Currently Reading Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury see related

So, April, yeah?  Not a whole lotta time for the xanga.  I think, though, that I'll be moving the blogging (such as it is) to the myspace.  Of course, it will have to be a lot less revealing, since I have quite a large student populace as my friends.  To compensate, I'm going to try writing a journal by hand.  I know, what a novel concept.  But, seeing as I haven't managed to do that on a regular basis since I was 15, I doubt it will be very consistent or even plausible. 

Well, what has happened since April?  I'll give it a go.  (Note:  since visiting London and being immersed in the Harry Potter Zone for the last two months, I have inexplicably been using British phrases that, heretofore, have never been uttered my me.  My current overused British word is 'fussed' used in place of 'worried.')  Kim and I sailed international air in our whirlwind European vacation in which we saw Dan Radcliffe drop trou, young British lads argue over the characteristics of baby ravens, endured a three-hour train ride with slightly-snooty French girls who really liked Pringles, been accosted by gypsies, learned that Italian time is significantly more flexible than American, Rome's subway is ridiculous, and that Athens is the place to buy bottled water and its humidity rivals that of southeast Oklahoma.  Add the journey home from "Travelers Worst Nightmares" and all in all, it was a memorable trip.

After that, I've been attending AP workshops and reading Harry Potter.  That 7th book.  Wow.  What a doozy.  There were several times that I had to put it down and walk away from it for a while (I even considered putting it in the freezer) before I could muster up the courage to let curiosity lead instead of dread.  It was a very satisfying and exciting end to a series, and all I could do afterwards is marvel at Jo Rowling's immense imagination.  Then I read it again.

The AP workshops were very valuable as I found out what I should have been doing last year.  Eh, oh well.  Now I can move forward and have the Best Year Ever!  I've got two weeks before school starts to sort everything out and put it in order.  Shouldn't be too difficult.  mmmmmm

My birthday is Sunday; a fact that didn't occur to me until I was last talking to Kim.  Have I gotten so old that birthdays are now just another day?  Meh, probably.  As it is, it will just be another day with the fam.  At least there'll be cake.

Currently Reading The High Window By Raymond Chandler see related

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

Yesterday was the anniversary of the Murrah bombing.  There's also been another mass murder to take place in the U.S. this week.  I wonder why people go off the deep end in April?  Other than the fact that things like this shouldn't happen, I can't help but think why choose to do it in the spring, a time of renewal, rebirth, new beginnings, and all that.  Just another sign of the times, I suppose.

On that uplifting note, I bought an iPod today.  A fancy one, too, with video capabilities and it's supposed to have a brighter screen that the previous generation, whatever that means.  So, this means I am officially broke.  I don't know what I'm going to use for money in Europe.  Meh, I'll make do.  At least I'll have my iPod so I can be entertained!

I miss having all my students in class on the same days.  It makes things a lot easier when they are.  As it is, I'm pretty frustrated, and I know they are too.  Note to self: don't ever plan a film unit in April again.  I also need to find a way to curb the propensity for bad language that *most* feel is perfectly acceptable to use in an academic setting.  I come home in a bad mood every day from hearing it.  It seriously stresses me out.  This does not bode well during grading time.

So I was watching Grey's Anatomy tonight and realized that I really didn't care about what was going on.  But will I still watch?  Of course.  I'm too involved now to just make a clean break of it.  I feel the same way about Gilmore Girls and I wish Veronica Mars would find the rhythm it had in the first season.  It's pretty sad when the most engrossing thing I watch is Top Model with Tyra randomly hopping around in a kangaroo suit.  At least I think it was a kangaroo suit.  Could have been a chipmunk.  Man, my life is sad.

I've recently been on this crime novel kick, reading lots of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.  Hammett may have The Maltese Falcon, but I think I'll take Chandler's ascerbic prose and wit any day of the week.  It's fabulous, even when I have no idea what it is he's alluding to.

Spring Break...

...can't come soon enough.  Oh good Lord, please just let the grading be over!  I have got to get that software that averages grades for me!

Euro trip 2007 (the clean version)

Hey, I'm leaving the country!

But only for a couple of weeks.  Kim and I finally got our travel plans sorted out, and we ordered plane tickets and hotel rooms for the two weeks I'll be joining her.  She's staying later to take a class in Crete.  Anyhoo, we're first going to London, where we will be seeing Equus in the West End.  Yes, Equus.  The play where Harry Potter, um, bares all.  Then it's off to Paris to visit the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and the Latin Quarter, not to mention some rude Parisians.  I can't wait.  Then we're spending a day in Geneva (that just sounds wrong) before heading to Florence.  After indulging in the Renaissance we're off to Rome for a couple of days.  When that gets too touristy/expensive we'll fly to Athens for the last weekend, and then I will fly home while Kim goes on to Crete.  I'm so freakin' excited and trying really hard not to dwell on how expensive it's going to be.  Well, you only live once, right?

Currently Reading Freddy and Fredericka By Mark Helprin see related

Allergies...discuss

My nose is being attacked by imaginary little fleas with feathers.  Man, I can create an image, can't I?

Welp, it's almost March.  February went by a heckuva lot faster than January.  I've had more time to read for myself lately since my students have been doing composition and poetry stuff mostly, so I've been working my way through the "yet to read" pile (which keeps getting bigger every time I venture to OKC and/or look at Amazon.com).  I should have know I would start blowing my play money on books now that I have more of an income.  Right now I'm working on Freddy and Fredericka, a thinly veiled fictionalization of Charles and Diana in which Di resembles a Beauty on Beauty and the Geek.  Up next is The Time Traveler's Wife and The Memory Keeper's Daughter, both of which I'm very excited about and the fact that they're both about a female relative is just a coincidence.

In other news, the students are driving me crazy.  I'm about to get mean.  Like "sit down, shut up, and don't you dare come to class unprepared anymore or I'll kick you in the face" mean.  Since when is it cool for pre-AP students to not do anything which is asked of them to do for class?  I'm sorry, they made the choice to be there, and they are fully aware of the responsibilites of the class, so why is there some sort of competition about who can do the least amount of schoolwork?  I don't get it, and it's really hacking me off.  And if I hear one more curse word come out of the seniors' mouths, I'm kicking them out.  Yes, I can do that; it's in the school handbook.  AARRGGGHHHHHH!!!  I feel like Charlie Brown when he is never allowed to kick the football.

Thanks for the rant.  Soon it will be Spring Break, and maybe I'll calm down.  Then, school will be out and I'm off to Europe for a couple of weeks!  Then I get to spend a couple of weeks of July in Tulsa at the AP institutes (because Lord knows I'm not going to Norman).  And who knows what else?  So, there's a very dim light ahead, just gotta make it through the tunnel.