Luck

Today on a coffee excursion to the bodega near school I struck up a conversation with an older Hispanic guy. He had really nice gold rims on his teeth, and his shirt was unbuttoned several to the middle of his chest even though today was brick daddy as my students would say. That means cold.

I sincerely appreciate a swagger like that. Way to go, guy.

Anyway, we were talking about family, but also the subject of Powerball came up. Apparently the pot is at 200 million. He gave me his numbers to play. When I pointed out that if the numbers hit we would then have to split the winnings he said that sounded good to him. "I have enough time to spend all that money," he said.

Wow. I liked that guy a lot. It is rainy. I am melancholy, like woah. In need of some friends and some candle light, or something. I will go out to see some art. Maybe I will have a nice time.

Q: You know what's fun?

A: My life.

I had a nice little trip to New Mexico. I am planning a romantic rendezvous in Vancouver BC. Today a student's mom threatened to fight me. . .and I even met a scholar and gentleman in the Chicago airport on the way to Albuquerque. I mean, the scholar and gentleman are one and the same.

He was leaving from Gate 33, and I was leaving from Gate 31, and right beside those gates was a Chili's Too with some delicious, overpriced beer. Well, we only had an hour or so, but we had quite the conversation. We have been corresponding a bit, and as luck would have it he is planning to visit NYC next month.


Life: I love this game!

Snow day!!!!!

No school. It is snowy. Very snowy. Here's some of the kinds of snow we've had in the past 36 hours or so, in chronological order from memory:

threats of snow
hope of snow
small snow in the wind that disappears but you are sure you saw it
huge snow that falls fast and straight down but melts immediately
major slush on the streets that was snow
big big snow that is sticking
hope of enough snow to have a snow day
SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
no snow falling
more big snow falling
snow all over the road

It is already 2 pm and I would be out of school in an hour anyway, but still. I am glad I got to sleep in and not work.

Hello, February.

I am back on the blog. It is February. This month is a little rough. For as long as I can remember I have associated February with my Dad. His birthday was in February--on the 8th--and so growing up, and even after I had grown up February was just special because of my Dad. But now February is extra raw, and not just because of the cold. Probably anyone reading this blog knows why, but it feels good to type it out anyway. The text is pretty definitive, and I guess in some ways I still can not believe it is true.

Wow. I am actually surprised to have just written that. I thought I had accepted it. I know I have been moving on, but I also know that I'm not "supposed" to be anywhere near done going through "grief stages," or whatever.

Yeah, the fact is: last year my Dad died in February. On the 12th. Blech. I think about him all the time. But today I was really thinking of him an extra lot.

I am not sure, but maybe the thinking went like this: It's February 2. 2 is an even number, like 8 and 12. We are getting close to those days. I honestly am a little bit scared of how I will feel on those days.

One thing that made me think of my Dad an extra lot today was feeling very good at my job. He was so happy for me to be settling into a career. He told me after I applied for the fellowship which allows me to teach in my current position that teaching was the job that had seemed to bring me the most happiness. He said after I returned from Taiwan he just assumed I would become a teacher.

There are about a million things about my Dad I miss. Here are some:
He had a mustache. He drank very cold Pear Nectar and Peach Nectar from a can. He told me that K-Mart and Circle K were named after me. He was spectacularly, sometimes devastatingly long-winded. He drove with the windows down. He had lots of nicknames for me. He was very proud of me. His hair was crazy like mine. He had discriminating taste in Mexican food. He was a humble and respectful man. He liked museums and books and bookstores.

That is all I want to tell the Internet for now.

Raise your hands

View Larger MapI think the time has come to officially announce this good news on my blog: I got a job!!

I will be teaching Special Education English Language Arts at IS 347, School of Humanities, in Bushwick. IS= intermediate (middle) school.

It will be a difficult job, but that means there are many victories to be had ahead. Oh, yes!

School starts next week, so this weekend I am busy preparing.

My preparation falls into several categories.
1) preparing decorations for the classroom
2) preparing myself to look like a teacher
3) preparing activities for my students to do during our first week together

I am super excited. Prepare to hear lots of stories about my students from now on because guess what: Kids Rock!

Colorful Shapes Part II

Meena made this groovy cartoon. Dy-na-mite! Yes!

I feel really good about being a hexagon. That's a shape I can get down with.