The Allie Alley

Well it's been a couple crazy weeks here in the Allie family. A few items of note:

"I'm so excited about Star Wars I have a rash!"

Yes, that's right, my poor allergic-to-everything body decided that the amoxycillin I had been taking for an upper respiratory infection, stuff I've used since I was a kid, was BAD NEWS! And, starting at my hands, I slowly got covered with a nasty, itchy rash! Of course, it didn't happen til 20 minutes before school, and the were no subs, so that was a mess. Anyway, I go to the doctor, get a cortisone shot, and she says to take Benadryl to control the itching. She told me to not go to work in case I had more reactions. Luckily, she didn't say to skip the movies! However, the rash got worse overnight and I had to get even more doped up to control it.

"Why Yoda is MY HERO!"

Ok, my expectations weren't THAT high for Episode II. The Phantom Menace was a bit of a chore to sit through even recently, and I was afraid Lucas was gonna screw everything up. However, by and large, Ep. II was quite well done, very exciting, and the scene with Yoda alone was worth the price of admission!

But...

It's sad the CGI Yoda acts better than the dude playing Anakin. He seemed to be trying awfully hard, and it came off like someone playing the lead in a high school play. I know that there couldn't be a harder role to play, after all, Vader is a cultural icon, right? Still, his acting was pretty bad, and even notorious in the love scenes. I realize we are supposed to think he is a jerk; after all, he DOES end up slicing his own son's hand off. I think, though, that if you took out the love scenes, the movie would be almost perfect. I found the romance to be contrived at best and silly at times. Anakin standing on some cow-looking alien to impress Amidala? OOOOOkay. Rolling around in the grass? Riiiight. I was reminded of the scene in Shrek where Shrek blows up the snake and ties it like a balloon. It was hokey, but cool in Shrek because it was for laughs, but in Star Wars? Eeeww. And the scene right before the arena battle where Amidala all of a sudden loves Anakin came practically out of nowhere. Go watch the scene in Empire where Leia tells Han "I love you" when he is being frozen. Now, THAT is a fantastic scene. And since the whole Anakin/Amidala relationship is the CORE of the Sar Wars story, I expected much more.

The new ranking of the saga is:

Empire > Attack of the Clones > Jedi > New Hope and Phantom Menace (tie)

"A Wedding, Dinosaurs, and the Best Steak I Ever Had!"

Last week, of course, was my brother's wedding. I was quite impressed with it, overall. The ceremony itself was shorter than our own wedding, which was about impossible I thought! It was also way too hot in the house they got married in, but it was really really nice otherwise. The highlight, though, was the dinner at Devito's in Eureka Springs. Oh man was that a great steak. New York Strip, baked potato, some broccoli I didn't eat, and a great, dark leaf lettuce salad with awesome parmesan dressing. I know my steak and this was one of the best I've had. Makes me hungry thinking about it!

We spent the night in Eureka Springs, and the next day, after breakfast with the newlyweds and my parents, we took a sidetrack and toured Dinosaur World. It's basically a little park and gift shop. You can drive through what is probably a couple miles of gravel road and look at probably 2 or 3 dozen plaster sculptures of dinosaurs. Some of the dinos were life sized, but not all. The highlights were the T-Rex, King Kong (with a woman in his grip!), and the Octopus in the lake. Maybe I will scan in some of the pictures soon. The boys both got little Godzilla toys at the gift shop, too, but Connor lets me play with his.

"6 hours and 45 minutes left of school!"

YES it's the last day! I am almost through at McGregor Elementary! It couldn't come any quicker, in my opinion. I will have all summer to find a new job, so that is a good thing. I've a second interview at Halfway, MO next week, for a 5th grade position. I am confident it will all work out in the end.

That's all the news for now, more to come soon!