Asymptomatic

On a whim and a wish to watch something with the kids that was not yet another animated film (not that I dislike them, but they seem all that the kids will tolerate in entirely) I threw in a copy of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I'm not sure I expected them to really watch the whole thing, but being that Indiana Jones was a favorite of mine over the years, I had hoped they would enjoy it as much as I do. As it turns out, my hopes have come true.

Tonight when we were out to dinner, I suggested to Abby that we pop some corn and watch another Indiana Jones movie. Her eyes flew wide open in shock, as she was surprised to learn that there was another movie!

I was only too happy to put Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade into the player to watch. We've been nibbling popcorn and watching Indy chase down the holy grail now for a little while, and I'm happy to report that the movie has her rapt attention....

We've watched a bit of TV over the weekend between home finishing. There's nothing on regular TV in the summer, especially over the weekend, so we've been watching movie channels. It occurred to me last night that there sure was a lot of Will Smith on TV.

First was, obviously, Independence Day. The Fresh Prince plays a fighter pilot who delivers the improbable computer virus to the alien ship.

Next was I, Robot, where Smith frees the humans from the terror of robot opression. ...

I see that my highschool is still being draconian with its ideas on free speech. I suppose their policy is to do as they say, but not as they do. For me, there is a deeper story than what is currently taking place with this "Bible Club".

One of the rights of passage at Downingtown High School in the years leading up to my graduation was experiencing spirit week. I'm sure that most schools have these weeks, where for some reason the student body is encouraged to show its pride in the school by participating in various strange school-hour activities, usually culminating in the homecoming parade, dance, bonfire, football game, etc.

Some of the activities included "Blue and Gold Day", where you wear your school colors on your clothes or in body paint. There were also odd ones like "Pajama Day". These days were voted on by student council and approved by the "spirit commissioner" and faculty.

My senior year included an day-long spirit event called "Rent an Underclassman Day". The premise is basically this: You buy a ticket from the student council that has a blank for your name and that of an underclassman. With both names filled out and signed, the ticket is returned to student council, and you become registered. On Rent an Underclassman Day, the underclassman (who has agreed to all of this) can be ordered to perform some services for you, like carrying your books to class (which is a big deal in the quarter-mile long hallways of my high school, where you locker is at one end and your books weigh 80 lbs.) wearing humiliating costumes, all in the name of fun and, of course, school spirit.

In the years when my mom was in school, this day was not called "Rent an Underclassman Day". In fact, only a year or two prior to my graduation, it was still known by the name that my mom called it in her day, "Slave Day".

Sadly for everyone involved, I was an altruistic teenager, and also editor of my school newspaper. more

A meme? Here? What is the world coming to?

Well, I thought I would write a couple of "Entertainment" posts, and this seemed as good a start as any. I've got another one in the pipe for currently popular movies, so if you're into that, stop back later.

I grabbed this meme from Daria. It goes like this:

List the top 100 songs from the year that you graduated high school (you can find the lists at musicoutfitters.com). Bold the ones you actually like. Pick a favorite. Underline that favorite. And strikethrough the ones you loathe. Italicize the ones you consider to be guilty pleasures.

I graduated high school in 1991. What I would like to see is a chart of blogger age against memes completed. I'm sure that I'm not in the middle of the bell.

Interestingly, and embarassingly, this crossing-out and underlining might have been much different had I done it in 1991. Ugh.

I think I might have gone overboard with the strikethroughs, but man, was music from the early 90's the crap left over from the 80's or what?? Note that my loose criteria for "loathe" is "if it came on the radio, I would likely change the channel." I thought it might be hard to pick a favorite from what's left, but I think my favorite was an easy choice. Anyway, here goes: more

... There lived a magical Unicorn named Owen.

Owen The Magical Unicorn belongs to Jennifer Ledbetter. Jennifer blogs at geeksmakemehot.com. Owen and Jennifer live in Jonesboro Arkansas. ...