Unemployment

Writing is quite hard

with unemployment looming.

Give me a job, please.

Connections

Today = Harry Potter + Eric Erikson + senior thesis + Ghost Stories + The Sixth Sense + Freud.

It's really been a day of pulling it all together... now if it would just make sense.

Yay for Summer!

Two thousand and nine

could prove to be one of the

best summers ever!

It's ridiculously amazing how much difference a week makes in one's outlook on the whole teaching thing. I'm also ridiculously pumped about recent ongoings and getting ready to be abroad.

***EDIT: I use the word ridiculous a lot. Such is my life (I wish!)

The tick tock of the clock is painful...

I think Eve 6 said it best... I can't believe how slow the day is going. I've been at school for a little over 2 hours and I've finished everything I need to finish. If it weren't for a meeting I need to attend this afternoon, I'd have been out of here hours ago (or not shown up at all)!

How slow is the day?
Seconds creeping to minutes...
Hours don't happen.

Aliens

Today we discuss:

UFO's and cropcircles.

E.T. can't phone home....

My debate class has selected "Aliens Exist" as their latest debate topic... I was hesitant to let them choose a "BS" topic, but then realized that 1. I ultimately don't care and 2. it's a great chance to work on research methods / credible source issues... I'm still waiting for overeager freshman boy to bring in his "legit alien book" which he claims will prove the existence of aliens... and this is why I love freshmen... *rolls eyes

That said, I wish I'd dropped the serious nature a long time ago; students are really into this topic, and I finally feel like I know what I'm doing... which is why we only have 5 weeks of school left... go figure.  

Fun Factoid

experts all agree

and science has proven that 

owls have no buttholes.

the last line is a true quote from a student in my speech class today.  It's hard not to laugh when stuff like this comes up!

Prom

expensive clothes and 

grinding abound.  the cops are

watching you closely.  

Hard to Handle...

This was on the news this evening: 

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7367195

I had a really difficult time watching it, and actually found myself in tears at the end in utter disbelief that children could be so insensitively cruel.  Having been around teenagers on a daily basis for a while now, I recognize that they often don't think before they speak or consider how someone else will hear what they say.  Furthermore, they see words like "gay" and "fag" as synonyms for "stupid" and "lame."  "Homo" is to 2009 what Loser was to 1999.  I continually strive to get students to see that they aren't saying what they mean - but this often falls on deaf ears.  

It's been a long week - and there's no rest until Sunday - lax all day tomorrow and potentially prom tomorrow night.  

Who Flung Poo?

Smeared with feces the

bathroom is so disgusting.

WE ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL!

Absenteeism

I've been rather frazzled lately.  Between dealing with general chaos at school, freaking out about what to do next year (and truthfully making no progress), daydreaming about Oxford, recuperating from the instant-death, lacrosse sponsoring, reading Wuthering Heights, and worrying about the dog it's been hectic, stressful, and overwhelming.  

Oscar turned 7 on March 23rd.  I enjoy teasing him about becoming an old man and needing to eat "Senior" food now (yes, I tease the dog), but I'm masking a fear... in my family our dogs don't last that long.  Peggy stayed with us until I was 9 (the parental units got her as a puppy before I arrived), Buster joined us (at the age of 2) when I was in 5th grade and stuck around all the way until my freshman year of college, and Oscar moved in that Spring.  I love dogs; I can't imagine life without one, but each time a pet moves on I become this blubbering mess of emotional idiocracy that I can't believe I'd ever want to put myself through the loss again.  That said I know I'll always be a dog owner.    

Anyhow, to get to the point, on Monday we noticed that the pupster has a large bump with open sore? on it on his back left leg (around the knee).  We remember seeing him have a scratch, and it's likely that it just got infected and gross, but I can't help but worry that it's truly something serious.  He doesn't act sick - he acts like a puppy, running, jumping, generally being a 65 lb. lapdog  - which is why it's so hard for me to think of him as an older dog.  He has an appointment with the vet (his least favorite place ever) Monday evening.  I would swear that the bump looks smaller today, but I can't confirm this - I will monitor it closely throughout the weekend, because I can't let him be in pain.  If that's the case, I know where this goes... and I get sick even thinking about it.  

When my mom had to put her cat down earlier this winter, it was so easy for me to be supportive and remind her that it was painless and quick and the only thing that could be done.  Through the entire experience, however, I was hoping that the next time a pet I was attached to (the cat was a one person cat) reached that point I would be able to find the same strength.  

I love this dog... even if he does snore, and hog the couch.    

Everyone Gets Bullied

When you introduce students to a new concept, they try to forget it as quickly as possible.  When you force feed cheesy character education skits on a multiple times a year basis... hilarity will ensue.  

As I remarked yesterday, it was Bullying Day... aka the day everyone gets bullied!  What I didn't know when I wrote that was that this "everyone" includes me! In one class period alone I had my backpack flipped inside out, my jacket stolen, and had my right foot used as a punching bag by a student who I can only presume needs about twice the amount of Adderall he is currently receiving.  I felt fortunate that I wasn't trying to accomplish anything of great importance in the class!  (Perhaps my students were trying to send me a message not to be quite so evil)

Happy Spring Break

Sunlight and sand?  Hardly... this is what I woke up to this morning...

That said, in approximately 5  hours it will be time for spring break.  Until then it's bullying training day at school.  

Any type of character building day always turns into "The Day Everyone Gets _______" (fill-in the blank with "sexually harassed," "bullied," "called out for being a minority."  I'm all for character building in education... but the way they choose to incorporate such training is absurd.  Right now there is a group of actors in the newly refurbished auditorium performing what I'm calling a skit for the entire 9th grade class who must be crammed into the room like sardines.  The rest of the school is viewing the skit via live feed courtesy of the morning announcements crew.  As awesome as this plan might sound, it really only works if the SOUND IS TURNED ON!  We sat laughing at some dude (with a glowing mane of red hair pulled back into a pony tail that reaches his waist) for 10 minutes before the sound came on - now that the sound is on, we have no clue what we're watching... and it's rather entertaining.