Hannah Rae's Blog, page 7

I Had A Dream.

No, that is not an attempt to one up Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. My dream is in the past tense (it occurred on Wednesday night) and it doesn't pertain to hopes I have for the world. But it was a pretty interesting dream. Let me tell you about it...

In the dream, I was the age I am now, but I was living in the house my family occupied when I was just a kid: 137 Jackson Drive in Lake Heritage, for those familiar with my childhood. Anyway. In this dream, my mother and some friends (not real friends -- dream friends) had just returned from an evening class in which they were required to compose an interesting obituary. There were five women in my mom's group that night, but she only brought two of them home for talks afterward. One of the women in the kitchen was tall and slim with a head full of silvery-white ringlets; the other was short and squat with hair that was cropped close and (obviously) dyed blonde. Both of them were very nice and, what's craziest of all, is that the woman with the silvery-white ringlets was actually a professional writer of obituaries!

Now, despite Ms. Ringlets being an expert at her job, she allowed the rest of the group to come up with the opening line to the fictitious obituary they were writing in class. I don't remember what the opening line was, but I'll admit that it was rather drab. My mom's instructor didn't like it and she criticized the group for it. She said no obituary ever would open with such a line.

Ms. Ringlets promptly put the professor in her place, however, because she started reciting these incredible lines that she'd once used as the openers for obituaries. (The drab line was among them.) The thing I remember most about this portion of the dream is that almost absolutely every sentence was beautifully unique.

It was as if each sentence was a firefly.

It was as if I was suddenly surrounded by paragraphs and paragraphs of fireflies that all lit up at once and I had a solitary glass jar and was desperately trying to fill it with magical sentences.

That's when I woke up, and I'll admit that I woke up in a bit of a panic because I really wanted to capture those sentences.

Fortunately, I was able to snag one. I've recorded it in my phone and have so far shared it with Mary and my mom and both of them were pretty impressed.

That sentence is going to be the opening line of the book I'm intending to write this summer, so stay tuned...

In the meantime, Uptempo, Down will be available for purchase tomorrow! You can find it at Amazon as a paperback and an ebook for now, but the audio will eventually exist. I'm also hoping that my friend Marc will allow me to have a book signing at his ice cream shop sometime this summer. Lime-vanilla ice cream, anyone???

A Review of the ThunderShirt

There was a time when I enjoyed thunderstorms and this time existed during the summer months spanning my (mostly) teenage years. Why, specifically, did I so enjoy thunderstorms from about the age of fifteen to twenty-one? Because I was a lifeguard. When it thundered, we got to clear the pool and experience an impromptu break. Thunderstorms to lifeguards are as snow days are to teachers: small, unexpected joys.

As I've gotten older, my appreciation for thunderstorms has dwindled. I also have very few positive things to say about fireworks. To this list, I will add that gunshots and cannonfire are equally obnoxious.

The reason for all this negativity surrounding loud sounds stems from my pup Augusta's fear of thunder, fireworks, guns, and cannons... and with that being said, I'll add that she's had a very rough Memorial Day weekend.

Fortunately, I purchased a ThunderShirt for my little Augie about a year ago and it has been one of the best investments I've made. I was skeptical, you know? One of my veterinarian friends mentioned that she's never had a client claim that the ThunderShirt impacted a dog's behavior during a storm, but I was desperate because when there are loud noises like thunder and fireworks, Augusta is beside herself with fear. She trembles so violently that it's hard to hold onto her; she appears, at times, to actually be having a seizure.

Last night, I was lying on the couch catching up on Criminal Minds: Evolution (there's going to be a new season starting in June!) and Augusta must have heard a rumble of thunder from way far off because I was completely baffled when she bolted awake, leaped from her chair to my chest, and began pawing frantically at my face and neck... before the storm had even offically arived! She wasn't aggressive or anything -- she was absolutely terrified .

I tried to hold her, but she was trembling so severely that my bearhug didn't offer much comfort, so I hurried into the kitchen to retrieve her ThunderShirt.

Now... I still don't fully understand how this article of clothing works -- and it honestly might've been manufactured at a shop in Diagon Alley or something because its power is legitimately magical -- but I put that shirt on Augusta and she settled right down. She continued to tremble, but the trembles were subdued, and she became relaxed enough to relocate from my chest to the other end of the couch, where she curled up behind my legs and panted until the storm passed. I took a quick video so you could witness her transformation. I think, though, that if you really pay attention, it's obvious that she's still shivering with fear:

[image error]

Disregard the television in the background. Emily Prentiss was trying to catch a serial killer.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my review of the ThunderShirt. In my experience, it's proven to be worth every penny, so if you've got a canine companion who is afraid of thunder, fireworks, and/or other loud noises, you might consider purchasing one of these magical shirts. I got Augusta's from Amazon.

Trivia Recap: 5/23

The Players: Siri, Hannah, Mary, Brock, Ben, Victoria, Darren

Hint of the Day: A scuba diver

 

Hi everyone, it’s Darren again.  I am not supposed to have to write this blog now that I have a new demanding job and most of my teammates are teachers so are at the end of their school year, but that doesn’t seem to be what is happening and I know that many of you are on the edge of your seats to find out about how the Educated Friends are doing, so I thought I would pick up the mantle once again.  Besides, it is a holiday weekend.  Hannah did tell me that this was an optional assignment for me, because teachers get tired at the end of the year and have basically given up on getting kids to work and Hannah is treating me the same way.  But I don’t want to let the Educated Moms and the four other readers of this blog down.  As you may know, we won three of the last four weeks, although last week we lost a heartbreaker on the final question (“What product released in the early 21st century made the New York Times write that ‘Microsoft is finally hip’?”  We said Zune, but the answer was the Xbox 360).  Would we be able to recover this week?  Well, as you see above we actually had a full roster of seven people this week, in part because it was Siri’s Birthday Eve so we had to celebrate!

The way you can tell it’s AI and not a real picture of us is that Fourscore doesn’t sell cakes like that.

The team that did beat us last week did not show up this week, as they were a group of historians from Gettysburg College and two of them headed to Korea right after graduation.  To acknowledge that, they chose Korean food as the opening category and also they thought it would be hard.  It wasn’t: “According to a 2021 study, the average Korean eats 95 grams of this fermented vegetable dish every day?”  That’s a lot of kimchee, but we knew the answer.  We also knew that the two largest cities in Poland are Warsaw and Krakow, and the question asking for the word that is both the name of a castle on Game of Thrones  and a MLB team was right in Ben’s wheelhouse, so we got that one as well.  When they asked for a notorious outlaw duo, the only one we could think of was Bonnie & Clyde, but that was also the right answer.  And we clearly knew not only the name of the desert planet where the first part of Star Wars  takes place, but also where it was filmed, and we didn’t even make any jokes about hating sand.  So we had a perfect first round!

The last few times we chose the audio category as our bonus category we got burned, so this week we chose something different for round two to take the pressure off of us, which seemed like a particularly good choice when we found out it would be naming artists covering Billy Joel songs.  None of them started the fire, but the team was collectively able to identify the voices of Garth Brooks,   Dolly Parton , and Ariana Grande  to get full points.  Luckily, we did get our bonus category correct by recognizing that the Bull & Finch is the actual name of the Cheers bar (NORM!).  We also knew that the first televised presidential debate was between Nixon and JFK, and even though Hannah originally thought that the name of the pink medicine that helps heal rashes was chamomile, we managed to correct that and answer calamine.  (Note that they did not mention that Calamine was also a great turn-of-the-millenium band that did one of my all time favorite tv theme songs .)  The final question of the round asked for the athletic activity whose name is an acronym where you have to be careful not to get the bends.  Now, if you are reading closely then you know the hint of the day was a scuba diver and that is the answer.  But did you also foretell that the bonus question would be to say what ‘scuba’ is an acronym for like I did? 

In any event, we got another perfect round so we were on fire.  Now, if you were Pour House Trivia and wanted to design a halftime round that I could not contribute to, you would have a hard time doing a better job than they did this week.  The top half asked us to identify car companies from their logos and the bottom half asked us to rearrange anagrams for different players who were NFL quarterbacks this season.  Luckily, several of our team members do know about cars and the NFL, but I spent the ten minutes having a conversation with Hannah about crazy school boards and eating my dinner.  I did check that the answers they gave for the quarterbacks were actually anagrams, but that was about it.  I also can’t really tell you much about the answers because I didn’t bring home the halftime sheet, but I do know that we got 19/20, only missing the Aston Martin logo.  This means that coming out of halftime we had 91 out of a possible 92 points, which means not only were we winning at Fourscore, but we were tied for first of all 246 teams playing nationwide at that point, according to the Pour House Blog .

In the third round, Victoria’s expertise helped us know that the question about brains was really about grey matter, and we not only could identify the opera Porgy & Bess from a description but Siri knew that Audra McDonald won a Tony for the revival.  One would think that sculpture would be another category that was far from my areas of expertise but the question was actually about the Kryptos sculpture at CIA HQ , and as someone who has taught a cryptography course many times I knew that answer.  We also knew what Colin Powell’s title was when he was the head of the military but we did not know that he was played by Tyler Perry in Veep .  The category “Tim Cook would be proud of this one” was all about Apple, and we knew that their headquarters is in the shape of a circle and that their staff works at the genius bar, but we could not come up with the four-letter name of Steve Jobs’s daughter that (allegedly) is coincidentally also the acronym for one of their first computers.  Hannah and Siri were just naming four-letter girls names (yes, we did consider putting ‘Siri’.  Get it?)  and supposedly they did say the correct answer of Lisa early on, but the rest of us didn’t hear and we put Emma.  Oops.

My quick internet research says that Lisa Simpson was not named after the LISA computer, but they did do a tribute to it back in the 73rd season.

Every team at Fourscore (and 84% of teams worldwide) knew that the 1989 Disney animated film that had a live action remake last year was The Little Mermaid , so we never even heard the four- or two-point clues. We had never heard of the longest beach in the world, Praia do Cassino, but recognized that was probably Portuguese so it was probably in Brazil and we were correct about that although we were off by 100 miles on how long it actually is.  We knew that Paul Rudd played Bobby Newport  in Parks & Rec and also that Michael Schur created the show. The only wagering question we missed all night was about which soccer team has won the last four Premier League titles, which admittedly seems like something we should know but at least our answer was Arsenal which not only is a real team but also was in the championship the last two years!  The last question of regulation play was in fact about pieces of media with the word LAST in their title.  Luckily, we were able to identify The Last Boy Scout  and The Last of Us, and Mary knew Morgan Wallen’s Last Night because she is a big fan of people who throw chairs off of buildings. 

Going into the final question we could guarantee ourselves second place by wagering eight points but we had Street Sharks nipping at our toes so we wanted to get the question right: “Appropriately enough, this word derives from Greek words meaning both dull and sharp”.  While you are thinking about the answer, enjoy this image of what it would look like if we had all shown up wearing scuba diving suits to trivia.  And also if we were anime.

Did you figure out that the answer was ‘oxymoron’?  Well we did!  And we got it right and clinched our victory at Fourscore, even if our handful of missteps meant we slipped to only being in seventh place in the world*.  But not bad at all.  Next week I will be at a conference and a bunch of my teammates have graduations to attend.  But Ben half-heartedly said he would hold down the fort, so maybe you will even get a blog out of the deal.  But I leave you now with a song I wrote about our victory .  Enjoy!

 

*Note that when we say “the world” we really mean “a portion of the mid-Atlantic stretching from just south of DC to Baltimore and up to Gettysburg.   But that doesn’t sound as cool.

It's that time of year again...

If you know anything at all about me, then you know that To Kill A Mockingbird is, in my opinion, the greatest book ever written... and you probably also know that it is my absolute FAVORITE thing in the whole wide world to teach. Does it have a slow start? Yes. But one can't disregard Scout and Jem and Dill's obsession with Boo Radley in Part One because Boo Radley is such a crucial element to the plot in Part Two!

I get teary-eyed even thinking about this book. Seriously. I was making a worksheet for Chapter Twenty-One and I cried. While making a WORKSHEET. I am just so emotionally attached to this book that it's almost unbelievable. But I love it. Every year, I love it more and more.

Anyway.

Today, my sophomore classes read the penultimate and ultimate chapters of the novel. Well... I read those chapters to them, because while I may hire folks to read my books for Audible, I actually very much enjoy reading aloud.

The book that I most love reading aloud (not surprisingly) is... To Kill A Mockingbird!

So today I read to my kids and at the end of each class, I posed this question: "Imagine yourself twenty years from now. You'll be thirty-five or thirty-six, right? Someone mentions this novel. What will you remember most?"

"Atticus," so many of my students responded, "because Atticus is such a stand-up character. He has strong beliefs but he's level-headed regarding how he goes about sharing them with people. And he's fair. He's such a fair person."

Despite the fact that Atticus Finch is a fictional character, he gets a lot of hate online. People refer to him as a "white savior" because he is a white man defending a man of color in the 1930s. I'm not sure how Tom Robinson could have ended up in a different scenario seeing as only white men were allowed to be lawyers in the 1930s, but perhaps those who believe Atticus is a white savior would actually prefer that he be a racist..? And not defend Tom Robinson..? I'm not entirely sure. Personally, I think it's great that he stood up for what was right.

Atticus, like all of us, certainly has his faults. Some people might not like the fact that he allows his children to call him by his first name. Some argue that he is a bigot. He employs Calpurnia, after all, and if he was really a fair-minded man, wouldn't he refrain from doing this?

I would make (and have made) the argument that it was the 1930s.

I would also make (and have also made) the argument that we all have implicit biases... because we are all human.

Last night, I witnessed a remarkably interesting display of self-realization. While attending a meeting, I watched someone become defensive because they didn't like the definition of the word " bigot ." No one actually referred to this person as a bigot, but they felt inclined to express just how much they disagreed with the definition of "bigot" because, by the definition of the word "bigot," the person experiencing the self-realization was (apparently) a bigot.

(For the record, I cannot speak to whether or not the person actually is a bigot because I don't really know them.)

It was just such a fascinating thing to observe, though, and I've thought of it several times today because I think Atticus Finch really made so many of his fellow Maycombians aware of their own bigotry. And Scout too! I mean, look at the revelation Mr. Walter Cunningham has outside the jail in Chapter Fifteen. Mr. Cunningham is a good person caught up in a bad moment. And sure, he could justifiably be labeled a bigot... but he could also be labeled an excellent father and a hardworking man and a fellow who is only trying to do what's right for his family. The thing that's cool about Mr Cunningham, though? He admits it when he's wrong, and he realizes that maybe his view isn't the only view. His opinion isn't the only opinion. And in this instance, it's not Atticus Finch who makes him realize this, but rather Atticus's young daughter, Scout.

As per usual, I digress. Let me get back to my students, eh?

Overwhelmingly, Atticus Finch will be remembered twenty years from now... but so will Mr. Dolphus Raymond (one of my favorite characters of all time, despite the fact that he only shows up in one chapter), and Jem Finch (because that scene where he lost his pants in the fence is a hilarious one!), and Dill (because he sure can embellish a story...), and Miss Maudie (because who else can make "His food doesn't stick going down, does it?" pack as much of a punch as "I hope you choke"?), and that scene in which Atticus has no choice but to shoot Tim Johnson (because he wanted his kids to see that "Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but [beginning] anyway and [seeing] it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

Today, I won.

Today, I shared something that means so very much to me with a group of sophomores whom (I hope) will also remember my love and enthusiasm for this novel when its title is mentioned twenty years from now.

Today, I read those penultimate and ultimate chapters without crying... but I am crying now.

I love that book.

I love teaching that book.

To Kill A Mockingbird is, for me, one of life's greatest joys.

Here are TWO of life's greatest joys... in one photograph!

Uptempo, Down is on the Horizon!

I'm going to be releasing another book in June and it's pretty much the perfect beach read.

Set in Moonglow, North Carolina, readers will be introduced to a new character by the name of Edna McCloud. With an uncanny knack for incorporating a bit of magic into the batter of her cupcakes, Edna has the uniquely sweet ability to find solutions to even the most complicated problems.

In addition to making acquaintance with Edna, readers will also be reunited with the boys of Flannel Lobster. The band has, after all, been invited to headline Moonglow's annual music festival.

In a nutshell, Uptempo, Down has sun, sand, surf, and the sweetest confections created by Edna McCloud. Sounds delightful, doesn't it?

So what could possibly go wrong?

In addition to a new novel, there's also going to be a new contest to accompany it. Stay tuned for details...

Sometimes, People Absolutely Disgust Me

Allison Anne Ost.

I'm not one for using last names in blog posts, but Allison Anne Ost was recently arrested because she left her three cats and two dogs alone for six weeks without food and water.

Six weeks .

The cats died.

The dogs -- beautiful shepherd mixes -- are both in rough shape.

I am someone who adores Stephen King. In addition to that, I literally make up stories in my head every night as I fall asleep. Nevertheless, I am going to leave to your imagination the hypothetical situations I've made up for this animal abuser...

(If you want the full story about this, just search the perpetrator's name; all the local news sources have reported on it.)

A couple of nights ago, I read the Adams County SPCA's post on Facebook about this horrific abuse. And I lost it. I pulled Augie and Arlo and Harvey onto the couch and held them very, very tight while I cried. They were so confused about what was happening; Harvey growled and the dogs squirmed. But I just cannot even begin to imagine leaving my pets to fend for themselves for SIX WEEKS.

So that happened.

Then today I visited Facebook to learn that six more dogs were surrendered to the SPCA:

"If you can't afford to take care of yourself, you can't afford to take care of pets."

If I had to make a list of my favorite things in life, animals would be at the very top of that list. Things like To Kill A Mockingbird and olives and red wine would definitely be on the list... but animals would be at the top. Which is why I am requesting that if you have any extra cash this week/month, you consider making a donation to the Adams County SPCA. Lately, this nonprofit organization has been hit REALLY hard, and they are literally ALWAYS looking out for the animals, so if you're able to support them, do it.

Five dollars.

Ten dollars.

Twenty dollars.

One hundred dollars.

It all adds up to make a difference.

There have been so many friends of mine who are with me today because of the Adams County SPCA. Sid... Harvey... Kip... Petey... They've left (and continue to leave) pawprints on my heart. Of all the nonprofits out there, this is the one that means the most to me, so PLEASE consider making a donation to assist with their current expenses.

An Impromptu and Immensely Fun Encounter at the Coffee Shop!

Now that it is spring and the end of the school year, life seems insanely busy. I mean, the grass keeps growing and the flower beds need to be weeded and more fun/creativity than ever before needs to be pumped into lesson plans in order to keep students engaged... and so, on the weekends, the free time I do have is often spent horizontally on my couch.

Today, however, I mustered up a bit of energy I did not feel and met Mary at Bantam Coffee Roasters in order to do some editing. We have been reading Torn Asunder (which stars Bas 'n' Bert, Kai 'n' Ansel, and Milo 'n' Emory) and had fewer than 100 pages 'til the end. The plot was getting intense, you know? We wanted to see how things were going to be wrapped up.

(Granted, I knew how things would be wrapped up since I wrote the novel... but I wrote the novel months and months and months ago, so I didn't really remember all the details.)

Anyway. Mary and I were on our second round of drinks at Bantam (I was enjoying a raspberry iced tea and she sipped an iced Hummingbird, which is a drink and not miniature frozen poultry) when this man with blue-tinged hair whom I'd never seen before approached us and asked rather hesitantly, "Are you... Hannah?"

I confirmed that I was because I am.

"I'm Nick," the blue-tinged-haired man who is actually Nick informed me.

"Nick?!" I exclaimed. "Nick Mc-------?! Nick of Instagram fame?! The pasta guru?!"

And lo and behold, it really and truly was Nick of Instagram fame!

Here's the story of my "friendship" with Nick, alright? I'm gonna summarize it into a neat little nutshell via bullet points:

On December 8 of 2023, our correspondence began.

From there, Nick and I talked a LOT about pasta. And he and his wife eat vegan, so everything he prepares is friendly to the animals as well.

Nick and I kept talking about art. And food. And music (bluegrass). And eventually how I live in Gettysburg. Turns out, he also grew up in Adams County and his mother-in-law lives in Gettysburg... and she owns some of my chicken art... which she bought at Bantam! Nick added, "This means I'll have to bring you pasta next time we're in town... you know, as long as you can ignore all of the signals in your brain telling you not to accept food from strangers on the internet."

On December 23, Nick was in town and he purchased one of my "Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of... eggnog?!" Christmas cards, which he shared with me via a photograph through Instagram. I offered to run over and meet him, but he and his family were on their way to Frederick and he didn't have the time that day. Totally understandable -- 'twas the season of constant festivities!

Just recently, I posted images of the art Heather and I were hanging (and have since hung) at the Garryowen and Nick messaged me to praise, specifically, Heather's bleeding heart and my octopuses.

And then today... I met him! Totally unexpectedly! He is so kind! His entire family is so kind ! And he has promised to bring pasta next time!

Isn't that a really fun story? I know!

After Nick left, Mary and I finished reading Torn Asunder (it's a really good book), hung some new art (see the picture below), and then headed home to spend time horizontally on our couches. I mean... that's what I came home to do. I'm not sure if Mary did the same, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did!

A Quick List of Good Things

It's late and I'm tired and I still have to finish proofing something for class tomorrow... but I thought I should write a quick update regarding all things art. Ready?

Heather and I hung our art at the Garryowen this evening. Just recently, my mom made the comment, "From now on, I think you and Heather should always do art shows together." And do you know what? She might be onto something. Once all the pieces were on the walls, Heather and I sat back and admired our work, realizing that our styles complement one another so well! The colors... the textures... the subjects...

This afternoon, I finished creating my (current) favorite piece of art ever. I'm calling it OctoPop Art and I'm selling it for much money because it took much time to create.

I also got new nail polish and painted my toes earlier today. Isn't this a great color scheme? It's kind of like visiting my home... only you're visiting my toes instead. But, I mean, everything in my home essentially consists of teal and grey and so my toes really match the ambience right now.

That's all for tonight. I've gotta hit the sack because this week is Teacher Appreciation Week and I get to wear jeans all week and maybe the kids will even be nice!

Hs and 8s and Friendship

The first job I ever got was as a lifeguard at the Lake Heritage Swimming Pool. My (Speedo) tan that summer was so solid. And d'you know what else was great about that summer? My friendship with Heather.

Heather came into my life when I was little more than a kid. We guarded together and shared a bunch of absurd memories that are all sunscreen- and chlorine-scented. The memories range from "always want[ing] a peeing dog" to attending sleepovers in which all the food items had to end with O to recording hilarious quotes and recording them on the ceiling. If you know, you know; if you don't, your loss.

As only life itself would have it, Heather and I are still working together. She teaches art in the very same school that I teach English. And on top of that, we are dear friends! We have what we like to refer to has an "Hs and 8s bond." Both of us have two Hs in our first names; both of us were born on the eighth of the month. My birthday is April 8; Heather's is December 8.

The beauty of my friendship with Heather is this: together, we are unstoppable. Have we had our ups and downs? Sure. Are we as close now as we were as teens? No... because we're closer. She is an amazing human and I'd be hard pressed to find a negative word to say about her. Heather is pure love and joy and kindness. And something else? She's a PHENOMENAL artist.

I have the privilege of being a part of an upcoming art show that will hang at the Garryowen Irish Pub in Gettysburg. Half of the art is mine; the other half is Heather's. We have made some really wacky and beautiful stuff, and if you'd like to see it, we would like to encourage you to visit the Garryowen next Wednesday, May 8, between 5:00 and 9:00PM. It's going to be a very fun night and we are both insanely eager to share our creations with you.

Accidental Exercise

Overwhelmingly, today was an exceptionally good day. My students were lovely and my lessons were good. The freshmen read Shirley Jackson's " The Lottery " and I arranged for an impromptu lottery in the classroom. No one died -- don't worry -- but the message of the story was thoroughly explained. And my sophomores had a Monday Melody that consisted of Dispatch's " Dear Congress (17) " paired with an article about the Second Amendment. It was just... a really good day.

The thing about today that I was most dreading was (surprise, surprise) mowing the grass. But listen to how it played out:

I got home from work.

I complained to the animals about how I would have to mow the grass.

I changed into mow-the-grass clothing.

I went outside to pick up poops in the backyard.

I realized I'd accidentally put on my running shoes instead of my mowing shoes.

I decided to go for a run even though I originally had no intention of exercising today.

When I finished my run, I took this picture (because I knew I needed to write a blog; it's no good when the only blogs are trivia-related... and written by Darren, whose responsibility really isn't to maintain my website):

...and then I sent this text to my Sweat It or Regret It buddies (I just came up with that name today; isn't it funny?):

...and then I took a picture of both pairs of shoes so you could see what a foolish mistake I'd made:

Anyway. The gist of today's short and sweet blog is as follows:

If you've never read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, you really need to get on that.

If you've never listened to Dispatch's "Dear Congress (17)" you really should.

If you don't have your own Sweat It or Regret It group, you really need to consider making one.

Oh! But do you want to know what else was wonderful about today? I had impromptu wine with what was supposed to be my mom, but ended up being my dad too, and I told both of my parents literally everything about my weekend. It was very Gilmore Girls- esque; most daughters wouldn't open up to their fathers like I did, but because my dad is very cool, I did. And it was really fun!

Alright. I'm off to make some art. (There will be a blog about that tomorrow, I imagine...)