Things are looking up

Hello, all!

This was the day I have my ninth graders, so the day was pretty good. After school, I went to work out, then spent the rest of the evening standing in line waiting to vote, getting to the registration table, being told that my checkbook was not adequate proof of my new address, going home to get a utility bill, finding out that my checkbook is indeed adequate proof of my new address, and then standing in line again so I could show my checkbook to the same, confused lady who sent me home before. Finally, I got to stand in line waiting for a voting booth, and lo and behold, I finally got to vote. I thought of Sara when I stuck on the little "I voted" sticker since I remember what a kick she got out of getting to wear it. I must say, I don't experience the same rush of adrenaline. Even so, it made me smile to think of the personal party she had last time we three voted together.

I tried hard not to be mad at the poor volunteer who made an honest mistake and sent me home and then, as a result, caused me to have to stand in line again. We Americans have made inconvenience a cardinal sin. Inconvenience me, and I have a right to be rude to you: It's conventional wisdom. I notice a lot of that in me. I could see it in the face of the guy I rear ended yesterday. He was horrified that I wasn't more concerned about having damaged his car than I was about getting back to work. I'm sure I seemed like the incarnation of what's wrong with today's youth to him. But, honestly, I didn't really care about the scratch in his bumper nor about the plastic cover to my headlight that was lying in pieces on the ground. I just wanted to get back to school so I could get ready for tenth grade English. I'm trying to realize that inconvenience can often be a blessing, and that it's certainly no excuse to treat others poorly. That's one of my major oversights, though. I'm not very nice to people who inconvenience me when I'm in the middle of something or wanting to be somewhere. I'm trying to change it. So, I tried my best to be nice that lady tonight and, hopefully, I contained my consternation so it did minimal damage.

I'm just pooped. No more working tonight. I'll have to do it tomorrow during prep. I hate waiting that long but I'm feeling sleepy and content and I think sometimes you just have to go with it.

I had an interesting interaction with my student who is always misbehaving today.
For a while, my student had a habit of showing up in my classroom during his other classes. So, finally I e-mailed his teachers and asked them to please not let him leave their classrooms during class because there is no reason he should be in my classroom in the middle of his other classes. (He was leaving class A LOT) Well, Today I was previewing part of a video for tomorrow's 10th grade English, and in he comes with his classic:

"Hey, Ms. Skoro!"

"Hi. What are you doing?"

"I just came to get something out of my binder. Can I have a pop, Ms. Skoro?" (He keeps his binder in my room. I don't mind because it gives him a sense that somewhere he has a homebase)

"I don't have any."

"Come on. You are always bringing pop to school."

"I don't have any here right now."

"Oh. Okay" He sits down in a desk behind me.

"What are you doing?" I ask

"I'm going to watch the movie with you."

I pause the video.

"No. You need to get back to class."

"Oh. It's just art. We have a sub today and I said that I needed to get something from my binder."

"Okay. So you need to get it and go back to class."

"Oh."

He doesn't budge.

"You need to get it and go back to class."

"Okay." He gets up, opens his binder, gets it out.

"Bye, Ms. Skoro! See you tomorrow!"

"Bye"

He's sweet, and, yes charming. But he can wear on your nerves after a while.

The Boise State Writing Project is having a jazz and poetry night this Friday. I got a flyer for it in my box from one of the English teachers, and immediately I e-mailed Wilhelm since a) he's founder of the Boise State Writing Project, b) two of his favorite things are jazz and poetry, and c) his name was on the flyer. He said I was invited to the night. (I did get a flyer for it,after all.) and that I was equally invited to the party afterwards at one of the rooms in the sub. I'll check it out. Hopefully, I'll get to meet some people in the Boise State Writing project. Apparently, the application is process is pretty competitive and apparently, being Wilhelm's student really doesn't give me any kind of advantage, since he doesn't choose the participants any more. This might be a good way to not only find out more about it, but to meet some of the folks from it.

Do you know that Parrot Bay commercial? (Have you noticed that researching commercials is a weird, yet satisfying pastime of mine?) I'm talking about the one where the guy is standing in line somewhere, and ahead of him he sees a parrot on the back of someone's collar. He is suddenly transported to a Carribean night club where people are dancing and drinking Parrot Bay rum or whatever kind of alcohol it is. Well, I really like the song on that commercial. I did a little research and discovered that it's a song called "Bonnie and Clyde" by Destra Garcia. It's from some music genre called "Soca." (Never heard of Soca music.) It's a fun song. Here's a link if you're interested in checking it out:

http://www.trinijunglejuice.com/music_soca/2004/bonnie_clyde.ram

I also found the song from the Sheraton commercial. It's called "We Belong" by Pat Benatar.

I'm going now. I'm going to finish listening to "Bonnie and Clyde" once more time and then spend a little time with the fam before I go home and go to bed. :)

Elisabeth