Home Documents Vista Verde Plaza Vista Elementary Links Randomness
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August 28th, 2007 ~ Tuesday |
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8:34 p.m. Down! My DSL has died. And I’m scared to do anything legitimate on
my “borrowed” wireless connection…that is unsecured…and my neighbor’s. Until then…no updating. Hopefully Friday I will be back. |
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August 13th, 2007 ~ Monday |
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9:34 p.m. Rubbish! In high school, I picked up one
of my many strange quirks: using British slang, and using old people
words. The idea of a 15 year old
teenager using words like “whippersnapper” and “crazy kids” and other such
vernacular really tickled me. And at
some point, it stuck. Instead of being
a means of amusing myself, it seeped itself into my every day
vernacular. Yes, I used “vernacular”
twice in a paragraph. That’s another quirk. At the age of….14 or 15, I started
collecting words. Not necessarily big
words (though I do enjoy big words, as I find them fun to say), but
entertaining words. Lugubrious. Opt.
Coupon (coo-pon, not Q-pon…I hate when people say Q-pon). Acquiesce.
Perfunctory. Pernicious. Lackadaisical…seriously, that was my
favorite word during high school. And
of course, at some point I discovered DEFENESTRATE. I still have no recollection of how I came
across this word….just that it caused me immense joy. Defenestrate. Heh.
I finished my 4th
grade seating charts, and I hand-made 75 name tags. That’s right, I make them by hand. I write out every single student’s
name. That’s why I get so angry when
they leave it behind…I took time to make it, and you left it on the floor? Sadness.
I also have started reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I’m only 27 pages in. I read much slower when I read Jane Austen,
because I want to make sure that I am understanding everything I read. I have a tendency of reading and then
drifting off into my own imaginary world that has nothing to do with what I’m
reading. I finished reading my Mitch
Albom book on Saturday or Sunday. I
needed something new. And with that
new BECOMING JANE movie out, I felt the need to indulge my Jane Austen
senses. She’s lovely. Other than that, same old same
old. Or is it same ole same ole? I have a tendency of picking up and using
sayings….but them being not quite right.
It’s like my affinity for belting out my favorite songs, but not quite
knowing the proper lyrics.
(Shrug) Now I have to decide if
I want to make a snack for this week or not.
I’m thinking onigiris! They are
Japanese…you take some rice, make into a ball or a triangle, cover it with
seaweed (did you know that nori isn’t actually really seaweed?), and putting
a small dab of pickled plum inside.
Okay, when I describe it it sounds awful, but it’s really quite
enjoyable. Really! Hmm…decisions, decisions…. |
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August 11th, 2007 ~ Saturday |
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11:39 p.m. Bow Down In 1st grade, I was
the smartest kid in the class. The teacher
would give the class an assignment, and I would inevitably finish the
assignment in half the time it took everybody else. Or less than half the time. So I started reading the books in my
classroom. I got to a point where I
had read every single book in the class.
My teacher then started sending me to the library because I spent so
much time sitting around…because I finished my work before everybody
else. I remember being constantly
bored in 1st grade. And in
the end, my assignments would always be done better than everybody else’s,
and I couldn’t understand why it took everybody so long to do work that
wasn’t right. In the end, they ended up
forcing me to take some very long test, and I got sent to the GATE
school. It was the school “for smart
kids”. That’s me. The smart kid. At our staff meeting, where we
had to answer a bunch of questions…. I should really win an award. I have this skill that I acquired during
high school and college, where I am able to make simple sounding concepts sound
much more technical and impressive. I
used it all the time when I got my credential, because nobody (except the
music person) actually knew anything about music. I used this skill again yesterday. Marvel at my ability: I managed to turn Mr.
G’s suggestion of “Clapping rhythms” into “Kinesthetic applications of
rhythmic variants”. :::: bow ::::
thank you, thank you. That was my
whole morning: translating. And I
assure you, whoever reads my paper is going to be thoroughly impressed, and
won’t realize that I’m talking about clapping rhythms. Bwahaha.
Well maybe they will but…does it matter? I’m talking about the same thing, just in
more technical jargon. There’s a good
word for ya: jargon. Sorry. Staff meetings bring out my inner
rebellious teenager. If I am not
entertained or stimulated or challenged…I find ways to entertain and
challenge myself. I can’t just sit
there. I do not have that ability. On another note, I had a gig
today. A wedding. It was in the hottest church there ever
was!!! I was pouring sweat, and George
was angry and annoyed because he hates humidity and the church reeked of
humidity…and we played Actually, it was pretty
cool. I just would’ve liked to have
been prepared. I got to the end of the
2nd page and thought, “hey, we’re not done yet. Is there a page turn? That can’t be right, it’s not supposed to
be 3 pages….” But alas, there was an
entire very unpleasant 3rd page.
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August 10th, 2007 ~ Friday |
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10:03 a.m. I’m
Bored!!!! As I speak to you, I am in the
staff development meeting at VV. Here
is the prompt: “Is our curriculum preparing students for success at the next
level” We are supposed to meet in
grade level groups and discuss how we can make sure that after kids have left
us and gone to the next grade, we know what they’re doing and how they are
doing. One problem: I teach 5
grades. So this is kind of moot for
me, and Mr. G and I are sitting at a table playing with our computers
instead. I’ve taken all our notes (I
was voted note taker for our “group”…of two people…) on my computer, and it
has borders and is organized and everything.
IT has fancy outline features….I’m so good. Gold star for me! In the meantime, I’m
bored. I should’ve brought a book or
something. The same thing happens
every time. We are given an
assignment, and I finish it in 5 minutes, and then sit around for 20 waiting
for everybody else. It’s just like in
school, for me. That’s exactly what
used to happen to me. It started in 1st
grade. Oh the pain of the GATE student
J
Okay, well, I’m going to try to find something to entertain
myself. Sadly, there is no wireless at
this school so I can’t connect. BOO! |
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August 7th, 2007 ~ Tuesday |
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10:49 p.m. And I Say
Hey (Hey!) Did you watch Arthur today? Did ya?
Did ya? It’s one of my favorite
episodes. It’s the one where Yo-Yo Ma
and Joshua Redman are on the show. And
D.W. and Arthur argue about what’s “good” music and what’s “real” music. And then Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Redman, in the
end, talk about how music is good when you like it, and that’s all that
matters J
It makes me happy. Except when
Binky imagines Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Redman wrestling, and Joshua Redman makes
Yo-Yo Ma fall backwards into his cello.
And then it breaks. And then
Yo-Yo Ma cries. How sad. And yes, I realize that was
just a very long run on sentence, but my excitement trumps my need for proper
sentence structure. Heh. I really enjoy Arthur. Whenever I get home early enough, I watch
it. I’ve been doing this for…11 years
now. Wow. That’s a really long time. I used to live in In other news, my body is
adjusting to being back in school. I’m
not nearly as exhausted as I was last week, which is good. I’ve been napping this week, however,
despite my best efforts. Something
just happens to me at 5:30 pm, where I no longer want to be up. It’s a bad time to go anywhere because
there is mad traffic everywhere, I’ve already eaten (I eat as soon as I get
home), and I’m too tired to start working or practicing or doing anything in
particular. So I lie down and watch tv
or listen to music or read, and inevitably fall asleep. It’s a bad habit…especially since I tend to
nap for around 2 hours. I have no
concept of the 15 minute power nap. I
try to do that….but I fail miserably. All right, I’m going to go at
least attempt sleep. I’ll lie in bed
(not lay), and do some reading, maybe.
Or maybe I’ll re-watch Arthur.
I taped it =D |
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August 5th, 2007 ~ Sunday |
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10:54 p.m. Off With A
Bang Happy 1st full week
of school! I’ve actually had a difficult
first week. Not with you guys,
though. I’m constantly reminded how I
hate everything about teaching except the actual teaching part. I LOVE the teaching part. I love getting to share my enthusiasm of
music with my students. I love
interacting with my students. I love
hearing about my students’ days, and listening to them complain about the bad
parts and rave about the good parts.
All of that I love, and that’s why I do what I do. But I really do hate all the other parts. As soon as you take kids out of an
activity…it’s instantly less fun for me. I’m just a little blue. In the meantime, however, I
will tell you about my pillows. I have
dinosaur pillowcases. Yes, that’s
right. Dinosaurs. On one side is a cartoon tyrannosaurus rex
(he’s blue), and on the other side is a green triceratops cartoon. They’re awesome J
I bought them in college. I
have a thing for dinosaurs. I say,
you’re never too old for things you love!
And that includes dinosaur pillowcases, stuffed giraffes, legos, Harry
Potter, Arthur (I watch it whenever I get home early enough), naming your
instrument, having cartoons on your socks, singing to yourself even when
there are people around…..the list goes on and on. Granted, I’m probably one of
the few adults who have dinosaur cartoons on their pillowcases….but they make
me happy. And as long as they make me
happy, who cares? |