Monday, May 31, 2010

Q&A

Q:  Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
A:  Yes, yes you shall!



harharharhar *chortle*

Saturday, May 29, 2010

prepping for poetry unit...

is a bad idea if you're doing it at night.

reading poetry at night just makes me read and read and read and not prepare anything.  ...

not that i super read or anything, i just let myself graze and skim... and appreciate!   waHOO  sign off GO HOME do this in the MORNING when i'm SANE!

the beginnings of a brownnoser

..a  result i got from a free-write assignment of "Write about a quest you accomplished or are trying to accomplish."


"Since I was in the first grade, teachers have always found me very annoying and obnoxious.  I always get in trouble with my teacher.  Now since I have met miss Kim and seen how nice and wonderful she is, I have been trying to stay out of trouble and be obediant.  This is still a quest I am doing since I still get in trouble with her and make her angry.  I hope that one day I can become a good student and be favored by all the teachers."

spelling and grammar intact

(he's a rather smart(aleck) student... and has no trouble with English.  thus non-A's make no sense)

... uh what did i just do.......

i just signed up for a half marathon on October 31
and a tri-for-fun on July 17.


I'm looking forward to the Tri, but seriously, what was I thinking.

What was I thinking..

Now that I realize there's a no-refund policy and I just shelled over $60 for a shirt and 13.1 miles, I feel dumb and lame and.. i really hate running.

limericks from my 7th grade class

teaching fail #1
most of my 8th graders wrote a thank you note to our principal... and wrote "Principle"  -_-

teaching fail #2 
I taught the limerick.
I had them write their own limerick.


Here are a few examples


the best one:
There was a young man named Nick
Who likes to eat and play rick
A man kick he's neck
He replied "What the heck"
And the man got puch by Nick.
(b/c he understood the rhyme)



More typical:
There was a cute girl called Leta
who really likes to eat banana
Leta said "I want more"
Mommy said "There's no more"
She cried and ran to her papa

There once was a girl named Lyla
Who sat around a fiya
Her dress started to burn
So she got up and turned
And ran right into wata
(to be fair, H.G. Wells's limerick also had some made up words)


And because it's late, i'll close with this gem (the inspiration to this blog post)

Vomit are yellow,
and so do marshmellows
So if their breeze
So there are breeze
I like yellow.

And HELLO Saturday.

Friday, May 28, 2010

in my head versus really

whenever i see "chick-fil-A"
I think "chickafila"   really.  i do.

whenever people said stuff like, "I can't wait to eat Chick Fil-A" (coworker), I think in my head, "Chick filet."

Today I put 2 and 2 together..

the weird thing is though when i hear "chick fil-a" i know people mean "chick fil-a" but when i read it to myself i think "chickafila" and when people say "chick fil-a" i think "chick filet."

did i just totally repeat myself?


YES.  but this.. hmm.  THIS BLOG POST HAD A SEMI-CHIASTIC STRUCTURE,  yes?  yes???

Thursday, May 27, 2010

reading reading lolita in tehran

so i'm sad as i near the end of the book (isn't that always delicious, regretting the end, but having to have a go at it anyway because you can't leave it unfinished?  like life should be, no?)

reading about it makes me care more about Iran.  Now, whenever I hear about news related with Iran, I think of the book and what I learned through that.  Books are powerful.

On that note, do I like the smell of old books?  It always icks me out.  I always try to smell it to see if it has that spicy old musty smell laden with secrets... but really, it's just nasty.  old dust.  being handled.  .. i think books have B.O.


Lastly: I'm excited to try my hand at Henry James and mayyybe give Nabakov another chance in Pale Fire.  (Heck no am i reading Lolita again.  no matter WHAT concessions she made about the sickness of the ordeal and how it's about this abuse of power etc etc... that subject material is le nasty)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

will it always be like this?

I had a random, frivolous conversation with a student today about Lady Gaga.
I think he was just trying to stall class, but at the end, he told me I should be an artist.  I told him to sit down and get ready for class.

I'm reading Reading Lolita in Tehran and it's been awesome in many ways.

1) Learning about Iran (and the start of its Islamic government; something I never knew about)
2) Just.. reading her.  and her take on literature.  it's this mix between literary criticism and a class, and I enjoy hearing what she says about literature, and experiencing the power of stories.  I like it.
3) I'm shocked that someone can write stuff like that and people will read it... (okay this was incredibly vague but steeeelll!)

I sometimes think of "great things."  Sometimes I want to just becoming a professor.  Sometimes I want to be a painter.  Sometimes I wish I had taken up swing dancing in college and become a mad hot ballroom-esque dancer.  Sometimes i wonder what it would be like to be a real artist.  I really enjoy teaching.  You get to wear many hats, and.. in a small sad way, encourage others to pursue what you didn't.  And make a difference.

Why am I talking about this?

I don't remember.

DANG IT.

THERE WAS A POINT TO THIS THERE REALLY WAS. ARGH!

Monday, May 24, 2010

how not to diet

warm up: buy a new pair of nike running shoes b/c your old ones WORE OUT! (yeah from running!)

1) bake reward brownies  for the 7th graders
2) run upstairs and grab a good book
3) open the freezer and take out your favorite ice cream
4) dump end pieces into the carton and curl up on the blue couch
5) promise yourself that you'll go running at 9pm.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

ugh - woman finds head in blue ikea bag. lovely

She said: "It didn't look like it had been there a long time. Being an inquisitive person I wanted to find out what it was.

"I tried to open out the bag with my gloves on and look inside .

"I opened the bag and I think I saw hair. The hair had a dyed look and an old look about it. The dye was certainly not something that was done recently. It was red.

"I work with wigs a lot and it didn't feel new.

"I felt a bit shaken and had to go back to the house.

"I hadn't noticed the smell at first, but when I got home the smell on my gloves was really overpowering."

Ms Anderson went home and returned to the scene with her partner, civil engineer Jem Kitchen, 47, who contacted the police.




Okay, what the hay.
who the hECK does that? She saw a suspicious blue back and picked it up. (okay, not that bad). She sees hair. (errm). she doesn't notice the smell til later?! SHE TAKES IT HOME WITH HER? her PARTNER CONTACTS THE POLICE only AFTER returning to the scene? What the.. WEIRDO

Monday, May 17, 2010

ragini

it´s cute to see that scab on your knee, right under your hand in which you cradle the newest electronic gadget.
it´s cute to see your intent gaze, behind those crookedly perched glasses, devoid of the skeptical, guarded trying-too-hard-to-be-adult.
it's cute to see the loose hair with that faint frizz, escaping the confines of that expensive straight perm you convinced your mom to give you, just so you could look sixteen.
it's cute to see that little scab on your knee; i wonder where it came from.
sports? falling? or maybe tripping on the stairs on your way to 8th grade homeroom.

grace used to live under a rock.

that's just something that i just said

is has nothing to do with what i'm about to do

just some links
because i don't know where else to put them
and i don't want to forget just yet


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8682558.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8677637.stm

Question

In 8th grade reading, we're reading "The Arrow and the Lamp."

It's a retelling of the story of Psyche and Cupid.

I remembered that story from reading Greek myths when I was little.
I then retouched upon it when i read The Golden Ass Spring semester 2008 and then again during the summer of 2008. That's when DChoe suggested that I read Till We Have Faces, and Leona heartily agreed. I fell in LOVE with that book.

I love coming back to it (this year's 7th graders read "The Enchanted Palace" and "The Trial of Psyche") and now I'm reading it again as "The Arrow and the Lamp."

The 8th graders asked me this on Friday: "How come Cupid doesn't let Psyche see him?"

I had no clue.

I guess it was this idea of trust, testing, etc etc.. but really, WHY does Cupid not let Psyche see his face?

No internet sources answer this.

Was it just to keep the story going? No. That is not satisfactory.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Ooh! A phrase I like!

"To put it anachronistically..."

I knew what "anachronistic" meant (thank you Kaplan), but I never really knew where to use it. I think this phrase is great for trying to explain something to someone ... like the example below:

"To put it anachronistically, they wielded, all by themselves, executive, legislative, and judicial authority. " (talking about ancient Kings of Israel).

Cool huh?

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Justice is what love looks like in public.

Ministries of Mercy - TKeller
Half the Sky -NKristof


randomly bought Reading Lolita in Tehran at a used bookstore in TW for ~$4. Starting that now.

prospective ideas

-education program
-adult literacy program
-foster homes program

derneedernderndern KNOW~!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Will life ever change for children like Mohammed? Can it?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8549756.stm
This is an article about a boy named Mohammed who is 11 years old and sells cigarettes for $2/day. His mother is sick and his father is a poor rickshaw driver. Mohammed weaves in and out of traffic, avoiding cars, to sell cigarettes... hopefully avoiding those who'll want to take a cigarette without paying or who would hit him because they disagree about the price.
he doesn't go to school.

Dhaka UN Development Programme spokesman Sakil Faizullah says that most working children cannot afford the time to attend regular schooling.
"Because these girls and boys do not have access to education, they become trapped in low-skilled, low-income jobs, which further push them into the vicious cycle of inter-generational poverty," he said.
"Many occupations involve working in hazardous conditions that endanger the child's physical or mental health and moral development."


how can i actively care?


Just got back from the Women/Children's shelter. makes me think. makes me discouraged. makes me tired. makes me grateful. makes me think.

one of those days

it's amazing how nice i am to these grinning buffoons.
I look at them and I think, wow, you're not funny or cute.. and I'm RIGHT in front of you. what makes you think that I can't hear you?

like, i didn't yell. i just stared. i sometimes glared. i enunciated.
but i didn't like.. i don't know, try to tear them down with cutting remarks and then yell for my mom.

i just want to go home for today and send in a teacher... or do what Miss Nelson did and bring back Ms. Viola Swamp. But then again, I wasn't a Miss Nelson to begin with.

Anyway, I'm just amazed at how NICE i am because I sure was never this nice or patient to my brother and sister.

But yeah, today was just.. bad enough that I just grabbed a niuroumian bowl of watermelon (instead of the customary small fruit bowls) and came into my office to prep for the next class.

Staved off the desire to assign another essay out of spite.
Never act out of spite.

gahhhhh

Monday, May 10, 2010

"her voice had a peculiarly engaging quality; it was deep, a little husky, and one always heard the breath vibrating behind it. Everything she said seemed to come right out of her heart."

My Antonia.

yummy book so far.

I'm always fond of husky-voiced heroines.
After a while the sing song, clear-belled tones get old and maybe even a little ridiculous when you listen to snow white's mindless prattle.



i forget who else.

Lewis Carroll invented the word "Chortle"

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Friday, May 7, 2010

a sign that i need a vacation

A speech I want to give on Monday:

If YOU'RE gonna keep on turning in this CRAP and call it WORK and waste MY time with grading your HALF-hearted LACKadaisical TOE scratchings.. then don't even BOTHER turning it in. I WON'T GRADE IT.


ROOOARRRRRRRRR

Conferences

Every year I'm more and more inclined to attend Resolved.

Every year, I decide not to and explain why, which then reminds me of why I dislike mass Christian conferences.

I remember going to large conferences ever since I was a kid.  (You know that stereotype where "if you're a pastor's kid, your vacations are planned around retreats and conferences"?  yeah, that was true).  And since my dad was doing college ministry, my siblings and I were the only children there so when we got older, us three would go by ourselves to the "youth" portions.  Always super awkward.  Always super annoying.  I remember being shoved out of the way by other azian christian kids as they screamed to David Crowder Band or whoever was leading praise.  I'm not saying I was so righteous or anything, but I felt like it was extremely hypocritical to push someone away just so you could "praise God."  Then I'd remember walking home with my family and college students and seeing youth kids smoking or doing whatevers outside the building.

The adults weren't much better either.. running up to the front, saving seats, etc etc etc.  It was annoying.  I'd be tired.  We'd go to Disney World on the last day and someone would get lost.  We'd come home tired and sweaty.  Maybe with an extra speeding ticket. 


I didn't like standing in line for autographs (even though it was cool when I got one), I didn't like big long lines period.. and I guess I still don't like conferences.  I don't see the point.  There's the temptation to "over praise" just because you're in an area where everyone else is.. there's the feelings of annoyances as people bump into you, as tempers flare, or as you suppress things, there's the rush.. and apparently, it's not much different at Resolved.  People still come 2 hours early, people still cut in line, etc etc.   And I guess I don't think I'm ready for that. 

Plus, you can listen for free online. 

I mean there WERE good experiences.  There was much group prayer, I LIKED the skits, I liked getting a new t-shirt, I liked hearing different people sing, I liked hearing testimonies, I liked crowding into a hotel room while my dad made ramen with random hotel amenities (like a coffee maker and bathroom cups)..  I liked road trips, I liked all that... and maybe I'm being bitter .. but I just don't like seeing people, Christians especially, say one thing, worship one thing, but then with their actions appear really rude and shovey.

I mean i hear good things though. Mainly good things.  I guess what i'd miss would be hanging out with people, and I HEAR amazing things about what it feels like to worship God with a stadium full of people.  That sounds cool.  But for now, I'll just worship in smaller settings and listen through my ipod afterwards. 

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A Teacher's Joy

There is a boy named Casey
He's really very smart
He can get bored and spacey
His pranks are quite an art.
He snoozes and chews gum
Even though it's not allowed.
He grins and always obliges
When told to "swallow or spit it out."
He can get infuriating.
Especially when he won't do what he's told.
But to this student Casey,
Today I compose an ode.
Casey, your test just made my day.
You wrote complete answers.
Your thoughts earned you an A!
Casey you've come quite a ways.
Since your previous half-hearted achievements.



*Either I'm really dedicated or I've just tipped off my cliff of sanity.

email from Kaufman

"Those options all sound great; you can't go wrong with any of them!  And don't be wary of plunging right into to something you haven't encountered previously; that's what these kind of programs exist for.

Congratulations; and enjoy!"


That's RIGHT.

"That's what these kind of programs exist for..... enjoy!"

I was getting too calculative and tense.