Sunday, August 9, 2009

True Summer Goals

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By the calendar there are sixty-eight days between the last day of School Year 2008-2009 and the first day of School year 2009-2010. Every teacher I know compiles a list of things to get done while (s)he is free of bells, papers, and student conferences. Being mildly anal-retentive, I have put my list into a multi-page color-coded spreadsheet that runs to eighteen pages. The Completed Tasks pages are line-item color-coded yellow; projects that just aren't going to happen or that were overtaken by events are red. I have three pages dedicated to those completed items, two of them are double-columned. The third is holding space so I don't have to "Insert Column" nine hundred times. I still have several pages of unstarted (no-color) or in-progress (green) stuff to go.

The most responsibly significant page has three monthly calendar blocks day-by-day indicating that I have checked my bank balances online at least once that day. I balanced my checkbook to the penny for the first time in my life in June, and, at the urging of my oldest son (long may he wave) I have been faithful to that practice to date. Hellfire, I even check it when I get back from Home Depot for a light bulb or a can of paint . . . I enter the receipts on the interactive spreadsheet I built (another first) and I know - absolutely know - how much money I have available for living that day till the coming payday. I tell my kids I feel like King F. Kong.

But, being at heart a Teacher/Student, even a certified English Teacher, my favorite page this summer shows my progress to a totally irresponsible goal of --- no; not reading x number of books, but of watching at least one movie for each day of summer. This is undignified. The list below is alphabetical, not chronological - I did watch the Lord of the Rings sequentially. And Band of Brothers would have been senseless had it not been episodic. Multiple viewings are because I was looking for specific events or references or allusions or titles or characters - I am a student, after all. So, my list to date reads:

1. A Bridge Too Far
2. Armageddon
3. The Art of Dining - The Business Lunch -- "learn something" fascinating
5. The Art of Dining - The Formal Dinner X2 -- "learn something" absolutely fascinating
6. Band of Brothers - Curahee
7. Band of Brothers - Day of Days
8. Band of Brothers - Carentan
9. Band of Brothers - Replacements
10. Band of Brothers - Crossroads
11. Band of Brothers - Bastogne
12. Band of Brothers - Breaking Point
13. Band of Brothers - Last Patrol
14. Band of Brothers- Why We Fight
15. Band of Brothers - Points
16. Body Heat
17. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
18. Crossing The Distance -- "learn something" bummer
19. Curse of the Jade Scorpion
20. Deja Vu - Director Henry Jaglom, 1997
21. E.T.
22. The Eagle Has Landed
23. Earth -- turned out to be a "learn something" - another bummer
24. Educated Eye: How an Idea Becomes a Book -- "learn something" bummer
25. Enchanted April
26. Enemy of the State
27. Field of Dreams
28. The Firm
29. Harry Potter - The Halfblood Prince
30. The Horse Whisperer
31. Hot Fuzz
32. I Robot
33. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls
34. Julie and Julia X2
35. Jurassic Park
37. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen X2
38. Little Big Man
39. Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring
40. Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers
41. Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
42. M*A*S*H
44. Men in Black X2
45. Mickey Blue Eyes
46. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
48. Moonstruck
49. My Best Friend's Wedding
50. October Sky
51. Other People's Money
52. The Phantom
53. The Princess Bride
54. The Proposal
55. The Red Baron -- "learn something" -- not bat at all, really
56. Richard III
57. Romancing the Stone
58. Scent of a Woman
59. The Search for Alien Worlds -- "learn something" -- uh . . .
60. The Search for Bobby Fischer
61. Searching for Richard
62. Secondhand Lions
63. The Shadow
64. Shakespeare in Love
65. The Soloist
66. Spiritual Liberation -- "learn something" -- pretty good; well done
67. Star Trek - First Contact
68. Start Trek (2009) (fourth time, but first time this summer)
69. That Thing You Do
70. The Thomas Crowne Affair (Brosnan/Russo) (I also have McQueen/Dunaway)
71. Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle J. Swan
72. To the Edge of the Universe -- "learn something" -- arid
73. Tom Jones
74. Young Sherlock Holmes

I almost hate to have numbered the blessed things. When I put in Gettysburg and Dances With Wolves and Our Town it'll screw up my numbering badly -- I can't just add them to the bottom of the list . . . And I still have a week of freedom left for my cinematic sprint.

Sure; I've read at least a dozen books for sport: Steinbeck, O'Brian, Twain, Pratchett, but that's what I do. That's where I focus. Movies are a less intense focus unless they trigger other questions - and the best ones always do.

Anyway, I'll post photos of the finished floor painting and some other stuff. But I just had to do this right now.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Goodness me - you have certainly watched a whole load of films! Some real classics there, some golden oldies too...

ET makes me cry every time!

Kelli Nørgaard said...

I love how DIVERSE your list is!!! My best friend´s wedding AND Band of Brothers AND ET...now that covers all the basic genres!!