It Was a Long Day...

...Living in the valley.

It's closer to the truth to say that it's been a long week (and I do realize it isn't even quite Friday yet). Fist-fights in class, candy theft, intolerant adults... Just part and parcel of my new life. Really, the adults in this community seem to be as closed-minded and bigoted as the children -- hmm, I wonder wehre the kids get it from. I guess I've spoiled myself by living in liberal centers of conservative states (the Chapel Hill Zoo, Weird Portland). I always thought Californians were liberal, but I am quickly learning that that is far from a true stereotype.

Also, my curriculum isn't what I would like it to be, so I'm having difficulty writing a good test that also tests only what I've taught. My own fault, this, but a problem none-the-less.

Setting the World on Fire ...

... One broken iron at a time.

Yup. Almost set fire to my house yesterday morning. I knew my iron was on the fritz because sometimes it wouldn't work. I meant to get a new one, but I kept on forgetting. Let's just say that after the sparking and burning smell, I got a new iron last night.

And it's a nice one. It has this super-steam setting thing that's pretty cool. I can't wait to iron some cotton for the next quilt!

Just Passing Through

I'm really only here to shut down my computer, but I'm doing so because my favoritest movie (of the past few years) in on HBO. Also happens to be my most-recently favorite book. OK, no more making you guess, it's Atonement. I read the book last summer when I begged the woman at Powell's to recommend a book that had plot and characters -- after 15 months of grad school, I needed a story already. She told me about Atonement, although feared it would be too depressing for me. I told her I didn't care as long as it had a plot.

I started reading the book, and at first I was a little ambivalent (it's a vocab word from last week), but after 50 pages I realized that I couldn't put it down. And by the end? I realized that it answered the question, "Why do we write?".

Although maybe it just answers the question, "Why do I wish I could write?"

Regardless, the book is excellent, as is the movie. I highly recommend either.

It Was Bound to Happen

I can find any network TV channel when I'm at my parents' house. I have them all memorized from childhood. (Yes, I do watch a lot of TV.) And in all the other places I've lived, I've had some issues remembering those network TV channels. Wait -- is NBC 8 or 7? CBS -- 2? No, 5. Wait, 3!!

But now, for the first time since I was a child, NBC is once again channel 6. No question which channel to turn to when I want to see The Office. Channel 6 it is. It's comforting.

Hall of Vanity

Speaking of banks, we all know how banks love to build testaments to their greatness. Back in Chapel Hill there is a bizarre "plaza" that housed the bank formerly known as NationsBank. It sits right there on Franklin Street and it is the craziest building in town (except for maybe Venable Hall). Although the layout is too crazy to even try to describe, there used to be a hall of mirrors (now renovated and missing). As you walked in the front door to get to the bank or any of the businesses on the Rosemary Street side, there was this long brick hallway that was lined, floor to ceiling, with mirrors. We called it (unoriginally) the Wall of Vanity.

While at Chapel Hill, I took an introduction to psychology course, and the professors described how Psych 10 students used to have to design and conduct their own experiments, not just participate in them. One study involved the Wall of Vanity. The students sat in the hall and watched people walking through the building. They ranked how often people looked in the mirror while rating their beauty. Wouldn't you know, the beautiful people looked in the mirror and the ugly people didn't. (The requirement was dropped because it meant that the subjects were participating in experiments without their knowledge or consent -- now a no-no in the medical world.)

So as I sit at my computer, I can't help but notice that my blog is up. I find myself looking at myself in its mirror (you know: going over old blogs, reading the comments, planning future posts). The Internet has become my own personal Wall of Vanity.

Rain

Yesterday was the first rain of the season. Those of you living in more climatically-balanced parts of the country might not understand what a wonderful thing that is.

I woke up early yesterday morning to the sound of rain. Not light, drizzly rain, but solid, heavy, pinging off the window rain. It was such a pleasant, calm, cozy sound, I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I woke up a few hours later the world was washed clean. Things here have been dusty. Poor Inky is constantly coated with a think later of dirt, although I live nowhere near a dirt pile. But not after the rain. The ground was damp and fresh, the air smelled clean, and my car was about as shiny as it ever gets.

I know this means it will start to rain more and more, and that can get depressing. But the first real rain after all this dry, hot sun is refreshing regardless of what I know is in store.

When I was Young, Prices Were Reasonable, Politicians Were Noble, and Children Respected Their Elders

Homecoming is coming up in a couple of weeks and my school's theme is ridiculous. No, the theme is not "act as outrageous as you can" (although it might as well be); it's something bizarre like Music in Las Vegas. What? What do Las Vegas or musical genres have to do with high school, football, or winning (and isn't that what Homecoming is about)? Oh yeah, I forgot; they have NOTHING to do with Homecoming.

In my day, the Homecoming theme was directly tied to our Homecoming rival. If we played Massabesic, the theme was Purple People Eaters (I forget their mascot, but it's purple). The theme related to our stated goal of winning, because "you've got to win! You've got to be number one!"

Maybe it's that my new football team doesn't win every game (unlike my high school team). Maybe they just do themes differently out here on the Wrong Coast. But I can't help but know that my way is better. Our skits, chants, cheers, and floats all tied directly to beating the crap out of the other team, not to some random travel brochure. Come on people, kick some rival team ass!

I also used to walk 10 miles to school, in the snow, uphill, both ways.

But trust me on the sunscreen.



P.S. 5 points for each pop cultural reference you correctly cite. I admit that I found one on a re-read I didn't intentionally include.