Honoring the Teachers

It was teacher appreciation day at my Hebrew school today. It may seem odd to some of you, even to me, but even I was chosen by the students as one of the appreciated, in a ceremony that was both humbling and very embarrassing for me. Despite my neurotic fears, the students were extremely gracious. They gave some lovely speeches about us, and provided us with some nice gifts. I received one of the new 'neverflat' basketballs that are supposed to last an entire year without the need for inflation (we'll see about that).

My favorite moment of the event, 'oddly' had nothing to do with me, but it was when a female math student was concluding her speech for her male math teacher. With sincerity and a total obliviousness to the connotation of her words, she says into the microphone, "thank you Mr ____, for doing all those things to us." I think the Rabbis loved this speech even more than I did.

Now Playing The Man Without a Face by James Horner

The Vanishing Act

My behavior was quite bad last night. I was invited to a house on Noriega Street to have dinner with a few teachers and a few students. However, there were many more than just a few people, the house was stuffed with teachers and students as a muni is stuffed with workers at rush hour. So what did I do, you ask? If you know me, you may already know the answer to this. At the twenty minute mark, the crowded room got up to the ritual hand-washing, and as they did so, I coincidentally got up and walked discreetly towards the stairs and right out the front door.

I may hear a little about this later.


Now Playing Mona Lisa Smile Soundtrack

The Da Vinci Code: Finding Character

The Da Vinci Code was packed this morning. That was a little surprising since it was only 10:30, but I suppose should have expected it since Hans Zimmer provided the score for the movie.

Unfortunately, the film itself is rather dull. Most of the scenes are just exposition. Since there is so much legend and rumor and theories to explain in the script, the filmmakers sacrifice the history and the workings of their major characters in order to maintain an efficient pace for the movie's main puzzle. Tom Hanks has very little to do even though he is in nearly every frame. Audrey Tattou is completely miscast in her role. There is a scene towards the end where her character has a revelation. Without any spoilers, I will just say this; I could accept almost every twist of the film, but hers. I just didn't want it to be so.

There were a couple of positive scenes in the film, both near the end. My favorite was the final four minutes of the film. The idea was exciting and the music and the camera work will leave the audience on a high note when Ron Howards name finally pops up on screen. It is just to bad that I had to wait until the very end for something to cheer about, a few moments to pump up my adrenaline in the first couple of hours would have been nice.

Now Playing Searching for Bobby Fischer by James Horner

Graduation 2006

I am a college graduate. I AM a college graduate.......college graduate.....graduating from college. It is so unreal to say or even to imagine the concept, but the ceremony took place this morning, and I was there, and I was even listed in the commencment book for the class of 2006, from one of the finest "univeristies in the East Bay."

I must declare this graduation morning of mine was fantastic. Most of my closest friends and family were there, and they reassure me that it wasn't by accident. They were all so nice and supportive: MOM, GP, VS, TS, MAS, JB, AS, RR, that I feel like I should go get another diploma, only a little bit quicker next time. There were cheers from the crowd, hundreds of pictures, phone calls, hugs, cards, even a dancing chicken complete with its own musical number.

This is the stuff that dreams are made on.


Now Playing The Da Vinci Code by Hans Zimmer

A May Week in Review

I need to start writing more regularly.

There have been some interesting developments this past week, but since I do not wish to fully go into them, I will provide a quick summary instead.

*Last week my team won our first basketball game of the season. We are 1-3 now. I had 25 points, but I shot horrifically at the free throw. I mean really lousy.

*A good friend of mine 'T' will be at my graduation, with enthusiasm I might add. Also, "T" is responsible for getting me through a particular math class one brutal summer.

*A store clerk at Ritz Camera thanked me twice "for wasting his time" after I had made a return. I only made the return because he had made me suspect his authenticity as a sales clerk and as a person. My suspicions were correct.

*A friend, who I do not see so often, asked me yesterday about a particular person that I am interested in. As I began to tell him of the disheartening pursuit, he says sternly, "I don't want to hear your gossip." There is a little bit more to this story which is unimportant here, but what is important is that I will not feel free to speak openly anymore with this person because of the nature of his response. From now on, it may only be movies and basketball that are discussed, and that is quite saddening.

*Poseidon was terrible. Special effects were good and I liked one of the songs, but it was a movie without any real people, just caricatures of them.

*A friend of mine at work gave a lovely and unexpected gift at work. I am supposed to use it for clothing other than sweatshirts and jeans, "adult stuff." What's wrong with my two college sweaters that I wear only....everyday of the week.


Now Playing The Da Vinci Code by Hans Zimmer.
-Chevaliers De Sangreal is one of my favorite tracks of this year.

Scary Movie 4

I saw Scary Movie 4 tonight in the theater. It was awful. Not as bad as Date Movie which I saw earlier in the year, but quite dreadful on its own merits. We are talking modern day Saturday Night Live bad. Scenes are static and forced. The jokes fail to produce a laugh nearly everytime, and the running time seems long, even though it is less than 90 minutes. Mr. Y, you were very generous with your grade.


Now Playing Lord of War by Antonio Pinto

Moving to Tiburon

I was invited to attend a birthday celebration in Golden Gate Park today. It was for someone I didn't know, but I was invited anyway because I knew one of the relatives. I wanted to go, but luckily in the end I did not have to. I was so dreadfully tired from waking up at 5am to go to work, that an afternoon in the park wouldn't be as refreshing as it could be, even among some of my closest friends.

When I was told that the party was actually in Tiburon, not in Golden Gate Park as originally announced, I felt that this would be my excuse to go home and to get some sleep since Tiburon isn't very near. I do wish I wasn't so tired all the time so that I could spend more time with my friends in the parks, or up north in Tiburon, but for the time being I hope they can accept my absences as a result of sleep deprivation rather than as a result of anti-social behavior.


Now Playing Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by Howard Shore.

Another Loss

I was awful tonight. I had no confidence in my shooting ability. Our basketball team lost for the third time, and it seems that we were all out of whack. None of us seem to be playing the same positions, or with the same drive as we do on non-tournament days. We are all just free and stationary floaters, no one is in command. "The line must be drawn here." We will do better next week.

Besides the regular disappointment that comes with a loss, I managed to get into it a bit with one of the referees, and no, it wasn't over any of his calls. We were losing by 5 points with five minutes to go. My team is about to inbound the ball, but the referee suddenly holds the ball back while he begins a discussion with the table judge, while the clock is ticking. I ask him if he can stop the clock. He says, "hold on," and the clock continues to run. I say this game is important to us, and he says, "I don't care about that."

At the end of the game he actually apologized to me, a miracle in itself. Should i consider that a victory for the team since we have no other victories to cheer about yet?

I finished with 11 points. Last week I had 19 amd a much better shooting percentage.


Now Playing The Kid by Charlie Chaplin