Hannah Rae's Blog, page 37

Trivia Recap: 9/8

Truth: Tonight's wasn't an especially exciting night. I had mucho fun, but I was only partially "there." My level of exhaustion at the moment is off the charts; I've already caught about ten spelling errors and I'm on my third sentence... I guess the plus is that I caught the spelling errors. There's no guarantee that this will continue and I apologize in advance for typos. The last time I was this tired was on August 29 at 6:55PM. I only know this because it was documented in a text to my dear friend Annie. Today, I am equally (if not more) tired than that.

The players: Darren (math professor), Ben (social studies teacher), Mary (English teacher), Kristin (English teacher), Alex (coffee shop owner), me (English teacher)

Opening category: WNBA

Hint of the Day: Smiley face that said something like "Have fun at trivia." This was a stupid clue, though, because the REAL hint was the fact that the smiley face was pink. It was, by far, the lamest clue Pour House Trivia has ever come up with. I get that people have "brain farts" or whatever, but I hope hope HOPE this was theirs. Future clues need to be better.

Round One:

We were good. We missed two 2-point bonuses, but who cares? That's what Darren said at one point. Well, he didn't say that. What he said was, "Wow, she's really distracted tonight." The "she" he spoke of was me. I had neglected to do ANY research ahead of time, and I didn't bother to even look up the hint of the day. It's because yesterday was such a long day and today was also exhausting. My students are watching The Birds (because we're also reading "The Birds") and while I do believe that movie is iconic and the kids generally like it, I have to watch it four times. It's a lot. I sat in a dark room for four 42-minute periods today and watched Mr. Forsythe not have eyes, Melanie Daniels try to woo Mrs. Brenner, Cathy get attacked by a seagull, and the children in Cathy's school sing the most annoying song while crows congregated on the jungle gym outside. I was on the brink of falling asleep... but I didn't fall asleep. Instead, I drove my mom's Kia home, parked it at my house, ran (literally) back into town, got my Jeep (Maybe Todd didn't charge me! I love him!), drove it home, showered, and made a new cut-paper book trailer for Monday even though hardly anyone seems to have watched the one I stayed up late to create after open house yesterday. *sigh*

Since the first paragraph wasn't really about Round One, here's a bonus paragraph:

Some crazy nonsense happened in that Kristin introduced us to Billy Ocean moments and she'll need to explain that to you (maybe in a Facebook comment), but it's basically serendipity stuff. So much of what we had talked about earlier in the night were answers to questions: King Arthur and Chad, definitely. There may have been others in this round, but this is where it started.

Round Two:

Again, we did well. Darren knows his Star Trek and Ben was listening to NPR this morning and they covered television debuts instead of birthdays. Wouldn't you know we needed a television debut and the answer was Oprah? Serendipitous? Billy Ocean? Whatever it was, it happened again. Also in this round, I learned what a Murphy bed is. I'm In Your Bedroom was the category. Creepy-sounding, right? I don't watch a lot of movies; I especially don't watch a lot of eighties movies. Apparently Murphy beds were popular in the eighties. Whatever. I know what a chiffarobe is. (Thank you, Harper Lee.)

Halftime:

We got sixteen out of twenty. The top half was identifying beer labels and the bottom was essentially "name the state that borders these other two states." Ben did really well on the bottom; he only missed one. The beer is what threw us for a loop.

Round Three:

The only one we missed was Geographic Brand Names. Going into this, I suggested Andes because it's a candy. For some reason that I still don't understand, Kristin thought this was hilarious. It made me happy that she thought it was hilarious, but it seemed like a logical guess before receiving the clue. The clue, however, had to do with tire companies. TIRE COMPANIES. Firestone... Cooper... There are apparently others. One of them was the answer to the question, but we got it wrong and I don't remember what it was because I'm running on fumes.

6-4-2

Probably my favorite word ever is "antepenultimate." We got this semi-convoluted clue about Vanna White revealing a clue in which the antepenultimate letter was T in 1963 and we thought the correct answer was 60 Minutes but it was actually General Hospital and so we got no points instead of 6, 4, or 2.

Round Four:

At this point we learned that Mary's family calls her Typhoid Mary when she's sick (it was an answer to a clue) and Ben once again proved that he knows his presidents (Truman for the win). Dog Breeds was our bonus and when Adam read this aloud, four of us (Mary, Kristin, Alex, and I) squealed with delight. We got it right, and then we moved onto Mountain Ranges. I didn't have a strong feeling about anything, but because it was a Billy Ocean kind of night, I suggested Andes simply because I had made the suggestion of Andes for Geographic Brand Names earlier in the night. We went with the Alps though. Guess what the answer was. The Andes. #BillyOcean

Final Question:

It was something to do with comedies from the 1980s and the answer was Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I've never seen it, but my former assistant principal claimed it was his favorite film of all time. Oh well. He's not on my team.

We came in third. Ben drew zero maps even though he had at least two opportunities, so the release of the coffee-table book is going to be later than expected. With any luck, however, next week's trivia night will require him to put pen to napkin and crank out some magical images.

Sorry for any and all typos/misspellings. I'm crazy tired, folks. I'm going to bed. But please please PLEASE watch my cut-paper book trailer from yesterday and give it some love because I was feeling really disheartened when I saw that Kathy, Mary, and Pat from California were the only people who liked it on Facebook.

Okay. Love you all! Goodnight!

My Favorite Four-Wheeled Friend

Living with a geriatric Jeep can sometimes be stressful, but in the long run, it’s worth it… because I love my Jeep. He’s my favorite four-wheeled friend.

I bought the Jeep in 2004 against my dad’s wishes. Craig (that’s my dad) wanted me to get another Subaru. My first Subaru, a Legacy named “The Putt-Putt,” was a great little vehicle, but ultimately, I fell in love with the Jeep Liberty and its round headlights. They all looked so happy as they drove down the road! They still do! I think my Jeep Liberty is probably the happiest of all!

Sneakily, my mom and I got the Jeep one day when my dad wasn’t around. And do you know what? It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Sure, it’s had a few issues over the years (the gizmo that makes the automatic windows go up and down has needed to be replaced on more than one occasion, and a year or two ago the fuel pump went bad), but it’s overall been a wonderful investment and I love it to Neptune* and back again.

But let’s get back to today’s tale, eh?

My bosom friend Wes gave me a ride to work this morning because the ol’ Jeep was in the shop having his AC compressor replaced (as per the recommendation of Denny, my regular mechanic) and I wasn’t able to borrow my mom’s car because she needed it today. After school, that same bosom friend Wes drove me to the mechanic and dropped me off. “Give me a thumbs up if all’s good,” he told me. All was good. Wes left and I paid. The bill was super reasonable! Way less than I was expecting! Like… four hundred dollars less than I was expecting!

I got in my Jeep, drove to the grocery store, and realized the check-engine light was on. “Uh-oh,” I said to myself. “Maybe it will go off when I turn it back on.”

Side note: At school, my students have had a lot of technical difficulties with their computers. Each time they ask me to send them to the official tech department, I say, “Have you first turned it off and then turned it back on?” We turn off their laptops together, then wait for them to reboot. Sometimes we merely close an application and open it again. It works every time. If this teaching gig doesn’t work out, and if I can’t get a book published, I might go into the technology field.

Back to the story.

I will not be going into auto repair because turning off the Jeep and turning it back on did nothing to eliminate the check-engine light. So then I got some gas and realized not only was the check-engine light on, but the Jeep was driving funny! It was driving the same way it was driving right before it needed a new fuel pump! So I took it back to the mechanic.

The mechanic (I think his name is Todd but I wouldn’t swear to it) was completely perplexed by the Jeep’s odd behavior. He got under the hood with a flashlight and two other mechanical brains and this trio of engine wizards puzzled over the odd revving of the motor for several minutes. And then Maybe Todd determined that the problem was an important doohickey with an unknown function that had melted to another doohickey that needed to be replaced!

Separating the melted doohickeys was quite the production. I checked Instagram and created a new post about the Jeep while the engine wizards worked. Then I looked at the time. It was almost five o’clock! I had an open house at the high school at five-thirty and I was going to need to walk home. I told Maybe Todd that I needed to go and he was like, “Alright. I’ll have this done before I leave tonight. It’ll run good as new. You can pick it up first thing tomorrow.”

I said, “What time do you get here?”

Maybe Todd answered, “Around ten of eight.”

I said, “I’ll be in homeroom. I’ll pick it up after school.” And then I started walking.

As I walked, I called my mom, and I was in the process of telling her that I was walking to her house (it’s a mile away, but I have a long stride) when my savior, also known as my concert husband Phillip, pulled up, put down his window, and asked, “Is everything okay?”

He gave me a ride to my parents’ house.

From there, I got my mom’s key and took her Kia back to my house… where I called my boss and essentially said, “Beth it’s Ha

nnah and I know I need to be at school by five-thirty for open house but I’m having a terrible-horrible time with transportation and I thought I was getting my Jeep back but then the check-engine light was on so I waited as long as I could but I eventually had to start walking and fortunately my friend Phil picked me up and gave me a ride to my mom’s and now I have her car but it’s five-ten and I’m just getting home and I’m going to feed the dogs before I turn right around and come back. That’s what I’m calling and not texting because I need to keep moving!” (Usually I speak with proper punctuation, but I spoke to Beth without commas, periods, or exclamation points.)

Beth said, “That’s perfect, Hannah.”

I fed the dogs, fed the cats, took a quick selfie with Sid because he’s my geriatric cat (Sid’s almost eighteen years old! He’s practically the same age as the Jeep!) and I thought I might want to use the photo in this blog, and climbed back into the Kia in order to book it to school.

I made it by five-thirty-five. Phew!

*Neptune is farther than the moon, fyi.

Do you have any friends in Hawaii?

The reason I ask is because I currently have zero readers in Hawaii and I'd like to secure one or two.

When I log onto my website and look at data, I can see a map of my readers. The screenshot I'm including is the "city map." It comes as no surprise that Pennsylvania has the most readers, but I will admit that it's been really fun to watch the little blue dots spread up and down the east coast! I have a high-school penpal who lives in Canada (I assume that blue dot is her) and my guess is that Pat and Kaila are promoting me in California. Heather is likely working on the Oregon crowd... but I have no idea how I acquired those dots in the middle of the country. Cait, possibly? She's the only one I can think of who might be reading my novella. It's so fun to wonder about, though!

Anyway, we can analyze the "country map" another time (I do have a reader in Prague and another in the U.K.). Today's goal is to secure a blue dot in Hawaii. Therefore, I'm asking that if you know someone who lives there, to please encourage him/her to check out The Way Back and, if he/she likes the story, to recommend it to a friend.

As I said, Hawaii's the main goal, but you can see there are quite a few other states without dots. Idaho, Montana, Louisiana, Arizona and New Mexico, both Dakotas and Maine... Alaska's dotless too! I just thought it might be a fun challenge to see if we could acquire a few more dots in the next two weeks, and I use the term "we" because I obviously need your help.

Assuming this mission is at least mildly successful, I'll post an updated "city map" on September 20th. If the results are disappointing, however, I'll likely be too ashamed to address the issue again... and will quietly sweep it under the rug.

If you live in a state lacking in dots, though -- or live in a state with many dots but still want to share The Way Back with your friends -- let me know and I'll hook you up with some business cards to pass around. You can send me a private message with your address via this website or Facebook or Instagram and I'll put them in the mail. I might even include some complementary stickers! One never does know...

Life With Arlo: Baby Edition

Arlo loves tiny things: kittens, cat toys, squeaky toys meant for chihuahua-sized dogs... Tiny things provide Arlo with tremendous joy. Therefore, imagine his pleasure when he finds a tiny creature.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/58cc22_30ceed1412e14b8990018649efa03c02/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

On Thursday night, after returning home from trivia and getting ready for bed, I called for Arlo to come inside. He was in the backyard, romping about and making sure things were in order before calling it a night. Lately, Arlo has become even more stubborn than usual. He enjoys the cool evenings and generally isn't eager to come indoors. Thursday night was no exception. This time, however, he was exhibiting his "I have something I'm not meant to have and I want to show it to you but I also know if I get too close you'll take it away from me" posture.

Two summers ago, when the dogs discovered a nest of rabbits in my garden, Arlo displayed this stance rather frequently. Augusta did kill one of the bunnies, but I managed to protect the others, and Arlo, even when he does catch something, has no desire to harm it. He just likes to hold the tiny thing in his mouth and listen to it squeak.

Two winters ago, I believe it was, this happened with squirrels. The amount of pleasure that Arlo experiences upon watching squirrels is probably equivalent to the amount of pleasure I experience when standing right in front of the stage to see Dispatch in concert. When Arlo found a nest of baby squirrels that had fallen down in a big storm, he essentially entered a sort of earthbound heaven. It was a cold, rainy night and the winds were awful... so of course that's when I noticed his "I have something I'm not meant to have and I want to show it to you but I also know if I get too close you'll take it away from me" stance. In flip-flops and a hoodie that acted very much like a sponge, I chased him around the yard until I was able to catch him and take the squirrel from his mouth. Then I carried it inside, placed it on a heating pad inside a cat carrier, and returned to the backyard in the hopes of bringing Arlo inside too... only to discover that he'd found another baby squirrel.

We proceeded to reenact our previous around-the-yard escapade until I managed to capture that baby squirrel and my terrible terrier. Then I brought both of them inside, placed the squirrel with his brother in the cat carrier, placed a leash on Arlo (I was getting smart by now), walked him out back, and allowed him to lead me to the fallen nest... where we found a third squirrel whom we immediately reunited with his brothers.

The trio spent a warm night inside and were released into the wild the following morning. I assume they're now thriving.

So... back to Thursday night.

Right before trivia, my neighbor Darlene had told me that she currently has a nest of bunnies in her backyard. She showed me where it was and said that she needs to monitor her dog, Louie, every time he goes outside. I told her about Augie and Arlo and their experience with bunnies a couple years ago. I actually thought, "I'm glad the nest is in your yard this time and not mine; that was stressful." But guess what. The location of the nest doesn't actually matter once those bunnies become mobile because one scampered into my yard and Arlo, of course, found it.

There was a lot of grumbling and some swearing as I chased him around the yard this time. I mean, I was wearing my pajamas and it was dark. I was very, very tired. All I wanted to do was go to bed. It's possible that Arlo eventually understood this because he stopped moving when I said, "Arlo, down." And then when I said, "Arlo, drop it," he actually listened! It was a small miracle.

I picked up the slobbery bunny, wiped it off, and carried it back to its nest. It was completely unharmed, albeit a bit traumatized from touring a portion of the neighborhood from the confines of an Airedale's jaws. Here's hoping he alerts his siblings to the dogs next door and ventures elsewhere in the evenings to follow. My fingers are crossed.

Trivia Recap: 9/1

The Team: The Educated Friends

The Players: Mary (English teacher), Hannah (English teacher), Darren (math professor), Ben (social studies teacher), Phil (too complicated to put into words), Brock (something with art and computers), Victoria (veterinarian)

Opening Category: Songs from 1997

Hint of the Day: Cricket

Don’t get too excited. We didn’t even place. But… we did have fun!

Before heading over to Fourscore, I counted up my team’s gift cards and we had $170. You know what that means? That means drinks were on The Educated Friends last night!

Round One:

We rocked this round! Unfortunately, so did everyone else. I’m pretty sure just about every team was tied going into the second round. The opening question about Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind” was pretty easy, and the hint of the day came into play in the second question, whose category was Name That Sport.

Round Two:

Things got harder. We did great with the audio clue. The category was I’m Walking Here, so each song had “Walking” in the title. My team made a list of possible titles even before we got the clue, but the best part was when Adam, the DJ, played the opening notes to “Walking on Sunshine” and nearly had a heart attack! I guess he wasn’t expecting such an abrupt beginning and he squealed like a little girl. A few folks considered 9-1-1, but he eventually got his heart rate under control and was able to also play “Walking in Memphis” and “Walking on Broken Glass.” We got all three correct, and did well with Historic Quotes and Shakespearean Titles as well (I will admit that Darren did better at this than the English teachers… Darren is just a wealth of knowledge; the man is brilliant), but we missed a question on World Geography and then another about Oscar-Winning Actresses. Mary actually knew the answer to the World Geography question, and she voiced it, but we didn’t go with it. Obviously, we should have. A similar thing happened with the last question. BOTH Brock and Mary knew it, but neither one spoke up. [insert eyeroll here]

Halftime Sheet:

This was HARD. On the top, we had to identify which song was being sung in the picture provided. I think we missed three. On the bottom, we had to list, in no particular order, the ten contiguous states with the smallest areas. I think we only missed one of these, but we only ended up with sixteen points. Usually we do better. The Street Sharks did better… and it paid off for them in the long run.

Round Three:

Okay. So this particular round had some of the worst categories of all time:

A Trip to India European History Celebrity Hobbies The Civil Rights Movement Multi-Talented Performers

The team joined together to get the question about India correct. It was a three-part prompt. Ben got the first part, Darren the third, and Phil rationalized the third (What’s India’s fruit? It was worded better than that, though) by referencing a lot of recipes. Thanks to Ben, we figured out which King Louis we needed to reference (XIV), Darren and Phil and maybe some others got Paul Newman, which was the answer to Celebrity Hobbies. The one we missed was the last category. It asked about a Disney Channel star. I had no clue. Neither did anyone else.

Sidenote: I love Paul Newman and was really disappointed in myself for not knowing the answer to the two-point bonus that involved him. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is my favorite film of all time. I wrote a ten-page paper about it when I was in college; it was the first of the buddy films. My favorite scene is when Butch goes to blow up the train for a second time and his good friend Woodcock is protecting the money inside. When Paul Newman said, “Woodcock! Is that you, Woodcock?” I always pause and stare at him for a little while. His face is so cute.

6-4-2:

Who knew that Kurt Russell is an Elvis fanatic? We didn’t. We got it for two points.

Round Four:

We don’t know our Stand-up Comedians as well as we thought we did and it cost us five points. We did alright with this round, but my favorite part was the last question about TV Characters. Brock and Phil wanted to go with Captain Underpants, but my gut was telling me Beavis and Butthead… and I was right! It was only for one point, but we got a two-point bonus because Darren knew the name of the guy who created the show. And speaking of Darren… he was hilarious when we were given the clue for Three Clues, One Word. I didn’t even understand the question, but without talking to any of us, he wrote down the response, wagered nine points, and strutted across the restaurant to submit our answer. It was very theatrical! We earned a two-point bonus, but it should have been worth more because the performance was so good!

Final Question:

I didn’t even understand the final question. It was something about change for a dollar and the answer was $1.19. I think we got it right, but it didn’t make a difference because we were behind by too many points.

Next week’s opening category is the WNBA, which doesn’t sound especially fun at all, but it’s what the Street Sharks chose and they are the rightful winners.

Here’s a great thing that happened: When I went up to pay the tab, I found out that one of our gift cards that was meant to have $30 on it actually had $40 on it! So we had $180 to spend and we didn’t use all of it! I’ll continue stockpiling until we have some more wins and a few more gift cards to spend.

I love my mechanic.

I got my Jeep in 2004 and started seeing Denny for oil changes and inspections. He and my dad were in the National Guard together and have been friends forever, so even before I started taking the Jeep to Denny, I heard stories about him.

Not even necessarily from my dad, either--from my mom! (Admittedly, my mom is a better storyteller than my dad.) She used to talk about how Denny was in a band, and how he had a long ponytail, and how he had the most beautiful handwriting.

When I started seeing Denny, I asked him about some of these things. He's an interesting guy, you know? He likes classic rock and sings along with the radio while he examines the Jeep. His ponytail is no longer around, but his singing voice is. I'm sort of sad that I never had an opportunity to see his band perform. I'll bet he was a character on stage!

I once got the scoop on his handwriting. When I confided to him that my mom had referenced his beautiful cursive for years, he laughed and thought it was so funny. Turns out, his mother used to make him copy (I think, if I remember correctly) Bible verses that she'd written out for him. She was actually the one with the nice handwriting: Denny was just mimicking hers!

Today, while waiting for the Jeep's oil to be changed, I hung out with Denny's cousin Tony. He, like Denny, was a really nice guy. One of the things that he said to Denny that was so true was, "Even when you're talking sh*t, you're doing it with a smile on your face! You're one of the happiest guys I know." And it's true. When I first got there today, Denny made some comment about how he's glad he's still able to "bounce around." The man is seventy, I believe (that's what he said in passing today; he could've been rounding up), and he's almost as agile as a cat. And the best part? He knows he's almost as agile as a cat and appreciates being almost as agile as a cat!

Anyway, I just wanted to give a shoutout to my favorite mechanic because he really is a special person. There's a very good chance that he'll end up being the inspiration for a fictional character in one of my future books, so watch for that. I mean, Juli Singer (Just Whistle) was already influenced by him a bit because he sings while he works. Denny doesn't get the lyrics wrong, though. Juli does.

End note: The Jeep's AC needs some work and Denny no longer does AC stuff, so I'm taking recommendations.

Circle of Friends

Nope, this post is not about that Minnie Driver movie based on Maeve Binchy's novel Circle of Friends. It's actually about my circle of friends!

This particular circle started last night when the timer for my quiche went off at almost the exact same moment that my cell phone rang and someone knocked on my front door. I imagined that I'd walk into the living room to find someone standing on my front stoop with a cell phone pressed against his/her ear, but I didn't! In fact, I found Nate at the front door and then glanced at the couch, where I saw the face of Theresa (my other other mother) on the screen of my cell phone. I ignored the call in order to answer the door.

Nate and I watched half of Jeopardy together, talked about life, and had a good visit. I love that guy to the moon and back! A text with Theresa determined that we'd talk today, which we did, but before we did, a thing happened. And the thing that happened (it wasn't by any means a big or a bad thing... it was just a thing that got into my head and started to bother me) made me really want to talk to my friend Annie.

Annie answered on the second ring. I told her about the thing that was weighing me down and she said everything that I needed to hear because she's amazing. While Annie was spouting out words of truth and wisdom, though, Theresa called! So when I hung up with Annie, I called Theresa, and when she answered, I said, "Sorry. I was on the phone with Annie. She was making my life better." To which Theresa responded, "Oh no. What's wrong with your life?" So I told her about the thing that had been bothering me, but was no longer bothering me nearly as much since communicating with Annie. But do you know what Theresa did? Reiterated everything Annie said! So at that point, I felt doubly better!

Then I talked to my mom. Not because I needed more advice, but because I talk to my mom almost every night, so I called her as usual and briefed her on the day and then filled her in on both the thing and the wisdom offered by Annie and Theresa. My mom is a good listener and offered her own advice, which aligned very nicely with the advice I'd already been given, and then while I was approaching the end of the conversation with my mom, Erin called! And do you know what? Erin was having a thing of her own! And I became the one to offer advice!

And that, friends, was today's circle of friends.

My Girl Gus-Gus

Of my two dogs, Arlo is the one with the outlandish behavior that I generally write about. This is not to say that Augusta doesn't have her quirks, though. The thing is, Augie is actually way more mellow than Arlo. Sure, she barks when people walk by with their dogs, and she's definitely not a fan of the mailperson, but she's pretty chill when I'm the only one at home.

Except for when it comes to the cats.

Now and again, I am asked about how Augusta is doing with the cats. The answer is, "She's doing better." I mean it, too! When I adopted Harvey over the summer, I can remember driving home with him and saying aloud, "You know, it's possible Augie will really like you. I think we need to go into this with an optimistic attitude."

At least a month ago, Augusta jumped up and nipped my arm while I was holding Harvey. It hurt. She is not a low-key dog when something piques her interest. Today, one of my favorite students (who is now coincidentally one of my favorite coworkers!) stopped by unexpectedly. I was so happy to see him... but Augie was not. I put her outside because I am always so fearful that she'll bite. She's done it before; I'm not looking for it to happen again.

The thing is, she is making strides. If I enter the house with a friend, she's generally fine with him/her. It's when I'm already in the house and a newcomer enters that the territorial behavior makes an appearance.

As for the cats... She now nibbles Harvey. As long as he holds still, he's safe. I may never trust her to be with him while unattended, but it is very clear to me that she adores him. Too much, in fact; I think Harvey would appreciate not being nibbled. But because Harvey is a perfect precious wonderlove, he tolerates Augusta and allows her to nibble his belly and tail. If it gets to be too much for him, he'll hiss very quietly and scamper away (with Augusta on his heels). But I no longer worry about her accidentally harming him. I'm watchful and very protective of my feline friends, but I know Augusta loves them almost as much as I do. The problem is that she doesn't understand how to appropriately show it. I'm hopeful that by the time she's six or seven, she will have mellowed a bit.

She will be three in November. We have a ways to go. But she's cute and I love her immensely and Arlo would be miserable without her. (As would I.) Therefore, the cats tolerate her terrible terrier behavior and I am very careful when visitors come to the house.

If only I had a time machine...

It's very unusual that I wish I had access to a time machine. Generally speaking, I'm quite content to live in the moment.

It's also rare that I regret the fact that my smart watch died and I never replaced it, because I truly enjoy not being compelled to count my steps.

However, this morning I wish I had both a time machine and a functioning smart watch because last night's Dispatch and OAR concert was INCREDIBLE. I'll bet I got ten thousand steps just by bouncing up and down so much! My calves are feeling it today; tomorrow, I'm sure, will be worse.

I always struggle to put a concert into words because it's just not possible to capture the energy. I made friends with some strangers standing around me, I danced up a storm with some friends who have been friends for years, and I got to enjoy some amazing music while doing it.

I'd never seen G. Love before, but he was the opener and he was phenomenal. Super energetic and engaging. For his last song, he had his son come out on stage and play some harmonica. It should be noted that his son is, like, three years old. That was adorable!

At Merriweather Post, I like to be right in front of the stage, and not only were we a mere three rows of people away from the musicians, but we were smack dab in the center as well! When Dispatch came on stage, the moment was magical. I so enjoy watching bands make an entrance... and not because I'm looking for something crazy to happen. When I saw Caamp and the Lumineers a few months ago, we were about thirty seconds late and missed seeing the boys of Caamp take the stage. I was so disappointed! The Lumineers, however, made a real entrance: Jeremiah came out of the floor playing his piano. It was cool.

Last night was different, though. The musicians just walked on stage and started playing and it was perfect. That's my favorite kind of entrance: when you're such a fan and you know the band so well and you just become paralyzed and giddy and itching to dance all at the exact same time. I know Chadwick Stokes and Braddigan are the original members of Dispatch, and I absolutely adore them, but I am soooo infatuated by Matt Embree. He is a beautiful, beautiful man and his movements are so chill and magnificent. I feel as though I could watch him all day... except for the times that I'd need to pull my eyes away and marvel at JR's hair. He has long, brown hair that dances like a sea anemone when he bounces and plays the drums. I love that guy.

I wish Dispatch had played longer. I was there for them and they had a PHENOMENAL set... but it should have been longer.

OAR was up next. I've seen them probably a dozen times at this point in my life and they are usually good. I've seen a couple shows where I was kind of like, "Meh..." Tonight, however, they were on. The guys are from Maryland so they were playing to their people (even though I've seen two other shows, one at Merriweather and one at the Anthem where they also played to their people and were "Meh.") Let's just focus on last night though: It was awesome. They did a lot of old stuff, a few new things, and a cover or two.

The finale was fun because Dispatch joined OAR on stage, along with G. Love, and I think my concert-husband Phil counted thirteen people on stage at one point. The energy was magnificent. I loved every second of it and would absolutely go back and live it again... I'd say it was the best concert I've ever seen, but at this point in time, I've been to so many "best concerts I've ever seen!" That Lumineers performance I referenced earlier was off the charts, when I saw the Mighty Mighty Bosstones back in the day I thought it would never be topped, Weezer had trampolines on stage when I saw them, Old Crow Medicine Show has more fun on stage than perhaps any other band to ever exist, my Reel Big Fish experience at Penn State was like no other, and that time I saw Dispatch in the middle of a monsoon at Merriweather Post provides me with such a feeling of nostalgia that it will forever have a special place in my heart.

So was last night's show the best concert I've ever seen? Nah, I don't think so. But it was up there. It was definitely way, way up there.

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Trivia Recap: 8/25

Tonight was really fun! (I'm writing this at 9:36PM, only moments after returning home from trivia.)

The team: The Educated Friends

The players: Hannah (English teacher, aspiring writer), Mary (English teacher, aspiring editor), Darren (math professor), Phil (entrepreneur of all things... and hilarious to boot), Brock (something to do with computers and graphic design and other such wonders), Siri (English teacher), Ben (social studies teacher), and special guest Alex (coffee shop owner) who came for a drink or two beforehand and lended us some luck

Opening category: Venereal diseases

First things first... I gave Adam (the DJ) my business card and told him that he should read my serial novella. He was all like, "You know, I used to actually have a website where I read stuff for first-time authors and posted reviews. I think the site's still up, but I don't do that anymore. It just got to be too much." WHAT ARE THE ODDS THAT MY FAVORITE TRIVIA DJ LOVES READING SO MUCH THAT HE REVIEWED BOOKS FOR FREE?! The world is small, folks. Very, very small.

Okay. So, Round One...

We got everything right. It's not super exciting or anything... we just got EVERYTHING right. I even knew some answers!

Venereal diseases? Check.

Triple 50/50: Billion or Million: Check. (Darren was an asset here. Some of us were leaning toward "million" for the last one, but Darren, the math professor, was all like, "I'm gonna trust my gut and go with billion." And he was right!

Jewelry Store: Check, and another instance where Darren knew his sh*t.

Movie Music: Check. I think this was Darren again.

Foreign Foods: Check. Darren. But also... sidenote: I used to have a student I referred to as Mr. Borscht. The reason for this? His mom made borscht and that is how I came to know what borscht is. Spelling counted tonight and even though Darren already knew how to spell borscht, I also knew how to spell borscht because of Mr. Borscht... whose real name I cannot remember.

Round Two...

Band Name Commonalities was fun, but Ben proved to be the real asset this round. He knew that Niagara was the second biggest tourist attraction in New York, that Argentina was the answer to whatever the question was about Sports Geography (I stop paying attention once I hear "sports," unless it has to do with swimming), and he also knew that Molly Ringwald was in The Stand (though, I got The Stand portion of that answer right because I love Stephen King, I've read The Stand twice, and I have a sort-of-kind-of crush on Gary Sinise... but not so much when he plays Lieutenant Dan and loses his legs because amputation IS my number-one fear in life).

At half-time, we were in the lead.

The half-time sheet required us to identify corporation logos on the top and songs with rain/rainy/etc. in the title on the bottom. Bob Dylan did not make the cut. Sad. Siri impressed me SO MUCH with her ability to identify song titles while other songs NOT pertaining to rain were playing in the background!

Round Three...

The first category was Museums and I called "Gougenheim" even before we heard the clue. That's how I play Final Jeopardy too: I like to take a guess before I have a reason to. This time it worked out well. Ben got the second part of the question, though. I forget what it was, but he got it and I gave his right shoulder many appreciative slaps.

Oh oh oh! This is wild: Remember how last week I addressed in my blog post that a group of owls is called a "parliament"? Just randomly I did that. Well, that was an answer in THIS WEEK'S third round of questions. Siri answered it because I was too busy being astounded by the fact that I essentially predicted an answer SEVEN DAYS BEFORE it was asked! (You know, I just today told many of my students that I am the weakest link on my trivia team, but that I surround myself with geniuses and that's why we're good. Turns out, I'm a sort of futuristic genius!)

Side note: This is not the first time my futuristic genius ability has occurred. There was this one time that I was getting ready to leave the house and I just felt CERTAIN that Watermelon Sugar/"Watermelon Sugar" was going to be an answer. I mean, I was thinking both Harry Styles AND Richard Brautigan. And do you know what? "Watermelon Sugar" (the Harry Styles song) was an answer that night. I was prepared with the name of the author of the book too though... just in case.

Still regarding Round Three... Ben knows a thing or two about Legos AND Tim Burton. He was an asset yet again and I gave his shoulder many hearty pats.

6-4-2

The answer was "barber" and we could have gotten it for four points but we waited, just to be safe.

Round Four...

Siri got the answer of "Madonna" but we didn't get the bonus. Ben then did some serious other-language translation and got Breaking Bad. I gave him shoulder slaps a lot. Phil did a lot of rationalizing in regards to Not-So-Famous Firsts and had us go with "meteorite," which was the right answer, and Ben told us a nice story about white-water rafting on the New River which was coincidentally also the answer to a question about River Geography. "New River" was the answer, not "I went white-water rafting down that river once."

My favorite part of the night happened when we had the category of Abbreviations: IMF, ZPG, JTT. Many of my teammates knew IMF (International Monetary Fund) and we all got JTT (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) -- Adam did a hilarious Tim "The Toolman" Taylor impersonation here as well -- but we were a little bit stumped on ZPG. I said something about "zoning" and it took off from there. We started brainstorming as a group and we really belonged in a television show at this point because we were all so brilliant and team-oriented. Eventually we came up with Zero Population Growth, which was the right answer, and even though I wasn't the one who came up with the whole right answer, Ben gave me MASSIVE shoulder taps and I now have a bruise.

No, not really! That was a joke! But Ben did punch me in the bicep in a very jovial manner!

Final Category: The Name's the Same.

Phil desperately wanted us to only wager six points, I think it was, but he and Darren argued back and forth so much about how many points to wager that we missed the cut off and ended up wagering the automatic twelve. Then the question was voiced and it had something to do with cars and botanical ingredients used in sauce and Phil was HILARIOUS! He was so, so nervous. He started listing things -- "BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche... Oh, I know it! I know it! It's Cayenne!" -- and then he collapsed in his seat as if he'd just had a mini-stroke.

We won for the second week in a row and next week's opening category is "Songs from 1997." I hope the answer is Reel Big Fish!

Additional side note: Reel Big Fish is and always will be my favorite band even though Caamp and Dispatch are my other favorite bands. But RBF just holds a very special place in my heart and always will. (Someday I'll write a blog about them.) I told Ben tonight that the next time RBF tours I intend to buy his ticket and drag him along to the show and buy all his beers and just allow him to experience WHY they are so fun to see live. Phil right away was like, "Oh. Good show. Great show." I love Phil. Ben will NOT pinky swear to accompany me when it happens (Phil and Brock are going), but he also didn't say he wouldn't come. It's just that Ben thinks of Reel Big Fish as a "garbage band." He once told me that everyone has a favorite garbage band and it just so happens that my favorite garbage band is also my favorite band. I will never let him live that down. I will take him to a Reel Big Fish concert, though! And I will pay for the entire experience! The sad thing is, Reel Big Fish hardly ever tours, so who knows when this will happen, but taking Ben to a Reel Big Fish concert is on my bucket list:

Get a legit book deal See a Red Rocks show (ideally Dispatch, but I'll see whomever) Take Ben to a Reel Big Fish concert with Phillip and Brock Adopt a Maine Coon Own an Otterhound

That's my current bucket list.

Here's a picture of my trivia team in case you were wondering what everyone looked like:

From left to right: Ben, Hannah, Darren (back), Mary (front), Phil (back), Siri (front), Brock