Although this tune isn't specifically about "sunrises", per se, it's what I associate with for the topic:

George Harrison's / The Beatles' HERE COMES THE SUN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVyt7Wd9Bp4

I liked this particular clip because it came with lyrics. Harrison's work speaks for itself, and it's hard to follow up with a written encore. This song, to me, is the essence of morning.

Typically I am not a sunrise person. I hate getting up in the mornings...especially during the "long, cold, lonely winter." I hate being jolted from a nice, cozy sleep by any alarm of any sort. I do it because a pay check is involved, and I am all about the money, but mornings suck. I hate the cold. I hate needing to pee when I have to wait for a free bathroom. I hate all the rushing around. I hate morning drama caused by other equally grumpy house hold members. I hate the drive to work. Still, mornings now are not as bad as when I was a kid.

..............................................

Instead, when I was a student, I hated riding the school bus. It stunk and the diesel fumes gave me a headache. Lovely way to start the day. But one positive thing that would come out of my morning school year routine back then was listening to the radio, and nearly every morning Q-102 would play HERE COMES THE SUN while en route to school. That song was comforting and happy. It made me forget for a few minutes about feeling frozen at the bus stop, the stinky bus ride and my queasy sinuses.

HERE COMES THE SUN gave me three positive minutes at the start of my day, when I otherwise was full of angst and worry about obnoxious jerks on the bus and at school. It was a brief escape from my fears of failing yet another test or that dreaded English class book report speech in front of my peers. For about three minutes I didn't have to think about the zit on the side of my face or how will explain to my parents about my "lost" gym uniform.

Instead, I could think about increasing day light, the skies clearing and warmth coming as winter's "ice was slowly melting", about how school would eventually come to an end and the smile would maybe return to my face, and I dreamed about how much I wanted someone to just accept me as a friend when I was fourteen years old and tell me, "it's alright".

P.

Guess a lot of people are choosing to tell and show what they give thanks for, and I suppose I am no exception. Here then are a few of my most thankful things:
My Hubby:

We have been married 25 years. Here he is putting the topper on his parents' tree this evening. It was their 51st anniv today and are not doing too well. It meant the world to them for us to come up w a nice fillet dinner and ready to make their TV room look like Xmas-Land since they do not have the means to do it themselves anymore. MIL had Alzheimer's and is recovering from a bad fall where she broke the C-6 vertebrae and had to wear the "collar of shame" till mid-January now. FIL had Pulmonary Fibrosis.
They are also thankful to us for the help we provide them on weekends.

My girls:
They are getting bigger. We will be seeing less and less of them as time passes because of college life and boy friends, but today we were a family of 4, and I got pix of the two of them goofing off and being kids again. What fun!
On LJ,
I call the 16 yr old "Fuzzy1" for obvious reasons: Look at all that hair!!! No perms, no weaves...It's all hers! The 20 yr old is "Dolphinswimmer89"

My Kitties:
Here are 2 pix: I could go on and on since I have 5 plus two who are't in Heaven and a neighbor boy kitty who thinks he is mine, but two pix for now, and who knows might turn up in an LJ Idol entry in the future!

This is Cheetah...Our Sweeta-Cheetah on Mew Year's Eve last year. Yes, she is huge...16 lbs, and she knows how to have fun!

This one here is Sushi...
.The spoiled baby princess kitty. She's my baby. My Sushi-Tooshie.

I could say more: My mom, my siblings, my house, my camera, my car, my 'puter, my education, etc...but you guys get the gist. You may see more later if I can stay in the game.

We're "normal" in many ways, and yet not so typical in many others. We are healthy and productive. We work hard and are doing our damndest to beat back the Evil Unemployment Monster and Stock Market Crashers who threaten to ruin our credit and curtail our kids' futures at every turn. We battle the Dyslexic Demon with Fuzzy1 every day. We seek to conquer technology bugs and confused, sad students every day, thus turning them into capable and happier learners. We're just regular people who do what it takes to earn an honest dollar or two, raise our girls best we can, support family and get through each day a day at a time.
P.

http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/273076.html

That's mine. I really did write a good one. Most of the best often pop out at one AM, and this is no exception. If I lose out it's b/c I don't have a huge fan base of readers to be aware, and B- I have been too busy to pimp myself. Guess that means if I survive this round of LJ Idol, I am that good...But I know it won't last if I don't get enough groupies to read and vote fr my work. Hopefully one or two of yas out there will get this message before it's too late to read and vote.

Don't vote for Pedro!

VOTE FOR ME!!! Thank you !Gracias! P.

It often amazes me how a given topic for LJ Idol seems to come into play in a very timely fashion in my real life on a given week. I was thinking for days about how I would approach this week's topic of "Bearing False Witness", and today I found my answer.

Many of you know that I am a teacher...Not just any teacher, but a Spanish teacher with 25 years of licensure / 20 active years of typical classroom experience, not to mention all the things I've learned from living my life around children, both my own plus the ones in the classrooms. I am also in grad school at Xavier University to get my special education Master's / second license, which I decided was the next step along my path in my career to take after having raised a dyslexic child of my own plus doing four years as a special needs academic aide. This year I am but a mere substitute since there have been so many lay offs and cut backs in schools all over. I honestly enjoy subbing. I'd sub for the next 20 years of my life if it paid steady, but I digress...

Today I was in a MH, Moderate to Severe type special education room. There were about ten students in seventh and eighth grades combined, and we were showing them the DVD of a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for the final bell. At one point, during the show, as Snoopy was popping popcorn and zipping around to set a holiday table on the big screen, I looked away toward the window and noticed a poster on the wall which read: "You never have to worry about remembering what you said if you always tell the truth." My mom used to have this saying about how it takes a good memory to be a liar, and I saw the tie in with that poster.

Then I looked around in the classroom at all the kids: Big, tall Jake, who doesn't like loud sounds, but was laughing at how the adults' voices in Charlie Brown specials make that "Wha-wha-wa-wa-wah-wah". Sid, on the gluten-free diet looking at all those characters about to feast on pop corn and bread and butter because Charlie Brown can't cook anything but cereal. Liza who has Down Syndrome who can't remember the name of Snoopy's cute little bird friend and Russell, the big guy who sits to watch the DVD with play dough in his hands for sensory stimulation and muscle tone building for his fingers and wrists. All these children are incredibly honest. They are incapable of hiding who they are. They will never bear false witness to anyone about what they can and cannot do, comprehend or not comprehend, see, hear and feel. These young people of profound need and guidance, to whom I was entrusted for my work day, are the real deal.

People have asked me many times, "Oh how can you stand to be around those kids all the time?"
You know what? "Those kids" are awesome. They are true to themselves, display no facades, freely want to share their passions and interests with you, even if it's drawing dinosaurs and listening to disco music.

I sometimes wonder if they were "normal", (or 'typical', as we say in the professional realm), would they still be as honest with other people or even with themselves? Would they laugh at other kids who still like watching Blues Clues and listening to Michael Jackson sing the Billie Jean song during their free time?

One time I worked with a profoundly disabled kid who dearly loved bagpipes! He taught me a few things!

I would bet that most of those special kids would not be the same person if they had the means and better fortune. They wouldn't be as adept at the simple honesty they can show now. In a weird sort of way, their capacity to be so open and unashamed of something they like would be hindered, and that would disable them in a different sort of way. It would disable them from freely experiencing something that honestly brings them joy, and what a shame it is when we like something, but feel too held back by society's expectations to be able to share our happiness with others because we think somebody will laugh at our foolishness or geekiness.

The special needs kids are past all those worries, and I suppose it's one small blessing they do have. So if you ever wonder how someone like me manages day after day with students like that, it's because they never bear false witness the way regular folks do. They trivial knowledge they do possess for some topics can be amazing and eye-opening at times. The special kids are among the most sincere people who exist, and perhaps that is one reason why they are here in our lives: to show the rest of us how honesty and realness works at its best.

P.

So That should make things easy and fast. Please, LJ Friends, read mine and vote. I think I'm-a gonna need it. I wrote a good entry. It's getting publicity that's gonna make me or break me, and I would like to stick with the program.

http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/270539.html?#cutid1 P.

http://news.cincinnati.com/sports/bengals

I don't do many sports. I was born with or developed in infancy, (who knows?), very poor eye-hand, fine and gross motor skills, which pretty much delayed my developmental progress in physical activities all through school. It eliminated me from having any realistic chance for success with musical instruments, typing...especialy when speed counts, and playing team sports. Going to OT a couple of times a week at school helped, but it was no cure. At any rate, that's all in my past now, and it's not the huge deal it used to be since being a klutz doesn't impact my social skills as an adult. What it does mean, however, is that I still feel a void because I missed out on enjoying games and sports a lot of the time as a kid. I found other ways to have fun, but athletics were not stressed in my home, even on television, so I experienced very little about sports as a player and as a spectator, especially football. (American football)

It didn't matter too much anyway. I didn't vote for the Stadium Tax several years ago. I felt no need to support a game I could not relate to, players who were grossly over-paid as it is,and who were busted for substance abuse or assault every other week. I refused to promote sports through exhorbitant taxation on my purchases. I'm not against athletes, but I just didn't see the high priority to endorse Paul Brown Stadium and the Cincinnati Bengals, who lost most of their games anyway.

Last fall I went to Paul Brown Stadium for the first time, and man, was that ever an eye-opener for me! It's not just an arena for sports, it's an athletic THEATER! The lights, the jumbo-tron score board(s), the Guns-n-Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" theme song pounding through the speakers...I had fun just being there, even if I didn't understand the game. I even paid ten dollars for a souvenir Bengals coffee mug!

Even better now, The Cincinnati Bengals are winning! Yes, super fans, they are having a winning season. They even beat SHITsburgh the first time they played them this year! Oh my goodness! Will the Steelers Fear 'da Tiger again this weekend? The odds are not in our favor. The odds never are, but it's happening so far this season. We are playing decently, and it's fun to be a part of that. It's fun to wear black and orange to work on Bengals Days on Mondays. It's fun to sport my black and orange spirit beads on Sundays in the grocery and when I go off to tutor at the book store. It's fun to win. It's a treat to be among happy fans and feel like there might be something to celebrate this January.

I still don't realy understand the role of a running back versus a full back, but it doesn't matter. To me, "safety" will primarily mean crossing the street at the light and not leaving toys on the stairs. "Sack" is the bag you carry groceries in. The terms, rules and ways of football will continue to puzzle me, and the ability to catch a ball while running will forever elude me, but I have learned to find some pleasure and appreciation for this very complicated sport. I hope we win this Sunday. If we don't, I at least hope we make the Steelers work in desperation till the last seconds on the clock. Then we can win again the following weekend. It's a season of hope for the first time in a long, long time.

Who Dey!

P.

OK, I'm a child of the 1960s and 70's mostly.
This:


is one of the hugest icons of my era, along with the peace symbol, of course. Literally, I've been there, owned the t-shirt(s).

I even made a smiley plastic dinner plate in art class as a kid. It's all starry and stripey, real 1976 Bicentennial looking around the edges, with a hand-traced version of that yellow Smile Face right in the center. It still sits up in my mother's kitchen cabinet at the bottom of a tall stack of dishes because you can't really use the plate any more, but Mom would never part with it. The finish is chipping off, and it isn't good for microwave use now, but it's something I made for her in school, with her coffee mug as my inspiration.

My mom also still has her black and yellow plastic coffee mug with that same Smile logo on it; a genuine artifact from the day. Each time Mom moves, she goes through cabinets to pitch old stuff, but I won't let her throw away her forty-year-old coffee mug, even though the colors are faded from runs through the dishwasher, and the insert where the Smile Face image is has slipped to the side. That old mug is a piece of my childhood, and when I go to visit her, I want to see that mug in the cabinet.

That's her and me. Maybe a bit flawed, and not so new and trendy now, but we go together.

I can't put Mom's Smile in a garbage can.
And she will never get rid of mine either.

P.

I am in Tribe 6 / Talonkarrde...The last tribe.

http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/264520.html

Please, please vote for me! Can't be any more direct than that! Thank you! P.

Last thing I want to do is get into a pissin' contest about who has had it worse...or whose family members have had it worse...

Let's just say that we all have our challenges, no matter who we are, and I get that, but,

When my mother complains about the heat in Florida, and I am sitting up here in Ohio freezin my A$$ off in January I think-say,
"Puh-leeeze!!! Call the Whaaaambulance...."

When my friend complains about all the hours she has to work and the jerky people she has to provide customer service to, I think-say, "Call the Whaaaammm..bu...lance!" I am spending every day fighting the evil Unemployment Monster and wish I had a steady income, beyond being just a lowly substitute, and I wish I had the other freedoms that come from being able to pay my bills and have choices.

BUT:
When my novice-driver daughter whines because we won't let her drive some place on her own yet and how we are so unreasonable, I don't think or say "Call the Whaaahmbulance".

Instead, I remember how there was this teen girl in our school community who crashed her Nissan 18 months ago and tragically died on impact, and I stand up for my convictions. She was sober. The weather was perfect. It was eleven AM on a lovely April day....and she somehow skidded suddenly and silently, without warning or explanation across the west-bound lanes to the east-bound lanes on I-74, head on into a truck. The driver didn't have enough time to get out of the way. If the truck driver hadn't hit her, the next driver would have anyway. The impact was too much to have survived in even a Hummer, the cops said. No one will ever know what caused that poor girl to veer off her path. They found no evidence of substances or cell phone usage. It just happened. Brain aneurysm??? Maybe lack of experience??? At any rate, there was no ambulance that could have saved her.

When my kids and husband are yellin' and screamin' and I feel like running away, I can always say, at least I have them home and alive in one piece. My goofy, distracting yet petty home life battles are nothing compared to the loss of one's beautiful child.

When I pass that girl's brother in the hall ways at our school, I can barely look at him. I feel so bad. I honest to God know who has it worse. I know who does the ten-mile walk up three hills both ways in a twenty-foot blizzard in no shoes...That boy in junior high who lost his only sibling not so long ago...and the parents...Oh my God...Those parents!!! I can't imagine what they must feel every April 9th now. They let her take the car to go visit her cousins, and she never made it to the destination. My heart aches, and before the accident, I didn't even know this family! They were people in the community who were there, but not necessarily movers and shakers. I had never seen the mom at football games or helping out in the teachers' work room. Their names weren't prominently displayed on every school program as "mega-patron" status donators nor on plaques nor trophies around the school. I would never have known them if I'd passed them in the local Kroger. But now,...now, you can't NOT know who that family is. It's going to be two years soon since the accident. The school still remembers their lost student. We all still grieve. Her picture was placed in the yearbook with the other seniors who graduated last May. She was dubbed, "Most unforgettable" in the senior superlatives. Very fitting, and that's a thing I will never forget.

P.

http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/261793.html

I am in the last tribe, AKA Tribe "talonkarrde88", an I sure would appreciate your votes. P.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DINuAWoxy4Q&feature=related

Yes, my fav 'toon of all time too.

25 years
Here's a pic of 10-20-84:



Stats from the day:

I wore The Mothership's dress from her wedding.

We did not use a limo. Instead our Best Man, Big Jim, a bud of Scott's from work, drove The Mothership's Big Green Machine.

My bachelorette "party" consisted of me and a high school friend, Meenah, drinking wine all night and going through old photos...and a manicure. (Everyone else arrived in Cincy the AM of the wedding.

Hubby's bachelor party was fairly typical and geeky...Nude shick w big boobs drawn on a cake...Dirty video in German. Hubby had to translate words!

We used confetti instead of rice b/c the rules at the reception hall stated that rice attracted bugs, birdseed attracted bird crap, so find something else.

We also used almost all fake flowers b/c Nanette is highly allergic, but the arrangements became keepers for people, so that was cool!

We did the double-ring thing, and the word "obey" was eliminated from our vows. (We did formula vows but tweeked a little).

125 people invited, and about 100 came, so good turn out there.

Aside from the relatives, we said 'screw the bride's side-groom's side seating thing at the church', because our family had the majority of the guests, and we didn't want the balcony photo shot to look out numbered on Hubby's side. Plus, we weren't into the whole taking sides thing.

Nanette, my BF since forever, was my matron of honor.

Nanette's 3-month baby, Jason, was our youngest wedding guest, and Slats, age 90, Michigan friends' Patty and Michael's grandma was our oldest invited.

My Grandma Elsie's friend, Harriet, caught when I threw the bouquet. Hubby's bro caught the garter. (Naturally) Made for a funny photo afterwards w a hot college dude and a little old lady paired up! (The Stripper song was also not played for taking off the garter. I think we chose The Pink Panther theme instead!)

The farthest traveled person was probably my parents and bro up from Florida.

Big Jim and Michael had birthdays, so we played Happy Birthday for them at our reception.

We refused to have the fucking "Rocky Top" song played at our wedding, which was the thing to do in the day. ( "Cotton-Eyed-Joe", hadn't become popular yet.)
No stupid Chicken Dance song either!

Scott & I danced to "Just The Way You Are" by Billy Joel for our 1st dance.

I danced w my dad to "Sunrise-Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof, b/c that's what Nanette and her dad did at her wedding.

I danced w my bro to Chaka Kahn's "I Feel For You".

All the girls got up and danced to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" together.

A bunch of us got up and did a make-shift version of the Jewish Hora to "Dancing in the Sheets" from Footloose!

I ran around barefoot as soon as pictures were done. No one noticed, but The Mothership would have peed herself had she known.

I drank screwdrivers and Diet Cokes all night.

My Dad, who was just starting to "come out" but not totally yet, hit on a single guy friend of ours, BCHRISTOPHER! He was new at the gay thing, and his gay-dar miss-fired! (BC told us about it a few days later, and he was soooo embarrassed!)

We played by "the rules" and had a traditional church wedding b/c it made the family happy, and they were willing to pay a lot of the expenses...had one hell of a fine reception party w a DJ and heavy hours'd'ovures, any drink you could imagine, etc. (sp?)

Stayed till 1 AM and shut the party down.

Then Scott & I went to the Hyatt Regency downtown for 2 nights.

The weather was about 70 degrees and rainy.

Our wedding gift to one another was a big panorama photo of the Cincinnati Skyline for our apartment living room. (We replaced it 4 years ago with a new updated one. Yay! for digital pics!)

Our 1st kitty, Honeymoon, was born on October 20th, 1984, but we got her in December for our 1st Xmas gift for each other.

No one decorated our car(s). Mine was hidden. My dad would have crapped his pants if anyone had touched his and my mom's car. Scott's was hidden too, so no condoms, streamers or shaving cream for us. Besides, it rained all night...Woulda looked a mess.

P.

Disclaimer: I could so turn this one into a general rant, but I'll do my best not to. Ahem....Here goes....

Week 1: Empty Gestures

"I'll call you." I hate it when people say that. It's the most bogus line in the English language. It means nothing. It's what someone says when they can't think of anything else to say when it is time to part company. It's some people's way to lighten an awkward goodbye moment. Do they actually call you?

Hell no.

At least, that has been my experience. "I'll call you" means the end of a date that was only so-so. "I'll call you" is what a so-called 'friend' says, but will never find the time to do. It's just something people say, but they do not literally mean, I have slowly learned over time. "I'll call you" makes me feel lonely even when I am not yet alone. It's disappointing and it's phony.

I know what it means when someone says it to me, and it takes every last ounce of decency in my soul to not respond with, "Bullshit!" to that one-liner. Instead I tend to politely play back with, "Yeah, That would be great!" with the hope that there's a trace of a chance the person actually will call. Being nasty wouldn't serve a purpose anyway. The only thing I can do about those three words is remain cognizant of what I say and never use that phrase on others unless I absolutely intend to call the person.

I hate "I'll call you".

P.

(Oops...I think I just ranted anyway. Sorry to come off so negative at the start of LJ Idol, but you asked....)

I had the Maxipad's little bro' in class today. (I'll refer to him from here on as the "Mini-pad").

It was H1N1 flu vaccination day today. What a nut house. 8 nurses or whomevers, licensed to give the shot were expected to be on site to dole out shots and mists to about 1,000 students. 4 shot-givers showed up. It took all day. Crazy!
P.

Greetings to all. My name is Paige. I am 48, from Cincinnati, Ohio, and am an UNDEREMPLOYED teacher. I have 25+ years of experience. I am licensed 7-12 in Spanish and am currently attending grad school to get another degree in Special Education. I have worked the past 4 years as an academic aide for special needs students. This year I am subbing, which I actually like a lot, but it's not steady money. Oh well, beats total unemployment though. I also run a part time tutoring biz out of my home after hours, so I have figured out plenty of other ways to earn a teacher's living, (although a pittance), during this bad economy.

I have been married twenty-five years come October 20th to my high school sweetheart, and we have two daughters ages 16 and almost 20. They love writing too, so it does run in the family! Along with the humans, we have 5 kitties who provide endless hours of silly play, cuddles, lickies, head butts and purrs any time we wish.

I was adopted as a baby. I have always known that fact, but it was a huge source of frustration and angst for me as a kid. I hated the idea that other people of authority took control of my destiny and called the shots. Even if it did turn out for the good, it made me feel out of control and inadequate. in 1987-88 I searched for and found all of my birth family members on my birth mother's and b-father's sides. It's all good....as good as it can get, but it took a lot of hard work! In 2002, I began writing a memoir about growing up as an adopted kid, keeping that idea a big secret from every school peer and anyone else, and how isolating it always felt to be so different. I think for a time, I almost hated feeling different even more intensely than I did the idea of my birth mom's secret identity. My book is finished and in the re-editing and editing some more phase. It's in decent shape, actually, but I am not yet sure about publishing. I have a lot of family information in there, and some of my family might not appreciate how I wrote about that. No one is evil and sinister, but it's not all puppies and ponies either! We're human, and it's the human condition which I show in my book. I did not write it to be a dry, factual account. It's full of vignettes, told with humor and love where applicable, truthfulness and directness when needed. My book has Cincinnati trivia, memories of being a kid in the 1960's and 70's and as a young adult in the 1980's. Adoption truly affected every relationship I had and every experience I encountered, and I do my best to keep tying that connection back in as I tell the stories related to growing up with my restless parents, quirky aunt and uncle, my charmed and privileged brother and most importantly, my 2 adoring grandmothers who were the epitome of being a hero(ine). I also toss in my house pets and a lot of friends and travels as events lead up to how I found the other family who lived such a short distance away but was so out of reach for 26 years.

OK. That's me and my introduction entry for Week 0 of The Real LJ Idol, 2009-10. Glad to be aboard!
P.

This is my intent to join up for the Real LJ Idol. Nothing fancy or flashy, I'm just sayin'....P.