Summer Blahs

  I always have trouble not getting a bit down in the dumps (understatement) when I have too much time off.  Problem is I'm a teacher.  I need to keep myself occupied, and have stuff I'm looking forward to doing, or I just lie around and my days feel and get very pointless.

  It's hot, this summer.  I've been keeping at the fruit smoothies, which is, no doubt, very healthy, and eating less.  That's all good.  I've not been getting out and getting exercise, which isn't.  Also, due to the extreme heat and all the fruit, I've gotten quite the cloud of fruit flies around my kitchen sink.  Dunno how you get rid of those.  I just hope they die out when the garbage is taken out this week.  I'll look them up online.

  Every time I teach English (including Creative Writing) I tend to teach "the hero's journey," and I reference all of these movies that follow the "hero story" structure.  It's fun, but I wanted to finally edit something together.  Therefore, I have got snippets of any number of movies that I am taking bits out of and sticking said bits into the appropriate one of ten folders, each with a hero's journey element ("Hero is pulled into the danger" "Hero refuses his/her calling" "Hero receives a talisman/weapon to help in his/her quest" "Hero is brought to the end of him/herself and has a symbollic or near death" and so on).  Buffy, Hercules, Spider-man, Superman, Luke Skywalker, Frodo, Ralph Macchio in The Karate Kid and so on.

  I eBayed a lot of repro (someone took molds and remade them) little weapons for the 1977 Star Wars figures I'm collecting.  It was cheap, and it helps the authenticity of the collection for them to have the weapons.  Figures still in their packages would cost $500-$1000 each, of course.  These cost me maybe $2 each because I bought them loose in lots.