GalaxyCast #105

Well, another crazy week has gone by and another one is right around the corner.  I keep telling myself that if I just get through this week, the next week will be that much easier.  Yet somehow that never works out.  LOL!  But I’m still taking it one day at a time and I think it is working for me and I’m starting to calm down at least a little bit.  I have been displaced from my classroom at work and the good news is that I now know that I will be back in my classroom just after Thanksgiving Break.  That will help me quite a bit because it will help to get me back into a routine and will help me organize myself a little bit.  But that’s something for another time.  Let me handle this week in the order that things happened.

On Saturday, the two youngest kids and I were involved in the Star Wars at Strong Museum of Play event up in Rochester, NY.  It was loads of fun.  The kids could not get over how many pictures were taken of them and how many people actually came to the event.  I knew it would be crazy, but they weren’t really that prepared for that many people.  We then watched “Heart of an Empire” after the event and I have to say that is a great movie.  If you haven’t seen the video, find it, buy it, and watch it!  It explains why we costume at each and every event.  It was so touching, my daughter and I started balling during the middle of the movie.  After that, we went to the dinner after the event and then went back to my parents’ house.

On Sunday, we got up and went to church at the Webster Presbyterian Church with my parents and then ate breakfast out at a local diner.  After breakfast, we went home, packed up and headed back home.  We made it home just in time to unload the car and get Austin to his recording for BYSO.  I watched part of the St. Louis Rams game and got things ready for the week.  That night, Heather and I watched “Boardwalk Empire” and “The Walking Dead” along with “The Amazing Race” and then went to bed.  Monday was a typical work day and after school I had a meeting.  I then went home and had dinner with the family and while I graded papers, I tried to catch up on TV watching from the weekend and then watched “How I Met Your Mother”, “2 Broke Girls”, “Mike and Molly”, and “Moms” before heading to bed.

Tuesday was another typical work day and that night we had our last BCO rehearsal before we had our official rehearsal at East Middle before the actual concert there this weekend.  Wednesday was my day where I didn’t have too much going on.  I worked and came home and made sure Ruth got to work at Wendy’s as well.  On Thursday I started to prep things for tonight and this weekend.  But I had to be at West the second half of the day, so I had to work through my lunch hour to make it happen.  But I got the job done and last night’s rehearsal went very well.  Today was another busy day.  I had my job and as soon as I got done, I raced home and picked up Austin and loaded up the van for the dance tonight.  We then headed over to East Middle School and STAR Productions DJ’d the first dance of the year tonight and things went really well.  It was a busy night and a busy week.  But I had more things going on next week that would make it busy as well.

Okay, no reading tonight.  Instead, it’s time to listen to Episode #105 of the GalaxyCast Podcast.  Head on over to the GalaxyCast Website and check it out.  Again, I have to thank Gary Boughton and Ian Palmer for being my co-hosts and to Mike Wilkerson and the Two Guys Talking Podcast Network for all their effort  and support over the years.  MAY THE FORCE BE WITH THOSE WHO LISTEN!

‘Star Wars – Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader’ – Chapter 50

Well, the weeks seem to be flying by and I still feel like things are extremely out of control as far as what I can and cannot control at this point.  Those that know me well, know that I need to feel in control and when I don’t feel in control, I start to go a little bit “loopy” and lately I’ve felt quite loopy.  I’m trying to deal with the situations around me and my philosophy right now is to just take it one day at a time.  This past week we had an extra day off and I have to say that I enjoyed having another day at home and I am working anxiously to get things done that are on my work bench at home.  My bench is full of all sorts of projects and it actually annoys me when the bench is full of projects and I feel like I’m not getting anything done when those projects don’t come off the bench.  I have a lot I want to get done, and no time to get any of it done.  I also wanted to get things together for this weekend and then I have to look ahead to next weekend.

This weekend is the Star Wars at Strong Museum Event.  I had plans on staying the whole weekend, but Austin has a taping for the BYSO on Sunday, so we have to not attend the Sunday of the event and only go for Saturday.  Last weekend, for the first time in quite some time, I actually missed an Albany Comic Con.  I just have not been in a position to be able to take off to a Con like that on a weekend.  And Heather finally got her van back and we are still playing “catch up” at home trying to get things back together with her being “immobile” for over a month.  It wasn’t easy to make this house work that way and we made it work.  Now, as if I haven’t had enough kicks in the rear end this year, we find out there is a weak spot on our roof.  We want to get it repaired, but time is of the essence.  And with winter getting upon us, we need to search for a contractor to get it done rather quick.

Then there’s my job.  I will never talk about specifics when it comes to my job.  But I will say to all of my friends out there that you need to pray about the employees at my job.  There are things going on there that are stressful for all of us.  We need your thoughts and your prayers as things are getting more difficult.  On the flip side, Heather is really starting to enjoy her job and is starting to really get into the job.  There are moments when she is really tired because of the amount of hours she is working, but she enjoys the job.  The kids are excited as they are getting ready for All County auditions and their winter concerts are approaching rather quickly upon us.  It is amazing how quick Thanksgiving and even Christmas are approaching upon us.  Tonight, I had plans on making it Rochester on time to get to the Strong Museum for the kids and I to do a walkthrough, but traffic in Syracuse decided that wasn’t going to happen.  So, we stopped at the mall after dealing with an accident and decided to just go straight to my parents’ house and deal with the event tomorrow.

Okay, let’s talk about Chapter 50 of “Star Wars – Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader” by James Luceno……

‘Star Wars – Yoda: Dark Rendezvous’ – Chapter 4

Well, it’s been a long week and I can’t believe all the things that I’m fitting into one week.  What makes it tough is that I do not have a weekend free with all these weeks that have been passing by lately.  I would love to have a whole weekend home with the family with nothing major to actually do to anything.  But alas, that is not going to happen anytime soon.  So, now is a good time to catch all of you up on what has been going on in my life.

Last weekend I headed up to Rochester and visited with my family for a little bit.  More importantly, I spent some time with my friends in Garrison Excelsior of the 501st Legion and I have to say we had a blast!  We did an event at the Strong Museum of Play called “In Another Galaxy” and it was just awesome!  There were close to sixty costumers there at the museum throughout the weekend and we provided the public with an amazing array of costumed characters and we made it fun and enjoyable for everyone, even the costumers.  I have to give a shout-out to the garrison on this one, the organizers, and even the museum.  This was a great kick in the pants that I needed to get myself back into loving costuming again.

This last weekend was also Ruth and Austin’s NYSSMA Solo competition weekend.  I felt bad that I could not be there, but as Heather reminded me, there is nothing I could do even if I was able to make it.  It’s on my own kids to perform and they will perform whether I’m there or not.  However, my wife told me on Saturday night that Ruth came out of her performance room in tears saying that she messed up and she was not happy because she screwed up her favorite movement.  So, when I got home I talked to her a little bit and we decompressed from the weekend.  She was wound up a little tight about everything, but she also has my “bad” gene.  She has become her own worst critic.  I cannot complain because she got a 93 on a Level V solo in 9th grade.  There are not a lot of students doing Level V solos at her age, so she should be very proud.

Austin was not as concerned.  He told me that he knows he messed up on his trumpet solo, but that he will continue to work on things.  He doesn’t see himself as a musician and I’m not going to put pressure on him about it.  Heather said he had to start and stop a few times on his vocal solo and we know that he got a 92 on that.  Overall, they didn’t do bad, I just think Ruth put pressure on herself to do better.  I would hope that I am not putting any pressure on her.

My week this week has been really busy for several reasons.  First, it’s the first full week of school after the New York State testing.  My kids seem to be getting back into the routine, which is important to me so that I can continue working with my fourth period students.  Also, this weekend is not only Free Comic Book Day, but it’s also the date of the Binghamton Community Orchestra concert.  We have some interesting pieces, but none are as demanding as the Hailstork and the Kalinikov.  I hope things go well for that on this Saturday.  I also have more practices for the group this week in preparation for that concert.  This week is also the first week that I will be missing one of my kids’ concerts.  I feel bad, but their concert is on Thursday and my final rehearsal for this concert is on Thursday as well.

But, not too much has me as excited as Friday night.  I already have my tickets to see “The Avengers” on Friday night.  I can’t wait!  I’m about as pumped for this movie as I have been for most of the Star Wars movies.  I have several concerns about the movie and I’ve already been told to stay till after the credits like all the other Avengers movies, so I will do just that.  However, I am concerned that the movie will not live up to my expectations.  The bar is set pretty high for this movie, I just hope that it can meet that bar and it doesn’t fall short.  I am praying that is not the case.  So, busy and exciting week.  I will be so happy when my life finally slows down that I can stop for a second to “smell the roses” instead of being constantly on the go.

Okay, let’s talk about Chapter 4 of “Star Wars – Yoda:  Dark Rendezvous” by Sean Stewart……..