I hope that everyone felt the love today. Sure, I've never been a big fan of the commercialized money-grab aspects of Saint Valentine's Day, but I do like the idea of spreading love around. While many people focus on the idea of romantic love during Saint Valentine's Day, I've come to appreciate the idea that today is a good day to reconnect with our fellow human beings, demonstrating--if only for a moment--our love for our neighbor.

That's not to say that romantic love cannot be included in this. Thankfully, today coincided with the Jazz and Cheesecake Concert hosted by SoHi's Jazz Band and Swing Choir. This was our first year going, so Janelle and I weren't entirely certain what to expect. As it didn't start until 6:30, we decided to eat dinner ahead of time. As Janelle usually doesn't get home until at least 5:15, we didn't want to risk going out to dinner, but still wanted something better than leftovers. Thus, I ordered from the Pad Thai Cafe for Janelle and myself, and (at Connor's multiple requests) picked up Arby's for the younger boys (sorry, Trevor, you're on your own). That idea seemed to work out well; although, the auditorium didn't have many open spaces even though we arrived ten minutes early.

The concert, coffee, and cheesecake were all quite enjoyable. It did feel a little bit like we chose the forgotten row as we watched people in rows ahead of us and behind get served before us. The students who were in the row with us placed the blame on me which I don't think was the case. Perhaps it was the anticipation, but the cheesecake did taste exceptionally good when it finally did arrive. 

All in all, it was a nice day to celebrate the martyrdom of the patron saint of beekeepers.

One of my not-so-great parenting strategies was to "coach" my children (and now grandchildren) in how be more effective with the tantrums that they would throw. The process goes something like this: the child decides that life is not fair and falls to the floor in a fit of rage. I respond by saying something like, "Is that a tantrum? If it is, you're not doing it right. You need to beat the floor with both fist AND kick with both legs. Seriously? Hasn't anyone shown you how to throw a real tantrum? No, not like that ... Here, like this." If the child was still going, I would then do a short demonstration of fist beating, leg kicking, or proper howling technique. Note: Janelle is usually not a fan of such demonstrations.

I do something similar for pouting: "That's a good crossed arm pose, but are you thinking about what your hands are doing? Because, you know, crossing them on the top gives a different message than shoving them under your armpits, and that's different than just having them under the elbows. Also, we should really work on you 'stink eye,' too. Oooo ... that's much better! Nice work!"

The fact is that I find such displays of petulance more amusing than I probably should. However, I am rarely moved by such sulky behavior to do what the peevish person wants. Truthfully, such childish displays generally push me in the opposite direction entirely. I think about this every time I see an "I did that" sticker on a gas pump, politicians yelling "you lie" during the State of the Union, or a game spoiler dropped into a random comment. 

Really, you'd be more effective if you banged both of your fists AND both of your feet on the floor.

Jesus tells the multitude that He has "not come to abolish [the law or the prophets], but to fulfill." As stated in today's homily, this message is given as part of the larger Sermon on the Mount, a sermon that preaches forgiveness above everything. In that sense, Jesus' teachings seem to be contradicting the laws that the Pharisees hold so dearly which give clear punishments rather than mercy, but here He points out the opposite. Rather than reject the laws, His teachings are a fulfillment of them.

In fact, He takes the Mosaic law and expands upon it. He warns people against not just the action of the crimes of murder and adultery, but the thought of them. His warning is about the damage that our hate and lust can do not just to others, but to ourselves.

Considering how much Jesus seems to impress upon the spirit rather than the letter of the law, it is interesting that He mentions how He is not here to change one letter or even one part of a letter of the law. Today's homily also mentioned the various translations of that line and how they were likely references to specific Hebrew words and letters. Jesus is warning people about looking for loopholes in what God is asking of them. Salvation does not come from a magical formula--instead, it depends on our living our lives continually in the best way that we can.

It is in doing so that we fulfill the law.

Again, I find myself unable to focus on a topic that I'm willing to write about as a post, so I'm providing a preview of several that are on my mind.

First, Congratulations go out to my brother and his wife as their first child, Abigail, was brought into the world today. 

Second, Janelle, the younger boys, and I are now caught up on The Last of Us episodes. I want to talk about some messages that have been changed (possibly unintentionally) between the show and the game, but I can't do so without giving some major spoilers ... and perhaps some offense.

Finally, Connor bought the Hogwarts Legacy game for his computer today because he didn't want to wait until this summer (which is when I planned on getting it for the PS5). There's been a lot of hype (both positive and negative) concerning this game, but I'm not up to writing a post about it.

Wow. I can't even come up with a good conclusion. Oh well ...

Today, we held our first annual Little Sweethearts Dance at SoHi. The dance is the brainchild of our dynamic Ms. Blades (one of our assistant principals) with our equally wonderful Ms. Smith (our other assistant principal) right in the thick of planning and execution of this absolutely adorable event. I was involved because, when asking about fundraising for DDF earlier this year, Ms. Blades recommended that my team and I get in on the event.

It was basically a daddy-daughter or mother-son dance without the labels. Students enrolled in any of our areas elementary schools could come with their guardian for a steal of a price. Snacks and treats were laid out on the tables and the music playlist included popular dance songs and Disney music. My DDF team and the freshmen student council who planned and set up the event had the job of getting the little kids out on the dance floor and having fun. Honestly, since the pressure of performing for their peers was largely gone, they seemed to have more fun at this dance than their more traditional high school dances.

I, too, kept my moves going throughout the two-hour affair while also standing guard near the bathroom area--which was shared with the swim meet and basketball games that were also taking place at the same time. I decided to--like one of the more famous Disney songs that was played suggests--let it go. After all, these sweet moves of mine are not made to just be kept to myself. 

I hope I didn't hurt myself in the process.

There was something else that I was going to do tonight, but I cannot remember what it is. Like a Chinese spy balloon, my transmissions were jammed and thus my thought couldn't be engaged while I was working on other tasks, but now that I'm free of those tasks, that thought has been shot out of the sky and its contents retrieved and hidden away by other thoughts--such as imperfect analogies. I did get the big things done from today's to-do list: setting up a final pre-trip meeting for my Rome-Athens trip (which is under five weeks away), sending an email to my fellow travelers (that took hours to write) concerning multiple details about the trip, and sending another email to my chaperones about other details. I even remembered to text my D&D group about our upcoming adventure.

Oh! I just about had it for a moment ... but it got away again. Man, that thought is slippery! Quick, too!

Ah! I think I got it! I'm going to follow it through before I lose it again!

In hindsight, it might have been a blessing that our DDF team didn't make it to the finals for the last tournament's Readers Theater event. It made the team want to add more to their performance, lengthening the overall presentation. Instead of just reciting "Scene 5: Witches and How To Build Bridges out of Them" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, they are now doing Scenes 1 and 3 as well. We are titling it "A Few Odd Scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (I find that title rather clever, if I do say so myself). 

We only have just over two weeks before the state competition, and while I think that these additions give our team an excellent chance to make it to the final round, I do have my concerns about us being ready. You see, the pieces are almost too funny when put together. On our first read-through, it took well over half an hour to get through a piece that should take just slightly over ten minutes. The extra twenty minutes were solely due to how often the team had to stop to regain its composure. Even today, two days later, there are some sections that they have not been able to fully complete because they get overtaken by the giggles.

​All told, whatever my concerns are about the actual presentation, I'm quite glad that they are having as much fun as they are. 

At the request of a couple of my students, I attended the Borough Honors Choir performance this evening. It was a wonderful recital, especially considering that the students had only been practicing the music as a group yesterday and today. While all of the pieces were great, I particularly enjoyed the energy of the final song. The experience brought me back to the days of my high school choir, and for a moment I desperately wanted to be a part of it again. 

Perhaps that feeling was so strong because I know a surprising number of the students who were performing, not only from my school, but from Homer as well. It seems that there is a definite connection between DDF performers and choral excellence. Thus, after the performance was over, I had quite a few students come up and talk to me, excited to see me there. 

I'm glad that these students have been given the opportunity to enjoy the gift of music. I certainly enjoyed hearing them. And yes, I already plan on buying tickets to attend next week's Valentine's Day jazz and cheesecake concert.

I've been staring at my computer too long, thinking about what I could write and coming up blank. Normally, I would take this time to write about some of the topics that I've been mulling over--except that I really haven't had any. The closest was when I looked up the cost of HBO Max so that I could catch Janelle up on The Last of Us. In short, I'm not willing to pay that amount on top of the other streaming services that we use--especially since our Internet (although better) can still be spotty.

Otherwise, most of my thoughts have been about how tired I've been today. This last weekend really drained me of my reserves. I suppose that's reason enough to stop writing this rather bland post and head to bed.

God is pursuing us; we need to put ourselves in a place that allows us to be found. The only things that keep us from feeling God's presence are the barriers that we place there. This was the message from this week's discussion about prayer after mass today. 

I could not help but think about how directly this tied to today's Gospel when Jesus told His disciples that they do not "light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket ... ." That bushel basket represents each time we think that we are not deserving of God's love, each time we dismiss the miracles in our lives to happenstance, and each time we would rather continue down our destructive path rather than acknowledge that were wrong. Thus, if we do not feel God in our lives, we need to consider if we have allowed ourselves to be found by Him.

In today's homily, we were told that Jesus called us "the salt of the earth" and "the light of world" because salt and light are most useful when flavoring or lighting other things. In this too, the best way to open ourselves to God is in our dealings with one another and our world. By bringing flavor to others, but helping to light the way for others, we are holding true to the desires that God has planted within us, reaching out to the God who has been cradling us this entire time. 

First, I'm going to state for the record that our Reader's Theater team was robbed of a chance at the finals. I don't have the actual tabulations, but they came in first in the first round and third in the second; those were the only rounds tabulated to qualify for the final. The thing is that, in that first round, they beat two teams that made it to the final. There is no mathematical was that both teams had a higher score total than theirs. I was particularly frustrated that two of the six teams to make the finals were filled with unnecessary vulgarity. At least it was more of a learning experience. 

My frustrations might be high because the logistics of this trip brought a tremendous amount of stress. Circumstances beyond my control kept necessitating changes in our transportation plans. It all worked out, but we had a really tight fit by the end.

It was, however, still a lot of fun. I have a great group of students on my team who seem to get along together quite well. Even our tightly packed drives to and from Anchorage were entertaining in themselves. In a way, it was nice that I didn't manage to recruit a bigger team this year as this core group was able form some tight bonds.

Four members of the team meet the requirements to go to the state tournament at the end of the month. Even though this is just our first year and this tournament only saw one member of our team get a top 3 ranking, I think that they have to potential to make some solid placements at state--and perhaps get their deserved recognition in Reader's Theater.

Day One of the DDF tournament at Service High School went late. It was a tight trip up made a bit easier with the help of a parent who could bring up luggage. In general, the team seemed to feel good about their first round performances. I didn’t get to see them as the tournament was short on judges. 

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get someone to take some pictures tomorrow. 

I hope that everyone had a happy Groundhog Day--or rather, Marmot Day! As Marmot Day has yet to be the setting of one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, I still was wishing everyone a "Happy Groundhog Day" and sometimes a "Happy Groundhog's Day" or possibly a "Happy Groundhogs Day" or even a "Happy Groundhogs' Day." Whatever it is called or whatever I managed to call it, I still tried to bring joy to it.

As usually is the case, today's annual rodent-based forecast varied wildly depending on where one lived. The movie-famous Punxsutawney Phil had clear skies above and could thus be frightened of his shadow to predict six more weeks of winter. Here, the prediction seems to be a rather moot point, but with cloudy skies there would be no shadow to scare away our marmot, suggesting an early spring--which I can believe considering how warm this past January ran. Sadly, the pressure was too much for Quebec's Fred la Marmotte who was found dead today before he could give his prediction--seeing a far different shadow, I suppose. 

For me, a late winter or an early spring both sound appealing. I have different reasons for wanting either one. Seeing my shadow or not, I'm excited for these next six weeks.

As we started the month of February, I took a look back at the month of January. 

• As has been our tradition since we moved up here, we started our year with good friends. I also decided to restart the resolution sheet practice that I had abandoned a few years ago.
• I decided to play around with ChatGPT and unintentionally discover how robotic my own writing sounds.
• We actually got around to watching a few movies that had been in cellophane for a while, including the enjoyable musical of Cyrano.
• A made and fulfilled a sledding appointment with myself (and Rowen).
• My newest grandson, Julian was born.
• I coached my team at the DDF tournament in Homer.
• We celebrated Janelle's 50th birthday.
• Nerds such as myself watched as Wizards of the Coast made business decisions that angered their primary fans but then realized the enormity of their mistake and reversed those angering decisions.
• I finished The First Law book trilogy and the first season of Willow--enjoying the former far more than the latter.
• Janelle left for Michigan.
• I discovered a site that tracks StarLink's satellites and now understand much better the dips in our coverage.
• I've been planning (and having to revise those plans) for the travel arrangements for our final two DDF meets and my trip to Rome and Athens.
• Our family signed up for the PFD again.
• I ended January trying to tie together plans for February.

January went by quickly, but it looks like the next couple of months are going to rocket away even faster.