Reminder

I found this posting from last year or the year before. A reminder, just when I needed it!

10 Reasons Why I Love Teaching

10. Two degrees in English Lit - What else am I supposed to do?

9. I hate office work - With teaching, I always feel like I'm accomplishing something on a day to day basis, not just shuffling papers around pointlessly.

8. Love of the written word - I enjoy sharing that love with others.

7. Variety - It's the ultimate job for the multi-tasker in me. There's at least 16 things that need to get done on any given day, and that doesn't include the teaching.

6. Freedom - This goes with #7 - as long as the requirements are met, there's a lot of room to maneuver and get the job done. Creativity is prized since it can be hard to keep the kids' attention and have them learn at the same time. There's a certain "magician" quality to teaching - you gotta keep the kids (and parents) watching the left hand so they don't notice what the right hand is teaching them.

5. Fellow teachers - Middle school teachers are a bizarre lot, and the longer they stay, the weirder they get - I love that. I am that. There's a certain quality of interdependence and competition woven into the whole mess. And there's also ALWAYS someone you can turn to for help, support, or just venting when it's all just too much.

4. The kids - For the most part, even the pains are neat in their own way. Since I deal with 12-14 year olds (the occasional 15 y.o. thrown in for variety), it's an interesting and exciting time to be dealing with them. At least I think so.

3. Creativity - Not just mine, but the kids are pretty creative when given the opportunity (and often not on purpose). As an English teacher some of the stuff I'm trying to convey is dull and/or confusing - that's when thinking creatively comes in handy. Then again, sometimes you just have to know when it's game time and have a good one at hand.

2. Autonomy - While I do have to answer to administrators and parents, it's up to me - in my classroom - to get the job done as best I can.

1. It's fun. - Some days you just need to know when to call it a day, play some music, and toss a ball around the room. (All in the name of education, of course.)

Exasperated

Let me just say that I know I've chosen my career; it was an actual choice I made, not something I just fell into. Now that I've said that...

Today was not a good day. I feel like I yelled too much and got nothing done. I also feel bad because I yelled at the kids for normal childish behavior. But they were rude and disrespectful, wasting valuable class time, just chatting (instead of working) and being obnoxious. On days like this I feel like I'm a bad teacher and worse person. In my head, I think the kids hate me and think I'm impatient and mean.

Today, I really don't like teaching very much.

Oh yeah...

According to DD, I may be highly over-educated. I am still trying to decide if I find that offensive or merely a very accurate statement of fact. Personally, I don't think it's possible to be over-educated but what do I know. I like knowing things; that's why I watch the myriad Discovery Channels and read newspapers/magazines/books.

As Schoolhouse Rocks! says "It's great to learn, 'cause Knowledge is Power!"

Lazy Sundays

At one point in time I refused to leave the house on Sundays. No particular reason. I seem to remember thinking that Sunday was a good day to stay home because the bus only ran approximately every 50 minutes and stores closed early so going anywhere was a huge hassle and not worth my efforts. I stayed home and watched TV, read, and/or did laundry. It was fantastic.

I'm not sure when I stopped doing that. It isn't that staying at home became any less enjoyable, it's more that I often just plain have shit to do. I need to go to Target/the mall/the craft store for some random crap that can't wait until I get off work , because I'm usually really tired and forgetful by then. Or someone calls and asks me to hang out with them and that's cool and often fun so I agree. Basically, having a life interferes with lounging around doing nothing.

But occasionally I luck out; nothing needs to get done, none of my friends are available to do anything, and I've finished all work-related tasks. On those days I have two choices: a) stay at home, watching TV and reading, or b) pack my bag with paper, pens, magazines, and books and head out to a park or Starbuck's or a bookstore.

That's what I did today, grabbed my crap and headed out to a bookstore to flip through magazines and make notes for decorating my rooms. Yes, I could have done this at home but where's the fun in that. Among other things, the bookstore has more magazines than I do at home and I can flip through them at my leisure, free of charge. You can't beat that with a stick. (Well, you could but why would you want to?)

So today was a lazy Sunday of the best kind. I had breakfast at a nice diner, wandered around IKEA looking for decorating ideas, and then nested at Barnes & Noble for several hours, just reading and listening to music. Now I'm going to bed since it's almost midnight and I gotta go to work tomorrow.

BBC America

I love BBC America but it does not love me. There was a great show about a hotel and it seems to have disappeared into the ether. However if you're a fan of semi-futuristic sci-fi type shows then it's definitely the place to be.

Right now I'm trying to remind myself that I like the show Primeval but I always forget it's on and miss episodes of it. Tonight it's a crazed marathon of the last two episodes of the show. It's been on since 7 p.m. That's a whole lotta dinosaurs and other assorted prehistoric animal/human dramatics.

It's a good show but I've got a short attention span for most series. I've missed one whole season of this show, partly due to my own forgetful nature and partly because BBC America is terrible about indicating when new seasons are gonna start for their shows. If they did a better job of announcing it, I might be able to program my DVR to catch the damn shows I like.

Oh, yeah, the hotel show was called Hotel Babylon. I liked it a lot...it appears to have been cancelled.

Mental Health Day v. 1.5

Turns out if you don't look directly at the grading during any part of the day, a mental health day is really quite relaxing and fun. Had brunch with LV and then we hung around a coffeeshop and discussed a wide variety of topics, including whether lesbians REALLY want to see soft porn or is that pandering at the lowest level.

Speaking only for myself: bring on the soft porn. Or the hard core. Yes, definitely the hard core porn. It's at the top of my Christmas list.

And remember, porn should not have a plot. That's just wrong.

Mental Health Day

Skipping school today because I'm exhausted and feeling very run down. Also I'm kinda sick of kids. But I still have grading to do so how restful will it actually be?

Under-utilization

I've come to realize that I don't use the internet for much except a giant card catalog of stuff I'm looking for or wanting to know about. Pure information research or game playing. I know a lot of people are really into the Interwebs and everything they can do on it.

I suppose I don't approach it from that angle. When I get online I'm either just randomly browsing for utter and complete shit OR I'm after specific information and I'm not screwing with needless distractions. That's really how I tend to view almost everything on the Internet...it's a distraction, even the shit I create and put out there. Or on here. But using it as a means of meeting new people...not so much. It's not that I don't want to do that, I just not all that comfortable talking to strangers I can't see.

The web is a fantastic means of keeping up with long distance friends; I love it for that alone. I have several friends that I haven't seen in 5 years, but I exchange emails and IM's with them regularly. It's the best way to stay in someone's life without worrying about restraining orders and general creepiness.

Maybe I should look into making friends via online means. The question is...what's the best way to meet strangers without feeling creepy? Anyone? Anyone?

In which I share too much

I have a very unusual physiology...approximately every 3-4 months I have two periods. There is nothing wrong with me, medically; it's been this way my entire life. I used to freak out about it but then I saw a documentary that stated that Nigerian women often have two menstrual cycles in every few months. Even more interesting fact: Nigeria has the highest number of fraternal twins in the world. Gee I wonder why?

Now, I've had my period since I was 10 but I've only really started noticing this unfortunate trend in multiplicity about 7 or 8 years ago. Most of the time it's inconvenient but some months it's just fucking annoying. I never know which months it's going to happen or when it's going to happen, but one day I'll wake up exhausted (barely able to get out of bed or stay awake), irritable, and with extremely achy knees and ankles. If I could predict when this extra period was coming, I'd be happier or at least sufficiently forewarned to anticipate the inconvenience.

It also scares the shit out of me considering that I'd like to have a kid next year and twins would be wildly inconvenient. Neat, but inconvenient. I'm barely able to afford one kid next year, but two would totally blow my mind. And my budget. And my planning. But twins run in my family, mostly on the male side but with this whole 2-fer-1 thing going on I'm guessing that my chances for multiple births are pretty damn high. Worrisome, to say the least.

So now I gotta worry that some ancestral genetic code is gonna bite me in the ass one day. Ah, Mother Africa, thanks for priming the pump in favor of my unique genetic code.

Conspiracy theorists

What is the evolution of a conspiracy theorist? Are they born or do they just spring fully formed out of whole cloth? It seems a strange thing to suddenly believe that the global economy is controlled by 12 uber-powerful men from around the world. Is it a psychosis or just a hobby gone mad?

I'd really like to know what's behind the mental gymnastics of it all. I'd also like to know why the Discovery Channel keeps catering to this particular viewer. I ask merely for information, people.

I am shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

Not really. Just seemed like something to say, ya know. I'm trying out a new goal of actually posting every day. At least 5 sentences (5-7 sentences = 1 paragraph) so I'll feel like I'm making good use of my time. I'm not but it'll feel like I am which is the same thing to me.

Next week I'm taking a motorcycle safety course so I can learn to ride and get my own bike and be all cool and shit. No, really, I mean it. I love motorcycles. They're loud and cool and fun...(at least until you drop that bitch and can't get it back up by yourself. Then you just look stupid and inept. But it's a chance I'm willing to take.) I've always wanted to be able to ride a motorcycle so now's the time to get that done BEFORE I have a kid and stuff.

Ride on!

I'm on a roll, stick with me...

Reposted from 03/30/2006

I HATE GAUCHO PANTS!!!!!

My mom used to buy them and try to make me wear them. Unless you are an actual gaucho (whatever the hell that is...though I'm pretty sure it's a South American cowboy of some type) the damn things shouldn't be worn! And even the South American cowboy probably refuses to wear them.

Why do "fashionistas" (read: idiots who think they look good in stupid clothes) insist on trying to bring back the most horrific of 80s clothing? I know there's nothing truly original any more but come on! Give it a freakin' shot. Make the effort, people. If they didn't work 30 years ago, I can guaran-damn-tee they ain't gonna work now either. Go to TJMaxx, look at the racks, nothing but miles of failed fashion...including the atrocious gaucho pants.

Yeesh.

And on a completely different note...

I hate Morrissey!! He is annoying, and whiny, and so pretentious my toenails throb just thinking about him. At least I can happily say that I was in no way, shape, or form responsible for his success in the 80s. Hated him then, still do now. A pox on anyone still buying his albums, for they are to blame for his refusal to fade away into the dim, dark, depressing past. I feel quite strongly about this.

...I am done now.

What would blue taste like if you could chew it?

A question I posed to my students last week as a warm-up exercise. Here's what I think.

Blue has a tingly, sparkly kinda flavor. Sweet and mildly tangy, it spreads throughout your mouth, melting away like cotton candy, leaving a clean sensation in your mouth.

And you...how would blue taste to you? Post your answer as a comment.

Cuz ya gotta have frieeends...

My friend Esthela runs a great blog, myfuckingeye.com, and invited me to be a guest contributor over there. I have to say I was touched. Esthela has the most unique view on things and is fascinating to talk to/know/get drunk and bitch with.

She's also crazy talented - I dig her photography quite a lot, and her writing style rocks my world. It's hard to find honest writing that isn't raging tirades about the injustices of the world. (Yes, I'm talking about myself.) I love to read her work; I always have to re-read because I love the wording and the ideas conveyed. So check her out and see the world through her fucking eye; you'll never look at the world in quite the same way.

Lately I've been randomly and tunelessly humming when doing stuff. I don't even really know why I've been doing it. It's not singing, I can't sing, it's just nonsense sounds that come out of my mouth. Sometimes with words. Completely random. Yesterday it was the theme song for Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law...one of my fave cartoon shows. Take a listen and be glad it's not me singing!

Just how powerful is a vagina?

I know what you're thinking...."What the...? I don't wanna know about your ladyparts!" But hear me out...

According to the Republicans, the vagina is so powerful that it alone links all women, regardless of their personal and political ideologies. Seriously. I assume that's what they're thinking because they seemed to believe that just because Sarah Palin owns a working vag, it's enough to draw the "disenfranchised" Hillary Clinton supporters to their cause. What's even worse, it seems to have been successful. Which brings me to wonder if we, as women, are just so desperate to look like we're capable of running this country that we'll back some hokey, extraordinarily under-qualified Alaskan "hockey mom" as the second in command of our country. Are they right? Are we? Lord, I hope not.

I wasn't a Hillary fan; personally I think one Clinton was enough. I liked Bill but not enough to have him back in the White House, even as the first whatever-the-hell. And Hillary? I didn't see anything in her that made me crave her as my commander-in-chief.

I'm not a Republican either but Palin makes my skin crawl. She's G.W. Bush with a bush. How can anyone look at the information coming out about her gubernatorial term in Alaska and not worry? Secrecy, power mongering, nepotism...didn't we just do all that these past eight years? Did I miss something important? Or are Americans just so thick-skulled that they can't see the flames for the smoke?

Worse for me though is the idea that women might really like her BECAUSE she has five kids and "one of them has Down Syndrome!" And? So? What the hell does that have to do with giving her national power (and yes, the VP has some power...Cheney saw to that). How can her reproductive skills make her competent to lead? And why would parenting a child with a handicap make her a great choice for vice president? It don't add up.

I sincerely hope that people, women especially, are thinking this through completely. If we set the precedent that we can be appeased by simply tossing us any old woman in office then aren't we tacitly agreeing to be condescended to? Aren't we saying that we'll take what we can get because we don't deserve anything better? I don't know about you but I deserve a executive branch that fucking has a clue about how it should behave. I want to know that the issues that have arisen from the Bush administration's glorious abuses of power are going to be put to rest, possibly even resolved, not raised to a whole new dimension.

For me, this isn't about experience but personality, ethics, and motivation. A pitbull is a great dog unless you never train it to be anything other than a vicious animal. Sarah Palin is the worst kind of pitbull and she scares me.

Hey, lookie there!

Wow, occasionally I have no brain.

I forgot this blog existed. How did I find it? I pulled up Blogger, put my name in and wondered what would come up. That's just how I roll, yo. I am clueless and need help.

Maybe if I knew someone was reading I'd remember to post more often. I need validation. Sad.