Week in Review

Last Saturday night, an old friend from CP got married.

Last night was the annual Halloween Party at Laura & John's:

The Pups

Yesterday, a girl in my first hour class told me about two 7 week old black lab puppies she rescued. She was desperately trying to find a home for the two of them and was wondering if I was interested.

Uh-huh.

She had a girl and a boy; the girl was all black and the boy had some white on his chest, the tips of his feet, and the end of his tail.

She brought them to my fourth hour prep so I could visit with them to see if I would "like them."

Yep.

Jim said no. KC said unequivocally no. I realize that all logic and reason and rational thought screams no. But really, what am I supposed to do, exactly, about how cute that little boy puppy was when he climbed into my lap, licked my chin, and fell asleep next to my cheek?

I've been pining away for them for over 24 hours. This could get ugly, people.

I'm just putting this out there

A few days ago I downloaded Ms. Pacman to my Blackberry. It's safe to say that I'm going through a Cyndy-like obsession phase. I'm having a hard time NOT playing Ms. Pacman. And, frankly, regular old Pacman online.

There's something about gobbling up those blue ghosts before time runs out (and earning serious points for killing and destroying them) that is working wonders on my psyche.

I'm just saying.

Mekhead, M.D.

Not to make a big deal out of it or anything, but Michael was offered admission to Creighton's med school on Monday.

So yeah. Whatever. I mean, it's just medical school. No biggie.

"But...you could have been ANYthing!"

Today the sophs were all about the standardized test talk. They had a million questions about the PLAN, the PSAT, the ACT, the SAT, the AP, the MCAs, the BSTs, and any other standardized test you can think of that can add to the acronym fest of education. Of all their questions, though, my favorite was this:

"Hey, what did YOU get on the ACT?"

Most of the time, I pretend I've long ago forgotten what my score was, even though it's burned into my brain as clear as day. But today, for the first time ever, I just told them. What the hell? I thought. So what if they know what I got?

Right.

This girl exclaims, "But...you could have been ANYthing! I mean, you could have been a DOCTOR! Why'd ya wanna be a teacher?"

Thanks, kid. It's nice to know that you think that all of your teachers chose education because they couldn't POSSIBLY be ANYthing "better" than that.

I wish I would have thought of something witty and clever to shoot back with right away, but I pretty much stared at her in silence and blinked rapidly a few times. The boy sitting next to her turned, gave her the look, and just said, "Nice. Really nice."

I heart him forever now.

Also, I'm reading this great book "Falling Man" by Don DeLillo. FYI.

Abby loves him more, but she's in Barbados

Grey Matter

Really, if you don't read the Grey's Anatomy writers' blog, you should definitely check it out.

The show, by the way, completely redeemed itself this past week.

Nicely played, Shonda. Nicely played.

Glutton for Punishment, circa 1990

The Week in Review

On Thursday, another teacher shuffled into my classroom looking entirely beaten down and destroyed. When I looked up, he said, "I hate all teenagers and want them all to die."

"Okay," I said, trying to be supportive.

"Is this a problem, do you think, with my job?"

I tried to console him with my own story from Tuesday, when a soph tried to tell me that I had "made up" the fewer/less grammar rule, that nobody cares about grammar rules, and it doesn't matter if he "speaks good" or not.

Oh, the irony.

When I tried to explain, you know, the fact that LANGUAGES have GRAMMARS so we can communicate with one another as opposed to blabber gibberish nonstop, he asked who made up the rules in the first place.

I should have known better than to spout off about the beginnings of language and communication in 500,000 B.C. with Homo Erectus standing up and grunting.

"Homo ERECTus?" he asked incredulously.

You can imagine how that went over.

Along those lines, today another colleague came into my room, proudly bearing a blue glass bottle with the words, "Bawls: High Caffeine Guarana Soda" etched into it. He handed it to me and said, "One of my senior boys just gave this to me in front of the class and said, 'Hey, Mr. K. Now you're holding my bawls.'"

Nice.

And that's just how the week has been going.

The Game

The Report

Fall TV has started and I'm watching a variety of new shows:

Journeyman: Verdict is still out on this one. I keep watching it wishing it would be just like the novel The Time Traveler's Wife, but it's not quite getting it right. Probably the best part of this show is when the main character moves fluidly through time, and you're left guessing the year he's in based on the pop music of the time that they play. Tonight I heard Smashing Pumpkin's "Today," Freedy Johnston's "Bad Reputation" and Blind Melon's "No Rain."

Hot Shots: The opening scene of this show had Dylan McDermott with his pants down around his ankles having sex with his ex-wife in a wine cellar at a swanky country club. Despite my love for Joshua Malina, Dylan McDermott, AND Michael Vartan (should be a hat trick of a good show), this one is a disappointment so far. Sorry guys, you just aren't Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte.

Dirty Sexy Money: Everything I wanted it to be, even though not much more. This show is exactly what it purports to be, which, frankly, is a little refreshing. If Passions had to go to Direct TV, I might as well fill the guilty pleasure void in other ways.

Grey's Anatomy: Last Friday in class, a sophomore girl asked me if I'd watched Grey's the night before. I grimaced, said I had, and asked what she thought of it. I couldn't put it better than she did: "It was bad...like, really bad...ER bad." Yes, the deer scenes with Izzie put me right over the edge. We know Izzie is a little odd and has poor judgement, but it's time now to let her back in the hospital to do real medicine. And Mer/Der? Not so over, apparently.

Brothers and Sisters: Probably my favorite show on TV right now. Ally McBeal and Sam Seaborn in the same show AND in love? What's not to enjoy about that?

And because I'm sure at least Cyndy is wondering:
The Young and the Restless: It just may be possible for Nick and Sharon to finally get back together, seeing as Phyllis is in jail for the next six years for extortion and Jack is waxing poetic over his hurt feelings over the kiss Nick and Sharon shared when locked in a bank vault together for hours. I will keep you posted. Obvi.