Who Done It?

You know what the loneliest feeling in the world is? When you are awake while everyone else is asleep!

Bedtime is sacred to me. If it is disrupted, I feel violated and robbed of an essential ingredient to my life.

Last night as I turned off my light and crawled under my cozy blankets and closed my heavy eyelids, I suddenly heard people. Now this is not all that odd, for there are people on either sides of me and below me--I live in an apartment. But this couple sounded unnaturally near to me. I have lived there almost two years and have never heard this couple this unnaturally near me. I sat upright and listened.

Nothing. I laid back down. And I heard them again! They were not incredibly loud, but the thing that unnerved me was that I could not figure out where they were! Were they in one of the apartments next to me? Strange because my bedroom is not directly against either apartment that sandwiches us. Were they below me? Even stranger because in two years I have NEVER heard the people below us.

They continued to talk and I could even catch snatches of their TV. At one point, I got up out of bed and went trapsing through my apartment, listening at walls, trying to figure out where they were. This no longer became an issue of them being too loud, it became an issue of finding out where they were! It was very unnerving. As I tiptoed around my place, they stopped and I could not locate the source of their noises. So I went back to bed.

They started talking again, sounding as if they were in the very next room! I finally drifted off to sleep, but to this moment still don't know exactly where they were. Perhaps there really are little elves in our houses. All I can say is they better be quiet tonight or else they'll get a slipper thrown at them! (Providing I can find them, of course. I'll look under my bed tonight.)

PS. Actually I don't have any slippers and I adore all my shoes too much to throw, so I may have to throw a toilet paper roll at them.

PSS. The reason for the toilet paper roll is that I recently purchased some in bulk, so have more than enough to spare for shutting up elusive neighbors.

I've never had a real hang-over from consuming large quantities of alcohol. (God forbid!) I have had a caffein hang-over before. But today I feel I have a vacation hang-over. I had a wonderful week of being in many places with many people. The majority of my time was spent in Santa Maria (which I am now secretly calling 'home'--don't tell anyone!). I spent most of my time with Michael (who I adore even more than before--that is not a secret). As wonderful as my vacation was, it was great to get home to my own bed, my own space, and my own box of Cheerios.

A friend asked me how I was going to handle moving to Santa Maria if I missed my home after only a week. I told her, "But my home will be Santa Maria." In all honesty, besides my bed, space, and Cheerios, I'm really missing Santa Maria where my amazing boyfriend, my new great friends, and my exciting future are.

That's the real reason I have a hang-over!

Hurray!

All my surreal moments have now become realities! I am now sitting in Michael Shaw's living room, enjoying the company of his delightful family. It is Easter Sunday and He is risen! (He is risen indeed!) And it is my birthday. And thus begins a beautiful week of Spring vacation in Santa maria. I am feeling more like a Santa Maria resident, so I will attempt to do what all the great Santa Maria bloggers do--give shout outs!

Michael--can you be any more AMAZING?!
Suzie--can you sketch me a copy of the armor of God model?
Jenn--can you call me Thurs for our lunch date?
Tanya--can we start a club for braces-deprived children?
Parker--can we get together and quote?

Dreams Within Dreams

I've been living in surreal moments all week.

1. Spring vacation begins officially Thurs. at 3:00pm when my 11 dahling students who I love but am sick of march out the Neverland House (my class) to their parents. While I am most definitely ready for vacation and have been anticipating it for days (as my students have too), it still seems surreal that it begins tomorrow!

2. I will be relaxing in Santa Maria officially beginning Saturday night when I speed into town. Again I have been anticipating this coming week for many days, but it's still surreal.

3. My birthday is officially Sunday, but with all these other things to anticipate, this fact is merely...surreal!

4. My sister leaves for the islands of Belize Thurs. night for a week-long mission trip. (pray for her) I'm taking her to LAX and she will be gone on this trip...without me! (a first) This is very surreal.

5. And last but definitely NOT least is the most exciting and most anticipated event of all these. I will see Michael Thursday night! There has been much turmoil in making our meeting possible, but finally we have a plan that will bring us together! This is extremely surreal.

Thank God for surreal moments, for they soon will be realities!

Num-Nums!

Classic villain duo of all time!

Aslan Is On the Move

Narnia is here!

Last Tuesday, Narnia came to the world again. I was in the middle of passing out peanuts for my students to snack on during SAT testing. Tino started to munch and then quoted our beloved dwarf, "Num-nums!" I suddenly stopped and gasped and exclaimed, "Today is April 4! Narnia is out today!" All my students cheered. Then we went back to boring testing and salty peanuts.

On Thursday, our class went on a field trip to Albertson's (which is right across the street from our school) (Hey, do not judge Albertson's--it was a great trip.) As we gathered around our tour guide, Nathan suddenly spotted three TVs up on the wall. "Miss Drazin, they're playing Narnia!" he whispered with much excitement. Pretty soon my whole class was staring up at the screens watching Mr. Tumnus and Lucy's first meeting. They were more excited about that than our tour guide at the moment. I did my best to re-focus them to her. But honestly, I really wanted to stay and watch Mr. Tumnus and Lucy have tea.

On Friday, a good number of my students bragged that they had bought Narnia and had already watched it a few times. They were shocked that I had not yet gotten it. I did start to feel very left out. And I started to feel really anxious about seeing all the special features! That night I mentioned it to my mom, and she told me not to worry, that I would be getting it for my birthday. Hooray! But sadly my birthday isn't till Easter!

Oh well, things are sweeter when you wait longer for them. And waiting to watch Narnia is as sweet as Turkish delight!

Results of the Try Outs

First of all, I must say thank you for all you good sports who competed. Next, special recognition goes to the Anonymous Poster who gave me a summer memory book full of quotes--that can never be topped. Special recognition also goes to Michael Shaw who cheated. However, because he was honest about cheating (yes, that does make sense), he is not entirely disqualified. Here is how the rating goes: one point for each submitted quote that I knew. One point for each movie that I have seen from which you quoted. And 1 point for the greatness of that particular quote. So here goes...

Michael Shaw: 2 points for the Wedding Singer quote (I saw the movie and it was a good choice of quotes. But I do not remember it.)
Jen: 3 points for the Napoleaon Dynamite quote (I saw the movie, I knew the quote, and it's one of the best from that movie!)
Parker: 2 points for the Robin Hood quote ( I saw the movie, and it's a great line, but I don't really remember it). 3 points for the Star Wars quote (I saw the movie a billion times, I knew the quote like the back of my hand, and it's one of the most memorable quotes from Han)
I am also tempted to give a point for the Life of Brian quote only because it's a Monty Python quote. But I must be honest that I have not seen that one, so I didn't recognize it, and therefore cannot rightly judge if it's one of the great quotes from that movie.

Final results:
Parker got the gold--we shall hang out when I need to let off some good quoting
Jen got the silver--you have much potential and as we become better BFFs, you will learn to develop that potential into greatness!
Michael got the bronze--there are so many other amazing things about you that you need not beat yourself up over this. This was strictly a contest and the results do not in any way change the way I feel about you! "It's not personal, it's business" --You've Got Mail quoting the Godfather (what a great thing when movies quote other movies!)

"Adieu, adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow!" --Willy Wonka