The Jedi Council

Okay, it’s Saturday and my day wasn’t any easier than it was during the week.  My parents showed up this morning around eleven a.m. or so and we spent most of the morning getting the house straightened up for them and the house still looks like a cyclone has gone through it.  We need a week’s straight worth of cleaning in order to get this house back to looking relatively normal again.  My parents showed up with their usual fanfare from the kids.  The kids always seem so eager to see grammy and grandpa and can’t wait to spend time with them.  Either sets of grandparents will do for my kids.  They just love to see them.  We had a great time visiting with my parents and they got a chance to see some of my Star Wars stuff being worked on while they were here.  I would be willing to bet that my dad was thinking that I was taking my fandom WAY too far.

Anyway, after we got them settled down for a while, we had an early dinner so Heather could partake of dinner with us. We also had to get on the road as I had a SMASH concert to get to and grammy and papa agreed to come and watch the concert with the kids.  We got to Roosevelt and had a decent audience to work with.  We decided half-way through the performance to cut-back on our length so that audience wasn’t there forever and there were quite a few kids in the audience.  We got done and my mother and father were impressed with what we had done with the kids.  My mom was especially proud of me because I’ve learned traditional grip as much as I have.  That’s a percussion term for those of you that don’t know.  Anyway, grammy and papa took myself and the kids out to ice cream at Suzy-Q’s after the performance.  It was a beautiful night.  Nice.  Not too warm and not too cold.  Just right.  A perfect spring evening.

We got home and spent some time together upstairs and then I headed downstairs around eleven o’clock or so and watched some T.V. while I posted Special Edition #3 of TJCS.  You can catch that here tonight, right here:

Okay, it’s Friday, payday, and I was as busy as all get out.  I also wasn’t feeling too hot and seem to be exhausted beyond belief!!  I think a lot of this has to do with the stress that is surrounding work (which I cannot talk about here) but has to do with how my co-workers are interacting with each other.  I just feel like Rodney King saying, “can’t we all just get along?”  Anyway, I’m not sleeping well at night because of stress and because I’m worried about Heather and her surgery next week and performances and what-not.  I just can’t believe how busy my life has gotten over the past month.  How did I get myself into all of this?  Anyway, school went okay.  Students were fairly well behaved and they were just as ready for the weekend as I was.  A lot of them are really looking forward to next week’s vacation and I can’t say that I blame them.  I am looking forward to it myself.  I’m sure many of you have been attempting to read this blog and are probably reading this a week late at this point.  I just can’t seem to keep up with everything that is going on.  To make matters worse, I’m supposed to be giving finals next week and finish grading papers this week.  As Bill Cosby would say, “RIGHT!!”

I got done with school today and then helped to continue to work on the set.  I felt bad that I couldn’t be of more help, but my children arrived, I had a leave for a SMASH concert and on top of it all I was feeling tired and sick.  It just didn’t add up.  But, I went to Taco Bell and ate dinner there with the kids and felt much better.  Maybe I just needed some food to keep myself going.  You know, low blood sugar and all or something like that.  I got done there and we headed right to Benjamin Franklin elementary for our concert tonight.

When I got there, Mr. Lewis and I ran through some things between ourselves and then ran some things through with the kids.  We then waited for an audience.  We waited and waited and waited.  Not much of an audience showed up!  I believe we may have had thirty to forty people at most.  But hey, the show must go on.  The good news through the night was that I made money by playing the 50/50 at the show.  Of course, I only won $15, but hey, money is money.  I just plan on putting that towards my Mando costume.

I stopped by Heather’s work on the way home tonight to actually spend some time with my wife, since I hadn’t seen her all day.  In our short time together, we exchanged some information and she was able to tell me that we not only got our Tax Return (which will help to payoff some bills), but that she also ordered my Sintra today.  Awesome!!  I should have it by next week so I can start working with it on my break.  That will be loads of fun.  I then went home and had the kids work on laundry while I collapsed in the basement.  What a week!

Okay, enough talk about me and let’s talk about my favorite subject, Star Wars!!!  Let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 15 of “Star Wars:Republic Commando - Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

Chapter 15 (Part 1):  “So how do we justify breeding men to fight for us?  If we simply give in to this idea, then how are we any different from those we consider to be evil?  Do you have any answers Masters? ” - Jed Master Padawan Barden Jusik, addressing the Jedi Council. - Etain woke up from concentration and let Niner know that Guta Nay was dead, she felt it in The Force.  Darman pointed out  that Hokan would have found him sometime and the diversion he may have created may redeem his unfortunate demise.  There was a small scuffle about the statement then they all agreed they were just tired and punchy.  Etain then said that if one life justified many, then what would happen if she were to do the same to one of them.  Darman said they were all made for such things.  Darman also pointed out that Etain will give orders that will inevitably get clones killed.  Etain asked Darman how he felt about killing others, and he said he’s never had tim to think about it.  Darmand then said they would need for her to be a commander and thought to himself tht they’ve all never fought as a squad before…..

Thursday, and I’m still exhausted from all of the excitement last night.  Ironically, I forgot to write down what happened last night after I did the interview at the mall.  I happened to be walking down the mall so we could take some pictures when I ran into the principal at my school.  As Ian had said to me last night, I guess I’m out of the Star Wars X-Wing.  It’s our way of saying we’re “out of the closet”.  Not that anyone at my school did not already know that I am a huge Star Wars fan, just by looking around at my room. 

Today was a typical day and things seemed to go along as they usually do.  I gave my students one last chance today to catch – up on their school work before I closed the gradebooks today.  Some took advantage of my gracious nature, others took advantage of the situation.  It never ceases to amaze me how little my students care about their grades at time.  I even had one student say that he’s failing every class and hopes to fail them by the end of the year because mom can’t watch him over the summer, so she wants him to be in summer school.  And here my wife and I encourage our students to do as well as they can in school and this parent is actually encouraging their son to do bad.  Not a smart choice.

I got done with school and managed to get some time to relax at home.  I even went home and took a brief nap.  I had to.  I was so exhausted, I could barely keep my eyes open as I drove home after play rehearsal tonight.  Rehearsal went well, and I got home and actually had some time to spend with the family.  We tried to clean up around the house a little, but got very little of that accomplished.  The ONLY reason we were cleaning was because my parents are coming this weekend and we thought it would be imperative to clean a little around here before my mom saw this house looking the way it does right now.  Even after cleaning, the house doesn’t look great.  But, with a SMASH performance tomorrow night, one on Saturday night, and a troop with my Star Wars FanForce group on Sunday at Barnes and Nobles, my weekend is going to be completely full.  I feel bad as I won’t see my parents as much as I wanted to, but there’s not much I can do about that as all of these things were planned months and weeks ago.

Okay, enough about me and let’s talk about Part 5 of Chapter 14 of “Star Wars:Republic Commando” by Karen Traviss…..

Chapter 14 (Part 5):  Ghez Hokan pulled out master Fulier’s lightsaber and told Guta Nay that he has ten seconds to live.  Nay shouted out that he had been captured by Republic troops and that they forced him to carry equipment.  Hokan put the lightsaber away  and asked how many, to which Guta Nay said four plus a girl.  H then tells Hokan that they discussed another squad just before he escaped while they were sleeping.  Hokan asked about Hurati and the Trandoshan.  Hurati says the Trandoshan offers himself and his three friends to help deal with the issue and Hokan agrees to the offer.  He then asks Guta Nay thow the target is for these two squads and Guta Nay says it’s the villa.  When Hokan asked about their equipment, Guta Nay explained the weapons and then told Hokan that they all have armor just like his.  then Guta Nay told him that they all have the same faces.  Hokan knew that this now meant they were dealing with clones.  Hokan called back Hurati and told him to split the droids between the villa and the complex.  He had a feeling the two squads would attack both.  He told Hurati that they would attack at night because they are bold but not stupid, Hurati suggested the Jedi was female and the commander.  Then Hokan realized that Guta Nay was waiting on him.  Guta Nay asked Hokan if he was going to live.  Hokan said he can’t  he can’t, it’s bad for morale, took out the lightsaber and struck down Guta Nay.

Okay, Wednesday, and it’s hump day.  Ironic that name.  I got up this morning totally exhausted because I didn’t get to bed until midnight last night.  It was to the point that I could barely keep my eyes open this morning on the drive in to work.  I got my morning tea and things seemed a little better with some caffeine.  I knew today was going to be a pretty busy day.  Not only did I have the typical school work, but I am going to be on T.V. tonight.  I’m pretty excited about this and can’t wait to do it.  I know others would think it’s completely dorky to be excited about wanting to be on T.V. in your Jedi costume, but I find it exhilarating.  I think that’s just how costumers think.

So, I had a typical day with my classes.  My one period that gives me problems, continued to give me problems today.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore.  I was rather excited the whole day today to get the opportunity to be on T.V. tonight in my Jedi costume and I guess it showed.  Probably a little too much.  As soon as I got done with work, I went home right away and got into the shower and got ready for our interview tonight.  I got dressed in my costume and then headed to the mall to meet up with the crew.  Once I got there I met up with my group including two new people that I had not met until tonight.  The one man seemed very interested in working with our group and he was really cool.  He’s got a great Darth Vader costume and seems like a nice family oriented type guy.  The other guy seemed a little ticked off that he was even there.  He told us he dreaded putting on the Stormtrooper costume again and rather he hadn’t shown up.  I find this interesting as I would give my left arm for his costume to be able to wear.  Some people never appreciate what they have.

The interview and all the teasers went well.  You can catch the teasers here and here, on YouTube.  You can also find the entire interview here.  It was loads of fun, but we almost got ourselves into trouble.  We decided to hand out flyers about the Hockey Night that we have coming up next Friday night.  It never occurred to us to ask the mall for permission first.  Luckily, the security guard was really cool about it all and simply asked us to stop handing them out.  Not a problem there.  But, I was bothered because some of the stores in the mall complained about us being there.  Like we were some sort of distraction to the customers.  Nevermind that we were probably attracting attention and may have been attracting people to the mall for business.  I can’t believe how closed minded some people are.

We got done with the interview and I went straight home and caught Heather in the middle of her usual Wednesday night madness.  She had just dropped off Ruth and Tara and I started to eat leftovers while we talked.  I then went downstairs and graded some papers while I watched our usual Wednesday night shows.

Okay, enough about my life, let’s talk about some Star Wars.  Let’s talk about “Star Wars:Republic Commando - Hard Contact’ Chapter 14, Part 4 by Karen Traviss…..

Chapter 14 (Part 4):  Etain asked about a plan C when Jinart came out of the woods and said she would carry the remotes and meet up with them at the laying-up point or LUP, as Niner called it.  As they followed the line of woods, Etain kept close to Darman.  Niner worried that Etain really seemed to take a liking to Darman.  Niner remembered Skirata talking about the positives behind the Jedi, but that they can’t get personally involved.  Niner also wondered if the heat of battle could change that all.  they hit the edge of the woods and crouched as they crawled through a thicket of waist-high grass.  This was killing Niner’s back, so he took out a stim and stabbed himself with it.  He suggested they all take a stim about an hour before the attack or so.  Niner even suggested that Etain take the stimulants and she agreed.  Etain drops into a meditative state and Niner gets on the helmet comm  and asks Darman if they should worry about her and Darman tells Niner to put himselft at ease.  Jinart then grabbed the three remotes and put there where she would normally carry her children, in an animalistic pouch.  All the commandos pull out ration cubes and decide now is the tiem to have a last minute meal.  Atin went to get Etain, but Darman stopped him and said she was meditating…..

Okay, I got up and went to school like a typical Tuesday.  I can’t wait until I’m done with the podcasting and video producing in class.  It just seems to take up so much of my time during the day and my time at night as well.  It just seems like everything is hitting me all at once and I can’t seem to handle it all.  Can you tell I’m stressed yet?  There is so much to be done and very little time to get it all done in.  I have to edit videos and podcasts, I have tech rehearsals, I have a podcast to put together for my school’s band and stage band, I have to keep working on my Mando costume (things seem to be rolling along with that), I have papers to grade, I have the end of the quarter coming up, I have to organize some things for our FanForce night on Good Friday, I have to get ready for trooping at Barnes and Nobles this Sunday.  As I said, LOTS to do!!  Oh, and on top of all of that, I have two SMASH performances this weekend!!

I got ready for school and headed to my classes.  We started to wrap up workbook work this week as I want to get all papers graded by Monday of next week so I can concentrate on the finals with my classes.  Things seemed to go well with classes today, but there are other stresses in the building that are mounting, which I cannot discuss here.  Needless to say, I need all your prayers as the stress in my life related to my job is amping up at a pretty high rate.  My hope is to get through the end of April without a heart attack or needing to go on blood pressure medication.  I got done with school and had tech crew rehearsal.  We all came to the conclusion that the other students will not show back up and we distributed jobs amongst the tech crew that was already there.  I’m a little upset, because yet again, I don’t have enough people to have anyone do a camera crew to put together a “behind the scenes” look at our play this year.  All well, I guess you have to make sacrifices somewhere.

I got home and had a ton of work to do.  I got right to grading papers and getting things squared away with my classroom.  Once I finished with this, I headed downstairs and did what I’ve been waiting all day to do.  I put back together my newly painted Maverick Nerf gun and my newly painted front half of the Longshot Nerf gun for my Mando costume.  The best part?  By painting them and doing them the way I did, they’re still fully functional as Nerf guns!  I love it!  If you want to check out the pics, take a look at my “Mando Costume Progress” link in my album.  Things are coming along rather nicely.  I hope to tear apart the other guns and start working on them this weekend.  Things are looking up in the Mando making costume business at my house.

There were other things that I tried to get accomplished tonight, but just didn’t quite get to them.  Including updating the SMASH website, trying to get flyers done for Sunday (we’re trooping at Barnes and Nobles), and business cards for TJCS for the table at next Friday’s hockey game.  Like I said, lot’s to do and little time to get it done in.  To make things a little tighter, my parents are going to be here this weekend and I’m going to be all over the place.  I even called my mom tonight to warn her.  I don’t think she was too excited at the prospect of me not being around all the time while they visit.  But much of this stuff came up because we had no other choices, or they were last minute decisions, and how could I say no?

Okay, let’s talk about Part 3 of Chapter 14 of “Star Wars:Republic Commando - Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

Chapter 14 (Part 3):  Niner looked at the squad’s pile of equipment and was trying to figure out what they could take into battle with them.  Fi suggested they put a cache near their rally point, but Niner pointed out that this would put them in harms way, twice.  Atin offered to carry a lot fo heavy equipment, and Fi suggested he not bet stuck in a small place.  then Etain pointed out the obvious, she could carry equipment as well.  Niner looked at Darman and he suggested the Sarge load her up!  Niner then began explaining his Plan A.  He proceeds to explain that they’ll lay-up and release two remots to have eyes on the facility and the villa.  A remote with ribbon charge will do what damage it can at the villa while Fi covers Darman while he blows the doors on the facility.  Etain said this was all a big risk and admitted that she wouldn’t be much good with only a lightsaber.  Then Fi handed her a Trandoshan array blaster.  Etain said she’d learn to use it quick and reminded them that she still has the ability to move objects using The Force.  Niner said they would rather take Uthan out alive, than taking her out sedated as this would add to their dead weight…..

Well, I feel better about this Monday because I’m busy, but in many ways it’s a fun busy this week.  I got to school and went to open my classroom and then realized that I forgot to grab my school keys.  So, I called Heather and asked her to drop them by and then I got the master key from the Main Office and let myself into my room.  Once I got in, I thought it was dumb to try and go upstairs and potentially get locked out without keys.  So, I stayed in my room, organized and got ready for music videos.  Classes went fairly well today.  It’s going to be tight over the next week or so.  Final Exams will start next week as we finish our quarter just before Easter break.  I’ll be pushing to get it all done in time.  But hey, as my wife says, I perform better under pressure.

I got done with classes today and got a text from my wife.  She let me know that “Gary’s U-Pull It” came and picked up our Ford Escort today.  She was a little sad to see it go, but I was glad to get the space back in the garage.  It will also be nice as my parents will be here this weekend and will now have a place to park their car which is not on the front lawn.  I was then running tech rehearsal for the musical and got a cell phone call from her.  She decided to join us for rehearsal today try to get ahold of some of the students to measure them for costumes.  That was kind of a nice addition to what was going to happen and it was nice to be able to spend some time with the kids.  I finished with rehearsal and my group of students did a good job putting equipment away.  I was a little upset as many of them did not show up today, but this happens every year.  I start with a whole bunch of kids, and then when they find out how much work is involved, many of them either quit or go to sports teams.  We got home and got ready for dinner.  After we ate dinner, Heather and I retreated to the basement and watched “Dirty Jobs” and “Future Weapons” while I worked on my Mando costume project (almost done with my first round of Nerf guns) and then worked on some webpages and then put together a leaflet to pass out for my Star Wars fan group on Sunday at Wal Mart and Barnes and Nobles.  I got a lot accomplished as well as tri-folding all 200 of the pamphlets we’ve made for our game on Good Friday.  Oi!!  Lots to do and little time to get it done!

Okay, let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 14 of “Star Wars:Republic Commandos - Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

Chapter 14 (Part 2):  Uthan asked about the scientists as well as the project.  The project could be re-started, but the scientists were more important to her.  Hokan said their safest bet was to stay on the planet.  Hokan told her that her facility was very safe and would hold anything from getting in.  That’s when Uthan revealed that she didn’t build the lab to keep things from getting in, but to keep things from getting out!  Hokan said he thought the nanovirus would only make non-clones unwell, and Uthan corrected him restating that it would make them VERY unwell.  Hokan asked if that meant dead, and Uthan said it depended on the subjects genetic structure.  Hokan was extremely upset he’d been lied to, and tossed Uthan acrossed her desk and told her to never lie to him again!  He gave her one last chance to tell him anything else he needed to know and she said there was nothing else.  He told here that his weapon will now change how they have to fight.  Hokan then decided to seperate her, the biohazardous material, and her staff.  He told her to get moving.  She called him a fool and he told her that she’s lucky she’s important to the Seperatists.  Hokan walked outside and a droid approached, informing him that Captain Hurati was bringing to him a prisoner and a friend that disobeyed orders.  As Hokan passed the droids on defense at the doorway, there stood Hurati with Guta Nay and a Trandoshan Mercenary.  Guta Nay said he has information for him, Hokan says that he better!!…..

Wow!!  Even my “day of rest” just doesn’t seem like a day of rest anymore!!  I am so exhausted from today I can’t even keep my eyes open as I’m writing this blog at this moment in time.  We got up on time for church this morning and headed right out to church.  But, before I got going, Heather headed over in the morning to pick up the girls.  They look exhausted, but I can tell they had a blast because  they can’t stop talking about it.  Tara especially loved the lock in as it was her first one ever.  We got everybody ready for church and headed out.  I had to sound at church today because the usual sound tech was away on a High School trip.  So, yet again, I was roped into working sound (as usual).  We got done with church and Heather wanted to go to Wal Mart to get some things and get her eyebrows waxed.  Well, I’m glad we made the trip.  First, we found the material for my Mando vest.  We didn’t buy it yet, because we’re waiting on Heather’s bonus check and our tax return before we do.  I also managed to find some cool personal finds for my Star Wars collection.  For those that don’t know, I’ve taken to collecting the Star Wars Titanium ships.  Well, today I found two rare finds at my local Wal Mart.  I found “The Invisible Hand” and the “Firespray”.  We picked those up among other things we needed.

On our way home from church, we stopped at Lowes as Heather has started planning her vegetable garden and has already started seeds inside the house.  Hopefully we’ll get our garden going this year.  We priced out stones for the garden and looked into how much gardening fabric costs to keep the weeds out of the garden.  We got done with that, and bought a Raspberry and Blueberry plant.  We go home and I had to turn around and leave right away to go to a Marching Band meeting to pick out this year’s show.  That meeting went well, and Vestal now has a show picked out for next year and the design concept is starting to come together fairly well.

I had to leave that meeting early as Heather’s brother was coming over for dinner.  We all had a great time and then Heather’s brother left.  Once they left, we got to some personal projects of ours.  The big one for me is that there is only one more coat of Varnish to go on both the Maverick and the front part of the CS-6.  They’re going to look sweet once I put them together on Tuesday night!  We then watched our usual Sunday shows as we worked on our projects.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 14 of “Star Wars:Republic Commandos - Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

Chapter 14 (Part 1):  “Fear should never stop you from functioning.  Fear can keep you alive.  Show me a man without fear, and we’ll see a danger to his ship.  There are no fools in the navy.” - Admiral Adar Tallon - Hokan looked out the veranda of the villa to the autumn ground below.  He walked to Lothan’s complex via a diverted path in case a sniper wanted to take a pot-shot at him.  Hokan inspected and then addressed the droids in the entranceway.  Inside the complex, Uthan was upset at being moved yet again.  Hokan layed out a holo of the complex, impenetrable.  Hokan said that it was the last time he would move her, but tried to explain that the strategy would put him on the winning side of an all-out strike.  Uthan said she didn’t understand.  Hokan explained that he was dealing with a small, ill-equipped squad.  Why else would they have had to borrow explosives fromt the mine to blow up the ground station?  Uthan said there was no way to be sure, to which Hokan retorted that all good generals just happened to make the right guess at the right time.  Uthan told him that she would have been evacuated from the planet.  Hokan said that everytime they move her, they take a risk of losing her…..

Saturday, and a busy one at that.  We got up fairly early to get our day going.  We decided now was the time to start getting rid of the cars that are in our driveway.  We took the Plymouth Acclaim that we received four years ago for one dollar around Christmas time to the great big place to Rust in the Sky.  We took the car to “Gary’s U-Pull It” and sold the car to them for about $160 for parts.  We were very careful as to what direction we went down to Conklin because the car still leaks gas when the gas pump kicks in.  We took the route that had the fewest stops for that very reason.  It was nice to get that car out of our driveway and next week we’re looking to also move the Ford Escort out of the garage so we can use it for our current two cars.  We also want to do that before next weekend so my parents can get their car in the driveway and not get a ticket.  When we got done dropping off the car, we went to McDonald’s and got some breakfast rather quickly and then went to East for play rehearsal for a little bit.  Heather was able to hash out some costume issues while I helped with choreagraphy for a little bit.  It wasn’t long, but it was long enough for our kids to get bored.  I ended up letting them into my room to play on keyboards to pass the time.

We left East and came home and Heather and I took a nap because we were both still exhausted from the week.  We then got up, ate lunch, and then started to watch a marathon of “Mythbusters” as I got to work on my Star Wars Mando Costume, in particluar my blasters.  I can’t wait till he first pistol is done and the first half of my CS-6 is finished.  It will give me a real feeling of accomplishment.  Anyway, while I did that, Heather helped the girls get their stuff together as they have a lock-in at the Binghamton Psych Center for Girl Scouts tonight.  After getting them together, she then left, took the girls to the leader’s house and went to work herself.  While they were gone, Austin and I ate dinner together and proceeded to play a game of Nerf gun volleys around the house.  It was a “blast” (get the pun?!!!)!!  Anyway, we then decided to watch the Star Wars:Clone Wars cartoons on DVD and then Austin headed to bed.  While Austin was in bed, I cleaned up around the house and washed dishes and watched “Coyote Ugly” that was on “ABC” in between.  I got to bed at a decent hour tonight as I know tomorrow is going to be a long day as well.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 6 of “Star Wars:Republic Commandos - Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

Chapter 13 (Part 6):  Etain asked how they keep all the information int heir HUD straight and Atin said that you just get used to it.  She asked if they all communicate with each other through the helmet and Atin said most of the time.  But they have special frequencies and are less obedient than the regular clone troopers, but ARC Troopers are pretty much just like Jengo Fett, independent.  Etain points out that the Republic is using and abusing all clones, but Atin pointed out that they wouldn’t know what else to do with themselves.  She then reaches out and touches his arm and says she knows about his previous two squads and that it is not his fault they died.  Atin said he’d do his best to keep his current squad alive.  Etain then helped Atin finish putting together their version of an I.E.D.  Atin then asked if he could see her lightsaber and she thought it was only fair since she looked at his equipment.  He studied the hilt and then thrashed on the blade.  Atin thought it was impressive and was taken even more aback when she told him that she made it.  Atin turned off the blade and said he’d rather have more distance between himself and his enemy.  As Etain tried to sleep, she kept a watchful presence on Guta-Nay.  He went from consciousness to unconsciousness, for sleep, quite often through the night.  As they got to morning, camp was looking sullen as everyone got little sleep.  As Etain moved around, Fi offered her cold stew, which she gratefully turned down.  She was proud of this squad, and wanted to see them through with their mission, and to survive as one unit.  Then, wihouth hesitation, Etain told Guta-Nay that he wanted to tell Hokan all that he knew and that the clones plan to attack the villa.  Guta-Nay stood up and walked directly toward Imbraani.  Etain knew she sent him to his detah and told Darman it was hard to do so.  Darman said she’ll get used to it, but she doubted that.

Okay, Friday and the day after such a busy night.  I figured things would slow down today.  Of course, that was not the case.  I had some problems with students in my morning troublesome class.  But, at the same time I had a great time recording the video with my eighth grade class and doing podcasting with my seventh period class.  Scott asked me earlier where he can listen to my classroom podcasts.  Well, because of legal issues and fears, I have not published them on the net anywhere yet.  Yes, that’s right, I have a whole mess of podcasts that have not been released yet because I’m not sure my school district would let me do it thanks to our legal department.  Even though I had students not give last names, they’re afraid how students’ names and information could be traced back to them.  I guess it’s something I should be worried about, but I’m not.  Anyone can find me and where I live simply by looking up my name and they’ll come acrossed my blog, my two podcast pages, and even more.  All well.

I got done with school today and came home a cool surprise.  My local FanForce group has had an event organized for us, in conjunction with the Syracuse and Rochester FanForce groups on April 6th at the Veteran’s Memorial Arena.  We, my FanForce group, will be hosting a Star Wars Night at the Binghamton Senators game and will be taking money for a raffle for charity.  It’s going to be a fun event and more importantly, it will be a costumed event, so my friends around here will get a chance to see my FanForce group do something local.  I’m really excited about that.  On top of all of that, we’ve managed to secure T.V. time on our local News Channel 34.  Ian called me tonight and we’re going to get together at the Oak Dale Mall on Wednesday night and do an interview with the News Station about our fundraiser and Star Wars Night with the Binghamton Senators.  Man, I can’t wait!!  It will be a reason to costume.  We’ve also agreed that we need to get together next Sunday.  I feel a little guilty because it means I’ll loose some time with my parents.  But, I’m excited because we’re going to gather in costume and hand out flyers in costume at Barnes And Nobles, which will be another reason to get in costume.  Awesome!!

Okay, enough of all that.  Time to talk about Part 5 of Chapter 13 of “Star Wars:Republic Commandos - Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

Chapter 13 (Part 5):  Then Etain suggested they convince Guta-Nay that there are more squads out in the woods and send him in to Hokan to communicate the same.  Fi said that Hokan could kill the Weequay before he talks, however.  Etain also pointed out that Guta-Nay would probably die and Jinart says it’s a decent price to pay to save his world.  Everyone was taken aback because Jinart had admitted this was his homeworld.  Jinart said that he does not fight for the Republic but to save his homeworld.  Niner agrees to the plan and says that if they don’t see movement by mid-day tomorrow, then they’ll split the squad and go in anyway.  Jinart left, and that’s when the charades began.  They put Guta-Nay amongst them, talked of another squad, gave details about an assault on the villa.  That night, they deliberately turned their backs on the Weequay.  Niner kept watch and Etain asked Atin what he saw.  Atin gave her his Deece to show her exactly what they see when they look through a scope.  Etain then put on Atin’s helmet and got a taste of clone gear.  Once she activated the HUD in the helmet, she was overwhelmed by information…..

Okay, today I did so many things that by the time I got home I was exhausted and I couldn’t believe all that I had done.  I got up a little early this morning to get myself going for the day.  I knew I had a lot to do and I figured an early start would help me out.  I got to school and worked on getting things set up for the day.  I put one more promotional announcement in the school announcements this morning to make sure that everyone knows about tonight.  As I’ve said before, I’m excited and nervous about tonight as well.  I’m excited because I hope we get a huge audience not just for the kids and the group, but for the American Cancer Society as well.  School went okay, a little crazy, but the weather is starting to get nice and the students were able to go outside today at lunch.  This has good and bad aspects to it.  The good is that the students will get more energy out of their system which means they are a little more subdued int he afternoon.  But, on the flip side, this makes my lunch hour harder because I have to hunt down students all through the hall as I go to try and get outside.  It took me over fifteen minutes today to clear the halls of students who didn’t want to go outside.  I feel that it’s unfair in some ways as the students simply think they can break the rules and that is just totally acceptable.

Anyway, the school day went well and got done at our normal time.  I raced to get home.  Not because I wanted to be racing around after school, but because I knew if I was going to get through tonight energy wise, I was going to need a nap.  I took about an hour nap and then got up and ate dinner with the family and we got to the school around 5:45 tonight for our 7 p.m. performance.  We ran through some practices of segments of the songs we had problems with last night and things seemed to be going better.  Heather helped us out by going out and getting some change for the tickets at the door that Jim and I forgot to get.  Heather and the kids also got majorly scolded because they managed to bring a drink into the auditorium and I forgot to tell that it’s a big “no, no” in the High School auditorium.  Whoops!  The performance went very well.  The big bummer for Jim and I is that there were maybe fifty people there, if we were lucky.  We wanted so many more people to show up to the performance, but it just wasn’t meant to be.  I told Jim that we need to have patience as “word of mouth” will spread the word about how good this group really is.  However, the people that were there, were really impressed with what they saw.  Some people even asked me if we have a DVD of the group yet.  I told them not yet, but that we plan on producing one within the next year.

When we got done, we stopped at McDonald’s on the way home to get some food because I was starving.  We got home at nine o’clock and went downstairs and watched some of our typical shows on a Thursday night.

I am totally exhausted, so let me get right to part 4 of Chapter 13 of “Star Wars:Republic Commandos - Hard Contact” by Karen Traviss…..

Chapter 13 (Part 4):  Fi had a contact about five-hundred meters out.  The clones put on helmets and dropped to the ground and Etain calmed Guta-Nay.  Etain felt the presence of Jinart and quickly informed Darman.  Niner stayed prone as an oily ooze passed him and came to form as Jinart with meat in her mouth.  Jinart looked at Guta-Nay and asked why he was there, even though he was unconscious.  Fi said they might need him.  Jinart suggested Guta-Nay not see him as he may recognize him as a spy.  Jinart then suggested they eat.  Jinart tells them about the security at the villa, including the explosives in the wine cellars, but also tells them about Uthan being moved back to the installation.  So Niner figures they need to go after both facilities as they’re close in proximity anyway.  Etain points out that there is only one door to the installation, but Darman says they can always blow open their own doors.  Darman said he’d rather not have to do that, however, as they are dealing with hazardous materials.  More importantly, a virus.  Niner said a split attack would work if the diversion was loud enough, Darman suggested they use Hokan’s already existent explosives against him.  Niner said he wanted Darman on the main facility and that’s when Fi suggested using bore-bangs.  Darman suggested they could add to it’s potency with thermal tape.  That’s when Atin suggested using a remote to get the thermal tape inside the villa.  Niner pointed out they would see it until Jinart suggested he carry it right into the walls of the villa.  Niner then said that the only way this would work in their favor is if they destroyed a whole bunch of tinnies and that would require a feint maneuver, for which, they don’t have enough men…..