Hannah Rae's Blog, page 29

Trivia Recap: 12/1

The Players: Mary (English teacher), Brock (marketing/graphic design/computer/etc. guru), Phil (Adobe expert and excellent waiter who doesn't always get tipped), Darren (math professor), Hannah (English teacher), Ben (social studies teacher), Alex (coffee shop owner)

Hint of the Day: Gas pumps

Opening Category: Steely Dan songs (ugh)

Spoiler Alert: We won

Round One:

We missed the Steely Dan question because Ben's brain isn't quite as spongy as I gave him credit for... but the man is still brilliant. We got everything else: This One First the "Bill," Daytime TV (Mary said Jennifer Hudson, but we didn't think she had a show, and that cost us two bonus points), US Military Locales (Ben said "Hudson River," which was right, and Alex thought that might be a Billy Ocean Moment, but since Kristin has yet to explain the concept of a Billy Ocean Moment in the categories, it's still impossible to know for sure), and Films of the 1990s. Admittedly, we didn't get the bonus for Films of the 1990s (the answer was "The Absent-Minded Professor" and we said "The Nutty Professor"), but we did get the actual answer, which was "Flubber." I had completely forgotten about that movie.

Round Two:

Christmas Songs was great. I knew Neil Diamond, as did Phil and Darren. Brock got Harry Connick Jr. for the second song and Mary and Alex had Pentatonix for the third one. We got the bonus points and our bonus points too. Sixteen points. That was good. Brand Names was right when we said TicTac and I told a story about how my mom trained my first Airedale, Baxter, to always receive a TicTac before bed. Ben thought this was supremely weird, but Phil understood that it was nice for a dog to have a breath mint. Historical Events on Christmas was okay, but we missed the bonus. It didn't end up mattering, though. Common Chemistry was easy; NBA Superstars was not, but Ben got "Jerry West." Like I said, the man is brilliant.

Halftime Sheet:

We aced it. The top half was identifying juice drinks. The bottom half was something like "these two things don't seem like the go together, but they do." It wasn't ridiculously easy by a long shot, but my team but its head together and nailed it.

Round Three:

Perfect round! Three Clues, One Restaurant? Yup. Phil knew some ridiculous trivia about Buffalo Wild Wings. US History? Yup. That was the hint of the day and Mary right away said "Gas." Ben substantiated it. We were right and earned twelve points because it was our bonus. Poets? Yup. Mary got that one right away. She loves "Ozymandias." Things You Might Find at a Winery? Yup. Spittoon... though not all of us realized that particular word could be spelled with two T's. Celebrity Couples? Yup. Phil knew the answer was Emily Rshoudljsdfou and the bonus was "Blurred Lines."

6 - 4 - 2:

It was a music question about notes that spelled a word. We were torn between "FACE" and "CAGE." I had guessed "FACE," but I'm not musician (even though I find musicians to be INSANELY attractive) and the answer was "CAGE." We got it for four points.

Round Four:

Another perfect round. Triple 50/50: US Olympics earned us five points, Name That Cable TV Series was good and we got "Shameless," and Middle East was great too. Ben didn't even draw a map and we still got "Israel" AND "Jordan!" Ben also got "gale" for Meteorology because they were apparently talking about gales on NPR yesterday, and then the Family Film Series was conquered by Darren, who somehow figured out that the name of the fourth Spy Kids movie was "All the Time in the World" after talking it out with the rest of us.

Final Category:

It was sound effects and the answer was "light saber."

Next week, we will be opening the night with Bill Murray movies.

I've got myself some tutors!

I recently corresponded with an author named Christy R. Harrill. I've not yet read her book, but I watched an inspirational video that she posted on TikTok. It essentially depicted the struggle of anyone attempting to get a book deal: writing, editing, querying agents, being rejected hundreds and hundreds of times... so she went the self-publishing route and has actually made a name for herself. I wrote to thank her for the video and to ask if she had any advice for folks aspiring to secure a following. The number one thing she recommended was creating reels for TikTok and Instagram.

I'm not the best at creating reels. I mean, I think in words and images, but not necessarily film clips. Therefore, even coming up with the ideas for reels is challenging for me.

The other challenge? The nitty-gritty of TikTok. Fortunately, I have tutors for that. On Tuesday, I recruited three of my students to walk me through the basics of making a video that people would actually want to watch. Family Friend was the lead teacher, but Wicker Basket and Poseidon Jr. were equally helpful. They were able to teach me about camera angles, filters, hashtags, and sound effects... and they did so with such patience!

Having been issued a challenge by the kids, I went home and filmed a reel to promote my upcoming book signing at Eighty-Two. And do you know what happened? The next day at school, so many of my students let me know that I'd shown up on their "For You" pages on TikTok.

"What's a 'For You' page on TikTok?" some of you may be wondering. Well, it's essentially a page of videos that pop up because TikTok suspects the user will appreciate them. Turns out, some of these users did appreciate it! I'm hoping an entire herd of them will show up tomorrow night because I think it would be fun to see them outside of a school setting.

Last night, I actually had an idea for a reel... but I didn't know how to execute it because I didn't know how to set up words to come and go in TikTok. Sure, I could have googled the answer, but I knew my tutors would be able to set me straight. Family Friend, Wicker Basket, and Poseidon Jr. were ON IT today! And they issued yet another challenge: "Go home and make another reel."

So I did.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/58cc22_61f0be48a8d242d9b52ae3366088f603/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Sticks & Stones & Words

I know the classic saying is "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

Personally, I've never agreed with that statement. Words really mean a lot to me... and they can really hurt a lot if they come from someone who matters to me. But do you know what else they can do? They can just as easily boost a person sky high when they come from someone who matters!

I have a coworker named Rob whom I never call Rob. I call him by his last name, but I try to avoid using last names in my blogs, so for today, we shall refer to this coworker as Rob.

In addition to being a loyal coworker, Rob is a loyal friend, and he said something to me yesterday that I've thought of several times since.

Yesterday, I approached Rob in the hallway and said, "Rob! Did I tell you my news? Tracey Lange, who wrote We are the Brennans, which is a book I really love, wrote me back AND FOLLOWED ME on Instagram, and she said she'd read my book, and so I am going to send her a copy! Isn't that insanely exciting?"

And do you know what Rob said?

Rob said, "It's going to happen, Hannah."

Five very simple words... and they meant so very much. ❤️

I'm sort of sad to see November come to a close...

Don't get me wrong: I am all about a long holiday break in December... but November has been a pretty solid month for me!

First of all, Marisa de los Santos -- my favorite author of all time -- followed me on Instagram. And gave me a shoutout on her Facebook page (which has, like, 24K followers). And now has a copy of my book. And she's going to read it! I mean, that alone would have been enough to label the month with a title of "winningest." But then...

Remember Tophouse? That band I fell head over heels for? We are talking swan-dive-into-a-somersault love. Caamp is no longer my exclusive shower band, folks; I now listen to Tophouse in the mornings just as frequently. Anyway, Tophouse expressed an interest in The Way Back as well, so I mailed them a copy, and they too are going to read it! How cool is that?

Speaking of bands... If you've never seen Old Crow Medicine Show in concert, you need to. Not only are they extremely entertaining and talented, but the drummer, Jerry Pentecost, is extremely kind. He corresponded with me quite a few times (even though he's very busy with newborn twins!) and let me know that the band never received the copy of The Way Back that I tossed onto the stage. I was sad, obviously, but Jerry gave me an address where I could ship another copy and he said he'd take a look at it. That doesn't mean he'll read it, because he doesn't have a lot of free time and he admitted that he's not the reader in the group, but I am hopeful that maybe the reader(s) in the group will enjoy The Way Back and recommend it to some friends.

As if all of that wasn't already great enough... THEN TODAY HAPPENED!

Several months ago, my book club read We are the Brennans by Tracey Lange and had one of our best discussions about it. The meeting was at my house (I take credit for choosing that book because 1. I actually did choose the book, and 2. Literally EVERYONE liked it) and since only women were in attendance, someone posed the question, "If you could date one of the characters in the book, who would it be?"

It was such a fun discussion! Siri chose Denny, I'm pretty sure, and Annie chose Kale. Kale was my backup boyfriend, but my heart belonged to Jackie. He was the artsy, quiet brother... and if my memory serves me correctly, he had a man-bun. I am a sucker for a good man-bun. (Siri hates them.) I can't remember who Brecia and Kristin and Victoria chose, but it wasn't Jackie; I was definitely the only person to choose Jackie.

So I wrote to Tracey Lange the other day and told her about my book club and our discussion about We are the Brennans and how much I adored Jackie. And I also asked if she'd have any interest in reading The Way Back.

She does!

I got her message at the start of third period today and ran straight across the hall to share the news with my marketing manager Mary: "Tracey Lange wrote me back and wants to read my book and gave me her address so I can send her a copy and she has a small thing for Jackie too!" are essentially the words that came out of my mouth, with exactly that punctuation.

So.

November.

It's been a pretty good month, yeah?

(I'll be heading to the post office tomorrow!)

Exsouptional Soups

Years and years and years ago, my friend Biz and I toured Gettysburg on what we referred to as our Souper Soup Search. The goal was to find Gettysburg's most "exsouptional" soup, which required us to eat a LOT of soup.

We generally met on Tuesdays after work. Biz created a scoresheet so we could rank each soup we sampled. It focused on things like "savoriness," "a meal in and of itself," and "tastes homemade."

Not surprisingly, The Dobbin House scored quite well because of its onion soup, and O'Rorke's cream of crab earned respectable marks. For an absolutely ridiculous amount of money, The Pub also served a solid mug of crab soup, but the ultimate win went to Garryowen... and I'm not even sure if it was for the crab soup or the Irish onion. Both are quite scrumptious!

I was thinking of our Souper Soup Search just recently because I visited Marshall's and parked in the lot closer to the Gettysburg Family Diner.

That's right, folks! Even the Family Diner made it onto our list. (The potato soup definitely came from a can.)

The other reason I was thinking about our Souper Soup Search is because Biz texted me yesterday:

Biz: Hello dear friend! I don't see you a lot but I think about you each day! I'm thankful for you and hope we can get together soon and have some soup. Soup you say? I have a potato soup recipe I think you'll love. Want to come over for dinner sometime soon?

Me: That sounds like an exsouptional idea! When were you thinking?

Biz: I see what you did there!

So now I have plans for December 6, which is a Tuesday, and I imagine the experience will be quite nostalgic.

Here's my favorite picture of Biz and me together:

(Obviously, this isn't what we wore while gallivanting around town for our Souper Soup Search. No, this was, in fact, taken at a Valentine's Day formal after raiding our friend's closet.)

A Three-Latte Day! ☕☕☕

After an eventful afternoon at Eighty-Two, my marketing manager Mary and I were fully caffeinated at the time of this photograph with Bri:

I meant to write this blog yesterday, but when I got home, I became very distracted by the 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle on my kitchen table. So distracted, in fact, that I didn't stop working on it until 10:30 last night... and that seemed late to write a blog. Therefore, I'm writing it this morning.

So yesterday Mary and I hit up Eighty-Two to do some brainstorming and marketing, like we do. Our focus was contacting people who might like to read my book and promote it. Mary now has her own Instagram account that's specifically focused on reviewing books (@MaryandBrightReads), which you should obviously follow for literary recommendations, and I used my author/artist @heyheyhannahrae to reach out to folks.

We made a lot of contacts! I found a book blogger in the Philippines who is going to read and review my book, along with a fitness instructor in Georgia (the state, not the country) who also blogs about what she's reading. Mary got me a contact in Washington and another one in Canada, so we're making headway. In addition to all that, I confirmed with Tophouse (that band I love in Nashville) that they've received the book and are going to read it. They did and they are! I hope I hope I hope they post a selfie with it! That would be good for sales.

Not only did Mary and I communicate with people on the internet... we also saw a bunch of friends! Alex and Chad were there, since they own the place, and we communicated with them about First Friday. Here are the details:

You should definitely come!

Then Ben of trivia-team fame stopped by for a latte. He had been out for a run and explained that on days he doesn't have to work, he likes to treat himself to a special coffee.

Next up, Annie and Elana! We all remember Annie from her recent blog feature regarding my trip down the "manhole," yes? And her daughter was with her as well! They were out and about for Small-Business Saturday.

And then we saw Steve, who has a daughter named Hannah, and who recommended a book, Furious Hours, to me that's all about Harper Lee. (He knows how much I love To Kill A Mockingbird.)

So that was our day. Hopefully some good will come of it!

The complicated beauty of friendships

I know that a lot of folks associate the holidays with family -- and don't get me wrong: I do too! -- but more than family, I associate Thanksgiving with friends. I value my friendships more than just about anything and I will go out of my way to make sure I'm respectful to and supportive of the people I care about most.

Years and years ago, I was eating lunch with my friend Wes and he was talking about who he'd invite into his survival group in the event of an apocalypse. Wes is someone (as is Mary) who plans for this type of thing. I believe they both stockpile food... just in case. Annie, on the other hand, has the mentality that she'd rather just be done with it because she can't bear to eat canned food.

The day Wes was talking about who he'd invite into his survival group, I realized that I hadn't made the cut. Brad made the cut because he's a good shot and knows more than a thing or two about farming. Rob made the cut because he, too, can handle a gun. Dee made the cut because she knows all about fixing things and growing things and just doing things in general. "What about me?" I asked. "I'm one of your bosom friends!"

Wes smoothed his mustache and said, "I hear you, Meeson, but what're you good at? I mean... yeah. You can write. You're artsy, but..." And then his face lit up like a bulb had just turned on inside his brain. He became quite animated. "You know what? YES. Yes, you make the cut because you are, if anything, loyal to a fault. To a fault, Meeson. So sure. I can always use another loyal person in my party." It's probably the nicest thing Wes has ever said about me.

It is, in fact, up there with the nicest things anyone has ever said about me.

I was having long talks with my mom on the phone the other night. Some wine was involved. I mean, I'd just survived all of the days leading up to Thanksgiving break and I was feeling both exhausted and elated. She and I got onto the topic of friendships and I was evaluating mine. I mentioned the compliment Wes had given me all those years ago and commented on how much it means to me. "You know," I said, "look at Kathy. She and I don't always see eye to eye on things, and we've definitely had our spats over the years, but that woman is going to be a part of my life until the day that I die."

Kathy and I have been in one another's lives since nursery school, but she lived on one side of the Lake and I lived on the other and our lives didn't properly intersect again until middle school. We attended a summer basketball camp and essentially fell in love with one another's sense of humor. "Elbow-to-elbow" isn't funny to anyone else, but if Kathy is reading this right now, I guarantee she's laughing.

I guess I must have been dropping Kathy's name around the house an awful lot following basketball camp because my mom suggested I look up her number (in the phonebook!) and give her a call. I did. We went to the swimming pool and ended up having a sleepover. I think it was all in the same day, but maybe I'm blurring timelines; this was, after all, decades ago. She's been a part of my life forever.

At the sleepover, Kathy did two things that let me know she would never leave me: 1) She had me feel her calf, which was really hairy because she hadn't shaved for a long time, and 2) She peed in front of me. We've been friends ever since.

This is not to say, however, that we haven't had our differences. We have! But the thing about Kathy is this: If I've done or said something to offend her (and because of my bluntness, this does occasionally happen), she will let me know. I will apologize for hurting her feelings, we will both take some time to consider the other's point of view, and then we'll come back to the realization that we love one another and are going to remain friends forever. Kathy is very much like a sister to me.

In talking to my mom last night, she pointed out that another great friend quality of mine is my inability to lie. It's true that I "lie" to my students every year in order to convince them that Wes is older than I am (he's actually not), but I don't lie about important things. I can't. "You're physically and mentally incapable of lying to anyone," my mom said. "I've known you since the day you were born and this has been apparent since very early on. The guilt eats you alive. And you have to talk about every detail of every situation, analyzing it and overanalyzing it to death. I know this; I've witnessed this for years. Decades. You don't lie to people. You can't."

In not lying to people I love (or even people I can't stand... because really, I can't lie!) I have surrounded myself with a network of quality folks who have proven their loyalty to me as well. I would name them, but there are simply too many to list, and so I will leave it to them to read this blog post and know that I love them. And that their friendship means everything to me. And that this Thanksgiving, just like every Thanksgiving, I am thankful to have them in my life.

Talks with my mom...

I went to my Other Other Mother's house today. I met her granddogger Finley and hung out with Kathryn (her daughter) for a bit as well. When I got in the car to drive home, I realized I had a text from my mom.

I did call her, and this is the conversation in a nutshell:

Mom: Hannah! I'm watching White Lotus. It's an HBO show. It has regular-looking people in it!

(My mom generally dislikes American television because she thinks everyone is pretty. It makes her happy when she discovers a show that has people in it who look "normal." Shows with people who aren't beautiful score higher in her book.)

Me: Oh yeah? What's it about?

Mom: Well, it's about a bunch of people in Hawaii who are really unhappy with their lives.

Me: Oh.

Mom: And it's not something I would normally watch, but it was recommended at knitting.

Me: Huh.

Mom: And Sweets... Connie Britton holds this one actor's genitalia in her hands, moving things out of the way to examine his testicles. Because they're enlarged and he thinks he might have testicular cancer.

Me: So she plays a doctor?

Mom: No! She's the wife! But Hannah! She's holding his genitalia in her hands. On American television. Have you ever seen anything like that? I'm going to have to keep watching. I'm on episode three. I think I need to see it out.

Me: I mean, I watched Euphoria, so...

Mom: Male genitalia! On American TV!

We talked about other things as well, but that was the big takeaway.

The stories behind (some of) the bottles

Generally speaking, I buy wine based on two things: price and label. Sometimes, if a label is really exceptional, I'll disregard the price and splurge. I can justify this because I view the labels as art and use them to decorate my kitchen.

I thought I'd focus on a few bottles that were either especially good or especially memorable. Let's begin with Rowdy Bush and BearBoat, shall we?

Rowdy Bush was delicious and reasonably priced. For my fortieth birthday, I asked my friends to participate in a wine label contest. They could enter as many times as they wanted, but each entry required the donation of one bottle of wine. For each bottle entered in the contest, they received a vote. So... Jody entered, like, four or five bottles, I think; that meant she could vote four or five times. The best part of the contest was this: the birthday girl (me!) got to keep all the bottles!

For that particular birthday, someone entered a bottle of Rowdy Bush. It didn't win the overall wine label contest, but I liked it a lot and ended up liking the wine inside the bottle a lot too! And then I discovered it for cheap at the state store and stocked up!

I recommended it to my friend Wes and he also enjoyed it, so there's another person who recommends it.

As for BearBoat... This bottle of wine was given to me by my brother The Pip for Christmas one year. He also gave me a bottle of Freakshow, which I still have as well, but that's farther down in the lineup and isn't in this picture. Freakshow is really good, though! I just remember liking the BearBoat a little bit better -- and this was surprising to me because I'm not always a huge fan of Pinot Noir. It sometimes tastes a little too watered down, if you know what I mean.

Both Freakshow and BearBoat cost more than I'm usually willing to spend, but the labels and the wine inside the bottles are excellent, so if you stumble upon a sale at some point, I'd say it's worth the splurge.

Next up is Aura. This was a Chairman's Choice years and years and years ago... and I probably purchased approximately twenty bottles of it before it disappeared forever. It was so cheap and soooooooo buttery! And I've never been able to find it again. Sad, right? I know.

Octopoda was a Florida discovery. I was down there with my Other Mother Amy and my Other Other Mother Theresa for vacation one time. We needed to stock up on some libations and went to a cool wine store... where I found this bottle of red! A teal octopus on a bottle of red wine? Yes, please! It was $20 but I bought it anyway. It was worth it, too; this particular bottle has traveled the east coast with me!

Behind Octopoda is a bottle of Bogle Phantom. I had a very intense crush on a musician for a while (we shall call him Bearded Beauty) and he recommended this wine to me. It, too, is $20 per bottle, and at the point in my life when the recommendation was given, $20 for a bottle of wine was something I never did. I mean, I was essentially living paycheck to paycheck and trying to keep up with my mortgage. HOWEVER... I traveled north to catch a show and surprise the Bearded Beauty and I took a bottle of Phantom along for afterward.

Bearded Beauty was surprised to see me, and happy to see me, but I think he was equally happy to share a bottle of Bogle Phantom because, let's face it, starving artists are referred to as "starving" for a reason. We don't usually have twenty extra dollars to spend on a bottle of wine.

Thousand Lives has a super cool label and my understanding is it's super cheap too. My Other Other Mother Theresa frequently gifts this to me because the first time she saw it, the label reminded her of me and she felt it belonged in my kitchen. When I told her how delicious the wine was, more bottles appeared! I've now tried a Cabernet, a Shiraz, and a Zinfandel. Each one was incredibly tasty.

And last but certainly not least... MollyDooker! My Pretend Uncle Ed (he is a real person, he's just not really my uncle) introduced me to MollyDooker's The Boxer one Christmas Eve. It is dark and decadent and delicious and worth every cent of the $30 a bottle actually costs. Plus, the artwork is awesome!

My favorite MollyDooker is Two Left Feet. My mom brought me a bottle of this when my dog Agatha passed away (that was a very difficult loss) and My Other Other Mother Theresa gave me a bottle of it for my fortieth birthday as well. The other bottles, The Scooter and The Maitre D', were equally scrumptious. My mom gifted those to me for Christmas one year.

Alright, well... that's today's blog. Sorry I didn't write one yesterday; I had parent-teacher conferences and didn't get home until late. All I could think about was putting on my sweatpants and -- you guessed it! -- pouring a glass of wine! I'll no doubt be doing the same thing tonight after round two.

My friend Annie has a way with words

This past week was a really long one.

It wasn't bad, per se, but I woke up on Tuesday morning thinking it was Saturday. And then when I realized it wasn't Saturday, I figured it must be Wednesday. So, you see, it was a very long week.

And a very slow week.

I had bus duty this week, which is not a big deal, but after completing that task on Friday afternoon, I went into my friend Annie's classroom instead of my own. Annie has a couch. It's rumored to be the most comfortable couch in the entire building, but I haven't tested all the couches to substantiate this truth. I can tell you this, though: Annie's couch is very comfortable.

While lying on Annie's couch, I got on my phone and opened Instagram. Just recently, Annie told me about a band she thought I'd like. They're called Goose, but if you look them up on Instagram, look up @goosetheband. I started watching some reels of Goose, which helped me to realize two things:

1) I do like the band!

2) I also like the looks of the band! All of the members are cute!

While I looked at adorable men of Goose, all of them holding their instruments, Mary and Annie and Wes and Theresa talked about school-related things. I'm not sure what these school-related things were because I was obviously very distracted.

At one point, I discovered the photographer for Goose and do you know what? He's every bit as cute (if not cuter) than the band members! Annie was in the middle of a conversation at that point, so I took a screenshot of the photographer (his name is Adam Berta if you'd like to follow him on Instagram; I did) and sent it to her.

Across the room, Annie chuckled in her deep-throated way and said, "Yes, Hannah. He's very cute." And then she looked at Mary and said, "Hannah's gone down a 'manhole.'"

And that's why I think my friend Annie has a way with words! Someday I'll write a blog about how she describes food... Just you wait! You're gonna love it!