that's what i'm talking about

just got back from seeing waitress. nothing new about the story. in fact, it's one that's been told thousands of times - poor girl stuck in a horrible relationship falling for someone wonderful. no surprise twists, no clever variations on a theme. just the simple story of a sad girl finding her way in life.

but wow, did it work. funny, touching, intelligent, great characters. everything every blockbuster i've seen lately hasn't been. it knew what it was and played within its boundaries and was great. i highly recommend seeing it. stripped away a bit of the cinema curmudgeon that's been building up on me.

rough day teaching-wise. plagued with self-doubt and an overwhelming sense that i'm sucking at my job. luckily, i've now been doing this long enough to realize i am neither as good or as bad as i think. just seemed to pile on today. i look at some of my students who are failing and feel i haven't done enough to help them. i've got several beyond hope at this point and i want to be encouraging, but really, even if they turned in all their late work, they still wouldn't have enough to pass. i know it's the choices they made, but still feel responsible. which i suppose means i haven't been broken completely yet....

couple of former students "bought" lunch with me tomorrow - to raise money for the senior picnic, they auction of teachers and the highest bidder gets to have lunch with their teacher. good deal - free lunch for me tomorrow. and while the students in question tend to drive me a bit batty at times, it'll be fun to sit down with them one final time before they graduate.

favorite student quote of the year: grading independent novel projects and one of the options is to write a letter to the author. the student had read jon stewart's america (the teacher's edition)
and wrote a letter to mr. stewart. in it was this line: "i guess all jews are funny." seriously, i can't make stuff like this up. made my afternoon. and i am SO sending it to jon.

time for my summer haircut friday. decided to not wait until i could get an appointment at heaven, so i'm headed back to gina's stylist. no idea what i'm going to do - suggestions always welcomed. just know i don't want anything resembling a mullet. or too short on top. would so help if i could just figure out what to tell a stylist, but i get there, they wrap that sheet around my neck and all coherent thought runs out of my head. and i never figure out it's not what i wanted until i'm driving home. hopefully that won't happen this time.

time for bed, if not sleep. taking my class outside tomorrow, which means lots and lots of walking. here's hoping it goes well and i don't completely sweat through my clothes.
Æ

tunes: richard cheese - add it up