One rule of life we cannot rearrange

Challenge #9

In your own space, promote at least one canon that you adore (old, new, forever fandom). Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I'd like to propose to you, Disney's Descendants franchise. I have been in love with this since it debuted in 2015. The basic premise: Children of famous Disney villains come to live and go to school with children of famous Disney heroes/princes/princesses. Over the course of 3 made-for-TV movies (and lots of tie-in media), the original "VKs" grow and adapt, becoming more than what their parents were or expected them to be, and teach the "AKs" (the heroes' kids) a thing or two about friendship, loyalty, and not judging people based on their parents.

Why do I love this franchise? First of all, it's Disney. I adore Disney, especially Disney animated films and cartoons. Yes, this is live-action, but it's based on the animation that I love. Second, it's Disney, meaning that every movie has a happy ending (though the first two promise the next film with a, "you didn't think this was the end of the story, did you?"). Right now, where my head is, where my country is, I need things with happy endings. Give me the whole-cast feel-good dance number, choreographed by Kenny Ortega, at the end of a movie. I will sing along at the top of my lungs. Which brings me to the third thing: the songs are super-catchy. And they evolve over the course of the movies, as the composers better learn the strengths and weaknesses of the cast, and learn how the characters develop.

And, oh my goodness, these characters. My very favorite is Evie, who is the daughter of Snow White's Evil Queen, and played by Sofia Carson. Evie starts out as one of the "Core Four", the villain kids who get to go to Auradon, where the heroes live. She is the only one from her group who is genuinely excited to go, and she has all these moments of being super excited, then tamping it down in front of the rest of the villains. Because Evie knows there's a better life for her once she leaves the prison that is the Isle of the Lost, where the villains were exiled. And in Auradon, she thrives. She has her setbacks, though. When she arrives, her personal goal is to find herself a handsome prince, which is what her mother's told her that she needs her for her whole life. But her own skills and talents go unnoticed by the prince she finds, except when he needs her to do something - like his homework. The person who appreciates her for who she is? Dopey's son, Doug. When she gets set up and accused of cheating, he goes to bat for her, so she can prove her own intelligence and stay in school. He appreciates her brain, not just her beauty. Evie is also a wicked designer, who by the end of the series has gone from creating outfits out of whatever scraps she finds on the Isle to being a girlboss extraordinaire who has bought her own castle with her own money, and has no need of a prince. She is a loyal friend, a believer in true love, and wants to see everyone have a happily ever after.

Second favorite? Carlos, the son of Cruella DeVil. The boy who has grown up scared of dogs, convinced by his mom that they are vicious animals who eat badly behaved children. The boy who grew up lonely, wanting a true friend. When he first encounters the "campus mutt", tiny dog named Dude, he freaks, runs away, climbs a tree, and is genuinely scared for his life. Once Ben (Belle and Beast's son, and the hero on the heroes' side) coaxes him down and gets him to meet Dude properly, Carlos works through his fear, and adopts the dog as his own. They are inseparable from there, and his love for Dude inspires him to tell his mother just how wrong she is for wanting to make animals into clothing, and for being as callous as she is. Again, loyal, honest, good kid who needed a chance to show he was a good kid.

Every character has something fun to offer, but those two are my personal faves.

Next thing that I love about Descendants? Costumes! Kara Saun was the costume designer on all three movies. She was one of the finalists in the original season of Project Runway, if the name sounds familiar. She has given the VKs the best style, and told their stories through their outfits. The AKs become more lively and thoughtful when the VKs show up, and their costumes, which had been pretty solid-color basic, change to reflect that change in situation and attitude. I love her interpretations not just of the new characters, but of the parents. Belle gets some truly stylish yellow dresses that echo her ballgown. Hades turns into a punk rocker, and it suits him so, so well.

Did I mention the songs? Because they are all earworms in the best sense. I listen to the soundtracks on my way to work in the morning, because they are Disney Pop, with sprinklings of other genres on top, and are guaranteed to leave me smiling as I get out of my car. If I'm feeling sad, listening to "Night Falls", or "Did I Mention?" or "What's my Name?" will have me feeling better by the end of the number.

Is it kind of cheesy? Yes. Is it a ripoff of Ever After High (which I also adore)? Yes. Do I love it anyway? Oh goodness, yes. And I recommend it to anyone who needs something silly and happy and sweet in their life right now.

In your own space, make a list — anything between one and ten things is a sweet spot, but don't feel constrained by that! - of things that you wish existed in fandom or elsewhere, or that you'd like someone to make for you. Are you dying for podfic of your writing? Do you need icons for a character that doesn't get much fanart? Is there a story you want to read? Are you looking for new canons to get into? Would you like a collaborator for a project?

Maybe you want more people to talk about a certain fandom with, or you'd love to trade ficlets with somebody over email. Maybe you're new to a fandom and would like some recs to start reading, or communities to join. This is the time to ask!

Hmm.... This is tricky. Let me think....

1. High quality screencaps of Elizabeth from the 70s version of The Tomorrow People.
2. People who RP Descendants characters that might want to sandbox/psl/memetag with 4hearts
3. Recs for really good Evie-centric Descendants fic.
4. Suggestions for places to have image storage that you can link to within posts (because I've been gone forever and photobucket watermarks are annoying, and I'd like to get back into icon-making).
5. Power Rangers people/communities to talk in/with.

Five seems like a reasonable number, right?

In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private.

I'm going to pull a few from my goals page in my bullet journal for this post:

1. Continue on my Wicca journey.
2. Renew my teaching license.
3. Visit 3 museums.
4. Send one query letter for PG.
5. Finish second draft of TDV-inspired novel.
6. Visit family more often.
7. Watch through 3 Power Rangers series (SPD, Mystic Force, Operation Overdrive).



Oh, yes. Challenge 3 was one I wasn't comfortable doing, since I haven't been on DreamWidth for the better part of a year. Maybe I'll go back and do it later.

I have just seen the first episode of series 12 of Doctor Who and DUDE!!! I am full of squee and whoa and all sorts of feels.

( Spoilers Beneath the Cut! )

I cannot wait for part 2, and for the special showing of both parts together on Sunday in the theaters! I've got my 2pm EST ticket, and I'm going to watch this writ large on a movie screen. This fills me with such delight, I don't have the words.

We are three days into the new month, and I feel so productive.

Around mid/late January, I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo. I'd watched the show on Netflix over winter break from school, and fell in love with her positivity and kindness as she helped people tidy their homes. So many of those types of shows have hosts that act cruelly, yelling or shaming the people who have asked for help. Some even take a sentimental favorite item and hold it hostage, saying the person can't keep the item unless they sell X amount of money at the yard sale, or manage to reduce their belongings by X percent. Marie Kondo? Nope! If things spark joy, keep them, and don't feel guilty about it.

Inspired by both the book and the show, I tackled Step 1: Clothing, at the beginning of February. I tidied and ended up with two bags full of donations, and a bag full of garbage. Everything fits in my closet easily that needs to fit, and the dresser has only two drawers full. This is all-weather clothing, and shoes. My wife did step one a week or so ago, and has two bags of donations as well.

In the interim, I've started reading Spark Joy the second of Marie Kondo's books, which goes into more detail about each step. It's very relaxing to read, and I'm learning a lot.

I ended up having no school on Friday, due to weather, and my wife is off on Fridays, so we decided to tackle Step 2: Books. We own thousands of books. They spill out of the library, take up cases in multiple rooms, get lost under the bed or couch, etc. So, we did the "put everything on the floor to sort through it" on Friday, based on category of books. We made six categories, started gathering, and going through the books that sparked joy. We put the non-joy books into tote bags, so we could take them to our used book store. We ran out of tote bags at 16 bags full, so we took a break to take four of those bags to the used bookstore, so we'd have more bags. In all, we filled 20 tote bags (like, grocery tote bags) full of books that no longer brought us joy.

Yesterday, we cleaned every empty book case well, vacuumed the floor in the library, dusted the walls and baseboards in the library. We went out for a little while, then, when we got home, we started the task of putting books back on the shelves. We put all the fiction and graphic novels back yesterday, and some of the non-fiction. My wife had to work today, so I made it my mission today to finish the job.

I have a small shelf in the dining-room-cum-my-office for education books, and bookcase in the same space for my teaching materials and textbooks which is about 80% full. Aside from those, every book - EVERY BOOK - fits in the library now, and there is some room to spare. There are three and a half empty book cases in the house now. I am not naive enough to think that we'll be able to keep books at this level forever, but it's really satisfying to see it now. I can't wait till my wife comes home and sees the work.

It's going to be a while before we officially tackle Step 3: Paper. I'm thinking maybe over spring break in just over a month. In the meantime, cleaning and organizing as usual, not Kondo-style.

I am super-satisfied with this method of tidying. I love organizing, always have, but this tidying makes more sense than a lot of the methods I've seen/tried/read about before. I like the idea that once you've done it, and you have a home for everything, maintenance will be easier. I'm finding that to be true with Step 1 so far, and I anticipate that Step 2 will be much the same.

Has anyone else done this? Was it successful for you? Did it make you happier?

My sister and her husband are moving northward, closer to us. She's been sending resumes and interviewing all over the area just to the east of where I live - closer into the cities. When I talked to her today, she told me that she'd been offered the job at the middle school she'd really hoped she'd get!

I don't want to speak too soon, since she hasn't signed a contract yet, but they're already talking to her about coming up for summer work and orientation and the like. The school where she'll be working is about 1/2 hour out from my school - 45 minutes, depending on traffic. And the area they're looking to live is at most an hour away. I am so excited!!!

My sister teaches middle school band, and she is amazing. She'd done a ton of work with her current school, taking the band from not even going to concert assessments before she got there, to not only going, but earning superior ratings at said assessments - the highest ratings given. The school she'll be at next year is used to two full-time band directors (she's taking the spot of one who's leaving), and that gets high marks often. It's going to be an entirely different challenge, but one she's looking forward to. I'll have to tell the band director at my school to look out for her at competitions next year, since, as with her current job, she'll be helping the high school band director during marching season.

Other good news on the family front: my parents are likely coming up next weekend to look at houses. The house my mom really likes in the town they've zeroed in on had another price drop, and is having an open house next weekend. She wants to see it in person, naturally, and now that my Grandma is somewhere that she's well taken-care of and safe, they'll be able to do trips like this. They'll also hopefully be able to look at the elder care facility in that area - one of the ones my sister and I looked at.

Ideal situation in this whole scenario is that my parents love the house they've liked online, make an offer, and go forward with the deal, and that there's a bed available in the facility for my Grandma. The house is only 2-3 blocks from the elder care facility, and 2-3 blocks from downtown - perfect location in my mom's eyes. I am keeping my fingers crossed and sending positive energy their way. I want this for them so much!

This week has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, but today, I'm choosing to focus on the positives of the past week. So, without further ado...

~ Anime Club! - Friday, we had karaoke day, and it was AMAZING!!! First student at the mic decided to do Evanescence's "Bring me to Life", since it's the unofficial meme song for the club. How did this song become a meme? It was amazing. Second one did "All-Star", and later on, after some of the more serious singers, we got "The Black Parade". It was so much fun! Also, one of my girls sang "How Far I'll Go" on a karaoke track, and her voice is so good! Such happiness.

~ Birthday Shopping! My wife's birthday is tomorrow, and I'd gotten part of her present already - a print of a sea turtle I found at the crafts' fair a few weeks back. Yesterday, I was at Michaels, and I found some gorgeous yarn - super soft and brightly-colored - on sale. I bought 5 skeins, so she can make something for herself.

~ Squishy! Silly, perhaps, but I've wanted a Squishy toy for ages now. While at Michaels, I picked up one with some of my remaining cash for April. Cupcake with blue frosting, and it's fun to squeeze and smush and makes me happy.

~ Productivity at work! I've gotten all the IEP reports finished and sent back to their respective teachers, I've got most of the "cheat sheet" for our principal for academic night typed up, and I'm up to date on grades and lesson plans. I've also passed back all the papers I've been meaning to for weeks now. And, I've had an NHS kid in to do some odd jobs for a service hour - my dry-erase boards are clean, and most of my masters and keys have been refiled into their binder.

~ Cards for Troops! We had the first of the card-vetting meetings on Monday after classes, and for the first time since I've been involved with NHS, we had NO REJECT CARDS!!! There were some that needed salvaging - neatening up, covering mistakes with artfully placed washi, etc., but they were all salvageable. This is such a big change from my first go with these, when we had two full bags (like Wegmans reusable grocery bags) of cards we couldn't give to the American Legion because they didn't follow the rules the Legion gave us, and we couldn't fix them. So awesome! I'm hoping the next round is just as awesome.

~ New shoes! The shoes I've been wearing since August have finally come to their end. I've worn holes through them, they've warped based on how I stand, and they're rubbing sores on the back of my heels. I went to DSW yesterday and found two new pair of shoes for the cost of these from back in August. Now, this was literally the only pair of shoes I've worn since August, so it's no surprise they're done, but I'm surprised they're worn through already. The brand touts how sturdy they are, and how long-lasting they are. Ah well. I'm good for another 3/4 of a year at least now.

~ Time to myself! My wife went to visit her parents from Thursday afternoon through Saturday afternoon, so I had the house to myself, when I was home. I had a chance to catch up on TV, binge more Power Rangers, order a pizza just for me, and go out shopping on my own. I missed her terribly, and I slept much better last night when she was home, but having the time alone was helpful for destressing.

My sister and I hit up two assisted living facilities this weekend. They were within 10 miles of each other, in different towns, but we had to do one each day because of the scheduling commitments of the administrators. Weekends aren't normally touring days, so each admin came out special for us.

Yesterday's facility was amazing. State-of-the-art, really clean and well-laid-out. Friendly people, from staff to residents. The woman in charge was local, and had grown up in the town where she works now. There were a lot of perks, like free coffee at all hours for residents. This facility had the most independence for living options, and their most-dependent tier is likely the one my grandmother would be in, based on our conversations yesterday. That doesn't mean there isn't a place for her there, though.

Today, the place we visited was an older facility, which had a very homelike feel. We arrived at one of the lunch servings, so we saw the residents being taken to the dining area before our tour began, and saw the meals on our tour. The people there were equally friendly, staff and residents. To me, this feels more like a place my grandmother would like, since it's smaller, cozier, and has all of the assisted living rooms on the main floor (the other floors are for memory care).

Each place is full of positives. The administrators spoke with each resident we passed, and the conversations ranged from a quick hello, to making certain the resident was doing all right. I didn't see any friction among the staff, or between staff and residents. The buildings were clean, and the private rooms spacious. Each has medical personnel on staff and on-call 24/7. Each has a variety of activities and meals available, and is willing to accommodate dietary preferences.

Yesterday's facility is large, with three floors. Dining is on the 3rd floor. The library is on the second floor. The beauty parlor is on the first floor. Meaning my grandmother would be using the very spacious elevator every day, or every few days, depending on where she was living. Each room has an emergency pull cord, and each resident also gets a life-alert-style medallion to wear to summon staff. If she were to live there, her room would have a sink, microwave, and mini-fridge.

The place we visited today would remove the inconvenience of the elevator, but also not have any mini-appliances at its baseline level - we'd have to provide them. But, unlike yesterday's place, where residents are required to bring their own furniture, this place does have furniture for each room, free of charge, if you don't have or want to bring your own pieces. Today's place is also one where my grandmother would be at the mid-tier level of care, most likely. And, today's place also offers hospice care in the same building, so if my grandmother's current level of mobility changed, she'd stay in her room, but the services she received from the staff would change, whereas if her mobility/health changed for the worse, the place we went Saturday would move her to an adjacent facility, which we didn't get the chance to tour.

Each place left me and my sister feeling good about it. We didn't get any sketchy vibes, or notice anything that raised any flags. We asked point blank about inspections, and each admin was able to tell us when their last inspection occurred, what was found, and how it was corrected. They each also appreciated the level of detail in our questions, and in the answers we provided about our grandmother.

My sister is compiling the notes and informational folders and mailing them to our mother this week, so grandma can see them. We've also each talked to her about the facilities, and I had a chance to tell her a bit about the town each was in, since my parents are planning to retire in that area. As I said, the two facilities are in towns about ten-twelve minute drives from each other, so if they chose one of those facilities, they could live in either town and be able to visit regularly, and bring grandma over for holidays or lunches, or what have you.

It was really nice to spend part of each day this weekend with my sister (and with her husband on Saturday as well). We had a common priority, and we had similar reactions and opinions about the places we went. This has made my mother feel much better about the process, since she knows we're both very detail-oriented, and we both know our grandmother well enough to ask the right sort of questions of the facilities.

Grandma is very open to the idea of moving into assisted living, now that she's had time to think about it, and she realizes that she won't be left somewhere and forgotten about, which had been her main concern (which she didn't share for a good month or so after my mother and uncle spoke with her). If my mother doesn't find any other places she wants us to check out, it's going to come down to availability, eligibility, and personal preference.

I'm excited about her moving closer. The furthest of the two places is only an hour away, and it's halfway between where my wife and I live, and where my in-laws live. The nearer is about 45-50 minutes away. Where we live, that is considered close by, and people often drive that kind of distance for both work and pleasure regularly. We could stop in and visit with her for an hour or two on our way to my in-laws' place, or go for an activity and participate with her.

Tangentially related, meeting my sister this weekend to visit assisted living places meant I got to give her her birthday present in person, rather than worry about how to mail it. We took it to lunch with us yesterday (we ate at a local restaurant each day to see if there was dining in the area my parents would like), and she opened it while we waited for our food. Yay for my sister being 27 this year!

Now, we just need to find an open weekend that works for us, and also for my brother, so we can help him deep-clean his apartment. He's not planning on renewing his lease when it comes due, and he and his now-ex did not take the best care of it. So, we're going to help him get it in shape. Family bonding through detail-oriented work is kind of what we do. That, and watch "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra".

I've had lots of little gains in moving toward my goals this week, and for that, I am happy. Some of those things?

1. Changing how I give encouragement to my students who are athletes or dealing with something that requires skill and practice. I've always automatically blurted out, "good luck!" or words to that effect. Lately, I've been thinking about luck, and how it shouldn't be part of the message we send to students about their progress. Luck has nothing to do with an athlete playing well - that's skill, won by practice. Even if the athlete loses the competition, they still did their best, and were able to go as far as they had via the time and effort they put into developing the skills needed to even get to the competition stage. Same with students who study for tests. Luck may play a small part (the test or quiz covers the material they studied more thoroughly than the material they studied less thoroughly), but in the end, it's down to the mastery and acquisition of material through deliberate exposure, practice, and review.

So, instead of wishing luck to students who have major evaluations coming, whatever form those evaluations take, I've started quoting a line from Doctor Who: I wish you success.

The episode the line comes from is "The Five Doctors," and the context is President Borusa replying to the Master, after the Master has agreed to go and search for the Doctor in the Death Zone. The Master is about to step onto a transmat platform and asks, "Isn't anyone going to wish me luck?". Borusa replies with the line above. Borusa (ostensibly) has a goal in mind for the Master - find the Doctor - any of him - in the Death Zone and rescue him. The others who have gone in before him have failed, and paid with their lives. Success is vital to several plotlines happening in the story, and Borusa knows that if anyone is truly capable of finding the Doctor (well, one of him, at least), it's his "best enemy". The Master has enough self-preservation, diplomacy, ruthlessness, etc. to be able to do the job, and he's acquired those skills through years of experience. To dismiss his ability to complete the task as "lucky" is an insult to him, and Borusa recognizes this.

Since rewatching "The Five Doctors" in August, when it was a one-night-only RiffTrax presentation in movie theaters, the line has stuck with me. Philip Latham's delivery of it as Borusa is confident, even in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. And I've thought about the line often since then. I've said it before midterms and finals, and I've started saying it to students who tell me they have a major project, competition, game, etc. coming up. I've started saying it to students who list off the dozen or so things they need to do in the next 24-48 hours. And I make sure to deliver it to them with the same conviction and sincerity I heard in Latham's voice. Because success is different for each person, each can hear what they need to in that phrase, and hopefully, each student realizes on some level that luck has little or nothing to do with the outcome of their efforts.

2. Top Decile Planning. This is one of my big projects for the spring. The academic banquet at my school is hosted by NHS, of which I am co-adviser. My fellow co-adviser is handling the procurement of tables, food, etc. I'm wrangling the student logistics. I printed letters and certificates for the students last week, and organized delivery of the notifications. I've already gotten some of the required paperwork back from students, which makes me happy, considering the letters went out on Thursday during homeroom. I have my organizational systems in place so that I can keep track of which students have given me which bits of paperwork.

3. Sayonara Seniors Planning. There are over a dozen seniors graduating from my Anime Club this year. Biggest group ever since I started sponsoring the club. I don't have artists for all of their cards yet, but I've spoken to some of the underclassmen, and we've got most of the seniors covered so far. I've even received one card, ready for signing by the club!

You'll notice that each of these productive wins are work-related. I've been woefully unproductive when it comes to the household this week. I think the only thing I've done consistently is put trash in trash bags - which is very necessary, yes, but it's not as much as I'd wanted or meant to do. Since today is Sunday, there will be more work around the house - once I finish my grading.