The Daily News

 

1        Prom rocked.

 

2        Pure and easy.

 

3        It’s a little bit funny.

 

4        You plan and plan and plan and plan, and then the thing takes off all on its own. That was the story of this year’s Senior Ball.

 

5        A guy was SUPPOSED to meet us there, open up a room, see to it we had everything we needed, and on and on.

 

6        Well, that’s NOT how it went down. Our Junior helpers arrived, only to find NOBODY on hand to help them get situated. The lights were too bright, it was hot, and I was a nervous wreck.

 

7        Before long, we found the light dimmers, opened a couple of doors, and FINALLY the guy showed up to help us move things along.

 

8        Then something REALLY fun happened. The deejay began spinning, and within minutes, nearly everybody got up to dance, and never sat down until the evening ended at 1 a.m.

 

9        Funny. I was fully expecting a slow, sentimental night, with few people dancing and lots of people milling around tables, taking pictures, talking with friends, etc.

 

10   WELL!

 

11   That crowd came to play, and play meant to DANCE, and jump, and leap, and enjoy the evening for all it was worth! The night took off at the speed of sound, pounding rhythms and TWO full dance floors, and stomping, dancing, high-fives, smiles and lots of energy burned up the night. It was THE party of the year, no doubt.

 

12    Congratulations to Dora, Thuy Ann, Kristina, and the entire prom committee who worked so hard to make this an awesome night.

 

13    I imagine we still have two more weeks of school.

 

14  Well, Seniors have just this week. I never did quite get that. But it's always in the Seniors' favor, so let it be.

 

15  Prom rocked.

 

16  Pure and easy.

 

17  There is no other news today.

 

18  Peace.

 

 

The Daily News

1   So...Honors Night. Yeah...

2   It never ceases to amaze me how many Seniors I DON'T know. Every year I goof on the fact that I don't know about 80 per cent of the Senior Class.

3  This year, I know a comparatively higher per centage, yet it STILL amazes me that I could spend SO much time down at the school and still not know every single student, and in fact, know very few students.

4   Still, I love Honors Night. It brings it all home. Some things are absolutely to be cherished, and to me, Honors Night makes everything real.

5  First off, I'm proud of ANY kid that could get through the madhouse that is high school. I say that just for starters. Then, I am especially amazed and proud of kids who excel, and go the extra mile. There are some stunningly amazing kids at this school. Honors Night brings that out.

6  So a HUGE congratulations goes out there to everyone who participated last night. It was a very special night, especially when we all enjoyed the warm night air outside. Just amazing.

7  Prom is tonight!! I'm not even so sure about exactly WHAT it is I'm expected to do from here, but this is a big one, that's for sure. This is the grandaddy of them all, the Senior Ball. I'm tired as I write, and I'm awaiting orders from the front. This is going to be an incredible party.

8  Too tired to keep writing. Thank goodness <and the Decathlon Club!> that we have a minimum day.

9  Well, gotta go get all gussied up for the do.

10  Enjoy a safe and wonderful night everybody!

11  Stay safe; it's all I ask.

12  Peace.

The Daily News

1   Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.

                                                                --Ralph Waldo Emerson

2  It's a little bit funny.

3  Last night I was laughing and enjoying an outstanding time with Thuy Ann, Anthony, and Nguyen, when Nguyen saw some small gift that had a quote by Emerson on it. He had commented that every time he sees a good quote, it's by Emerson.

4  I commented that I had goofed on that a few years ago, that in fact, I never really even FINISHED a book by Emerson, but that every time I see one of his quotes, I always nod my head, like some old hippy remembering the finest Dead concert he ever saw.

5  Or something. If you ever talked with an old hippy about the Dead...ah, never mind.

6  Anyway, when I awoke at one in the morning, I had an e-mail from Angie Higgins, director of the Pigeon Players' recent hit, The Importance of Being Earnest. Angie has been offered a directing job with the Santa Clara Players, and was beyond elated. She wrote, and ended her e-mail with the Emerson quote, above. I was instantly brought back to the conversation about Emerson that Nguyen and I had a few hours earlier!

7  So that yet another in a series of AMAZING coincidences has occurred once more. Right after having seen someone wearing a number 9 jersey, I saw a truck yesterday with Tony the T on the side of it. I WROTE about Tony the Tiger in the DN just two days ago, and the very day BEFORE I had seen that truck. Driving home last night, I popped in a Donovan CD, which had a song called Catch the Wind, and which included the lyrics, "Yadda yadda-dee-da, yadda, yadda..." If you go to ybdrama.com and read the Heidi Chronicles, you'll get the idea here.

8  Maybe Heidi is trying to tell us something...

9  Heidi likes the Pigeon Players, I'll tell ya THAT much.

10  And she is pretty concerned about the Theatre, and about which direction outer forces are trying to take it.

11  Maybe she SHOULD be concerned.

12  There is a reason I have kept that old war-torn sign in my classroom, a sign that reads the following, by Schiller:

Against stupidity, the very gods themselves contend in vain.

13  Word.

14  Anyway, to nicer issues, I somehow have been going full blast on Prom stuff, ideas for the class, Honors Night, which is tonight, and just enjoying as much of my Class of '05 as I can before they shove off. Last night I got home really late, having stopped at Longs for photos, the tux store for my tuxedo, and Wal-Mart for Honors Night clothes, and all the rest.

15  I wound up doing a lot of laughing and enjoying, but once again collapsing on the couch when I got home. Oh, my tux is too loose in the vest and too tight in the jacket, so it's perfect! All I need is a cigar and a violin case.

16  It's pretty nice going out in style.

17  It's all racing to an end so swiftly, the year, the Drama Workshop, the Theatre, the Class of '05...I'm pretty fortunate that I have a rich and lovely life beyond all this, but for right now, that stuff, the Drama Workship, the Theatre, the Class of '05, seems amazingly important to me.

18  In a funny sort of way, it's all quite real to me, even though it's pretty non-real to your normal person.

19  As a beautiful friend of mine put it, it's real. <a nod>  It's real...

20  It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside...

21  Peace, yo.

The Daily News

1  So...Tony the Tiger walks into a bar...

2  Bad week for Toons, lemme tellya.

3  For the record, Tony's human name was Thurl Ravencort, and the trusty old Kellogg's tiger lived to a ripe old age of 91.

4  So it goes.

5  Yesterday the school experienced what the Theatre has BEEN experiencing: a blackout, beginning at the end of third period, the PERFECT time for a blackout. I don't recall the amount of time needed for a school day to be considered a complete day, but it's close to three hours. Mr. Cruz reported to everyone to report to their fourth-period classes, and that he would call PG & E for an update.

6  Evidently, the update was that school needed to be dismissed. For only the second time in my career, a school day was called mid-flight. Within seconds of the announcement, the school burst into a Mardi-Gras festival atmosphere. People were throwing beads at teachers! There was dancing in the streets, and joy NEARLY everywhere you looked. I grabbed my camera to catch the festivities, when I looked at the lawn, and some kid was beating the s#!t out of some other kid. I mean, it wasn't even CLOSE. The other kid was getting pummeled. [Grammarians please take note of creative use of the passive voice. This was done deliberately for some sort of effect, only I have no idea what. Just color yourselves impressed, okay?]

7  So again I threw my glasses to the desk, abandoned my camera, and flew to the rescue. If I wasn't so old, ugly, toothless, bald, and fat, I'd have been mistaken for Superman.

8  Unfortunately, I'm old, ugly, toothless...

9  But STILL Superman.

10  Amazing, amazing.

11  Oh, my, starry-eyed surprise...

12  Gonna dance all night to THIS Deejay, I'm unna dance all night to THIS Deejay...

13  Ever get a song stuck in your head? I just saw some commercial on teevee that had that song in it. Man, that dude sold out.

14  Whoever he is.

15  There's SO much good stuff, I can't keep up.

16  Dance all night to THIS Deejay...oooyeah beeebuh!

17  Oh yeah. Paul Oakenfold. Let me tell ya, that guy is going straight to the toppermost of the poppermost.

18  He, and Fountains of Wayne.

19  I hope there's a few FOW songs at Prom, man.

20  Like...Stacy's Mom. And...Stacy's Mom. Oh, and Stacy's Mom.

21  Oh, my.

22  Okay, RIGHT when I wrote that, a guy on that teevee show House said, "Mind if I talk to Stacy for a while?" EXACTLY when I wrote that line!

23  I've had a billion gazillion coincidences in the past two months, so nothing new.

24  Well, I'm just rambling again, which is my wont. House, by the way, is the best show on television, bar none.

25 Well Scientist, I think I threw a few past everybody today. What do you think, Scientist? Do I have a no-hitter? Paintin' the corners, paintin' the corners.

26  I'm out, yo. Enjoy the minimum.

27  Word to yer mama.

28  Out.

The Daily News

1  So let me get this straight: last week, we had four days with two-hour classes going on all week, and THIS week we have two minimum days.

2  What a thing to do to people.

3  You know what's insane? Every time we master being healthy one way, some study comes by and tells us we were all wrong, that the OTHER way is the right way.

4  I was listening to the news last night, and some guy came on saying that the sun's rays are GREAT for preventing cancer. Or something like that. Now, I don't know about you, but for the past twenty years, we have been warned like crazy to slap Coppertone number 97 all over every inch of our skin, that it will fall off and stuff if we don't, and that our lips will fall apart if we sit outside and get any sun.

5  I have very goodly friends who have gotten skin cancers as a result of the sun's rays.

6  And suddenly, some guy is going around saying it's a good thing to get a little sun.

7  I remember doing the Atkins diet, and being told that bacon, steak, oil, nuts, ice cream, etc. are all great for you, but don't eat a carb, and ESPECIALLY don't have chocolate, which is, according to Atkins people, the food of the Devil.

8  Well, I did the Atkins for around two months, and lost around twenty pounds, but also had internal bleeding, and all sorts of horrid things going on with my body, so I stopped. NOW, the Atkins is looking pretty bad. I mean, yeah, bacon grease and butter sound like LOTS of fun, but howz about clogging those pipes, eh?

9  I'm waiting for some guy to come down the pike and announce that having beer for breakfast is healthy, and wise. I want the guy to tell me that he has so much beer in the morning, he pours it on his cereal. He calls it "Beereos".

10  So tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. Jay Leno has been called by the defense to testify on behalf of Michael Jackson. If you've watched Leno for even a minute, you know what a pal HE will be to Sir Michael.

11  I hope he shows up in pajamas.

12  Man, oh man.

13  Just rambling this morning. Not much to report. It was sort of nice not having to be down here 'til all hours. Once in a while, it does my heart good to go home and meet my family.

14  I think I'm going to sit outside in the sun today, and eat a pork roast.

15  Heard it was good for the heart.

16  Enjoy your day.

17  Peace.

The Daily News

1  So...Fred Flintstone walks into a bar...

2  Actually, that's not really fair. The guy who played the original voice of Fred Flintstone, Alan Reed, died in 1977. That was when Henry Cordon, the "new" Fred, took over.

3  So technically, Henry Cordon walks into a bar...

4  Well, the Pigeon Players ended their run of The Importance of Being Earnest with an ernest bang. On Saturday night, I arrived at the Theatre only to find myself in the midst of a YB blackout. I went out to check and see if it was all along Lucretia, and when I came back, the entire cast was locked in time, in the darkness of the Theatre. The only light was coming from the doors, and from one beam of sunlight shining on Angie's mom, who was using it as a light source to read.

5  We called PG & E, and District guys came out as well. We were told the electricity was out for the evening, and to cancel. No brainer to me. I informed Angie, and she hesitated. We then received word that SOME electricity had been found working, only they didn't know where. Within minutes, chairs, stools, old chairs with paint, blankets, and a very warm and willing audience moved out to the lawn, facing the amphitheatre.

6  Picking up on the cue, we wheeled out a set of chairs; Angie addressed the audience, and within minutes, the cast had re-adjusted, and before we knew it, Act 1 had begun...outside, under the moon and stars!

7  The audience began hooting and hollering, and encouraging the actors to keep on acting, and they did! People were laughing, cheering, and enjoying an outdoor show as though it were a concert.

8  The original plan was simply to run Act 1 only, but once the party got underway, everyone began adjusting. The cast kept planning how to get each scene out there, and soon, I got into it. When Act 1 ended, I pulled my truck out on the lawn and aimed my headlights down.

9  At first, it was dark, but then I moved it to the side, blinked on my high beams, and the audience roared! Act 2 was officially underway, and the cast rose to the occasion. Everyone was caught up in the magic that was taking place by the minute, with a reasonably warm night, great lighting, and things like mosquitos and helicoptors flying about.

10  But the show rocked on!!! Another guy drove his truck to the other side of the lawn, and we did a perfect cross-light, with truck headlights. As Act 2 came to a close, I ran to my truck and popped in some Bach, for the scene change, and the butler and maid picked up on it and danced while the sets magically changed. By Act 3, the audience that remained cheered, laughed, and the whole place bonded. As the final line about the true Importance of Being Earnest, the audience hooted and cheered. I played Bach loudly as the Cast took their curtain call, and we all hugged and stuff, because against all odds, we pulled it off!! The FIRST outdoor play in the history of YB!!!

11 It's hard to describe how awesome that was. The entire Company toughed it out, and one of the greatest shows ever happened on Saturday night, right on our amphitheatre.

12  We may never get another night like that; it is the stuff of legends. But it is now OUR legend, the little group that COULD and DID!

13  Congratulations to everyone in the Pigeon Players for a masterful run. Plans are already in progress for future outdoor events, including the possibility of doing some Shakespeare!

14  Meanwhile, W. Fred Crow, a local theatre critic whose name I misspelled last Friday, wrote an outstanding review of the show. I shall attach it to the e-mails of the DN, as well as run it for the students.

15  What a night! What a company and what a Show!!

16  I look forward to many more!

17  Meanwhile, thanks Earnest, for coming in with the stars and the moon. The entire theatrical community of San Jose is becoming curioser and curiouser...

18  'Til the next time...

 

The Daily News

1   The Importance of Being Earnest rocked the house last night. It's AMAZING to me that something THAT incredibly classy and good is going on right here at YB!!! Fred Crowe, a theatre reviewer for the Milpitas Post, suggested to me that the Pigeon Players are the real deal. I quite agreed, telling him, "Can you IMAGINE these guys WITH funding and audiences, and a facility like the Rep?"

2  I remember the San Jose Rep a few years before they moved to their new facility, and let me tell you: they had NOTHING on the Pigeon Players. The Players have grown, matured, and are now putting up very close to professional-quality shows. And the shows are FREE, tonight and tomorrow night at 8, and Sunday at 3. I hope people at this school understand what an important gift this very generous group is to our community. Mr. Crowe stated that it is a feather in our cap that our school recognizes the art and talent of this young and amazing theatre company.

3  I may be wasting my breath here, but you ain't going to get this quality of theatre anywhere from Story Road to Cal Poly. If someone would kindly name a place in between those two spots, I'm all for giving them recognition. The Pigeon Players have arrived, and have, in my eyes, as well as in the eyes of Mr. Crowe, moved a world class theatrical company into the YB Theatre.

4  As always, however, YB seems not to get it, which is a shame. It's almost embarrassing that we have people from Shady Shakespeare, Big Lil's downtown, a dancer from the Moulin Rouge, graduates from SJSU, local filmmakers from Cinequest, and that it's the best kept secret around.

5  Shame on you, YB!

6  So pencil in a two-hour slot this weekend, dress up, put your nose a bit in the air, and enjoy The Importance of Being Earnest in the YB Theatre. Come, listen, stay, and enjoy the tremendous acting, and the amazingly deft directing hand of Angie Higgins. It's really a joy to watch this show. I'm VERY proud of the Company, and honored to be a part of it.

7  Prom bids are selling fast, so get in and get your bid for this year's Senior Ball. Sorry we had nobody out there yesterday; I had to bark at the committee about that one. But there should be a table set up by Monday, right at the bottom of the steps. This is going to be a wonderful evening, so get out there, grab some friends, and make a night of it!!

8  What else?  Ah, I'm a pretty disappointed that the 49ers didn't pick up Jerry Rice. It would have been a wonderful tribute to number 80 to retire as a Niner, and frankly, their corps (yeah, it SHOULD rhyme with corpse!) could use a guy of his history and stature.

9  Well, I guess it's all about pearls before swine sometimes, isnt it?

10  It's sometimes an amazing thing to watch the dyslexia that occurs when people evidently quite slow of study mistake the sublime for the ridiculous, and so on.

11  With that, I shall take the high road out of this absurdity today by simply wishing one and all better thought, and a goodly, sunny afternoon.

12  After two-hour classes going on all week, I should think we have all become a tad smarter.

13  Peace.

The Daily News

1  Meanwhile, I'm still getting attacked by pop-ups. 

2  It's driving me absolutely loony.

3  I tried  to download something called Adaware, which is supposed to stop these attacks, but it just got swarmed by more stuff. I'm afraid even to think for a gazillionth of a second, because I may be writing an entire DN and losing it within seconds.

4  So things are going quite fast these days.

5  In some ways, it's pretty nice, because I have had lots of e-mails lately, and what this does is it not only sends me a whole bunch of stuff I couldn't care less about, but when I am writing someone back, it suddenly shifts, and if I have another letter going, the second half of my sentence winds up being mailed to THAT guy. So, in essence, I can write TWO different people on one e-mail.

6  Oh, well. What can you do?

7  It's like, there are way worse things, so I ain't trippin'.

8  So Star Wars peeps: hope you're all into it. Good times, good times.

9  Tonight begins our second round of the Pigeon Players' The Importance of Being Earnest at 8 p.m. The price is FREE, with a donation please. It runs tonight, tomorrow night, Saturday night, and Sunday at 3, so come one, come all, and bring friends!!! Great show!

10  And next Friday night is the Senior Ball, or Prom, or whatever we wanna call it. We've been referring to it in discussion as "Prom", but in posters as "Ball". Either way, we have now over 80 bids and close to 170 people attending. It's going to be the dance to beat all dances. The extravaganza happens at the beautiful Decathlon Club in Santa Clara, a breezy, beautiful facility with running brooks, twinkly lights, a skylight, yummy desserts, TWO dance floors, a red carpet, sparkling cider entrance, party favors, and a romantic, memorable night sponsored by the very wonderful Class of '05, MY class, my awesome Senior Class, and it should be the epitome of everything we have come to be. Buy bids TODAY at the bottom of the steps!!! But don't hesitate; it's filling up fast!!!

11  Yesterday, Thuy Ann and I went over to Piedmont and gave Mr. Moser his finished collage, AND invited him to Prom. Unfortunately, he wasn't there, but it was sort of fun knowing we had gotten the invite over to him. We told his secretary that YB says "Hi".

12  The pop-ups seem to have calmed a bit, so it looks easier to get this out there. Whew.

13  Okay, here's a tip: don't EVER download something called Aurora. I'm not sure if they are into casinos, dates, Napster, or funny little cartoon fruits that ask if you are experiencing obnoxious pop-ups, but I'd stay away from those guys.

14  So okay, I'm thinking it's time to get out of here.

15  I'll get on this at some point. Anyway, hope to see you all at the play!

16  Peace.

 

 

The Daily News

1   It's a little bit funny.

2   Amazing.

3   Yep. Tacit stuff.

4    Well, moving on; I have been moving swiftly on the DN's these past few days because of heroic pop-ups. Seems my computer has attracted nothing but, and every online casino company in the Universe wants my dime.

5  I can't seem to move quickly enough across the keyboards. I probably have some horrid virus which will have these bugs popping up at me every twelve seconds. It's annoying, and I already lost tonight's DN once.

6  It's okay, because I haven't much to say anyway. I was just sulking because I had close to nothing to eat all day, and when I finally got home last night, I cooked up this huge hot dog, complete with pickles, dijon mustard, and some sort of creamy horseradish, all of which fell to the floor directly in front of the hungry eye of my Nazi dog, Phoebe.

7  Within seconds, the entire second-half of the hot dog disappeared, leaving only a dollop of mustard on her wet nose. She's THAT good.

8  But to me, it was like my dinner excused itself from the table and never came back. I was distraught.

9  Oh, well. I finally figured I didn't really need it anyway.

10  But O! the humanity!

11  I guess we're back at it then, the two-hour classes.

12  Somebody's idea of a bad joke.

13  So I think I'll just type fast, and get outta Dodge.

14  Buy prom bids. It's going to be awesome.

15  Meanwhile, I really need to get outta here before my computer freezes. My comments about the Wendy's finger-dude, as well as all of the other ridiculous absurdities that fly at me on a daily basis will have to wait. Plus, I'm holding three aces.

16  Talk about a stacked deck.

18  All pop-ups aren't bad. Some beautiful gal just popped up and claimed she wanted to meet me. I flushed all red. I'm pretty flattered, to be honest. I thnk her name is Shugguh.

17  M'bad.

18  I'd better get outta here before I start making VERY bad jokes about stacked decks.

19  It's a little bit funny.

20  Amazing.

21  Yep. Totally tacit.

22   Out.

The Daily News

1   Hey, man.

2   I lied.

3   I never ran the Bay-to-Breakers in a Hermes suit.

4   I never talked to that Kenyan dude.

5   I just wanted to get the DN out before it got swarmed by the forty bajillion pop-ups that have suddenly besieged my puter.

6  It's the digital equivalent to biblical locusts.

7  So I just  HAD to write as much as I could, as swiftly as possible.

8   I did GOOF on that Kenyan dude when I heard him interviewed on teevee.

9   But no convo.

10  No suh.

11  So writing the DN is like being the Death Star, only at the receiving end.

12  I wish I could get into the new Star Wars. I was never a Star Wars fanatic, but I do appreciate it as a classic. I've just been too busy to get into it. To me, you have to see ALL the others before venturing out to the newest, or what's the point?

13  So thank goodness for DVD's. 

14  This week's schedule is EXACTLY what we all need this time of year: four block schedules in a row. Two hour classes all the way through Friday. Is there a back door outta this place?

15  Gotta love it.

16  I think I'm going to go now. I don't know why, but I just have this vision of being a corpse by Friday, and I would like to enjoy these last lovely minutes of being a human being before the darkness falls.

17  Four days of block scheduling. Argh.

18  Well, set 'em up, boys.

19  Okay, I'm outta here.

20  Late.