Post-a-plenty

Sorry about that last post everyone. I just needed to vent some of my insecurities. Funny how when I'm doing that I come out looking bad and Dave comes out looking so good. Wonder why that is . . . . I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that he has my password for my blog. No, of course not. Anyway, it has certainly been a while since I've written anything. Though I've wanted to, the reason I haven't is because I'm an idiot. I thought my blog wouldn't let me back in to write something. Turns out I must have created an account under a different, but close, name and have been logging into that and, naturally, failing to see this blog. But, I found it. Here we are.

So, the last two months. Well, lots of stuff happened. Going to ACC a lot, kids are good, going to my classes, the ones in the yard are good, the Ed. classes mmm, not so much. I just got done with the most draining week of my entire life bar none. Dave's on the tail end of it which is why he decided to write in my blog, beats doing work.

I am attempting to get on a normal sleep schedule. It's working a little bit. Not only did I have so much to do (most of you probably wouldn't believe how much if I told you) but I also said that I'd go into ACC every day last week. I was pretty good, I went 3 of 5 days. Not bad. Most people didn't go at all *self-affirming pat on back*. Anyway, I think it was Monday going into Tuesday last week, and I was working on stuff and had to go to ACC the next morning. Angus was still in town (he visited me and Dave in between his Florida trip to the Badger Bowl Game and a trip to Philadelphia to see Anna) and I started to work in my bed and just passed out at 830 which was okay. It would have been nice to get a full night's sleep because I had been up for a seriously long time before that. Instead of getting a full night's sleep, I woke up at 1 AM. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I wrote a paper. I got done with that around 430 and just sat in my bed with my eyes closed, waiting til 630 to get ready for school. Turns out Dave was up working on papers then. We coulda hung out. I don't really care that I didn't get a lot of sleep, but I was just so stupid the next day. Liz (mentor) was absent on Monday and I happened to go into school that whole day hoping to sit in the back and work on my papers while she taught. Since she wasn't there, I had to teach all day. It wasn't so bad, just a bit inconvenient. Oh yeah, and illegal. There's no way I am supposed to be responsible for those children for a day by myself. That is in no way legal. So, I just got them started working on an essay. I came in the next day having already been up for a while and by the end of the day I was just dumb. The kids were asking me clarifying questions about things I told them specifically about their essay that I thought they needed to work on. I just stared blankly at them and tried to remember but, of course, could not. It's rather amusing, actually. I bet they thought I was weird.

Friday was kinda fun. Liz was leading a vocabulary activity for words in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye." The previous night's homework was to take the first six words, come up with a silly rhyming word and use it in a sentence to be able to remember it; then draw a picture. They were good for the most part, but no one had anything for emasculate. Liz asked the class and finally Amanda raised her hand and said, "I have one, but I don't know if it's appropriate." Liz said, "Oh, is it masturbate?" "No," replied Amanda, "it's ejaculate." It was kinda funny, but then Liz said, "Wait, what kinda picture did you draw?" That was funny.

What else. Nothing else really happened to me lately. Break was boring with sprinkles of fun activities every once in a while. I've just been so preoccupied with my school work which is almost done. I only have two more exams and then I can finally focus on my lesson plans and such for this upcoming semester. Liz gave me a video to watch which I'll watch tomorrow. It's a documentary on some 5th graders or something in an inner-city school that begin a unit on Romeo and Juliet (which I'll be teaching). It sounded good. She said at one point near the end, the kids are describing Shakespeare as a drug that they are high on.

I'm going to make a shirt that says, "Do Shakespeare not drugs." Seriously.

By the way, my Little Miss Kelly was posing for this great artist this last week. She sent me a picture of the work in progress: it's her doing a flamenco dance. It's by this great artist Dan Gerhartz http://www.danielgerhartz.com/ and it's awesome. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing it. I think she's beautiful.

The first is her and Dan, the second is the beginning of the painting.





It's just SO AWESOME. She's immortalized now, really. That painting will be somewhere in the world in someone's house, and they will love the painting. It's just amazing is all.