Dallas Summer Musicals

We've gone to see two of the Dallas Summer Musicals so far this year. I'd never been to Fair Park, and it's been years since I've seen a professional musical production, so I was super excited about seeing "The Wizard of Oz" last Friday. I was pretty disappointed. It was exactly like the movie with very little creative license taken by the writers, director, and even the actors. They pretty much did impersonations of the film actors, and it fell a little flat. That's not to say the performances weren't good - they were. So were the singing voices. I really like the movie, so it was still very fun to watch the play. The Wicked Witch of the West was particularly good, and I think it's because she wasn't just trying to copy Margaret Hamilton. She actually had her own interpretation of the character.

The dancing, though, was abysmal. I think my high school drama department could have done just as well. And these people are being paid to dance for a living. Pretty sad. Given that it was a national touring company, I figure that they're probably working with less than they would have if they were on a permanent stage. Like, maybe half their set was missing for some of the numbers or maybe there just isn't room on the Fair Park stage for them to do a big fancy dance number or something. Anyway, it was pretty mediocre. Not terrible, but certainly not fantastic.

So, when we went to go see "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" last night, I was apprehensive. I just hoped it was as good as "The Wizard of Oz" - which is to say disappointing, but it didn't ruin the show or anything. I expected them to cut some of my favorite parts from the movie in the interest of time or money or stage size or whatever. I was WRONG. It was fantastic! They had all the big dance numbers with great choreography (Toot Sweets and Me Ol' Bamboo), they kept all of my favorite parts (ie, the breakfast machine), and y'all, that flying car was awesome! Sooooooo good. And I think the best part of it all was this adorable little boy sitting in front of us who was totally into it. He was talking back to the actors on stage ("Dude, say please!"), he was terrified of the child catcher, and during the song where Mr. Potts is rallying all the children, this kid was pumping his arms in the air in time to the beat. He was so cute and he was having such a great time. Which is kind of the whole point, right? Kids are supposed to love this show. I did when I was a kid, and this little kid's enjoyment of it made me like it even more as an adult.

Success!

My eye surgery is a success so far! I woke up this morning, and for the first time in 25 years, I could SEE. Pretty amazing. The surgery wasn't bad at all - well, not as bad as I was expecting it to be, anyway. Jonathan even got to watch it (which I didn't want him to do, but he did anyway). I was most nervous about the "Clockwork Orange" eyelid stretchers they have to put on your eye, and I will say they were the worst part. So, if you can handle that, then you can handle LASIK.

I could see better immediately after the surgery, but everything looked weird and hazy like the room was full of smoke. I pretty much just kept my eyes closed as much as possible because, really, they hurt kind of badly. It took practically all of my willpower not to rub them. The doctor had given me some extra Valium, though, so when I got home, I took one and went to sleep. After a few hours, it just felt like I had an old, dry pair of scratchy contacts in, and I could see well enough to watch a little TV.

This morning, my right eye is pretty much at 100%. The left eye is still blurry, but I think it will improve as it continues to heal. I have a follow-up appointment today, so we'll see what the doctor says. The amazing part is that I can drive myself to the appointment. Seriously - it's that much better. I have to get my driver's license status changed!

It's pretty fantastic. I feel a little like a biblical character. It wasn't quite Zap! You're healed! But it's pretty close.

Squirrel Thief

Look who I caught stealing the birdseed this morning! That can't be comfortable, Mr. Squirrel.

LASIK

I went for my LASIK consultation today. The doctor said I have beautiful eyeballs. That's pretty cheesy coming from an ophthamologist, but I'll take compliments where I can get them! Anyway, I am having the surgery on Monday. Eeeeek! I am excited and scared.

Cheaters

So, I caught three students plagiarizing this week - two on their final research paper and one on an essay that he rewrote that I just got around to grading. I have encountered cheating in my class before, but this particular set of cheaters really got me riled up and just downright angry. Most of my past cheaters have owned up to it, rewritten their assignment for half credit, and either gotten a lot better at it or given it up altogether. I respect these students. I mean, yes, they cheated, but at least when confronted, they admitted their wrongdoing and suffered the consequences like mature adults. One of my cheaters from first semester even signed up for my class again, earned an A this time, and then wrote me a really nice e-mail about how he appreciated me putting up with him and not holding that incident against him. The group of cheaters I just apprehended are not acting like this. They are not only cheaters, but liars as well. Here are their stories:

A - A basically slept through my class this semester. He constantly turned in assignments late and before the cheating incident had a very low C. The plagiarism detection website we use discovered that he had copied passages from two different "Free Online Research Papers" websites for his 2nd essay of the semester. When I asked him to explain it, he replied, "I didn't use those websites and I cited all my sources too." Strangely, so did the online essays! I asked him to explain how the wording and structure of his paper were identical to the online ones and he wrote me a long e-mail about how "it was a very broad topic and people can come up with the same ideas." Apparently in the exact same words and with the exact same typos. He ended up with a 59.8 in my class, and normally I round up, but I didn't for this one.

B - Five paragraphs from his research paper were copied directly from an online article on his topic. He did not cite the article, and in fact he cited another source instead which had nothing to do with the information he provided. When I asked him about it, he freaked out and was like, "I don't know how this happened! I never saw or read this article! What do I do?" I told him he needed to explain to me how, if he had never seen the article, five paragraphs of it appeared verbatim and uncited in his paper. He said, "I don't know! But this doesn't mean I fail your class, right? I can't afford to fail any classes!" Yes, it does. And I guess you couldn't afford to cheat on your final research paper, then. I told him I had to fail him, but if he could come up with some exonerating evidence, he could request a grade change. Then, he had the audacity to say, "I don't know how to prove it! What evidence is there? Can you help me?" Um, no. I really can't.

C - Four pages of his final research paper were poorly formatted block quotes from news articles. Seriously. Like, he had a two-page quote in there. He might as well have just printed out the articles for me and turned them in instead of his paper. To his credit, though, he did cite them properly. :) When I told him about it, he responded, "Oh, wow. I'm really sorry. I didn't know. I've never written a research paper before and I thought I could do it. What should I do?" I told him he should retake the class, and he very politely said, "Ok. Thank you." The end.

I've come to just expect to discover a few students cheating here and there. It's sad and disturbing, but that's just how it is. If they'll admit it, I will give them a break and not hold it against them later on. But these guys (with the exception of C, who almost made me laugh with his serene acceptance of the situation) are driving me crazy. What do they think they are gaining by continuing to lie? But, then my husband says, "What will they gain by telling the truth?" Nothing. Except my respect for them, I suppose, and they obviously don't care about that.

Cheesy Lifetime Movie

I had a silly movie on today while I was writing my paper, and it turned out to be more of a distraction than I was hoping. It was a made-for-TV movie that originally aired in 2004 called "I Want to Marry Ryan Banks." Why are you watching such drivel, Laura? I'll tell you. It starred Bradley Cooper (Will from Alias who I love, love, love), Emma Caulfield (Anya from Buffy who is my absolute favorite), and Jason Priestly. How can I NOT watch it?

I wasn't expecting much. In fact, I was kind of expecting Bradley Cooper and Emma Caulfield to go considerably down in my standings. I was wrong. The movie was adorable. Here's the plot:

Bradley Cooper and Jason Priestly are best friends. Jason is an actor and Bradley is his manager. Jason's career starts to go down the tubes, so Bradley invents a reality TV show for him a la "The Bachelor." Emma Caulfield plays one of the contestants whose sister entered her into the competition. Both guys like her, but since Jason Priestly is the star of the show, he's the one who gets the real shot at her. Because he's a self-involved actor, he bumbles around and doesn't know how to talk to her because she's a nice, normal girl, so Bradley Cooper starts feeding him lines over his earpiece a la "Cyrano de Bergerac." BUT, Emma Caulfield is not completely stupid like Roxane, and she figures it out!!!! I loved that part. And she likes the guy she supposed to like - the one with the beautiful soul - instead of the dopey pretty boy. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Bradley Cooper is totally hot and doesn't have a super-huge nose. I would like him better, too.

Anyway, I really liked the movie. I liked it that the woman 1) figured out what was going on before the movie was even half over and 2) didn't cause a bunch of manufactured drama over Bradley Cooper feeding Jason Priestly his lines since that was, after all, his job. If you're ever completely bored and want to watch a romantic-type movie with good kissing, watch this. I was really surprised at how not bad it was.

Restroom Gossip

I got an e-mail from my friend Lara today, and it said, "I saw this in a public restroom, and I thought you should know what people are saying about you."


I laughed so hard!