Sunday, October 26, 2008

7 weeks and counting

Wow. Seven more weeks of teaching to go. 35 working days (or something close to that). I know, I know, I should be saying things like "I love waking up everyday and doing this", but the truth is, it is cutting into my writing books, and reviewing others. I spent about 2 hours in Barnes and Noble yesterday, and thankfully I didn't go nuts on buying books like I normally do. It's funny, I'll buy about 8 books a month, and read about 3. So needless to say, I have a stack sitting in my corner that are begging to be indulged in.
I wish I had some cool picture to go along with this blog, but I don't...sorry.
And Mike Boo got me stuck on a song--Hanging on the Telephone. That song has been stuck in my head for about 2 days straight now.......
There is a wacky thing going on at the Minnesota Zoo in about a month. A wine and walk tour. It happens after hours, where people donate money to the Zoo fund, and walk around after hours drinking varieties of wine and eating strange finger-food. I'm sort of thinking about doing it, but I'm not sure if wine and Gabon doo go hand-in-hand.......
The first snowfall of the year happened today. Barely a week ago I was bragging about the beautiful weather, and BAM! snow flurries all day. Well, what can you do? As long as Friday stays semi-warm and nice.
Well, that's it for my sidenote-of-a-blog today. It's off to read papers from 11th graders that can't phrase the words "going to do". Instead, it's "dey gon do that"......*sigh* these kids will be taking care of us in about 60 years.........

Friday, October 17, 2008

See you next fall


There's something in the air these days around Minneapolis. No, it's not the smell of disappointment (i.e. the Vikings), but it is a very crisp, and distinctive smell. It's that of the seasons changing. The fall in Minneapolis is one of the best times of the year--anywhere in the world.

But fall reminds me of a Sunday. Sure you get the day off, but deep in the back of your head, you know what's around the corner--Monday. Just like Fall, we know that Winter is lurking around the bend. C'mone, how many of us were out trick-or-treating when the Halloween Blizzard hit?? That's basically in two weeks.


Yeah, we went from beautiful Autumn leaves to 3 feet of snow in about 12 hours.....And we still love living here.


I think I was dressed up like an X-man or something, but I came home with 6 inches of snow in my hoodie. What a disappointment for a kid out looking to score free candy.


I REALLY like MEA weekend. 2 days of no school is almost like a mini-vacation!


I do need to find more time to work on the books. I also have the proposition to help write a history textbook. I know it's not as cool as my short stories and horribly edited debut book, but it's published writing none-the-less. We would be comparing historical recollections from different periods of time. Like (for example) how did we write about the American Revolution in 1800? 1925? 1970? and in 2008? The tellings are vastly different.


Once school is over I will be posting all kinds of random stories from hormonal high school kids. I think by law though, I can't really talk about it while I'm student teaching there though......And the names will have to be changed.


Once that snow starts, I can pretty much put the bike away...No peddling for 7 months....*sigh*


Well, that's all I got. It's off to find some wine. Oddly enough, I've been enjoying it more and more since I've been teaching. If we remember the Godfather--"I like to drink wine more than I used to" -Don Corleone.
I should go rake some leaves, just so I can jump in them. We really should partake in child-like activities from time to time. Well, some of them anyway.....

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Guess I'm back


Well, sort of. Free time is a thing of the past these days. But I have been tied up with all the duties involved in teaching higher education to kids who could care less.

On the side, I do have a ton of notes I've been keeping so I can write about them after December 17th.

I am off to see Religulous today. Hopefully its as funny as it looks.

Other then that, I don't have much. Keep those noses clean.

-JB