Monday Fifteen - The Long-Winded Version

I'm just going to turn the Monday 15 into a post. I'm way too long-winded to respond to that many questions in a comment of a reasonable length. Sorry to bore everyone. (Not really.) Here we go!

Five songs which described your pain and emotion throughout the last season!
1. Better Days - Goo Goo Dolls
This was the official anthem of the playoffs this year and while things didn't quite end as planned, it's still a lovely little song made all the more fitting because the Goos are from Buffalo.
2. Street Fighting Man - The Rolling Stones
The Sabres entrance music this past season. The anticipation and excitement for every game came to a head when that song kicked in.
3. Beatiful Day - U2
The regular season.
4. Song for the Dumped - Ben Folds Five
The postseason. (I didn't actually dump the Sabres but any time I'm cranky about anything I listen to this song and somehow it makes me happy again. It's a happy angry song!)
5. We Can Work It Out - The Beatles
The off-season.

How are you getting your hockey fix?
Quite frankly, I'm trying to forget about hockey for a little bit. I was really bummed when the season ended but I'm so, so tired of hearing about Chris Drury, Danny Briere, Thomas Vanek, and Darcy Regier.

Your owner decides that your team will relocate, however one player will be voted to stay to head a new expansion team to replace yours. Who will you pick?

Ryan Miller. He's developing into a darn good little goalie and if you have a good goalie, you have a chance. While he would probably hate losing as much as most expansion teams do at first, his competitive nature would also be important for a new, young team.

Name a hockey item you bought/received that you wish you could refund.
The teacher I worked with this past year gave me a pink Sabres hat that she saw at a garage sale. I was thinking, "It's pink! You don't know me at all, do you?" while saying, "Oh, thank you, that's so sweet of you." One of my students, less tactful than me, piped up with, "Betsy*! Heather's not going to wear a PINK hat! She HATES pink!"
*Name changed.

What's the last book/movie you read/saw? Was it good?

The last movie I saw was Spider-Man 3. I liked it but I didn't love it. It definitely wasn't as good as the second one. Without going into too many spoiliers, I think there was just too much going on. Next up: The Bridge to Terabithia.

The last book I read was Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, A Romantic Night, and One Woman's Quest to Become a Mother by Peggy Orenstein. It was lovely. My husband and I have been going through infertility treatments for the last couple of years and while we recently decided to jump of the medical treatment train on onto the adoption train, I've read a ton of this kind of book and most of them aren't that great, especially the ones that are Christian oriented. (I love God but I'll pissed at Him if I want, thank you very much.) This one was very good though - sweet, funny, heart-breaking, and most importantly, painfully honest.

I've also been plugging through U2 by U2. It's excellent but it's coffee book sized so it's huge and stuffed to the gills with things to look at and read. I've been going at it in spurts since I received it for Christmas. I prefer to read lying down so the size of the book is problematic as well. Anyway, I highly recommend it to any U2 fans. I'm a bit of a fangirl so I figured there wasn't much I didn't know at this point, but the book is taken from hours and hours of interviews with all four bandmembers so it's loaded with all these amazing, interesting, funny little details.

The last fan you saw who made you go grr? (any sport)
The girl sitting next to me during the first game of the playoffs who kept screaming, "I LOVE YOU, RYAN!" no matter who had the puck while hitting me in the face repeatedly with her pom-pom. She clearly had no understanding of what she was watching and it drove me batty.

Desert island movies (5?). Name them.
The Great Escape - Action, humor, friendship, and Steve McQueen
Singin' in the Rain - Makes me wish I could tapdance.
The Shawshank Redemption - Beautiful. Makes me cry every time I see it.
The Empire Strikes Back - Best of the Star Wars movies. Han Solo rules.
Mary Poppins - Best Disney soundtrack ever. Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent is AWFUL but his performance is absolutely charming. I was totally in love with Bert when I was a kid.

You just hit the player you hated the most with a car! Do you stop and help them? Or move on and claim he barely touched you?

I'd have to stop. My mama raised me better than to leave some poor injured guy at the side of the road, even if I did hate him.

Baseball is on, who would you root for - even if you don't follow the game?

I grew up a Pirates fan so I'll still cheer for them even if they do suck more than any pro team has sucked over the last 15 years. Childhood devotion to Jeff Bagwell also turned me into an Astros fan. Even though he's retired now I love Lance Berkman (my baseball husband) and Roy Oswalt so I still follow them. Over in the American League I pull for the Tigers just because Andy Van Slyke, former Pirate and my favorite pro athlete of all time, is their outfield/firstbase coach. Yes, I do watch the Tigers on TV just to catch glimpses of Andy and yes, when they finally show him I do clap my hands and shout with glee.

Speaking of baseball, what hockey players would you put on your team?
Chris Drury. I hear he was a pretty decent baseball player in his day. Something about some kind of tournament...?
Ryan Miller. I have no idea if he can actually play baseball or not - I lean toward no for some reason - but if he were on the team I'm sure he'd make it his goal to be the best professional baseball player he can be. Every team needs that earnest intensity.
Marty Biron. His personality was built for baseball. Put him at first base, mic him up, and enjoy all the ridiculous conversations he has with various baserunners. Or better yet, let him catch and drive all the opposing hitters crazy with his non-stop chatter.

Do you say soccer or football? Do you even care?
I say soccer, but no, I don't really care. I will watch a few minutes of soccer because I do think the participants are pretty amazing athletes but nothing exciting ever seems to happen so I always end up changing the channel after a few minutes.

Talk about your work... Or why you can't/wont find work. Or alternatively, talk about the subjects you just took recently in class.

I'm a classroom aide at a day treatment program for emotionally disturbed kids. All of our students are referred to us by their home school district when the district doesn't know what the hell else to do with them. It is a school per se - we do academics, they take tests, etc. - but the emphasis is really more on behaviors and helping the kids learn to deal with stressful situations and other people in a more appropriate way. The majority of our kids are in terrible home situations. In five years I've had kids who have been victims or witnesses of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. They've had parents who've had problems with drugs and alcohol and have gone through numerous romantic partners, divorces and remarriages and the occasional incarceration. They're more or less all victims of good old-fashioned neglect. They come to us pretty beat-up - they've most likely never had a positive school experience and they have little reason to believe anything an adult says to them. But if you can hang in there with them and dig through that surface a little, they can be the most loving, generous, funny little devils. It's like they're just aching for the chance to show that part of themselves. Most of them are probably going to end up beat up by life or screwed by the system (I'm not even going there right now), but it's nice to feel like maybe they're getting a tiny bit of the love and security they're lacking in other places when they're with us. There are days I swear I'm done with the whole thing because it can be exhausting and the adults in charge of my program blow and have no appreciation for the work the classroom staff does, but I know I'm way in too love with those sad, funny, heart-breaking, gut-bustingly funny kids to give it up that easily.

You're approached to write a book on anything you want by a publisher. Tell us about it.

It would definitely be about my experiences at my current job - the joys and frustrations, the kids who make it, the kids who don't, the co-workers I loved, the co-workers I'd push off a cliff I could, and it would contain a couple of well-placed rants about the foster care system.

The Leafs want your goalie! What do you do!?

Laugh uproariously in their collective face while giving them a double middle finger.

What's another hobby you have? Do you secretly have an obsession over something NOT hockey?

Other hobbies: reading, writing, scrapbooking, photography, occasionally comic books although that comes and goes.
Other obssessions: U2. (Generally I'll say Edge is my favorite but I have a huge soft spot for Larry.) At one time I would've said Harrison Ford but the last few movies he made knocked that out of me. (Really, Harrison... Random Hearts?) I have mixed feelings about the new Indiana Jones movie but I did see a photo of him from set the other day and damn... I guess there's just something about that fedora.