Star Wars VI: A New Hope

Yesterday was a special [...]]]> Luke Skywalker (via hologram): “As a token of my goodwill, I present to you a gift: these two droids.”
3-PO: “What did he say?”
Luke Skywalker: “… Both are hardworking and will serve you well.
3-PO: “This can’t be! R-2, you’re playing the wrong message.”

Star Wars VI: A New Hope

Yesterday was a special day, a glorious day – a SPA day (ok, a spa afternoon but still!). Dad Windu and Padawan Learner took pity on me and presented me with a gift certificate for a shoulder massage and some foot reflexology for mother’s day. It was much needed, much appreciated, and I may have become hooked. I sounded like a piece of aluminum foil was being crinkled up for the first time when she began working on my back. I, perhaps, should have had this done a long time ago. All those hours of work at shoulder level appear to have caught up with me. Lesson learned. As for the foot reflexology, it was so relaxing that I almost fell asleep while she rubbed warm oil into my parched skin and worked hot stones across the soles of my feet. Ahhhhh. Just thinking about it again makes me relaxed. Thankfully, she was very careful around the broken pinkie toe that is still mending. For the record, a broken pinkie toe is the best reason – ever – for having to wear flip-flops to work for a couple weeks in a row.

OK, the Supreme Chancellor is a bit twisted in his [...]]]> Supreme Chancellor: “Remember back to your early teachings. ‘All who gain power are afraid to lose it.’ Even the Jedi.”
Anakin Skywalker: “The Jedi use their power for good.”
Supreme Chancellor: “Good is a point of view, Anakin.”
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith

OK, the Supreme Chancellor is a bit twisted in his interpretation of things, to be sure, but still here are a few good things I’m thankful for today:

• The weather lately has been so pleasant for walking to work in, for sitting on the patio, for roaming the neighborhood
• The school year is coming to an end again for Padawan Learner. The more he attends, the more I enjoy his breaks from the daily go-go-go of early up, early out, perpetually sleep-deprived teenager
• Padawan Learner’s land-speeder is continuing to hold it together. We just need it to get to June…
• Our tickets to visit Canada are purchased, 2 of our 3 passport renewals have been completed (last one went in today), and the time is sure to come faster than we can even expect
• We have a quickie trip back to Michigan planned in the near future. It will be wonderful to see some old friends and family again.
• We’re all healthy. This really should be first. I’m coming to realize more and more that good health is paramount.
• Dad Windu is still one of my favorite people..
• Padawan Learner is more interesting than exasperating these days. They really do grow up given enough time (and with a lot of tongue biting on everyone’s part)
• Shmi Skywalker, aka my mom, tells me that she’s making two trips out this summer, one with my brother, Plo Koon, and another with my sister, Kit Fisto. Neither have been here before.
• DW’s sister (Padme Amidala) and her son (also known as PW’s nemesis during their early years, Sebulba) are also planning a visit.
• My Fox Barrel Pacific Pear cider is utterly delicious and doesn’t give me a tummy ache.
• Padawan Learner received two awards from a couple of his classes for exceptional progress and going above and beyond in the class.
• DW and I were able to roam about a construction site nearby. That’s always a good time, and I always learn something new. This one showed several layers of historic road that was quite interesting – old tram lines still in place, filled over and covered by a brick road, covered by multiple layers of asphalt.
• Both of the cats finally seem to understand that going out on the patio means staying WITHIN the patio border and not over onto the rubber decking. This makes their excursions outside with us much more relaxing.
• I’ve finished two interesting books this week – always a highlight for me.
• Qui-Gon Jinn sent a Facebook message to say she’s heading out our way for a graduation party, so we might be able to grab a bit of time together that weekend.
• And much, much more. I could probably make an equally long list of complaints, but I choose not to focus on those so I will not.

Dad [...]]]> Obi-Wan Kenobi: ”Our presence here will be invisible, M’Lady. I can assure you.”
Captain Typho: ”I’m Captain Typho of her majesty’s security service. Queen Jamilla has been informed of your assignment. I am very grateful you are here, Master Kenobi. The situation is more dangerous than the Senator will admit.”
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones

Dad Windu and I, as not to be left behind all alone, headed off to Tucson, AZ to visit his parents who were over-wintering there and get in a bit more Old West history under our tourquoise-encrusted, over-sized, yeah-these-aren’t-to-touristy-right? silver belt buckles. Despite it being COLD there much of the time, we had a lovely time dodging tourists in Tombstone – the historical museum is quite good, by the way, even if the town itself is a collossal waste of time. The drive from Tucson to Tombstone is quite pretty, with lots of long and winding roads through both desert and high mountain passes. Our little rental speeder with approximately 2.9 gungan-power didn’t enjoy the drive much, but we sure did.

We took a roundabout way back and stayed over in Sierra Vista so that we could visit the Military History Museums located within the Fort Huachuca Army Base - only to realize that our rental car company messed up our paperwork so we couldn’t enter the base. In fact, we were technically driving illegally as the rental agent put down the wrong experation date – for the day before we were there! And let me tell you, Fort Huachuca is the ONLY reason to be in Sierra Vista that I could find. It’s one giant ode to Big Box stores and almost every possible National chain. After a bit of hunting and pecking, we did find a delicious, local Mexican restaurant – La Casita – and cute little coffee shop – Gelato Java Stop – where the owner messed up my order a little bit but was so nice and friendly that I didn’t even tell her.

Meeting the receptionist at the The Sierra Vista Convention and Visitors Bureau, however, was worth the lackluster overnight stay, she told us about a few local ghost towns (including which ones required a 4×4 to reach), great restaurants which sadly we didn’t follow up on because we were sooo full from our late lunch at La Casita that we didn’t even want any dinner that night, and even more about the museums at Fort Huachuca. You know, so that we really, really wanted to see them the next day… only to find out that we couldn’t. Grrrr.

On our way back to AZ, we backtracked a bit and stopped to see the ghost town of Fairbank, the closest railstation to Tombstone and several other local mining towns on its way to Tucson and points further west. This really got DW pumped, as it was certainly a place that his Old West “friends” – Virgil and Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, and Major Clum to name a few – would have passed through on their travels. There are only a few buildings left, but we roamed around the area for several hours visiting the very untouristy burial grounds atop a high hill with a spectacular, clear view of the surrounding shrub-lands,

the town remnants – please note the sign propped up against one of the buildings – love the quotes around DANGER by the way,

the crumbling rail depot next to the converted rails-to-trails recreational path, and the San Pedro River which was, of course, key to the survival and location of the town.

So this update that is long too over-due.

Padawan Learner had a fabulous time on Cataline Island despite – I am told – wanting to [...]]]> Anakin Skywalker: “I’d much rather dream of Padme. Just being around her again is… intoxicating.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi: ”Be mindful of your thoughts, Anakin, they betray you.”
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones

So this update that is long too over-due.

Padawan Learner had a fabulous time on Cataline Island despite – I am told – wanting to kill off many of the people in his group on a regular basis. What can I say, he’s not much of a group tour kind of guy. Apparently not shutting your trap even occassionally is a guaranteed excellent way to get on his Dark Side. I don’t know where he gets that from. The island itself was fairly amazing I’m told with dark, dark skies perfect for star-gazing, crystal-clear lagoons for snorkeling, and complete hillsides just begging for some invasive species removal. He was such a monster at this task that he earned a special badge for his efforts. And to think he used to argue with me about pulling weeds back in our Michigan flower beds.

View from camp. Rough, huh?

An invasive species' worst nightmare

The ropes course

The class was also privy to a behind the scenes Physics of Roller Coasters program at DisneyLand the day before their return home. I am told it was fascinating and also that it also reinforced his previous memory of NOT being a fan of roller coasters in general.

A fun end to a great week

“If I sit a test I might fail it – but I’m doing what I need to do in the real [...]]]> R2 says that the chances of survival are 725 to 1. Actually R2 has been known to make mistakes… from time to time… Oh dear…”  -  C-3PO, Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back

“If I sit a test I might fail it – but I’m doing what I need to do in the real world. Why would tests devised for people in classrooms matter more than results in the real world?” – Benny the Irish Polyglot, from Fluent in Three Months

That’s a pretty good argument for unschooling, as well as focusing on conversation versus grammar in a language, if I ever heard one.

Of course I am, I’ve had about 17 cups of coffee and half a carton of chocolate covered almonds since waking up at 8am this morning. This is not, just so you know, [...]]]> [to Wicket the Ewok]
“You’re a jittery little thing, aren’t you?” – Princess Leia, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi

Of course I am, I’ve had about 17 cups of coffee and half a carton of chocolate covered almonds since waking up at 8am this morning. This is not, just so you know, a recipe for steady hands. It is, however, a recipe for happy taste buds. Small victories.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am a perpetual dreamer. I ask annoying questions like, “Do you ever wonder if we’re making the right choice by saving as much as we can for retirement, owning our house/having a mortgage, working full-time instead of traveling while we can, since there’s no guarantee that we’ll a) live to retirement, b) be healthy enough to travel and learn/do all the things we want to by then, or c) not have all our retirement funds go belly up in a huge stock market crash by that time?” or “What types of things do you want to learn, and is it really a want (aka, you’d be willing to really work for it) or just a wish (wouldn’t it be cool if I could…)?”

We had one of our oldest friends out this weekend. We didn’t do much, but it was great to see her and she seemed to enjoy the downtime in a different locale. Being the nice person I am, I even put her to work in the backroom at the store during my short shift yesterday. That’s right, come visit me and I’ll make you look for rips, stains and excess wear in piles of used clothing. Good times, good times. (But as a volunteer, she got 50% off her purchases, so everyone wins.) Now it’s time for her husband to come visit so we can visit with him, too!

On an unrelated note, Padawan Learner gets to go to Catalina Island during spring break as part of a volunteer effort to remove invasive species, help get the island ready for summer tourists, and learn about the island’s biodiversity. How cool is that? He even gets 2 hours of Field Studies college credit for it. I am jealous beyond words.

Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones

So… Padawan Learner got in a [...]]]> Obi-Wan Kenobi: “If you spent as much time practicing your saber technique as you do on your wit, you would rival Master Yoda as a swordsman.”
Anakin Skywalker: “I thought I already did.”
Obi-Wan: “Only in your mind, my very young apprentice.”

Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones

So… Padawan Learner got in a fight with a tree Thursday night. This may surprise, you but the tree won. $1900 dollars and a week later and the old car should be back in fighting shape again. Let’s hope this little event reminds him to slow down and drive more carefully on snow-covered roads from now on. And people wonder why I hear Rainman’s voice in my head every time he tells someone, “I’m an excellent driver. “