TheFrown: Candy Hole: Candy Is Good

TheFrown: Candy Hole: Candy Is Good

This is not for the faint of appetite, but I just love it. It seems to be created by a friend of a friend of mine- or possibly he was my friend once, too, but I've forgotten him. Someone I grew up near, anyway. But that's not why I'm posting it- I think it's horrific genius.

A Mystery

One of the roosters- the freakiest looking one, with the bald neck- he just dropped dead.

The other chickens were going about their business. Stepping over him. Such compassionate creatures.

It's a bit mysterious, no?

The Tiny Impotent Rage Machine

Little Z is going through this stage where she is randomly absolutely insane. She just gets so angry. Who is this child? I was really worried for a bit, and then I saw this comic.

Natalie Dee, you make the whole world a brighter place.

Bridget

I read Bridget Jones' Diary once, and I was wondering... Is England really like that? I mean, if you stay longer than two weeks...

That is all.

And Then There Were None


I've been teaching reading to middle schoolers.

I did a little reading survey to discover what they like. One class is into mysteries. To my delight, I found a class set of And Then There Were None, complete with an audio CD to play if I like. I don't even have to waste my breath if I want to read aloud. Imagine that.

I love that book. (Though I'm glad they trashed the original title.*) I've read it three or four times. The first time was when I was my students' age (thirteen). I was shocked to find a class set of it at school- uncracked paperbacks.

The librarian orders the books. I find it a bit ironic that one generation's smut becomes, over time, a classic to be read in school.

So be it!

This week is Banned Books Week! I could happily read nothing but banned books for the rest of my life. The only commonality between them seems to be that they make you think.


* A bit ironic after my latest entry, isn't it? We'll most likely be talking about that original title in class.

Stereotypes are (NOT) fun!

Racism!

I don't know. I'm white. I feel odd calling people out. It makes me seem so holier than thou- but when someone says this,

"They're like that, you know..." (I was going to give all sorts of details, but then realized it actually doesn't matter what behavior was in question or what race we're speaking of. Clearly, it's just all the biggest bunch of crap any way you look at it.)

When it's someone you absolutely have to have a good relationship with, when the comment is not even true of the specific people in question let alone their entire race, when you're seething but she's just got the best of intentions- what do you say?

Happy Birthday, Roses!

This is so bizarre. I just followed the directions here, and this is what came up:


But then I realized that I had used my real name instead of my on line name, so I typed in my on line name, and this is what came up:



I thought I'd share both, because, you know, whatever floats your boat.

Watch This



I loved this movie. I'm not even going to review it, because I knew nothing about it and I believe that the lack of knowledge enhanced the experience.

Mantras

I have this quote above here, "However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light." I think that, when I was a kid, I went to Sunday school with my friends to pass the time, and we sang that, "This little light of mine" song a bit too much.

I have a new friend at work who has a motto,
"Don't get into a knife fight unless you're prepared to get cut."
She's a teacher. This is her motto. I guess she won't have a TV movie made after her, but she sure does seem like an interesting person to me.

There was this guy I worked with my first year of teaching, and he said once in a staff meeting,
"Teaching is really the toughest job you'll ever love."
At that moment, with all that was happening- well, let's just say I only partly agreed with that statement.

Another guy always said, "Just keep pounding that stone." If applied to teaching, I have absolutely no idea what that means.

I worked with yet another teacher who told me,
"First, keep them busy. Second, teach them something." Hm...
That's almost like "Safety second" or "Put on the condom after you pull out..."

Then, one of my oldest, dearest friends has a motto, "Even the air itself is filled with monsters."
She isn't a teacher. I think she works retail. So, that makes sense.
She wrote the most fantastic thing in my yearbook one year, and it all turned out to be a quote that wasn't in quotations.

Truly, my own motto is, "Do your best with the time you have been given." I think that quite often. It's really boring, though.

Anyone else have a motto to live by?

The Art of Teaching

I feel like it's wrong to blog about work. However, I can make a few general statements, now that school has actually started, like this:

Teaching is ___________________ .


A. a performance art

b. very gratifying

c. very frustrating

d. fun

e. exhausting

f. all of the above



Good test takers will note that, if the test is written by a human (and not by committee), "all of the above" is the most likely correct answer. Good writers will note that "very" is an overused word that should be avoided at all cost.

The things people never believe, Part 3

I started life as a redhead, and the older I get, the blonder I get. The most dramatic change happened when I was away in Sweden for a year at the age of seventeen. I came back to California, and most people assumed I had died my hair blond. It was just too unbelievable that someone could actually turn blond from living in Sweden. I mean, come on!

I never wanted to be a blond. Ever. At all. I would have loved to spend my entire life as a redhead, or even a brunette.

So, when I swear I don't dye my hair blond, I think I come off just a little bit over-the-top.

The things people never believe, Part 2

I went through this phase in college when I really liked root beer. Seriously. A&W was my favorite. But whenever I talked about my love for root beer, people invariably believed that it was a euphemism for actual, alcoholic beer. I guess it's just a stereotype about college students. When I said,

"No, really, root beer!" That just brought on laughter and nudges and such.

I finally learned to keep my root beer habit a secret.

The things people never believe, Part 1

Have you ever been in a situation where denial only made you appear more guilty?

Situation Number 1:

The Scene: Junior high school, sixth grade. Mr. Rob's class.

I was awkward and goofy and new to town, and I liked to wear clothes that clashed. I had a secret crush on a monosyllabic toeheaded guy whose name was not Jeff.

In Mr. Robb's class, Jeff (Jeff who was not the object of my affection) walked by me and whispered,

"Meet me by the drinking fountain."

I didn't really know a thing about Jeff, but you know, in the sixth grade, this was high drama. No way was I going to not meet him at the drinking fountain.

Five minutes went by. Class continued in some chaotic way. Eventually, Jeff (did I mention I hadn't really noticed him before?) mosied on over to the drinking fountain. I followed, feeling very self conscious.

Once I arrived beside him, Jeff addressed me with a great air of authority,

"Listen, I know you like me, but I already have a girlfriend."

And then he left. Before I could say anything. He just left. Back to his seat.

Of course, I could have followed him and insisted I didn't have a crush on him. I could have written him a note and told him what a pompous lummox he was. But wouldn't it all have made it look sort of like I really had a bad crush on him?

I stood there, for ages, in front of that drinking fountain, my mouth hanging open in shock.

I think he later did some modeling and I remember that, in the eighth grade, he kept feeling my legs when we were on the school bus on some field trip.

What a lummox.