who wants a latte?

I know I do.

Fawesome things I’ve read lately:

On the library door: The library is close!

In my student’s final essay, comparing belief systems across cultures:
Science believes that when you died thats it thats the end. When you die theres no walking around earth scaring people. When you die thats the end of the road for you.

Science is such a downer!

Then later:
Christian believes if your good and go to church you will go to heaven but if your not any of that you will go to hell. Which it is kind of scary if you think about it.

As far as I can tell, he means the religion, not a person named Christian.

From the minutes of the last School-Wide Design Team meeting:
What are the Principal’s and Professional Learning Communities roles in SLC?
• Focus on attitudes rather than behaviors
• Model behavior
• Promotes widespread participation by faculty indecision making

I have also read some decent books lately, though, disappointingly, none I would classify as “fawesome” - not even Scott Westerfeld’s Peeps, in which Westerfeld suspends his disbelief that people will not associate the name with, you know, PEEPS, and taps into a rich vein of hipness by having his characters constantly say things like "Dude!" and, in the preview of the sequel, "Fexcellent!" This is simply ludicrous; no one in their right mind would ever use anything like this formation. Anyway, Peeps, the instant-cool points it gains for being a non-genre novel about vampirism notwithstanding, is not even close to the quality of Westerfeld's sprawling-and-enthralling Uglies/Pretties/Specials trilogy. In case you were wondering.

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I had an hourlong conversation with one of my best, coolest students and one of my worst, most irritating students about video games and the intricacies of Harry Potter while entering final grades this morning. It turns out we all have quite a bit to talk about. Mester's end is always good for moments like these, when all the assignments are either in or not and the harrassment drops away on all sides. Even your most irritating students are surprisingly likeable when not trying to distract you, themselves, and/or the entire class from what you're trying to accomplish.

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Plans for off-track time:
• Finish knitting baby blanket for increasingly pregnant colleague (photos of knitting to come)
• Plan curriculum for speech class
• Plan wedding*
• Doctor, dentist, optometrist
• Attend friends’ wedding in Bay Area
• Attend about 8 credentialing obligations
• Clean apartment
• Break addictions**
• Read non-Young Adult books***

*Right, that.

**I resisted admirably for MONTHS before giving in to a combination of temptation and necessity and becoming, once again, a Corporate Coffee Whore. The alarm goes and my brain is like, day. stand. pants? lights. lights, pants. latte? latte! yes. tall soy latte blueberry muffin. muffin muffin muffin. Then it just continues on, stuck in that track, until the objective is achieved. I pretty much need the caffeine at this point, it’s true, but I am also addicted to the ritual. Even as I type this I am wondering if I should erase this addendum and amend the bullet point to “Get up early; spend mornings reading over latte.” Effing Starbucks mind control.

***The shortlist includes The Terror, No God But God, The Blank Slate, No Logo, Perfume, Fraud, In the Heart of the Sea, and American Gods (intended for classroom library use and hence YA-ish but at least not dealing with Older Boys Who Expect Too Much And Move Too Fast.)

Aren't vacations relaxing?