I confisgated my first item from a student yesterday.  Magnets.  They were shaped like shiny rocks, three of them, and you place two on a table and then run the third under the table.  The result?  Ooohs and ahhs from your peers as you “magically” move the magnets - you are the coolest kid in class!  Until.  Until you start letting all your friends play with them during the middle of MY class and I take them.  Yes, I pulled the “these are mine now” line and swooped my hand down to grab the magnets.

The best part was when *Leroy* (I chose this name in honor of my father, who loves the name Leroy, and since I will NEVER name a grandchild that [I wouldn't name a dog that] I decided to use it for this example) decided to get upset about it.  Leroy had the magnets out, *Grace* decided to play with them, and then *Neal* took them from Grace.  So when I take them from Neal, Leroy’s all “Neal!” (as in, you dumbass, you got them taken away) and starts pleading his case to me.  I didn’t give them to Neal!  Yes, that is true, you didn’t directly give them to Neal, but you had them out and let Grace play with them.  And then he’s visibly irritated and says “can I get them back at the end of class????” 

Now, I must add that I teach 12 children in a small conference room.  A small conference room that has no venhilation and was very warm yesterday afternoon.  Uncomfortably warm.  I had already to chastice the children about 1,000 times before this, so when ole’ Leroy asks if he can have the stupid magnets back after class, I sorta snapped.  It was the first time I really yelled at a student.  It went something like this:

ARE YOU SERIOUS?! YOU WANT TO SIT HERE AND ARGUE WITH ME ABOUT HOW YOU DIDN’T GIVE THE MAGNETS TO NEAL AND THEREFORE YOU SHOULD GET THEM BACK!? WHAT MADE YOU THINK YOU COULD HAVE THEM OUT IN THE FIRST PLACE!? WHEN ARE YOU EVER ALLOWED TO BRING TOYS TO SCHOOL AND PLAY WITH THEM!? AND NOW YOU WANT TO SIT HERE DURING MY CLASS AND WASTE MY TIME AND YOUR CLASSMATES’ TIME ARGUING ABOUT MAGNETS?!  YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME!!

Dead silence, people.  Dead. Silence.  No one spoke.  It was the most beautiful moment of my short teaching career. 

I went to the Jackson-Jefferson dinner this past weekend; a dinner/celebration put on by the Virginia Democrats.  I took a 5th grader with me (how else do you think I scored these tickets?!) and we drove down to Richmond to see Hillary AND Obama speak.  It was awesome.  Outside of the arena there were supporters of both sides cheering and campaigning - holding huge signs and full of zest and energy.  Inside, it was more of the same.  The Obama fans, however, were a BIT more into it; at one point, they started the wave. Although I have a soft spot for Barack, I do have to admit that Hillary’s speech was great.  Polished, focused, and articulate; I was really impressed.  Obama’s was good, a few trip-ups now and then; he could have said he was eating oatmeal for breakfast and gotten a standing ovation, though.  Those supporters were out of their minds.  There were more than a few irritated Hillary fans

 ***Ok, I just had to comment on this.  I’m watching the results for the Potomac Primaries, where Obama and McCain swept all three states.  They are showing McCain’s speech to supporters and, oh my god if it’s not boring.  It’s not uplifting, motivating…it reminds me of my history teacher from high school.  I mean, yes, he seems like a nice intelligent guy, and I know he has years of great experience.  But, for real, he couldn’t rally up a group of 10 year old girls to go to a Hannah Montana concert; it’s just that bad.  Oh, and you know he has no clever slogan or catchy nickname when his supporters start chanting “John McCain! John McCain! John McCain!”  Who’s running that campaign? Seriously.

 

Last year, we had a problem with the boys’ bathroom.  It smelled.  All the time.  The boys were consistently NOT flushing the toilet.  They were also peeing all over the walls and the floor.  Yes, they are middle schoolers, but they are not five - so it was unacceptable.  We went as far as to keep the main door to the bathroom open at all times, so we could get a handle on the problem.  This year, it’s been much better.  Do to better aiming, vigilent survelliance, and superb cleaning solutions, I haven’t been bothered by the smell of the bathroom all year.

I just finished reading a good friend’s post for the day - she is also having a “situation” with her bathroom.  However, she works with adults AND there are only five of them (as opposed to 150 boys).

Why don’t you just read it for yourself.

Live blogging during LOST!

Starts out like Titanic - showing a submarine crawling along the ocean’s floor and….it’s Oceanic 815!  Well, we already knew the rest of the world thought they were dead; the plane was supposedly discovered and everyone it in was dead.

BTW, on last week’s episode, when Kate asks Sawyer why he’s going with Locke’s group, was it just me or did he suddenly have an Irish accent when he says “survivin’?”  Listen to it again, totally sounds Irish.

Commerical time.  What’s up with all these artists selling out to Apple?  Musicians who seem indie, and not who I would imagine wanting their songs associated with a brand, suddenly coming out of the woodworks for anything Apple.  iPod, iTunes, the super thin Mac….they’re all over the place.

So I really love Eli Stone.  Caught it last week and thought it was cute; cute enough for me to watch it a second time online.  Very creative and witty.  I enjoyed it.

There are two groups now, so who do you think is going to end up being thought of as “The Others?”  Locke is possessed, perhaps by Jacob - he definitely has a connection with him.  This comes out especially after Hurley runs from the cabin and right into Locke.  Why they did the French chick and her daughter (and Carl) go off with the group Ben was in?  Bigger yet, why has no one killed Ben?? Why on Earth would they want to keep him alive (I mean, we know why the producers want to, he’s a great character.), he tries to kill everyone!

Hahah, Locke can predict the weather now.  Then Sawyer questions him as to why the he’s listening to the advice of Walt and we get to see the miracle bullet wound - I swear, he’s either possessed or Jesus.  You pick.  Plus, he reveals the fact the Ben shot him and left him for dead - again, why is he alive??

Wow, look at Angry Asian.  First, we have Daniel, who looks like a blabbering fool (that could all be for show) and now we have Miles, the Angry Asian.

Oooh, a backstory. Hmm, does he look for pananormal activity, like on Ghost Hunters?  LOST has been getting freaky lately - last week it was the cabin and now we’re communicating with the dead.  Wait, is he just using that little hoover vaccum to cover up the noise?  Oh! He’s stealing! From that poor grandmother!! Now that’s cold.

Haha, Carl trying to act ballsy around Ben.  On second thought, maybe we need Ben around to tell them all what we’re thinking.  Great, Sawyer finally asks the smart question.  Good for him, I knew I loved him for a reason.  But Locke does have a point - Ben knows stuff.  In my opinion, though, he’s more dangerous than helpful.

Evil Angry Asian is communicating with Naomi and Weirdo Dan is analyzing the light. These “rescuers” are great.

“I don’t know Miles,  how stupid are you?” - Jack

Best line ever.

Into the desert…and we’ve found ANOTHER polar bear where it doesn’t belong….and the Dharma sign!  Great, the girl found Locke’s group and they’re so receptive.  I am really liking Evil Angry Asian, he’s funny (we’re like that).  Ironic (and planned by the writers) that the nice rescuer ends up with the suspicious-as-hell group. 

Aww, I’ve missed Vincent.  He’s a cute dog. 

We have ourselves a Pilot!  Also, let me just say, they would never show the remains of those people’s bodies on the news.  I call bullshit. 

Does no one have control over Ben?  He’s shooting people left and right.  Get a hold of your captive.

HELICOPTER!!!!

Oh, the scary guy who visited Hurley at the institution is talking with Naomi. Question: if there were no survivors from 815, why does Naomi think they will find them by going to the island?  Uh oh, the (drunk) Pilot knows that Juliet wasn’t on the plane…and now Angry Asian has revealed who they are looking for.  Finally, someone who will ACTUALLY kill Ben.

Go ahead Sawyer, kill ‘em. God…why are we trusting Locke to kill Ben?? This is so stupid. Great, and now he’s talking Locke out of it by mentioning a few stupid facts.  Uggghh.

Next week the are revealing another one of the Oceanic Six.  Right now we know Jack, Kate, and Hurley.  I also think Sawyer is off the island and with Kate.  And then the Asian couple.  That’s my educated guess for now.

Ok kids, time to watch Eli Stone

I took the dogs to Roosevelt Island this past weekend; they love going there.  It was really nice weather (hello, it’s like 70 today!) and the water wasn’t that cold.  Although, it really doesn’t make much of a difference, Toby will tromp out there even when it’s basically frozen.  It’s just nice to take them somewhere where they can really get off leash and run.

Beau’s paw prints

Toby lovin’ the water.

Speaking of off leash, my roommate take the boys to Lincoln park each morning.  And since there’s not much traffic at that time, she lets them walk off leash.  This works out well because they listen to her (no running in the street) and they aren’t vicious (honestly, who can you see them biting?).  This morning, however, she sees Bike Lady - a woman in her 40s who rides her bike while her dog jogs along side.  This uptight lady (as my roommate describes) is behind her a ways and yells “put your dogs on a leash!”  My roommate proceeds to ignore her and just calls to the dogs to keep close to her and keep going.  As the lady gets closer she keeps yelling “ON LEASH!  ON LEASH!  ON LEASH!”  My roomie continues to ignore her and go on with her walk.  Honestly, is this necessary?  Bike Lady reminds me of The Wicked Witch of the West when she’s just the regular mean woman on her bike…”I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dogs too!”  Chill, woman.

When it gets cold, you have to find things to do indoors.  Some people read a good book, watch a movie, go to the gym.  I get crafty.  I’m working on a couple of projects right now.  The first is a quilt for some good friends of mine, The Hanks.  They just had a beautiful baby boy, Wesley Paul Hanks!, and I spent a good part of my sunday cutting out squares to sew.  Which, by the way, I’m starting to wonder if it’s cheating if I buy the pre-cut squares?  I used to think so, that it wasn’t as “handmade” if they were already cut for me, but after wasting all my good sewing time cutting, I’m doubting my original assessment.  Yes, this is a serious question!

My second project is dresses for the little girls of some of my friends.  I swear, if my friends didn’t have kids, I would have nothing to make.  Here is the pattern for the dress I’m making.

 

Yes, I’m so very cool with my hobbies

Ok, so I’ve totally been slacking on the posts.  I have no good excuse, besides the fact that everytime I think of something interesting to write I fail to do and the moment is lost (as well as the words).   January went by pretty quickly, besides the last two weeks when I fell ill with ebola.  Yeah, so it wasn’t exactly that, but I was sick as a dog.  Or as a foreigner once said “sick as a cat!”

I’m sitting here watching the SuperBowl and cannot believe my eyes.  I missed the entire game, all the commercials - I wasn’t really interested in seeing Boston win something else.  And then, the unbelievable defeat hit me by text (as does most news these days) - and I had to turn on the TV to see for myself.  But I digress…

Tiffany (the roomie) and I have been making an effort to culture ourselves this month, and we hit two performances at The Kennedy Center.  First we saw My Fair Lady, a favorite of Tiffany’s, and now one of mine.  On Friday night we saw The Sleeping Beauty; and considering how much I love dance, it is surprising that this was my first ballet.  We scored excellent seats and I loved every minute of it.  Ok, random fact: two of the Principal dancers of the American Ballet Theater, who put on this show, starred in Center Stage, one of my favorite teen flicks.  If I had seen the Thursday production of the ballet, I would have seen it with them starring as Aurora and The Prince!  Yeah, I know you have no idea what I’m talking about, but I just had to mention it for myself

Here are Tiffany and I before we left for My Fair Lady: