Travel Log 6-17:The Worst Witch

     First off there is a new post up over at Witchy Thrifting so go check it out!
     Last month the lovely Magaly over at Pagan Culture held an awesome event called Witches in Fiction. During the party I focused on the awesomeness that is Granny Weatherwax, the witch I hope to grow up to be. It came to me while I was lying in bed last night so I decided to write about it now rather than wait until next year. While Granny is who I want to be in the future, and hope that I am becoming more like now, there was a witch that embodies who I was, and still very much am. The first witch I really connected with and saw myself in.
   Mildred Hubble.
   Never heard of her? Well she is the main character of a book series in the UK that got turned into a tv show in the 90's and a movie, as well as a US movie in the 80's starring Fairuza Balk, Tim Curry, Diana Rigg, and Charlotte Rae (Mrs Garrett) called The Worst Witch. I never got to see the UK versions and want them so badly I can taste it. But the US tv movie that was released in 1986 was the first time I looked at a character on tv and saw myself. I watched that first year cuddled up in my Care Bear pajamas hugging my teddy bear and found myself a hero.
    Mildred is a regular girl. About as regular as they get. She has freckles and messy hair. She struggles in her classes and the toughest teacher in her school has decided to come down like a ton of bricks on her at any given opportunity. Of course this is Miss Cackles International Academy for Witches, a boarding school for young witches so Mrs Hardbroom, Mildred's teacher nemesis, is extra scary. When they hand out the black cats Mildred gets a grey tabby who's so afraid to ride on her broomstick so she has to put him in her satchel and hang it from the back of her broom. The girl just can't catch a break. The prettiest, smartest, most popular girl in school makes it her mission to make Mildred's life as miserable as possible. In fact a prank that this girl plays on Mildred has her so upset she runs away from the school only to run smack into a group of evil witches planning to take over the school. But then in an awesome twist, Mildred captures the evil witches and saves the school earning herself praise and a special flight with the head warlock (Tim Curry).
     This is an age old story. Persecution followed by a make-good situation. Nothing new there, but as a almost 6 year old (this of course premiered around Halloween and my birthday is November 5th) this was the first time I looked at a character in a movie and saw myself. And she was a witch.
     Mildred Hubble was my revelation. She was ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. Magic was a part of her world, a part of her, but as ordinary as homework (in fact a lot of it was homework, lol) and she wasn't even considered very good at it. It wasn't a story about these girls being witches, it was a story about a girl who just happened to be a witch. It wasn't about how good she was with a potion or a spell, it was about her.
    I loved it. I would wait every year for it to come back on at Halloween and then watch every time it was on. I taped it once and watched the tape almost every day until my sister taped over it with something with Carey Elwes in it (I don't remember what it was just that there were tudor costumes and it was all very dramatic -6 year old code for bor-ing). You can imagine the fights over that one.
    For years I watched and loved that movie until slowly they stopped showing it. then a couple years ago it popped back up again and now I have it on dvd.
    Mildred Hubble was my stepping stone. She was me. I wasn't popular. In fact I was so socially awkward it was almost painful. I never fit in and I was an easy target for teasing. Mildred helped me get through that. The theme song from the movie still plays in my head almost as a soundtrack for how I see my formative years.

  Is there a little Mildred in you?

Travel Log 6-16: I Ain't Been Eateded..

  This is just a quick post to let you know that I was not sacrificed to the wild animals yesterday, thank goodness (although it was a near thing with the giant anteater).  I did however almost get taken out by a bird in the rain forest aviary where the birds (and apparently turtles) get to fly around. We saw A LOT of monkeys. I mean A LOT.
    I really liked this zoo because it is laid out like a park. There is play equipment and lots of wide open grass space for small kids to run and play. The enclosures were all really well suited to the animals that were in them and none were cramped or on concrete. There were even baby tamarins! They were tiney tiny and adorable. We took a miniature train ride around the zoo and got kissed by butterflies. It was a lot of fun. They even have little keys that you can put into boxes located around the zoo that will then play songs about the animals and the zoo for the kids. We had a ton of fun.
      I took a lot of pictures but I still need to sort through them all so no pictures up here yet.
     Also don't forget to check out Witchy Thrifting!

Travel Log 6-15: 50 Monkeys and Me..

   We're off to the zoo today! The Santa Ana Zoo to be exact. Funny little bit of history there. Apparently when Joseph Prentice donated the land for Prentice park he put only 2 restrictions on it- 1) that the park would bear his name, and 2) that there would always be at least 50 monkeys in the park.
   Cause yeah...nothing says public park like 50 monkeys.
   But that is to my advantage today as the Grands, the midgets, and me head over to the zoo that has built up around the monkeys. They have elephants and a working farm, and even a petting zoo for the squishmeister. And truthfully the best part about it is it isn't the LA Zoo. That place is so depressing. All the enclosures are concreted in(and during california summers that's such a humane way to make an animal live not to mention all the smog - hacking penguins is so NOT cute) and every time I've gone there (about 3 times in my entire life) I want to arrange a jail break for all of them. I always leave depressed. So going to a zoo in a nicely wooded park should be a fun trip for everyone.
    I'll try and post pictures after we get home if the kids don't feed me to a wild animal (the Littleman is all about necessary sacrifice, lol) or if I don't pass out. All in all not a bad plan for a Wednesday.
     Oh and I have another post up on my Witchy Thrifting blog so hop on over and check it out!

Travel Log 6-13: Monday...Why Does It Have To Be Monday..

   Well this weekend was fun but busy.
    Went to the opening for Super Bad Action Figures in sunny (sunny like the face of the sun sometimes) Redlands California. It was a lot of fun to catch up with all my geeky friends and see a new mecha of geekiness open up. We escaped with our wallets intact no thanks to our 4 year old. He was convinced that he just could not possibly live without the Iron Man statue that was taller than him. The squishmeister (our 2 year old) had a close encounter with Boba Fett and a storm trooper that had him hiding and actively asking for a jedi. I also had a moment that had me wishing I hadn't forgotten my camera- Boba Fett taking down Captain Jack Sparrow. It was a beautiful Kodak moment and I missed capturing it..sniff...
      The babysitter experiment went awesome. The boys were as good as gold for her so she didn't run screaming into the night! The hubster and I even got to go to a thrift store by ourselves which made a whole bunch of difference! He even found some really cool 1960's sliding rules that are in awesome condition. He totally math geeked out on them, lol.
     So that means that we can hopefully (if we can still get tickets) go to the Green Lantern special showing being put on by Four Color Fantasies! Woot! It has been forever since we got to go to a midnight release, and on top of it to make it one with free tshirts and swag bags? Oooh Ducky! (for that reference check out this hilarious post from Debra She Who Seeks)
     Yesterday was spent finishing up projects and running around to craft stores (Michael's had a great sale going on ribbon and we all know I can't pass up ribbon- they even had cording for a buck a roll!) and generally being busy. Now I feel like I need a weekend to recover from my weekend, lol. 
     And this morning I have been out there stalking checking out all your lovely blogs and already laughed so hard soda almost came out of my nose-twice! If you want a good solid laugh check out Mental Poo (not if you're easily offended though) or check out Cogent Ascending which I found thanks to Magaly over at Pagan Culture.
     How was everyone else's weekend?