An Unanticipated Way I Spent My Vacation: A.K.A. Absolute Stupidity

So far I have conquered the following numbers on my to-do list:
1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, and 18, and have done some of 6, 14, and 17, though more to do!

But there is a story that goes along with my efforts to be productive. In fact, I have to add a number to the list. I was doing pretty well in my productiveness today, had completed some paperwork (number 11 if you're counting), and had made good headway on writing the article for TOR (number 5). In fact, I was in the middle of it mid afternoon. I had also been doing some laundry. The laundry room is practically right across from one of my doors. My laundry was drying, and near the end of its drying cycle. I went to check on it, because if it isn't dried totally and you don't put in another quarter before the time expires, you can't just add one quarter, but have to start again with another four quarters and 56 minutes worth of drying. So I went to check on it. It wasn't quite close enough for me to stop and feel whether it was dry enough, so I zipped right back across the hall to my condo.

But the door was locked. Uh oh. At this point I had a bad feeling start to develop within me. I tried the door again. Yup, it sure was locked. And then I tried my second door. It too was locked. I had opened the door and forgotten to unlock it on my way out, or else had absent mindedly locked it behind me. I never do this! I am ALWAYS careful NOT to lock the door behind me as I leave, or to make sure I have my key on me. But this time, probably in my distracted state over the article I was writing, something had happened to break up my routine. I had no key to get back in, and the door was most definitely locked. AND I didn't have any shoes on, just socks (it is right across the hallway and within my building, so I'm pretty casual going to do laundry).

At this point I realized I was in for an unexpected major interruption to my plans for the day. It was only about 2:30, and there was no way I could get into my own house. I had no keys to anything, so could not trot out to my car and go somewhere. I had left my phone in the house, so there was no way I could call someone, unless I got really bold and asked a neighbor to borrow their phone. And my condomate (who shall remain anonymous for reasons of confidentiality!) was not due home from work for over an hour.

So I stood and sat in the laundry room. Grrrr. Here I was, being all holy and honorable for taking up the assignment of writing an article for TOR, and this had to happen! What gives? So much for my plans to get this and something else done today! Actually, my attitude wasn't really that negative, I don't think. It's just fun to be dramatic about it after the fact. I tried to spend the time profitably in thought, etc. And I folded my laundry in the laundry room once it dried. And I explained my predicament to the young woman who came in to retrieve her laundry with a 3-4 year old (I'm guessing) son in tow. She was back for the second time, and I knew she probably thought I was bonkers just sitting on the floor in there, my folded laundry next to me on a table. So I told her what had happened.

I also had fleeting thoughts about what would happen if my condomate didn't come back at his usual time. What if he did errands, then went straight to class and didn't return until 9? (Turns out he had no class tonight, so that wouldn't have happened.) I could wait for a little over an hour, but what about 6 plus hours? That would have been awful.

When he finally drove in, I was a very happy guy. I told him I was so happy to see him I could almost hug him (don't worry, I didn't!) If he didn't live with me, I guess I would have had to borrow a neighbor's phone and call a locksmith, which would have been far worse and more disruptive (at least to the wallet) than sitting around with nothing to do for an hour!

Moral of the story: avoid absolute stupidity and don't imitate me. Now I'm contemplating the possibility of keeping a spare key in my car, and a hideakey to access my car, to avoid this ever happening again. Or I could just remember to keep the door unlocked when I leave...

So number 20 to my vacation to-do list, now completed: spend over an hour hanging out in the laundry room, locked out of my own condo.

In Case You Were Wondering...

Here are the results of my "dictator" personality quiz. Better than some, I think! Which Dictator Are/Were You? You are Napoléon Bonaparte. You started as a successful general, and then led a military coup and took over control of France. Good Job! You were overall not a bad guy, but you had alot of height issues to deal with. Your official cause of death was Stomache Cancer, but it was actually arsenic poisoning, from a self administered Syphilis treatment. Feel that burning itch!

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Winter "Break" Is Here

I think one of the themes I've emphasized in past posts, whenever I talk about school "breaks," is how much of a misnomer that is. Only summer time is really a break, and even then it's not because there's always so much to do/that could be done to prepare for next year's classes, etc.

I am now on winter "break." Here is a partial to-do list, which admittedly will involve some fun stuff, but also much work:

1. Go with siblings to see Mary Poppins in NYC. Hooray!
2. Attend part of my monthly condo board of directors meeting, then leave early to see girls b-ball tournament game. (Two students of mine play. They asked me yesterday if I was going, and I said yes. How can I not if it actually means something to them for me to be there?)
3. Correct one set of Civics tests (18 of them).
4. Correct three sets of U.S. History essays (total pages numbering anywhere from 240 to 480. This will be a chore!)
5. Write an article for TOR by the March 1st deadline.
6. Read a novel as part of my duties as drama director. We've been asked to do some dramatic readings from it, so I have to read it to figure out what that might include.
7. Read the script for Cheaper by the Dozen again, and maybe block it out, so I'll be ready to go when we hold auditions the week after break and get into rehearsals.
8. Correct one set of U.S. History bibliography quizzes (30 or so of them).
9. Correct 80 pages of U.S. History reports on something/someone from the 1920s.
10. Correct 1 set of World History questions on primary source docs.
11. Complete paperwork for my summer job, which I am taking in VA once again.
12. Read assigned readings for a history conference I'll be attending in two weeks on Espionage in the 20th century. This will be fun!
13. Complete my taxes, if a belated W-2 form I'm waiting on finally shows up. This will only be fun if I get a refund over 100 dollars, or something substantial. But I'm not counting on it...
14. Play some computer games. Yeah, this will likely jump to the top of the list!
15. Watch 24.
16. Watch Lost, even though I am somewhat disappointed so far with the new episodes (perhaps more on that in another post).
17. Sleep, if I have time.
18. Attend a boys b-ball game? Don't know for sure yet. Depends on how I feel.
19. Prepare lessons for the week after break.

I guess that's it for now.

One Night With the King

Ok, so I normally don't blog about movies, and the impressions they make on me. Actually, I don't think I've ever said much about a movie on my blog. But I'm not going to look through all my archives to verify that. Anyway, I just watched One Night With the King, and I feel compelled to say something about it.

Wow. That's what I say about it! What a beautiful and inspiring story! I really enjoyed this one. It was very powerful. Not quite at the same level as The Passion of the Christ, but even so an impressive story that helped to bring a biblical story to life. It was very colorful, and I think helped to (rightly) destroy the images I created in my mind when I heard/read the story as a child. Namely, something along the lines of all the characters being white. Which of course is stupid, since it was Persia! The multiethnic flavor of the subjects was not an effort to be politically correct. Rather, it was an effort to be historically correct. Which is correct. And I approve. Persia encompassed a number of different ethnic groups, so it was neat to see that historical aspect of it portrayed. And it was good to have the images of my less developed brain replaced by more historically accurate ones.

I won't ever think of Hegai in the same way. His character in the movie was totally different than I imagined as well. Not that it doesn't work. It's just I didn't imagine a big huge black guy who talks strangely. But it was nice to see he had a tender side.

(Speaking of weird characters, it was strange to see a friend of Esther's played by a guy from 24 season 5, who worked in CTU. And it's strange to see two prominent Lord of the Rings characters in the same film together, John Rhys-Davies and the guy who played Saruman. But that's beside the point!)

I felt like I had an epiphany when the connection was made between Saul and the Agagites he was supposed to slay and then Haman as a survivor of that sin years later. The whole story about Haman being a survivor from that must be extra biblical, because I had never heard about it. Must be in the Jewish sources that aren't in the Bible. But it doesn't strike me as being anti-biblical, so it serves as a great lesson and fresh insight. Disobedience to God can result in many difficulties/ unpleasant consequences many years later.

I was pleasantly surprised by the well-developed and admirable character of Esther, which I guess is a good thing since the story does kind of revolve around her. Anyway, her grace, purity, intellect, innocence, courage, carefreeness, total lack of obsequiousness (what's the opposite of that?), soberness when the time required it, and faith, all of these qualities shone through and inspired me. It helped me to see a biblical hero made so alive, so human, and yet still so amazing. Methinks there's hope for us to achieve great things for God as well.

So if you haven't seen this film, check it out. At least if you're an adult. Parents might want to view it first to decide what to allow their kids to see. There are a few slight alterations from the biblical text. There isn't a three day fasting period before Esther goes in to the king, and there aren't two banquets she invites Haman and the king to, but these are literary licenses that I'm not too worried about, as long as you don't take the movie as the authoritative account! I could also find fault with the tension created in the relationship between the king and Esther, some of which didn't make much sense to me, but that would be quibbling over the small stuff.

Overall, I am inspired to be a part of God's plan, and carry on. "Perhaps you were appointed for such a day as this."