it certainly brought back memories...

2013::movielisttime

i haven't posted this in a while. 2013 was a busy year and i still was able to watch the amount of movies i did which is in itself a terrific feat. so here it is !

1. the dark knight rises
2. the bourne legacy
3. looper
4. warm bodies
5. pitch perfect
6. ice age: continental drift
7. ted
8. we need to talk about kevin
9. terminator
10. butter
11. the odd life of timothy green
12. taken 2
13. abraham lincoln: vampire slayer
14. house at the end of the street
15. hotel transylvania
16. trouble with the curve
17. rock of ages
18. flight
19. the watch
20. total recall
21. savages
22. seven psycopaths
23. an education
24. skyfall
25. a lonely place to die
26. argo
27. girl in progress
28. jack the giant slayer
29. hysteria
30. oz the great & powerful
31. a late quartet
32. 2 days in new york
33. wreck-it ralph
34. 10 years
35. the perks of being a wallflower
36. beasts of the southern wild
37. firelight
38. anna karenina
39. les miserable
40. django unchained
41. the hobbit
42. lincoln
43. havoc
44. gangster squad
45. a thousand words
46. life of pi
47. october baby
48. the good doctor
49. the sessions
50. safe haven
51. the paperboy
52. silver linings playbook
53. parental guidance
54. rise of the guardians
55. to rome with love
56. the guilt trip
57. this is 40
58. zero dark thirty
59. white house down
60. quartet
61. parker
62. the incredible burt wonderstone
63. monsters university
64. identity thief
65. the heat
66. the master
67. arthur newman
68. side effects
69. the great gatsby
70. the lone ranger
71. star trek: into darkness
72. the good son
73. the bling ring
74. now you see me
75. we're the millers
76. beautiful creatures
77. despicable me 2
78. 42
79. world war z
80. this is it
81. baggage claim
82. hangover 3
83. iron man 3
84. end of the spear
85. the big wedding
86. struck by lightning
87. the croods
88. oblivion
89. violet & daisy
90. the cold light of day
91. battle royale
92. springbreakers
93. the call
94. won't back down
95. passion
96. mud
97. don't stop believin': everyman's journey
98. man of steel
99. the to-do list
100. turbo
101. mao's last dancer

2011::movitymovies

i know i haven't used this to update or to record events, but i may get back into that sometime... maybe this year perhaps? i actually miss the xanga community that i experienced in college. it seems everyone's chosen other sites to blog on. i'm one of those people: i like to compartmentalize... maybe a little too much.

this school year has already been an interesting experience. (don't you love it when people describe something as "interesting" when no other word really describes it or when you don't want to talk badly about the person/situation? i do it allll the time.)

i started out the year with the 4th graders, who i miss so much, and then about 2 months into the school year, the principal decides to move me up to the 5th and 6th grade (students i had last year... arggggh) to split the 6th grade because there were 40 of them in a class. so now there are 20 some 6th graders in one class, 20 some 6th graders in another class and 40 (yup, i repeat 40) 5th graders in one class. help.

my principal wasn't exactly being forthright with me; he first told me i would be teaching math, science, and social studies. finally after i kept asking questions to get clarification, he said i'd be teaching social studies which i am not certified to teach and i flat out told him that too. eventually i had to go to my school's union representative and get this straightened out. it didn't really even get straightened out until the middle of december.

in the beginning of october, i received a student teacher in october who was supposed teach social studies to the 5th and 6th graders. WTH ?!?! and i was not officially informed this would happen until the day the student teacher arrived. i was introduced to her in the parking lot by the principal. and i'm still thinking to myself, "I AM NOT CERTIFIED TO TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES !!! what part of that don't you understand?" i had to file a grievance with the union rep and because of all the paperwork and redtape, it wasn't really resolved until after my student teacher left the last day before christmas break. my principal basically denied that i was ever assigned to teach social studies. argh. may 30th cannot come fast enough... i think this will be my last year at cps. i just do not like how they operate and treat teachers.

anyway, onto THE list !

 **denotes highly recommended movie

1. the other guys
2. knight and day
3. salt
4. dinner for schmucks
5. blades of glory
6. percy jackson and the lightning thief
7. the american
8. sex and the city 2 (AWFUL AWFUL)
9. despicable me**
10. date night
11. shrek forever after
12. extraordinary measures
13. beezus and ramona
14. green zone
15. the social network
16. the runaways
17. old dogs
18. just wright
19. the road
20. takers
21. how to train a dragon
22. the love guru
23. the eye
24. red
25. jackass 3
26. due date
27. the fighter
28. devil
29. cop out
30. the switch
31. machete
32. eclipse
33. romancing the stone
34. rudy
35. megamind
36. the tourist
37. love and other drugs (i was surprised by this movie; not your usual chick flick)
38. gulliver's travels
39. secretariat
40. tangled
41. you again
42. how do you know
43. when in rome
44. no strings attached
45. tron legacy
46. black swan
47. pirates of the caribbean: on stranger tides
48. burlesque
49. unstoppable
50. the king's speech** (colin firth = swoooon)
51. lottery ticket
52. harry potter and the deathly hallows: part i
53. talk to me**
54. ghost writer
55. babies
56. the tailor of panama
57. traffic
58. american the beautiful
59. kick ass
60. punch drunk love (weird movie)
61. waiting for superman
62. rio
63. blue valentine
64. the cove**
65. the adjustment bureau
66. rango
67. arthur
68. water for elephants
69. kungfu panda 2
70. surrogates
71. all good things
72. nanny mcphee returns
73. easy a
74. the girl with the dragon tattoo (book is better)
75. company men
76. red riding hood
77. the dilemma
78. green hornet (jay chou? really?)
79. hereafter
80. limitless
81. flash of genius
82. just go with it
83. 127 hours
84. go the distance
85. the girl who played with fire
86. beastly
87. it's kind of a funny story
88. scream 4
89. lemonade mouth
90. morning glory (couldn't stand rachel mcadams in this)
91. bridesmaids
92. the roommate
93. green lantern
94. x-men: first class**
95. lincoln lawyer
96. the beaver (strange movie)
97. harry potter and the deathly hallows: part ii
98. transformers: dark of the moon
99. bad teacher
100. cars 2
101. madea's big happy family (madea is hilarious !)
102. horrible bosses
103. soul surfer** (better than i expected)
104. super 8
105. jaws
106. mission impossible: ghost protocol** (cool stunts)
107. taken from me
108. i am number four

i'm happy to say that i increased the number of books i read this year. last year, i only read a measly 5. this year, i read a total of 11.

• sunday's at tiffanys by james patterson
• the secret between us by barbara delinsky
• mary mary by james patterson
• crazy love by francis chan
• the girl with the dragon tattoo by stieg larsson
• double cross by james patterson
• the girl who played with fire by stieg larsson
• unbearable lightness by portia de rossi
• i walk alone by mary higgins clark
• parenthood by bill cosby
• open by andre agassi

hopefully i can read at least this many books this year too !

yellow diamonds in the light & we're standing side by side, as your shadow crosses mine, what it takes to come alive, it's the way i'm feeling i just can't deny but i've gotta let it go...

currently listening to: the lumineers - ho hey

yearofmovies(2010)

even with a wedding and wedding reception to plan last year, i still made time to sit back, relax with a bowl of popcorn, and escape into the movies. so here's the annual list ! (i know it's just a tad belated...)

** = highly recommended

1. race to witch mountain
2. harry potter and the half blood prince
3. the haunting in connecticut
4. revolutionary road
5. four christmases
6. obsessed
7. inglorious basterds
8. push
9. the number 23
10. the iron giant
11. the proposal
12. grey gardens
13. without a paddle
14. i love you, man
15. the machinist
16. valentine's day
17. (500) days of summer
18. hotel for dogs
19. wimbledon
20. mr. magorium's wonder emporium
21. the ugly truth
22. management
23. couples retreat
24. princess protection program
25. be kind rewind
26. i can do bad all by myself
27. star trek
28. two for the money
29. zombieland
30. untraceable
31. whip it
32. 9**
33. the princess and the frog
34. post grad
35. sherlock holmes**
36. my sister's keeper
37. new moon
38. fantastic mr. fox
39. earth
40. all about steve**
41. funny people
42. it's complicated
43. cheri
44. pink panther 2
45. everybody's fine
46. night at the museum: battle of the smithsonian
47. the time traveler's wife
48. shutter island**
49. the imaginarium of doctor parnassus
50. get him to the greek
51. where the wild things are
52. sunshine cleaning
53. toy story 3**
54. edge of darkness
55. alice in wonderland
56. vacancy
57. changling
58. death at a funeral
59. nine
60. monty python and the holy grail
61. the informant
62. vantage point
63. toothfairy
64. ice age: dawn of the dinosaurs
65. imagine that
66. the book of eli
67. bobby
68. inception**
69. bridges of madison county
70. the hangover
71. kinsey
72. precious**
73. world's greatest dad
74. the invention of lying
75. the young victoria
76. the last song
77. brothers
78. love happens
79. america
80. up in the air
81. the men who stare at goats
82. children of inventions
83. y tu mama tambien
84. american violet
85. ironman 2
86. we are marshall
87. tristan + isolde
88. dear john
89. stand by me
90. public enemies**
91. airplane**
92. good luck chuck
93. agent next door
94. bad education
95. the losers
96. did you hear about the morgans?
97. remember me
98. charlie st. cloud
99. why did i get married too?
100. the kids are alright
101. lovely bones
102. fame
103. true grit**
104. killers
105. the box
106. fred claus
107. the town**
108. the karate kid
109. a christmas carol
110. eat pray love

movies watched in 2009 - 137
movies watched in 2008 -  94
movies watched in 2007 -  71

interesting to see the trend...

i'm working on reading more books this year... really i am. last year, i read a total of 5 books. pitiful. in 2009, i read 11 books. i'm going to try and read at least 11 this year.

so i've been sleeping with this silence in my mind & all i see scares me & no one knows it, but she, she saved me...

agoodlaugh

i was tutoring math to the 4th and 5th graders this afternoon after school and one of the 4th graders wanted to make a phone call to her mom to ask if she could stay for tutoring. she was on the phone with her mom while i was going through some word problems with the rest of the students. this is what the conversation looked like:

sadie, still on the phone with her mom: ms. king, what time does tutoring end?
me: at 3:30
sadie to her mom: she said 3:30. i'm in the classroom right now
sadie to me: what time will i be home?
me, bewildered look on my face: i have no idea. i don't know how far it is from the school to your house
sadie to her mom: *pause* she said 4:00

i couldn't help but burst out laughing. all the other students were laughing too. what a character !

on the waves of the air, there is dancing out there, if it's something we can share, we can steal it...

currently listening to: the beegees

queens

i was talking with a couple of the teachers i team-teach with, mrs. h and mrs. j. mrs.h was saying how one of the middle schoolers went to her classroom to help out with the 4th grade in the mornings and one time, she noticed that the boy was practically sitting in one of the 4th grade boy's lap. mrs.h kind of raised her eyebrows and suggested that the middle schooler give the boy his space. mrs.j was nodding her head and saying, "yea, he's kind of like that..."

i chimed in and said, "yea, t [a 4th grade boy] is also kind of like that... his hand gestures, the way he acts, and how he speaks sometimes." mrs.j agreed and said, "oh, he is such a queen." i had to laugh because i thought i was the only one who thought/noticed it. she added, "and it's so strange too because his dad is so macho and manly-looking and wears wifebeaters."

mrs.h added, "oh l is a riot too. that one time we were in the digital media center for that tornado warning, i had separated the 5th grade girls and boys and l was hanging out with the girls. the librarian asked l to come over and sit with the boys and he was not happy about that. he kinda lowered his head and dragged his feet. and there was this other time when i let the 5th grade have about 10 minutes last friday to go to the gym and have recess. all the girls were doing cheers and l was with them. i called l over and told him to go play basketball with the other boys. he kinda lowered his shoulders and didn't want to join them, so i said, "oh alright, if you don't want to play basketball with them, go play with the girls." and he skipped off to join the girls. there was another time when the girls had wanted to sing a song for the class; they were pretending to be the cheetah girls and l joined them and i said, "l, sit down! the girls are the cheetah girls and they are going to sing a song." and he goes, with his hands on his hips, "i want to be a cheetah girl too and sing."

and i said, "oh and he always says, 'yes ma'am'... and 'oh thine-kyoo' (thank you)."

i don't think i've ever laughed that much during lunch at school before =]

lol moment: i asked, "what's 31-28?" to the class while we were trying to solve a long division problem on the board. i was calling on students that weren't paying attention just to re-direct them and after a long string of "huh?, what?, um..." i called on j and he answers emphatically, '74 !' and i just cracked up and said, "j, where did you get that answer? you wouldn't get 74 even if you added 31 and 28 !"

dear friend, please tell me who i am, and start from the inside, or wait instead, before it's said, all these monsters i couldn't hide beneath the bed or in my head, if i was stronger they would've died, but every once in a while i'm terrified...

currently playing || mais um lamento by ceu

waytoomuch

i was helping to fold and organize clothes for one of my parents' customers this afternoon.

last week, we helped to fold the lady's 2-year-old daughter's clothes, setting aside the clothes that she had outgrown (to be donated), and put the clothes that still fit in an orderly fashion back into the dresser. the 2-year-old was being obnoxious and trying to undo our work, telling my mom and i what we could and could not do.

we were working in her closet, trying to take things out and hanging things up, when the 2-year-old kept trying to shut the door to the closet. she got frustrated when i used my foot to prevent her from closing the door and was screaming bloody murder that the door wouldn't shut. i told her that we needed to keep it open so we could put stuff away and she goes, "shuddup. shuddup." her mom's in the room with us and she doesn't say anything about this 2-year-old telling a stranger to "shut up." seriously? i wanted to smack this little girl and teach her some manners. i've never heard a child this young be so incredibly rude and disrespectful toward adults before.

and the little girl had waaaay too many clothes, especially for a 2-year-old. some of her clothes that we had put in a trash bag to be donated had never been worn more than once.

this week, we did the the same thing for her 6-year-old brother; picked out clothes that were too small for him, folded them, and then put them into drawers. again, way too many clothes for a 6-year-old... way too many sets of pjs. he had at least a dozen pairs of pjs: transformers, sponge bob, dinosaurs, rockets, soccer, football, baseball, despicable me, penguins from madagascar, robots, etc. and two (TWO) drawers full of underwear/socks ! it was quite ridiculous...

the early morning, the city breaks, and i've been calling for years and years... and you never left me no messages, you never sent me no letters, you got some kind of nerve taking all i want...

currently listening to: book on tape - uncle tom's cabin by harriet beecher stowe