Is There a Doctor in the House?

Doctors 2 & 3

The final weekend before the kids returned included various movies and lots of food ... I think a diet is in order ... However, we enjoyed most of what we saw. First on the agenda was Wallace & Grommit, "A Matter of Loaf & Death," with a murderous "cereal" killer who's eliminating bakers one by one ... and Wallace is next on the hit list. Then, we indulged in some old school Doctor Who with "The Three Doctors," the first -- and arguably the best -- of the "reunion" shows. The interplay of the three Doctors highlighted the very different ways they approached a problem -- and lead to the final solution. The Time Lords even make a cameo appearance, although this group is nowhere near as colorful as they become later ... Maybe the working Time Lords can't afford the robes with big colors & silly headcaps. Even Pertwee's idiosyncracies work in this episode -- and no eye crossing when his Venusian aikido doesn't work and he's down for the count. Each Doctor has his own style -- and these three set the bar high.

Later, the girls watched the first season of Supernatural, AKA the Winchester boys chronicles. The first season isn't as dark & convoluted as later seasons -- I've totally lost track by now, including remembering the boys' names. Joy follows it still ... which reminds me that we need to clean house & upgrade the satellite receiver before the new season starts. While they watched invasions of bugs on cursed Indian land (it looked like no real estate development I've ever seen in Oklahoma.), I created a pair of purple seed bead earrings, a OOAK pair for the theater teacher at SHS. Luckily I found two other pairs in the colors she wanted; I haven't beaded in a long time, and I forgot how long creating & making a pattern can be ,,, but they turned out all right -- except for 1 little missing white bead. If she misses the spirit bead, I'll make her a new earring; otherwise, I get to make a pair for myself. They're perfect for Spirit Fridays when we wear school colors ...

Time to prepare to meet the kids on the first day of school ... and I'm still tired & achy from moving so much stuff last week, Carpe diem!

Dance quote: How can we know the dancer from the dance? ~William Butler Yeats

... But You're Drowning in Paper

Colette & D'arcy, August 2010

When we were going to school, I'm sure we didn't question how all the desks and equipment got into the room. I don't know whether we thought there were fairies or gremlins or custodians who did the physical labor, but we just plopped down on the chairs or stools, determined to get through the year ... But that was many decades ago, before PEDs (personal electronic devices) and the ingrained belief that school is mainly a social activity. Now I know the truth -- for 8 out of 10 teachers, we must decorate our rooms and make them a "print rich" environment -- even though we know that, unless we press the point, the kids really don't look at the stuff that the powers-that-be insist should be posted.

This week, we had 2 days in our room and spent 3 in meetings ... oh, the joy of meetings. The English Dpt. is 15 people strong, so we fill a room -- and several members get quite vocal when they're bored. At lunch, I grabbed time to eat and decorate on the room ... but my room is still a work-in-progress. There are boxes to check, empty (if possible), books to label -- windows to cover and decorate -- and we have only 8 hours (officially) to finish the job.

Just to make life more interesting, the powers-that-be removed the computers in our rooms. Back in the day, that wouldn't count as a major inconvenience, but now teachers post student attendance and grades on the computer ... hence, no computer means unsubmitted attendance reports (a bad thing that gets your name called out by the principal on the PA) and late grades (also a bad thing by the end of the 6 weeks). On Monday morning, I walked into drama -- one teacher's husband was ready to call the cops because they'd removed personal equipment. Shoot, two weeks ago, we had been at SHS working on curriculum, so these guys moved fast ... and stored the computers in the downstairs men's restroom. CPUs, monitors, wires, cables, mice (mouses?), all jumbled together higher than the stall doors ... It was not a pretty sight.

Mr. T finally lost his temper & called downtown about the insanity ...he told the district that his teachers needed computers, so when would we get replacements? All of us know that once the equipment is gone, you don't get new stuff if you're not a magnet school ... DISD couldn't give a timeline, so he gave the word to go get our computers. I lucked out: the yearback teacher recruited some cheerleaders, so I followed the flatbeds to the restroom. One young man -- who had been in my summer school English class -- climbed all over the bathroom, over the commodes and stall doors, to help us locate our stuff. Oh, and that was my lunch time on Wednesday ... I had meetings after I set up the computer. I did get a new (well, new to me) flat-screen monitor. And non-teachers wonder why we get stressed ...

Obviously this week I haven't had much time for dolls ... but I did get an order for 3 pairs of beaded earrings from the theater teacher. Like me, she is a child of the 70s -- long, dangly earrings are part of her personal style. Plus, she likes the chokers. When she placed the order, I was working on "SMART Goals" for our team. (Don't ask -- it's an education thing.) Without thinking, I asked if she liked chokers. Yes, she did ... now my dpt. chair & evaluator (and team) are all around, but I couldn't resist. I pulled up this blog -- and got an order for a copper & purple crystal choker. I've got work to do this weekend ...

Last weekend we celebrated Joy's birthday. Colette, my Obitsu 60 cm SD) tried on the "Movietime" clothing set from BJDC Austin 2008. (I may be wrong about the year.) With the red wig, she looks like Amy Ponds, the current companion on the British SF show Doctor Who. Mar re-did her faceup in pastels (The original was done in human makeup.) on Saturday night while I re-dressed D'arcy. When Joy bought the Dollzone doll for me, he had an Egyptian set of clothes -- a white kilt, headband, armbands ... I played with names -- one was Yul or Ramses, after Brynner's star turn in The 10 Commandments. My mom tells me that I loved the "Moses movie," but I don't remember liking Charlton Heston all that much ... Still, the name didn't quite fit; his expression made me recall Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice, so the kitty boy became D'arcy Fitzwilliams. To his chagrin, like many of Mar's boys, D'arcy occasionally wears dresses. This little number came from Enchanted Dolls in Fort Worth ... The frills lessen the "pissed pussycat" expression that D'arcy has when he wears his Egyptian set or Scottish kilt (a plaid Barbie skirt).

Dance quote: "You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life ...

See that girl, dig that scene, you are the dancing queen."

-- ABBA

And You Thought They Hired You to Teach

Vampire Lishe, Pash't & friend

... but you also become an interior decorator, computer data person, psychologist, and -- after all is said & done -- the "guide on the side." Right now, most teachers have no computers in their classrooms; the district, in its wisdom, hired an outside company to remove obsolete computers. Now it's true that many CPUs are dinosaurs in tech terms, but anyone who's worked in public education knows that if the equipment leaves the building -- it won't be replaced any time soon. Since we post attendance and grades on the "student data system," next week -- and subsequent weeks -- will be quite interesting ... I may have to return to the old overhead projector, unless the library -- sorry, media center -- can check out one to me ... I hope the media center has lots of ink cartridges, because those of us without printers will be printing our student data, roll books, and more on their machines.





Enough kvetching about school ... This is year 35 -- and the more things change, the more they stay the same ... we'll make it, unless the TEA changes the rules that determine our school's rating.

The featured dolls are a Vampire Lishe & Pash't, taken in front of Mar's manga library. Ariadne, the vampire Lishe, is a Dollfie Dreams doll that Joy bought long ago ... she's our bad girl in the picture stories that will appear soon. Our friend in Oklahoma enjoyed the story in which Mar's boy Jace strays from his magical lover Catsandra for a tryst with Ariadne; Catsandra turns the rat into a rodent and her cat awaits his supper ... Pash't is our mascot doll, an Obitsu with a OOAK look by Joy. Pash't often travels to the out-of-state conventions ... not overseas (yet), but who knows where this kitty girl may roam? These two dolls are reasons why the "resin snobs" reluctantly allow 60 cm Obitsus into their hallowed halls; for anyone unfamiliar with the on-going debate on what defines a ball-jointed doll, most collectors agree that a BJD should

• have a fully jointed body -- neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, knees, ankles
• usually be strung; Obitsu dolls have "mechanical" joints
• have changeable eyes (Pash't breaks this rule; Obitsu does have an eye-hole head)
• usually wear different wigs
• Some collectors insist that BJDs should be made of resin, not plastic -- but Volks manufactured the Lishe, so mainly purists insist on this "rule"

The editor of Doll Costuming pointed out that many of the 19th century antique dolls fall into the BJD catergory ... although I'm not sure whether most Armand Marseilles dolls had jointed bodies in the same way that Asian BJDs do ... I recall a cloth body with compo or porcelain arms, legs & head. The "newborn" babies definitely do NOT fit into this category ... although they seem to be the latest DIY doll fad. Sorry, I just don't see the appeal of multiple versions of bald-headed, squinchy-faced infants -- and don't get me started on the ones that have been tinted slightly purple in order to duplicate the "just born" look. If I can get my hands on my grandfather's christening gown, I might buy or make a reborn in order to display my great-grandmother's handiwork; other than that, I shall leave the babies to the ones who adore them.

The big bison summons me back to SHS ... Meetings are so much fun!!

Dance Quote -- "We should consider everyday lost in which we don't dance." -Neitzsche

School's In for 2-10

Sunset HS (1925) -- My classroom is 3rd floor, over the archway.

Okay, Pink Floyd it's not, but I couldn't resist a bad pun ... I went to Sunset HS this morning -- and found out that the AC was NOT working!!! (No surprise -- I've worked in public schools long enough to know that they turn off the AC for the weekend, then crank it up around 7 AM when the head custodian arrives ... and then we wait to find out whether the old building's units have come on line. By lunch, the temperature on my side of the building was tolerable, if not comfortable ... and I brought Joy up to work while I prepped the classroom -- decorate is not quite an accurate term since I have to set up the desks, the bookcases, the file cabinets ... and then I get to deal with the bulletin boards and covering up cracks in 85-year-old walls. I've only just begun (cue Carpenter music) ... and the kids haven't entered the classroom. Oh, the image comes from a vintage postcard of Oak Cliff buildings.

This evening Joy and I looked -- and found owls all over JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby. Only the organic grocery store Sprouts didn't have the bird of the night peering from the shelves ... We found little hats that we can adapt for cavalier hats & girls' chapeaux; Joy will try to adapt some full-sized hat patterns for her pirate boys ... She made a new necklace set from ruby components & beads while I taped and stapled butcher paper to the walls & boards. The simple chain can be fitted to an SD or MSD neck ... pictures later.

If Sunday night is Food Network night, then Monday night belongs to the drag queens ... We've watched most of Ru Paul's "Drag Races," and now we're checking out "Drag U," in which the most popular queens return to teach "biological women" (their term) how to empower themselves by finding and dressing as their inner divas ... One of the most interesting episodes involved Ru Paul's 3 sisters; the kindergarten teacher graduated with the highest DPA (Drag Points Average). Joy has decided that she's stay a pirate -- though perhaps with a fuller wig to give her a dramatic look. I'm not sure what image the "Dragulator" might give me -- a Mae West look with a corseted body and tight gown? a mini-skirt and bustier? The possibilities are (almost) endless ... there are a few looks that a woman over 25 should no longer attempt, unless she's had major plastic surgery. Nip and tuck, darling!

If the Spirits Move You

Sande's Faith in a necklace set by Joy

Saturday we gathered together to celebrate Joy's birthday in Carrollton; Mar took Karen and us to "Tasty Greek," a small restaurant located on Belt Line Road. Mar had described it as a "hole in the wall" ... It was quite small, yes, but the food was great -- the owner/manager wears several hats. He was our waiter and cashier, although I don't know whether he also worked in the kitchen ... Karen and I enjoyed the Patichio, ground beef with pasta under a bechamel sauce, while Joy & Mar fig into huge gyro plates ... even our picky eater had to agree that "Tasty Greek" lived up to its name and deserved a "Best in" award for good food. Then, Mar took us to an evil place -- evil, I tell you, because her liquor store had adopted the practice of allowing customers to taste test the specials of the whom am I to turn down free liquor?

Spirits were willing, the flesh was weak, and we spent an enjoyable time wandering up and down the aisles. We spent a bit of time with the pre-mixed liquors -- and returned with Kahlua B-52s ... Joy found some chocolate wine when an owl on the bottle ... Karen got rum (no surprise there -- she and Captain Morgan are old acquaintances.) ... Mar got cherry lemonade with vodka ... the terrible temptation, which I confess we did little to avoid, came from the discovery that we could get 15% off the total purchase if we bought 15 bottles. They had tiny "airline" bottles of liquor -- perfect for stocking stuffers -- which made our final selections quite simple.

After we emptied the bottles, we could use them as props for the dolls ... our poor innocent resin children, introduced to the "demon rum." Well, MY girl Colette is generally innocent, but I'm not too sure about Mar's larger male dolls -- and Joy's Yancy drowned his sorrows over his love life down at the hotel bar last weekend.

Back at Mar's house, we watched live action Sci-Fi anime -- if you'll excuse the very mixed-up metaphor ... Doctor Who remains one of my all-time favorite series, although my "main men" remained Tom Baker and David Tennant. As they say, you never forget your first; in Houston I stayed up after midnight to watch the Doctor. The first shows were "Mask of Mandragora" with Sarah Jane ... then I missed the 4th show that finished the episode and returned to "Face of Evil." When I moved back to Dallas in 1980, no station showed the series ... I had to wait until I went to O-Kon to see my first complete adventure: Underworld. Donna Fraser and Joy told me it was not worthy -- they were right. Until the "reboot" in 2005, the BBC was famed for horribly bad special effects. Cheezy, some said, and rightly so. I did take one good line from "Underworld:" The quest is the quest ... and the line has stuck since we still collect objects, and the quest for costumes, dolls, and books continues unabated.

Tom Baker, AKA the 4th Doctor, is an amusing performer; he can declaim lines -- usually with a straight face -- that would shame lesser actors; however, even he would have to admit that David Tennant is the superior actor ... After all, Tom played the bear in Shakespeare's play while David was the great Dane himself.

We went back to the 9th Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, to watch the events that led to his regeneration into Tennant ... and the death and rebirth of Captain Jack Harkness (later of Torchwood). As you watch the eps, you can see the huge crush -- romance? -- that will keep the Doctor and Rose together across time and space. Personally, I think Rose might have stalker tendencies; when she strides into Donna Noble's universe to battle the Daleks, you can tell she's a girl on a mission ... and it's not just to exterminate a danger to humanity. Sarah Jane Smith dealt with Doctor-separation a bit more gracefully; still she was older, if only by a few years, when she traveled with the Doctor -- and got left behind when he was called back to Gallifrey. But she never got married ... and didn't officially have a family until after she made peace with her past life as the Doctor's companion ... I wonder how she and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) will react to the current Doctor. Matt Smith is young enough to be their grandson (or at least their son). The meeting won't have quite the same dynamics of having the current missus meeting the ex (to paraphrase Micky) since Doctor 11's companion Amy Ponds married her childhood sweetheart Rory ... Now there's a shift in the group dynamics in the TARDIS since the Doctor seldom has two companions -- and never a married couple until 2010.

Amy Ponds (at her wedding) -- "Something old, something new, something borrowed ... and something very blue!" (Deep thrumming of materialization)

In Search of ... Dolls & More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz4UM9zk5Rg This is the link to a slide show for BJDC Austin 2010

Today Joy & I decided to go on a little adventure for my last official day of summer vacation. We'd wondered if there were any doll shops left in North Texas -- we knew there weren't any shops that sold BJDs; however, we thought there might be one somwhere that sold the usual American run of collectible dolls ... we were wrong. According to Google, there are about 10-12 shops that sell dolls; I knew that NotJust Dolls had closed their store years ago ... and her web site is listed on line. She sells out of Canton Flea and Antique Market on First Mondays. The Enchanted Cottage, located in Richardson, mainly caters to kids' tastes; plus, her hours vary ... and considering the lack of walk-in foot traffic, I can't blame her.

Still, we wanted to check out someplace new ... and not just another Toys R Us. I finally found one place over in Fort Worth -- not in Dallas County, but not so far that it would take hours to get there. (Well, depending on which road you took, it might take longer than you'd think!) The store's name is Enchanted Dolls ... and it's located in the Handley Antique District. To tell the truth, it's an area undergoing gentrification ... it's an older section of Fort Worth, near the railroad and power plant, with several small upscale shops near it ... and two rooms crammed floor to ceiling with dolls dating from the 1930s to 2010.

No, no ball-jointed dolls, but she had just about any American-made doll you might want ... and for very reasonable prices. As we were checking out, a reporter from Channel 11 came into the shop; he wanted to film a feature story with her ... then she started to protest about meshing their schedules ... We had trouble remaining silent: free publicity, and she couldn't open the shop for a few hours! They worked it out ... and she asked how we had found them. I had to tell the story of checking the Internet -- and calling ahead because most of the doll shops in our area had closed after the mid-90s. The building dates back to the mid-20th century, with the original architechtural details ... we'll be back. She has my Muffy Vanderbear!

In Search of ...

Mar's Court of Fey & Humans, BJDC Austin 2010

Fantasy & Faerie ... Mar's dolls wear OOAK clothing designed & sewn by Lady Fayre ... We spread the word about Sarah's lovely clothing at the convention. Alas, we didn't have any clothing for sale this year. Hopefully, we can create the stories for the court -- and keep them going longer than the "Cerberus Academy" series that we posted on Mariann's site ... if I can access the NTXBJD page this weekend ... Otherwise, you might see them on "Dancing Doll Cats."





Colette & Namu, Halloween 2007

Dolls ... There's a dearth of brick-and-mortar shops for the intrepid doll collector. Most of the doll shops from the 90s have closed; 1 still exists as an on-line presence that appears at the Canton Flea Market ... but the others? They have melted away -- and, no, Googling them on the Internet doesn't help since the updates never quite appear. Still, we can call and check to learn whether the store actually exists. After all, the British Emporium won #2 British speciality shop -- and it was the only brick-and-mortar shop in the top 5. Mariann loves to browse on the 'Net, but I like to see (and touch when possible) what I'm buying ...



Cool Weather ... That won't materialize until Monday, or so the weather gurus tell us. Now I know why the rich "snow birds" travel up and down the East Coast ... The heat hasn't slowed the kitties down, except for Skittles who watches the younger ones zipping around from a safe perch. As you can guess, Joy and I are feeling the heat ... and yet we're planning a "road trip" to Fort Worth in search of a doll shop.





School ... It's almost that time of year when the little ones return to the supervision of their CTUs (classroom teaching units). Luckily we did some summer planning, so English II has a battle plan ... although the DISD curriculum people may not like our taking their "managed curriculum" and tweaking it to our liking ... The first story is a lame one about a shy boy deciding whether to pursue a fish or a pretty girl; you can imagine how intrguing inner city kids would find THAT plot. We chose to begin the year with "The Monkey's Paw." Zombies can be a teacher's best fiend -- uh, friend. I still lurk in the upper halls of SHS, my home away from home. My previous abode for over 20 years was RHS, on the other side of I-35 ... the differences between a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood and a mainly Black 'hood would startle the young whitebread boys in the English Dpt. ... When they complain, some of us -- who HAVE taught in the real 'hood -- just laugh and shake our heads. But the battle of education begins for real on August 23, so we'll have to enjoy the last weekend of vacation, even if it IS way too hot to think straight.





Still More Dolls ... Grapevine, Grand Prairie, Duncanville, and Fort Worth -- the city of Dallas is big, but I guess it just doesn't feel much dolly love ... except for twice a year when the vendors pull out their stock at the anime conventions. In 2 weeks, we'll see what new surprises emerge from the other collectors in the area ... Hopefully, we can put on a show (shades of Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland) that's sure to please.

Dance Quote:
“God is a DJ
Life is a dancefloor
Love is the rhythm
You are the music”
- Author Unknown