Courtney and I went to the Okmulgee County homeschool co-op's graduation yesterday afternoon. It was good to be at First Baptist-Okmulgee again, because it was a large part of my social life growing up. The graduates this year were Little Jessica, Lani, two of the older Reeves kids and someone else. The pastor's house was flooded, so there wasn't a sermon, as is usually the case with homeschool graduations. Other than that, it was about as endearingly awkward an experience as expected. We talked for a bit with Mrs. Lee, and said hi to Mrs. Boland, but Mrs. Wright was too busy to say hello to. So we slipped out of the reception fairly quickly.
Courtney said it was weird, knowing that she'll be graduating in two three weeks, and that she could have been on the stage with them. I didn't expect to see anyone that I knew well, since we're all pretty scattered now - Cody and his family are in OKC, so is Mariah, Annette is in NYC, don't know about anyone else, since I've pretty much lost track of everyone. Still, it was one of those things that it felt like you're supposed to go to, because it's about as close to a five-year reunion as is possible for homeschoolers.
Amanda's daughter Maya had her second birthday yesterday. Talked some with Dylan and Sara after church this morning, mostly trading finals prep plans, and another topic was her and Josh's wedding coming up in June.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Mud Soccer and Thank-You Notes
I was going to email Bob and Deb this morning to say "thank you" for all that they've done during their time at NSU, but I couldn't find their email addresses anywhere. But then I remembered that I'd been meaning to email Professor Semrow to say thanks for the encouraging speech to keep on writing during Intro to Lit my sophomore year, and to tell her that I ended up as an English major at RSU. That made her day - apparently former students don't usually send thank-you notes very often. And apparently it was a rough day, so that encouragement and appreciation was especially welcome. "I'm glad you trusted me and pursued a degree that I knew you had the talent to do well in. Please know that my very difficult day was lightened beyond description because one former student took the time to say thanks. You were a blessing to teach years ago, Wesley, and I'm proud of you."
While waiting for afternoon classes to start, Brian and I talked for a while about the difficulties of cowriting projects and Shakespeare adaptations, and then without missing a beat launch into a sports-talk-radio-level dissection of the Thunder's season and weak areas. He's been a good guy to work with on class projects.
Capstone discussion was awful this afternoon - Jeff and Hayden both galloped out of the room entirely at points. (And when they can't handle conversations, that's saying something.) I wanted to leave, too, but my chair was awkwardly situated for quick exits. Topics included the obligatory course evaluations, environmental rants, the ethics of playing God with science, women's personal grooming, various body mutilations, torture, incest and funerals. I actually wrote a complaining Facebook status in the moment, things got so awkward to listen to. Since none of us wanted to be there in the first place, it was an especially disheartening day. On the other hand, it was the last class, so there's that.
I showed up late to Pop Market this morning, because I overslept, and so wound up playing the role of office secretary ushering various candidates into the Shark Tank-style boardroom of executives. (We were wrapping up group projects and presenting them to potential investors.)
Mingo Valley 's Eagles had a soccer game against the Wright Christian Wildcats tonight, the girls won easily, 5-0, while the boys lost in a hardfought 3-2 contest - where they were supposed to be Elma Big Green-level annihilated. Trenton made a couple good plays. Like last year, the rain started early in the second half, making things interesting. Not quite mud soccer, but close enough. It was really good to get to catch up with Steven and Jamie. And it made a nice symmetry in that one of the first sporting events I attended while in college (the second, technically) was an NSU women's soccer game in the pouring rain against a Texas school called McMurry. (Why do I remember the other team? And how?) I mean, it's not perfect symmetry - I was working that first day, operating the scoreboard, and at this high school game I wasn't even reporting, just watching as a fan. It was nice, though.
While waiting for afternoon classes to start, Brian and I talked for a while about the difficulties of cowriting projects and Shakespeare adaptations, and then without missing a beat launch into a sports-talk-radio-level dissection of the Thunder's season and weak areas. He's been a good guy to work with on class projects.
Capstone discussion was awful this afternoon - Jeff and Hayden both galloped out of the room entirely at points. (And when they can't handle conversations, that's saying something.) I wanted to leave, too, but my chair was awkwardly situated for quick exits. Topics included the obligatory course evaluations, environmental rants, the ethics of playing God with science, women's personal grooming, various body mutilations, torture, incest and funerals. I actually wrote a complaining Facebook status in the moment, things got so awkward to listen to. Since none of us wanted to be there in the first place, it was an especially disheartening day. On the other hand, it was the last class, so there's that.
I showed up late to Pop Market this morning, because I overslept, and so wound up playing the role of office secretary ushering various candidates into the Shark Tank-style boardroom of executives. (We were wrapping up group projects and presenting them to potential investors.)
Mingo Valley 's Eagles had a soccer game against the Wright Christian Wildcats tonight, the girls won easily, 5-0, while the boys lost in a hardfought 3-2 contest - where they were supposed to be Elma Big Green-level annihilated. Trenton made a couple good plays. Like last year, the rain started early in the second half, making things interesting. Not quite mud soccer, but close enough. It was really good to get to catch up with Steven and Jamie. And it made a nice symmetry in that one of the first sporting events I attended while in college (the second, technically) was an NSU women's soccer game in the pouring rain against a Texas school called McMurry. (Why do I remember the other team? And how?) I mean, it's not perfect symmetry - I was working that first day, operating the scoreboard, and at this high school game I wasn't even reporting, just watching as a fan. It was nice, though.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Tuesday Night
Brittany's choir had their spring-semester performance tonight, the auditorium was half full, which almost brought tears to my eyes because it was so good to see (though at the same time made me sad that theater performances don't get the same crowds). I got there at 6:40, because I had heard that it started at 7 p.m., so I missed the solos and ensemble pieces, which started at 6 p.m. No one had remembered to put that information on the posters advertising. That was very disappointing, particularly because I missed Brittany's duet of "Come Thou Fount" (that link goes to the Chelsea Moon version because it's great.) "Come Thou Fount" is one of my favorite hymns, and one of hers too. Texted her after the show because I didn't run into her in-person.
They started with the Pentatonix song "Run To You." A girl from Malawi arranged a tune a composer friend of hers had written, which was interesting to hear. "She Sings" was Brittany's favorite they did, one of the ones she practiced in the car. "Riversong" was my favorite from the program, because of the mandolin. I also thought it was interesting that they did sort of an adaptation of a gospel song by the Oak Ridge Boys called "Didn't It Rain?" The final song was another by Pentatonix, called "Light in the Hallway."
And the next-to-last they did was "Hallelujah," which is one that it seems like everyone under the sun has covered at one point or another. (Jason Castro singing it on Idol is my favorite version of this song.) During Youth Tour, we found a piano in the hotel lobby and Tosh started playing it, so a bunch of us gathered around for an improvised choir performance of "Hallelujah." Then the manager came down and yelled at us, so we had to quit. But it's a good memory.
Overall, they sounded fantastic, and it was extremely peaceful to listen to a group of people singing together for forty minutes. It's proof of how much work went into practicing, how smooth it turned out. It's too bad there aren't more chances for people to sing together in everyday life.
The RSU concert band performed next, and they did mostly detective music - the main title and end title themes from the John Wayne movie The Quiet Man, the theme from Schindler's List, the music from the Whose Line Is It Anyway? sketch "Private Investigator," the theme from the BBC series Poirot. The other one they did was called "Slow Hot Wind," and it sounded extremely familiar, though I couldn't quite place it. The show was over a little after 8 p.m., so I had plenty of time to get back to my apartment and begin this post before 9 p.m.
The Thunder's season is over, they were beaten by Houston in a close game, losing in the first-round series four games to one. It was difficult with Kevin Durant gone, but we all knew that was eventually going to happen. They fought hard, did far better than they should've. Proud to be a fan.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he will be retiring after this season.
Tonight's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Framework-set episode was especially trippy, even by this show's standards. Tripp and Bakshi are both still alive, Mace is dead, Victoria Hand recruited Ward to S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of Garrett, Evil Fitz continues to be horrendously evil, Coulson got to deliver another rousing speech, and Skye paralyzed AIDA.
Called Trevor afterwards and we talked about the episode for almost an hour. He said Courtney got an interview next Friday with College of the Ozarks, which is amazing. Hoping she gets accepted.
A massive storm roared through town, sheets of rain and enormous lightning. That lasted for about forty-five minutes, was very beautiful to watch.
They started with the Pentatonix song "Run To You." A girl from Malawi arranged a tune a composer friend of hers had written, which was interesting to hear. "She Sings" was Brittany's favorite they did, one of the ones she practiced in the car. "Riversong" was my favorite from the program, because of the mandolin. I also thought it was interesting that they did sort of an adaptation of a gospel song by the Oak Ridge Boys called "Didn't It Rain?" The final song was another by Pentatonix, called "Light in the Hallway."
And the next-to-last they did was "Hallelujah," which is one that it seems like everyone under the sun has covered at one point or another. (Jason Castro singing it on Idol is my favorite version of this song.) During Youth Tour, we found a piano in the hotel lobby and Tosh started playing it, so a bunch of us gathered around for an improvised choir performance of "Hallelujah." Then the manager came down and yelled at us, so we had to quit. But it's a good memory.
Overall, they sounded fantastic, and it was extremely peaceful to listen to a group of people singing together for forty minutes. It's proof of how much work went into practicing, how smooth it turned out. It's too bad there aren't more chances for people to sing together in everyday life.
The RSU concert band performed next, and they did mostly detective music - the main title and end title themes from the John Wayne movie The Quiet Man, the theme from Schindler's List, the music from the Whose Line Is It Anyway? sketch "Private Investigator," the theme from the BBC series Poirot. The other one they did was called "Slow Hot Wind," and it sounded extremely familiar, though I couldn't quite place it. The show was over a little after 8 p.m., so I had plenty of time to get back to my apartment and begin this post before 9 p.m.
The Thunder's season is over, they were beaten by Houston in a close game, losing in the first-round series four games to one. It was difficult with Kevin Durant gone, but we all knew that was eventually going to happen. They fought hard, did far better than they should've. Proud to be a fan.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he will be retiring after this season.
Tonight's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Framework-set episode was especially trippy, even by this show's standards. Tripp and Bakshi are both still alive, Mace is dead, Victoria Hand recruited Ward to S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of Garrett, Evil Fitz continues to be horrendously evil, Coulson got to deliver another rousing speech, and Skye paralyzed AIDA.
Called Trevor afterwards and we talked about the episode for almost an hour. He said Courtney got an interview next Friday with College of the Ozarks, which is amazing. Hoping she gets accepted.
A massive storm roared through town, sheets of rain and enormous lightning. That lasted for about forty-five minutes, was very beautiful to watch.
Monday, April 24, 2017
The Committee's Judgment
"Hi y'all, the Capstone letters are ready at the front desk of the office. Stop by this afternoon to pick them up," Madison's email to the rest of us said.
"Mr. Coburn,
"The Capstone Committee has met and graded your project. Congratulations - your project has passed. This is a significant achievement and the committee members are proud of you. Please remember to send a copy of the Capstone paper and reflective paper for our archives.
"Dr. Sally Emmons,
"Chair, Capstone Committee, RSU English and Humanities Department"
"Your scores:
Project: 4.
Presentation: 4.
Reflective: 5."
TWO WEEKS LATER - The numerical grades for the project and presentation were both 85's, while the reflective paper earned a 96 and the creative project short story a 100.
"Mr. Coburn,
"The Capstone Committee has met and graded your project. Congratulations - your project has passed. This is a significant achievement and the committee members are proud of you. Please remember to send a copy of the Capstone paper and reflective paper for our archives.
"Dr. Sally Emmons,
"Chair, Capstone Committee, RSU English and Humanities Department"
"Your scores:
Project: 4.
Presentation: 4.
Reflective: 5."
TWO WEEKS LATER - The numerical grades for the project and presentation were both 85's, while the reflective paper earned a 96 and the creative project short story a 100.
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Late April Weekend Update
Yesterday was extremely rainy and kind of cold. It wasn't very productive, but at least it was good weather to go for walks. (The thinking kind. The best thinking spot here is the front steps of the Will Rogers Auditorium. At NSU it was the third-base bleachers at the baseball field.)
I prowled through the nature reserve and tried to do homework. Then that night caught a movie called Eight Men Out, about the Black Sox Scandal of 1919. I'd always meant to watch that one, so it was cool to finally see it. Saturday Night Live was a rerun from October where Tom Hanks hosted, the cold open was a Trump-Hilary debate. He has a new movie coming out next week called The Circle, it's kind of a thriller based on a Facebook-like company. And Guardians Vol. 2 comes out in two weeks, which is awesome.
Woke up today at 8 a.m. with the thought "It's been too long since I went to church." So I ponder for a minute if there's anywhere possible to go to (downside of not really making any connections here). Then I remember that there's some kind of Pentecostal church across the road. That's better than nothing, I suppose. So I walk over to the Claremore Assembly of God, which was interesting. The people there were aggressively friendly in introducing themselves during the service (the guy in front of me shook my hand three times), but Sunday school was all right. The greeter pointed out various classes, saying it was an a la carte type of thing; everyone drifted to whichever study sounded interesting. So I see that there is a group doing First and Second Samuel, which seems hard to get wrong, as it's mostly narrative. (Revelation? Eh...not so much.) The Young Adult class sounded too intimidating and awkward, where a ton of "get-to-know-you" questions would be fired my way and everyone would be staring at me. (In theory, a Young Adults Bible-study group of some kind sounds like a great idea, though. But at least at Grace Baptist, most of that group was part of CCF, which made things awkward. Also I didn't quite trust the leader, though Ryan Galdemez said he was a good guy.)
So the Samuel study turns out to be three elderly women and two elderly men, which is much better. They ask polite basic questions, then go back to their normal weekly discussion and banter. That's perfect for social interaction in a new situation. And old people conversations are the best to listen to. One of the women says about the Young Adults course, "We used to call it the Young Married Couples class, but, uh....then we sort of ran out of young married couples." The section of Scripture studied this week was from 1 Samuel late chapter 19 to the early part of chapter 22, where David and Jonathan make their arrow-firing pact in the middle of one of the many Saul-David clashes. And in chapter 22 a whole bunch of priests were murdered.
The sermon was from 2 Timothy 3, the pastor emphasized the "these times are awful!" part and kind of skipped over Paul's "here are my instructions for you, Timothy" bit. But he stuck to the text a pretty good amount, compared to other Pentecostal services I've gone to. The sanctuary was designed round, like at First Baptist-Okmulgee, so that gave a kind of familiar feeling to it. And the acoustics sounded very good. The worship team played a couple choruses, they were shaky theologically but pleasant to listen to. Then they played "Tis So Sweet," which was really good. The lady on the other end of the pew said she graduated from NSU with a MassComm major, which I thought was interesting.
It was kind of nice visiting an unfamiliar church where you don't know anyone.
Because voluntarily meeting new people is exhausting, I immediately take a nap after getting some lunch in the dining hall. So then I decide that since it's a beautiful sunshiny day, I may as well practice volleyball for a while. On the way back I run into some people getting an Ultimate Frisbee game started, they ask me to join. I've played with them a couple times, it's the same kind of thing as at NSU my freshman year. There's a group that gets together a couple times a week to play Ultimate on the soccer field, and occasionally I'll join in, because it's exercise. I played better defense than I usual, got a block or two, threw and caught a couple of touchdowns each, though my team lost three of the four games played.
The Rockets won today's basketball game, the Thunder managed to lose in their typical stupid way. (It's rough being a fan of a team at times.) The NASCAR race at Bristol was postponed until tomorrow because of rain. I need to wrap up readying a presentation over a serial killer named Edmund Kemper for Psych... And I need to finish an essay about southern gothic lit. It's been a long week. I'm tired.
I prowled through the nature reserve and tried to do homework. Then that night caught a movie called Eight Men Out, about the Black Sox Scandal of 1919. I'd always meant to watch that one, so it was cool to finally see it. Saturday Night Live was a rerun from October where Tom Hanks hosted, the cold open was a Trump-Hilary debate. He has a new movie coming out next week called The Circle, it's kind of a thriller based on a Facebook-like company. And Guardians Vol. 2 comes out in two weeks, which is awesome.
Woke up today at 8 a.m. with the thought "It's been too long since I went to church." So I ponder for a minute if there's anywhere possible to go to (downside of not really making any connections here). Then I remember that there's some kind of Pentecostal church across the road. That's better than nothing, I suppose. So I walk over to the Claremore Assembly of God, which was interesting. The people there were aggressively friendly in introducing themselves during the service (the guy in front of me shook my hand three times), but Sunday school was all right. The greeter pointed out various classes, saying it was an a la carte type of thing; everyone drifted to whichever study sounded interesting. So I see that there is a group doing First and Second Samuel, which seems hard to get wrong, as it's mostly narrative. (Revelation? Eh...not so much.) The Young Adult class sounded too intimidating and awkward, where a ton of "get-to-know-you" questions would be fired my way and everyone would be staring at me. (In theory, a Young Adults Bible-study group of some kind sounds like a great idea, though. But at least at Grace Baptist, most of that group was part of CCF, which made things awkward. Also I didn't quite trust the leader, though Ryan Galdemez said he was a good guy.)
So the Samuel study turns out to be three elderly women and two elderly men, which is much better. They ask polite basic questions, then go back to their normal weekly discussion and banter. That's perfect for social interaction in a new situation. And old people conversations are the best to listen to. One of the women says about the Young Adults course, "We used to call it the Young Married Couples class, but, uh....then we sort of ran out of young married couples." The section of Scripture studied this week was from 1 Samuel late chapter 19 to the early part of chapter 22, where David and Jonathan make their arrow-firing pact in the middle of one of the many Saul-David clashes. And in chapter 22 a whole bunch of priests were murdered.
The sermon was from 2 Timothy 3, the pastor emphasized the "these times are awful!" part and kind of skipped over Paul's "here are my instructions for you, Timothy" bit. But he stuck to the text a pretty good amount, compared to other Pentecostal services I've gone to. The sanctuary was designed round, like at First Baptist-Okmulgee, so that gave a kind of familiar feeling to it. And the acoustics sounded very good. The worship team played a couple choruses, they were shaky theologically but pleasant to listen to. Then they played "Tis So Sweet," which was really good. The lady on the other end of the pew said she graduated from NSU with a MassComm major, which I thought was interesting.
It was kind of nice visiting an unfamiliar church where you don't know anyone.
Because voluntarily meeting new people is exhausting, I immediately take a nap after getting some lunch in the dining hall. So then I decide that since it's a beautiful sunshiny day, I may as well practice volleyball for a while. On the way back I run into some people getting an Ultimate Frisbee game started, they ask me to join. I've played with them a couple times, it's the same kind of thing as at NSU my freshman year. There's a group that gets together a couple times a week to play Ultimate on the soccer field, and occasionally I'll join in, because it's exercise. I played better defense than I usual, got a block or two, threw and caught a couple of touchdowns each, though my team lost three of the four games played.
 |
| Old stock picture I snapped freshman year, due to Ultimate Frisbee not being a very common photo subject. |
The Rockets won today's basketball game, the Thunder managed to lose in their typical stupid way. (It's rough being a fan of a team at times.) The NASCAR race at Bristol was postponed until tomorrow because of rain. I need to wrap up readying a presentation over a serial killer named Edmund Kemper for Psych... And I need to finish an essay about southern gothic lit. It's been a long week. I'm tired.
Friday, April 21, 2017
Capstone is FINISHED
Capstone presentations for the calss of 2017 of the English & Humanities Department are finished, so the process is now DONE. (Hopefully. Judgement Grades are TBA.) They started around 8:30 this morning, we got to the Baird Hall performance studio around 8-ish. Most of the alarms were set between 3 and 5 a.m. Kenzie studied how tribal identity and the modern world clashed in Indian literature, Madison studied men in Gothic lit, Lauren studied evil in Stephen King novels, Jenny studied how children's lit looks at death. Other presentations included looking at how YA lit deals with disabilities, what the Illiad has to say about leadership, and controversial women of the Bible.
Mine was analyzing country music as poetry, I was scheduled third, and the presentation went slightly worse than I thought it would, though apparently I finally managed to project well. Like I expected, I got blasted with (in the audience's opinion) most of the harshest questions from the committee, but I think I came up with the right responses (improv is useful that way). Dr. Mackie whispered "Very good, Wes!" on her way back to her seat during a break. Besides the dozen or so Capstone students and the dozen or so members of the committee, there were about ten or fifteen members of the audience, including our fellow classmate-coworkers Ashley, Brandon, Brian, Bryce, Debra, Kara and Sage.
The committee members got into an argument while questioning Madison, which was funny. "So you're saying that [Rebecca's] De Winter solves the problem by loving the narrator," someone asks, "and [Jane Eyre's] Rochester solves the problem by attempting to save his first wife from the house fire, but what about [Wuthering Heights's] Heathcliff?" "Heathcliff solves the problem by dying." Another quote from the committee members' argument, Dr. Ford says in his deadpan way, "See, now I was going to say that murder was the red flag in relationships with all of these guys..."
There was a reception in the English Department afterward, with tons of good food. I chowed down on ribs, Cool Ranch Doritos and Dr. Ford-baked macaroons. (He also finds baking to be a good stress reliever.)
There was a "fun facts" survey we had to do, maybe as a calming-nerves exercise, one of the questions was "Which fictional characters would you most like to be?" Answers included multiple people listing Atticus Finch and Lizzy Bennet. Other answers included Morticia Addams, Lew Archer, Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing), Charlotte the spider, Ferdinand the bull, Jay Gatsby, Dorian Gray, Katniss Everdeen, Junie B. Jones, Jo March, Roald Dahl's Matilda, Odysseus, Mary Poppins, Diana Prince, Auggie Pullman from RJ Palacio's Wonder, Steve Rogers, Zoe Washburne (Firefly) and Emma Woodhouse. That's the type of collection of characters you get when surveying a dozen English majors. My three picks were Atticus, Ferdinand and Steve, though I thought about putting Jo or Peter Parker on there.
Another question of the survey was "What skills do you wish you had?" Answers here included cooking, drawing, mastery of various musical instruments, portion control of food, superpowers in general, teleportation and time-travel. My answers were "piano-playing, knowledge of what genre best fits my skillset as a writer, and teleportation."
People we would invite to dinner include Agatha Christie, Jimmy Fallon, Neil Gaiman, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, Tim Tebow and Betty White. I don't remember any of the other answers, but except for Hemingway, pretty much all of these people would be interesting to talk with.
Mom and Amy stopped by on the way back from Kenneth's funeral tonight; it was good to see them. Stopped by Wal-Mart on a grocery run, got Brad Paisley's new CD.
Mine was analyzing country music as poetry, I was scheduled third, and the presentation went slightly worse than I thought it would, though apparently I finally managed to project well. Like I expected, I got blasted with (in the audience's opinion) most of the harshest questions from the committee, but I think I came up with the right responses (improv is useful that way). Dr. Mackie whispered "Very good, Wes!" on her way back to her seat during a break. Besides the dozen or so Capstone students and the dozen or so members of the committee, there were about ten or fifteen members of the audience, including our fellow classmate-coworkers Ashley, Brandon, Brian, Bryce, Debra, Kara and Sage.
The committee members got into an argument while questioning Madison, which was funny. "So you're saying that [Rebecca's] De Winter solves the problem by loving the narrator," someone asks, "and [Jane Eyre's] Rochester solves the problem by attempting to save his first wife from the house fire, but what about [Wuthering Heights's] Heathcliff?" "Heathcliff solves the problem by dying." Another quote from the committee members' argument, Dr. Ford says in his deadpan way, "See, now I was going to say that murder was the red flag in relationships with all of these guys..."
There was a reception in the English Department afterward, with tons of good food. I chowed down on ribs, Cool Ranch Doritos and Dr. Ford-baked macaroons. (He also finds baking to be a good stress reliever.)
There was a "fun facts" survey we had to do, maybe as a calming-nerves exercise, one of the questions was "Which fictional characters would you most like to be?" Answers included multiple people listing Atticus Finch and Lizzy Bennet. Other answers included Morticia Addams, Lew Archer, Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing), Charlotte the spider, Ferdinand the bull, Jay Gatsby, Dorian Gray, Katniss Everdeen, Junie B. Jones, Jo March, Roald Dahl's Matilda, Odysseus, Mary Poppins, Diana Prince, Auggie Pullman from RJ Palacio's Wonder, Steve Rogers, Zoe Washburne (Firefly) and Emma Woodhouse. That's the type of collection of characters you get when surveying a dozen English majors. My three picks were Atticus, Ferdinand and Steve, though I thought about putting Jo or Peter Parker on there.
Another question of the survey was "What skills do you wish you had?" Answers here included cooking, drawing, mastery of various musical instruments, portion control of food, superpowers in general, teleportation and time-travel. My answers were "piano-playing, knowledge of what genre best fits my skillset as a writer, and teleportation."
People we would invite to dinner include Agatha Christie, Jimmy Fallon, Neil Gaiman, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, Tim Tebow and Betty White. I don't remember any of the other answers, but except for Hemingway, pretty much all of these people would be interesting to talk with.
Mom and Amy stopped by on the way back from Kenneth's funeral tonight; it was good to see them. Stopped by Wal-Mart on a grocery run, got Brad Paisley's new CD.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
What Amanda's Been Teasing Me About
Since I first heard it I thought Brad Paisley's "Come On Over Tonight" I thought it was clever - the use of cliches is amazing. It doesn't quite fit this week, but it's been an almost Song of the Day, in that it's played off and on, but I had an idea why. That why was what I mentioned in the previous post that Amanda has been gleefully tormenting me about all week. (I do torment Jon and his girlfriend Delaney, though, so it all works out.) This will probably be a longish post. Not quite Steve Rogers-frozen-in-Arctic-ice-for-sixty-five-years long, but this is a tale that rambles a little.
RSU Theater held auditions for their spring production, an adaptation of Tom Sawyer, in late January. The feeling was a tentative "Well, we're holding auditions, but we don't actually know if there'll be enough money to actually put this show on" due to budget concerns. But hey, Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors, and it's a classic of American literature. An adaptation would have to stay close to the material, wouldn't it?
With some trepidation over this last point, I show up at auditions with....four other people in the auditorium on Tuesday night. So that's not great numbers, at all, but on the other hand, I'm likely to earn a role simply by showing up. (More people showed up throughout the night, I knew about half of them either from classes or from working with them on Tales From Tent City.) January can be nasty weather, and I was already depressed, figured if nothing else it would me some good just to be around people outside of a classroom setting. I audition for Tom and Huck, and read off various roles as a stand-in, watch everyone else's auditions.
I come back the the auditorium Thursday night for the second half of auditions, because that's what you do. Since they were also casting for the lesbian script-reading project at the same time, most of the time was spent serving as the audience, and also paying attention to the monologue of various would-be St. Petersburg ministers. During one of these funeral sermons a quiet Comm major named Brittany slips in through the side door everyone uses as the main entrance and slides into a chair in the corner. (She'd just gotten off work.) I notice this because I'm sitting closest to the door, and she's parked right across the aisle. I don't really know her, but our paths have almost-crossed a lot, just enough to know that she's friendly and a member of the Race of Joseph. I quickly turn my attention back to whoever was monologuing, because it's awkward to be stared at when you enter a room. As soon as whoever was up there finishes his monologue, David (the director) scans the room to pick out a couple people to run the next scene, and....
"WES! BRITTANY! You two try running the engagement scene!"
Really? No warning, and work with basically-a-stranger on Tom and Becky's engagement scene, one of the most memorable scenes from one of the most well-known books of all time? She thought it was extremely awkward, too, but in a later-this-will-be-hysterical way. Anyway, we rehearse the scene twice through in the hallway, and get about halfway through a third take, when we hear David yelling at us for taking too long and to try it onstage. We exchange a glance walking up the aisle which says plainly, "What? This is a weird situation. Of course we're gonna practice the scene as much as we can..." It goes all right, though, and we talk for a while during the rest of the audition, since it's mainly for the other project that neither of us care about.
Time passes, at the last second it's like, "Oh, okay, the show's on! Let's go!" It's a staged reading, which means mostly voice acting, with key scenes performed, and instead of the auditorium, it's held in the performance studio in Baird Hall. I get cast as primarily Sid Sawyer (almost everyone played multiple roles), and while Brittany doesn't get a part, David hires her as assistant director and stage manager. Among other duties, she fills in for absent actors during rehearsals, which as a stand-in for Injun Joe meant we scuffle in the graveyard scene before she murdered me. Repeatedly. Muff Potter is played by Dr. Hatley, and so there was a lot of fight choreography to block out between the three of us, and then we all had to reteach it to the actual Injun Joe, a huge guy named Bubba. During breaks, Brittany and I tend to drift towards each other, finding a bit of groundedness in the craziness of the extroverted personalities we're working with.
Towards the end of the rehearsal process, I ask Amanda for clarification in decoding female nonverbal communication signals, outlining Brittany's behavior. (Adopted sisters are useful that way.) "Oh, yeeeahhh. That means she's definitely interested. Ask her out!"
So I try to....and the words are never quite able to leave my mouth. Still, gossip goes around, which we both overhear - stuff like "They'd make a great couple! They're both odd." Um....thanks? That's the same type of complinsult most of my poetry gets. "Besides, they look good standing next to each other."
This is an extremely embarrassing story, but I know people will find it hilarious, so I type it down. (Particularly funny to me was how appropriate the book fit the situation - Emma is almost entirely about romantic miscommunication. But if you want to know the story, just watch Clueless instead, it's much better.)
I go to the RSU Theater show that night, mostly because I'm curious about what on earth that script was actually about, since I figured I had to be missing a lot of details. And another reason I went was because every person in the audience helps morale. Seven short plays, most of them student-written, were the show. A comedy with an overly literal doctor and his increasingly-panicked patient opened the show, it was something like "Who's On First?" except the question was about the patient's mortality. There was a depressing romance between childhood now-adult friends in their treehouse in southern Arkansas (it didn't end happily), and a depressing drama about what it means to collect things. There was a well-captured transcription of a bizarre phone call overheard in a Bentonville Taco Bell, and an equally-bizarre screwball comedy from Script Writing about a man who discovers his slacker roommate has finally gotten a new job - as the Greek god of...kidneys. A thought-provoking drama about what it meant for a homeless veteran to have served his country was especially well-done, firstly because David wrote it, secondly because Tent City was still fresh in my mind, thirdly because a lot of the Script Writing projects we did involved the military in some way, and fourthly because David was playing the homeless veteran, because the regular actor, a history professor named Dr. Hatley, wasn't able to be there. The seventh of these seven shows was the script I overheard, which turned out to be a romance set in an airport. It ended happily.
I went back again on Saturday night, because I wanted to see how Dr. Hatley played the homeless veteran, get a better feel for the timing of the jokes on the doctor one, and to rewatch the airport one, because the plot was fairly complicated. Stayed behind after the show to chat a bit with the cast members, particularly the girl, whose name is Brittany and who, I can instantly tell, is of the Race of Joseph. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything - you never know if once you meet a member if you'll see them again. But it was an enjoyable chat.
Last Thursday night the show goes better than expected. And about half the cast and crew decide to grab some food afterwards, because you get hungry; everyone's too nervous to eat beforehand. Eventually after a long debate the destination agreed upon is Buffalo Wild Wings, which Brittany was lobbying for the entire time. A couple of people look at me: "You're coming, right?" (I had missed most of this conversation as I was returning chairs to the classroom they belonged to.) "Sounds fun, but I'd need a-" "You can ride with me," Brittany volunteers before I can even finish the sentence. Okay, cool.
"Radio controls are here, I've got a CD in there now - it's Celtic music-" she tries to apologize. I assure her that that's fine, mention my Pandora channel of Irish music. She says it's part of the material her choir is working on. "Things are so busy, I usually study this while driving. I really need to practice..." I say something like that'd be fine. "Seriously?" she frowns. I nod. So Brittany launches into several Irish ballads, one of which I'd heard before, all of which are slightly incomprehensible but very beautiful. We also argued for a while about the precision of "indifferent" vs. "indecisive," figuring finally that one of those words fit our personalities, but not sure which of those words was correct. (Whichever it is, Coulson said it well when talking once to May in an season-one episode of Agents: "I know you wouldn't tell me if it wasn't a problem, but I also know you wouldn't tell me if it was.")
We get there ahead of the others - Jairus (Tom) and a girl he knows, plus Alex (Huck) - and stake out a booth. They were held up by Claremore trains, arriving about fifteen to twenty minutes later. Since sports bars are extremely noisy, and because we're mashed up against the walls, and because we are both extremely soft-spoken, mostly Brittany and I just talked to each other while the other three talked amongst themselves, though there were tablewide conversations as well
"So it was a semi date, and it went well! Good!" Amanda says. "Now ask her on a real one."
I did. It went awkwardly, but was successful, as we planned to meet up Monday night at the Hilltop Coffee Shop.
I get there about twenty minutes early, since I'm unusually early for everything. While waiting I practice being a cat in watching Sarge the widower swan (or "cob," according to E.B. White) from the safe distance of inside the Centennial Center, because everyone on campus is terrified of him. (Seriously, why don't we say that a widower was widowered?) Everyone is also terrified by the herd of geese who live here, too, but Sarge is much worse - swans are better to watch, because they're more elegant, but they're also agressively mean and apathetic. Particularly if they are widowed, since they are monogamous birds. So watching Sarge mope through his days is fascinating, but kind of pitiful - like Tom Hanks before he gets Meg Ryan's letter in Sleepless in Seattle.
Brittany arrives just before our scheduled meeting time of 7:30. It'd been a rough day - daycare teachers lead stressful lives. After she vents for a bit, our conversation ventures from rabbits to acting to women's swimsuit design to government bureaucracy, and the general conclusions that this world is messed up and people are stupid. She also tried to explain the intricacies of hairstyling after I asked what the difference was between a regular braid and a French braid.
After we finish our coffee, we decide to go for a walk only to notice that Sarge is still wandering around. "I wonder...d'you think we could feed him? Maybe that'd make him happier...." Brittany suggests. I think about this for a second. "We could try..." So we go to the convenience store and buy a can of Pringles. Sarge hisses at us, sniffs at the chips, and declares that he has no intention of eating them.
So we continue our walk and talk, which goes for about three hours as we lose track of time and devour the miles (and Pringles), circumnavigating campus roughly eight times. We also tried to prowl through the nature reserve, but that didn't go as well. It was dark - neither of us couldn't see anything. Also, we ran into a bunch of creepy people with heavy-duty flashlights, which seemed a bit sketchy.
Conversation topics include our mutual night blindness, our mutual prematurity, family stories, dealing with those with special needs, more about Tom Sawyer in particular and past productions generally. (Brittany was this close to getting the role of Lily in Tent City. I didn't know this because Cody [Joe Harper] dropped out a week into production, where I was then inserted as Crick.) Other conversational topics include stereotyping, swearing (Conclusion: not generally beneficial, but when necessary, as much as will get the point across most effectively), improvisation (I like it, she can't do it to save her life), complaining about irritating classmates, the uncomfortableness of transgenderism, the difficult balancing act between Christianity and the culture of storycrafting, the role of God's providence in daily life, Christianity and alcohol usage (Conclusion: "Don't get drunk, but a little bit once in a while probably isn't sinful") and more arguments about grammar. She recounted a lot of stories about growing up as a twin, ("Wait, I haven't told these before?") she was an extremely mischievous child, the youngest of four.
Finally we arrive at a park bench and sit there for a moment in companionable silence. "You know what?" she asks. "No, what?" "My hair's magic." "Yeah?" "Yeah," she nods solemnly. "How you figure that?" I smile. "No matter what I do to it, it immediately falls back down straight. I try to put hairspray in it, fifteen minutes later it's flat again " (Her hair is very glossy and silky, like how L.M. Montgomery describes Cecily's hair in The Story Girl and The Golden Road.) She shakes it down. With a giggle, she flips it in my direction. "Now you try!" Try what, I ask. "Braiding my hair." So I attempt to. After she explains the process.I can get a couple halfway-decent small braids by her ear. Her feedback - "First time trying this.....that's pretty good!" At some point she snickers. "I just realized how weird this scene probably looks [to people walking by]." "Probably does, but I don't think they're paying attention," I agree.
When she had me try turning her ponytail into a thick braid that didn't go as well, but apparently that's several skill levels more advanced. Once we decide it could be practice for another day, we sit there for a bit, and she makes a discovery. "I've taught guys how to braid hair before, like if their sisters wanted them to learn, but I just realized something. This is the first time I've ever taught anyone how out of spontaneity...." I search around for a witty reply that seems appropriate. "Well, thank you for teaching, Miss Brittany," I answer, deadpan. "Now, don't you go and start calling me Miss Brittany!" (That's what her daycare kids call her.) But she's laughing, which is what I was intending and why I said it. Shortly after this, she realizes with amazement that it's about a half hour after midnight, and like Cinderella, she needs to get home.
So, that's what happened. Maybe the start of something new, of a new adventure? Probably not, but you never know. Still, Jon said he'd pray for wisdom.
I spent the rest of the night working on an essay, got an hour of sleep, and then took a nap at five in the evening, sleeping right through the latest S.H.I.E.L.D. episode. Woke up at three this morning, worked on more homework, started writing this post. That's the week so far.
RSU Theater held auditions for their spring production, an adaptation of Tom Sawyer, in late January. The feeling was a tentative "Well, we're holding auditions, but we don't actually know if there'll be enough money to actually put this show on" due to budget concerns. But hey, Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors, and it's a classic of American literature. An adaptation would have to stay close to the material, wouldn't it?
With some trepidation over this last point, I show up at auditions with....four other people in the auditorium on Tuesday night. So that's not great numbers, at all, but on the other hand, I'm likely to earn a role simply by showing up. (More people showed up throughout the night, I knew about half of them either from classes or from working with them on Tales From Tent City.) January can be nasty weather, and I was already depressed, figured if nothing else it would me some good just to be around people outside of a classroom setting. I audition for Tom and Huck, and read off various roles as a stand-in, watch everyone else's auditions.
I come back the the auditorium Thursday night for the second half of auditions, because that's what you do. Since they were also casting for the lesbian script-reading project at the same time, most of the time was spent serving as the audience, and also paying attention to the monologue of various would-be St. Petersburg ministers. During one of these funeral sermons a quiet Comm major named Brittany slips in through the side door everyone uses as the main entrance and slides into a chair in the corner. (She'd just gotten off work.) I notice this because I'm sitting closest to the door, and she's parked right across the aisle. I don't really know her, but our paths have almost-crossed a lot, just enough to know that she's friendly and a member of the Race of Joseph. I quickly turn my attention back to whoever was monologuing, because it's awkward to be stared at when you enter a room. As soon as whoever was up there finishes his monologue, David (the director) scans the room to pick out a couple people to run the next scene, and....
"WES! BRITTANY! You two try running the engagement scene!"
Really? No warning, and work with basically-a-stranger on Tom and Becky's engagement scene, one of the most memorable scenes from one of the most well-known books of all time? She thought it was extremely awkward, too, but in a later-this-will-be-hysterical way. Anyway, we rehearse the scene twice through in the hallway, and get about halfway through a third take, when we hear David yelling at us for taking too long and to try it onstage. We exchange a glance walking up the aisle which says plainly, "What? This is a weird situation. Of course we're gonna practice the scene as much as we can..." It goes all right, though, and we talk for a while during the rest of the audition, since it's mainly for the other project that neither of us care about.
Time passes, at the last second it's like, "Oh, okay, the show's on! Let's go!" It's a staged reading, which means mostly voice acting, with key scenes performed, and instead of the auditorium, it's held in the performance studio in Baird Hall. I get cast as primarily Sid Sawyer (almost everyone played multiple roles), and while Brittany doesn't get a part, David hires her as assistant director and stage manager. Among other duties, she fills in for absent actors during rehearsals, which as a stand-in for Injun Joe meant we scuffle in the graveyard scene before she murdered me. Repeatedly. Muff Potter is played by Dr. Hatley, and so there was a lot of fight choreography to block out between the three of us, and then we all had to reteach it to the actual Injun Joe, a huge guy named Bubba. During breaks, Brittany and I tend to drift towards each other, finding a bit of groundedness in the craziness of the extroverted personalities we're working with.
Towards the end of the rehearsal process, I ask Amanda for clarification in decoding female nonverbal communication signals, outlining Brittany's behavior. (Adopted sisters are useful that way.) "Oh, yeeeahhh. That means she's definitely interested. Ask her out!"
So I try to....and the words are never quite able to leave my mouth. Still, gossip goes around, which we both overhear - stuff like "They'd make a great couple! They're both odd." Um....thanks? That's the same type of complinsult most of my poetry gets. "Besides, they look good standing next to each other."
Rewinding now.
It's November last year. I'm studying Jane Austen's Emma in the rec room of the Centennial Center one typical Thursday morning when I hear this noise. (It's a very tiresome read, so any distraction was welcome.) So I look up to see what the noise is. A pretty brunette I know by sight comes in and sits down at a table that's on the other side of the room. She has a coffee in one hand, looking around nervously for a bit.
It's November last year. I'm studying Jane Austen's Emma in the rec room of the Centennial Center one typical Thursday morning when I hear this noise. (It's a very tiresome read, so any distraction was welcome.) So I look up to see what the noise is. A pretty brunette I know by sight comes in and sits down at a table that's on the other side of the room. She has a coffee in one hand, looking around nervously for a bit.
I turn my attention back to the novel, when a guy comes into the room a couple minutes later. Okay, I figure, they're on
like a first date or whatever....this is awkward. I'll just blend into the chair, because it
would be more awkward to leave, because I'm on the far side of the room, and they're near the doorway.
They start talking.
I can't really hear but bits and
pieces, and mainly tones. Soon it becomes apparent that they've been dating for
a while, but that it was a secret, and they're just now letting people know.
But she was dating his friend, and they hadn't broken up yet.... so that was
what the argument was about. I can hear them really well now, because their
tone has shifted from that ultra-serious deadly quiet into normal
room-temperature I'm-mad-at-you levels. And now it would be really awkward to
leave, since it would look like I was listening the entire time. But I can't
read with a couple arguing about their relationship twenty feet away! It's like
Hemingway's story "Hills Like White Elephants." Eventually the girl
sighs. "Well....at least now we've had our first big fight." Their
conversation goes into lighter details and I can finally read again.
This is an extremely embarrassing story, but I know people will find it hilarious, so I type it down. (Particularly funny to me was how appropriate the book fit the situation - Emma is almost entirely about romantic miscommunication. But if you want to know the story, just watch Clueless instead, it's much better.)
I go to the RSU Theater show that night, mostly because I'm curious about what on earth that script was actually about, since I figured I had to be missing a lot of details. And another reason I went was because every person in the audience helps morale. Seven short plays, most of them student-written, were the show. A comedy with an overly literal doctor and his increasingly-panicked patient opened the show, it was something like "Who's On First?" except the question was about the patient's mortality. There was a depressing romance between childhood now-adult friends in their treehouse in southern Arkansas (it didn't end happily), and a depressing drama about what it means to collect things. There was a well-captured transcription of a bizarre phone call overheard in a Bentonville Taco Bell, and an equally-bizarre screwball comedy from Script Writing about a man who discovers his slacker roommate has finally gotten a new job - as the Greek god of...kidneys. A thought-provoking drama about what it meant for a homeless veteran to have served his country was especially well-done, firstly because David wrote it, secondly because Tent City was still fresh in my mind, thirdly because a lot of the Script Writing projects we did involved the military in some way, and fourthly because David was playing the homeless veteran, because the regular actor, a history professor named Dr. Hatley, wasn't able to be there. The seventh of these seven shows was the script I overheard, which turned out to be a romance set in an airport. It ended happily.
I went back again on Saturday night, because I wanted to see how Dr. Hatley played the homeless veteran, get a better feel for the timing of the jokes on the doctor one, and to rewatch the airport one, because the plot was fairly complicated. Stayed behind after the show to chat a bit with the cast members, particularly the girl, whose name is Brittany and who, I can instantly tell, is of the Race of Joseph. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything - you never know if once you meet a member if you'll see them again. But it was an enjoyable chat.
Last Thursday night the show goes better than expected. And about half the cast and crew decide to grab some food afterwards, because you get hungry; everyone's too nervous to eat beforehand. Eventually after a long debate the destination agreed upon is Buffalo Wild Wings, which Brittany was lobbying for the entire time. A couple of people look at me: "You're coming, right?" (I had missed most of this conversation as I was returning chairs to the classroom they belonged to.) "Sounds fun, but I'd need a-" "You can ride with me," Brittany volunteers before I can even finish the sentence. Okay, cool.
"Radio controls are here, I've got a CD in there now - it's Celtic music-" she tries to apologize. I assure her that that's fine, mention my Pandora channel of Irish music. She says it's part of the material her choir is working on. "Things are so busy, I usually study this while driving. I really need to practice..." I say something like that'd be fine. "Seriously?" she frowns. I nod. So Brittany launches into several Irish ballads, one of which I'd heard before, all of which are slightly incomprehensible but very beautiful. We also argued for a while about the precision of "indifferent" vs. "indecisive," figuring finally that one of those words fit our personalities, but not sure which of those words was correct. (Whichever it is, Coulson said it well when talking once to May in an season-one episode of Agents: "I know you wouldn't tell me if it wasn't a problem, but I also know you wouldn't tell me if it was.")
We get there ahead of the others - Jairus (Tom) and a girl he knows, plus Alex (Huck) - and stake out a booth. They were held up by Claremore trains, arriving about fifteen to twenty minutes later. Since sports bars are extremely noisy, and because we're mashed up against the walls, and because we are both extremely soft-spoken, mostly Brittany and I just talked to each other while the other three talked amongst themselves, though there were tablewide conversations as well
"So it was a semi date, and it went well! Good!" Amanda says. "Now ask her on a real one."
I did. It went awkwardly, but was successful, as we planned to meet up Monday night at the Hilltop Coffee Shop.
I get there about twenty minutes early, since I'm unusually early for everything. While waiting I practice being a cat in watching Sarge the widower swan (or "cob," according to E.B. White) from the safe distance of inside the Centennial Center, because everyone on campus is terrified of him. (Seriously, why don't we say that a widower was widowered?) Everyone is also terrified by the herd of geese who live here, too, but Sarge is much worse - swans are better to watch, because they're more elegant, but they're also agressively mean and apathetic. Particularly if they are widowed, since they are monogamous birds. So watching Sarge mope through his days is fascinating, but kind of pitiful - like Tom Hanks before he gets Meg Ryan's letter in Sleepless in Seattle.
Brittany arrives just before our scheduled meeting time of 7:30. It'd been a rough day - daycare teachers lead stressful lives. After she vents for a bit, our conversation ventures from rabbits to acting to women's swimsuit design to government bureaucracy, and the general conclusions that this world is messed up and people are stupid. She also tried to explain the intricacies of hairstyling after I asked what the difference was between a regular braid and a French braid.
After we finish our coffee, we decide to go for a walk only to notice that Sarge is still wandering around. "I wonder...d'you think we could feed him? Maybe that'd make him happier...." Brittany suggests. I think about this for a second. "We could try..." So we go to the convenience store and buy a can of Pringles. Sarge hisses at us, sniffs at the chips, and declares that he has no intention of eating them.
So we continue our walk and talk, which goes for about three hours as we lose track of time and devour the miles (and Pringles), circumnavigating campus roughly eight times. We also tried to prowl through the nature reserve, but that didn't go as well. It was dark - neither of us couldn't see anything. Also, we ran into a bunch of creepy people with heavy-duty flashlights, which seemed a bit sketchy.
Conversation topics include our mutual night blindness, our mutual prematurity, family stories, dealing with those with special needs, more about Tom Sawyer in particular and past productions generally. (Brittany was this close to getting the role of Lily in Tent City. I didn't know this because Cody [Joe Harper] dropped out a week into production, where I was then inserted as Crick.) Other conversational topics include stereotyping, swearing (Conclusion: not generally beneficial, but when necessary, as much as will get the point across most effectively), improvisation (I like it, she can't do it to save her life), complaining about irritating classmates, the uncomfortableness of transgenderism, the difficult balancing act between Christianity and the culture of storycrafting, the role of God's providence in daily life, Christianity and alcohol usage (Conclusion: "Don't get drunk, but a little bit once in a while probably isn't sinful") and more arguments about grammar. She recounted a lot of stories about growing up as a twin, ("Wait, I haven't told these before?") she was an extremely mischievous child, the youngest of four.
Finally we arrive at a park bench and sit there for a moment in companionable silence. "You know what?" she asks. "No, what?" "My hair's magic." "Yeah?" "Yeah," she nods solemnly. "How you figure that?" I smile. "No matter what I do to it, it immediately falls back down straight. I try to put hairspray in it, fifteen minutes later it's flat again " (Her hair is very glossy and silky, like how L.M. Montgomery describes Cecily's hair in The Story Girl and The Golden Road.) She shakes it down. With a giggle, she flips it in my direction. "Now you try!" Try what, I ask. "Braiding my hair." So I attempt to. After she explains the process.I can get a couple halfway-decent small braids by her ear. Her feedback - "First time trying this.....that's pretty good!" At some point she snickers. "I just realized how weird this scene probably looks [to people walking by]." "Probably does, but I don't think they're paying attention," I agree.
When she had me try turning her ponytail into a thick braid that didn't go as well, but apparently that's several skill levels more advanced. Once we decide it could be practice for another day, we sit there for a bit, and she makes a discovery. "I've taught guys how to braid hair before, like if their sisters wanted them to learn, but I just realized something. This is the first time I've ever taught anyone how out of spontaneity...." I search around for a witty reply that seems appropriate. "Well, thank you for teaching, Miss Brittany," I answer, deadpan. "Now, don't you go and start calling me Miss Brittany!" (That's what her daycare kids call her.) But she's laughing, which is what I was intending and why I said it. Shortly after this, she realizes with amazement that it's about a half hour after midnight, and like Cinderella, she needs to get home.
So, that's what happened. Maybe the start of something new, of a new adventure? Probably not, but you never know. Still, Jon said he'd pray for wisdom.
I spent the rest of the night working on an essay, got an hour of sleep, and then took a nap at five in the evening, sleeping right through the latest S.H.I.E.L.D. episode. Woke up at three this morning, worked on more homework, started writing this post. That's the week so far.
Monday, April 17, 2017
Firefly Quotes - Part One
Whatever else you can say about them (which is usually quite a lot), Whedon shows are very quotable, and they really make you think. Firefly, especially. Basically, the plot is a Western, that just happens to be set in space....five hundred years into the future. Our main characters are basically outlaws who lost a civil war six years earlier, torn daily between remaining anonymous to the ruling Alliance and making a living. It's like if Han Solo actually had a crew to boss around, instead of just Chewie. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., especially the first and second seasons, in a lot of ways is a tamer version of Firefly. The U.S. and China were the superpowers that led the exploration into space, and so culture is a weird mix of the two, most noticeable by the random strings of Chinese whenever harsh swearing was required. (Creative workaround censors, that.)
So here's the collection of corralled quotations from the sole season of the adventures of the crew of the Serenity. (Captain Malcom Reynolds, second-in-command Zoe Washburne, her pilot husband Hoban Washburne, mechanic Kaylee Frye, mercenary Jayne Cobb, prostitute Inara Serra, preacher Derrial Book, doctor Simon Tam and his borderline insane sister River.) Though the show's run was only fourteen episodes long, the amount of quotability necessitates that this project be broken up into two parts. However, like G.K. Chesterton wrote in Orthodoxy, it's somehow more fun that no more can be added.
Pretty shiny, ain't it? (By this point of the English language, "shiny" is catch-all slang like we use "cool" today.)
Episode One - "Pilot/Serenity":
(Bored while on lookout for a scavenging mission, Wash is playing with two toy dinosaurs.) "Everything looks good from here. 'Yes, yes. This is a fertile land,' (says the triceratops). 'We will thrive. We will rule over all this land' (the control panel) '...and we shall call it....this land....' (switching to T. Rex now) "'I think we should call it your grave!' 'Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!', the triceratops cries. 'Eh ha ha hah....mine is an evil laugh. Now die!'" the T. rex gloats.
(Mal commands Kaylee to blackout the Serenity's power.) "Going dark!" (She climbs a ladder and shuts down the power.) "Okay, now I can't get down."
(Jayne and Kaylee are arguing about Mal's plan of taking on passengers to ensure respectability.) "No, it's shiny to meet new people! They've all got their stories...." "Kaylee, will you stop bein' so cheerful, please?" - Jayne. "I don't believe there's a power in the 'verse that could stop Kaylee from bein' cheerful. Sometimes just want to duct-tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month." Mal replies. "I love my captain," she grins.
"I know somethin' ain't right..." Zoe complains. "Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail," Wash points out.
"What were you in that war you failed to win? A sergeant, yeah? I think you're still a sergeant. Still a soldier. A man of honor in a den of thieves," - Badger the crime lord, contemptuously (but accurately) describing Mal.
"I don't see why we didn't leave him in a pool of his own blood," Jayne complains. "'Cause then we'd be dead. You can't get paid if you're dead," Mal answers.
"Now we've got a boatful of citizens right on top of our stolen cargo....That's a fun mix," - Zoe to Mal. "Ain't no way in the 'verse they could find that compartment, even -" (passenger walks by) "even if they were lookin' for it." She looks at him. "Why not?" He frowns uncomfortably. "'Cause." "Ah. Yeah, this is gonna go great..." "If anybody gets nosy, y'know, just....shoot 'em." "Shoot 'em?" "Politely!"
"So....would you like to lecture me on the wickedness of my ways?" - Inara asks Shepherd Book, following an awkward introduction earlier. "I brought you some supper. But if you'd prefer a lecture, I've a few very catchy ones prepped. Sin, and hellfire. And one has lepers." (Talk turns to Mal.) "He is not wildly interested in ingratiating himself with anyone. Yet he seems very protective of his crew. It's odd." - Book.
(While being held at gunpoint.) "This is not my best day ever," Mal mutters.
(Same scene, after Kaylee is shot in the stomach.) "Welllll....that ain't hardly a mosquito bite." - Mal. (Arguing leads to Mal changing course and running from the Alliance to give Simon enough time to operate on Kaylee.) "When this is over, you and me are gonna have a personal chat," Mal growls during the operation. "That'll be fun. Dope her," Simon tosses a tranq gun across the surgery.
(Coming across a surprise he didn't expect.) "...Huh." - Mal.
"What the hell is this?" - Mal. "This is my sister," - Simon.
(After explaining to everyone else that River was extraordinarily gifted, and thus subjected to experimentation by the Alliance, Simon rescued her.) "Will she be all right?" Inara asks. "I...I don't know. I don't know if she'll be all right; I don't know what they did to her...or why. I just have to keep her safe."
(At the end of his patience, Mal punches Simon.) "Saw that comin'," Jayne grins.
"Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?" an Alliance mole asks Jayne. "Gee, I never been in trouble with the law before," he answers innocently.
"Well, we may not have departed on the best of terms....certain words were exchanged....also...certain bullets..." - Mal to a crime lord named Patience, who shot him the last business deal they had.
"There's obstacles in our path, but we're gonna get through this. We will. We'll get through 'em," Mal tells his crew.
"Testing....Captain, can you hear me?" Jayne asks over a radio headset. "Yeah, I'm standing right here," Mal answers. "Coming in loud and clear!" "That's cause I'm standing right here."
(During a tense standoff between Mal's crew and Patience's people after their transaction has finished.) "I'd appreciate it if you all would turn around and ride out first." (Shootout commences.)
"You might ask Mal to drop you off somewhere else - Whitefall ain't exactly the middle of civilization," - Wash. "I'll be all right, you don't have to worry about me," Simon mumbles. "Zoe's out there. I always worry. So - It ain't out of my way."
(After shootout) "Zoe?" "Armor's dented." "Well, you were right about this being a bad idea." "Thanks for sayin', sir."
(Everyone is yelling frantically at Wash to pilot faster while being chased by horrendous pillagers called Reavers.) "If everyone could just be quiet, please-" he says evenly. "Can we get Kaylee to the engine room, please?" Protestations before Zoe and Jayne go to carry her from the surgery. "How are we doing?" the captain asks after a minute. "I don't mean to alarm anybody, but I think we're being followed."
(Extremely weak Kaylee is directing instructions to Book and Jayne. Book is decently familiar with mechanical things.) "Jayne, open the port jets and cut the hydraulics." (He looks around helplessly.) "What the hell is-" "Look! Look! Look where I'm pointing!" (He opens box, which is full of complicated wires.) "Okay, now it's really simple...." she instructs, Jayne stares at her open-mouthed in disbelief.
(After Wash pulls off a risky, daring escape maneuver and they sail off to safety) "I knew I hired you for somethin'," Mal nods approvingly.
"You really ought to let the doctor look at this," Inara scolds Shepherd Book while stitching up a cut above his eye. "It's not bad." "Well, I'm sure you'll be fine." "I didn't say that." (Pause; he's near tears.) "Is this what life is? Out here?" She nods. "Sometimes." "...I've been out of the abbey two days. I've beaten a lawman senseless, and fallen in with criminals....I watched the captain shoot a man I swore to protect, and....I'm not even sure if I thought it was wrong..." "Shepherd-" "I believe, it's just -" (weak smile) "I think I'm on the wrong ship." She stares at him a minute, biting her lip. "Maybe. But maybe you're exactly where you ought to be."
"I didn't think you'd come for me," River says to Simon. "Well, you're a dummy," he says.
"But he did try to make a deal with you, though, right? How come you didn't turn on me, Jayne?" "Money wasn't good enough." "What happens when it is?" "Welll....that'll be an interesting day." "Imagine it will." (Jayne leaves cabin, Simon enters.) "So where do you plan on dumping us?" "There's places you might be safe. But you want the truth, though, you're probably safer on the move. Hey - we never stop movin'." (Simon frowns.) "I'm confused....no, wait, I think maybe you're confused." "Maybe it's become apparent to you that the ship could use a medic. You ain't weak. Don't know how bright you are, top three percent, but you ain't weak, and that's not nothin'. You live by my rules, you keep your sister from doin' anything crazy, you could, maybe, find a place here. Till you find better." "I....I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can....How do I know that you won't kill me in my sleep?" "You don't know me, son. Let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me. And you'll be armed." "Are you always this sentimental?" (Mal shrugs.) "Had a good day." "You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages....half the people on this ship have been shot or wounding including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives." "Well, we're still flyin'..." "That isn't much." "...It's enough."
Episode Two - "The Train Job":
"After the Earth was used up, we found a new solar system and hundreds of new Earths were terraformed and colonized. The Central Planets formed the Alliance and decided that all the planets had to join under their rule. There was some disagreement on that point. After the war, many of the Independents who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of the system, far from Alliance control. Out here, people struggle to get by with the most basic technologies. A ship could get you work. A gun would help you keep it. A captain's goal was simple: Find a crew, find a job, keep flying," - First voiceover introduction, from Shepherd Book.
(In a bar on some backwater planet.) "Your move." - Jayne. "That's a bold move." - Zoe. "I live on the edge." - Mal. (We then see that they're playing Chinese Checkers.) And then a drunk guy loudly proclaims that it's been six years since the Alliance won the war, "sending those nasty Browncoats runnin'." He then takes a closer look at Mal. "You know....your coat is kind of a brownish color..." "It was on sale." "An' you didn' toast. You know, I'm thinkin' you musta been one of them Independents." "And I think you weren't blessed with an overabundance of schooling. So why don't we just ignore each other until we go away?" Mal smiles. Drunk Guy continues insulting him until Zoe clobbers him from behind, bringing most of the bar's patrons threateningly to their feet. "Jayne?" Zoe calls for help. "Hey, I didn't fight in no war. You guys are on your own." "Fine. Let's do this." Mal shrugs. (He's then thrown out of a holographic glass window. Into radio:) "Wash, we've got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."
Later in same fight, Mal, Zoe and Jayne are perched atop a cliff. "See? This is why we lost. Superior numbers!" "Thanks for the reenactment, sir."
"Uh-huh....funny how you always find yourself in an Alliance-friendly bar on U-Day when you're just lookin' for a quiet drink." - Zoe.
"....This isn't home." - River. "No. No....we can't go home. If we go home, they'll just send you back to the Academy. This is safer now." - Simon. (River shakes her head in fear at going back, then nods in agreement that his plan is a good idea.) "We're on a ship," he says hopefully. "A mid-bulk transport, standard radon and accelerator core, class code 03-K64. A Firefly," she recites. "Well, that's somethin'. I can't even remember all that," Mal comments, leaning on the doorway. After a chat about Mal's brawl, River watches him walk down the hallway. "Mal. Bad. In the Latin." (She's right.)
"That young man's very brave," Shepherd Book talking of Simon's attempts to nurse River back to health. He then delivers a monologue of expositional details, asking why Mal is harboring known fugitives. "Because it's the right thing to do. And shouldn't you be delivering religiosity to the heathens or somesuch?" "Oh, I've got heathens enough right here," the preacher smiles. Mal sighs. "You're welcome on this boat. God ain't."
"What did I tell you about barging into my shuttle?" - Inara snaps at Mal. "That it was....manly and impulsive?" "Yes. Except the exact phrase I used was 'Don't.'"
"That guy's a psycho, you know." - Zoe. "Niska? Well, he's not the first psycho we've worked for. Probably won't be the last. You think that's a commentary on us?" - Mal.
(Shepherd Book is studying the New Testament in the kitchen when Inara comes in for a cup of tea. "I wish I could help. I mean, I don't want to help help - not with the thieving, but - I do feel awfully useless." - Book. "You could always pray they make it back safely." - Inara. "I don't think the captain would much like me praying for him." "Don't tell him," she shrugs. "I never do."
"Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain is missing." - Zoe.
"Soo.....what are we doing?" Simon asks Kaylee. "Oh! Crime," she answers breezily. "Crime...good. Okayyy.....hmm. Crime..." he mutters, taken aback.
"Time for some thrilling heroics." - Jayne.
(Having just realized that the cargo they just stole was medicine for a town which desperately needs it.) "This is a nightmare..." Mal moans.
"That sounds like the Alliance....unite all the planets under one rule so that each can be ignored or interfered with equally." Mal.
"....Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?" Wash asks incredulously after Jayne collapses in the middle of threatening everyone. "I told him to sit down," Simon shakes his head. "You doped him!" Kaylee marvels. "It....it was supposed to kick in a good deal sooner. I just didn't feel comfortable with him being in charge. I hope that's all right."
(Jayne, still loopy from the drugs, has just shot an adversary in the kneecap.) "Nice shot." - Mal. "...I was aimin' for his head...."
"A man learns about a situation like ours...well, then he has a choice." - Local Sheriff, talking about the crew's return of the needed medicine. "No, I don't believe he does," Mal answers.
Episode Three - "Bushwhacked":
(Arguing amongst crew whether to see if stranded ship needs help or not.) "If there's folks on board who needed help, why ain't they beamin' no distress call?" - Jayne. "It's true...there's no beacon." - Zoe. "Which means its likely no one's looking to find her." - Mal. "All the more reason for us to do the right thing." - Book. "How's about you just say a prayer while we slide on by?" Jayne asks Book. "Shall I remind you of the story of the Good Samaritan?" Book asks Mal. "I'd rather you didn't. But we'll check it out," Mal decides. "Could be survivors. And if not, well, then nobody's gonna mind if we take a look around, see if there was something of value they might've left behind." "Yeah! No, uh....someone could be hurt," Jayne nods enthusiastically.
"Oh, yeah, he's a real beast. It's a wonder you're still alive," Simon says dryly to Jayne, after they capture a scrawny guy who attacked him earlier. "He looked bigger when I couldn't see him."
(Kaylee is asked to defuse a bomb.) "Yeah, sure, I can do that." (Pause) "That is, I think so...." (Another pause. Then, muttering) "Besides, if I mess up, it's not like you're gonna be around to yell at me..."
"This looks like an illegal salvage operation, Captain Reynolds." - Alliance Officer. "It does? Well, that's discouraging..."
(Zoe is being interrogated.) "You fought with Captain Reynolds in the war?" "Fought with a lot of people in the war." "And with your husband in the war?" "Fight with him sometimes, too."
(Mal is being interrogated.) "I find it odd that you'd name your ship after a battle that you were on the losing side of." "May have been the losing side, but I'm not convinced it was the wrong one."
Episode Four - "Shindig":
(New intro from here on out.) "Here's how it is: Earth got used up, so we terraformed a whole new galaxy of Earths, some rich and flush with the new technologies. Some? Well, not so much. Central planets, them as formed the Alliance, waged war to bring everyone under their rule. Few idiots tried to fight it, among them, myself. I'm Malcolm Reynolds, captain of Serenity. We got a good crew: fighters, pilot, mechanic. We even picked up a preacher, and a bona fide Companion. There's a doctor, too; took his sister out of some Alliance camp, so they're keepin' a low profile. You got a job, we can do it. Don't much care what it is."
(Mal tries to warn Inara that a bar brawl is brewing over a game of pool.) "I'm having fun, actually. It's interesting watching the game. As with many situations, the key seems to be giving Jayne a heavy stick and then standing back."
"Planet's comin' up mighty fast." - Zoe. "Well, that's cause I'm coming down too quick. It's no big deal, only that we're probably going to crash and die." - Wash. "Well, when that happens, let me know." - Mal.
(About a ball she's planning to attend.) "I don't suppose you'd find it up to the standards of your outings. More conversation, and somewhat less petty theft and getting hit with pool cues." - Inara.
"Look at the pretties!" Kaylee squeals. "What am I looking at? The girls, or the clothes?" - Wash. "The clothes, please." - Zoe.
"You backed out of our deal last time. Left us hanging." - Mal. "Hurt our feelings." - Jayne adds. "I had a problem with your attitude is why. Thought you was....what's the word...." Badger stops his harangue Mal-ward, stuck for the right word. "Pretentious?" Jayne suggests. "Exactly! You think you're better than other people!" "Just the ones I'm better than."
"She blushes. Not many in your profession who would do that." a nasty man named Atherton Wing, to Inara.
"You're supposed to make me look respectable." Mal hisses at Kaylee, both very much out of their element at Inara's fancy ball. "Yes sir, Cap'n Tightpants!" "Okay....help me find our man....he's kind of stocky and he's wearin' a red sash crossways." "Why's he do that?" "Maybe he won the Miss Persephone Pageant. Just help me look!" "Is that him?" "That's the buffet table." "Well, how can we be sure, unless we question it?"
(River has just ripped off the labels of most of the galley's canned-food supply.) "Shh. No harm done, we'll just - be having a few mystery meals." - Book.
(Mal has found the guy he's looking for, a large man with a snooty accent named Sir Warrick Harrow.) "The sash?" "It indicates lordhood." "And it's - doing a great job." "Whom do you represent?" "Fella called Badger." (Sir Warrick looks offended.) "I know him. I think he's a psychotic lowlife." "And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic lowlife community."
(Mal and Inara are arguing again.) "What I do is legal. And how about you, how's that smuggling coming along?" "It may be illegal, but at least it's honest." he snaps.
(Mal punches Atherton Wing, who's just insulted Inara.) "Turns out this is my kind of party!" (He then learns that he accidentally challenged him to a swordfight duel, and panics.)
"...This taking up as my second, does that mean we're in business together?" Mal to Sir Warrick. "It means you're in mortal danger. But, you mussed up Atherton's face, and that has endeared me to you somewhat."
"....Up until the punching, it was a real nice party," Kaylee says quietly.
(Badger knocks on the hull door, Jayne reluctantly lets him in.) "The captain's gone and gotten himself in trouble," Badger announces. Cut to crew meeting. "A duel?" Book asks, not believing Badger's story. "With swords?" Wash is equally astounded. "The captain's a good fighter, he....he must know how to handle a s-sword..." Simon mumbles. "Think he knows which end to hold..." Zoe frowns.
"He insulted you. I hit him. Seemed like the right thing to do. Why'd this get so complicated?!" Mal, to Inara. (Later, same scene.) "I actually thought that I was defending your honor, and I never back down from a fight." "Yes, you do! You do that all the time." "....Well, I'm not backin' down from this one." (She then teaches him how to swordfight.)
Episode Five - "Safe":
(Slightly expanded version of Mal's intro; the third of the series.) "Here's how it is: the Earth got used up, so we moved out and terraformed a whole new galaxy of Earths, some rich and flush with the new technologies. Some? Well, not so much. The central planets, them as formed the Alliance, waged war to bring everyone under their rule. Few idiots tried to fight it, among them, myself. I'm Malcolm Reynolds, captain of Serenity. She's a transport ship, Firefly class. We got a good crew: fighters, pilot, mechanic. We even picked up a preacher for some reason, and a bona fide Companion. There's a doctor, too; took his sister out of some Alliance camp, so they're keepin' a low profile. You understand. You got a job, we can do it. Don't much care what it is."
"I will not have it in my house. But since your mother's already ordered you one, I guess I should give up the fantasy that this is my house." - Gabriel Tam in a flashback, talking about ordering a piece of expensive technology for Simon's use. (Perhaps a computer?) He then stipulates that Simon can pay him back by becoming a brilliant doctor. (Young Simon is played by Zac Efron in his first role.)
"So. She's added cussing and hurling about of vial-things into her repertoire. She really is a prodigy." - Mal, about River. "It's just a bad day..." Simon mutters. "No, a bad day is when someone's yellin' spooks the cattle. You ever seen cattle stampede when they got no place to run? It's kinda like a...meat grinder. And it loses half our herd." "She hasn't gone anywhere near the cattle." "No, but in case you hadn't noticed, her voice kinda carries. We're two miles above ground and they can probably hear her down there. Soon as we unload, she can holler until our ears bleed. Although I would take it as a kindness if she didn't." "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems." - River. "See, morbid and creepifyin', I got no problem with. Long as she does it quiet-like."
(Unloading the cattle for the sale.) "Hope this corral's strong enough to hold 'em....Shepherd's a purely figurative title, ya know!" - Book. "Next time we start smugglin' stock, let's make it something smaller." - Zoe. "Yeah, like those black-market beagles!" Wash agrees.
"When a man engages in clandestine dealings, he has his preference for things bein' smooth. She makes things - not be smooth." - Mal, about River. "Right....I'm very sorry if she tipped off anyone about your cunningly concealed herd of cows," Simon answers sarcastically.
"Does it seem that every supply store on every border planet has the same five rag dolls and the same wood carvings of - what is this, a duck?" - Inara. "It's a swan!" Kaylee defends it. "And I like it." "You do?" "Yeah. It looks like it was made with, y'know....longing. Made by a person who really longed to see a swan." (Inara smiles.) "Perhaps because they'd only heard of them by rough description."
"This is the last time with cows...." Mal mutters, picking carefully through manure. "I believe there was some idea with beagles. Don't they have smallish droppings?" "I believe so, sir. Also, your disreputable men are here." - Zoe.
(Caught up in a skirmish wholly not of their doing for once.) "It never goes smooth! How come it never goes smooth?!" Mal complains.
(Book has been shot, badly.) "Where's....the doctor?" he wheezes. "We don't make him hurry for the little stuff. He'll be along shortly," Zoe tells him in her best nursing voice. "He...could hurry....a little...."
"'Dear Diary: Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy." (Flips book to new page) "Today we were captured by hill-folk, never be seen again. It was the best day ever!'" - Jayne rummaging through Simon's things.
"We're headed for help, right?" Kaylee asks about Book. "Captain'll come up with a plan," Zoe nods. "And that's good, right?" Zoe allows herself a small grin. "It's possible you're not recallin' some of his previous plans."
(Very agitated Jayne, in an Alliance hospital.) "This place gives me an uncomfortableness..."
(After getting kidnapped by a community of hillbillies, River has a moment of reality and she shares a memory of berrypicking with Simon.) "I took you away from there. I know I did. You don't think I do, but...I get confused. I remember everything. I remember too much, and....some of it's made up, and....some of it can't be quantified, and - there's secrets -" "River. It's okay." "But I understand. You gave up everything you had to find me. You found me broken, and...it's hard for you. You gave up everything you had-" (she breaks down in tears.) "Everything I have is right here." (She smiles again.) "You need to eat, to keep up your strength. We won't be here long. Daddy will come and take us away." (Simon turns away.) "I'll get better. I'll get better!"
(Flashback again: In his efforts to rescue River, Simon has found himself jailed. His parents have never believed his idea that she is being tortured, and Dad comes along to bail him out, in an awful mood.) "I'm sorry, Dad....You know, I never would have saved River's life if I knew there was a dinner party at risk." "Are you trying to destroy this family?!" Gabriel rages. Simon answers, sadly: "....I didn't realize it would be so easy." (Simon is then disowned.)
(These hillbillies have turned out to be some kind of cult, and they think River is a witch. She's about to be burned at the stake until the Serenity saves the day dramatically.) "WELL, LOOK AT THIS! APPEARS WE GOT HERE IN JUST THE NICK OF TIME!" Mal has to shout to be heard over the engines. "WHAT DOES THAT MAKE US?" "BIG DAMN HEROES, SIR!" Zoe yells back. "AIN'T WE JUST!" (By now they're within normal speaking range.) "Sorry, folks, but you got somethin' that belongs to us, and we'd like it back. Cut her down." "She's a witch," the community leader protests. "Yeah, but she's our witch!" Mal snaps.
"So finally a decent wound on this ship, and I miss it.... I'm sorry." - Simon. "Well, you were busy tryin' to get yourself lit on fire. It happens." - Mal. "Captain? Why did you come back for us?" (Mal looks surprised.) "You're on my crew." "Yeah, but you don't even like me. Why'd you come back?" "You're on my crew. Why are we still talkin' about this?"
Episode Six - "Our Mrs. Reynolds":
"I married me a powerful ugly creature," Jayne says to outlaws holding up their wagon. "How can you say that? How can you shame me in front of new people?" Mal asks, disguised as a woman. They aim their pistols at the outlaws. "Now, you think real hard. You can luxuriate in a nice jail cell, or, if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you." - Mal.
"What are you doing on my boat?" a startled Mal yells at a young woman with red hair. "But....you know I am to cleave to you." "To what about who?" "Did the elder not tell you?" "Tell me what....? Who are you?" "Mr. Reynolds, sir....I'm your wife." (Mal is stunned speechless, and the credits intro plays.) "Could you repeat that, please?" (The woman tries to explain.) "Okay, I'm sorry - go back to the part where you're my wife?" "I don't please you?" "You can't please me - you never met me!" (Zoe and Jayne enter cargo bay.) "Zoe, why do I have a wife?" "You got a wife?" Jayne asks. (Zoe calls everybody into the cargo bay.) "Who's the new recruit?" Book asks. "Everybody - I want you all to meet Mrs. Reynolds," Zoe introduces the crew to the woman. "You got married?" Kaylee squeals. (Inara looks angry and like she wants to throw up.) "Wow, that's, uh....Congratulations?" Simon stammers. "We always hoped you two kids would get togeth - Who is she?" - Wash. (Eventually they all figure out what happened, Mal doesn't react well and the woman runs away crying.)
"Hello? Woman...Person?" Mal calls through a hallway before eventually finding her. "Are you gonna kill me?" "What? What kind of crappy planet is that, kill you?" "In the Maiden's Home I heard talk of men who were like that, if they weren't pleased with their brides-" "Well, I ain't them! And don't you ever stand for that sort of thing. Someone tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back." He sighs. "Look, wife or no, you are no one's property to be tossed aside. You got the right, same as anyone, to...live and try to kill people." (She stares, confused.) "I mean....y'know...That's a dumb planet!"
(Later, same scene.) "I'd be a good wife." "Yeah, well....I'd be a terrible husband." (She scrambles off to the galley to cook.) "Hold it! I never even-" "My name is Saffron," the woman says demurely.
"Can I come in?" - Mal. "No." Inara's tone is even icier than normal. (He enters her shuttle.) "That's why I don't usually ask." "What do you want?" "I just need someplace to....hide."
"Every planet has its own weird customs. A year before we met, I spent six weeks on a moon where the principal form of recreation was juggling geese," Wash tells Zoe. "Baby geese - Goslings! They were juggled."
(Mal goes to his cabin, is surprised to see Saffron there.) "Hey, you're, uh....uhhh.....there you are. Didn't you see that you got a room of your own?" "And I'm to sleep there?" "That's the notion. Assuming you're sleepy." "But we've been wed. Aren't we to become one flesh?" "Uh....no. No, we're still two fleshes, and...I think that your flesh ought to sleep somewhere else." (Saffron knocks him out with poison lipstick, and this later indirectly knocks out Inara as well, once she tries to revive him. Inara spends the rest of the episode awkwardly explaining away this incident by claiming she tripped and hit her head.)
"She's a pro!" Kaylee admires Saffron's explosive-rigging capability. Inara explains that Saffron also apparently had Companion training. "Okay, everybody not talking about sex, stay in here! Everybody else, elsewhere," Wash commands.
"One day, you're gonna tell us all how a preacher knows so damn much about crime," Jayne says to Book.
"You gonna kill me?" Saffron asks once Mal tracks her down. "Can you come up with a terribly compelling reason for me not to?" "I didn't kill you." He has her pinned, with a gun to her head. "Promise me you're gonna kill me soon." "Aw, you already know I ain't gonna." He lets her sit up. "You know, you did pretty well. Most men, they're on me inside of ten minutes. Not tryin' to teach me how to be strong and the like."
Episode Seven - "Jaynestown":
"What's going on here?" Simon asks Jayne. "I was looking for some tape." "So you had to tear my entire infirmary apart?" "Apparently." "You are like a trained ape! Except without the training."
(The gang runs into a lifesized statue of Jayne, gape in astonishment.) "...Jayne?" Mal asks. "Yeah?" "You want to tell me how come there's a statue of you here, starin' at me like I owe him somethin'?" "...Wishin I could, Cap'n..."
(River is sitting at the kitchen table, scribbling in Book's Bible, when he enters.) "What are you up to, sweetheart?" "Fixing your Bible." "I - uh - what?" Rapid-fire River talk, full of technical jargon and delivered at the speed of sound. "River! You - you don't fix the Bible!" he finally yells at her. She stares back, confused. "It's broken. It doesn't make sense." Book sighs. "It's not about making sense. It's about...believing in something, and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River - it fixes you."
(A bar erupts in a ballad praising Jayne as a conquering folk hero.) "Um....Jayne?" "Yeah, Mal." "You...got any light to shed on this development?" "No, Mal," Jayne looks just as dumbfounded as the rest of them. "This must be what going mad feels like...." Simon mutters. After the song is finished, Wash says, "We gotta go to the crappy town where I'm a hero."
"Y'know....you're pretty....pretty," Simon tells Kaylee. (They're both pretty drunk by now.) She looks at him, startled. "What? What did you say?" "Nothing. Just that you're pretty....even when you're all covered in engine grease."
(Book had taken his hair out of the bun, which terrified the daylights out of River, so she's hiding.) "Please, won't you come out?" "No! Can't. Too much hair!" "Is that it?" he asks Zoe. She chuckles. "Hell yes, Preacher. If I didn't have stuff to get done, I'd be in there with her."
"You confound me some, that's all," Kaylee tells Simon. "You like me well enough, we get along, and then you go all stiff-" (Simon tries to defend himself, too confounded to speak) "See? You're doing it right now. What's so damn important about bein' proper? Don't mean nothing out here in the black." He thinks for a minute. "It means more out here. It's all I have. My way of being...polite or whatever...it's the only way I have of showing that I like you. Of showing respect."
So here's the collection of corralled quotations from the sole season of the adventures of the crew of the Serenity. (Captain Malcom Reynolds, second-in-command Zoe Washburne, her pilot husband Hoban Washburne, mechanic Kaylee Frye, mercenary Jayne Cobb, prostitute Inara Serra, preacher Derrial Book, doctor Simon Tam and his borderline insane sister River.) Though the show's run was only fourteen episodes long, the amount of quotability necessitates that this project be broken up into two parts. However, like G.K. Chesterton wrote in Orthodoxy, it's somehow more fun that no more can be added.
Pretty shiny, ain't it? (By this point of the English language, "shiny" is catch-all slang like we use "cool" today.)
Episode One - "Pilot/Serenity":
(Bored while on lookout for a scavenging mission, Wash is playing with two toy dinosaurs.) "Everything looks good from here. 'Yes, yes. This is a fertile land,' (says the triceratops). 'We will thrive. We will rule over all this land' (the control panel) '...and we shall call it....this land....' (switching to T. Rex now) "'I think we should call it your grave!' 'Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!', the triceratops cries. 'Eh ha ha hah....mine is an evil laugh. Now die!'" the T. rex gloats.
(Mal commands Kaylee to blackout the Serenity's power.) "Going dark!" (She climbs a ladder and shuts down the power.) "Okay, now I can't get down."
(Jayne and Kaylee are arguing about Mal's plan of taking on passengers to ensure respectability.) "No, it's shiny to meet new people! They've all got their stories...." "Kaylee, will you stop bein' so cheerful, please?" - Jayne. "I don't believe there's a power in the 'verse that could stop Kaylee from bein' cheerful. Sometimes just want to duct-tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month." Mal replies. "I love my captain," she grins.
"I know somethin' ain't right..." Zoe complains. "Sweetie, we're crooks. If everything were right, we'd be in jail," Wash points out.
"What were you in that war you failed to win? A sergeant, yeah? I think you're still a sergeant. Still a soldier. A man of honor in a den of thieves," - Badger the crime lord, contemptuously (but accurately) describing Mal.
"I don't see why we didn't leave him in a pool of his own blood," Jayne complains. "'Cause then we'd be dead. You can't get paid if you're dead," Mal answers.
"Now we've got a boatful of citizens right on top of our stolen cargo....That's a fun mix," - Zoe to Mal. "Ain't no way in the 'verse they could find that compartment, even -" (passenger walks by) "even if they were lookin' for it." She looks at him. "Why not?" He frowns uncomfortably. "'Cause." "Ah. Yeah, this is gonna go great..." "If anybody gets nosy, y'know, just....shoot 'em." "Shoot 'em?" "Politely!"
"So....would you like to lecture me on the wickedness of my ways?" - Inara asks Shepherd Book, following an awkward introduction earlier. "I brought you some supper. But if you'd prefer a lecture, I've a few very catchy ones prepped. Sin, and hellfire. And one has lepers." (Talk turns to Mal.) "He is not wildly interested in ingratiating himself with anyone. Yet he seems very protective of his crew. It's odd." - Book.
(While being held at gunpoint.) "This is not my best day ever," Mal mutters.
(Same scene, after Kaylee is shot in the stomach.) "Welllll....that ain't hardly a mosquito bite." - Mal. (Arguing leads to Mal changing course and running from the Alliance to give Simon enough time to operate on Kaylee.) "When this is over, you and me are gonna have a personal chat," Mal growls during the operation. "That'll be fun. Dope her," Simon tosses a tranq gun across the surgery.
(Coming across a surprise he didn't expect.) "...Huh." - Mal.
"What the hell is this?" - Mal. "This is my sister," - Simon.
(After explaining to everyone else that River was extraordinarily gifted, and thus subjected to experimentation by the Alliance, Simon rescued her.) "Will she be all right?" Inara asks. "I...I don't know. I don't know if she'll be all right; I don't know what they did to her...or why. I just have to keep her safe."
(At the end of his patience, Mal punches Simon.) "Saw that comin'," Jayne grins.
"Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?" an Alliance mole asks Jayne. "Gee, I never been in trouble with the law before," he answers innocently.
"Well, we may not have departed on the best of terms....certain words were exchanged....also...certain bullets..." - Mal to a crime lord named Patience, who shot him the last business deal they had.
"There's obstacles in our path, but we're gonna get through this. We will. We'll get through 'em," Mal tells his crew.
"Testing....Captain, can you hear me?" Jayne asks over a radio headset. "Yeah, I'm standing right here," Mal answers. "Coming in loud and clear!" "That's cause I'm standing right here."
(During a tense standoff between Mal's crew and Patience's people after their transaction has finished.) "I'd appreciate it if you all would turn around and ride out first." (Shootout commences.)
"You might ask Mal to drop you off somewhere else - Whitefall ain't exactly the middle of civilization," - Wash. "I'll be all right, you don't have to worry about me," Simon mumbles. "Zoe's out there. I always worry. So - It ain't out of my way."
(After shootout) "Zoe?" "Armor's dented." "Well, you were right about this being a bad idea." "Thanks for sayin', sir."
(Everyone is yelling frantically at Wash to pilot faster while being chased by horrendous pillagers called Reavers.) "If everyone could just be quiet, please-" he says evenly. "Can we get Kaylee to the engine room, please?" Protestations before Zoe and Jayne go to carry her from the surgery. "How are we doing?" the captain asks after a minute. "I don't mean to alarm anybody, but I think we're being followed."
(Extremely weak Kaylee is directing instructions to Book and Jayne. Book is decently familiar with mechanical things.) "Jayne, open the port jets and cut the hydraulics." (He looks around helplessly.) "What the hell is-" "Look! Look! Look where I'm pointing!" (He opens box, which is full of complicated wires.) "Okay, now it's really simple...." she instructs, Jayne stares at her open-mouthed in disbelief.
(After Wash pulls off a risky, daring escape maneuver and they sail off to safety) "I knew I hired you for somethin'," Mal nods approvingly.
"You really ought to let the doctor look at this," Inara scolds Shepherd Book while stitching up a cut above his eye. "It's not bad." "Well, I'm sure you'll be fine." "I didn't say that." (Pause; he's near tears.) "Is this what life is? Out here?" She nods. "Sometimes." "...I've been out of the abbey two days. I've beaten a lawman senseless, and fallen in with criminals....I watched the captain shoot a man I swore to protect, and....I'm not even sure if I thought it was wrong..." "Shepherd-" "I believe, it's just -" (weak smile) "I think I'm on the wrong ship." She stares at him a minute, biting her lip. "Maybe. But maybe you're exactly where you ought to be."
"I didn't think you'd come for me," River says to Simon. "Well, you're a dummy," he says.
"But he did try to make a deal with you, though, right? How come you didn't turn on me, Jayne?" "Money wasn't good enough." "What happens when it is?" "Welll....that'll be an interesting day." "Imagine it will." (Jayne leaves cabin, Simon enters.) "So where do you plan on dumping us?" "There's places you might be safe. But you want the truth, though, you're probably safer on the move. Hey - we never stop movin'." (Simon frowns.) "I'm confused....no, wait, I think maybe you're confused." "Maybe it's become apparent to you that the ship could use a medic. You ain't weak. Don't know how bright you are, top three percent, but you ain't weak, and that's not nothin'. You live by my rules, you keep your sister from doin' anything crazy, you could, maybe, find a place here. Till you find better." "I....I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can....How do I know that you won't kill me in my sleep?" "You don't know me, son. Let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me. And you'll be armed." "Are you always this sentimental?" (Mal shrugs.) "Had a good day." "You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages....half the people on this ship have been shot or wounding including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives." "Well, we're still flyin'..." "That isn't much." "...It's enough."
Episode Two - "The Train Job":
"After the Earth was used up, we found a new solar system and hundreds of new Earths were terraformed and colonized. The Central Planets formed the Alliance and decided that all the planets had to join under their rule. There was some disagreement on that point. After the war, many of the Independents who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of the system, far from Alliance control. Out here, people struggle to get by with the most basic technologies. A ship could get you work. A gun would help you keep it. A captain's goal was simple: Find a crew, find a job, keep flying," - First voiceover introduction, from Shepherd Book.
(In a bar on some backwater planet.) "Your move." - Jayne. "That's a bold move." - Zoe. "I live on the edge." - Mal. (We then see that they're playing Chinese Checkers.) And then a drunk guy loudly proclaims that it's been six years since the Alliance won the war, "sending those nasty Browncoats runnin'." He then takes a closer look at Mal. "You know....your coat is kind of a brownish color..." "It was on sale." "An' you didn' toast. You know, I'm thinkin' you musta been one of them Independents." "And I think you weren't blessed with an overabundance of schooling. So why don't we just ignore each other until we go away?" Mal smiles. Drunk Guy continues insulting him until Zoe clobbers him from behind, bringing most of the bar's patrons threateningly to their feet. "Jayne?" Zoe calls for help. "Hey, I didn't fight in no war. You guys are on your own." "Fine. Let's do this." Mal shrugs. (He's then thrown out of a holographic glass window. Into radio:) "Wash, we've got some local color happening. A grand entrance would not go amiss."
Later in same fight, Mal, Zoe and Jayne are perched atop a cliff. "See? This is why we lost. Superior numbers!" "Thanks for the reenactment, sir."
"Uh-huh....funny how you always find yourself in an Alliance-friendly bar on U-Day when you're just lookin' for a quiet drink." - Zoe.
"....This isn't home." - River. "No. No....we can't go home. If we go home, they'll just send you back to the Academy. This is safer now." - Simon. (River shakes her head in fear at going back, then nods in agreement that his plan is a good idea.) "We're on a ship," he says hopefully. "A mid-bulk transport, standard radon and accelerator core, class code 03-K64. A Firefly," she recites. "Well, that's somethin'. I can't even remember all that," Mal comments, leaning on the doorway. After a chat about Mal's brawl, River watches him walk down the hallway. "Mal. Bad. In the Latin." (She's right.)
"That young man's very brave," Shepherd Book talking of Simon's attempts to nurse River back to health. He then delivers a monologue of expositional details, asking why Mal is harboring known fugitives. "Because it's the right thing to do. And shouldn't you be delivering religiosity to the heathens or somesuch?" "Oh, I've got heathens enough right here," the preacher smiles. Mal sighs. "You're welcome on this boat. God ain't."
"What did I tell you about barging into my shuttle?" - Inara snaps at Mal. "That it was....manly and impulsive?" "Yes. Except the exact phrase I used was 'Don't.'"
"That guy's a psycho, you know." - Zoe. "Niska? Well, he's not the first psycho we've worked for. Probably won't be the last. You think that's a commentary on us?" - Mal.
(Shepherd Book is studying the New Testament in the kitchen when Inara comes in for a cup of tea. "I wish I could help. I mean, I don't want to help help - not with the thieving, but - I do feel awfully useless." - Book. "You could always pray they make it back safely." - Inara. "I don't think the captain would much like me praying for him." "Don't tell him," she shrugs. "I never do."
"Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain is missing." - Zoe.
"Soo.....what are we doing?" Simon asks Kaylee. "Oh! Crime," she answers breezily. "Crime...good. Okayyy.....hmm. Crime..." he mutters, taken aback.
"Time for some thrilling heroics." - Jayne.
(Having just realized that the cargo they just stole was medicine for a town which desperately needs it.) "This is a nightmare..." Mal moans.
"That sounds like the Alliance....unite all the planets under one rule so that each can be ignored or interfered with equally." Mal.
"....Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?" Wash asks incredulously after Jayne collapses in the middle of threatening everyone. "I told him to sit down," Simon shakes his head. "You doped him!" Kaylee marvels. "It....it was supposed to kick in a good deal sooner. I just didn't feel comfortable with him being in charge. I hope that's all right."
(Jayne, still loopy from the drugs, has just shot an adversary in the kneecap.) "Nice shot." - Mal. "...I was aimin' for his head...."
"A man learns about a situation like ours...well, then he has a choice." - Local Sheriff, talking about the crew's return of the needed medicine. "No, I don't believe he does," Mal answers.
Episode Three - "Bushwhacked":
(Arguing amongst crew whether to see if stranded ship needs help or not.) "If there's folks on board who needed help, why ain't they beamin' no distress call?" - Jayne. "It's true...there's no beacon." - Zoe. "Which means its likely no one's looking to find her." - Mal. "All the more reason for us to do the right thing." - Book. "How's about you just say a prayer while we slide on by?" Jayne asks Book. "Shall I remind you of the story of the Good Samaritan?" Book asks Mal. "I'd rather you didn't. But we'll check it out," Mal decides. "Could be survivors. And if not, well, then nobody's gonna mind if we take a look around, see if there was something of value they might've left behind." "Yeah! No, uh....someone could be hurt," Jayne nods enthusiastically.
"Oh, yeah, he's a real beast. It's a wonder you're still alive," Simon says dryly to Jayne, after they capture a scrawny guy who attacked him earlier. "He looked bigger when I couldn't see him."
(Kaylee is asked to defuse a bomb.) "Yeah, sure, I can do that." (Pause) "That is, I think so...." (Another pause. Then, muttering) "Besides, if I mess up, it's not like you're gonna be around to yell at me..."
"This looks like an illegal salvage operation, Captain Reynolds." - Alliance Officer. "It does? Well, that's discouraging..."
(Zoe is being interrogated.) "You fought with Captain Reynolds in the war?" "Fought with a lot of people in the war." "And with your husband in the war?" "Fight with him sometimes, too."
(Mal is being interrogated.) "I find it odd that you'd name your ship after a battle that you were on the losing side of." "May have been the losing side, but I'm not convinced it was the wrong one."
Episode Four - "Shindig":
(New intro from here on out.) "Here's how it is: Earth got used up, so we terraformed a whole new galaxy of Earths, some rich and flush with the new technologies. Some? Well, not so much. Central planets, them as formed the Alliance, waged war to bring everyone under their rule. Few idiots tried to fight it, among them, myself. I'm Malcolm Reynolds, captain of Serenity. We got a good crew: fighters, pilot, mechanic. We even picked up a preacher, and a bona fide Companion. There's a doctor, too; took his sister out of some Alliance camp, so they're keepin' a low profile. You got a job, we can do it. Don't much care what it is."
(Mal tries to warn Inara that a bar brawl is brewing over a game of pool.) "I'm having fun, actually. It's interesting watching the game. As with many situations, the key seems to be giving Jayne a heavy stick and then standing back."
"Planet's comin' up mighty fast." - Zoe. "Well, that's cause I'm coming down too quick. It's no big deal, only that we're probably going to crash and die." - Wash. "Well, when that happens, let me know." - Mal.
(About a ball she's planning to attend.) "I don't suppose you'd find it up to the standards of your outings. More conversation, and somewhat less petty theft and getting hit with pool cues." - Inara.
"Look at the pretties!" Kaylee squeals. "What am I looking at? The girls, or the clothes?" - Wash. "The clothes, please." - Zoe.
"You backed out of our deal last time. Left us hanging." - Mal. "Hurt our feelings." - Jayne adds. "I had a problem with your attitude is why. Thought you was....what's the word...." Badger stops his harangue Mal-ward, stuck for the right word. "Pretentious?" Jayne suggests. "Exactly! You think you're better than other people!" "Just the ones I'm better than."
"She blushes. Not many in your profession who would do that." a nasty man named Atherton Wing, to Inara.
"You're supposed to make me look respectable." Mal hisses at Kaylee, both very much out of their element at Inara's fancy ball. "Yes sir, Cap'n Tightpants!" "Okay....help me find our man....he's kind of stocky and he's wearin' a red sash crossways." "Why's he do that?" "Maybe he won the Miss Persephone Pageant. Just help me look!" "Is that him?" "That's the buffet table." "Well, how can we be sure, unless we question it?"
(River has just ripped off the labels of most of the galley's canned-food supply.) "Shh. No harm done, we'll just - be having a few mystery meals." - Book.
(Mal has found the guy he's looking for, a large man with a snooty accent named Sir Warrick Harrow.) "The sash?" "It indicates lordhood." "And it's - doing a great job." "Whom do you represent?" "Fella called Badger." (Sir Warrick looks offended.) "I know him. I think he's a psychotic lowlife." "And I think calling him that is an insult to the psychotic lowlife community."
(Mal and Inara are arguing again.) "What I do is legal. And how about you, how's that smuggling coming along?" "It may be illegal, but at least it's honest." he snaps.
(Mal punches Atherton Wing, who's just insulted Inara.) "Turns out this is my kind of party!" (He then learns that he accidentally challenged him to a swordfight duel, and panics.)
"...This taking up as my second, does that mean we're in business together?" Mal to Sir Warrick. "It means you're in mortal danger. But, you mussed up Atherton's face, and that has endeared me to you somewhat."
"....Up until the punching, it was a real nice party," Kaylee says quietly.
(Badger knocks on the hull door, Jayne reluctantly lets him in.) "The captain's gone and gotten himself in trouble," Badger announces. Cut to crew meeting. "A duel?" Book asks, not believing Badger's story. "With swords?" Wash is equally astounded. "The captain's a good fighter, he....he must know how to handle a s-sword..." Simon mumbles. "Think he knows which end to hold..." Zoe frowns.
"He insulted you. I hit him. Seemed like the right thing to do. Why'd this get so complicated?!" Mal, to Inara. (Later, same scene.) "I actually thought that I was defending your honor, and I never back down from a fight." "Yes, you do! You do that all the time." "....Well, I'm not backin' down from this one." (She then teaches him how to swordfight.)
Episode Five - "Safe":
(Slightly expanded version of Mal's intro; the third of the series.) "Here's how it is: the Earth got used up, so we moved out and terraformed a whole new galaxy of Earths, some rich and flush with the new technologies. Some? Well, not so much. The central planets, them as formed the Alliance, waged war to bring everyone under their rule. Few idiots tried to fight it, among them, myself. I'm Malcolm Reynolds, captain of Serenity. She's a transport ship, Firefly class. We got a good crew: fighters, pilot, mechanic. We even picked up a preacher for some reason, and a bona fide Companion. There's a doctor, too; took his sister out of some Alliance camp, so they're keepin' a low profile. You understand. You got a job, we can do it. Don't much care what it is."
"I will not have it in my house. But since your mother's already ordered you one, I guess I should give up the fantasy that this is my house." - Gabriel Tam in a flashback, talking about ordering a piece of expensive technology for Simon's use. (Perhaps a computer?) He then stipulates that Simon can pay him back by becoming a brilliant doctor. (Young Simon is played by Zac Efron in his first role.)
"So. She's added cussing and hurling about of vial-things into her repertoire. She really is a prodigy." - Mal, about River. "It's just a bad day..." Simon mutters. "No, a bad day is when someone's yellin' spooks the cattle. You ever seen cattle stampede when they got no place to run? It's kinda like a...meat grinder. And it loses half our herd." "She hasn't gone anywhere near the cattle." "No, but in case you hadn't noticed, her voice kinda carries. We're two miles above ground and they can probably hear her down there. Soon as we unload, she can holler until our ears bleed. Although I would take it as a kindness if she didn't." "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems." - River. "See, morbid and creepifyin', I got no problem with. Long as she does it quiet-like."
(Unloading the cattle for the sale.) "Hope this corral's strong enough to hold 'em....Shepherd's a purely figurative title, ya know!" - Book. "Next time we start smugglin' stock, let's make it something smaller." - Zoe. "Yeah, like those black-market beagles!" Wash agrees.
"When a man engages in clandestine dealings, he has his preference for things bein' smooth. She makes things - not be smooth." - Mal, about River. "Right....I'm very sorry if she tipped off anyone about your cunningly concealed herd of cows," Simon answers sarcastically.
"Does it seem that every supply store on every border planet has the same five rag dolls and the same wood carvings of - what is this, a duck?" - Inara. "It's a swan!" Kaylee defends it. "And I like it." "You do?" "Yeah. It looks like it was made with, y'know....longing. Made by a person who really longed to see a swan." (Inara smiles.) "Perhaps because they'd only heard of them by rough description."
"This is the last time with cows...." Mal mutters, picking carefully through manure. "I believe there was some idea with beagles. Don't they have smallish droppings?" "I believe so, sir. Also, your disreputable men are here." - Zoe.
(Caught up in a skirmish wholly not of their doing for once.) "It never goes smooth! How come it never goes smooth?!" Mal complains.
(Book has been shot, badly.) "Where's....the doctor?" he wheezes. "We don't make him hurry for the little stuff. He'll be along shortly," Zoe tells him in her best nursing voice. "He...could hurry....a little...."
"'Dear Diary: Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy." (Flips book to new page) "Today we were captured by hill-folk, never be seen again. It was the best day ever!'" - Jayne rummaging through Simon's things.
"We're headed for help, right?" Kaylee asks about Book. "Captain'll come up with a plan," Zoe nods. "And that's good, right?" Zoe allows herself a small grin. "It's possible you're not recallin' some of his previous plans."
(Very agitated Jayne, in an Alliance hospital.) "This place gives me an uncomfortableness..."
(After getting kidnapped by a community of hillbillies, River has a moment of reality and she shares a memory of berrypicking with Simon.) "I took you away from there. I know I did. You don't think I do, but...I get confused. I remember everything. I remember too much, and....some of it's made up, and....some of it can't be quantified, and - there's secrets -" "River. It's okay." "But I understand. You gave up everything you had to find me. You found me broken, and...it's hard for you. You gave up everything you had-" (she breaks down in tears.) "Everything I have is right here." (She smiles again.) "You need to eat, to keep up your strength. We won't be here long. Daddy will come and take us away." (Simon turns away.) "I'll get better. I'll get better!"
(Flashback again: In his efforts to rescue River, Simon has found himself jailed. His parents have never believed his idea that she is being tortured, and Dad comes along to bail him out, in an awful mood.) "I'm sorry, Dad....You know, I never would have saved River's life if I knew there was a dinner party at risk." "Are you trying to destroy this family?!" Gabriel rages. Simon answers, sadly: "....I didn't realize it would be so easy." (Simon is then disowned.)
(These hillbillies have turned out to be some kind of cult, and they think River is a witch. She's about to be burned at the stake until the Serenity saves the day dramatically.) "WELL, LOOK AT THIS! APPEARS WE GOT HERE IN JUST THE NICK OF TIME!" Mal has to shout to be heard over the engines. "WHAT DOES THAT MAKE US?" "BIG DAMN HEROES, SIR!" Zoe yells back. "AIN'T WE JUST!" (By now they're within normal speaking range.) "Sorry, folks, but you got somethin' that belongs to us, and we'd like it back. Cut her down." "She's a witch," the community leader protests. "Yeah, but she's our witch!" Mal snaps.
"So finally a decent wound on this ship, and I miss it.... I'm sorry." - Simon. "Well, you were busy tryin' to get yourself lit on fire. It happens." - Mal. "Captain? Why did you come back for us?" (Mal looks surprised.) "You're on my crew." "Yeah, but you don't even like me. Why'd you come back?" "You're on my crew. Why are we still talkin' about this?"
Episode Six - "Our Mrs. Reynolds":
"I married me a powerful ugly creature," Jayne says to outlaws holding up their wagon. "How can you say that? How can you shame me in front of new people?" Mal asks, disguised as a woman. They aim their pistols at the outlaws. "Now, you think real hard. You can luxuriate in a nice jail cell, or, if your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you." - Mal.
"What are you doing on my boat?" a startled Mal yells at a young woman with red hair. "But....you know I am to cleave to you." "To what about who?" "Did the elder not tell you?" "Tell me what....? Who are you?" "Mr. Reynolds, sir....I'm your wife." (Mal is stunned speechless, and the credits intro plays.) "Could you repeat that, please?" (The woman tries to explain.) "Okay, I'm sorry - go back to the part where you're my wife?" "I don't please you?" "You can't please me - you never met me!" (Zoe and Jayne enter cargo bay.) "Zoe, why do I have a wife?" "You got a wife?" Jayne asks. (Zoe calls everybody into the cargo bay.) "Who's the new recruit?" Book asks. "Everybody - I want you all to meet Mrs. Reynolds," Zoe introduces the crew to the woman. "You got married?" Kaylee squeals. (Inara looks angry and like she wants to throw up.) "Wow, that's, uh....Congratulations?" Simon stammers. "We always hoped you two kids would get togeth - Who is she?" - Wash. (Eventually they all figure out what happened, Mal doesn't react well and the woman runs away crying.)
"Hello? Woman...Person?" Mal calls through a hallway before eventually finding her. "Are you gonna kill me?" "What? What kind of crappy planet is that, kill you?" "In the Maiden's Home I heard talk of men who were like that, if they weren't pleased with their brides-" "Well, I ain't them! And don't you ever stand for that sort of thing. Someone tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back." He sighs. "Look, wife or no, you are no one's property to be tossed aside. You got the right, same as anyone, to...live and try to kill people." (She stares, confused.) "I mean....y'know...That's a dumb planet!"
(Later, same scene.) "I'd be a good wife." "Yeah, well....I'd be a terrible husband." (She scrambles off to the galley to cook.) "Hold it! I never even-" "My name is Saffron," the woman says demurely.
"Can I come in?" - Mal. "No." Inara's tone is even icier than normal. (He enters her shuttle.) "That's why I don't usually ask." "What do you want?" "I just need someplace to....hide."
"Every planet has its own weird customs. A year before we met, I spent six weeks on a moon where the principal form of recreation was juggling geese," Wash tells Zoe. "Baby geese - Goslings! They were juggled."
(Mal goes to his cabin, is surprised to see Saffron there.) "Hey, you're, uh....uhhh.....there you are. Didn't you see that you got a room of your own?" "And I'm to sleep there?" "That's the notion. Assuming you're sleepy." "But we've been wed. Aren't we to become one flesh?" "Uh....no. No, we're still two fleshes, and...I think that your flesh ought to sleep somewhere else." (Saffron knocks him out with poison lipstick, and this later indirectly knocks out Inara as well, once she tries to revive him. Inara spends the rest of the episode awkwardly explaining away this incident by claiming she tripped and hit her head.)
"She's a pro!" Kaylee admires Saffron's explosive-rigging capability. Inara explains that Saffron also apparently had Companion training. "Okay, everybody not talking about sex, stay in here! Everybody else, elsewhere," Wash commands.
"One day, you're gonna tell us all how a preacher knows so damn much about crime," Jayne says to Book.
"You gonna kill me?" Saffron asks once Mal tracks her down. "Can you come up with a terribly compelling reason for me not to?" "I didn't kill you." He has her pinned, with a gun to her head. "Promise me you're gonna kill me soon." "Aw, you already know I ain't gonna." He lets her sit up. "You know, you did pretty well. Most men, they're on me inside of ten minutes. Not tryin' to teach me how to be strong and the like."
Episode Seven - "Jaynestown":
"What's going on here?" Simon asks Jayne. "I was looking for some tape." "So you had to tear my entire infirmary apart?" "Apparently." "You are like a trained ape! Except without the training."
(The gang runs into a lifesized statue of Jayne, gape in astonishment.) "...Jayne?" Mal asks. "Yeah?" "You want to tell me how come there's a statue of you here, starin' at me like I owe him somethin'?" "...Wishin I could, Cap'n..."
(River is sitting at the kitchen table, scribbling in Book's Bible, when he enters.) "What are you up to, sweetheart?" "Fixing your Bible." "I - uh - what?" Rapid-fire River talk, full of technical jargon and delivered at the speed of sound. "River! You - you don't fix the Bible!" he finally yells at her. She stares back, confused. "It's broken. It doesn't make sense." Book sighs. "It's not about making sense. It's about...believing in something, and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about faith. You don't fix faith, River - it fixes you."
(A bar erupts in a ballad praising Jayne as a conquering folk hero.) "Um....Jayne?" "Yeah, Mal." "You...got any light to shed on this development?" "No, Mal," Jayne looks just as dumbfounded as the rest of them. "This must be what going mad feels like...." Simon mutters. After the song is finished, Wash says, "We gotta go to the crappy town where I'm a hero."
"Y'know....you're pretty....pretty," Simon tells Kaylee. (They're both pretty drunk by now.) She looks at him, startled. "What? What did you say?" "Nothing. Just that you're pretty....even when you're all covered in engine grease."
(Book had taken his hair out of the bun, which terrified the daylights out of River, so she's hiding.) "Please, won't you come out?" "No! Can't. Too much hair!" "Is that it?" he asks Zoe. She chuckles. "Hell yes, Preacher. If I didn't have stuff to get done, I'd be in there with her."
"You confound me some, that's all," Kaylee tells Simon. "You like me well enough, we get along, and then you go all stiff-" (Simon tries to defend himself, too confounded to speak) "See? You're doing it right now. What's so damn important about bein' proper? Don't mean nothing out here in the black." He thinks for a minute. "It means more out here. It's all I have. My way of being...polite or whatever...it's the only way I have of showing that I like you. Of showing respect."
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Easter 2017
It's been a restless and wandery day. There's a storm coming, the tension has been slowly building since morning. Called home, everybody's helping Amy hunt for Easter eggs, and then the traditional baseball game with them afterwards.
The Passover dinner at GBC apparently went really well, there were about 110 people there, roughly twenty percent of them being visitors, in the sense that they aren't part of the congregation, but all were at one point or are well-known friends of folks who are.
Dado's final living brother, Kenneth, died this morning. And yesterday would have been Grandpa's birthday, the first one since he died last summer. That was kind of hard to deal with, but easier than I thought it'd be. Maybe because I was distracted by the day's tasks. Mom, Courtney and Amy all went over to Tahlequah to Louise's Thursday, Trish and everyone are visiting, and Bob came over.
GBC's not officially sending a group to SGYC this year, but there's a plan for an Oklahoma-based camp to start near Chouteau in summer 2018. According to an email I got from Mrs. Boyer, Steve Long will still be the pastor this year, which should be a good thing. I'm not sure if I can be a counselor this year, depends on how the job search goes. If I do go, it'll match the time I spent as a camper - five years.
Amanda's been teasing me incessantly all week long. ("Rolling eyes") Maya's second birthday is in two weeks.
Reading slowly through Wendell Berry's Hannah Coulter, because he just can't be read quickly. And also, it's good to sit and think for a while on what his characters have to say and experience. Same way with Flannery O'Connor. I've mostly been reading her nonfiction work Mystery and Manners, which I would say is one of those books on writing that everyone ought to read, along with Stephen King's On Writing, William Strunk Jr's and E.B. White's Elements of Style, William Zinsser's On Writing Well, and William Goldman's Adventures of the Screen Trade. And, if you're into that sort of thing, the AP Stylebook.
This week's movie of study for Gothic Film and Lit was Crimson Peak, which started well, but unraveling quickly into a horror movie that just didn't work - the harshest critique a story can have. Dr. Mackie and I hate horror movies, so there was that part of it, but Kenzie likes them, and even she wasn't a fan. Tom Hiddleston did well in his role, and there were some good ideas as far as storyline or plot developments, and it had a lot of the traditional Gothic elements (creepy mansion, ghosts, a secret, naive young woman, murder) but there was far too little backstory and far too many unanswered questions by the end. Also, all three of us vehemently wanted the heroine to die, which can't be a good sign.
The Predators crushed the Blackhawks in game two of their first-round series, and in other NHL action today, Ottawa beat Boston in overtime, Toronto defeated Washington halfway through double overtime, and the Ducks put out the Flames. In NBA news, the Thunder start their first-round series against the Rockets tomorrow night.
Tom Sawyer went fairly well both nights; the audiences were mostly responsive and animated, and also fairly high in terms of numbers: maybe twenty-five Thursday, thirty-three Friday, and only about a quarter of those were comp tickets. It's kind of sad that thirty people is an enormous audience, but that's the way it is with the RSU Theater Department.
I played the voice-acting role of Sid Sawyer, Tom's insufferable half-brother, who is, in the words of Derek Steeley, "the Eddie Haskell of American literature." And he's right; Sid is (shudder). So that's partially how I played him, although I was primarily thinking of Waldo from The Little Rascals. (Indignant shudder.) Most lines were voice-acted, as it was a staged reading, which meant only key scenes were acted out. My actual character was Doc Robinson, whose only purpose is to be the brutally-slain murder victim of Injun Joe in the graveyard. Cody played Tom's friend Joe Harper, Keirstine (Jennifer from last spring's "Tales From Tent City") was Becky Thatcher.
Jimmy Fallon was the host of Saturday Night Live this week, and about half the sketches were really funny. For SNL, that's a good average. The cold open was making fun of Trump again, which was pretty snicker-worthy. - it features someone in a Grim Reaper costume, which instantly brought to mind Jacob's Killer from "Go With the Flow," one of our SWAT skits. (Our blooper reel still cracks me up. And MAN do I miss everybody....) Another good SNL sketch tonight was a date getting crashed in the most awkward way imaginable by the woman's ex, with the punch line stating that he was the one responsible for dragging the guy off the United flight the other day. And they didn't have the best reputation in the first place even before that - remember the (parody?) tune "United Breaks Guitars"? Another was a time-traveling version of Family Feud.
Haven't been able to get much work done today on essays and stories that need to be written, but that's part of why I'm typing this post - hopefully it'll kick-start my word output. Sometimes that happens. But anyway, it was time for an update.
The Passover dinner at GBC apparently went really well, there were about 110 people there, roughly twenty percent of them being visitors, in the sense that they aren't part of the congregation, but all were at one point or are well-known friends of folks who are.
Dado's final living brother, Kenneth, died this morning. And yesterday would have been Grandpa's birthday, the first one since he died last summer. That was kind of hard to deal with, but easier than I thought it'd be. Maybe because I was distracted by the day's tasks. Mom, Courtney and Amy all went over to Tahlequah to Louise's Thursday, Trish and everyone are visiting, and Bob came over.
GBC's not officially sending a group to SGYC this year, but there's a plan for an Oklahoma-based camp to start near Chouteau in summer 2018. According to an email I got from Mrs. Boyer, Steve Long will still be the pastor this year, which should be a good thing. I'm not sure if I can be a counselor this year, depends on how the job search goes. If I do go, it'll match the time I spent as a camper - five years.
Amanda's been teasing me incessantly all week long. ("Rolling eyes") Maya's second birthday is in two weeks.
Reading slowly through Wendell Berry's Hannah Coulter, because he just can't be read quickly. And also, it's good to sit and think for a while on what his characters have to say and experience. Same way with Flannery O'Connor. I've mostly been reading her nonfiction work Mystery and Manners, which I would say is one of those books on writing that everyone ought to read, along with Stephen King's On Writing, William Strunk Jr's and E.B. White's Elements of Style, William Zinsser's On Writing Well, and William Goldman's Adventures of the Screen Trade. And, if you're into that sort of thing, the AP Stylebook.
This week's movie of study for Gothic Film and Lit was Crimson Peak, which started well, but unraveling quickly into a horror movie that just didn't work - the harshest critique a story can have. Dr. Mackie and I hate horror movies, so there was that part of it, but Kenzie likes them, and even she wasn't a fan. Tom Hiddleston did well in his role, and there were some good ideas as far as storyline or plot developments, and it had a lot of the traditional Gothic elements (creepy mansion, ghosts, a secret, naive young woman, murder) but there was far too little backstory and far too many unanswered questions by the end. Also, all three of us vehemently wanted the heroine to die, which can't be a good sign.
The Predators crushed the Blackhawks in game two of their first-round series, and in other NHL action today, Ottawa beat Boston in overtime, Toronto defeated Washington halfway through double overtime, and the Ducks put out the Flames. In NBA news, the Thunder start their first-round series against the Rockets tomorrow night.
Tom Sawyer went fairly well both nights; the audiences were mostly responsive and animated, and also fairly high in terms of numbers: maybe twenty-five Thursday, thirty-three Friday, and only about a quarter of those were comp tickets. It's kind of sad that thirty people is an enormous audience, but that's the way it is with the RSU Theater Department.
I played the voice-acting role of Sid Sawyer, Tom's insufferable half-brother, who is, in the words of Derek Steeley, "the Eddie Haskell of American literature." And he's right; Sid is (shudder). So that's partially how I played him, although I was primarily thinking of Waldo from The Little Rascals. (Indignant shudder.) Most lines were voice-acted, as it was a staged reading, which meant only key scenes were acted out. My actual character was Doc Robinson, whose only purpose is to be the brutally-slain murder victim of Injun Joe in the graveyard. Cody played Tom's friend Joe Harper, Keirstine (Jennifer from last spring's "Tales From Tent City") was Becky Thatcher.
Jimmy Fallon was the host of Saturday Night Live this week, and about half the sketches were really funny. For SNL, that's a good average. The cold open was making fun of Trump again, which was pretty snicker-worthy. - it features someone in a Grim Reaper costume, which instantly brought to mind Jacob's Killer from "Go With the Flow," one of our SWAT skits. (Our blooper reel still cracks me up. And MAN do I miss everybody....) Another good SNL sketch tonight was a date getting crashed in the most awkward way imaginable by the woman's ex, with the punch line stating that he was the one responsible for dragging the guy off the United flight the other day. And they didn't have the best reputation in the first place even before that - remember the (parody?) tune "United Breaks Guitars"? Another was a time-traveling version of Family Feud.
Haven't been able to get much work done today on essays and stories that need to be written, but that's part of why I'm typing this post - hopefully it'll kick-start my word output. Sometimes that happens. But anyway, it was time for an update.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Middle of April
Classes are going okay. Had to draw a four-panel scene from a comic strip for yesterday's Pop Market, it was heavily inspired by Peanuts, both in tone and appearance, because I can't draw very well. (Though I also never remember to practice, so that's kind of my own fault.) Mostly been researching for an essay - probably on southern gothic storytelling - due next week, so that means reading a lot of Flannery O'Connor. She makes my brain hurt sometimes, cause she was so deep, but it's interesting.
Helped some people from the Psychology Department on a research project they're doing on cognition, it was about mentally doing math as quickly as possible. The presentations for the Psychology of the Criminal Mind started this afternoon, and I already have two examples to look further into to use in some way, maybe. Ran into Cody as he was getting out of class, and we ran by McDonald's before rehearsal, then killed time until it started by running lines with Keirstine.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s latest episode was another really great one, with everyone playing the Framework versions of themselves. Iain de Caesticker can play a very jarringly evil Fitz. And we got to meet Mack's daughter Hope.
Recent Songs of the Day... Woke up this morning with Alan Jackson's "Drive (For Daddy Gene)" playing, and for most of the night it's been the AJ part from the Zac Brown Band-Alan Jackson collaboration "As She's Walkin' Away." Think I'm going to start a weekly cover video series like Jon used to do, so I started with Diamond Rio's "Meet in the Middle" yesterday afternoon. It's not a great cover, but you have to start somewhere....besides, that's one that needs drums, and so one guitar can only do so much. And then a lot of impressions: Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Billy Ray Cyrus, Scotty McCreery, Josh Turner, Brett Eldredge, Blake Shelton, Garth Brooks, Collin Raye, Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan. Not exactly meaning to do impressions, although that's fun, but it's kind of an unconscious thing that I pick up unconsciously.
Rehearsals for Tom Sawyer are going about as well as expected. Our assistant director Brittany keeps having to remind me to project more and to aim my dialogue at the audience, but that are always the things I need to work on. At some point during a break David (our director) was talking to somebody and I just caught the word "marriage," pronounced, of course, as "Mehwaage," because everyone loves The Princess Bride. So I teleport across the stage and launch into the full monologue of the Impressive Clergyman, because I have to do that if anything related to The Princess Bride comes up. And I got a lot of compliments on my impression, which was cool.
The NHL playoffs have begun, so that's pretty exciting. The first game of the Blues-Wild series is on in the living room right now, and the San Jose-Edmonton game is on the other channel. Also, Russell Westbrook just broke Oscar Robertson's record for most triple-doubles in one season, which is also pretty awesome.
Helped some people from the Psychology Department on a research project they're doing on cognition, it was about mentally doing math as quickly as possible. The presentations for the Psychology of the Criminal Mind started this afternoon, and I already have two examples to look further into to use in some way, maybe. Ran into Cody as he was getting out of class, and we ran by McDonald's before rehearsal, then killed time until it started by running lines with Keirstine.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s latest episode was another really great one, with everyone playing the Framework versions of themselves. Iain de Caesticker can play a very jarringly evil Fitz. And we got to meet Mack's daughter Hope.
Recent Songs of the Day... Woke up this morning with Alan Jackson's "Drive (For Daddy Gene)" playing, and for most of the night it's been the AJ part from the Zac Brown Band-Alan Jackson collaboration "As She's Walkin' Away." Think I'm going to start a weekly cover video series like Jon used to do, so I started with Diamond Rio's "Meet in the Middle" yesterday afternoon. It's not a great cover, but you have to start somewhere....besides, that's one that needs drums, and so one guitar can only do so much. And then a lot of impressions: Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Billy Ray Cyrus, Scotty McCreery, Josh Turner, Brett Eldredge, Blake Shelton, Garth Brooks, Collin Raye, Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan. Not exactly meaning to do impressions, although that's fun, but it's kind of an unconscious thing that I pick up unconsciously.
Rehearsals for Tom Sawyer are going about as well as expected. Our assistant director Brittany keeps having to remind me to project more and to aim my dialogue at the audience, but that are always the things I need to work on. At some point during a break David (our director) was talking to somebody and I just caught the word "marriage," pronounced, of course, as "Mehwaage," because everyone loves The Princess Bride. So I teleport across the stage and launch into the full monologue of the Impressive Clergyman, because I have to do that if anything related to The Princess Bride comes up. And I got a lot of compliments on my impression, which was cool.
The NHL playoffs have begun, so that's pretty exciting. The first game of the Blues-Wild series is on in the living room right now, and the San Jose-Edmonton game is on the other channel. Also, Russell Westbrook just broke Oscar Robertson's record for most triple-doubles in one season, which is also pretty awesome.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Capstone
Just sent in my completed Capstone project and portfolio ten minutes ago. I think I may throw up or cry now from the strain of final assembly/repairing/tinkering with it basically nonstop all weekend* (yes, I know it's technically early Wednesday morning). It's as polished and academic-sounding as I could make it, and deadline was roughly ten later this morning. So I beat the deadline. And now I anxiously wait for two or three weeks before hearing the verdict of the Capstone Committee.
The topic was country music as poetry, and 92 songs were mentioned in about 35 pages. That was just scratching the surface, though, because I had to assume readers aren't familiar with the genre. Nineteen more songs were mentioned/alluded to in a seven-page short story supplement. (It's not a good story, but it's adequate.)
Nine songs were from Brad Paisley, and I could have included way more from him. Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks, too (only four examples from each of them).
In other news, it was a very stormy Oklahoma spring day, full of hail, so it seemed entirely appropriate that "The Thunder Rolls" and "Blown Away" were Songs of the Day.
*Facebook status from Sunday night - "Type type type, worry type worry, pace around apartment, tap tap tappity tap worry, get snack, go for walk, type, delete most of what has been written, worry, go for another walk, type some more...." Except for the excessive worrying due to the stress because Capstone is IMPORTANT, this is a pretty typical work pattern for a writer.
The topic was country music as poetry, and 92 songs were mentioned in about 35 pages. That was just scratching the surface, though, because I had to assume readers aren't familiar with the genre. Nineteen more songs were mentioned/alluded to in a seven-page short story supplement. (It's not a good story, but it's adequate.)
Nine songs were from Brad Paisley, and I could have included way more from him. Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks, too (only four examples from each of them).
In other news, it was a very stormy Oklahoma spring day, full of hail, so it seemed entirely appropriate that "The Thunder Rolls" and "Blown Away" were Songs of the Day.
*Facebook status from Sunday night - "Type type type, worry type worry, pace around apartment, tap tap tappity tap worry, get snack, go for walk, type, delete most of what has been written, worry, go for another walk, type some more...." Except for the excessive worrying due to the stress because Capstone is IMPORTANT, this is a pretty typical work pattern for a writer.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
April Firsts
Another April Fool's Day with no tricks played on anyone. Rats. I did finish the first 5K race I ever entered this morning, so that's something, though. There were 92 entrants total, and I finished 39th overall with a time of 38:17. That was sixth out of seven in my division, and I mainly walked most of the way (I'm a sprinter; and terrible at anything resembling distance.) Maybe because I walk everywhere that was why I finished midpack? I'm used to traveling on foot, so I've learned to be more efficient? I don't know. I'm pretty sure most 5K's aren't run with a soundtrack of poetry playing in your mind, though. Snatches of Rudyard Kipling's "If" were narrated by Plato the Buffalo from Adventures From the Book of Virtues. (I know he recites it during an episode, but can't find that clip at the moment.) My goal was just to finish, and I did that, so next time I'll have a time to aim to beat.
In other news....let's see. I donated blood for the first time two weeks ago, and I survived. I was afraid it was going to be like Ashland's horror story of the first time she tried donating blood (which won a Random Status of the Week Award). Like her, I also apparently have small veins. Unlike her story, there was no blood spurting everywhere. Three nurses looked at my arm before deciding they found one big enough - but I'm blaming this on their being exhausted from working all day. (It was like 4:45 on a Wednesday afternoon.) Once they found a vein the right size, it took about three minutes to finish filling the little bag, which they said was a lot faster than normal. My arm didn't bruise or anything, but the pricked finger they tested my iron levels on hurt for a couple days, and it was hard to type. (Your middle finger on the left hand is used often in typing - and so I couldn't play guitar for a while, either.)
This week's movie in Gothic Film and Lit was a 1991 mystery directed by Kenneth Branagh called Dead Again. The plot was incredibly complicated, but it was a good movie. And well-constructed. (On rereading Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, it was much better, because I could look at the mechanics of how she built the plot and notice all the foreshadowing.) Robin Williams played a serious role as a homeless psychiatrist, and Wayne Knight (Stan from Space Jam, Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park) was in it, too.
In not-for-school-but-for-sanity reading, I just finished Billie Letts's novel Where the Heart Is, which was full of thoroughly weird but incredibly real characters. I liked it. (It was made into a movie starring Natalie Portman.) And a biography of Agatha Christie (titled plainly Agatha Christie: A Biography) by Janet Morgan had some good parts, though it was somewhat dense and the pace was glacially slow. It would have been better if it were read concurrently with her autobiography.
Capstone is due Wednesday, so all the seniors in the English Department are kind of freaking out. I have to (try to) tame my nemesis, ACADEMIC TONE IN WRITING, enough to pass the Committee's judgment. I think I can, I think I can...just keep swimming.... Dr. Mackie and Dr. Dial-Driver will both do their best to argue for me, so that's something.
There've been at least three fire alarms in the last 36 hours, much to my annoyance.
The beginning of April means that it's also the start of Stupid Profile Picture Week, and something like the sixth year it's been held. This is what my hair looks like after I get out of the shower. It tends to fall straight over my face.
In other news....let's see. I donated blood for the first time two weeks ago, and I survived. I was afraid it was going to be like Ashland's horror story of the first time she tried donating blood (which won a Random Status of the Week Award). Like her, I also apparently have small veins. Unlike her story, there was no blood spurting everywhere. Three nurses looked at my arm before deciding they found one big enough - but I'm blaming this on their being exhausted from working all day. (It was like 4:45 on a Wednesday afternoon.) Once they found a vein the right size, it took about three minutes to finish filling the little bag, which they said was a lot faster than normal. My arm didn't bruise or anything, but the pricked finger they tested my iron levels on hurt for a couple days, and it was hard to type. (Your middle finger on the left hand is used often in typing - and so I couldn't play guitar for a while, either.)
This week's movie in Gothic Film and Lit was a 1991 mystery directed by Kenneth Branagh called Dead Again. The plot was incredibly complicated, but it was a good movie. And well-constructed. (On rereading Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle, it was much better, because I could look at the mechanics of how she built the plot and notice all the foreshadowing.) Robin Williams played a serious role as a homeless psychiatrist, and Wayne Knight (Stan from Space Jam, Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park) was in it, too.
In not-for-school-but-for-sanity reading, I just finished Billie Letts's novel Where the Heart Is, which was full of thoroughly weird but incredibly real characters. I liked it. (It was made into a movie starring Natalie Portman.) And a biography of Agatha Christie (titled plainly Agatha Christie: A Biography) by Janet Morgan had some good parts, though it was somewhat dense and the pace was glacially slow. It would have been better if it were read concurrently with her autobiography.
Capstone is due Wednesday, so all the seniors in the English Department are kind of freaking out. I have to (try to) tame my nemesis, ACADEMIC TONE IN WRITING, enough to pass the Committee's judgment. I think I can, I think I can...just keep swimming.... Dr. Mackie and Dr. Dial-Driver will both do their best to argue for me, so that's something.
There've been at least three fire alarms in the last 36 hours, much to my annoyance.
The beginning of April means that it's also the start of Stupid Profile Picture Week, and something like the sixth year it's been held. This is what my hair looks like after I get out of the shower. It tends to fall straight over my face.
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