That's right - my life is better than yours

Seriously, you have no idea.

I could write out a long explanation of everything that has happened to me in the past week. I could talk to you for hours about all of the papers, tests, quizzes, and more papers that I turned in, and or took early. But I won't. All you need to know is that it was all worth it. Tomorrow, I leave for choir tour. While I am on that choir tour, I want you to bear in mind that EVERYTHING that I miss, I have already made up (with the exception of 1 test). Yes, that is correct. I have made up a whole week of school early. I feel pretty good about myself. I am utterly exhausted. My brain has not been able to function on anything other than schoolwork for the past week and a half. But it doesn't even matter anymore - I'm missing a whole week of school.

I have reserved this night for fun only.

I'm going to take a nap.
I'm going to go out to eat at my new favorite place to eat (more details coming soon)
I'm not going to pack at all. I'm a quick packer, I can do it all tomorrow.
I'm going to watch movies. Good movies.
I'm going to sleep in.
I'm going to relax - without once thinking about schoolwork.

I feel like I can breathe again. Sweet, sweet relief.


This should be good for you too, last choir tour I came out with 4 or 5 posts. I'm so very excited.

A Night at the Symphony (with apologies to the Marx Brothers)

I went to the symphony last night. To fully explain this post, we must start off with the background. I've split them up into 2 separate but equally important views.

Background view 1:
I was talking to a girl a few weeks ago. She is a Music Ed. major. I asked her what I thought was a very simple question, "Are you going to the symphony?" Her reaction, was not so simple. She recoiled, a look of disbelief came upon her face, she opened her mouth and the most shocked voice came out, "For entertainment?" She dragged out the word en--ter--tain--ment as if to accentuate that entertainment has 4 syllables, or maybe she was unsure of how to pronounce the word (each are valid options). I was surprised. I said, "You are a music major". She answered, "I'm not like that." I didn't press her to find out what "like that" meant, since I am assuming it meant listening to classical music of your own volition, or something equally stupid like that.
But now, in true Joanna form, I have re-thought this conversation. I wish I had not gone down the music major path, that path is weary, downtrodden, and most of the time (sister excluded) it doesn't deserve to be defended. I do wish, however, that I had gone down the entertainment path.

Background View 2:
In the past few weeks, I have been an unwilling observer/listener/half-participator of people's conversations about movies. Now, you know I like movies. We go over this on a regular basis. But you may not know this: I like movies so much, that I purposely do not talk about them with certain people.
And within one week, I have had 5 conversations about movies, 4 of which were with people that I don't talk about movies with, and only 1 out of those 5 was I was truly participating in.

[Note: When I am not participating in a movie conversation, I usually listen, and make sarcastic remarks about movies mentioned. I offer some good movies for people to watch, see how they are accepted/rejected, and then back down. Listen to people talk about actors/actresses and decide whether I will ever speak to this person again. I also tend to stay far away from recommending movies in groups. That doesn't follow the holy rules of recommendations (previous post). I usually listen more than I talk, laugh more than I should, and hear more than I ought.]

I promise you, I did not start these conversations. I did not want to hear these people talk about movies. But they did. And I heard it. And I thought about it. And here I am.

Conclusion:
The greatest problem in America (don't worry, I'm not starting another series) is our conception of entertainment. That conception is why people are stupid. It is why people don't read real books. It is why people have horrible movie choices. It is why people don't go to symphony concerts. It is why people can't converse about the election intelligently. (which, hallelujah is over). And it is why I don't talk to you.

We have such a weak view of entertainment. We hold books/music/movies to such a low standard. That standard is only a momentary amusement or enjoyment. That's all we're asking for out of our books/music/movies. And then, the few, rare, options that come across our path that are on a slightly higher plane, we appreciate them only because they make us feel wise. But that, right there is the problem. The real versions of books/music/movies don't make us feel wise, they actually make us wise.
True "entertainment" is not a diversion. It is a thought process.


You don't go to the Symphony for entertainment, you go because you need to be reminded of how powerful music is.

You don't read a book for entertainment, you read a book because you need to see characters come alive, you need to hear thoughts that you haven't thought before, you need to go where you haven't gone before.

You don't listen to music for entertainment, you listen to music, because at times, there is nothing else in the world more important to do.

You don't watch a movie for entertainment, you watch a movie because you need to learn.



It's not about entertainment, it's about education. And it's become clear that many people are sorely in need of one.

You can breathe again

I know that you've been waiting with great anticipation about if I made it through this last week. Well, I have news for you: I did.

Strange week. Someday, I may tell you more about it. But not today, I've got internet. I've got my bed. I've got movies. Who could ask for anything more? (That song does annoy me, even though I find myself singing it often) And I plan to enjoy them.

Have a wonderful evening. I know I will.

It is going to be a very long week

From about 20 minutes from now, until next week is going to be a long week.

I have to go into work in about 20 minutes, (I work 2-10, and since it's Saturday 2-10:30), I have important papers due (that are not written yet), I have tests to take (that have not been studied yet), I have reading responses (whatever those may be, I'm not quite sure yet) due, I have multiple quizzes to take (but nobody actually studies for those), and to make it interesting, I'm going to throw in 1 three hour long tech rehearsal (seriously. It's 3 hours), 2 two and a half hour concerts (On separate nights, and not including prep time), 1 Patriots game on MNF (which I have to see), and 1 Birthday Party (not the school one, a real one), and working every morning (at 5 and possibly 4 AM) on top of the normal, everyday school, church and family necessities.

I am not in the least excited.

I'm going to keep my eye on the goal. The goal is to be still standing by Fri. night next week. If I can make it until Friday, then I might have the strength to stand another day. Still standing by Friday night will be an impressive feat, because at the moment, I can barely find the strength to move.

And how did I celebrate my last 20 minutes of breathing? Writing in you.
You should be honored.

So, will I make it through another week? Will I be still standing by this time next week?
Stick around and find out. Although you might as well just forget that this blog exists for a week. I'm going to.

I can do that better

There are not many things that I'm good at.

Now reader, please note: That statement was not designed for you to feel sorry for me, it was not meant for you to now come and falsely reassure me, it was not designed to extract any empathy from you at all. It was simply and merely a statement of fact.
Never fear, my self esteem is not in any need of your help. My self esteem is just fine the way it is. I promise. I just wanted to let you know that I am aware that there are many things that I am not good at. Alright, now that you've become aware, we can move on.

Understanding that there are not many things that I'm good at, gives me freedom. Do you know why? Now when something comes across that I am good at, I can accept that proudly. I can say, "Why, yes. As a matter of fact, I am good at that." I don't have to feel bad about saying that. If anyone thinks I'm bragging I can point at the 71 million things that I'm horrible at, and then say, "You can't take away one of the few things that I am good at, you just can't." And then they feel bad and give it back to me.



I say all this to say one very simple sentence:

I could teach English Masterpieces better than anyone in my class. And that includes the teacher.

Ordinary People

You know how I feel about Best Picture Oscar winners.
If you don't, it's simple. I want to see every single one. Currently I have seen 45 out of the 81



This is such a great movie. I'm really not interested in telling you the story. I would probably end up giving something away. And I would hate to do that to you. This is all I'm going to tell you:

1. It is Robert Redford's directorial debut
2. Timothy Hutton won for Best Supporting actor
3. Redford won for Best Director
4. It won Best Picture



This movie deals with its subject matter better than any other movie you will ever see.



Roger Ebert says, "Each character in this movie is given the dramatic opportunity to look inside himself, to question his own motives as well as the motives of others, and to try to improve his own ways of dealing with a troubled situation . . . It's not often we get characters who face those kinds of challenges on the screen, nor directors who seek them out. Ordinary People is an intelligent, perceptive, and deeply moving film."



Go watch.

Pithy sayings vs. fake intelligent remarks

Two different people, and each one manages to annoy/amuse me.

The first lives for his pithy sayings. I think he thinks in terms of embroidered bathroom frames. I can see him, sitting in his office, thinking hard, turning words around in his mind, until suddenly it comes to him - like a light bulb - he pulls out paper and a pen and he writes it down. He sits back in his chair, looks again at the paper, says the words aloud, and smiles. He has solved the mysteries of life: he has managed to come up with a completely obvious truth, put it in a short, slightly poetic statement, and he now will continue to practice it until he has the chance to use it. And when that chance does come, he smiles, and with great emphasis in his voice, with intense eye contact, with his body language leaning forward, begging you with every pore of his body to listen, he says his line....
There will be the people that love that statement. They'll nod their head. They'll agree verbally. They'll write it down. They'll think about it for just a few seconds, before realizing that it was something that they already knew, just said in a slightly prettier form. Then, they'll hurry along to catch up with what else this man is saying, less they miss any more pithy sayings.
The other people will immediately think, "Yeah, Okay, what else do you have to say?" And when realizing that in fact this man has little more to offer than pithy sayings, will summarily tune him out.


The other man likes to speak in fake intelligent talk. This means that he uses slightly obscure words. But here's the problem: They aren't actually obscure words to someone who knows words even slightly well. But his speaking this way does reach the desired effect, here's why: The people who are listening that don't know words very well, can still catch the general meaning of what he is saying. He'll use about 4 different words for the same thing and chances are they'll only know 1 or 2, but then this person feels intelligent because they still understood what this man was saying even though they didn't understand all the words. This makes them feel like he is smarter than they are, but only just by a little bit, enough that they can still understand him, still connect with him, and still understand what he is saying. This makes them feel understood.
The other group of people listening to him realizes quickly that he uses too many words to describe one thing, and that they usually tend to be the wrong words. Contrary to this man's belief, using 4 commonplace words and 2 slightly obscure words in place of just one word is not in any way intelligent. The other group listening almost wants to laugh at his trying to remain intelligent when he actually isn't being intelligent at all, he's just using a lot of words.


These are both real people, and both men have great merit. I have heard both of these men speak multiple times. I have even remarked on their sayings/remarks individually. But recently, I heard them back-to-back, and that may have been what set me off on comparing them.