Should I start with the lows? the highs? or just go back and forth in chronological order? goodness knows.

Well, you know me, chronological order tends to win out most of the time.

It was really great being back to school this week. I had my prep for my classes ready to go, so I didn’t feel as rushed for my lectures. Some of the students in my Genetics class (the ones who’d given me the balloon and chocolates) asked me how my birthday had gone. In general the first day was fun as we all exchanged “how was your Spring Break?” stories.

Band practice was really great. We basically stopped and ate supper during part of it, because the wife of our amazing lead guitarist just came back from a trip to Costa Rica, and she wanted to try to make some of that cuisine for us.
I’m singing lead on the Doobie Brothers’ song “Listen to the Music” (and playing tambourine, of course). It came together really fast!

Sounds like all highs, right?

Well, then Max was really, really still on Thursday morning. He hadn’t eaten all of his food and hay (like normal). He didn’t want to jump out of his cage, didn’t care when I fed him, AND didn’t care when I gave him cheerios. His left eye was sort of watery.

I really thought he might be dying of old age. Max is 7 and the lifespan of a rabbit is 8-10 years usually. (some say up to 12, some say as low as 7)

It was a rough day until I could get home and check on him again, and get him into a vet who sometimes does some teaching at school. Max was running a fever and might’ve had a respiratory infection. So, they gave him a shot of penicillin. He seems much better, but still sounds a bit wheezy, so I’m probably going to take him in for another shot today.

I had intended to use most of my day to write an exam for Genetics, but with the emergency situation with Max, that got pushed back to the evening. Which meant I had to skip my bible study group.

And THEN I hit Friday.
Lecture was great. Chapel was great. Discussions about rearranging the course schedule for the fall were all great.
Then I had an impromptu 45 min walk-through about chemicals and the way that they are stored in the lab. I basically “inherited” a nightmare of a situation with regards to the chemical storage. We have an EPA audit in April.
I don’t even know how to describe how awful the situation is, other than to say that A) it is going to cost 10s of thousands of dollars to get the chemicals that need to go disposed of properly and the ones that need to stay inventoried properly and B) hours and hours and hours of time.
I’m actually canceling my labs for Genetics this week in order to deal with it all.
THAT was a LOW LOW LOW point.

The one thing that offsets the awfulness of it all, is that the lead singer in my band is the one in charge of all of it, because he is the head of facilities. He inherited the situation too when he took this job. So, at least the person I’m working with on this is A) a good friend, B) someone I can call directly on a cell phone if needed, and C) is sticking up for me if needed.

The other highs?
I have been nominated for an endowed professorship (one year), which comes with a stipend of money that I can use for going to conferences or my research!!!! yay!

And last night when I was trying to unwind at my apartment complex by using the hot tub, my friend (neighbor) came by and asked if I wanted to go see the Hunger Games! She had 2 tickets that she’d purchased in advance, and the other person wasn’t going to be able to go after all. It was a GREAT movie!
I haven’t read the books. Texas Seestor and Trainwreck only have them on their Kindles, so there is no way for me to read them right now, unfortunately. But that is okay, for now, I REALLY enjoyed the movie. It was way cool.

Ok. I think I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do about Max and this second shot and all.

I had a lot of fun with my family for Christmas last weekend. And here we are, on Wednesday, headed into New Year’s weekend, which I’ll spend with them again! We are starting to make plans for more movies and meals together.

Yesterday and today, I’ve been trying to tie up various things on my work to-do list. The letter of recommendation I needed to do for a student was relatively easy. Of course, today I got another request from a different student. The curriculum proposal for a new Developmental Biology course has taken quite a bit more of my time and energy. But I got a pretty good draft completed tonight. I’ll talk to my department chair about it tomorrow and hopefully have it wrapped up and submitted tomorrow. It is officially due on Friday at 5 pm, so if I can finish it on Thursday, I can take Friday OFF and not think about work.

I DID go for an exercise walk yesterday in our gorgeous 60+ degree weather. It was really fabulous. I’d wanted to go again today, but I was focused and trying to get the proposal done by supper, so I skipped it.

I’ve also managed to run some errands, which included boring things like grocery shopping, and getting food for Max, but also included fun stuff like stopping in at Dress Barn to check out their sales. I did find one cute top and one sweater; both have some frills and ruffles and have purple in them!

I also found a new, fitted exercise (dry) t-shirt in purple too (at a sporting goods store). I’ve been wanting to buy some new clothes since the weather has turned cooler, and just haven’t managed to find the time. I’m hoping to get to some more stores in the upcoming weeks. Everything is pretty picked over, so it is a bit challenging, but this is when I finally have time, so this is when I’ll go!

I finally saw “The Blind Side” with Texas Seestor and Trainwreck last weekend. It was a really good movie. I can totally see why it won awards.

I also rented “Crazy, Stupid, Love” which I do NOT recommend unless you are a Ryan Gosling fan and just want some eye candy. I’d gone to redbox a bit spontaneously (and had not scouted the availability out ahead of time) and had wanted to rent X-Men. When it was empty, I just picked a “romantic comedy” instead that I’d thought had good reviews. Not the best choice, and it taught me to plan ahead, for sure! Oh well, two out of three movies is pretty good.

In other news, the new band that I’m in had our first practice last week. We are mainly working on songs that are designed for 2-3 part harmony and acoustic guitars (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel, John Denver), sort of a country/rock cross. We had some really gorgeous chords during some of our very first run-throughs on songs. I got goosebumps a couple of times! We have a lot of potential. We’ll see if anything more becomes of it than just playing for someone’s surprise birthday party in late January. I’d like it to become something more. But for now, it is just good that we have any kind of goal; it will keep us practicing regularly and getting a bit of a set list down. I’ve had fun learning harmonies on all kinds of new songs and resurrecting harmonies I’ve sort of learned but haven’t been able to sing with anyone (like the 80′s songs such as “More Than Words” or “Hole Hearted”). I’m also stretching into country a little bit more than I’ve ever done before with a Wynnona Judd song and Sons of the Pioneers. It has been really interesting to branch out a bit more.

Okay. It is 11 pm, so it is definitely time for bed so that I can be bright and bushy-tailed for my work on my proposal tomorrow. Later!

I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 in IMAX 3-D today!!!! Texas Seestor, Trainwreck, and I went to the movie while Mom and Dad graciously babysat my nieces tonight. Thanks again, Mom and Dad!

I will not say anything about the movie specifically, but I DO want to say that I LOVED it!!!

AND I now want to see aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall movies in IMAX. OMG, I can tell why people spend the extra money to see them in IMAX on a regular basis. The picture! The sound! The bass actually rumbles so hard that I felt it all over. I felt the explosions in my chest.

Oh and here is a funny bit of conversation:
After a couple of previews, Trainwreck said to me “…………….”
To which I replied “What did you say?”
His response “Of course, we’ll all be deaf by the time we leave.”

ha! I guess I was already going deaf, since I didn’t hear him the first time. However, I didn’t really mind that the previews and movie were loud; it wasn’t like it made my ears ring or anything.

As for the movie, I watched Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows 1 a week or two ago. I’m really glad that I’d seen Deathly Hallows 1 recently. I’m also glad that it has been a long time since I’ve read the book. I had forgotten parts of the story. The movie was excellent.

Or as Hermione would say, “Brilliant!”

I am soooooooooooo glad that our friend recommended seeing it in IMAX. We were originally going to go see it at a regular theatre, and decided last night after talking to a friend that we’d splurge and see it in IMAX. And none of us even realized that today is Harry’s birthday (and J.K. Rowling’s).

Happy Birthday, Harry and J.K.!

Go see it if you haven’t yet. And go see a big action movie in IMAX sometime. If you are a Harry Potter fan, I, of course, recommend that this be the one you see in IMAX.

Here is the original youtube video. If you like dance movies or dance scenes in movies, you have to watch this one! Make sure you crank up your sound!

Note: on my computer the categories are overlapping the video. If you want to see it in all its glory, click on the words “original youtube video” above.

I really, really enjoyed this movie, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes the Harry Potter Movies, Shrek, fairy tales or stories about dragons.

I don’t know if you know the gist of the story – I really didn’t, because the previews didn’t say very much other than just show lots of dragon images. There is a Viking village at the edge of the sea, and it is constantly having sheep stolen by dragons. Everyone in the village is trained to kill dragons. The story if from the point of view of a teenager who is a bit of a misfit; he has more brains and engineering skills and less brawn. (can you already see why I liked it?)

I don’t want to give away too much, but suffice to say that he ends up having the opportunity to work with and train a dragon.

Here were some things that really stood out for me:

1. I got chills multiple times in the flying scenes. That is the comment I heard on the radio that made me want to see it. I love flying scenes in fantasy movies. I don’t know how they do it. I think it is a combination of music, visuals, and just the emotion of the moment; they were really special.

2. The other surprise was that it was really funny. The main character has very dry humor. He makes these little side comments which are fantastic.

3. The dragons are unlike any other dragons that you see in fairy tales and movies. There are a bunch of different species with very distinct characteristics. It was very creative of the writer/art director/director (I’m not sure who comes up with these idea) to have this in the story. It made it really fun.

4. I saw it in 3-D. Absolutely see it in 3-D. Of course, I’ve been in love with 3-D since we went to Disney World when I was a pre-teen and saw a movie with the muppets in 3-D. So, if there is an option, I’d always watch 3-D over 2-D. Yes, it cost $3 more. But it will always be worth it. And get there early enough to see the 3-D previews. It a) helps your eyes get adjusted and b) is part of the fun of going to see a 3-D movie.

Let me know if you see it!

In the meantime, how many of you remember Pete’s Dragon?  I know it was one of Texas Seestor’s favorites.  I have very fond memories of it too.

Disney is releasing a new edition of it that includes an hour of additional material.  I will be particularly interested in seeing the behind-the-scenes info on animation and the new song.   This is kind of what happened with Mary Poppins a (few?) years ago; there was a 45th anniversary special addition and I found that I loved all of the bonus material (it had an extra song too).

You can read a good blog post about all of the features at Reviews. For the Love of God.  There is also a contest to win a free copy.

Thanks to Jenski for pointing this out on her blog!

I ended up with migraines on Thurs and Friday. At first on Thurs, I thought it was just a headache and it would get better. But just before I needed to go to the salon, it really intensified. I still went – I just wore earplugs and didn’t talk to anyone. And when I got home, I took my super-strong medication and rested, and tah-dah, it went away. But when that happens, I’m pretty much house-bound with reading and minimal computing.
Then the same headachey feeling came back on Friday!? This reminded me of what happened a month or so ago when I stopped using my humidifier (because it needed to be cleaned). This time, I’d stopped using it, because I couldn’t seem to get it working. However, HB came to the rescue. Before he left for work Friday morning, he got it working.

Today, after sleeping with my humidifier again, I’m headache free.

I usually don’t like to talk about my health, but this whole humidifier thing has been rather eye-opening. Minnesota must be particularly dry or something. It is odd, though, because I don’t have this problem in TX when I visit there (and don’t use one). Puzzling, I say.

Anyway, yesterday, I went ahead to the movie theater and saw Earth. It was really good. They did a really nice job of starting in the Arctic in January and then progressing through the year and the globe and ending up again in the Arctic in December. It had its usual sad predator-prey moments, and another sad moment (I won’t say, in case you watch it), but it had a joyous ending. I got chills watching parts of it. Some of the shots that they got of migrations were just incredible. I don’t know how they manage to be up in the air at just the right time and place to film them – particularly the birds. They had some shots of birds trying to migrate over the Himalayas that were just spectacular.

As for my other plans, today, I may or may not weed. I don’t want to stir up my allergies. I need to have a clear head and throat to sing that mini-solo in church tomorrow.

I did call the garden center and they said that the official last frost date is around May 20. And she said not to plant anything before Sunday, because someone there had told her that there was a frost warning between now and then. So, my annuals will wait a little longer. That’s okay. I’ll have them soon enough.

That is pretty much my excitement. I just finished the last book in a Fantasy fiction series that my friend from my post-doc got me started on. It is the Summoning series by Robin D. Owens. It was good.

This week, my copy of Hearts and Bones arrived and so did the Spymaster’s Lady. I might read my library books first, though, and save them for later, since my library books have due dates. We’ll see.

I’ll keep you posted on how they turn out.

Juno:  VERY well written.  Incredibly dialogue.  However, I’m not exactly sure where all of the hype came from.  I remember most of it being about the racey (racy?) topic of having a teen be pregnant, carry the pregnancy to term, and give birth.  I thought it was good.  But not one I’d watch again.  This is my yardstick of sorts for how well I like a movie.

Atonement:  Disappointing.  I thought the plot was good up until he leaves and goes to war.  Then it felt like it meandered a lot. However, it was interesting to see the depiction of war.  And of course, being a fan of love stories, I didn’t like the ending.  I _did_ however, get introduced to James McAvoy.  Well, not technically, because he was also in Narnia as Mr. Tumnus, the faun.  And I remember being impressed with him then.  I’d watch the beginning of Atonement again, just to see him in it.  Then I’d stop watching.  I’m actually wanting to see Narnia again too, just to see him in it.

The Last King of Scotland:  Interesting.  Oddly enough, has James McAvoy in it.  I wonder how he managed to do so many projects so quickly.  Striking while the iron was hot?  Very interesting story, but we got near the end and had to turn it off.  I still don’t know how it ended.  We assume badly (for him).  If someone knows and can just tell me, I’d appreciate it.

Becoming Jane:  Ah, now here was a diamond in the rough.  I remember being fascinated with the idea of learning about Jane Austen’s life when it came out.  The trailer is particularly enticing.  And guess who is the male love interest?!  James McAvoy!  Now, this one I would watch again.  And maybe again.  Great dialogue.  Great characters.  Of course, I’m a sucker for period movies.  And since I already roughly knew how it might end, I wasn’t disappointed.

I think I’m in lust with James McAvoy.  He really is a good actor.  I hope he continues to be cast in great movies.

There are about 3 other movies On Demand that I’m interested in. We’ll see if we can get our stupid On Demand working so that I can watch them.  The weekends are usually my time to see movies.  But for some reason, I haven’t found much that is good on TV on some of the weeknights this year, so movies during the week aren’t out of the question.

And of course, the new James Bond movie is out in theaters right now.  We had planned on seeing it this weekend, but it had to be put off. And soon, Twilight comes out.  Later, there is an interesting Tom Cruise movie where he is one of Hitler’s military people who tries to asassinate him (based on a true story).

Have you seen any good movies lately?  Or do you know how The Last King of Scotland ends?

Anyway, the movie is wonderfully cast. I had no idea Eddie Murphy could sing the way he does, but he is perfect for this James Brown type of character. And the Dreams – Beyonce was awesome. She has such a terrific voice. And she does a really great job acting in this movie. Jennifer Hudson was impressive in her singing and acting, but I have to say that I like her acting better than her singing. She is one of those singers who does a lot of ad libbing, where the notes waver and waffle up and down in this attempt to be dramatic. But I’m not into dramatic singing with a lot of ad libbing. She has a great voice, but I’d be more into her singing if she stayed on the note more and did a little less dramatic variation. That said, she really pulls off her character.

It was particularly fun to feel like I was getting this backstage look into the music business. It was enlightening to see how R&B musicians had issues with white pop groups stealing their music, and how difficult it was for them to cross over into the realm of pop.

I do have a wee story to tell that popped into my head when I was watching this. So when I was in Texas, we turned on the Sound of Music while it was in progress. It just so happened to be on the scene where Maria comes back to Captain Von Trapp after she had run away to the Abbey, and they are in the gazebo. Maria and he have this duet, but we happened to be on the part where she is singing at him for an extended period of time and he is standing there listening. At that moment, Trainwreck says to Texas Seestor something along the lines of, “If you ever feel the need to stand and sing at me for an extended period of time, please warn me.” I’m not sure I’m getting it exactly right, but the way he said it was quite funny.
And as it turns out, Dreamgirls has a similar scene. Except in the case of Dreamgirls, the song goes on for this really long time and the guy just stands there looking concerned for most of it while she is emoting and putting her hands on his shoulders and basically in his face while singing this really dramatic song. That scene made me smile, because if Trainwreck thought the scene with Maria and the Captain was bad, I’d love to see his reaction to this one.

All in all though, I highly recommend this one if you are into girl-group music. Even if you are not, you’d probably still enjoy it. The music is excellent, the acting is top notch, the choreography is captivating, and the costumes are just amazing.

Actually, the whole movie has a lot of funny moments, and the dialogue is quite good. I, of course, liked that it was about music. And I was impressed that both Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore did their own singing. At one point, I really thought that they had someone else singing for Hugh Grant, because I didn’t think that some of it sounded like him. But it is just that he has an unexpected singing voice.

The song they created was stuck in my head for about a week, so you can imagine that it is quite good.

All in all, I recommend it when you are looking for something light and funny with some romance thrown in.