I saw a great movie today.
It was Mike Leigh's Happy Go Lucky.

It is the story of primary school teacher, Poppy, and the things that happen in her life. She is an incredibly optimistic, happy person. She is really, really satisfied with her life. She has a great job, great friends, a great place to live with a great roommate. There isn't a whole lot that happens in the movie. It really just concerns the daily activities of Poppy and those who interact with her. It was really funny, light, and cute. I left the theater feeling good. I also left feeling that I would LOVE to be more optimistic. I have many things to be happy about in my life and I'd like to remember that. I have a great job. I have great friends and a great place to live, too.
One of the things that I liked about the movie was the bubbly spirit of Poppy. Sure, things happen in her life that aren't the most pleasant. She gets her bike stolen, deals with her family and challenges in her job. But she takes it all as the way things are. Life has its ups and downs and that's ok with her. She just tries to be happy and tries to bring happiness to those around her. She's funny, silly, quirky and she lives life for herself and no one else! She lives in a world where things are mostly good and she sees the good in the world around her. It would be nice if everyone could live that way. It becomes really obvious when others in her world are negative and unhappy with their lives. It makes a striking contrast to Poppy.
I was so pleased with this film. IT just left me with such a good feeling. I had read a couple reviews of it before seeing it and that was one of the things that was said by all. It is just a very positive and upbeat movie. It doesn't try to teach major lessons. It is not heavy-handed. It is just the story of this girl and her life. It's one of those smaller independent films, so it may not be in many theaters. But if you can find it, go see it! 

Ok... first off, I know I haven't been posting very often. I have been so busy with work and so uninspired and I just haven't had the energy to write much of anything. For that, I apologize. I'm going to try to be a bit better about posting now.
Now on to today's post.


Living in southern California, especially in the Los Angeles area it is very easy to get used to the sound of helicopters flying around. The sky is filled with them during the morning and evening commutes, keeping drivers updated on the status of the miles and miles of freeway that cover the city. The police also use helicopters to aid in the pursuit of suspected bad guys. So it really doesn't surprise me to hear the noise of a helicopter above me at any time of day.
However, the other day I got an exciting little surprise while I was working. It was about 11:20 AM on a sunny Santa Clarita day. I was just opening the door to take my class to lunch and I heard the sound of a helicopter. But this was different than any other time. It was very, very loud. In fact it sounded as though it was hovering right above the building! I couldn't see anything because of where I was standing in relation to the buildings around me. I wasn't entirely sure if I should even take my class outside. My thought was that the sheriff's department was looking in the riverbed below the school for someone. It wouldn't be too far out of question because my school is not in the best part of town. But I decided that we could just go to lunch quickly so we did.
As soon as I got my kids into the lunchroom and eating their lunches I went outside to see what was going on. I had seen several different people from the office walking out towards the field so I was VERY curious. Well you can imagine my shock when I saw a very large helicopter belonging to the LA County Sheriff right on our field! Of course, because I am a total Flickr addict I sprinted to my room to grab my camera saying to myself, "This is why you ALWAYS have a camera with you!" 
I went out toward the field and snapped a few photos from a distance. I didn't want to get in trouble for taking pictures of it or anything like that.

The principal and several of the office staff were outside at this point so I went to find out what was happening. Apparently the helicopter pilots smelled something burning. The Sheriff's department has a policy that if the helicopter has ANY problems they find the first open space and land. On this day that open space happened to be the field on our playground. The pilots were already out and working on their own helicopter almost immediately. They not only know how to fly, but they know how to repair most things too! That's impressive! After a few minutes they started the helicopter up and let it run for a minute or two and then shut it down again. It seems that there was a problem with a belt that they were able to repair quite easily. They started up the helicopter again and lifted off. It was all over within about 20 minutes.

It may have been a small event but it certainly caused quite a buzz at school that day. The local paper even showed up (a bit too late) to do a story on it. They don't care that our test scores went up dramatically this year, but a helicopter on the field is HUGE news! As the helicopter flew away I snapped a few more photos and was happy that I got to see this and take pictures to show all my friends!