The Daily News

1   So yesterday I predicted a coincidence within a few days, and right after I launched the DN, I got an e-mail from the very elegant and wonderful Fina Pengosro, who sent me an e-mail with a link to a flyer she just made last week. Here is the flyer.

2 That's it.

3  Peace.

                                  ~H~                     

                   www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1  Ah, Mondays.

2  Used to hate them. I have a bit of a challenge with Sunday nights, sometimes even afternoons, but Mondays have become a sort of friend of mine.

3  I guess because it's reasonably easy to fly under the radar on a Monday. Fridays are traditionally easy to fly under radar. In fact, most colleges acknowledge Fridays as the first day of a weekend. In fact, many college students declare Thursday night the REAL Friday night, and Friday the official Saturday, just to buy themselves one more day of fun.

4  Now if we eventually eliminate Tuesdays...my, it starts to get complex, when you really look at it.

5  Ah, who wants to?

6  Moving on: Sorry about all the grammar and spelling locations in yesterday's DN. I was so shot that I slept in between words, would awaken and keep going with no regard for where it was I left off.

7  Can't really remember the errors, except that I talked of how the cheerleaders couldn't "stund". That's "stunt". One sounds like they bounced like Tigger, the other sounds like they landed in the mud.

8  So weird.

9  No. Being a teacher is so weird, really.

10  Like, most people were in school when they were five. Teachers are still in school when they're 64.

11  I had a great talk with another teacher about that the other night.

12  She chewed her gum and was like, so cool.

13  Haha, just kidding. Or not.

14  Moving on, Part the Next:  You ever notice how no matter where you park, someone always pulls in right next to you? I read this book about synchronicity, and it brought that up. I've been goofing on it ever since.

15  I mean, yeah when you find a place up close it happens, but I also have noticed that it happens no matter WHERE you park. You could parked  out in the middle of the Mojave Desert and you can bet that some guy will park right next to you so he can get out and goof on the cactus next to your car.

16  What does it all mean?

17  Well, you know how Mr. Natural would answer that.

18  I love stuff like that though. Like you learn a new word, and that night you'll hear someone say it.

19  I picked up this little book by Scott Adams, the guy who writes Dilbert. It's called God's Debris, A Thought Experiment. He brings that new word thing up. To me, I've watched that for years. Almost every time I would teach vocab, one of the words would appear in a headline, or on the news, or someone would say it later that day.

20  The car thing I noticed from some book by Dr. Wayne Dyer, who is fast becoming sillily pop. Too bad, because his views on synchronicity are right on the money.

21  I used to really watch that stuff, especially in the early Heidi days. I mistook it for a ghost, when in fact it now seems much more scientific. Naturally scientists can't agree about such things, but that's why I'm not a scientist.

22  Couldn't care less about whether it has cause of not. I just know from experience that this sorta stuff happens ALL the time, and I assume I'm not alone.

23  I remember my very first day driving up to the Chill on the Hill. I probably reported this in the DN already, but it bears repeating. I was going to the school on my very first day when a car pulled in front of me, almost causing me to brake.

24  I looked at the license plate, and iI was exactly across the street from the school. The license plate said "HIGH T 2".

25  I laughed. When I told my class that last Halloween, they literally got scared. It was the best. I had told them the Heidi Chronz, which I do every year. I say this only because it is that season, when all this stuff starts happening again.

26  Fear not; I'm tanned, rested and ready.

27  Meanwhile, I gottago. Papers to grade, grades to get in, sleep to respect.

28  I'll keep an eye out for more coincidences. I can almost guarantee one in the next few days, but we'll see.

29  Meanwhile, it's Tuesday.

30  Fly low.

31  Have a beautiful day.

32  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1  Care to hear how Homecoming went?

2  Haha. A pie in the face comes with the job.

3  Do I dare go there?

4  I imagine.

5  So let's go back to Thursday night, the night before the Homecoming game.

6  I'm at the school figuring out some last-minute adjustments. I had already canceled the rally due to threatening clouds, and the class decorations as well.  I wasn't a popular fellow Friday morning.

7  As I had predicted, a major storm hit early in the morning and would have drenched all the decorations. There was lots of artwork with poster paint that would have made a colorful river running down Quimby Road.

8  I also did the right thing in canceling the huge rally. It was to be outside, since 2600 students will not even begin to fit in a gym that holds 750.

9  Backtrack to Thursday night. I'm exhausted, dying from tiredness when the cheerleader coach comes in and says, "The girls aren't going to do halftime. Six of them didn't make grades." Halftime wasn't too together anyway since I couldn't seem to convince the officers that we should bring out the Homecoming Court. I pushed and pushed but not much coming back. So no court intros. Can't use cars on the track anyway, which eliminates floats, unless we make wooden carts for next year.

10  At least I had the award-winning band. 

11  I e-mailed the Band guy asking how many chairs he would need for the game, and he replied, "Let's just watch the skies and see." I had been promised a ten-minute performance.

12  Friday morning. Cheerleaders are all decked out in full regalia, candy leis, pizza party for the players, huge posters, the full program. But no show for halftime. Band guy shows. "We prolly won't perform. We can MAYBE bring some percussion to just stand there at halftime but that field is drenched." 

13  "I'm really in a spot here man. I have to have SOMETHING for halftime. I'd really appreciate it a bunch if you guys could go out there and do it." For no reason my mind rushed to the fact that there was a helium shortage and we never did balloons because of that.

14  "It's pretty wet, and no one cares about the Band anyway." he said. As he walked away I saw the way this day was going. I disagreed about the Band, but he was gone before I could correct that. 

15  I still had a barbecue to design that afternoon. I had organized a barbecue with the famous Andy's Bar-B-Que AND a 12-piece LIVE Latin/jazz band for the staff. At noon I ran to Musson Theatrical to get some gels to color up the stage I had set up for the Band. Lighting would take time, but it would work with the BBQ smoke and all. I had a couple of boys coming to wear suits with earbuds so they looked like Hollywood security. An easel that said "Private VIP Party" on it. Students in suits and dresses. Class act. A bucket of roses with small slips of paper ribboned to them saying "Homecoming Cougar Kickoff Inaugural BBQ and Jazz Fest. October 12, 2007 EV vs. Silver Creek. For all you do..." 

16  A rose for each VIP staff person. Cougar shaker poms for the kids, and for each adult. Live band kickin' in. Amazing Bar-B-Que. 

17  I began getting the BBQ party designed and lit, but got called to the stadium to get the box office open for the FS game.

18  The kids who were SUPPOSED to be there simply didn't show, so the principal and the librarian got stuck selling tickets, making signs on the windows, and basically running the window because my students just flaked on the biggest event we have all semester. I also noticed that the stadium mics, which I had already tested and were working, were suddenly not working.  The principal called and told me that the downs and yards-to-go lights weren't working on the new scoreboard, which I completely mastered and trained others to use.

No sellers. No band. No cheerleaders. No Homecoming Court. No balloons. No mics. No downs or yards to go.Still no lighting or organization for the Bar-B-Q, which I was going to spend time doing once the box office was set up for the FS game.

19  At the game it suddenly poured buckets of rain. No canopies. The ones we had had been moved and so the Booster's Club insisted I find them for their concession stand.

20  No sellers. No marching band. No cheerleaders. No Homecoming Court. No balloons. No mics. No downs nor yards-to-go. No canopies. No lighting nor pre-set for the barbecue because no canopies.

21  My student help showed late, so the entire "VIP Security" thing failed. The live band, Masada, had managed to get set up and despite the crappy lighting, proceeded to kick everyone's ass. Thank God. They did Tower of Power tunes and just cooked. Andy's smelled great and so the BBQ went okay even though it was cafeteria seating.

22  Meanwhile, a student crew finally arrived, the game got off, the FS won, and halftime was approaching. STILL no marching band. The cheerleaders were cheering and glittered, the mascot bounced, but I knew I had to get to the booth so they could announce no halftime. I kept an eye out for the marching band, but with four minutes left in the half, it was obvious they weren't even coming to the game.

23  I jumped up into the press box, told the announcer that we literally had no Homecoming things for halfime. He laughed, understood, and said he'd announce the Band's Gilroy competition coming up, and their Wind Ensemble show Wednesday night, the one they will be performing at Carnegie Hall. He would explain how the playing field kept the Band from going out, and that it was too dangerous for the cheerleaders to stunt in the slippery condiitons.

24  I decided to go back up to the North end zone, above the field and looked down at the game stadium below me. Despite all, it looked peaceful. Our team was winning 26-7, and I was sure our Wednesday rally pumped those guys up, but of course I couldn't take any credit for the work they did. But inside I saw how much it meant to them. I smiled, listened to the announcements at halftime, and felt fine with it. I smiled.

25  Suddenly, the crowd went crazy. They yelled, cheered and screamed. I looked back down.

26  Three guys had done a chonie run across the field, jumping up and down in black marblebags. Everybody in the stadium went crazy because they got a halftime show after all.

27  I looked up at the sky and said thanks. I absolutely loved it. For the rest of my life I'll never forget my second Homecoming halftime that wasn't a halftime until three guys chonied the crowd.

28  By the evening's end, I raised a glass to complete failure.

29  In the long run, it all came down to underpants.

30  Somehow, ya gotta love it. Sometimes a pie in the face comes with the job.

31  I should have set off those fireworks that I had sitting in the back, but I was sure that they would probably either be duds, or start the school on fire.

32  Just kidding.

33  And that's the way it was on our Homecoming, 2007.

34  Failure. When your best just isn't enough...

35  Someday it'll all make for a great laugh.

36  Maybe even today. So who cares really anyway?

37  Live life, love life; it's the very best you can do. Failure, my friends, is overrated.

38  Enjoy a hearty laugh. LIfe's too short to worry about any of this boushit.

39  I love every minute of it.

40  You too.

41  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

  The Daily News

1  Meet Mr. Natural.

2  Old school underground comix guy.

3  Yesterday Paul Long of the Heidi Chronz fame wrote and mentioned that some of R. Crumb's illustrations would fit right in with the DN. I thought for around a twelfth of a second and concluded that Paul was right.

4  Years ago these comix were sort of the anti-comix. They were for a newer, hipper generation, designed for people with pretty off-beat senses of humor.

5  I don't remember too much about Mr. Natural except that he was philosophical but silly in spite of it.

6  One of my favorite comix covers ever was this one of Mr. Natural moving down the street on a scooter with another character, whom I believe was named Flaky Foont, looking over the fence, frantic as always, and asking, "Mr. Natural, what does it all mean?"

7  And there you have it.

8  The meaning of life.

9  Or something.

10  I was always inspired by R. Crumb's famous "Keep on Truckin'" poster.

11  Such a simple philosophy.

12  Sometimes the light's all shinin' on me. Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurrs to me, what a long, strange trip it's been...

13  You're right, Paul.

14  R. Crumb works well here.

15  Moving on: I had to pull the plug on both the Homecoming rally AND the decorating yesterday. Possible rain. Hugely probable. I had little choice, but what a tough go for the students.

16  These guys literally LIVE for this. I know; I was an advisor to two classes over the years.

17  Well in an uncanny act of synchronicity, R. Crumb and that very comix cover was being discussed with my family the other night. And when I googled it upon Paul's request, I found this:

18  Yesterday's DN had a reference to the Bee Gees. In a fun act of synchronicity, I googled Mr. Natural last night. Bee Gees. Mr. Natural. Coincidence. 

19  I love that stuff.

20  We all got knocked down yesterday. I didn't feel that bad because the students got to have a night rally the other night.

21  But still.

22  I had to make some fast decisions. Unpopular decisions, but logical decisions.

23  A bunch of students on the eve of their spirit night aren't going to understand about logical decisions when they've poured their hearts into this one thing. 

24  I made the call. Given the weather reports and everything else, I feel strongly that I would have done the same thing fifty times over. The school is made of stucco and glass, and severe dampness, rain and storms would just ruin all the props. The rally has to be outside, and 2600 students aren't going to be sitting in the rain for an hour.

25  Still...furthermore, the cheerleaders told me last night at 6 p.m. that they wouldn't be performing at the game. And the Marching Band put all of us on hold until they could see what the weather was going to do. This leaves our Homecoming Court, who think it's okay to wear school clothes when they are introduced. That's half-time.

26  We're reporting live from Homecoming week. New schools. Yeesh. No vision. Looks like I have my work cut out for me.

27  We still have the Bar-B-Que and the game itself. The band said they'd be too loud for the cafeteria in the event of rain...

28  And finally, the dance. We decided to decorate the dance with the decorations intended for tomorrow, the idea being that everyone could come to the dance and see the decorations in all their glory and splendor.

29  Wish us luck. Hate to leave ya hangin' but that's where we are.

30  And thanks Paul, for the graphics.

31  Long overdue. Once again, this is coming to you live from Homecoming Week.

32  We'll keep you posted.

33  Peace.

 ~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

  The Daily News

1  My third toe in on my left foot is frozen.

2  Some eskimo came up to me last night and offered to chop it off.

3  Tober, I swear.

4   Isn't it weird how yer cold n then yer not n' then yer cold n' then yer not, etc.

5  That's what happens in October.

6  On the homefront, had a fun  thingy. Pretty fun night, really.

7  Only trouble is coming home and trying to get the DN out in a measurable fashion.

8  Man.

9  By the time I have rolled out the laptop and all I'm ready for bed.

10  Got it though.

11  Short one today.

12   I think I'm just gonna rest these tired old feet of mine and struggle through it.

13   Remember that song Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees? It just poetically came on in the background.

14  Seemed perfect.

15  Gottago.

16  Stay tuned...

17  This is H broadcasting from Homecoming as it happens.

18   <thud>

19   Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

The Daily News

1  Long Tuesday yesterday.

2  Once again, my theory about Tuesdays holds.

3  Lose yesterday and tomorrow's Friday.

4  Anyway, it wasn't bad, for a Tuesday.

5  Besides, I once was told that people who keep talking about "the next big thing" have a death wish, a bit of a misinterpretation of Freud. The idea was that by wanting to go to the next big thing, they are secretly desiring the ultimate next big thing.

6  Not really the case, but if you think I'm going to wrestle with Freud at six minutes past midnight you have another thing coming.

7  Notice how I got that in. What dedication! What chutz. The guy was up past midnight writing the DN, probably by candlelight.

8  The clouds just broke open. It's dark outside, and it's pouring.

9  Once upon a midnight...

10  Actually I'm quite fine as I write this. Yeah, it ruins the morning illusion that I'm writing this over a bagel and some coffee, but really, it truly is just past midnight as these words fall like raindrops.

11  I really just awoke form a coupla hours of a nice nap, so this is the first night that everything got knocked all crooked on me.

12  The beauty part is that I'm nice and rested, despite the hour.

13  The tough part is that once I get back to sleep, I won't technically have had enough sleep.

14  Ever do that? Then you worry all night about not having enough sleep and you wind up fulfilling that prophecy.

15  Well yeah.

16  Naturally it happens on the night of my longest day of the week. Yep. This year, it's Wednesdays. This Wednesday is probably one of the busiest of the year just because we have our rally tonight.

17  You Spirit Week people might focus in: this is a new thing, and all four classes are doing their big Spirit Week skits tonight in the school's stadium. Never been done before, and they all want a HUGE dress rehearsal at 4 p.m. today. This was announced to me yesterday morning.

18  I'm in classes, meetings, and doing things during breaks all day. Ah, nobody wants to hear it. It's like telling people you have a cold. Everybody nods, nobody really cares, and they all want to get WAY away from you when you tell 'em!

19  Anyway, that's just the way day two went. Pretty uneventful. Did a gazillion things, collapsed at 9, woke up, wrote this.

20  It'd make a fascinating book, wouldn't it? <thud>

21  Haha, this is LIVE from Homecoming Week. We had to call the rally Spirit of Homecoming because you can't call rallies rallies anymore. Something about "academic minutes". Ah, nothing like schools and negotiations to change things ridiculously.

22  The other day I told the girl on the morning announcements not to call the Friday rally a rally. I even put it on a piece of paper. It was great. It read, "PLEASE don't call the rally a rally. Huh? I know, I know!"

23  When she picked up the microphone to plug tonight's rally, she said, "...and don't forget to go to the thingy...the whatdyacallit...the thingy we're having on Wednesday night..." A roomful of delighted students cupped their hands over their smiles, all braces and stuff. Classic. True story.

24  Man bites dog.

25  Ha, you gotta admit that was a fun tidbit.

26  So I'm gonna git while the gittin's good.

27  Wish me luck, willya?  ;  )

28  See ya agin.

29  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

   The Daily News

Jimmy Olsen and Perry White 

1  Historians aren't really sure who said this: "When a dog bites a man, that is not news...but if a man bites a dog, that is news." Journalism professors and dogged journalism students debate the origin of this famous quote. Some attribute it to one John B. Bogart, New York Sun editor from 1873-1890. Others give it to Charles Dana, Sun editor and part owner from 1868-1897.

2  My experience with the quote is that it was constantly drilled into Daily Planet personnel by Editor-in-Chief Perry White, who allegedly shortened it: "Dog bites man, nobody cares. Man bites dog, that's news!"

3  Well.

4  As a former journalism student and editor of the cub edition of my high school newspaper in my junior year, I always thought Perry White's advice made utmost sense.

5  I got home a bit late yesterday and just grabbed the Merc News. I flipped through it to see if the little pictures of what the weather was going to do was going to have rain on Friday.

6  The Merc is great for visual learners. In general, it has pictures of what the weather is going to do for the rest of the week. Monday had a sun, today has a sun with clouds hanging off it. Wednesday and Thursday both  have the same exact cloud, just one each, although to a guy who needs a fair Friday, it seemed they gathered and moved on the page, like something out of a Harry Potter diary.

7  I think I was just imagining it, but I really needed Friday to remain partly cloudy. Here is this week's forecast directly from the Merc News' online website:

Translation: 

Tuesday:  Mostly Cloudy

Wednesday: Partly Cloudy

Thursday:  Partly Cloudy

Friday:  Rain, rain, rain

8  I found this out the night before last, just as I was finishing up making my flyers for the tailgate party for Homecoming. I looked again yesterday morning and It seemed that the Thursday cloud was moving slowly up and just a bit more to the left.

9  Not news. But it got me to start thumbing through the Merc iso news.

10  So after reading the fun news about the rain, I brushed through the paper.

11  I came upon this huge headline on page 6B:

 "Students often tardy to class"

12  No kiddin'? Can you imagine the copy boy flying this headline anywhere in a newspaper building?

13  Ummm...Chief?

14  Evidently not a lot of journalists have taken Perry White's advice.

15  Superman's boss. Go figure.

16  I had to smile. Thought immediately of Perry White's advice to Jimmy Olsen, Lois, and Clark.

17  "Dog bites man. Nobody cares!"

18  Merc, shame on you!

19  Shame on me for telling you about it.

20  Ah, let's move on briefly.

21  I was pleased to tune in once again to The Bachelor last night. It was set in the circus. Perfect.

22  People should throw peanuts at everyone on the set and on that show. 

23  Well, I just thought I'd tell you about the journalism quote, about Perry White, and how that headline would NEVER have found the light of day on the Planet, and finally about The Bachelor, and some bimbo said, "Oh...mygod! I was SEHOOO excited to get a rose in front of the whole circus..."

24  Hopefully they'll go to the zoo next week where they could take up permanent residence. 

25  Someone's havin' fun, I'll tell you that much.

26  Well, have a great day today everybody.

27  Hope it doesn't rain.

28  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

 The Daily News

1  Ah, insomnia rears its ugly head.

2  How ya'll doin'?

3  It's Sunday morning, 3 a.m.

4  I realize it isn't by the time you read this, but that is truly when it was written.

5  Well, 3:23 when it was begun.

6  I just like to say Sunday Morning, 3 a.m. because it's the name of this old Simon and Garfunkel album.

7  I'm just buzzing. We have Homecoming this week and it's darned scary how much stuff we're attempting. Got tired of spinning around doing little stuff so I tried to kick things into high gear with huge stuff all week.

8  We shall see; we shall see.

9  It's just that I went way out there and got a 12-piece band to play for a tailgate party on Friday night, and I want everything to be high tech atomic good times, live-fire barbecue and Homecoming Courts and all that jazz.

10  Plus we got this new scoreboard out there, huge and glistening in the night.

11  So here we go. I won't be sleeping this week, so the reports are gonna be coming in scattered and in real time.

12  This could succeed beyond all success.

13  Then again, it could just as easily not.

14  But at least I'm enjoyin' the ride.

15  You know me.

16  Knock me down nine times and I'll get up eight. 

17  I'd go for a bike ride but it's dark out.

18  I'm spinning right now, but ready to hop on the rollercoaster.

19  Did I mention that the new super scoreboard has an operator's manual as thick as the Bible? Guess who gets to figure THAT one out.

20  Anyway yeah, just chillin'.

21  This month has Mondays, correct?

22  Good.

23  I actually need the time.

24  I'll give everyone Mondays off in January.

25  For now, I welcome Monday.

26  You have a great one.

27  I'll work on it.

28  Coming to you live from Homecoming Week, this is H signing off.

29  Good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

30  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington

 The Daily News

1  I want to go on record as saying you should all tune into this great new show called Pushing Daisies. I was absolutely amazed that television was capable of creating a show as remarkably different and wonderfully bizarre as this morsel.

2 That's about all I'll say about it.

3  In general, not a big review guy here, but that one turned my head.

4  It's quite possible that contract disputes, reality teevee,  and fierce competition for viewers may be causing Teevee Darwinism. That's just not a bad thing for the rest of us. The last time something like this happened there was a Renaissance going on and a guy named Shakespeare rose to the top.

5  He's dead now, of course. At least I think he's dead.

4  I'm 99% sure...

5  Moving on:  I had already been semi-watching things like Ugly Betty and House,  but sometimes I just have reality shows blaring in the back while I do the DN. Again, I'm leaving out some other great shows, but don't really have the time.

6  Sounds like all I DO is watch teevee, but it's usually on, like a lava lamp is on, or a ballgame. It isn't often that I have time to concentrate on the quality.

7  But it's improved considerably when you look at some of the higher quality efforts going on out there. Well...then again...there's The Bachelor...

8  Moving on, REALLY...:  Okay so let's move away from the teevee for a minute.

9  If you're a San Jo person, did you get a load of the sky yesterday?

10  Still life with clouds. Absolutely October as October should be.

11  I literally drove to Walgreens right after my work day and bought a disposable camera because the day was painted so beautifully. Large clouds loomed, but wisps of clouds stood silently in the sky like sublte brush strokes from high above.

12  Windy, blustery, and honestly ringing in October in all it's splendor. Crisp and lively, the sky stood a perfect sentinel to the storybook trees and hills of San Jose.

13  Sometimes man, I gotta tellya.

14  Home just letting us know why we love it here.

15  If you're away from here, just know that our town is still home in every sense. Breezy artwork, living and real, filled with memories and sweeping history.

16  Yesterday.

17  All that beauty on some random day. I looked up into the hills and thought of a lot of you.

18  Made me smile. Looks the same as it ever looked.

19  Ah, the hills of San Jose on a windy October afternoon.

20  Sometimes...

21  Nah, that's it.

22  I'm leaving this week with that image.

23  Sometimes there's just no other place.

24  Live life, love life.

25  Ah, home.

26  Have a lovely weekend everybody.

27  Peace.

~H~

http://www.xanga.com/bharrington