As I write this, it’s Thursday, June 13th, and the morning air is actually cool and lovely. Most of this week has been hot and this feels like the first morning this week that feels properly cool. The forecast calls for slightly cooler temperatures today, which just means somewhere in the 80s. Better than triple digits, I say.
TV
Star Trek: Discovery – I consider myself a Star Trek fan, my love for the franchise blossoming in the days of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’ve watched most of the original series, read countless books of TOS, watched all the TNG movies, most of DS9 and Voyager, some of Enterprise. When the Kelvin timeline was introduced, I was in it for the re-imagined crew of the Enterprise, especially with Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy. Those movies were and still are a great watch.
I remember being excited when Star Trek: Discovery was announced and then being utterly disappointed that a franchise that professes inclusivity should choose to broadcast their latest show on an exclusive channel. It felt like the opposite of the universe of Star Trek. We did not subscribe for the longest time and would only finally give in for Star Trek: Picard. And now we have started Discovery.
My verdict so far: I LOVE IT. It’s so Star Trek and yet so different. The characters are engaging and flawed and messed up and loving and just so much fun to watch. We’ve started the second season so we’ve got Christopher Pike and so far only Spock’s voice. I want to see Spock! From the first season, I was properly floored by the revelation of Ash Tyler’s background as well as oddly drawn to him when he spoke Klingon. (Klingon never sounded so hot!)
I know some vague plot points coming up but I’m trying very hard NOT to look them up because I love being surprised by where the journey is taking us. Will I be bummed when we get to that last episode of the show? I hope they ended it with an actual end in mind. We shall see…
The Acolyte – Three episodes in and I’m dutifully intrigued. I want to know more! I’ll reserve judgement of the show until after all the episodes have aired and I’ve watched them. So far, I’ve liked the episodes and the premise of the show. I was a little miffed by the first episode and the short duration of Carrie-Anne Moss’ character. She was featured a lot in the ads so it seemed odd that she only had a few minutes of screentime in the first episode. IYKYK
On Tuesday, staff gathered to see off the superintendent. After 13 years in our district, he’s off to a new adventure at another district. It’s exciting for him and will definitely be a challenge being in a new place amongst new people. He seems happy for the new position. We all have days of adjustments ahead.
Besides staff, former employees as well as present and past board members joined the celebration. One of our assistant superintendents spoke about his memories of our outgoing superintendent and our associate superintendent also spoke. (The next day, at the board meeting, the associate superintendent was named our next superintendent!) It was a lovely gathering with good food (mmm, pizza) and drinks. I was happy to see some former coworkers who are now enjoying retirement, as well as admins I don’t usually get to see because I rarely visit the school sites.
Oh yeah, and I’m totally wearing my bandana from Cowboy Tears.
As mentioned above, the new superintendent was announced at the board meeting on Wednesday night. On Thursday, the outgoing superintendent sent an email out to let everyone know. Our new superintendent has worked as the head of human resources for thirteen years and she knows her stuff. It will be very interesting to see what kind of changes will happen, if any, in the coming days. I know that budget is a concern. I am glad that I am in a position that is constant and needed. I am also glad that I finally got myself re-classified because if I had waited any longer, I might not have gotten it at all.
I consider myself very lucky in my work situation. I work with amazing people who are supportive of the students and staff and we all get along rather well. My boss is such a spark of goodness and I just adore her. I am relatively happy to be at work (even though my natural laziness would always rather be at home, watching some tv or something but that’s just me) and even with all the frustrations that crop up, it’s okay because we have such a great team.
Damn Good Time – Jordan Davis
Stateline, NV – On Friday, we headed up to Lake Tahoe to see Jordan Davis! It was so lovely to head to cooler temperatures and Lake Tahoe did not disappoint on that score. The weather was lovely with a fair amount of chill once the sun set on the outdoor venue.
Ashley Cooke – First opener was a young lady who lived a bit in Pleasanton, CA! She mentioned her family visited the Lake Tahoe area but never in the summer. I hear ya on that! This was only my second time in the area during this time of the year. Ashely Cooke is talented and energetic. She’s got great vibes and I enjoyed her set.
Mitchell Tenpenny – We saw Mitchell last month when he and Jordan opened for Luke Combs and he’s just as good doing a longer set. This time around he was on stage for about an hour. I think I need to check out more of his music. I really enjoyed his songs but I only really know a couple of them. He has a cool voice.
Jordan was fantastic! Can it be that it was seven years ago that we met? Now he’s headlining his own shows as well as opening stadiums for Luke Combs. I think this is the first headling show of his that we’ve seen and it was great! Even though we saw him last month, this time around, we were treated to more songs. It was fun and lively and so wonderful hearing everyone sing back his songs to him. I took video snippets of his playlist to get the list. And here it is:
- Damn Good Time
- Singles You Up
- Whiskey Weak
- Lose You
- Good News Sold
- Almost Maybes
- Church in a Chevy
- A Little Lime
- Tucson Too Late
- Next Thing You KNow
- medley: Leaving New Orleans, Going ‘Round, Selfish, Fishing Spot, Short Fuse
- burnt CD medley: I Don’t Wanna Be, You Got It Bad, This Love, Gunpowder and Lead (w/ Ashley Cooke), All the Small Things (w/ Mitchell Tenpenny)
- What My World Spins Around
- Slow Dance in a Parking Lot
- Part of It
- Take It From Me
- Buy Dirt
The burnt CD medley was a lot of fun. It was great to see Ashley and Mitchell again; they both did a great job with their songs. The crowd really got into All the Small Things. It’s a little crazy to realize songs from the late 90s/early 00s are decades old now. Ye gods!
We stayed at Bally’s, which was fine. Checking in seemed easy enough except our keys didn’t work. We got the keys reset but when we opened the door, someone was already in it! (Well, they weren’t in it, thank goodness.) The front desk had written down the wrong room number and it was straightened out. We were on the same floor but number 716, not 715. Ye gods!
We were on the road by 0600 hrs the next morning and home by 0900 hrs. Not bad! It was nice being back home even though we weren’t gone for too long. I do like that we were rested while going home. I think it was worth staying up there for the show.
I don’t work a full week of work until near the end of July. Glorious! I love this time of year. 😉