argh.

it's november. the end of november. how do you forget that wednesdays are your carpool days? i just waited an extra 45 minutes at school because "i'm always in a bad mood" kid's mom forgot to pick up her carpool of kids. i guess this makes up for monday, when i left before all the kids were gone and it turned out that the buses didn't come so teachers took kids home...

so i went shopping on black friday. usually i don't do that because i hate crowds and i hate traffic. but v was driving, and the outlets were opening at midnight...how could i pass up the adventure? it was insane. i've never seen the outlets so crowded. deals were good, but it was barely worth the 20-30 minute wait in line to buy something. the highlight of my night was the candy store, where the line wasn't quite as long. that candy made the rest of my waiting easier :) i was pretty surprised that people had their little kids out (in strollers) in the middle of the night like that. anything for a sale i guess. traffic was backed up for miles at 3:30 in the morning. and it took us 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot. thankfully i was asleep for most of that...

i definitely have a story about school, but i can't remember at all right now. i think i need some sleep.

"flow like me"

So they're filming a movie in my neighborhood! Actually it's the next street over, but they were also across the street from the school yesterday and today. And there are some famous people in it, like Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker. Weird.

The chapter challenge for the 8th graders this chapter was to write a skit, draw a comic or write/perform a song/dance. I added the last one because I knew some of the girls would like it...and I need to share what one of them wrote for her part of the song/rap because it is pretty amazing...

Liquid, liquid, that's who I be
no definite shape, I flow like the sea
you can pour me in a bottle or pour me in a vase
or even into a glass, I'll take its shape

When my thermal energy is decreasing
I change from liquid to solid, that's called freezing
When you turn the stove on and put me on a hot plate
I turn from liquid to gas or I simply evaporate

When the temperature goes up the molecules get fast
and make more room for each other so they can get past
when the temperature goes doewn the molecules get slow
and get closer together so there's no place to go

my molecules are close as can be
but move around each other, so they're pretty much free
I have another word, it's viscosity
when some of my liquid don't wanna flow like me

I have a definite volume and I can have mass
Now I'm gonna pass the mike over to my homegirl, Gas.


They were super cute :)

The other day I also practically convinced one of my students that I had a key to Walmart... One of the keys on my keychain was made at Walmart...thus it says Walmart on it.
"Miss Book! You have a key to Walmart?!?!"
"Of course, my dad owns it."
"Really!!?!?"

I really should have kept that one going longer than I did...

Jomei and Chengjou are here to visit Melissa's yarn barn (so she can make a hat for him), and to eat chicken burrito bake (mmmmmmm...) and later we are going ice skating!! It is a late skate. and only for big kids... 18 and up...
"which i hope doesn't mean ho's on ice..."

Welp. Should write this physics test for tomorrow. Thanksgiving is in two days! Last week I was like...how is Thanksgiving already next week?!? I am excited...I like food. A lot.

on famous scientists and contact lenses

Today we were talking about liquids and solids in 8th grade science. Favorite Student, in answer to one of my many questions, made some ridiculous claim about solids not having a definite shape, and when I asked him how he knew that he told me that Ben Franklin told him. Then he was like..."no wait, it was Frankenstein, Frankenstein told me." When I still looked at him funny, he was like, "you know that scientist...Boy With Girl's Name, what's his name?" Boy With Girl's Name was like, "ummm, Einstein?"
"Yeah! That's him! Einstein told me."

That's almost as good as the time the school counselor asked a girl where she got the definition for a word and the girl claimed that she looked it up. Looked it up where? In my brain.

I'm also rather heated right now concerning the contact lenses I left at the hotel in New York last weekend. When I FINALLY was able to talk to the manager (housekeeping wouldn't answer their phone...when I finally talked to someone they told me they had my contacts but couldn't send them...), she told me she would send them. She asked how I wanted her to send them and I was like...ummm...well, I guess you'd need a padded envelope, do you want me to send one with postage? She was like, oh no, we can take care of that, it's just that some people prefer FedEx or First Class...I told her that regular post was fine. Apparently she had never sent anything in the mail before, nor does she have any clue how the US postal system works. She sent my contacts in a standard envelope. I recieved a wrinkled torn envelope in a plastic bag with a note of apology from the postal service. She is going to get a piece of my mind tomorrow. At least I have vision insurance. I guess I'll be going to the eye doctor this week.

a reminder

"miss book, you're skinny"

ummmm...thank you?

and thus, another day with the 8th graders begins...


Nothing too awfully exciting happened today. As usual, conversation in the teacher's lounge scarred me for life...kids made me laugh...I got hugs from at least three students...I asked what the units for acceleration were and someone told me seconds...


I'm down to ten students in my physics class. One of them was asked to leave the school. It sort of sucks, but there was no other choice. He was a hard kid...one of the ones who has faced more challenges in his life than I can even fathom...one of the kids who's street smart...and may end up there. He'd been given chance after chance to apply himself and do the work he was being asked to do, and warning after warning...until the ultimatum came: pass everything by the end of the term, or you're gone. And he failed three. It makes me angry...that he wouldn't just do the work...but I guess there's only so much hand holding we can do until it becomes enabling...and ineffective. It sort of makes me sick to think about it.


And I tend to forget that I live in the city...and what that means. Like picking up the neighborhood newspaper and reading the crime blotter...and realizing that two of the prostitution charges were at the corner where the school is. Welcome to the real world.




i wish i knew why the formatting is crappy. it makes me mad.

Amen for NYC...

Brother, you know you're in NYC
too busy
too crazy
too hot
too cold
too late
i'm sold
again
on NYC

If you can name that tune you get a dollar.  Not a real dollar of course, a virtual dollar, but really, it's the principle of the thing.  And yes, I was in New York for the weekend.  My experience within the city limits included LaGuardia Airport where my flight landed at 10pm, crossing a big bridge whose name i can't remember, but it cost four and a half freakin' dollars to cross it, and then we took a picture of Yankee stadium from the window of the moving car.  Then on Sunday we crossed the George Washingtom Bridge and saw the city from a distance.  The End.

Don't get me wrong, the weekend was tons of fun, we just didn't see the city, but that's okay, because we weren't really there for that.  I included the above lyrics because of the "too busy, too crazy" line.  Holy. Cow.  People in New York are rude and impatient.  I believe that cars were equipped with horns to warn fellow motorists of danger or to get someone's attention so that you can give them a friendly wave.  They were not meant to be used whenever you feel like someone has treated you unfairly by making you go the speed limit or hestitate at a green light.  It seems like everyone is in a hurry and there is very little grace.  Driving there would require that I take some drugs to control my blood pressure.

Anyways, we were really there for a wedding, which was beautiful.  And the reception was one of the most fun I've ever been to.  First of all, the food was amazing...I ate at least 10 different kinds of hors d'ourvres, a piece of filet mignon as big as my face, and my weight in cookies, cake and ice cream.  It was amazing.  As Carrie described it, "I went to the bathroom and pulled down my control top pantyhose...and my stomach just about hit the stall door."

The DJ was great too.  Actually there were two of them, one of them sang and came out on the dance floor to teach us some different dances, including the cha cha and some salsa.  He was pretty much the best DJ I've ever experienced, very high energy.  wow.  So we danced a lot too, like while we were waiting for our food to come out, which was good because it made the time pass more quickly.

And I got to see all of my cousins, okay, many of my cousins, who I don't see very often since we're all over the place in college/working.  We all sat at the "kids' table" (where the average age was about 21), which means that the conversation crossed the line into the inappropriate-dinnertime-conversation area numerous times in the course of the evening.  Good times.  :)  I like them.

And thus, another cousin is married...