"Tell them how it was . . ."

Recently, I had a moment of disillusionment.

As some {or all or none} of you may know, I used to be a school teacher. When I first got started, a fellow English teacher {and good friend} gave me one of her favorite things to teach. It comes from the book "Blackthink: My Life as Black Man and White Man" by Jesse Owens. There's a chapter entitled, 'Open Letter to a Young Negro' where Owens recounts his experience in the long jump in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It's a great story about how Jesse almost failed to quailfy for the event and how he was helped by Hitler's prize athelete, Luz Long.

Each year when I taught that story, I got excited. I thought how cool it was that I was going to share a part of history with my students that they probably didn't know about. I thought it was great that I had an interesting story involving sports that some of my reluctant readers might actually read and enjoy. I thought this was an opportunity to help kids realize and see the goodness in people. Now I'm wondering if I was just teaching them a lie.

Because, as it turns out, it may just be a story.

I was getting ready for work a couple of weeks ago when a newspiece about this story came on NPR. I literally stopped where I was because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. According to an Olympic historian, Tom Ecker, Owens admitted to him that it wasn't true, that he told the story because people liked to hear it.

For the most part, I think I am a trusting person; I believe what people tell me. Maybe that makes me too naive, too much of a pushover. But now, I'm less trusting than I was before I heard this; I'm less likely to believe cool stories like this. I know that Owens and Long did in fact become friends and that the entire story isn't made up, but still.

Am I overreacting to this? Is it really not a big deal? Am I just a silly girl who believes too much too easily {side note to help illustrate - I thought Santa was real until I was 10}?

Or is it reasonable to be upset by this?

I can't decide.

Take a look, it's in a book

A small part of my childhood had died.

The last broadcast of "Reading Rainbow" is today.

But you don't have to take my word for it.

Even though it's true.

Another Singleton Post

As my faithful readers know, I'm all about stealing good ideas. Or blogs. When someone says something that I wished I had said or says something that perfectly articulates a feeling I have, I feel strongly about sharing it.

In this case, it is this blog. I believe Sheryl so perfectly voices some of my current feelings. The plight of the singleton is never an easy one. Nor is it the worst thing in the world.

Here is my favorite part of Sheryl's post:

"At the end of the day, I’m left feeling frustrated and confused. I’m left thinking, it’s a miracle that two people can find each other in this huge world, be single at the same time, like each other the same amount to commit to dating each other and then commit to eternal marriage {emphasis added}. As I look at all of my married friends’ blogs, I think, “Wow they are so happy. There is something missing in my life. I’m so behind!” Even though marriage doesn’t equate to internal happiness, I know I yearn for it. I want to be married. I want to be starting a family in THIS life not just in the next to come!"

My thanks to those who understand this about me and let me vent, whine, complain, rant, etc. about it whenever I feel the need. And, also, who never make me feel like I'm defective because I'm single or that I'm pathetic because I'll admit I want to be married.

I recommend . . .

I should start this post by stating how I loathe it when someone takes the goodness that is Jane Austen and messes with it, especially 'Pride & Prejudice.' I cannot bring myself to read any of the books that are either told from Darcy's point of view or about Darcy and Elizabeth's children or Elizabeth's sisters or whatever. That sort of thing drives me crazy. Some of the movie remakes {aka Bride & Prejudice & the Mormon version} are okay, but none of them are as good as the ones that stick to the original story.

But . . .

this is different.

I was just introduced to a mini-series broadcast in England last year that is ab-so-lutely marvelous. It's called "Lost in Austen" and it is lovely and funny and wonderful. My roommate saw it at a video rental place and rented it on a whim. She watched it, loved it and passed it along to me. And, well, I luuuved it.

Don't you love this wonderful collage I found online? I wish I knew who to give the credit to.

So, here's the basic story - Amanda is a modern-day Londoner who adores reading 'Pride & Prejudice' on a regular basis and so, knows the story very well. An odd thing happens {not going to tell you what it is but it calls for total suspension of disbelief} and she ends up switching places with Elizabeth Bennett. This is where, as they say, hilarity ensues. She shows up right after Bingley has moved into Netherfield, but since Elizabeth isn't there, certain things don't happen. Because Amanda knows the story inside out, she tries to force the story to turn out as she's always known it. This is part of why I loved the show so much. She doesn't want to mess things up for anyone and tries to use her ominscience to try to fix things. But she can't because there are so many variables out of her control. It's great.

There's no way I'm going to give away the ending, but I will say that I wouldn't be surprised to find out there are two very different sets of feelings about it. Personally, I found the ending to be perfect for the story that was told. I felt quite satisfied. If you've seen this or see it soon, please let me know what you thought.

The best part of the story was Amanda, or rather the actress who plays Amanda, Jemima Rooper. She has the difficult task of trying to fit into Regency England with a limited knowledge of how the society really worked along with making the audience not hate her for for what she's doing. And she pulls off the task brillantly. As a fellow single gal who loves Austen's novels, I was rooting for her the entire time. Her enthusiasm for the story and characters, combined with her horror at the change in the story, is so enjoyable to watch.

Elliot Cowan faced the difficulty of being Mr. Darcy. I mean, come on, Mr. Fitzwilliam read about and dreamed about the world over portrayed in near perfection by Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen Darcy. Tough shoes to fill. Even Amanda talks about the fact that Darcy is such a loved and recognized romantic hero. Now, while Mr. Cowan wasn't quite my cup of tea, I think there are certain aspects of Darcy's character that he absolutely nails. Plus, he's very good at the brooding, reserved Englishman thing. And there's one scene that he pulls off with such non-irony that I was amazed. And thrilled. And on the floor laughing. It's best seen in the movie, as part of the overall story, but if you can't wait, you can watch it here.

My favorite discovery was Tom Mison who plays Charles Bingley. Bingley has always been a character I like even though he tends to be too easily persuaded by Darcy. As anyone familiar with the story knows, Bingley is warm and likable throughout, despite his disappointing behavior towards Jane. In this story, a few of the changes affect Bingley, and we see a whole new side of him. Mr. Mison did an incredible job showcasing this side but still kept the character sympathetic. And he's also a bit easy on the eyes.

In the next week or two, my own copy should be arriving {that's right - it's so good I had to buy one for my very own - I rarely do that}, so if you want to see this surprisingly charming and funny show, let me know. I'm happy to watch this again and again and . . . well, you get the idea.

DIY . . . a few years later

I have a very cute house. I'm not bragging; it's true. But one thing that I have never been too keen about is the upstairs bathroom. Well, the bathroom itself is fine, but the paint is definitely not my favorite. I wish I could be more gentle about this, but I can't - I've always thought it looks like pee yellow. And now that I've been in my place 4 years - yep, that's right, 4 years - I finally decided to do something about it.

So, I picked out a new color {yeah, don't ask me the name} and set to work. Here's what the bathroom looked like before I started painting.

Please notice the spackle marks above the toilet. The previous owners decided that it was too much work to dig the old towel rack anchors out of the wall, so they just painted over them. Oye. So, I got to dig them out, spackle the holes and sand it down. Not fun, but it made for a much better finished product.

Here we are in the during phase. I was thinking it would be so easy because it's such a small space, but I didn't think about the huge amount of edging I would have to do in a bathroom. Blech.

And now we come to the finished product. I find the blue to be much, much more appealing and calming. I love how the color turned out. The difficulty I faced was what other color(s) to incorporate. I have grayish-brownish-greenish tile, and I didn't want to add more pastel to the room. In the end, I decided to go with chocolate brown. My fabulous sister, Jan, went with me all over town one Saturday afternoon in an attempt to find just the right bathmat. We didn't find it then, but I did find it a week or so later.

This picture is not here to show off the scuff marks on my bathroom door but to give a better shot of my beautiful bathmat that pulls the whole room together.

And there's my new bathroom. As soon as I had it all done, I was so happy and wondered why I hadn't done this mini-makeover sooner.

Now it's on to my bedroom.

You know, in the next year or two.

Keanu, Teddy Bears and 1984

I came across this video and just about died. How could I not it? How could you not love him? Party on.

I recommend . . .

I saw "500 Days of Summer" last night, and I loved it. It is good in so many ways - the acting, the music, the story, the styling. It is not a typical love story/romantic comedy, but that's a big part of why I liked it.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt - wow. He has a stand-out performance. He may not be everybody's idea of the perfect male lead in a story about love, but he kept my complete attention the whole time. He was likable and real and everything good. He was a pleasure to watch.

Zooey Deschanel is luminous and lovely. I've been a fan of hers in everything I've seen her in. And in this, she shows why she'll be around for years to come.

I don't want to tell you too much about the storyline in case you haven't already heard a lot about it. But needless to say, I had a lovely cinematic experience with this film. It's one that I want to see again to see if I missed anything the first time. And the first kiss - well, it's a good one.

*This is rated PG-13, with some language and mature material.