Thursday 13

Thirteen things I cannot do very well...if at all

1. whistle
2. make the star trek hand sign
3. swim
4. sew, knit, or crochet
5. draw realistic looking hands
6. math
7. play checkers/chess
8. golf
9. read music
10. parallel park
11. bowl
12. finish simple tasks
13.

not to be

During my last post, I got sad. While Google-ing "Word Warrior" I found a picture of William Shakespeare to put at the top of the post.

It slowly dawned on me that this will be the first year in a long time that I forgot April 23rd was William Shakespeare's birthday, and that I didn't celebrate it with students.

When I started teaching in 1995, even though I had fifth graders at the time, I incorporated Shakespeare into my classroom. I remember exactly how it happened. Somehow we were talking about the Lion King, and I offhandedly said, "Well you know its kind of like a Wild Kingdom version of Hamlet." My students asked what I meant and, the Shakespeare dork that I am, I started to explain the similarities. They were genuinely interested and I jumped on that whole "teachable moment" thing. (And they jumped on that whole "get Mrs. Ryan off topic and maybe we won't have to do grammar drills" thing). I was more than happy to oblige. I think I'm a pretty good teacher but when I teach Shakespeare something different happens, I get this kind of infectious enthusiasm and I have them eating out of my hand. And, well, I'm happy. From then on I retold them other plays, talked about plays and sonnets and amazing quotes.

Beginning that year on April 23rd and every April 23rd up through last year(or thereabouts if it fell on a weekend), I would wear my totally dorky Shakespeare T-shirt to school, and I bring in Dunkin' Donuts and share them with my classes AFTER I made them sing "Happy Birthday" to the Bard. Yes, yes, I truly was that dorky.

I held summer Shakespeare classes that a lot of kids actually signed up for and seemed to dig. I would do a Shakespeare unit every spring to coincide with April 23rd. I would have the kids act out scenes (some of those kids were amazing actors) and it was just my favorite time of year. Kids would ask me to recite the "To Be or Not to Be" soliloquy in under a minute and buy me coffee mugs and bookmarks and stuff with Shakespeare quotes on them. Even when I couldn't teach English anymore and taught History and Current Events part time, I snuck in reading Julius Caesar, used Shakespeare quotes for extra credit and I still did my April 23rd celebration.

This year I have no students. I've been so busy editing content for some other teacher's students that I haven't been too sad about losing my students or my job that I loved so much. It's that kind of sadness that blindsides you. So, yeah, sad.

How do I end this post? I know:
"Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"

word warrior

woo-hoo I went up a few notches on THIS IQ test

Your IQ score is 124

Over 140 - Genius or near genius

120 - 140 - Very superior intelligence

110 - 119 - Superior intelligence

90 - 109 - Normal or average intelligence

80 - 89 - Dullness

70 - 79 - Borderline deficiency

Under 70 - Definite feeble-mindedness

Putting a G Bush joke here would be TOO easy so I'll refrain

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.

Your Intellectual Type is Word Warrior. This means you have exceptional verbal skills. You can easily make sense of complex issues and take an unusually creative approach to solving problems. Your strengths also make you a visionary. Even without trying you're able to come up with lots of new and creative ideas.

Now I know what is going on my new resume: "Word Warrior"

riddle

Q: What do you get when you cross a steak knife with the cap on a bottle of apple juice that you can't unscrew?

A: A Fantastic 4 band-aid over your puncture wound.

I sure am smart!
Hmmm I thought it was the LOGICAL thing to do...
(see previous post)

what is this logic of which you speak?

Your IQ Is 105

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Average Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

So if it weren't for logic, I'd be in Mensa?
Hmmph! Stupid logic.

Thursday 13

13 voices that I like in my ear (in the order they come to mind)

1. Dave Matthews
2. Bruce Springsteen
3. Elvis Costello
4. Sinead O'Connor
5. Harry Connick Jr.
6. Bono
7. Trent Reznor
8. Peter Murphy
9. Peter Gabriel
10. Frank Sinatra
11. Melissa Etheridge
12. David Gahan
13. Tori Amos

Okay, let's analyze...Now though many of my favorite artists are up there, not all my favorite artists are up there. There has to be that quality of wanting the sound of the voice in my ear. It's different than wanting to listen to their music and it's not to say that they have better quality music than others. This list was just all about the voice.

A perfect example would be the lack of Prince... Love prince... But it's more about his lyrics and music and arrangement than it is about his voice that makes me like him. I listen to a lot of Black 47 but Larry Kirwin just doesn't have that voice quality that is list worthy. Major points for the Irish accent, but...sorry.

Let's see...
One list-worthy voice is deceased.

I've seen six perform live.

Countries of birth: 1 South Africa, 2 Ireland, 4 England, and 6 U.S.

Two guys named David

Two guys named Peter

Definitely a preponderance of men. Only three women. Oooh Fiona Apple, she has a great really interesting voice but,alas, she didn't come to mind 'till now.

Oh you know I'm going to wake up at 4 a.m. and be like "I can't believe I forgot..."

Anyway, that is my Thursday 13...Thank you and goodnight.

bouquet

How a Mommy knows it's springtime.

The girls presented this to me with so much love.
Supersweet!

decisions

I cannot decide which one I should buy the kids...
this one or this one.

On one hand, the finger puppets are smaller, but the plush ones have that handy "Plagues" drawstring bag. Either way, I just know they are going to fight over them. I can hear it now:

"Mom! She won't share the boil covered flesh."
"Oh yeah? Well SHE'S been hogging the lice, blood and locusts ALL day!"

the downside of blogging

I've "accidentally" *chough*Google*cough* located a few blogs of people that I know. I don't know these people really well...let me rephrase that...I know them pretty well now because I'm a blogaholic and have cosumed every blogable detail that they have put out there for the last few weeks (not to mention I've read almost their entire archives). It's totally addictive. Best use of my time? No... but there are worse vices I'm sure.

But I keep reading stuff that makes me feel jealous, envious and left out. Do I sound like I'm in Jr. High? Absolutely. Don't get me wrong, I'm not crying and listening to the Cure and wearing heavy mascara and eyeliner and writing lamenting horrible poetry in my journals...but you know. Maybe sometimes it's better not to know stuff.

duped

On Saturday I received an email from my sister telling me to, "check out Backstreets." The website of the Springsteen magazine of the same name. There I found an announcement that Bruce would be the guest star on American Idol this week. This seemed plausible to me, as Bruce worked a lot with Idol judge Randy Jackson, and the article was very detailed and involved. I was really excited, I told Tom's cousin, who's a big fan. I also blatherd on about it to a cashier at Carson's(don't ask). I double checked the TiVo to make sure there would be no conflicts and I told the girls they could stay up and watch it. (because Bruce was going to be on!!!) So the girls and I were all snuggled on the couch, I'm all excited, and who do I see on the screen? Kenny flippin' Rogers. After several minutes of, "wait!" "Huh?" "Is this the wrong week?" "Maybe it's NEXT week." "I don't understand" I hear Tom laughing in the kitchen... He checked out backstreets and found this click on the jester.

Let me start this post again...On Saturday April FIRST I received an email from my sister...*sigh*

excess

This is just a sampling of what I found when I decided to clean out my pantry/craft closet. Apparently glue bottles, water color sets, and tangles of yarn breed if you leave them in an enclosed dark space. What is wrong with me?