonding. Seriously. Never rehearsed for a second, but we sure had fun doing a whole buncha nuttin'! You ought really to try that sometime. Plenty o' nuttin'.

5  Hmm. Good idear for a song...

6  Tracee was knitting. Or crocheting. Someone once told me the difference, but then, someone once told me the difference between fuschia and puce.

7  It looked really pretty relaxing. I am seriously thinking of taking it up, but for the life of me, I couldn't tell you the difference between a knit and a pearl. It just looked so great watching Tracee all relaxed and mellow.  For a moment, I thought I might have been a granma in my previous.

8  Probably. Probably a saggy old thing. Yep.

9  So much emotion and pressure in the last month! Spirit Week took a heavy toll on me. Staying at the school 'til past 9 every night for over a month-and-a-half was an enormous investment of my physical and emotional makeup. I thought I was Superman. I thought I was made of steel, and you know, you can't hurt steel. At least, I thought.
At least not until a little after 9, which was becoming WAY past my bedtime! 9 o'clock would hit, my ears would get red,  my head would get in dire need of a huge, comfy pillow, and my cheeks would burn bright. And STILL, I thought I was made of steel.

10  How wrong I was! To this minute, when 9 p.m. rolls around, I get really sleepy, and almost nod off. I first noticed this a coupla weeks ago at Camp Anytown, when at around 9 each night, we would be discussing some deep issues, and my eyes would get heavy. By the time the fortieth kid screamed and cried about how he been done in, I was counting sheep.

11  Yet, I KNEW I had to fight to stay awake at those times. And somehow, I managed. Like right when my head would clunk over to the right like a a cracked bowling ball, I would manage to swing out of it, acting like it was nuttin', almost killing the guy sitting next to me, who was also a clunk. 

12  Isn't that funny? Those embarrassing times when you are at something REALLY important, but you STILL begin to drift off? I mean, here were kids, pouring their hearts out, and I'm counting little cartoon sheep that are jumping gleefully through my frabjous mind, like they were cover boys for pajama bottoms or something. 

13  Then my jaw would slacken, eyes would crash shut, and quite soon,  a very long drool...

14  I'm SO sorry I just wrote that...

15  Notice I didn't take it out, just sorry I wrote it.

16  I need all the words I could crank out. Slow news day, yo.

17  More to come...

18  "But Professor, where will the students sleep?"

      "Where they always sleep, in the classroom..."

                                                              ---Groucho Marx

               <aka Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff>, Horsefeathers

19   <poof>

The Daily News

1   Give it up for Publisher's Weekly, who awarded Jon Stewart's America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction the Book of the Year. Stewart is irreverant, funny, and pretty much right on the money. Good to see that someone sees that.

2  So, yeah, just settling in to the coming Christmas vacation. I know there are those who read this drivel knowing perfectly well that teachers have more time off than most people walking around, but yeesh. They just MIGHT forget teachers who go the extra mile doing things for kids. The entire months of September and October, to this guy, were spent in a sea of chicken wire, paint, posters, balloons, HUGE messes, a play, AND with the grading of papers, the teaching equivalent to a farmer cleaning out the chicken coop.

3  But I digress...

4  Yesterday was a mellow day. All the tension and sadness of Monday's tears and hugs disappeared yesterday, being replaced by a sky containing puffy clouds, a Maxfield Parrish sky, and the sweetness of a silence following a storm.

5  There was peace.

6   Oh, we had a district budget meeting in the Theatre, but I was long gone, as was Rocha, when THAT little baby arrived. Wolcott and I took off to a Starbucks, and talked and chatted about everything under the sun.  What a lovely afternoon!

7  Getting away...looking at a sky, taking time to smell the coffee...these are the things I'm going to be enjoying more and more. Within one day, a whole bunch of stress and tension disappeared in an afternoon of high-fives, gentle laughter, and a guffaw or two for good measure.

8  Two wiseguys.

9  So yeah. Schmott cookies. Two of 'em. Double the pleasure; double the fun!

10 What? OH! Old commercial, so sorry, you wouldn't KNOW.

11 HA!

12 You fill in the gaps.

13  So evidently Donald Rumsfeldt is used to working without the proper equipment.

14  If it wasn't so callous it would actually be funny.

15  What else? Oh. Barry Bonds.

16  Oy.

17  And now the weather.

18  Looks like rain.

19  Peace.

The Daily News

1  Life ain't easy.

2  Yesterday morning I reported to Mr. Rocha that I  would have to step down as the advisor to the Class of '05. I then informed Ms. Conrotto. Following that, I talked with Thuy Ann, our PREZ, and it just wasn't easy.

3  For the first time in many years, I broke down in a class. Nobody in class saw me, but they did see Thuy Ann, who broke apart, right before my heavy, sad  eyes. We moved swiftly to the Theatre, where we talked and talked and talked.

4  I have a treatable medical condition that needs good exercise, a good diet, and a lot less stress. But I need to step back and take stock in what is important. My mother and father both need me right now, so as of now, I can no longer continue on. For now, it all needs to come to a halt. I'm tired, exhausted as I form these words, so I'll just turn it over to something I wrote yesterday. This stuff has been terribly draining, as you might well imagine, so here ya go with the yesterday's news. Happy trails.

5  Oops. Here's a number five, just so I won't have to re-number this entire piece.

6  I see that Rolling Stone Magazine listed the 500 greatest songs of all time recently. Number one?  Like a Rolling Stone, by Bob Dylan. Tony Hicks of Knight Ridder fed some further information: Number two was the song Satisfaction, by...The Rolling Stones.  Hmm.

7  It's really something that any time someone decides to make a list like that, it's always OLD bands that get the nod. Who chooses this stuff anyway?  Hicks wrote an article that was highly critical of the choices, which would be a natural thing for any writer to do, given that broad of a topic. Is there ANYBODY who is going to agree to a list like that?  In these days when The Who can be heard as background to JC Penny commercials, and Lennon's Across the
seems to be hawking digital cameras, it's really difficult to look at something list like that as anything more than the collective ramblings of a bunch of elderly rockers.

8  I did this around 20 years ago, when it MAY have been a bit more relevant. I asked faculty members what the greatest rock song of all time was. The result?  Stairway to Heaven was far and away number one. Layla was number 2.  Neither of these made RS's top ten.

9  About the most interesting thing about Hicks' article was his observation of bands that were completely omitted: Van Halen, The Grateful Dead, Chicago, Coldplay, Roxy Music, and on and on and on...

10  What a romp. Who cares? It's my assertion that rock, as we know it, is essentially dead. Oh, there are the new sounds and the new songs, but most people are pretty indifferent to this trickle that was, once upon a time, a major cultural force.

11  Sellouts, no doubt. All of 'em.

12  I saw Bob Dylan on 60 Minutes last night...he was being interviewed by Ed Bradley, and frankly, it looked like maybe the two of them should have been on 30 Minutes, because neither looked like he could LAST 60!

13  Dylan was actually pretty cool...at one point, when asked about all his early fame and fortune, Dylan said he felt like a character in an Edgar Allen Poe story, unreal, like the guy they were talking about and all was the guy looking through his eyes and walking about.

14  I totally understand.

15  I totally understand.

17  Peace.