if research means to search again, i think i'm rerereresearching by now.

the wife's away, which is usually when my productivity level takes a major nose dive, and it's just in time for two grad class assignments due thursday and another due sunday. i haven't really started on any of them. i've known about the two due thursday since the beginning of the semester. just now started trying to find the resources to complete them. i'm coming up mostly empty. glad i finally figured out how to search databases through my local library, but still not finding what i need. not sure what to do. i'm getting sick of boolean phrases. i want to get out of this barnes and noble, but i know if i go home, the couch will suck me in and never let me go. anyone have the text "american education" by joel spring? i'll get it back to you by friday. maybe i'll pull an all-nighter at some point this week. or fake the swine flu.

is this a blog entry from 2003? seems like it.

City Living: 1 -- Small Town Living: 0

I lived in the city of Bethlehem for four years and never once got pulled over by a police officer, as they were all busy doing things like chasing bank robbers, controlling drunken Musikfest crowds, or corralling the middle schoolers I used to teach.

I've lived in the town of Hellertown for two weeks and started my Friday morning off with a $100 fine for pausing too briefly at a stop sign, despite the fact that we graciously gave an officer permission to time from our driveway the other week. Welcome to the neighborhood, I guess, where the cops have to get paid to do something. And just be sure to watch those stop signs and speed limits.

Costumes

American Gothic and Pinnochio and Geppetto

Michael Phelps and Nancy Kerrigan, Scooby Doo and Shaggy

The Beatles

Captain Canada and a Bag of Jelly Beans

Lady Gagas and the Baker's family

Karl Blau as Father Nature

Heaven

Tried to post this a while ago, but couldn't find an embeddable link. Here it is! Even more fun to watch now that they played in our living room! (A little disappointed they didn't play this song though.)

Happy Halloween

So the Fifth Annual Shorb Family Halloween Costume Extravaganza is history, but it was a success.

To be honest, the past two weeks have been a huge source of stress, a whirlwind of busy days and late nights with literally never an hour to pause and relax. The move has taken up most of the time really, but work, graduate homework, extra meetings, church responsibilities, and the rest have packed in whatever holes would have been left open.

The party seemed to be the culmination of it all (although if I realistically look at my calendar, the stressful schedule will no doubt last through November), the goal to which we were working towards, the deadline to get moved in and settled to a certain extent, not to mention more free holes filled up with costume design, sound system set up, decorating, food prep, etc.

Wes and Roshelle agreed to be costume partners this year, the duo expanding to a foursome. Without their help, I’m not sure costumes would have happened for us, at least not up to typical caliber. And so, with their super hard work, four Mighty Morphin Power Rangers showed up to the party, costumes chosen mostly for their ridiculous nature.

When we laughed and laughed just picturing it in our minds, we knew there was no turning back. But on Friday night when we were all exhausted the costumes were still in haphazard pieces, it was evident that morale was low. We were a little late to our own party, but it all came together in the end.

On Saturday morning, running last minute errands, I grew a little bit anxious about having a “house show” and hosting a band and whatnot. It’s a little intimidating inviting a band into your house without knowing them, not knowing exactly what they want or need, how they’ll behave, and not knowing how friends will enjoy it.

But the seven of them showed up and were immediately so kind and friendly and respectful and gracious and appreciative and sweet. They were content with the modest PA system I provided, they had prepared costumes earlier in the day, and they didn’t think twice about putting plywood or cardboard underneath their amps to protect the brand new hardwood floors. And they stayed that kind and friendly and respectful and appreciative all the way through their stay when they set off for Baltimore this afternoon.

Karl Blau and LAKE played their sets and played them well, turning our “great room” into a legitimate venue. People seemed to really enjoy them, dancing ensued just like I hoped it would, and everything clicked. It was officially a party.

Then, even the Beatles played! Stan, Kyle, and Matt closed the evening out with 5 Beatles covers and they sounded great. It was fun to see them rocking out.

It felt good to throw a party. I was so excited and contented after it ended, and that’s lasted into today. People don’t throw enough parties. Maybe we don’t know how to party. Maybe we can’t find reasons to party. But I think my life would be a little more joyful if we had a few more.

Maybe the word in itself has too many harrowing connotations, with all of its illicit drugs and booze and sex and rock and roll, and of course that’s not at all what I’m referring to. I suppose I mean coming together to be joyful, act a little sillier than usual, enjoy one another’s company, laugh, eat some good food, and let all the other worries drift away for a few hours. Yes, more of that. If it takes getting a good band to play in your living room, then by all means, get a good band to play in your living room.

The most unexpectedly transcendent moment of the night was when LAKE played their song “The Places We’ll Go.” Erica and I spontaneously took the center of the dance floor and sang along as we danced in one another’s arms and all of a sudden it felt like we were in a room completely alone. There we were, just two goofy Power Rangers dancing like we were in love or something, literally like no one was watching, and the words we sang took on new meaning at what appears to be our last Halloween party for the foreseeable future for obvious reasons: “Oh, the places we’ll go…Oh, we don’t actually know.”

The next year will be a whirlwind in itself no doubt, but in that moment there was a sense of calm, peace, joy, and rightness about it all. Where the world will see just two weirdos carelessly dancing, may we find a sense of meaningful belonging in the stage God is setting for us. We don’t know where it will all lead, and that’s OK.

This new house is a pretty amazing one. People seemed to love it last night. It’s our hope that we’ll be able to use it to its fullest potential without getting too attached. Last night was a great start.

And finally, give LAKE and Karl Blau a listen, or check to see if they’re coming to your town. Not only are they really creative and talented musicians who believe in what they’re doing, but they’re super nice people, too.

Getting Used to the New Place

I know I promised to keep this sort of content to a minimum...but how could I refuse this?

Where is My Mind?

We learn a lot about the brain in fifth grade, and one project was to create model brains at home and bring them in for a presentation. I created a little slide show with pictures of all of them, part of which was set to The Pixies singing "Where is My Mind?"

When it was shown this morning, one boy got really really excited when the song started and said, "This is my dad's favorite song!!!"

Guess who earned a few scene points.

Preparations

We bit the bullet and moved ourselves to the new house last week. We're still moving out of the apartment, and we'll need to clean it sometime soon, and it's become a painfully long process. But the new house is being finished bit by bit, and it's a nice place to live so far.

Then, of course, we've got to ready the house for our Halloween party this Saturday. Of course, LAKE is playing, which I'm still quite excited about, and you're invited. So bring a costume and show up at the new place in Hellertown on Saturday night. See you there.

Video's not the greatest quality...but the song is wonderful!

(Here's the wonderful song...)

Besides that, I'm really hoping November will bring back some normalcy. And if I can finish these two grad classes, then maybe, just maybe, life will really begin to be a bit more enjoyable. We've gotta find some time to live it up before the BIG move next year.

Eavesdropping

On the bus for the field trip on Tuesday, several girls accused me of being an eavesdropper after they had been talking about who likes who and which boy they were gonna marry someday. I denied eavesdropping on them, but admitted it was part of my job. Teachers know everything about everyone in their classroom, don't they? At least that's what we want the kids to think.

When I'm using wi-fi at certain places, I find myself eavesdropping quite a bit. Like today, at Barnes and Noble, a grandfather thought his granddaughter was a lot older than she was. He was feeding her a sugar cookie that was basically the size of her small head and telling her they could bake some of their own come Christmastime. It was sweet and all, but as far as I could tell the girl couldn't even walk on her own yet.

The milk-delivery man was pretty cranky this morning because he had to take the milk crates that some other guy left behind. The cafe workers can't stop talking about it like it was the most exciting thing that has happened in weeks. It probably is. They were expecting a big rush of parents after the Halloween story time, but I don't think it ever happened. So now they have to keep talking about the milk delivery man and how they made too many cookies. The new worker just finished her shift, and the coworkers congratulated her on a good morning.

The girl behind me is working on spinning her resume so that she can land a job at PetSmart. She wants to work with animals in the future. I didn't think PetSmart really needed impressive resumes, but I guess in this economy it can't hurt. Her boyfriend is helping whenever she gets stuck, but I'm not convinced she wants the help. He spends the rest of his time surprising (or annoying?) her with little-known Mount Everest trivia. Can you believe someone climbed it in 1953? Without oxygen? And take a guess how old the oldest tree on the mountain is.

A little boy just walked over next to them, pulled a book off the shelf, and excitedly read it's title for the entire store to hear: "MAGIC FOR DUMMIES!" Man was he excited. I loved that age where I wanted to be into magic but soon realized it took too much dexterity and too much deception for me to muster.

Then there's the goofy kid in the corner who's been here almost four hours and is probably only halfway done with his assignment for grad class, mostly because he's been distracted by reading excerpts of Donald Miller's new book, trying to find the CDs he's been wanting in the music section, and being nosy and blogging about it. He's getting hungry, but can't decide if he should purchase lunch here or elsewhere.

This is the second time I've written about myself in the third person recently, and when I stop to think about it, it kind of freaks me out. I guess I shouldn't get in the habit of it.

dubyah

Several of my students have been saying the word "nucleus" a bit like our former president.

NUKE-YA-LUSS!

Makes me chuckle every time.