bits and pieces

a quick update for the katies of the world:

- finals: three down, three to go. so far they went ok. i have no idea how the kengor one went, but i don't really care at this point. i have early modern europe and issues in education on monday, and then social problems on tuesday night. if i actually focus and get work done, they should not be too bad. if i continue the trend of last night (blowing off studying to go to kings) and tonight (blowing off studying to watch arrested development/sit around doing nothing), they will not go well. let's hope i can motivate myself to dive into the wonderful world of enlightenment thinkers and teacher tenure.

- met my co-ops last week. i think i'm going to get along with them. one just had a baby, and she warned me that she'll probably be pretty out of it the whole time because she's sleep deprived. that should be interesting. i'm teaching almost entirely 8th and 9th grade US history. the first half of the semester (8th graders) will be hard, because i maintain that it is damn near impossible to make topics such as "forming the national bank" and "martin van buren" interesting. let's be honest, the only person who wants to know about millard fillmore is dr. harp. i figure i'll just talk a lot about the war of 1812 and the oregon trail. i'm really looking forward to the second half of the semester. i'm teaching my one 8th grade class about the civil war, and my four classes of 9th graders will be doing world war ii (yay!), the 40s and 50s, the korean war, and the civil rights movement. could that possibly be more perfect for me? i don't think so. the other class i teach is 12th grade world issues, which is (to quote mrs. engels) "anything you want to talk about". another cool thing is that mrs. allio is the yearbook advisor, so she's got a period of yearbook kids, too. i've always wanted to work on the yearbook, just never had time. and i've gone and volunteered myself to help out with the musical. will i never learn?

- mary (my younger sister) got into virginia tech. she seems quite pleased, particularly because the boyfriend and several other cronies got in early decision as well. i wasn't worried about it. my thought is - if they didn't take her, who would they take. this makes me feel really old - my little sister is going to college next year. i remember when she was born. jeez - i have to become an adult soon, don't i?

- there is a boy, i believe he resides in ketler, who has some type of stadium horn or fog horn or something which makes a very loud noise. it sounds like something the rohirrim would have in lord of the rings, even if my entire suite (and caitlin) thought it sounded like a cow for the first day or so. the point is: this person has been blowing this stupid thing on a regular basis since thursday. and by "regular basis" i mean about once every two or three hours. for three days. megan and i want to maim him. and then take his horn and use it to hit the obnoxious freshmen girls who keep yammering non-stop in the study lounge. it would be like our own personal crusade, except instead of fighting infidels, we would be on a quest to purge our dorm of annoying loud people. what is it about finals week that causes the females here to shriek as they sprint up and down the halls late at night?

- i made my mother lose it earlier today by using the phrase "i want to say, 'grow some balls, and suck it up!'." carol anne said she could hear her laughing on the other side of the house. i called back a few hours later, and she said she was still laughing about it. i don't think she'd ever heard anyone use that expression, which shouldn't suprise me considering that there is nothing even remotely uncouth about my mother (this is the woman who refuses to use the words "fart", "snot", or "butt" because she thinks they're crude). i found the whole situation highly amusing. i could hear my father in the background, "well, if the shoe fits...". phone conversations with my family generally consist of talking to my mom, while my father yells random things at me from across the room, with my sisters occasionally grabbing the phone momentarily to let me in on some scintilating bit of news from the world of high school.

anyway, i should maybe think about studying. or maybe just fall asleep sitting up, like i have every night since wednesday.

so much for a "quick" update.