Easy Money!

Since spring is here, the hormonal adolescents I work with seem to be having trouble controlling their impulsivity. Not in the way you imagine however. Instead, it's mostly the 7th grade boys pounding on each other. This is my 3rd year as their Dean, and I am finally getting the hang of the usual pattern: Boy A teases Boy B. B teases A louder. A pushes B. B pushes A harder. This pattern continues until either an adult intervenes OR someone gets hurt. The cycle is considered a complete success if someone is actually transported to a medical facility, usually by a vehicle with lights and sirens.

The school has decided that preemptive measures are in order and are paying for adults to supervise the parking lot area where students are picked up after school. I get to sit outside for 2 1/2 hours a day, 3 days a week for $20 an hour. I can do whatever I want while I sit - read, surf the Internet, write e-mails, even blog! With a laptop and the wireless network, it's better than Starbucks!

I LOVE my 7th graders!

It's still dark out!

So I remembered to turn my clocks back for Daylight Savings time. The problem is that when I wake up in the morning, it's still DARK. So my body says "Hey! Don't get up yet. That's just not natural." (How quickly my body forgot about all those early morning marathon training runs at the Oh-Dark hundred!) So this morning, I was late for school because I just couldn't convince myself that it was REALLY time to get up.

When I was in middle school, my dad would walk me up by opening my bedroom door and turning on the light. I learned very quickly how to sleep with the lights on.

I wonder if the two are related?

Soap vs. spotlight

Would you rather....

leave a trail of soap suds wherever you go 60% 3 votes
have an intense spotlight shining on you at all times 40% 2 votes

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It was a close one this week, folks. Thanks for voting!

The Old Man and the Sea

I took my 8th grade band to Key West last weekend for fun and to play at our concert band festival. One of the kids told me "Can we go to the Hemingway House? There's a picture of my grandfather's brother in it."

I'm thinking - ok, his uncle is probably in the background of some crowd photo or was driving the boat during a fishing excursion. Instead, we get there and there is a HUGE full color painting of Hemingway and "uncle" Gregorio Fuentes." Also known as "The Old Man" Santiago from Hemingway's book "The Old Man and the Sea." Seems Ernest and Gregorio were old fishing buddies in Cuba, and Gregorio was the model for the book.

The kid had NO clue what a big deal that was!

The Family Homestead is no more!

So my mom decided to sell the house I grew up in. It's a 4 bed/2 bath with 2 garages (a 2 car attached and a 4 car detached) on 4.3 acres (wooded and on a river) in northern Illinois. It sold in less than 2 weeks for the full asking price of $189K. WHAT A BARGAIN! Friends told me I should have jumped on it. Too bad I have NO desire to move back there!

Caffeine is our friend!

Would you rather fight to the death...

Votes
100 cups of coffee 20% 1 vote
30 watermelons 80% 4 votes

5 votes total
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I agree.....although both would kick your butt if you ingested them.

Where I've been....

Ok, nowhere exciting. I know, I know....it's been over a week since my last post, and a LOT longer than that since my last MEANINGFUL one. Get over it. It's "Festival Season" in the band geek world and I've been up to my ears with prep work and crazy stuff. Last weekend I took my 8th grade band to Key West for concert band festival. We had tons of fun, but their performance was not that great. Oh, well...time to try something new. Perhaps a career in the fine world of refuse management.

Cleared a big hurdle on the convention plans this week, too AND I didn't quit. I thought about it a squillion times and came REALLY close. But the convention host heard I was getting frustrated and kissed some MAJOR butt last night to get me to stay on.

Got back to running again this week. D inspired me with his 30+ pound loss. I'd like to lose about 13 of my own before spring break. Of course, then it's off to San Fran with the 8th graders, Lamburrito and the gang and the food fest we always experience. YUMMY!

Since the end of the grading period is next week, I'm winding down the school year. That means summer vacation plans are in the works. I'm looking at airfare and options regularly so I can have another 6 week world tour. I'll keep you posted on that one.

note from a 6th grader

note from a 6th grade student on his practice chart today:

30 minutes of the worst sound ever, like the suffocation of a cat. So I took a hammer and unbent my slipping ligature.

When Fortune Smiles Upon You

We had stir-fry for lunch at school yesterday. (The egg rolls were ESPECIALLY delectable!) The best part is the big box of fortune cookies. I've always found it entertaining to add the words "in bed" to the end of any fortune, hoping that when my fortune DOES become to reality (as it ALWAYS does! LOL) it will have a little extra spark.

Yesterdays fortune: A feather in the hand is better than a bird in the air. (in bed)

Translation: Kinky sex is ALWAYS better than a lover flipping you off as he leaves the bedroom.

Sorry. It's the best I could do.

NY, NY

So it's official. I booked my April trip to NY to see Mer and D perform at Carnegie with their church choir. Lamburrito is going with me, since he's got a camp reunion there that same weekend. WHEEE...

and of course, in true Bing luck fashion, I booked the flight last night and then got the choir schedule today. I need a later flight! On today's agenda: change the flight. LOL! Oh, well....I'm still SO excited. I'm going to need a vacation by then.

My day

Enough said?

Pickles and mayo

Would you rather....

be stoned to death with pickles? 100% 3 votes
be submerged in mayonnaise until you suffocated? 0% 0
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I think it depends actually. Are the pickles kosher or bread and butter?

Not a lot of votes this week. I'm thinking everyone is pretty busy these days!

What NOT to give for VD

The 10 Most Spectacularly Awful Gifts You Can Give Your Girlfriend for Valentine's Day
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
By C. Spencer Beggs

Glow-in-the-Dark Lingerie
Remote-Controlled Wind-Breaking Teddy Bear
Stripper Pole
Ridiculous Footwear
Naming a Star After Her
A Knockoff Handbag
Taser C2
A Four-Course Meal at White Castle
Chocolate Gone Wrong
A Wedding Ring

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Then there's MY personal favorite: Buy your wife ONE Pez dispenser and while she's happily playing with it, ecstatic over your thoughtfulness, tell her you couldn't decide between the pink one and the red one. She'll LOVE the fact that you didn't spring for the extra $1.99 and get BOTH!

Meet my daughter Latte

Would you rather...

name your children after symptoms relieved by NyQuil (Stuffy head, Sneezing) 0%
after Starbucks orders (Double Decaf, Mocha Frap) 100%
5 votes total

Thanks for the D+

got this e-mail from a parent today...I chuckled!

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Jay told me about his D+. Good for you. AND good for him. Only way to learn consequences is to get a real feel.. That D+ worked. I got to listen to clarinet all weekend..

Late thanks are better than no thanks!

Got this e-mail from a retired band director today...it made me smile!

I just wanted you to know that I never appreciated the work you did getting the solos scheduled and out to the directors in a very timely fashion. I am accompanying solos again for Carmen Williams at Fairview Middle. Evaluation is Friday and Saturday and the schedules have just gotten out. I would be upset if I was still teaching. But, we never had to worry about because of all your hard work.

A belated thank you!

The Hidden Poet

A student walked into my room today and saw a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "The reward of a thing well done is having done it." His response? "Is that the same guy from the 'Where's Waldo' books?"

Middle School ROCKS!

You smell MAHvelous!

Would you rather have....
raspberry scented B.O. 86% 6 Votes
perfectly cubed feces 14% 1 Vote

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Wouldn't you rather that EVERYONE did?

Hit me!

I judge another band Solo/ensemble festival last weekend. It's always fun because I get to work with students I've never met and help them learn new things. This weekend was a BIT questionable, however. Because I'm on the state judges list for Woodwinds, Brass AND percussion, I got to be the judge who heard a little bit of everything. Normally not a big deal, but the percussion judges rooms were packed tight, so I got the percussion overflow. Only, because there was no percussion equipment in my room, that meant I got all the snare drum solos. For 5 solid hours. It sounded something like this:

ratatatatatatatatatatatatfrrrrapBAMatatatatatadiddlediddleflamflamFLAMtatatatatatFRAPFRAPtatatatatdiddlediddleatatat...

I guess you had to be there.

I hit a nerve!

Evidently, I hit a nerve with Down The Drain. JL has posted his response there for you to read.

I'm just going to leave it at that and move on.