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LOOKING FORWARD to MAY

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

On Tuesday I began to teach online.  I use a word game called Taboo. The objective of the game is for a player to have their partners guess the word on the player's card without using the word itself or five additional words listed on the card. I help international students build their vocabulary on a Tandem language app.

On Thursday, I performed in Improv-a Go-Go with our accessibility and inclusion team. We had 10 performers with disabilities on stage. A common theme seemed to be platypi. These small animals were dictators and falling from the sky. Pretty soon they were everywhere, which made for funny comedy

On Friday, I  had the maintenance come and fix a curtain rod, which was impossible for me to fix, and a flat tire on my son‘s bicycle.. it had been a very busy week, and on Tuesday I deleted a different type of work out at the Eagan YMCA, where you lift weights to cardio music, and occasionally do Barbies and lunges.

 

ON THE BLOG

 

Sunday Post

 

 

LOOKING FORWARD to MAY

Great week, I went to do Zumba a few times and did another class. OULA dance class celebrates the healing power of dance as part of an inclusive, come-as-you-are community where everyone is welcome.

I've been pretty involved in learning Portugueese. A few of my teachers have helped me on an app called Tandem.  You can exchange voice notes and engage with people in language parties. It's a great way confirm whether you are saying a word correctly. I learned that a few countries do not have access to this app because of censorship.

Lastly, I took zulfi to a few playgrounds where he could engage with kids and have fun. He can pretty much talk with any kid no matter what their age and invites himself in their game of tag.

A pic of the YMCA in Eagan

 

ON THE BLOG

Reading

Watching 

To All the Boys' Spinoff 'XO, Kitty'

I'm loving this spinoff on Netflix. It's based on the novel series "To All the Boys' I've Loved Before" and its set in South Korea and I was in Korea in 2009 to teach english, so I can relate to learning Korean and the many things the main character experienced.  I was also able to write a short monologue last night based on my experience and I will enclose it soon.

i 

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LOOKING FORWARD to MAY

Happy Mother's Day!

This week I went to I went to writers group on Saturday. Every other week this group meets at a different library. The group writes in silence for 20 minutes, and then everyone reads their work aloud.  The prompt word was slant. Writers wrote:

The slant in their homes

the slant in their relationships

the slant in their fantasy characters.

East Lake Library

I've been learning a bit of Portuguese and Spanish. People love when I come into voice language rooms  (online )to practice language with them because Ibring my laughter with me, and some are entertained by my witchy cackle.  

 I didn't know languages like Portuguese and Spanish had so many words in common.  I also found out Portuguese is one of the many romance languages, along with French, Italian, Spanish and Romanian.  

This week, I also got tamales from the local market.

Lastly, I did Zumba every day this week at local YMCA's. One of our instructors will be out due to knee surgery, so we asked to sign a petition for another dance instructor's approval to join, because she's in high demand apparently.  I often think of teaching zumba one day, I think it would be so much fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GrJX4GV7qw&ab_channel=ImprovCollege

Here is our most recent improv performance by Spaghetti Heroes Troop, taught by Vinny Francois

 

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Reading

 

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LOOKING FORWARD to MAY

This week I went to do Zumba at the YMCA a few times.  And spent some time talking to people about consciousness and being self aware.

I had a little time to finish a novel and conquered that On friday.  

Cinco de Mayo is huge in my area so I went to the festivities and there was a bouncy house for Zulfi, as well as firemen who were teaching kids how to pull dummies out of the fire.  It was fun to walk around and explore the various food trucks and vendors.

I also had a to have a root canal on Wednesday and I've been in some pain since then. 

Lastly,I went to the Minneapolis Art Institute.  They were having an exhibit on flowers and Asian art.  This included Chinese jades, bronzes, ceramics, including paintings of mythological and religious figures.

Art from the art institute

 

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LOOKING FORWARD to APRIL

This week I went to Stillwater YMCA.  It was a bit of a stretch to do Zumba twenty-five minutes from home, but I justified it because UBER offer sends me farther distances and I was in the mood to dance.

The instructor was quite good, we danced in a dark room with 20 other people and I got a good luck at this YMCA and what it offers.

On Thursday, I did improv comedy online with two special guests. One was from Greece and the other from Canada.  The one from Canada had a British accent, which I thoroughly enjoy.  We did a lot of scenes where we were either plumbers or women who had it out with their spouses.  It was fun. I included the link below for your entertainment.

I also spent time searching the apartment for amy son's toys, including tennis rackets, batteries for remote control cars, and nerf guns.  Then the both of us had a blast chasing one another with the toys.

I drove a bit for UBER and picked up some high school students. There were students who had been dismissed for fighting.  I remember in my early student teaching days breaking up fights that would happen between hall passing, or lunch hours.  I tried not to engage with my passengers about their profound abilities to fight a classmate, but listened in as they described the fight scene to a friend over the phone.

                                                            Upcoming theater Events

Here is a link to our audio comedy improv show

https://www.oozebear.com/listen-to-recording.php?id=fb003a0f7dba193a797e743b8b34b6da

 

ON THE BLOG

Reading 

Sunday Post

    

 

LOOKING FORWARD to APRIL

Happy National Librarian Day

On Saturday we recorded improv: Scenes From a Hat. We had comedian Craig O'Connor join us. These recordings can be fun because we get to know a everyone and this time I played a reporter interviewing a character who was collecting turtles after a flood, and I played a kindergarten teacher whose students were more interested in an activity called eating paint.

Scenes from a Hat (improv)

On Saturday we had Spontaneous theater. We write monologues and perform them the same day (similar to SNL). The theme was elevators. A lot of the monologues were people stuck in an elevator.  I have been stuck in an elevator a few times, but the thing I remember the most is having our tenth story elevator fixed.  I learned that there is something called The Pit at the bottom of elevator shafts and these pits need to be cleaned because of all the waste drained from the elevator.

                                                            Upcoming theater Events

Fearless Theater

May 12th

Have you ever wondered what the actors in the backgrounds of musicals are going through? Meet Bernice and Betty, and the rest of the ensemble of “Hills of Love”.

A Funny, cute, and heartwarming musical of why these actors do what they do.

 

ON THE BLOG

It's about two sisters, who are witches and twins, who are part of a prophecy about these legendary demon princes who each embody one of the seven deadly sins.

I started reading more and more fantasy fics and this one is pretty great.

Set on an isolated Canadian farm in the midst of World War II, The Cure for Death by Lightning evokes a life at once harshly demanding and rich in sensory ...

Magical realism in this historical British setting novel.

When Mackenzie, Sunna, and Maude move into a converted rental house, they are strangers with only one thing in common--important people in their lives have "ghosted" them.

In Avalonia, a land surrounded by an endless wall of mountains, Jaeger Clade and his fifteen-year-old son Searcher are adventurers who brave the wilderness to explore new worlds to search for a plant that gives off energy

I cannot tell enough people about this Disney Movie. I adored the computer graphics, and the movie themes.

A discussion with writers of the "Strange World"

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LOOKING FORWARD to APRIL

This week it snowed for the last time (I hope). We got like 6 inches in Minnesota, and I went out on Saturday and took one look at the snow and went back to bed, until they plowed the parking lot. 

Then I drove for ride-share and noticed a sand truck flipped over with sand pouring over the highway.  Luckily I was on the other side of the median. I went home after that.

But it's been an interesting week.  I got a transmission flush to keep up on the car maintenence, and had a joke with the mechanic there after he hoisted my car up, I realized that I may need my house key so I could go home and wait for the mechanics to finish and he said I  could break the window of my house and climb in, and I was like:

 "I live on the tenth floor of my complex" and he was like " Climb the drainage pipes."

 

 

ON THE BLOG

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LOOKING FORWARD to March

This week I've been on an exercise binge; three days this week I've made it to the gym (two times a day).  

On Saturday I took a Zumba class and the teacher was so engaging, she'd dance with us one-on-one, and she had us do a dance battle by separating the class into two and we taunted one another by doing dance moves, fun!!!

On Saturday I did  improv, 

We played an improv game called Three Things and my topic was: Three Things we'd find at a Walmart

And I said,

1.fruit sampler 

2.pickup artist,

3.coupon person.

I said pickup artist because I didn't want to say thief. I recently learned that a Walmart near my home will be closing due to the fact that it's not making any profit. 

In improv, we also talked about how there's fewer third places for people to hang out; places like malls, libraries, and shelters.

Lastly, I bought my son this new electric motorcycle so he's been having fun riding around the neighborhood.

psychological facts

1. The more you hug your children, the happier they will be as adult.
2. If a speaker actively seeks out eye contact when talking, he or she is judged to be more believable, confident and competent.
3. Eye contact is so powerful a force because it is connected with humans.
4. And ya making eye contact for too long is bad.
5. If a person is starting off to the left, it's usually a sign that they are trying to recall something according to psychology. A look to the right usually means there are some creative juices at work. Not always in a good way . Some say looking to the right can be an indicator that someone is trying to make up a story. If a person is left-handed the directions will be reversed.

 

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Reading

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LOOKING FORWARD to March

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

The Vulcans like to give mustaches to fans

On Friday, I took to my son to see his doctor. I guess he has some flat feet and hammer toe which is preventing him from running at a good speed. I have flat feet as well due to my achondroplasia. As we left the clinic,we caught a bit of the St. Paddy's Day parade, including the Vulcans.

On Tuesday, I did improv online.  We talked about ChatGPT which is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022.  I learned how the chat can help with creating social media posts.  It seems similar to asking questions on Google. 

 

On Saturday, I helped English language learners do improv, and then watched several Disney short films on Disney Plus, including one about rats (with Ratatouille characters). My son is fascinated with rats and was curious to know how many rats live on earth 7 billion, and then he asked me how many rats live in people's homes. I didn't even want to know the answer to this question, but learned there's been 2.5 million rat citings.

Psychological facts

1.Food made by someone else tastes better than your own cooking, despite having the same recipe.

2.A study found that making a meal requires you to stand around it so long that it already feels less appealing by eating time. Hence, your satisfaction decreases subsequently.

 

ON THE BLOG

Reading 

A hypnotic literary horror novel about a young boy trapped inside his own world, whose drawings blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, ten-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to venture outdoors. Refusing to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine, Jack Peter spends his time drawing monsters

I loved this novel!! I picked it up because I learned that I enjoy thrillers with child perspectives.  I liked the setting with the house by the lake and the snow fall.  The supernatural bits were amazing!! I think I will be reading everyone of Keith Donohue's novels from here on out.

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LOOKING FORWARD to March

On Tuesday, I took my son to Chucky E. Cheese. He had a lot of fun in the arcade, while a very energetic kid came up to him and was like "hi", hi" several times.

We watched three of the Monster Inc movies on Disney Plus.  I didn't even know a few of them existed so that was enjoyable. My son believes in Monsters so at least with Monsters Inc, he can see there are fun loving ones in this world.

I drove for ride-share and I talked to my clients about the high school hockey tournament at the Xcel. We talked about how expensive hockey is to play.  Two of the client's daughters played the sport. 

The most recent from my snowey region

Upcoming Events

Southern theater hosts Rock, Paper, Scissors Dance event March 17, 18 at 7:30pm, March 19 at 2:00pm. 

 

ON THE BLOG

Reading 

A pitch-black thriller about a woman determined to destroy a powerful cult, no matter the cost. While in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works, bringing them under his thrall.

I liked this one a lot. It's fast pace and highly mysterious, I would highly recommend it.  One of the characters has a podcast and it's interesting to read how he pulls together the interviews.