Schoolhouse Rock - set design

Last year: Alice in Wonderland, this year:  Schoolhouse Rock.  Initially, I was excited to be designing the set for this play - I remember the Schoolhouse Rock videos from when I was a kid, and I still have a a few of those songs in my head.  I bought the DVD when I began teaching and I hummed a few bars of a couple of of the songs for my students when they popped into my head (most often, "... a noun is a person place or thing").  I thought I'd be making 9 paper mache planets (thank goodness THAT didn't pan out - TOO time consuming!) for the skit involving Interplanet Janet.

Once the school year started, however, and all sorts of other activities kicked into high gear, set design took a back burner.  Now February is looming, and I have just about one month to pull all this together, so here's my plan:

After creating last year's set, I learned a lot.  First, I must say, I LOVED how the mushrooms came out. They were a HUGE amount of work, however, and I'm not sure they were worth it, considering how far in the background most of them were.  A friend of mine lectured me on this as I was making them, and she was right.  Here's a picture:

Two things disappointed me with this set:  1.  Under the lights, everything looks so FLAT.  And 2. I was just not filling up that verticle space. With that in mind, when the director told me that Schoolhouse Rock is pretty much a one set play, I determined to figure out how to use that verticle space. 

The stage does have "fly space" the space above where you can see - by the lights all the way up to the ceiling.  It also has the necessary bar for hanging scenery the scenery on, however, there's one problem.  the bar is supposed to move up and down, and it doesn't.  The company that installed it, installed it as a stationary bar.  Oh well.

But for a one-set play, this is not a problem.  The set is supposed to be a classroom - the play is about a teacher on the morning of the first day of school, worrying about his first day.  The director thought, a bunch of chalk boards, and I think some chalk boards are cool, but not enough.  I thought a couple of LARGE, flat rectangles hanging from the ceiling could be like posters on the wall of the class.  The construction guy (a different one from last year's guy) agreed that this would not be a problem.  The one on the left is going to be a large map of the United States, and the one on the right (a long rectangle, hanging vertically) is going to be the American flag, with either the Pledge of Allegiance or the Preamble to the Constitution written underneath (there is a skit involving the Preamble - it's one of the songs I still have in my head after 30 or so years). My other, standing pieces will be a drawing of a person's circulatory system, some artfully drawn adjectives, and definitely a few "chalk boards" with things like "Do Now..." and maybe "Describe your Favorite Summer Vacation Memory" written on them. 

There are going to be some desks in the front, painted in crazy colors.  The custodial staff found some old ones in the basement that are not going to be used anymore, so we have permission to paint them. 

Other than those things my only major task is to create 9 planets (Pluto was still a planet back in the 70s) and a sun.  Create them so they are up in the air.  And they light up.  My plan is to make them out of wire, cover the wire shapes with fabric batting, spray paint the batting in appropriate colors...  and mount them on long poles.  Mounted to the pole inside each planet is going to be one or more strings of battery operated Christmas lights. 

I made a test one (although I didn't spray paint my test one) and they look AWESOME.  Now, I am just worrying that someone will accidentally bash a pole into something important.  Like someone else's head.  I bought poles that are long enough so they can sit on the floor - I thought they'd be easier to handle that way.

I have a lot of things to do, to put it bluntly.  I have about 26 kids who want to be on stage crew, though, so I'm trying to work it out so they can do most of the work. I'm splitting them up into 3 teams for construction, and based on the fact that I washed out a LOT of paintbrushes last year that I didn't use, I made a poster of stage crew rules. 

  
Tomorrow, I bring my supplies to work, and Tuesday, I start working with the kids.  I'll keep you posted.  Wish me luck!

Tiny Terror

We got a puppy last weekend, and she has already taken over everything.  Meet Zoey, the 12 pound terror.

Who, (with the exception of brand new parents), would think that something in the neighborhood of 10 pounds could so quickly turn your household upside down?  Not only is there a lot of paraphernalia; dog dishes, chewy toys, and things like "wee wee pads" (yuck - but they sure beat the heck out of plain old newspaper)  there are other things to consider as well...  Just because your alarm clock is set for 5:15 does not mean the puppy won't start missing her new human pack at say, 4:30 a.m.  and then what will you do? I mean, you could get a cage, but if you don't plan on using it for long, should you even bother?  If you don't get one, what will you use to corral your new furry child in to her safe location?  Safe, as in, safe for the puppy, and safe for your house...  Is there such a thing as a safe location in your house?  Will your puppy chew the corners of your kitchen cabinets?  Will those old child safety gates also work for a puppy?  By the way, when we trotted out the first safety gate, my son said he remembered being corralled in the den with it when he was little.  But guess what... higher intelligence is still trumped by the much greater spring in Zoey's hind legs - as of today she has vaulted herself over the top of the gate multiple times. 

She seemed so calm when I spotted her in her cage in the animal shelter - sleeping peacefully, all curled up in a ball...  I just knew she wouldn't be a barker, and she really is not.  But that doesn't mean she's not a jumper (maybe "vaulter" or more accurate).  Or a chewer. Does she chew her $8.00 dog toys?  Noooooo.... she'd rather chew an empty water bottle or the top of the battery operated pillar candle I got from Costco.  It no longer has a wick, and it's covered in chew marks.  

Will this be the motivator that finally gets everyone to put their shoes away all the time?  What good is a nice pair of shoes if the toes are all decorated with tiny teeth marks?

Still, she's so damn cute you just want to chase her around the house until she bites all your toes off...

...after she's practiced using her wee wee pads, of course.

From G-2 Pens to Nostalgia...

Today, I finally got a look at the infamous G-2 pens.  One of the sixth grade boys was in the hallway coming from the bathroom when the teacher on hall duty noticed all the pens in his pocket. 

"Hey, look at all those pens you have!" 

He proudly lifted the edge of his shirt so she could see the multi-colored beauties, all lined up like soldiers in his front pocket.

"Wow - that's quite a collection! Are those the G-2 pens I've been hearing so much about?"

"Yeah..."  you couldn't wipe the smile off his face if you tried, it was so huge.

"What's so special about those pens?"  she asked him.  "Why does everyone want them?"

How can one explain the love of an eleven year old boy? "Because they come in all different colors, and you can take them apart, and switch out the ink inside... they're really expensive" he added, "they're like a dollar each"  This, I find ironic, from a kid in an age where they think it's not unrealistic to want a new game system because they just came out with one decorated with Gears of War designs.  

"That's it?" she pressed.  "I know of lots of pens that come in all different colors - why are those so great?" 

Clearly willing to demonstrate a newfound favorite subject for her, the boy took one of his pens out of his pocket and kneeled down on the floor right there in the hallway.  He unscrewed the pen and removed its contents - an ink tube, a spring, a small colored plastic cork of sorts.  The hall duty teacher immediately began humming the theme from Mission Impossible, which is ironic, since that's what I used to humm in my head when I, bored in class, would take apart and reassemble my own pens way-back-when.  Does that make me a total nerd?  Does my use of the word "nerd" make me old? But I digress...  He reassembled the parts of his pen in a different order, then aimed the pen slightly up and out, and pressed the tiny pen-trigger, and launched the ink tube...

...a measely three feet, at best. 

"...and you can shoot em" he said, trying to sound casual, but clearly in awe.  Ah, the real reason for his fondness was suddenly, glaringly apparent.  "you know, if those were mine," I said, "I'd get the springs from TWO pens and find a way to put them together to make it shoot twice as far."  Clearly, sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut, however, I'm not sure my suggestion registered with him. 

Later, when I got home, I told my son about these pens.  He suggested we look it up on Youtube, which is his version of Encyclopedia Brittanica.  Well, lo and behold, 9 million videos on Pilot G-2 pens, and how to make them into missiles, etc.  We searched the house and found two perfect specimens already in our possession.  We followed the instructions and made our own poorly shooting pen-missiles. Of course, my son being my son, he immediately attempted the two-spring suggestion, but he said there's a ridge inside the pen that makes using two springs impossible. Oh well.  

All this got me thinking about what kids collected when I was that age... and I thought of those combs that everyone had sticking out of their back pockets - they came in a multitude of colors - I think all pastels. I think they were Goody brand - I do believe I even saw them in the store recently, although not in the vast array of colors they had back then.  They had rounded handles with a tiny hole in the center, and the teeth were rounded as well.  If you were really cool you had all the colors, and you chose a comb each morning that matched your outfit. 

For shooting things, there was the standard rubberband, sometimes shot alone, or loaded with folded papers, which my own kids call paper wasps.  I didn't know they had a name, but when you're hit with one, it stings like hell, so that name makes perfect sense.  As a kid my husband used unfolded paperclips in what he calls a "paperclip fight."  I threw paper clips, but I don't remember shooting unfolded ones with rubberbands - I heartily believed in the "you'll shoot someone's eye out" theory.  Of course, if I had shot paper clips with rubberbands, I might not admit to it now.

When I was in sixth grade we all collected these weird, stickers that came in gum (or maybe you just bought them outright?  I can't remember) ...they were parodies of famous products that were currently out on the market, like Heinz Ketchup.  The sticker would be an exact duplicate of a Heinz Ketchup bottle, but instead of Heinz Ketchup, it would be called something like HEINOUS Ketchup and it would have green chunks in it or some other gross thing.  What WERE those things called?

Ah, who can dictate the things that appeal to kids in each age?  Remember Silly Bandz? and that was only two years ago.  And so we come to the question:  will anyone remember the furor over G-2 pens in thirty years?

Drunken Santa

We went to the city this weekend.  The city, as in New York City.  For my daughter's birthday, she wanted to go to the American Girl store, walk around (and buy some 5.00 pashmina scarves) and see the Christmas tree.   We planned a nice day - it was the immediate family, grandma, and my daugher's friend and her family as well.  Lovely right?  I thought so.  And we did have a good time.  But there was something disturbing about Saturday.  It was Drunken Santa Day.  Apparently, someone had planned a meeting of people dressed in all manner of lewd Santa costumes.  A pub crawl in Santa suits. 

Now, I have nothing against pub crawls, although I've never crawled from pub to pub, but hey, to each his own.  What bothers me is lewd, drunken, pub-crawling Santas.  As soon as we arrived at the train station, we saw an unusual amount of policemen, and my husband asked them, "Aren't there a lot of you guys here?  What's going on today?" to which one of them responded, "some Santa thing going on."  Santa thing?  Is this a new thing?  If not, how did I get through my youth without ever once seeing hundreds of drunken santas parading around New York slurring Christmas greetings to everyone and singing bawdy Christmas songs? 

We saw Santas in skin tight union-suit-like onesies, like giant red babies with beer cans instead of bottles, leering Santas, Santas wearing short skirts, Santas with their cleavage hanging out, Santas hitting on elves...  I even heard a Santa cat-call as we were crossing Time's Square.  Santas should just not cat-call. I'm sorry, that's just my belief.

I was torn between finding this whole thing sort of funny, and being grossed out. Don't get me wrong, I was not disturbed about having my kids see these crazy Santas. 

(excuse my horribly grainy photos, folks)

They're old enough to know that people dressed up in Santa suits are still just people.  I was personally disturbed. It's like imagining Santa doing any number of things you just should not imagine Santa doing.  (ugh - my eyes, my eyes!!)  Respect the suit.

Santa shouldn't do things like pass out in Penn Station, is all I'm saying.

Sleep is SO overrated...

3:00 a.m.  

…suddenly… inexplicably… I’m wide awake.

Why can’t I ever be this awake at 5:15 on weekdays when the alarm goes off?

It’s 3 am.  What is it with me and 3 a.m.? 

I have to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow (or is that today?) and look for that Christmas snow blanket stuff so I can make that sample light-up planet for the play.

I should fold some laundry.

I should get up and wash another load of laundry right now – Lord knows I have so much of it.

Did I charge my phone last night?

I should wrap some presents.  I should have gotten those gift cards while we were out last night.  Damn.  I have so much to do tomorrow, how am I going to get it all done?

We need more guinea pig shavings – I should start a Wal-Mart list.

Would any other teachers besides Mr. S. even want to go to our class reunion? Let’s see… who else might still be alive?

It’s Rose’s birthday on 12/16.  Wonder how she’s doing…  Hope she doesn’t drop out of school when she turns 16.  Hope she doesn’t land herself in juvie… or get pregnant. 

Get Rose a birthday card.

Gotta go to Home Depot tomorrow for some chicken wire for the planets, and then Michael’s for the battery operated lights.

Christmas card pictures.  I have to take them tomorrow.  Where the heck am I going to take them?

3:45 a.m.

May as well get up and do that laundry.

Why am I putting the dirty laundry in the dryer? 

Wonder if Costco is going to get that cranberry white chocolate cookie dough again… yum.

My neck hurts – I should make more of those microwavable warmers – damn you, broken sewing machine!

I should put on some more moisturizer…  will I get added benefits from an additional application in the middle of  the night?

How many more paydays till Christmas?  I should have gotten those damn gift cards!

Oh, I still have to collect those pine cones for girl scouts next week…  where IS my glue gun?

Should I take the Christmas card picture in the field?

I should listen to my Playaway while I’m cleaning, but then, will I later fall asleep perseverating on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest?   Better not.

I should practice some karate…  will I EVER learn uke waza?

What should I make for dinner?

6:10 a.m.  

 Oh, I think I’m getting tired… hallelujah!

Good thing it’s Sunday. 

Good night. Or is that good morning?

Finished Face Mask!

Here is the finished face mask.  In case you haven't noticed, I did change the pink color of the mouth - it was just waaaaaayy to pink so I toned it down a bit.  If you like the dotted design (try googling "Aboriginal designs"), I HIGHLY recommend you getting a round brush to do it with.  I used a small brush with a flat end, and I had to paint, rather than just dab each dot... too time consuming.  I went out and got myself a couple of round brushes this weekend.  I finished painting it last Saturday and then gave it a clear coat of Mod Podge during the week.  I gave it to my friend Gabby on Thursday and she LOVED it.  She said it was the best gift she ever got, and she hung it on the wall in her office.  She asked me, "How can you give this away?"  I really meant it when I said that the fun of it for me, was in the creation, and in her appreciation of it.  

Now, what next?

Painting the mask, otherwise known as - Uh Oh...

So, it's now time in the project where I take something that I think looks pretty good, and either make it better, or screw it up totally.  This is the painting step.

I googled some pictures of aboriginal art, mostly because I liked the dotted designs, and then I found a couple of pictures of African face masks.  I figured I'd try to incorporate the two designs together a bit.

I decided the other day that I am going to give this mask to someone I work with - I think she'll get a kick out of it, and maybe she can hang it on the wall in her office and get a laugh now and then.  If she hates it, maybe I'll hang it in my office - I can tell everyone it's my creative muse. 

I cut out a few basic shapes from a piece of scrap paper just so I could trace them and flip them over to get mirror images on each side of the face.  I cut an eye, two stripes for the side of Mr. Mask's face, and a teardrop shape for his forehead.

Next, I chose some colors from my stash...

I probably should have gone with more traditional earth tones (or is it Earth tones?), but I was trying to keep it peppy and match some of the colors in her office. Maybe that was a mistake?

I started painting and somewhere around the mouth I thought,

'uh oh...  looks like the Joker in Batman...'

...but then I thought it made a slight recovery when I added the green.  Much of the white space that's remaining is going to be black, and then I'm going to cover almost the whole thing with coordinating dots, which I think will tone down the bright colors quite a bit. 

Oh, and if my darling husband sees this, he'll know why there are still dishes in the sink.