Just Thinkin' Out Loud

I believe you can tell a lot about a country/religion/ a person, by how they treat dissenters... people who are in opposition.

Iranian Cleric Urges Harsh Punishment
Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.

Typical

So, when my buddy got his Spanish speaking video camera home on Tuesday night, he jimmyed with it for a minute & wouldn't you know it, he got the blasted thing to work.

Typical.

Anyway- Wednesday Wendy came over and we shot the video. Yes, that means that the camera worked!!!!!! Oh, glorious, glorious day! Oh, happy day!

.... But then Wendy tried to upload the video to my pretty, pretty pink precious.

DUHDUHDUH.... (please hear music of doom... seems to be a theme with me)

It didn't work.

Typical x2.

Poor Wendy found herself dumped into the sea of frustration.... I think it was a little chily. She seemed a little .... oh, what's the word? Miffed? I'll spare you the gory details- it ends with Wendy taking the video camera to her abode and uploading the video to her computer & then trying to send me the video.

Again, I say trying.

Typical x3.

Wendy finally decided to put the video on her flash drive & I went by her work on Thursday to upload it to my pretty, pretty pink precious.

And guess what happened next?

It worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I submitted my video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the villagers rejoiced... until they realized that we have a baby shower happening tomorrow & a ton of work to do to make the village presentable.

"Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go....."

Doomed

On the heels of yesterday's post about learning to discipline myself & get things done, I thought I'd get started in the right direction by scratching a certain video off my list.

In one of my on-line classes, I wrote a paper about homeschooling... and now I have to "give a talk" about it. Which basically means, I have to stare into a camera and spout mindless fact for 7-8 minutes. (Don't even get me started on the arbitrary number.) Anywhoo, this video has been hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles for months.... and months.... and a few more months. It's pathetic, really.

HOWEVER, in February or March I finally borrowed a friend's video camera & roped someone into shooting it and asking the required 2 questions.

(BTW, I had to borrow a video camera because the camera I was going to use crapped out over the Christmas holidays. It's my parents camera. The funny part of this story is this: the charger no longer charges the battery & we can't find the right charger any longer.... but the hilarious part is that we used this camera to tape the first few months of J's life.... on a tape, that's still in the camera- that has no juice... So at some point, we're either going to find the right charger thingy or I'm prying that bad boy open and getting that tape!)

Moving on- I couldn't get the video up loaded to the pretty, pretty pink precious. So, I called Beth (camera owner) over and begged her to figure out how to upload it. And darned it she couldn't get it either. ::sigh:: So, she took the camera home with her and tried to upload it on her pretty, pretty MAC precious.

And guess what happened next?!

The video disappeared. Ya, who heard that right.

::le sigh::

So, that brings me to last night. I borrowed yet another camera (it's special) and corralled yet another person to assist me. I should have known it was a lost cause when a phone call to the camera owner didn't go through.... Yeah, this camera has "special instructions." Lovely.

Why me?

Finally, we get said owner on the phone and Wendy (super-dooper friend) was walked through the camera instructions. Okay. Got them. Ready to shoot. (The special instructions were, don't turn the camera off once you turn it on, because it won't turn back on for some amount of time. You'll have to disconnect the battery, the power supply & then turn around twice and spit, all while doing the hokey-pokey.)

But then.......

It started blinking instructions in Spanish.....

::whimper::

At this point I'm berating myself for not paying more attention in my high school Spanish classes.

We call the camera owner, AGAIN, and compel him to come and translate this mess. Of course, this was after Wendy tried to read him what was on the screen. Later, it was proved that she was REALLY off. I probably should have been the one to read it, but I was laughing too hard.

The camera owner ambles over to my humble home & we eventually decide that this is a lost cause... namely after the 5th time the stupid camera shut off.

::double le sigh::

Can you guess what's coming next?

That's right, I'm borrowing another camera today & Wendy and I are going to try this again.

Wish us luck- we're going to need it.

Discipline

.... it's a four letter concept in my world. I am, possibly, one of the most undisciplined people ever to walk the face of the earth- and you need only a few minutes of knowing me to believe that.

And I hate that. I hate that I have such a hard time staying on task and completing the tasks that I know I have to finish... to say nothing of starting those tasks. But I am undisciplined in just about every aspect of my life. Getting up in the morning, check. Going to bed at a descent hour, check. Not eating a bunch of junk food, check. School work, check. Exercise, double check, check.

And now, I'm looking at my son & I'm supposed to be teaching him discipline?!

Uhhhh... Houston, we have a problem.

How can I possibly teach J to master himself & be disciplined, when I haven't even mastered myself?

I've got to learn this! It's a thought that has been pressing more and more upon me here lately. Oh, what a struggle. Lord, help me as I struggle with this. Help me to balance mastering myself with indulging my many passions.

Does anyone else wrestle with this every day? There must be- a friend of mine on Facebook (sigh) sent me a Flair (double sigh) here not too long ago. It read, "Procrastinators of the World, Unite!... Tomorrow!"

Oy.

The Nameless Post of Stuff

Well, bless my buttons, it's the end of June! Good grief... It's been a wild couple of months & lot's of events have blazed their way into my path.

Cotton Patch Gospel went dark a week or so ago. It was a great show and I am very proud to have stage managed it. But, I'm tired! My brain is just now starting to reboot! I am theatre free until August/September- WOMP has a radio show piece coming around the bend & I am very excited.

I am, however, teaching a WOMP camp in early/mid-July... cause I'm nuts. The week culminates with my kiddo's performing their show on Friday, Sat (without their devoted director, me) and a Sunday afternoon. I'm missing the Sat night show, because my mom bought tickets to see A Chorus Line & there is no way I'm missing that. Thank you, DSM, for making a childhood dream come true. And, while I'm thanking DSM, I should give them a shout-out for bringing the stage version of my favorite movie to Dallas. Yes, that's right, I saw The Wizard of Oz this past Sat afternoon! Greatness, I tell you. Greatness.

Not to totally jump tracks on you, but I think I've finally managed to figure out Mr. Jacob and the napping "issues" that have been plaguing us (me) since his birth. You may, faithful reader, remember me mentioning (a million) a few times that my son seems to have an aversion (burning hatred) of napping. Well, for the last week or so, I've been trying a new strategy in my mini-war. I tire him out until lunch(ish) time and then I feed him and bottle & he goes right to sleep for his MUCH needed nap.

Is that success I'm smelling?

I do believe it is! (For now.)

And, speaking of victories, I finally figured out how to change my blog to a 3 column blog! Whoo-hoo! It's been beyond my tiny computer abilities for a while, but I finally found an on-line tutorial that worked... meaning, one that I could understand the instructions! :-)

Hope everyone had a great Father's Day weekend!
I leave you with a picture!

And We're Dark....

But we had a great run! Cotton Patch Gospel completed it's run this past Sunday. It was my joy to act as stage manager & I enjoyed every minute of it. I'll miss the cast & the show.