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Star Wars: Darth Vader Toaster

Posted on November 29th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Star Wars.

I own a toaster.  I inherited it from my grandmother after her death.  It came into my world neither new nor clean, nor did it ever function exceptionally well.  (But I’d come back to America toasterless some years ago and my parents had, for unknown reasons, saved this white plastic-encased toaster from my grandmother’s empty home, so it became mine.)

Now, I don’t often make toast.  Perhaps partially because, although I still brought it to my new apartment, my former roommate reported to me that it doesn’t work.  (Having yet to test it, how could I chuck it?)  Even still, I don’t feel an overwhelming urge to go out and procure a new bread-baking mini-appliance.

So, it’s hard to justify wanting this:

And yet…how can you not want it?  And would I start making toast if I had the inspiration of seeing a Sith Lord on every slice of bread?  Really, I can see me toasting bread if for no better reason that to see it work.

Though, I do wish they made the toaster with changeable panels, so my toast might be able to alternate between Darth Vader, C-3PO, a stormtrooper, and maybe a good quote, such as “May the Force be with you”, “It’s not my fault!” or “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

Then I would definately drop $50 on a toaster. 

Pity it won’t be available for Christmas…  What were the good folks at LFL thinking?

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Blog: Thoughts on Classroom Violence

Posted on November 29th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

Tuesday.
After school program.
Quiet writing time.

A rare moment - though becoming less so: the class is quietly, yet energetically, working on their writing.  As my administration demands, I am making the rounds, doing one-on-one conferencing with students to point out their strengths and find opportunities for improvement.

That was exactly the moment, while I was crouched down next to a young girl, listening to her story, that a 6-year-old boy in class chose to pull out two pocket knives, with hilts shaped as a revolvers, open up the blades, and stab his classmate in the hand.

Wednesday.
After lunch.
Social studies.

The class was good, yet not.  Something was wrong.  I couldn’t put my finger on what.  Due to the stress and the extra slam of work resulting from the previous day’s incident, I was running on two hours of sleep, so I had to acknowledge that the class’s troubles could indeed stem from my own exhaustion and anxiety.

What would happen when yesterday’s attacker returned from suspension?  Would he still be able to sit next to his classmates?  Would they be too scared of him to function normally?  What if he brought another weapon to school one day?  A bigger, sharper knife?  What if he got his hands on a gun?  How could I feel safe?

I was beginning to realize that I was fairly upset by the previous day’s incident, but what I hadn’t really thought about, overwhelmed as I was, was how upset my students were.  I gathered them together and sat down with them.  It was time for a talk.

I began by discussing what had happened so far.  The incident; where the student went; what would happen next (as far as I knew.)  For the first time that year, my young students sat down and paid attention for a full hour as they raised their hands with question after question - particularly yesterday’s victim.

And it left me wondering why administration had never sent anyone in to talk to us.  No one cared about the teacher’s feelings, not any more than they cared about the students’ feelings.  A first grade classroom stabbing, and we’re just expected to go on, like nothing happened.

But something did.

Almost no one cares what happens in a New York City public school classroom.

And then I remember that that’s why I’m here.

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Book: The Call to Vengeance

Posted on November 23rd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Books, Star Wars.

Catching up on my blogging of Jedi Aprentice books just made me want to read another one…sigh…  Read half of it Saturday night, and the other half Sunday morning.  I’m a sinful creature…

Title: The Call to Vengeance
         (Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice #16)
Author: Jude Watsom
Genre: Young Readers
Anna’s Rating: 4/5

Yet another trilogy exists between numbers 14, 15, and 16.  In this continuation, Obi-wan is watching as his master, Qui-gon Jinn, slips to the Dark Side in the wake of the trauma that left the reader in shock at the end of book 15, The Death of Hope.

Good kids mystery book, wherein I suspected the real culprit early on, but it kept the reader guessing…very nice.  Not very quotable, but it kept the reader engaged - that’s the primary job of a book, after all.  (Yet so many fail in this, don’t they?)

Reflecting on Obi-wan in the movies, the events that unfold there seem all the more traumatic, as he watches people he cares for most, time and again, slipping to the grip of the Dark Side…and I’m left to wonder: Is Obi-wan the perfect Jedi?  Does he never falter when everyone around him seems to?  (This is, perhaps, why some people hate his character.)

Of course, I still have books 17 and 18…and I should order the two special edition books as well.  Maybe there’s more left to Obi-wan’s story.

QUOTE:

“Use your time.  You’ll find one day that you have too little of it.”
- Qui-gon Jinn, as recalled by Obi-wan Kenobi, p. 85

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Book: Plane Insanity

Posted on November 23rd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Books.

Title: Plane Insanity
Author: Elliot Hester
Genre: Travel Essay
Anna’s Rating: 4/5

While not as brilliant as his second book, Adventures of a Continental Drifter, it was still a highly enjoyable volume.  Last time was a recount of one, round-the-world, travel exploit.  This time, it’s a gathering of humorous tales of the airline industry’s flight attendants. 

The stories are good, and made me look forward to my time on the subway.  There’s something about the way he describes things that I can still vividly recall the child who looked upon him with big eyes right before spraying him with vomit as he attempted to leap out of the way in a way that, in my mind, you should be able to watch in instant-replay on a sports channel - and I read that months ago, before I lost and finally found the book again.

The author, Elliot Hester, has since given up his job as a flight attendant, to my understanding, and has been traveling the world and writing a travel column for US newspapers since 2002 - lucky bastard.  But when he wants to hand that job off to someone else, mayhaps he’ll think of me…

And on a random note, a bit of humor I deeply appreciated from the acknowledgements, where the author speaks of how his mom told him he should be a writer when he grew up: “Well, Mom, I finally became a writer.  Forgive me for not growing up.”  I hope to use this line when I, one day, publish a book, too.

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USA: NYC: Cup Diner & Bar

Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Food, NYC.

I’m starting to get accused of being a food snob, but I really don’t think I am.  I just really enjoy eating…almost as much as I enjoy complaining when I’m dissatisfied.  But that doesn’t make me a food snob, does it?  (And this is all relevant because I’m about to start complaining.)

I went to Cup (in Astoria, Queens) with some friends, who are big fans of the place.  Three of us ordered Hot Chocolate, which they would do well to advertise as Lukewarm Chocolate soas not to mislead customers (and no, it was not busy.)

It was late night, and I ordered a dessert: the hot chocolate fudge brownie, topped with ice cream, nuts, and a few other things, the marshmallows and whipped cream I asked them to hold.  It took a long time, much longer than my friends’ burgers, even though I asked it to be served at the same time…this was perhaps because they had to run to the corner store and buy the brownies.  I got four of the thin, pre-packaged brownies, which I recognized as the ones that come in boxes of 12 for $1.49…I recognized them because I’ve purchased them for my first graders before.

Talk about disappointment.

The fries were OK - pity they gave us a bottle of spoiled ketchup to go with them.  I didn’t have the burgers, but my friends weren’t asked how they wanted them done, and they came out well-done, so I’m not sure how enjoyable they could have been.

To Cup’s credit, the lentil soup was most delicious, and the decor was quite neat.  But soup and decor are not enough to win my affection.

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Star Wars: One Season More

Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Music, Star Wars.

This is a nice piece of CGI animation to accompany the song “One Season More” from Star Wars: The Musical, (which I have never seen.)  I listened to parts of the other songs, but I wasn’t really impressed.  “One Season More”, however, is a fabulous song in general - not only in the realm of Star Wars.

Lyrics are below:

One Season More
Lyrics by Timothy Edward Smith & Hunter Nolen

Is this all that there is for me?
How long ’til I am finally free?
This can’t be my destiny -
planned for me -
can it be?

Somewhere far, far away,
a new life is waiting for me.
For every sunrise
and every new day,
I know it’s closer than before,
but I’ll be waiting here
one season more.

Uncle Owen, I’m not like you:
I can’t just bury my dreams
(in the sands of Tatooine).

And I don’t want to turn around one day
to see that one season became
a lifetime thrown away.

So when the harvest comes
and the winds change,
no more waiting at the door:
I will spread my wings
one season more.

Biggs and Tank are gone away;
gone so far out into space.
That is where I long to be:
among the stars so alive and free!

But nothing seems to change;
just like before.
‘Til the harvest comes,
you will find me here
one season more.

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Baking: Black Velvet Cake

Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Food.

“What could go wrong?” was the foolish thought I had when I originally decided to ever-so-slightly modify the Red Velvet Cake recipe.  All I wanted was a purple velvet cake instead of a red one…reduce the red, add the blue…really, what could go wrong?

Well, here’s what could go wrong.  Red + Blue may equal purple, but Red Food Coloring + Blue Food Coloring equals something in the realm of Brown or Black.

[Black Velvet Cake batter]

The result is that I was running all over central Brooklyn at 8:00 on aFriday night desparately searching for red food coloring so I could have another go at the birthday cake I had promised to bake for the following day’s dinner party, fearing that no one would be inclined to eat a cake that looked like it’d been either poisoned or burnt to a crisp.

 
[3 Black Velvet layers, fresh out of the oven]

Of course, Skutch’s first reaction to the story of the Black Velvet Disaster was: “Black Velvet Cake?  That would have been AWESOME!  You should’ve brought that one instead”

…sigh.

Why do I bother?

[Myself, with the Black Velvet Disaster, which still tasted quite good.]

But I called up my dear friends, Terry and Rebekah, who I knew worked in Brooklyn on Sundays: “Would you guys be willing to eat a Black Velvet Cake?  Cause if you want it, I’ll frost it and you guys can pick up it tomorrow on your way home from work,” I offered.

“Let me ask the dessert vaccuum cleaner,” Rebekah said.  “Hey Terry, you want a black velvet cake?  …yeah, Anna made a mistake with a Red Velvet Cake…yeah, isn’t it awesome?” then, to me: “Yeah, we’ll come over after we’re done tomorrow.  Is it OK if we bring Maurice?”

And so it was that the Black Velvet Cake, which I frosted in blue, would be enjoyed by my friends after all.

[Rebekah, in awe of my mad baking skillz, no doubt.] 

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Book: The Death of Hope

Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Books, Star Wars.

Title: The Death of Hope
         (Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice #15)
Author: Jude Watson
Genre: Young Readers
Anna’s Rating: 4/5

My first thought when I finished this book more than a month ago: Wow…

I have hardly developed more articulate thoughts since then.

A continuation of The Ties that Bind (#14), The Death of Hope is the continuing tale recounting Qui-gon Jinn’s efforts to change the future, not realizing that his own actions set into motion the very future that he is trying to avoid…

QUOTES:

“Accustomed to lie, you become.  Easy it becomes to be false in big things, if false in small ones you are.”
- Yoda, as recalled by Qui-gon, p. 141

“We could be rivals.  But I think it would be better if we were friends.”
- Talh, speaking to Qui-gon after a close match, p. 144

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Book: The Ties that Bind

Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Books, Star Wars.

Title: The Ties that Bind
         (Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice #14)
Author: Jude Watson
Genre: Young Readers
Anna’s Rating: 4/5

This and the next book definately are on the list of this series’ higher quality volumes.  This story was excellent, with multiple aspects that relate to the real world rather well, but the best, and overarching aspect, of the story had two main points: reminiscing over the past, and trying to control the future.

This is mostly a Qui-gon story.  It begins with him taking Obi-wan out to a place he had been long ago with another dear friend, Jedi Master Tahl.  They had promised to return together, but life happens, and often times we never get around to doing the things we say we will.  Days and weeks turn into months and years and the things we value slip through our fingers. 

Now Qui-gon takes Obi-wan on the same trip in an effort to grasp at what was lost, but he is only plagues by visions of Tahl’s death.  Desparate to change the future, he chases across the Galaxy, to the world of New Apsolon, in an effort to change the vision of the future that he sees.

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Blog: ECG Group Dinner: Outback

Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

[ECG/501st group dinner at Outback]

Inspired by my fellow troopers’ desire to socioalize, and frustrated by our complete inability to ever make any plans, I just randomly announced a dinner time and location, expecting six to ten guests…yet here the 18 of us sit, happily stuffing our cheeks with steak (and later cake.)

[Bubbles with the birthday cake that I successfully created - yay me!]

We were at the Outback on 23rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.  I had the table reserved ahead of time and, the former executive assistant coming out in me, I had spoken with the head manager to make sure everything was arranged properly, and had reconfirmed the table a day or two before.  So maybe management thought we were important - who knows? - cause the manager on duty made sure to take care of us.  It was a great experience.

Afterwards, we headed to a local bar and found a box of crayons…the results of giving some ultra-geeky boys crayons is rather interesting…this is our table:

Another great thing about the party is that it gave Jess and I an oppotunity to talk about our plans and ideas for baking goods to feed troopers at garrison events, such as the Christmas Party and NYCC.  I’m really excited and hyped up about this now, so stay tuned for all the gory details that eventually lead up to my burning down my beautiful pre-war apartment building.

[Jess, my new baking partner in crime - what could go wrong??  Photo credits go to Ruby’s brilliance.

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