End of the Year

Well, my last post said it has been way to long since I wrote last. Well, here we are again. Sigh.

Quite a bit has happened. I was in the musical at school again this year. We did Cinderella (Roger & Hammerstein style). I had 20 seconds as Cinderella's father. It was a lot of fun. The kids, as usual, had a blast. Heather brought the girls to a dress rehearsal. Barbara had so much fun. She was playing Cinderella for a few days after. Zoo Lights is in full swing. A great time and we are close to breaking an attendance record.

The holidays this year have not been altogether pleasant. Almost everyone here has been sick at some point, and I am the latest casualty. Sadly we said good bye to Grandma Cahoon on the 23rd. She had been going downhill quickly for a week. The good part of this story is that everyone on Heather's side was able to come. There has been a family issue that was set aside for the time-being as well. Despite tragedies in life there are still good things that can come of them, I guess. It is nice to see people come together.

Christmas was good to us. Nice weather, good times with family, and I received a few good movies as gifts. I also liked the shirts that people bought for me, and Dad and Violet gave me a collectors coin from Australia with a platypus on it! As I get older I find that it is less about what I get and more about the events I experience. Watching Barbara and Hope with Santa Claus at the staff kids party or having dinner with family is what really means the most.

Looking back at 2014, I can say that it has not been the best of years. Losing both Heather's and my own last surviving grandparents and losing Annie has been difficult. While it is natural to focus on the negative, I choose instead to focus on the positive. My Top Ten for the last entry of 2014 is: Top Ten Surprises of 2014.
10. Jim Henson Creature Shop Challenge(Reality Show Surprise of the Year). I had caught most of the episodes that showcased the magic behind the puppetry and creature building of Jim Henson's legacy. I hope there will be a second season.

9. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Movie Surprise of the Year). I flew to Orlando this summer for a Kagan workshop, and this was the only movie the flight offered that was in the slightest bit appealing to me according to the write-up in the catalog. I was so pleasantly surprised to find such a delightful film. No, it is not my usual sci-fi special effects fare, but it had a great story, was funny, endearing, and something I could watch with the family without worry. I found it for under $7 at Walmart on Boxing Day. Definitely went for it.

8. Superhero TV (TV Surprise of the Year). I started watching a couple of TV shows this year with a common theme: super heroes. They are really good! The Flash is becoming one of my favourites (I am even interested in catching up on Arrow), and Gotham is quite interesting as well. Add to that Agents of Shield and being Super is cool again.

7. Sir Anthony Williams (Celebrity Highlight of the Year). Meeting Rene Auberjonois and Nana Visitor at Vulcan was coll, and the Comic Expo in Calgary introduced me to Felicia Day and Billy Boyd, but Anthony Williams takes the cake. The way he treated my nephew Connor and surprised him with a free autograph was a memory I hope to never forget. He was a truly gracious and charming individual.

6. Girl in a Country Song (Song Surprise of the Year). I will confess, I have fallen out of love with country music lately. Last year in particular I was frustrated that it seemed that all that they played on the radio was about guys going ape-crazy over the bodies of pretty girls and spend all their time partying. It's called "bro country" and it is not something I identify with. I missed the songs that spoke about real relationships. Then Maddie and Tae debuted their eventual first #1 single. It was perfect!


5. Imagine Dragons (CD Surprise of the Year). I had heard a few songs by this Utah-based band and decided to buy their album "Night Visions". I loved it. There were so many great songs on it. Yes, I am about a year behind on this album, but I'm almost 40, so forgive me. I'm not in the target demographic of pop culture anymore.


4.The Dark Legacy of Shannara (Book Surprise of the Year). I have been a fan of Terry Brooks and his Shannara series for over 30 years. Yes, there have been stretches where I stopped reading his books, but I started again this year with this trilogy. He took his writing and story telling to new levels. I am really looking forward to 2015 when his books become a TV series.

3. Toronto (City Surprise and Family Trip Highlight of the Year). When Grandma Andrews passed away I went with my father to Toronto to take care of things. I mostly went for moral support, but what happened was a great bonding experience for my Dad and I. He showed me so much of this city that he grew up in. We went to the high school he graduated from, his university, the house he grew up in, visited his life-long friend, and I was able to meet my uncles. We went to the Toronto Zoo, which was a lot of fun.

 

2. Multiple Intelligences (Career Highlight of the Year). My Kagan workshop was on tapping into the different ways that students are smart to help them learn. It continues to remind me how great Cooperative Learning Structures are so beneficial to my career. It has really helped my teaching practice.


1. Hope Kelly Andrews (The Highlight of the Year). Of course my second daughter will be my highlight of the year. Hope has such a bright personality and is the darling of our home. She smiles with her whole face, laughs with her whole body, and loves with her whole soul. So glad to have you, little Bookie-Dee!

Hope, Mom, and Why I'm a Trekkie

Well, there is hope in my life, or should I say "Hope" in my life. On May 6th at 1:22 am in the Foothills hospital, Hope Kelly Andrews was born. She came quickly. Heather's water broke at only 10 pm, and within an hour of arriving at the hospital out came our new little girl. This birth felt different for me, likely due to a combination of being the second time instead of the first, it happening so quickly, and having to coordinate things with Barbara as well. Incidentally Barbara loves her little sister. I hope (Hope? Yup, there will be a lifetime of Hope puns) that continues as they grow older. Heather is doing great and is once again showing me how strong she is and how caring and nurturing a person she has always been.

May has become yet again an important month for me. Yesterday we had an open house for Hope. Many great friends and family and came to say hi. I always enjoy opening my home to company and it was no different this time around. It was nice to see almost twenty friends and family take a few moments out of their busy Saturday to say hi and hold a little Hope in their arms (yeah, definitely a lifetime of puns). In the evening, Heather mentioned that she came across a journal of mine with an entry from May 24, 2001. It was the day my mother passed away. I had to stop for a moment because for the first time that date slipped my mind. I will always remember that day and that it happened in May, but I honestly had forgotten to mark the event mentally until Heather reminded me. I'm not certain how I feel about this. I do not expect that my mother would want me to fixate on her passing every year at this time. For the first few years it was so, but that was more of the healing process then anything else. Usually I would remember her, say a quick prayer about her, and continue on with the rest of the day. Not this year. Has the wound of her passing finally healed? Do I want it to be fully healed? I still miss her, and I am grateful to have my eldest daughter named after her, but is it right that I had forgotten about the day? I cannot answer those questions. I do not know if this is a failing on my part or not. I have felt the loss of loved ones since, but she is and likely will be the keenest felt loss. I can only imagine Heather or one of my little girls hitting me harder.

Don't get me wrong, I am not spending countless hours at night mulling this through my mind. I just make note of it, process it, resolve what I can, and leave the rest for another time when my understanding becomes more apparent. In no way do I love my mother less. I indeed think of her on an almost daily basis, especially watching her granddaughters grow. I guess I am leaning towards the idea that I no longer feel that I "have" to remember the day my mother passed to honour her memory. Instead, I continue to live my life in a way that honours her memory. I remember the day one of her former students came by to visit us. It really impacted me to see that decades after being in her classroom this lady still felt a connection to my mother. I believe that is one of the reasons why I have tried to establish connections with all of my students. I also cannot forget that it was my mother who taught me to love Star Trek. Yup, it's all her fault. I'll expand on this more (as it is in the title), but I always found it fitting that they evening before she died she watched the series finale of Star Trek Voyager. The crew that she had faithfully watched for seven years finally made it home, and that night she was called home.

So, why Star Trek? Well, in addition to May 23 being Voyager's finale, it was also the 20th anniversary of the final episode of The Next Generation. I have always loved this franchise, and again, my mother is to thank for that. I have many people try to debate with me the reasons why Trek is so wonderful and my favourite, but it is not about the quality of the shows (although they are high quality indeed) or even the message of hope for the future. My reasons are much more personal. Star Trek was a family tradition. Every week while TNG and DS9 were on the air we would gather together in the family room. Creation Entertainment would run conventions in Edmonton twice a year during the heyday, and often the family would go. T.J. took the whole family on a Trek Cruise during my mission as a Make-A -Wish event.  Since Mom passed away my family has become a bit more fractured. T.J.'s passing added to that as well. Despite efforts on many people's parts, I really only feel close to my father (and Vi) and Tara. Life and different choices have put distance between the rest and myself, and try as I may I have not been able to bridge those distances. So when I miss the members of my family who I have not seen in a long time and nothing else is able to help, there are several DVDs I can pop into the machine and help me remember some fond memories.

So, in honour of TNG's finale, I present my Top Ten Favourite TNG episodes. However, an occasion like this cannot be marked like this without the honorable mentions. For this list, I went through the list of entire episodes and identified any that I thought could make the cut. Two part episodes are counted as one. The honorable mentions (in order of broadcast) are: Skin of Evil, Sarek, Brothers, Qpid, Darmok, Disaster, I Borg, Rascals, Tapestry, Face of the Enemy, Starship Mine, Descent, and Genesis. Now, the tougher part was deciding on the Top Ten's order. Here is what I have:
10. Conspiracy - This was a neat little first season episode. I am not a fan of gratuitous violence, but I have to say watching a guy's head explode on TV was cool. I really wish they had followed this up in later seasons.
9. Lower Decks - After ranking a first season episode, it seems fitting to have a final season episode next. The TNG episodes often revolved around the senior officers (understandably so), and they often brought in reoccurring characters such as Barclay, Ogawa, O'Brien, etc. to round out how the ship was really a ship of over 1000 people. Lower Decks to me was an episode about the little guys. It tied in a few story lines from earlier episodes but showed what I think most of fans would have loved to experience: being a part of the crew.
8. The Measure of a Man - From Season 2 this episode, in my eyes, showed the first real strength in using great story telling and character development while at the same time providing social commentary. Powerful performances from Brent Spiner, Patrick Stewart, and Johnathon Frakes helped push this episode to the #8 spot.
7. Unification - Not only do we get another great performance from Mark Leonard as Sarek, but we finally get to see Leonard Nimoy reprise his monumental role of Spock on TNG. This was a highly anticipated two-part story that sadly aired just after the death of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (both episodes were dedicated to him) but also weeks before Star Trek VI, and provided a great hype for the new film. Throw in Sela (Denise Crosby) and a Data-Spock tag team and you have a whole lot of fun.
6. Relics - Always a fan favourite, Relics returns James Doohan as Scotty to the Trek world. For me this episode is great not just because of the connections made between TNG and the Original series but because the central TNG character was my favourite Geordi La Forge, the blind chief engineer, who sadly was rarely the main focus of any episode. Yes, it made sense that Geordi and Scotty would team up, but it is nice to see that they did so in a great way.
5. The Inner Light - OK, it's getting tough now. A lot of fans may start to cry foul that this timeless classic episode only made it #5 and not the Top 3, but I have my reasons for ranking others higher. Suffice it to say even if you are not a Trek fan, this episode is one that almost anyone can enjoy. Again, it shows how great Trek can be when the focus on telling good stories. The special effects and cool moments all take a back seat to a good story and this episode shows that such effects are not necessary.
4. Yesterday's Enterprise - One of the best time-travel/alternate universe stories that brought back my beloved Denise Crosby back as Tasha Yar. Now, I mentioned in the last one that special effects are not necessary when you have a great story, but this episode had both and were used effectively. I also like the foundations that were set for future stories, from minor things such as Worf drinking prune juice to big surprises such as the blond half-human Romulan Sela. I wish they could have shown more of how the Enterprise D crew met their fates during the final battle (apparently they were supposed to kill Wesley and Data), but it is exciting.
3. The Best of Both Worlds - I don't care about who shot JR or Mr. Burns, or who survived the terrorist attack in Dynasty, or even the Season 3 finale of LOST, this is THE BEST season cliffhanger of all time. Great development. The only thing that keeps it from higher was the slightly weaker part 2.
2. All Good Things - Definitely the best series finale in not only Trek history but in almost all of TV. It bookends the series with beauty and logic, reuniting old fan favorites like Tomalak, O'Brien, Yar, and of course, Q. I always wished that they would have done a movie with Q, but if this is as close as they will ever get, then I am satisfied with it. The end scene with the poker game is brilliantly executed and is a nice way to lead us into the TNG movies.
1. The Offspring - I can already hear fellow Trekkies questioning this choice of Data creating a daughter being #1 so let me explain. This is MY favourite list. I readily admit that if I were to rank the best episodes I would place it lower (but still top ten). What gives it the top spot for me is two things. First, there is a line that Data gives as he expresses to his daughter Lal about why he strives to be human when he will never accomplish the goal. He says that it is the journey that one makes that is important, not the actual destination. As a young man it struck a cord with me that resonates to this day. The second is the love a father has for his child. As I grew older and became a father, this episode has come to mean a great deal more to me and cements itself at the top spot.