Possumblog

Well, let's hope...

Court: Nader must pay for election suit

...that it's not one of those ugly, ill-fitting, mismatched things he's usually seen sporting around in. A nice tie would help, too. And maybe something with the hair.

GOOD MORNING! Or, Good Nearly Afternoon. [Update--Afternoon. I didn't realize it would take so long to type so little.] A very long morning today, which, when added to the very long night I had last night, makes for a blog of supremely low quality AND quantity.

Open house at the high school last night, a task which I took by myself since the other kids had tons of homework left to do, and Reba didn't really want to go. And also because Oldest really WANTED Mom to go. Gee, I wonder why that could be?

Since they've gone back to the traditional 7-period class day in lieu of block scheduling, the usual procedure whereby we pick up the kid's schedule and follow it to each of the classes was a bit more rushed this year, which meant that there really wasn't time as in the past to delve too deeply into talking over with the teachers all of a certain student's odd proclivities and perceived needs for various pamperings and accomodations.

Got there late, of course--it started at 6, and I still had to get the kids home and make sure Reba was there, and then drive over to the school, so I was tardy to Latin. I learned Corsica insula est. Pretty interesting, although they're doing more conversational stuff than all that stuff with declensions. Whatever those are. Caveat lector, I suppose. Everyone was very impressed when at the bell for the next class, I stood up and shouted "ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam!" (Not really.)

Next, AP World History, taught by the same guy she had last year for US History. And yes, despite only having been in school for eight days total, and despite the fact that this year the class is right in the very early part of the morning when all other people are fresh and bright, there still seems to be a tendency for one of his students to nod off. I am certain it is someone else's fault, though. It always is.

Let's see, next was English, I think. Nice lady. Then AP Chemistry, with a teacher who looks like David E. Davis, Jr., and talks a bit like the late Shelby Foote. (Whom, it should probably be noted, also sorta favored DED, Jr. in appearance) I'd like to take his class right now, because I think I would finally understand chemistry if he taught it. Next was Business Tech--hallelujah. She will finally get instruction on using a keyboard and complicated things like MSWord, rather than either expecting us to do it for her, or, alternatively, pretending she already knows it all. Choir next, where I find out she has become something of a queen bee, for once. Goodness knows she's starved for the mindless adulation of her peers. (Not that I'm not--but I don't go home and throw fits because Glenn Reynolds never links to me. Well, not often, anyway. Fits, that is. Of course, part of that is because I realize Glenn Reynolds and I are peers in the sense that we both occupy a certain volume of space.) Final thing was Honors Algebra II/Trig. Nice lady, again.

In all, I marvel at the amount of technology available to hammer information into recalitrant skulls, and the dedication and depth of commitment and knowledge of the folks doing the hammering. I told Reba last night that I sure wish I had had such things in the school where I went--although the teachers were for the most part dedicated, the lack of resources was noticeable even then. If I'd not had that ancient set of 1959 World Book encyclopedias, I wouldn't have learned anything at all.

ANYway, in the midst of the tour, it came a torrential downpour that lasted forever, so I got wet getting to the car. Got home, walked in the door right around 8, and was really ready for some supper when I was accosted by a small Boy (who's actually not so small anymore) who wanted some help creating a crossword puzzle using his vocabulary words.

Here's a word--"I am very hungry and want to try to eat at least a little bit of supper before helping you with your junk; now go on and go do something else for a while."

Talk about technology--after I ate my heated-up-in-the-microwave leftovers, I bounded upstairs to my computer, hit the Google box with "online crossword puzzle maker," hit the Return key, and found this right off the bat--the Instant Online Crossword Puzzle Maker. Type in your words, your clues, hit the create button, and you've got yourself a nice little crossword puzzle that looks just like a crossword puzzle. It takes less time if you don't have someone hovering over your shoulder, though. The fact that I refuse to disclose who this hoverer was should tell you exactly who it was.

That done, more loose ends done, bed, dream about a house where we'd moved that had its own small primate in it, something like a Capuchin monkey, yet also something like a lemur. It was all over the house, and I was trying to keep it away from the cat, which was not the one we have now, but a very fat black and white number. At one point, I was floating on a seat cushion in the living room, because it was raining so hard. I had my little primate beside me to keep him from getting wet. Then I went upstairs and noticed that the wall in Jonathan's room was water stained and actually had water leaking through it, which just made me mad to no end at the worthless contractors for not having fixed it the first time I called them. And then I woke up because the clock went off. Raining. Which explained all the rain-allusions, I suppose. That, and I had to pee really bad. So I did. Went everywhere, it did. (Not really.)

Meeting this morning was long and tedious, and full of note-taking fury. And there was a decided lack of supermodels. Which I think is one area we need to really work on a lot.

And now? Still trying to clear out the paperwork and get on to the really important task of note transcribing! Wheeee.

And remember, Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at August 23, 2006 12:47 PM