Stuff I was thinking about but forgot

I saw my name on a car. I forget exactly why. Some kind of business like Tracey Enterprises or Tracey Incorporated. Printed right across the hood. Looked nice too. On the same day I kept seeing license plates that looked like chemistry test codes.

We ate out and had to wait around an hour to get in. We were wasting time talking about whatever then finally got seated. A few minutes afterwards these two guys with funny hair got a seat as well. Dan's comment- Heat miser and snow miser finally got in.

I saw the best movie commecial. It opens like a horror picture. Announcers voice- "There is a house. That has been empty for thirty years. And was witness to a death." Pictures flash of the house empty, a man walking in saying 'Yeah I got it real cheap. Some professor used to live here then he died.', there's a picture of a man choking someone, a gun, someone yelling. The announcer continues, "This house has the ability to turn whoever owns it- into a total idiot" Funny music and cut to Will Ferrell yelling, "We're goin streaking!" The commercial is for the movie Old School which is so totally not a horror movie, but the opening is so convincing. I thought it was a very effective prank.

Ben Folds did a bunch of music for that movie Over the Hedge. He reworked Rockin the Suburbs beautifully for this occasion. I was really curious to hear his new rendition which is completely curse free. Nice, nice job, Ben! Woody says the movie is good even though the previews suck. Maybe I'll try to catch it while it is in theaters.

also too,

I was counting all morning in my sleep the number of guests at my house for Thanksgiving. So I don't have to think of this all day, I will count them once and for all right now.
1 Me
2 Dan
3 Lita
4 Suzanne
5 My mom
6 My dad
7 Dan's mom
8 Dan's dad
9 My grandma
10 My grandpa
11 Dan's grandma
12 Dan's grandpa
13 My other grandmother

ok so that's 13 people. I have 4 glass bowls, 4 decorated glass bowls, making 8 bowls total. I need five more bowls so they can all have dessert. Two cookie monster bowls, two plastic colorful bowls and one pink knobby bowl should do the trick. That completes my dream and I won't have to worry all day about fictional events. Whew!

shorts from my stint at a day care

This is a collection of humorous things that happened while I had my very short-lived job with a local day care/preschool.

Bradon running around playing a pretend game and yelling, "AMBLEANCE! AMBLEANCE!"

Right after this, Stace, who was treated by the ambleance and revived pretends to be dead. From Greg- "She's DEAD AGAIN!"

One of my favorite handfuls was Bradon. One particular day she was in time out twice within the same 10 minutes. After telling her to come back to the group, she somehow wound up on the time out bench again. I asked the other teachers which one put her there but they all told me it wasn't them. As it turned out she put herself in time out because she felt she was mean to one of the other kids!

Kiana has a very cute speech problem in which most of her consonants sound alike. The cutest phrase I have heard her say was to Bradon's mom- "Bradon had a dood day today!"

In this same vein, many of them call me "Teetsa (teacher)" rather than use my name.

Christian is always talking. He constantly interrupts the teachers to explain whatever is on his mind, no matter how busy we are when he sees us. Here's an exchange he had with D'arcy:
Chris- EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME!
D'arcy- Chris, you are going to drive me crazy.
Chris- Dawcy, you say that evwy day.
D'arcy (looking shocked)- Oh my gosh! Do I really?
me- Yup you do.

Trying so hard to get Jared to sit on the toilet and then seeing him make a mess is very frustrating. He usually claims, "No no thank you. I'll go at home." One day he was crying after being told to 'go sit down and try'. He ends up making it in time with no mess. He immediately stops crying and stands up to look at it. He smiles and says, "It's a word!" I'm still not sure what he was talking about or why it was suddenly no big deal.

We had green juice on St Patrick's day. D'arcy told everyone it might turn them into Leprechauns. After nap suddenly D'arcy tells Bradon, "Go look in the mirror quick. Your face has turned green." Instead of smiling or going to a mirror, Bradon puts her head down and almost starts crying. We had to hurry up and tell her we were only joking.

Nicholas always asks why we have to lie down for nap. After trying answers like, "So you're not tired" and "Because kids need sleep" without getting him to stop asking, I now answer with "because nap starts with an N" or "because sleep has two E's".
At these answers he always responds, "OH!" and lies down without further complaint.

Chris has some funny adult mannerisms such as acting like he's in charge of the day care. He often tells others when it's time to do things, e.g. "Everyone sit down with your slippers on!" We always try to tell him he's not a teacher, but I don't think it sinks in. Once during this behavior, Bradon was fooling around not sitting still and this mom-type classic came out of Chris' mouth, "Bradon, don't make me angry!"

Dreams of what stuff/white stuff

Another dream I just felt like recording:
I am walking down the street when I see a daycare child of mine, Kiara. She is with two friends but no adults are around. She sees me and yells 'Tracey!' then asks if I want to meet her mother. We walk to her house to discover that her mother is really someone else's mother and she is not Kiara at all. So I've met a new friend and her mother. She asks me if I want to rock the baby and I do, only the baby keeps changing into a 14 year old kid on my lap. It is fairly distracting. The mom says he's just doing that to get me to rock him to sleep. He wants a bottle too. We hang around the house for a while and I eventually lose the baby but no one notices. Then it is dinner time- oh didn't you know you are invited to dinner? And your parents too. We all sit down and talk about burgers and hotdogs and outdoor grills when a bunch of other people walk in. They are teachers like the mom is and they were invited to dinner first. We are eating their food. Actually everyone is almost done except me who hasn't really touched the food. We all get up guiltily and leave. I'm the only one who didn't eat.

I don't know what happens next but eventually I'm dreaming again about snow this time. I am a car shaped like a person running along in snow. I am lost and climbing a very big hill to turn around at the top. I see something white hidden in the snow and believe it to be drugs, so I hightail it back down the hill and over a little side road. I am totally freaked out that two cars following me will hit me, then suddenly I realize they are my chaperones and are there to protect me. They join me and suddenly become a guy who is my chaperone, but not in a romantic way. I get the feeling he is hired to accompany me and help me stay out of trouble, or not get lost. (I do get lost a good deal in real life) We enter a building and I say, "Take my hand. Now look in my eyes." He says, "No I couldn't. I don't want to cause any trouble at home." I think I wanted to see his eyes to get an idea if he was true to protecting me and if he could be trusted. But I am touched that he is concerned not to lead me on and I instantly trust him based on this. We enter a room full of dancing people in evening-wear. He and I are also now in evening-wear. The hostess comes up to me and says, "How did you get in here?" I say, "Um I didn't know I wasn't supposed to." I take her by the waist and say, "Lets dance!" She seems surprised but does not protest and dances with me as the gent- that is I'm leading but the arms are wrong so she should be leading. She looks lovely in a clean white gown. I believe I am wearing white too but do not stop to look down and find out. She professes to be tired and goes away. I dance on my own for a minute and another lady in white comes up to me. "Lost your partner?" She says and we dance together. This time I get the arms right. We go around the floor once total and I say, "I was dancing with the hostess but she left I guess." My partner says, "Don't let her fool you. She never wanted to dance with you. See there she is." Indeed my hostess is talking with snobby looking friends and ignoring me as we twirl by. I also catch sight of my chaperone who is at the punch bowl watching me carefully, but trying to look nonchalant. I realize how much I appreciate having him there. Then I wake up.

more numbers

Today I met a member of the They Might Be Giants named Dan Weinkauf. That gives me a brothers Chaps number of 2 since presumably Dan has met the brothers, a Dan Weinkauf number of 1, and a the-rest-of-the-Giants number of also 2. Hurray a for me! Also the concert they put on was very nice. I may write about it later.

They Might Be Giants concert
It FREE! No Pay! What a deal!
So yeah it happened at tulip festival and no money required. How nice. I stood there with all the other peoples just hangin round and waiting for music. Then they begin. I am barely impressed by their first song. I cannot even remember the title. I think, "Oh man this is one of those ones that don't sound nice without overproduction in a studio." But I admit I was wrong. They sound nice, you just have to forgive certain songs. Every other song had something to recommend it. Most had either funny lyrics, a driving beat, catchy riffs, or all of the above. My favorite live song was the Nations Alphabet wherein they recite musically a list alphabetized nations- one for each letter. The last word 'Zimbabwe!' Was all drawn out and harmonized. The CD version clip I found on the web pales by comparison to this live version. They also did the song 'Experimental Film' which is a personal favorite of mine for the simple fact that it is a Brothers Chaps collaboration and there is a video to it including Strong Sad and the cheat produced toonage. The commentary for this video is hysterical (my best word for extreme funny types) and both are available on the brothers chaps website:
homestarrunner.com
This is the end of TBC plug. Now we return you to TMBG news.
So after the concert wandering around with Dan (my husband) I say, "I want to meet them. No I really do. I will feel so bad later if I don't try to meet them." So I go back and forth behind the stage three times and finally ask a nice looking lady if I can say something to the band or a member. There are big gaps in the fence and I *could* just walk or run right in but that might be rude. She says I should just call at them and get them to come over. I do but my voice is quiet so she taps one on the shoulder and says, "Excuse me this lady would like to meet you." and he walks on over. He says his name is Dan but not the one from Rochester. He says they are all named Dan and not to worry about being confused. I say I'm Tracey and we shake right hands. I say I am a fan thru homestar runner and he muses how nice that crossover works. He mentions they just did an Atlanta concert where TBC appeared. I say how sorry I am to have missed that. He says something indicating he's walking away and goodbye and I say I liked the songs and tell the others the same. Then I leave all smiley. The end and that was my good meeting-someone-famous time.

stuffs or what, also Chaplin is funny

Saw the first Charlie Chaplin film I have liked yesterday. It was called Modern Times. Not sure why I liked it so much and not either of the others. Maybe it's time to see more Chaplin. And Lloyd too. His movie Safety Last was really exciting- and that's not something you expect to say about a silent film.
I can say for sure that the film quality of Modern Times was excellent and that probably didn't hurt. It was well into the talkie era and seems a strange anachronism that it was still mostly silent. But it did a good job and I laughed. Chaplin seems to be one of the ones who held out for as long as he could on silent-mode before talking encompassed the film world. Most noise and talking is done thru machines in Modern Times. There is one exception at the end however when Chaplin sings. The words are made up and sound like a cross between French and Italian, but he does pantomime a funny story about a boy trying to woo a girl and not having money for a ring or something. He gets too close and cozy and she gives him a slap, so on and so forth- trala lala lala la! It was nice to hear Chaplin's voice. I heard Buster's a while back and they tease you on the way. He opens his mouth several times and is cut off. Meanwhile I'm dying in the middle of my living room crying, "Oh give us a break! What's his voice sound like?!"
Sigh. Buster has a nice voice.


Some things Dan has said that made me laugh:

jello dramatic

that's just a pigment of your pagination

On a form he was filling out and reading aloud:
Language of choice- gibberish

heehee

Bald Sopranos, Muppets, Winnie the Pooh

A funny bit from the Muppet Show Pilot- also called The Muppet Show Sex and Violence

Presenting the theatre of things:
(pencils jump up and down in a large group, one pencil announces)
Pencil- Citizens, I give you, your new ruler!
(a ruler steps forward and speaks)
Ruler- Now we all know the last ruler was CROOKED!
All pencils- Yeah, yeah!
Ruler- He couldn't measure up!
All pencils- Yeah!
Ruler- But I'm straight! And I'm here to tell you where to DRAW THE LINE!
All pencils- yeah. Yeah!
Ruler- Now GET THE LEAD OUT!
All pencils- YEAH!!!
(all the pencils charge offscreen)


Winnie the Pooh

My favorite exchange from the old Winnie the Pooh series shows is as follows:
Piglet- Pooh, haven't you been listening?
Pooh- Uh...I'm sorry, I had a small piece of fluff in my ear.
Rabbit- Well where should I start from?
Pooh- From the moment the fluff got in my ear.
Rabbit- Ah, when was that?
Pooh- I don't know, I couldn't hear properly.


The Bald Soprano

I did sound for a play by Eugene Ionesco. It was titled The Bald Soprano. It was sort of like an abstract painting. It wasn't supposed to be like anything, it was ridiculous, and I guess each person could place their own meaning on it. It starts off fairly cohesive and kind of degenerates into utter nonsense then ends. Here are some of my favorite bits:

Mrs. Smith- This morning when you looked in the mirror you didn't see yourself.
Mr. Smith- That's because I wasn't there yet.


The maid enters and offers to recite a poem. No one wants to hear it because she's only a maid but she insists. What you have to know about the poem is that the actors were directed to act as if the word 'fire' was the word 'sex' and as the poem progresses the listeners get more uncomfortable and more turned on as the word 'fire' is repeated, while the maid gets more and more enthusiastic in her recitation. They actually haul her offstage at the end to make her quit. Here is the poem-
The polypoids were burning in the wood
A stone caught fire
The castle caught fire
The forest caught fire
Then men caught fire
The women caught fire
The birds caught fire
The fish caught fire
The WATER caught FIRE
The SKY caught FIRE
The ASHES caught FIRE
The SMOKE caught FIRE
The FIRE CAUGHT FIRE!
EVERYTHING CAUGHT FIRE, CAUGHT FIRE, CAUGHT FIRE!!

(more towards the end)
Mrs. Smith- Take a circle, caress it, and it will turn vicious.

Mr. Smith- Dogs have fleas! Dogs have fleas!
Mrs. Martin- Cactus! coccyx! crocus! cockaded! cockroach!
Mrs. Smith- Incasker you incask us!