Hannah Rae's Blog, page 33

Nice Things People Do

I really enjoyed giving shoutouts to wonderful things and people in yesterday's blog, so I'm gonna do it again today. Ready?

(In no particular order...)

Set.

(I've got a lot of folks to thank...)

Go!

Today my student True Crime Lover came into class and told me that she received my book in the mail last night and read it from cover to cover. She loved it, she told me, and promptly gave it a five-star review on Goodreads. How cool is that?! There was no "If I give you a five-star review, will you give me extra credit?" conversation that accompanied the good deed. True Crime Lover seemed to legitimately like my book and therefore wanted to legitimately give it a good review. I love that kid. Legitimately, I do!

Last night, after I posted my video on all the social media hotspots and requested that my fans pursue Reese Witherspoon and make her aware of The Way Back's existence, I received a text message from my friend Kathy. It was a screenshot of her recent purchase from Amazon -- The Way Back -- because she fell three chapters behind with the online posts and wanted to participate in the #thewaybackselfie thing I've been advertising. It made me so happy!

Agent B (another student) shared my #thewaybackselfie thing I've been advertising on TikTok because "I want you to get a lot of likes and followers, Ms. Meeson." So that was sweet. Admittedly, I did "fire" Agent B the other week because she hasn't actually read the book she's promoting... but I'm gonna rehire her just because she's sweet and likeable and she makes me laugh.

My marketing manager Mary bought two copies of The Way Back -- one paperback and one hardback -- and even though she's already received the paperback, she's waiting for the hardback to arrive because she wants both copies to be in her selfie!

Amber bought some copies as well! She's going to gift one to her friend and keep the other one. They'll do a friends book club and (hopefully) post selfies!

Also, when I got to work today, I received texts from my friends Brecia and Nina... and both wanted to let me know that they were ordering The Way Back! This is so exciting for me, guys! You don't even know! The fact that people are reading my book?! It's amazing. It's soooooo much more rewarding than querying agents and receiving hundreds of rejections. "I'm sorry to be writing, but I just don't feel that I'm the best agent for your novel THE WAY BACK. Please know that everyone has unique tastes and what's not right for one agent might be perfect for another. Better luck next time." Blah blah blech. I'm over it. If agents think my writing isn't marketable, so be it. I'm determined to prove 'em wrong!

Let's take a minute to talk about my former student Brooke. She serves amazing sushi and noodle bowls at Mai Noodle House on Steinwehr and she sent me a screenshot of her purchase as well! I hope when she gets her copy, she'll post a selfie!

Annie bought her copy today too! And she has at least one friend in mind who she'd like to gift a copy to. I hope they'll both take selfies with their paperbacks!

This selfie thing has to be credited to my friend Darren. You might recognize his name from my trivia posts. The man is brilliant and kind and a wonderful human. He received my book on Sunday and promptly sent a selfie... which is what gave me the idea to have others post selfies. I already knew Darren was smart -- read the blog, folks: he knows all the answers every week! -- but he was marketing smart this time around. I might need to pick his brain on Thursday to find out if he has other ideas that could benefit The Way Back's promotion.

Oh, oh, oh! Another nice thing that happened was that band I blogged about yesterday? Tophouse? Well... first they wrote to me to thank me for my blog. Then they promoted my blog on their Instagram (@tophousetheband). Then I wrote to thank them for the shoutout and encouraged them to read my book, and then they said they love to read and definitely would! I hope they do.

Actually, I hope they take a selfie with it. That would be super cool. You guys should follow them and message them and ask them to take a selfie with my book. Like, tag @tophousetheband and Reese Witherspoon. Let all the celebrities know what's up.

Alright. I have letters to write and envelopes to address and this is a topic for another day's (tomorrow's!) blog. Stay tuned, yeah? I'm on a mission...

Five Favorites

I've been puzzling over what today's blog should be about. At some point, I'd like to write about my cats (they are adorable and ridiculous, after all)... but I'm not in the mood to do that today. Arlo the Airedale has been in rare form lately as well (rare form = stubborn and poorly behaved), and I'm sure I could recount a few of his recent exploits... but again, I'm just not feeling it. Which is why I've decided to focus on five of my favorite things.

Tanya and her soaps. I'm actually a little reluctant to share Tanya with you because I think she already gets a lot of business and when I need soap, she doesn't always have much in stock, but because I'm a good person, I'm going to not only tell you about Tanya's soap, I'm also going to provide a link so you can get some of your own.

I discovered Tanya on Etsy when I was trying to find some Chardonnay soap for my mom for Christmas. My mom loves Chardonnay, and she's become a bit of a soap snob over the years, so I was deep into the Etsy rabbithole when I came across TanyasEarthworks.

Long story short, I bought some soap.

The soap arrived.

The package smelled so good that I used much of the soap, saving only the bar of Chardonnay soap for my mom. I then had to order more before the holidays. Everyone received soap that year: Annie, Alex, Mary, my mom... other people whose names don't begin with A or M...

Anyway, if you'd like to try Tanya's soaps, this is where you can find them: TanyasEarthworks (but she's taking a break right now; she won't be back until October 22). They're worth the wait, though; her soaps obviously smell amazing, but they're also really creamy- and wonderful-feeling. 11/10 recommend.

Screw-top wine. I've gotten to a point in life where I not only buy my wine based on the label, but I also look for screw tops instead of corks. It's just simpler, you know?

I'm also not big into spending more than $12/bottle, so I look for sales. When The Velvet Devil and Jam Cellars go on sale, they're worth the buy. You're welcome.

Rao's spaghetti sauce. It tastes homemade. Is it a little pricier than Prego and Newman's Own? It sure is. But do you know what else? It's very, very worth it. Having discovered Rao's, I no longer feel the need to grow my own produce, blanch tomatoes, harvest herbs, sweat onions and garlic... I just go to the grocery store and buy a jar of sauce that tastes every bit as good as my homemade sauce. It's much simpler.

Tophouse. I discovered this band yesterday and have literally listened to their song "Mountain Song" at least eleven times today. I've also listened to "Drive Back Home" and "Sirens." This is what I do, folks: I find a band, I fall in love, I choose three to five songs, and I listen to them nonstop until I feel the need to listen to another song by said band. It's what happened with Reel Big Fish and it's what happened with Caamp. When I fall in love with a band and follow this pattern, that band has staying power.

There's not a doubt in my mind that Tophouse has staying power. They will definitely be on a future book's playlist. (In fact, they already are... you just haven't been introduced to the book yet!)

Here's a video of these boys from Montana who now live in Nashville. The lead singer has a laugh caught in his throat in every song I've listened to so far. (All three of them!) I'll bet they're a jolly group of individuals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQykG1E3L9M

St. Ives Energizing Coconut & Coffee Scrub. I bought this quite a while ago, used it, loved it, and forgot about it. Years passed and I discovered other face scrubs, nearly all of them purchased at Marshall's for a good price. And then, just a few weeks ago, I bought a scrub at Marshall's that was supposed to be citrus-scented. I couldn't smell it because it had one of those silver seals under the cap, but I took a chance and bought it because it was only $3.99 and I've had good experiences with Marshall's face scrubs in the past.

Guys, this face wash sucked. It was runny and it did not smell like citrus. It smelled flowery and gross. I threw it away and visited my old standby, Amazon.com, where I was reintroduced to St. Ives Energizing Coconut & Coffee Scrub. (Side note: As a kid, I used to think St. Ives was pronounced "Stives.")

The coconut/coffee scrub was only available in a three-pack, and I didn't need three face scrubs, but I nevertheless splurged and shared the extras with my mom and Annie. They were very appreciative and their skin's looked better than ever these past couple days.

A Night with David Sedaris

Last night I joined several members of my book club for an evening at The Majestic. Months ago, I saw that David Sedaris would be reading at Gettysburg's local theatre, and since we had read Holidays on Ice last December, it seemed logical that we seize the opportunity and purchase tickets. I sent out the invitation to the group and the following folks responded with a resounding "Count me in!": Annie, Kristin and her friend Daylyn, Siri, Lindsay, Biz, Erin, and Victoria.

(I used strange punctuation above. See that? But I never know quite what to do when I end a part of the sentence -- "Count me in!" -- with punctuation before a colon. Hence, the bizarre "...in!": as seen above.)

This was, I believe, the fourth time Biz saw David Sedaris. She and I used to work at the Book Warehouse together and his book Naked arrived in the shipment one Tuesday. That's how Biz discovered him. She's been in love ever since.

Annie and Erin ended up at my house, where we each had a glass of wine and talked about kittens. Victoria has four that need homes and Erin has a home and a need for kittens, so... That's convenient, eh? Annie and I encouraged her to get two because what's better than two kittens at one time? The answer: nothing.

When we finished our wine and our kitten talks, we headed down the street to Fourscore. Siri had gotten there early to secure an outdoor table, but the show wasn't until 8 o'clock and I guess I didn't realize that I was expected to be there by 5:30, so when I still wasn't there at 5:58PM I received a text from Biz saying, "Hannah! You coming?" Turns out, she was legitimately concerned that I'd tripped over one of my dogs and was lying unconscious in my home, possibly bleeding out from a head wound or something. That's friendship right there.

We made it to Fourscore and hung out until about 7:30 or so. Part of this was because it took a bit longer than usual to get our food, but that's because they only had two people working in the kitchen! Diane and Danielle told me that they were taking turns helping with dish washing, and Danielle was supposed to be the first one to go home, but she was still there when we left for the show! Seriously, guys: if you are in the Gettysburg area and need some extra money or whatever, apply for a job at Fourscore. The staff is so kind, the beer is so tasty, and the vibe is so chill.

I set the pace for walking into town because I have a long stride and we needed to get there on time. Biz said several times that "Missing David Sedaris would be like missing camp." I'm not sure why she likes camp so much. Like, summer camp? (If she'd been referencing Caamp, I'd understand... and now that I'm writing this, I wonder if that's how Biz was spelling camp/Caamp in her head. Oh my goodness! Her analogy now makes so much sense! YES! Missing David Sedaris would ABSOLUTELY be like missing Caamp! I just made a revelation, friends! Ha! If any of my students are reading, just know this is why spelling matters.)

Do you know that Dispatch song "Only the Wild Ones"? The opening lyrics are "Long hair and longer stride," which Kristin once told me reminds her of me because I do, in fact, have a long stride. When I walk quickly, I often listen to this song, but last night we listened to Burt Bacharach's "South American Getaway" as we booked it downtown. This is used in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and when Kristin and I watched Butch and Sundance together for the first time, she found such amusement in that particular sequence. The music has become a bit of an inside joke to us and we often listen to it while walking through towns or cities. So that's what we listened to on the way to The Majestic.

We got there with time to spare (thanks to my long stride!) and found our seats. I gave my business card to three people sitting to my left and encouraged them to check out my website before David Sedaris took the stage. He was wearing some Asian-esque flowy trousers, a standard knee-length shirt with a braided bottom, and shoes that appeared to be made from papier mache. After a brief discussion about his outfit, he commenced reading.

If you ever have the opportunity to see David Sedaris speak, you should jump at the chance. He is really funny! And inappropriate at times, too, which only makes him funnier. Rather than read things that are already published, he uses his time in front of fans to try out new essays. He actually began the night by talking about his most recent book, Happy-Go-Lucky, and telling us how sick to death he is of reading from it. So... we experienced some new material!

I have to say that I was incredibly impressed by Sedaris's ability to essentially proofread his work in front of hundreds of people, take notes/make edits at the same time, and not stumble over his words. That in and of itself is quite a feat! The fact that he also nailed the delivery of every single line only made the performance more impressive.

I'm not sure how long he read -- maybe 90 minutes? -- but when he finished, several of us got in line to have our books signed. Annie, Biz, Erin (she was apparently as tired as I was... it was a long week), and Lindsay peaced out a bit early, but Victoria, Kristin, Daylyn, Siri, and I hung back. I had a copy of Me Talk Pretty One Day in my purse, but ultimately I wanted to give David Sedaris my business card and encourage him to look at my website and check out The Way Back.

I didn't make it to the front of the line, guys.

It was so hot, and I was so tired, and I just got to the point of needing to get out of there. After waiting in line for at least an hour, I told my friends that I was going to walk home. I left my business card with Victoria and asked her to share it with David Sedaris. I guess she did; I haven't heard how long anyone waited in line to have their books signed, or what their conversations with the author were like. I do think what I'll do is make an original cut-paper card, send Sedaris a thank you note for an enjoyable evening, include my business card in that, and see what comes of it. I'll keep you posted.

Trivia Recap: 10/13

The Players: Darren (math professor), Mary (English teacher), Victoria (veterinarian), Hannah (English teacher), Ben (social studies teacher)

Opening Category: K-Pop

Hint of the Day: A bunch of carrots

Ben ordered food (his typical buffalo chickie nuggies with blue cheese and a half-size portion of fries) and the number he received was #1. He thought this might be fortuitous... and it started out that way... but then we ultimately came in second.

For the second week in a row, we lost by one point.

Oh, well. We had fun!

Round One:

Weirdly enough, it was yours truly who knew the answer to the opening category. Have I ever listened to K-Pop before in my life? Nope. But you know what I have done? Attended trivia... at which a question was asked about BTS and the answer was "Ice Cream" and I remembered that sugary single tonight. So we started off strong enough! Thanks to Mary watching as much, if not more, Hawaii Five-Oh than I have (it used to be her mom's favorite show), we were able to translate "mahalo" to "thank you." And then Darren and I knew "danke" means "thank you" in German, so we got the two-point bonus. Brand Logos was easy enough in that we needed to know the mascot for Vlasic (a stork), which Mary got immediately. Ben had never heard that pregnant women are rumored to crave pickles, which surprised all of us because he's a genius and will someday be on Jeopardy (just wait!), but despite this, he did a hilarious interpretation of the Vlasic stork saying "Vlasic." Darren knew the answer to 3 Clues, 1 Celebrity (Madden), but he wasn't confident enough to put it in early and get the two-point bonus... which is fine. Foreign Culture required us to know about mahjongg. What I know about mahjongg is that my former coworker and friend (she's still my friend, just not my coworker), Christine, used to play mahjongg and it's a fun word to say. I did not realize how many tiles were used. My teammates did, though, and we got the points. Round one was a good round.

Round Two:

The audio clue was a little different this week in that all three songs had one word in common. To earn the points, we needed the word; to get the bonus, we needed the song titles. The word was "bottle" and the songs were "Time in a Bottle" (thank you, Ben), "Genie in a Bottle" (thank you Hannah, Mary, and Victoria), and Bottle It Up (thank you, Mary). I predicted the answer to Units of Measurement (carat) even before we got the clue... and I was right! Cult Films was figured out by Victoria and Ben (Boondock Saints, but we missed the bonus which was the subtitle to the sequel), US Cities was figured out by Darren (Charlotte, NC), and we did alright with Comediennes thanks to Darren and Mary, if I remember correctly. "Amy Schumer" was the answer and Only Murders in the Building was the bonus, which Mary got right away because she's currently watching that show and loving it. She says it's hilarious.

Halftime Sheet:

I took a picture of it this week because I want you to take a look at the bottom half. Victoria, Mary, and I went to town with the produce and the only two we were stumped on were "bananas" and "carrots." However, I used LOGIC to determine that types of bananas must be "Señorita" and Goldfinger. Here's my logic: "Señorita" is a warm-sounding name and bananas are grown in warm climates. Plus, bananas are yellow and finger-shaped. Darren argued that this was not logic.

More often than not, Darren is right... but he was wrong this time around.

We got 19/20 on the halftime sheet.

Round Three:

Ben and I tag-teamed it for 1980s Duets (he got Don Henley, I got Stevie Nicks... whom I recently saw in concert, I'll remind you, at Sound on Sound... even though I only stayed for about 1.5 of her songs) and we all knew the answer to A Crafty Question about "terracotta." Mary thought this was going to be about Kraft macaroni and cheese, but it wasn't. Then we had to do some invisible typing to figure out which letters are on the middle row of the keyboard (S A D F G H J K L, if you were wondering) so we could then figure out which US state could be spelled using only those letters. The answer? Alaska.

Side note: Ever since learning to type in ninth grade, I frequently type what I hear. I just type on my fingertips, if that makes sense, and I find myself doing it while watching TV. If Olivia Benson tells her team to "investigate the perp" or "follow up with the medical examiner," my fingers are invisibly typing "investigate the perp" and "follow up with the medical examiner" as the words come out of her mouth. I can type over 100 words per minute with about 99% accuracy and I take those typing tests online just for fun sometimes. I love typing! And I'm good at it! I probably could've been a stenographer, you know it?

Back to Round Three...

Ben right away got "Dos Equis" for TV Commercials and Darren used his massive brain and came up with two of the three one-name Oscar-Award Winning films with nine letters in the title since 2015: Nomadland and Moonlight. I forget what the third one was... Spotlight, maybe? It was something like that. I didn't write it down. Anyway, it was super impressive that he figured that out and we got the point because of it.

6 - 4 - 2:

This was worded kind of funny and as a result, we didn't get it for six points. Darren knew it for six points, but the way the question was worded made it sound like the abbreviation for Nepal is NPT and that just didn't make sense. So... we waited. And then we got it for four points because the answer was indeed Nepal.

Round Four:

You Have a "Way" with Trivia required us to come up with three answers that ended with "way": Nick Carroway from The Great Gatsby, "Runaway" by Bon Jovi (we didn't get this one), and Gateway. We earned the points, but not the bonus. The Human Body was next and Victoria was overjoyed! She loves the human body even though animal bodies are her specialty. The question asked for the common name for oviducts and Victoria wrote down "Uterine Horn." (Victoria writes down everything instead of saying it, FYI; she's very secretive.) Mary gave her a ridiculous look and said, "Uterine horn?" And I said, "I think we need a more common name than that." Then Mary said, "Like fallopian tubes." This, of course, was the answer. The only answer we missed all night was in Stanley Cup Champions, but I will say that I knew the Stanley Cup is a hockey-related thing, so that was a win on my part. Ben also had the answer in his list of possibilities (Red Wings), but that's not what the team went with and so we missed that point. Darren knew Entourage for the 21st Century TV category and Ben got us two of the three presidents who died on July 4th before Abraham Lincoln took office. The answers were John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe. We got the first two, but not the third, which means we did not get the two-point bonus.

Ben knows all of his presidents and his vice presidents and their favorite ice cream flavors, so in an attempt to get his brain juices flowing for the category of Presidential Potpourri, I asked him to draw a picture of Abraham Lincoln. Surprisingly, he obliged. Mary was shocked. She said, "I didn't think he'd actually do it!"

Admittedly, I didn't think he'd do it either... but then I reminded her of the rainbow sack.

I'm going to need to write an entire blog that tells the full story of Ben's rainbow sack, but for the purpose of this blog, please know that Ben has a rainbow sack that fits snugly on his water bottle (it even has a strap and a pocket!) and he took it out west with him this summer in order to show it some really beautiful scenery. I might venture so far as to say the rainbow sack is one of Ben's favorite possessions, if not one of his best friends, but he may dispute this... Just know that he's lying if he disputes it, okay?

Final Round:

All the credit goes to Darren for this one. The mathematician not only deciphered the complicated wording of the question, but also got the answer right! Thirty-eight (XXXVIII) is the last alphabetical Roman numeral less than one hundred. We were tied for first and had to participate in a tiebreaker! The question was about the number of Entourage episodes that aired blah blah blah... I don't remember the wording. Darren guessed "sixty" and the other team guessed "sixty-five" and the answer was, I think, ninety-six... so we came in second for the second week in a row.

Next week's opening category is The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is a movie I don't actually care for, but I also don't listen to K-Pop and I knew the answer anyway. Therefore, we'll just see what happens next week, won't we?

The Playlist in its Entirety!

Since The Way Back will be available for purchase as both a paperback and a hardback at some point tomorrow (I'm so excited!!!), here is the playlist that appears in the back of the book. In addition to the song titles and artists, I'm even including the music!

"By and By" -- Caamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo4HVz8aWXE

"(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" -- Weezer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDIzMGh94vo

"First in Flight" -- Don McCloskey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ItphmcYXpg

"The Bagend March" -- Bella's Bartok

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6zMxelvy8w

"Alone" -- Trampled By Turtles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejfMrZQU3Eo

"Where We Are" -- The Lumineers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znRJvIGTjts

"Twisted Fate" -- The Suitcase Junket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu7eikYHZWo

"Farmhouse" -- Phish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48tz_8NZp5c

"8 Dogs 8 Banjos" -- Old Crow Medicine Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MamNQuhOgw

"Way Back" -- Reel Big Fish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5N1-Zs_obk

"Just Wonderin'" -- Caamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OevJml52qBw

So... I know I didn't write much this time around, but it's imperative that you have a place to go to access all the songs I frequently accessed while writing the novella. I hope you enjoy them enough to check out the bands if/when they visit your town!

What's for Dinner?

My mom recently told me that if I'm going to write a blog per day, I'm going to need to throw in some recipes. Well... today's post is a recipe that I love love LOVE and that's not at all difficult to make. I'm going to share my version, which is slightly different than the version you may find online because, I mean, I always add extra cheese and I rarely measure much of anything.

Here goes...

,Quinoa & Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa 1 cup rotisserie chicken, chopped or shredded... whichever you prefer 1 (10 oz.) can enchilada sauce (I use mild or medium; medium offers a fun kick!) 1 (4.5 oz.) can chopped green chiles 3/4 cup corn kernels, frozen 1 (15.5 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves (sometimes I use dried, though) 1/2ish teaspoon cumin 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I often add more than this; I like chili powder) Salt and black pepper, to taste A lot of shredded cheddar cheese... at least 1 cup A lot of mozzarella cheese... at least 1 cup 1 avocado, peeled and diced A bunch of grape or cherry tomatoes, chopped

Instructions

Prepare quinoa according to package instructions; set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and prepare a baking dish (8x8" or 9x12" or whatever you have, really) by coating it with nonstick spray.

Side note about nonstick sprays...

I always think of two things every single time I pull Pam out of my cupboard. The first is my mom quoting, "Pam? Who is this Pam?" which is apparently a line from an old commercial advertising for -- you guessed it! -- Pam.

The second is this thing that happened while I was BIG TIME crushing on Paul "PJ" James, who is a fitness god and instructor who hails from down under, but currently resides in California. Years and years ago, he intentionally gained 88 pounds (that's half his body weight!) by eating whatever he wanted and not exercising at all for six months. Then he spent the following six months losing the weight through diet and exercise. His documentary is called Fat and Back and I am not exaggerating when I say I've watched it at least five times. I. LOVE. HIM.

PJ would absolutely not approve of today's recipe, but you should eat it anyway because the odds of PJ finding out that you're not following his recommended meal plan is very slim. I've emailed him several times and he's never responded. Sad, huh?

Anyway, upon reading PJ's book (Take It Off, Keep It Off), I learned of something called a "mister," and for some reason I assumed this "mister" was in reference to a man's title. Like... "Mr." What I did not realize is that a "mister" is merely a Pam-esque container in which one can place oil and then mist a pan with it. For the longest time, I really believed that this mysterious "mister" was a special kitchen contraption geared toward men.

It's not. PJ's "mister" is nothing fancy, folks, so don't get your hopes up. But do look up PJ because his accent is dreamy.

Okay. Back to the recipe.

In a large bowl, combine quinoa, chicken, enchilada sauce, green chiles, corn, black beans, cilantro, cumin, and chili powder; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in 3/4 cup cheddar cheese and 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese. Spread quinoa-and-chicken mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with remaining cheeses. Place into oven, baking until bubbly and the cheeses have melted... about twenty minutes or so. Serve with the chopped avocados and tomatoes. Sometimes I also add a plop of sour cream (or Greek yogurt) on top because I think that makes it taste even better!

Okay. That is today's blog. I hope you enjoyed it and have a new option for dinner this weekend.

My Students Make Me Laugh

Generally speaking, period six is a tough period. For whatever reason, it's usually comprised of an odd assortment of personalities that wouldn't normally go together, but somehow end up together right after lunch. This year is no exception.

The kids in my sixth period class are the loudest kids in the hallway. I mean, if I linger outside my door for even a minute or two after the bell, the ruckus that they make is audible all the way down to the lobby. They are noisy. And rowdy. And even though they drive me crazy and I'm usually ready to part ways after forty-two minutes, I genuinely adore all of them, because in addition to being loud and rowdy, they are smart. When I can get them to focus (not an easy task!), they come up with some of the best observations regarding texts read in class.

They're also bizarre, though. Let me give you an example.

The other week, I was standing at my desk and some of the boys (the class is composed of mostly boys; I think I've got maybe six girls in the mix) were discussing which United States Presidents they could effectively "take down." Abraham Lincoln was among the mix, seeing as John Wilkes Booth really did take him down, but there were others. James Madison was mentioned, I believe... and maybe Thomas Jefferson? I don't remember. It was just such a strange topic of conversation, you know? And in the midst of it, one of the boys (we'll call him Chicken) saw a spider crawling under his desk and literally moved the entire desk away from the group of desks where he was positioned.

My classroom furniture is that chair-attached-to-the-desk nonsense. One doesn't just "scoot" back from the desk... but Chicken sure did! It made me think that he really couldn't take down any US President, seeing as he is terrified of a tiny spider.

Period six is also quite helpful. Everytime I close my school laptop, I need to reenter the code to log back in, but I noticed my students didn't have to do this. I asked about it and Mr. Goof (that's not his real name) explained that I could set up the little button in the top right corner to identify my fingerprint. He then proceeded to walk me through the procedure, offering encouragement along the way: "Yep, that's right, Ms. Meeson. Just lift up that finger and put it back down on the button. Up, down; up, down. Now you need to get the edges. That's good. Yep, just like that. You've got this. Fill in the ridges with red. You've got this." He reminds me of Little Chuck Little from To Kill A Mockingbird. Such a minor character, but he brings me joy each time I read that novel. Mr. Goof also brings me joy.

Period seven is a bit more subdued, but only a bit. I've got a student (we'll call him C.E. for Clogged Ears) in there who's forever asking me questions and not listening to the answers.

CE: How many sentences does this paragraph have to be?

Me: Five to seven.

CE: How many sentences should I make my paragraph?

Me: Five to seven sentences.

CE: Is there a length requirement for this paragraph?

Me: Am I not speaking English right now, or are you just ignoring my answer?

Recently, my student Chipper McCheerful asked about my love of octopuses. I was wearing an octopus sweatshirt and I have an octopus tapestry on my classroom wall and it's just known that I think octopuses are cool creatures. CE volunteered, "The Mexican store down the street sells frozen octopuses."

I told him I wasn't in the market for a frozen octopus.

CE: Right, but the Mexican store down the street sells frozen octopuses.

I'm not making this up. These are real conversations that occur in the middle of discussing foil characters and the symbolism of seasons found in Ray Bradbury's writing. "When Charles Halloway considers The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, he considers her as a proper noun. A carnival attraction. A show of sorts. But when Tom Fury considers the most beautiful woman in the world, he does so without capital letters. This is Bradbury showing that Tom, unlike Charles, has an overwhelming desire to be with the woman in the block of ice."

CE: You can get a frozen octopus right down the street, though!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Remembering Pip

Today marks three years without my brother. I think about him daily and miss him constantly, but my intent with this post isn't to invoke tears. Rather, I'd like to remember Pip for the kind and creative person he was; my hope is that folks smile as they read this.

Although my brother didn't live the longest life, he lived an incredibly creative life, and I am fortunate to be able to surround myself with his art. Phil stopped by my house the other day with his daughter and while looking around my living room, Zizi said, "I've never been in a house with so much art." It was a huge compliment. Of course, much of the art is mine... but nearly an equal amount of it was painted by Pip. I've chosen some of my favorite pieces (there are many hanging on the walls that I haven't included, believe it or not) to talk about today. He was prolific in his splatter-painting and off-the-wall ideas.

The first piece I'd like to showcase is a green-and-blue chaos that I wake up to each and every morning. It hangs beside my bed. For a while, it hung in my parents house (when Pip was living there the year before he died) and I admired it every time I was over. It didn't look right on their wall, though. My mom's palette is gold, and with the exception of some yellow paint thrown into the mix as a pop of unexpected color, this piece just didn't work. Eventually, it came to live at my house and I love it. It looks like it belongs here, too. It's hard to tell from the photograph, but there's silver amongst the splatters. A hint of shimmer.

My favorite piece of all time is one of Pip's monsters. You know how people occasionally say, "In the event of a fire, the one thing I'd save is..."? Well, in the event of a fire, after I got the cats and dogs out of the house, the one thing I'd save is my Peace Out Like a Mother Fucker. There's a story behind this one, not surprisingly, and I'm going to share it with you.

While living in Carlisle, Pip painted a monster that hung in his apartment. It was a lot bit creepy and a little bit cute. I loved it. Every time I saw it -- or any time we talked about art, for that matter -- I'd ask him to paint a monster for me. (If I'm being honest, I wanted that monster; I thought it was the coolest thing.)

Pip always said, "I'll get to it, Sis" or "Someday, Sis. Just be patient."

I tried to be patient, but that didn't stop me from pestering him from time to time. And do you know what? My pestering paid off because I ended up receiving my own monster for Christmas.

Pip and I used to have hours-long phone conversations. I do understand that this is possibly not the norm for brothers and sisters -- especially brothers and sisters who are five years apart in age -- but we frequently talked on the phone for long stretches of time. And when I say long stretches... three hours or more. We had a lot to say and rarely got sick of one another. We participated in a marathon phone call at least once a month, sometimes more than that.

One time while communicating about what could have been any number of things, Pip wondered, "What's your favorite phrase?"

I asked for clarification. "D'you mean my favorite quote, or just, like, my favorite thing to say?"

Pip: Just something you say frequently. Something you like to say.

Me: [Thinking long and hard] Well... I guess "Peace out like a mother fucker."

Pip: [Snorting with amusement] Wait. What?

Me: Peace out like a mother fucker. I say it every morning to the pets when I leave the house. "Okay, guys. I'll see you after school. I'm gonna peace out like a mother fucker."

For Christmas that year, I received a teal monster (my favorite color!) with the words "Peace Out Like a Mother Fucker" (my favorite phrase) incorporated into the design. And that is what I would save in a fire.

My teal monster wasn't the only piece of Christmas art I received over the years. Another time, Pip showed up with everyone's gift except mine. I mean, he had some small stuff for me (that might've been the year he gifted everyone in the family with his/her own box of moist wipes for the bathroom... he couldn't stop giggling!), but when we concluded our gift exchange, he very nonchalantly was like, "I still have one more thing for you, Sis, but it's in the car." He then proceeded to leave my house for a few minutes, returning with a gigantic canvas.

When I say "gigantic," I mean it's 48 x 36 inches. It's BIG.

A splatter-paint masterpiece is what he gifted me that year, complete with a broken plate in the mix. He'd been using the plate as a palette when it slipped from his hands and crashed to the floor, shattering into big shards and settling amongst the paint. Believing that it was meant to be a part of the art, Pip allowed it to dry there.

I get more compliments on that artwork than any other piece, I believe.

Pip had been working on another piece for me, and he'd wanted to give it to me for Christmas, but it wasn't done. He wasn't happy with it and if you look at it, you can sort of see that he wasn't really happy in general at this point in time. It's dark... and scary... It reminds me of The Upside-Down World from Stranger Things. He never officially gave this one to me, because he passed away before he deemed it complete, but I love it regardless. It hangs in my living room, across from the splatter-paint masterpiece.

Last but not least, I've got some pieces that Pip and I made together. He loved to draw what he referred to as "Bar Monsters." In fact, if you ever sat beside him at the bar, odds are he pulled out a sketchpad, a zippered bag of Sharpies, handed a marker to you, and told you to "Draw a line."

From that line, Pip would create the most bizarre monsters. Many were inappropriate, all of them were weirdly adorable, and we made a series of three that hung in my first art show at the Garryowen. Only one sold (It's Oli've Ever Wanted), but I still have Should've Watched More Grey's Anatomy (Pip accidentally gave the monster two left hands) and Dizzy Dad's Disco Disaster. He drew the monsters; I turned them into stencils and created cut-paper canvases from them.

Since his death, I've taken a few other drawings of his and kept the Sis 'n' Pip art alive. Sometimes I scan them and turn the images into stationery that sells on my Etsy page, but I keep the originals. They hang in my kitchen with the two he designed specifically for my art show... and each time I see them, I am reminded of Pip and his creativity and all of the amazing art he and I made together over the years.

I love that boy so very much. I always will.

I hope that he has found peace.

Ho, Hey!

Have you ever seen a show at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland? It’s probably my favorite venue. It feels a little bit like you’re in the woods, but you’re actually in the middle of a small city. I’ve seen a lot of shows there. One of the best was the second time I saw the Lumineers, but the show I’m inclined to talk about right now involves the first time I saw the Lumineers.

It happened years and years ago, after I’d published Just Whistle, I believe. That’s the novel that got me hooked on the Lumineers’ music; I basically listened to “Stubborn Love” on repeat while writing about Charley and Juli.

I remember being at school when I received the email notification announcing the Lumineers’ upcoming appearance at Merriweather. At that point, I didn’t know a ton of their stuff, but I obviously knew every lyric to “Stubborn Love” and had become a huge fan of “Ho Hey” and “Ophelia” as well. Between classes, I texted my concert husband Phil and asked if he had any interest in going. His response? “BUY BUY BUY!!!” It was kind of like *NSYNC, but with a chorus about purchasing tickets rather than saying goodbye.

Needless to say, I bought the tickets, but the Lumineers were hugely popular at that point in time and I was only able to get us a spot on the lawn. At Merriweather, I prefer to be right in front of the stage -- or at the very least, inside the pavilion -- but that wasn’t an option for this show. Beggars can’t be choosers and I was slow on the draw, so Phil and I hung out in the lawn.

It ended up being alright because the Lumineers had TWO stages. There was the actual stage inside the pavilion, of course, but a second stage had been erected behind the pavilion, enabling lawn sitters/standers to experience a bit of close-up viewing.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that every song the band played, Phil shouted into my ear, “This is the best song!” Until that show, I had no idea how many Lumineers songs I knew! I knew a lot!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/58cc22_175f73e7ca954766a1f4c42d376e5736/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Two notable things happened at that particular concert. The first is that Phil and I were talking to some other fans about how we see concerts together. He referred to me as his “concert wife” and the couple we were talking to asked how long we’d been together. For reasons I have never understood, Phil quickly corrected them and explained that he’s actually married to my friend Biz, but Biz hates concerts, so Phil and I, having been friends since high school, now go to shows together and refer to one another as “concert husband” and “concert wife.” That’s all fine, obviously -- I mean, it’s definitely accurate -- but why didn’t he seize the opportunity to come up with some sort of absurd tale regarding our long-lasting love affair?! He might’ve said we’ve been married for seven years, but were engaged at the age of twelve. He could have described a hot-air balloon wedding ceremony in which a balloon went rogue and floated ten miles south, landing in the middle of a lake. He could have said he used to be a conjoined twin and therefore his concert wife (me!) only spends 50% of her time with him because after the surgery that separated him from his brother Pherdinand, things have gotten complicated.

Anyway. That was the first notable thing that happened. I still think of it often, even though it was really a very minor thing. The second notable thing has impacted my life a lot more and it occurred when Phil said, “I really feel that we’ve reached a point in our lives where we can afford seats in the pavilion, no matter the cost.” Since then, we have always been under the pavilion. No more lawn standing for us!

Trivia Recap: 10/6 (a night of one-liners)

The Players: Hannah (English teacher), Mary (English teacher), Darren (math professor), Victoria (veterinarian), Phil (very, very complicated), Brock (multimedia specialist who sometimes does things with graphic design and occasionally also does things with animation and every now and again is hired to just make sure that other people are doing what they need to do... but ultimately deals with events), and Alex (coffee shop owner)

Opening Category: Birds of prey (notice that it's not a proper noun; it was not in reference to the movie Birds of Prey)

Hint of the Day: Panda

Round One:

This was a solid round. Birds of Prey (Phil and Victoria knew California Condor and vulture straightaway), Horror Film Series (I actually got this one!), Also a Car Model (Phillip for the win... but my periodic table tank top came in handy letting us know that cobalt is the 27th element), This Is Jeopardy ("What is one thousand dollars, Alex?" Well, it's the biggest wager someone can make without having earned any money yet... and Hannah knew the answer, thank you very much), and US Presidents (Darren had Jimmy Carter and Mondale). It was a perfect round.

Round Two:

Five Little Letters was the category of the audio clue and we got "Layla" by Eric Clapton without a second thought. "Music" by a more popular artist proved to be a bigger challenge, but Phil knew it because he is hip and with it despite his forty-one years. The last song was called "Panda," which was the hint of the day, but we didn't get it. Nevertheless, we secured our five bonus points and earned points. It was fine. Next was Peninsulas, which we did not get right, and then there was a beer question in Beer Science. Phil was all like, "Yeast" right in my ear. Like, right in my ear. And then he followed it up with "Lager" for the two-point bonus). Darren wondered, "How confident are you about 'lager'?" and Phil said, "One hundred ten percent confident. I'm disregarding the laws of math. I'm that confident." And he was. He was right. We got the points. Then we had Legal Lingo and both Phil and Darren wrote down their eleven-letter answer on a napkin, but they wouldn't show their answers to the rest of the team because they didn't want to taint our opinions or whatever. It was "arraignment." We got the points. And weirdly but not surprisingly, Mary got the NFL Teams question right because the girl knows a thing or two about football.

Half-Time Sheet:

The top half was fun rebuses (some of them were really clever!) and the bottom was music scores accompanying movies. We aced it, no worries.

Round Three:

Darren knows his classic TV Shows and got Laverne and Shirley right out of the gate, but we didn't get their last names and that cost us the two bonus points. However, Phillip understands Signs and Symbols accompanying ski trails and so "green circle" was an easy answer. He once again spoke these words straight into my ear and now we are not only concert husband and wife, but we are also mouth-on-ear friends. He's my only mouth-on-ear friend and I am fortunate to have him in my life. I love that man.

We got to African Geography next and Phil was all like, "Damn it, Ben" because Ben has a cold and didn't come to trivia. But if Ben even had a whiff of Africa in the near future, there'd be a map. And Phil said that! Phil was like, "If Ben were here, we'd have the map already and he'd be filling it in and where is he when we need him?" The answer? Sick in bed. But Mary drew a map and this is what it looked like:

I think this map of Africa looks very much like a spaceman. I also think that this map of Africa elevates Ben's artistic abilities to maybe a step or two below Picasso, Renoir, or Monet.

Next was Tony Awards and I was like, "Damn it, Kristin" because she is our musical guru but she's driving to New Jersey to see Frankie-Frank (that's her dad) this weekend and so couldn't join us tonight. Fortunately, Darren knew the answer (Peter Pan) and we got points. Five of them, in fact.

Phil yet again defied math logic and was more than one hundred percent confident about the hardness of minerals. I think that's how it was worded... I might be messing something up. I don't know. The answer was "talc" and the other answer was "diamond" and we got it. Three points, plus a two-point bonus.

It was around this point that Darren's son showed up with his scooter after sports practice and took Alex's seat. She offered it to him, I believe, and he accepted. Darren bought his son a grilled cheese sandwich and some fries. I wasn't paying attention to the conversation that accompanied this period in time, but apparently Alex asked Darren, "Did you buy his food?" And then later, after Darren's son had left, it became evident that Alex didn't realize the two were related and thought Darren had purchased a meal for a homeless child. So that happened...

Side note: Victoria experiences such joy from running our answers up to Adam! It's so wonderful because 1) she's having a good time, and 2) no one else actually enjoys that job! Not that we don't like seeing Adam... but it's just a hassle, you know?

6 - 4 - 2:

The answer was Rhode Island and Darren was pretty sure he knew it... but he wasn't six-points confident. So we waited. And then we got it for four points because the answer was Rhode Island. It was very reminiscent of the Procter-and-Gamble 6-4-2 last week.

Side note again: Around this point, I was telling Mary and Phil a story about Augusta, my dog, and how she had put Harvey, my kitten, in her mouth the night before and squeezed a little too hard because Harvey yowled and I dropped my phone (I was talking to my mom at the time) in order to rescue him. When I retrieved my cell and returned to the conversation, I jokingly said to my mom, "I should just get rid of her. She's a horrible thing."

My mom said, "Oh, I think she's with you for the next twelve years at least."

This seemed a very long life... Augusta is already three and I've never had a dog live beyond twelve. However, she isn't as large as an Airedale so maybe she will be around for a good long while. Only time will tell. She'd better mellow out between now and then, though.

Anyway... back to the reason why I'm including this story: I was also telling Phil and Mary about how I was talking to an art teacher recently and he told me his family had a Kerry Blue growing up and she lived to be TWENTY OR TWENTY-ONE. And I was like... "Augusta will absolutely need to chill with her cat obsession if she's gonna be living with me for another two decades" and Phil said, "Wait, he's an art teacher?" I confirmed that he was. "There's a lot of dyslexia in the art community," Phil said very matter of factly.

So maybe the art teacher meant 12 or 02 years...

Back to trivia!

Round Four:

The Name's Almost the Same was figured out by Phil and Brock (one knew The Killers came from Vegas and the other knew Simon Pegg), Advertising Slogans was another win for Phil (Ben and Jerry's!), and "'F' the Sports Round" was all Brock. I mean, it wasn't all Brock since Mary and Phil figured out "falcon" and a few people knew "fade away," but Brock came up with "five hole" and he was the only one to come up with "five hole" and "five hole" was the answer so we were all proud of him. I gave him pats on the shoulder.

Mary loves British things and so she got "Tower of London" for Historic Landmarks, which was great. We only wagered one point, but it was still a point, you know? And then Darren and Mary, with their powers combined, got the Twentieth Century Literature question. Did you know Faulkner is considered stream of consciousness? I didn't.

Final Question:

This was one of the easiest questions we've ever had and while a lot of people knew the answer, I was the only one on my team who knew the answer... and the answer was MEGHAN MARKLE! Because she played Rachel Zane in Suits and I freaking love love love love LOVE Suits and I have SUCH a crush on Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht) and he is the ONLY actor I follow on Instagram (unless you count Ellen Degeneres, which I don't), and I just ADORE HIM SO MUCH!!! So, yeah. Zero thought was involved and I was one hundred fifty percent sure and I, like Phil, disregarded math laws and was overly confident. And it paid off because I was very, very right and we ended up getting second place. We only lost by ONE POINT. And Darren, who should from here on out be referred to as Mr. Glass-Half-Full (even though Victoria calls him Arthur), said, "It's good we didn't get first because we didn't have an opening category picked out."

I wish we had won, though, because next week's opening category is K-Pop and I am not excited about that.

Here's a picture that compares the map Mary drew to real Africa. Phil took it and it's pretty magical:

"See? I wasn't that far off." -Mary, 10.6.2022

Um...