I Was Out Friday

As I mentioned once or twelve times, in order to avoid the teacher-training day, and as it turns out, a good decision. They did do a variety of "bonding" activities, including drawing pictures of teachers (one group drew a math teacher, one drew an English teacher, and so on) and then inviting comments via Post-It from everyone. The pictures of the children were posted on the walls of the room and everyone was invited to look at them to see all these children who were special to someone.

Excuse me.

BARF.

So, a good decision. As I commented to someone earlier today, had I been here on Friday, I would have been on the front page of the county newspaper today: LOCAL TEACHER GOES ON BERSERK MURDEROUS RAMPAGE.

In the meantime, today, not so bad. I had the most wonderful class in here this morning. There were only five students in it; this was the advanced level English as a Second Language class, and the teacher wanted them each to find a novel to read. I took out several, just for starters, and described, I think Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises to start. And one of the boys said "Oh, I read that, I liked it." The teacher asked if he had read it in English or Russian, and he said Russian, and I thought, Cool. So these were all very good readers in their native languages and becoming very good readers in English. They ended up with a real eclectic list that included The Sirens of Titan, Gone With the Wind, Catch-22, The Godfather, and something by Robert Grisham. The teacher and I have decided to base a year-long project on this idea next year, so I'm looking forward to that.

It's a lovely sunny day today. The last few days have been more sunny than not, despite predictions of rain. It was windy yesterday, but all in all, not a big deal. I'm going to the mall after school today, armed with the Chico's gift card the MIL gave me for Christmas, and then somewhere, maybe Best Buy, to get a new mouse for my school computer, since the old one has somehow been crushed to pieces by me in a rage disappeared.

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Later. Yada, yada, I got the mouse, I got the jeans. First, a mysterious announcement upon which I cannot elaborate: my sister is one of the best people now living on this planet. I don't mean this in the she-bought-me-chocolate kind of way, but in the spiritual she-is-a-quality-human kind of way. Not my story to tell, but I'm very proud of her today.

Next. I am inching closer to my next tattoo. I think I've got a place for it, a bit strange perhaps, inside of my right arm, just below the elbow. At an angle. Words, I've known for a long time that I wanted words for my next tattoo. Here are my two possibilities:





Here's the story. Imagine, of course, is the John Lennon song and is a wonderful expression of hope for the world, and was one of my mother's favorite songs. (I just read an article in Newsweek about how corny it is and so many baby boomers will have Imagine tattoos, and fuck it, I already have a peace sign so I'm hardly unique.) Que sera, sera, if you're old enough to remember, is the name of a Doris Day song from the fifties. The words are supposedly Italian for "what will be, will be" which they're not. Real Italian, I mean. But in the context of the song, that's what it means, and this was one of my grandmother's favorite songs and I used to sing it for her when I was a wee one, and I do very much subscribe to the whole "what will be, will be" philosophy, especially now with the Crohn's and stuff. (These are also the fonts I'd like it done in, typewrite for Imagine and handwriting for que sera, sera. And at an angle.)

Whaddaya think, guys?


WATCHING MASH :: ENTRY #1727