An April entry for a busy month...

I've been so busy that I thought I should post at least one entry in the blog for April. So, here are some random thoughts...

• I can tell everyone in advance that there is one TV event that I don't plan on watching. It is the so-called "Royal Wedding" of the Queen of England's grandson and his girlfriend. No thanks! If expenses for royals were in the American national budget, that would certainly be the easiest item to cut. I give great thanks to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and all others who helped in breaking America's ties with royalty.


• I enjoyed recent trips to Springfield, Mo. (with nine college students for the MCMA convention) and to Chicago (with faculty members for the Higher Learning Commission conference).


• The current TV show that has the most references to Wyoming is probably "Supernatural" on the CW channel. One of the co-stars, Jim Beaver, was born in Laramie.


• A "bodhran" is an Irish framed drum. (The Ridge River String Band recently played one at the college. A dulcimer was also played.)


• The longest word in the Old Testament is 18 characters long. It is "Mahershalalhashbaz." In the New Testament, the longest word is 16 characters long and there are three of them (covenantbreakers, fellow-prisoners, and unprofitableness). That is according to a website about the King James Bible.


• I like Richard Hawley's song "Tonight the Streets Are Ours." I heard it first when watching the documentary about graffiti artists called "Exit Through the Gift Shop."


• Some recent movies that I liked: "My Boy Jack" about Rudyard Kipling's son who goes off to war; "Howl" about the life, poetry, and poem censorship trial of poet Allen Ginsberg; "Get Low" starring Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek; "Devil," a scary movie about people stuck in an elevator; and "Triage" starring Colin Farrell as a photojournalist.


• I predict that the awful pencil-headed dictator of Syria will be forced out by his people by the end of the year. Or hopefully sooner.


• I would like to attend one theater event where rude, inconsiderate young people, who hear the theater announcement to turn off cell phones but refuse to do so, don't sit near me. Is it possible?! How do they develop such obsessions that they can't disconnect from a piece of equipment for at least an hour or two?


• My quote: "Sometimes going through the motions gives me motion-sickness."