too lazy to think of something witty

i have this dream that some day i will be able to sleep in again and not wake up with the sun. i dream of rolling over and seeing my clock in double digits. i dream of waking up refreshed and ready for the new day instead of stiff and sore and grumpy.

i also dream of women wearing jester costumes, but that's a whole other issue.

unfortunately it looks like a beautiful day, one i'll be spending the majority of locked in a dark little room at the high school. it's the choices we make, the trade offs, so i'm not complaining actually, just realizing everything has a sacrifice, one i will appreciate down the road when i'm flying to vegas or when paying bills isn't so painful. but most of today i'll be wishing i was on my bike (confession time: i proofread this before posting and i had actually written "on my back." that could have been awkward). i also forgot to check the southgate house schedule before i agreed to work today and forgot karin and linford and jake and the allstars are playing tonight. so unless the dance group finished early (which almost never happens), i'll miss k & l, but could make it down for jake and the allstars. we'll see how i'm feeling. i might be braindead from reading my student's journals.

thursday was an excellent night of partying. beth's shindig was relaxed and an excellent way to begin looking forward to summer. sometimes i wish i could get together with other teachers and not talk shop, but it seems nigh on impossible. other topics were covered, of course, including plans for summer, but it's hard to shut off that part of your brain, especially when at this time of the year when it's consuming so much of your time. but at least i seem to be a bit better off than some - at least i didn't collect any major assignments this week.

then mary's/UG was a good time, seeing lots of friends i haven't seen in many months. good to catch up with allison and rob and everyone else. was a bit weird(er) for me this time. been to mary's several times before for maryoke and am comfortable being one of the few straight men there. however, this time the tv screens were playing what appeared to either be softcore gay porn or some new reality tv show called "the next abercrombie and fitch model." little uncomfortable for this flaming heterosexual. great to hear allison belt out "hearbreaker" again. i didn't sing alone, but joined the group for "seasons of love." even got a souvenir for the evening - matt finally finished the chess dvds, so now i can watch. can't wait.

decided i need to start writing down writing ideas for the upcoming owp. had a couple last night while walking to get an icee late last night. not sure anything will come from them, but probably best not to start with a completely blank slate when i get there. here's hoping this time this summer will wake up my muse, who has been strangely silent lately.

need to be up in mason by 12:00 and need to arrive early enough to load up at least two classes worth of journals to carry downstairs. at least i'm not stranded in the dank hole at the middle school. bleah. now i just have to make my big decision for the day: moe's or jimmy john's for lunch. hmmmm....
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tunes: tori amos - smells like teen spirit

no more essays!

finally, the mockingbird essays are graded and ready to be added to the gradebook tomorrow morning. ended with four of the worst essays i've ever had turned in to me - one of which was plagiarized from this site. note to plagiarizers - if the idiot uploading the paper cannot even spell words in the title correctly, what makes you think it will be a decent paper? oh wait, i forgot - you're not thinking, which is why you're plagiarizing.

this is the second instance of plagiarism this week: earlier i had a miracle occur. two students from my first bell turned in papers that were almost exactly alike. when i confronted them, they claimed they had no idea how it had happened that they used the exact same quotes in their paper and just happened to both start their second paragraph with the exact same sentence. after some deep theological wrestling, they came to this conclusion: student A had helped a student in another class with his essay, who then in turn helped student B to write his. amazing. so now they're both writing new essays for me. i'm sure they'll get excellent grades on those...

yes, i'm a bit on the pissed side at the moment. it's an insult to my intelligence when students think i won't be able to tell they didn't write a paper. i mean, i'm sure some have slipped my attention, but they're not even trying to do it well.

here's an odd story: so monday i discovered the speakers on my computer no longer worked. no sound, no lights, nothing. i unplugged them. i checked the sound card. i turned it over and over. i contacted dell, who gave me a long troubleshooting diagnostic to run. nada. luckily, i still had three days left on my one-year warranty - looks like someone screwed up the built in obsolescence by about a week. so dell is sending me a new set of speakers. then, when i came up to check my email after finishing grading, my speakers suddenly started working. i did nothing different. one day they're working, the next they're not. weird. but am definitely happy they're working now. and this way i'll have a backup set for when these go out again. or i could hook them both up and have a REALLY loud computer sound system.

trying to decide what i should do now - feel like i should go get dinner, but it's awfully late and i'm not that hungry, though i know i probably will be later. thought about just taking a walk and hoping that would take the edge off, but it would probably just jump start my metabolism right before i go to bed, making me hungry and unable to fall asleep. ah, the major complications of my life.

tomorrow i have two parties to go to (which is why i had to finish my grading tonight) - one after school at beth's, celebrating the end of the school year with friends from school. and then after that, i'll be heading down to the establishment formerly known as hamburger mary's to catch up with allison, who's in town for just one night. could be a late night, but will definitely be worth it. not sure i'll participate in the maryoke portion of the evening - guess we'll see how i'm feeling - and if i've indulged in any adult beverages.

the end of school has taken any signs of depth right out of my writing. hopefully i'll get it back before owp starts in a week and a half. bleah. not terribly excited about it at this moment. hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

ok, my stomach has won. off to grab an ill-advised late night dinner. so much for my plans to wear a speedo this summer....
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tunes: american music club - another morning

soundtrack to the day

on the drive to school, my mp3 player played two of my all-time favorite songs: U2's "bad" and the cure's "pictures of you." and now "one tree hill" is playing. makes me feel like i'm eighteen again. i wonder what the rest of the day will be like.
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tunes: U2 - one tree hill

brief weekend recap

knocked up was excellent. similar to 4oYOV with its combination of bawdy humour and touching moments, but much more romcom. katherine heigl is lovely. seth rogen is hilarious. and paul rudd is genius. so that's two pregnancy movies in a week and i liked them both. go figure.

rode my bike for the first time in months - 20 miles from around newtown to just south of loveland and back. would like to do it more often, but it's 20 minutes to get there and 20 minutes back, which means i'd have to block out about two hours to bike. maybe once summer rolls around it will be doable.

saw pomegranates again last night at the southgate house. excellent show, complete with cedarville marching band uniforms, though i am baffled by advertising. posters say 8:00. show didn't start until 9:45. and everyone else seemed to know this because we were the only ones there at 8:30. must be some secret i am not privy to. unfortunately, the boys wrecked their van (cleverly named the pomevanate) on the way to the show. they and the equipment were fine, but they kind of need transportation. anyone have a van they're not using?

finished grading the independent novel projects. now i just have the mockingbird essays and their journals, plus the making meaning questions for the stories they've been reading. the end is in sight. this week is going to be tough, though, 'cause all their friends are done and out. and it doesn't help to remind them they started two weeks after everyone else. they've conveniently forgotten that.

started reading U2 at the end of the world. i know, should have done it much sooner. but i finally found a used copy at half price and picked it up. good stuff so far. i know most of the stories so far, but still a fun read. would rather do that than grade essays.

saturday was one of those odd days, where i actually felt like the cool and interesting person i am. i really like my new haircut, got some encouraging emails, an actual handwritten letter. excellent day all around. wish i could remember how that felt for those days when i feel less than cool and interesting.

five days of classes. two days of exams. one teacher day. two days of training. one month of ohio writing project. then summer break for six weeks. somehow this fails to inspire me.

to sleep, perchance to dream.
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tunes: journey - stone in love