It's Only Been Two Weeks

I'm sorry guys, but this time it's only been two weeks! I did much worse over the summer. I also pledge to return to the Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger posts in October. But for now I just want to mention how much I love student teaching! Don't get me wrong, I really wish I was getting paid, but in the past year I started to doubt if I even wanted to teach. However, with the school that I am at, the staff I am working with, and especially my mentor teacher, I am having a really good time. I can't wait to have my own classroom! It would be even better if it was at this school I am at now, but that's beside the point. I am just having a great time.
In the meantime, I am busting my ass to finish Book Three and get it out on time. I am still doing my last run through, but with my student teaching, part time job, etc., I haven't had a lot of time. Plus all of that tv I have to watch for our iTunes podcast, The Good, The Bad, and The Geeky. You should definitely check it out.
Anyway, I have to go clean and do homework. Lisa, Joe, and the gang are coming over for the season premiere of Heroes, so until next time, Bye!

Qop! (Freakazoid, how Nick ends TGTBATG)
"Get out of here with that cheese! You're a creep! Go away! We're having a good time, I tell you, %&#$&%$! Go have some coffee with some cream or something! Because I tell you something, this is a happy place!"

Back to School

So I began my final leg of my grad school work towards getting my PreK-3 teaching license today. Yes, that's right folks, student teaching. I'm a bit old to be a student teacher, in my opinion, but that's ok. Yes, thirteen weeks seems excessive for someone who has already logged a year and a half in the classroom as a substitute. But it's not like I have a choice. Luckily, I am in my favorite school that I sub for, with a fantastic teacher. I am in a third grade classroom, and from what I've seen so far, the kids are wonderful. I tried all morning to memorize their names, and by lunch I had them, which is amazing, because I am terrible with names. However, I will be spending sixty days with these kids, so it's good that I know them. I am really looking forward to it.

By the way, did anyone know there was a television show called "Ferris Bueller" in 1990 that ran for half a season? That's right. Jennifer Aniston played Bueller's sister, Jennifer Grey's character from the film. The other actors were also NOT the ones from the movie.


Also, Otterbein Alumni Book Club meets this Wednesday in the back room of Graeter's to talk about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Be there!

Qop!
Ferris: Look, it's real simple. Whatever mileage we put on, we'll take off.
Cameron: How?
Ferris: We'll drive home backwards.

Slang

It is interesting to me how slang changes. I am thinking of it because I was inputting the last comments of two of my editors, Lois and Nancy, in Book Three (due out in late October). I smile every time I see them circle and put question marks next to phrases that seem second nature to me. Two in particular I saw today were "Pathetic much?" and "It is so on." It amuses me that these simple things confuse them, having not heard them before. I guess that it part of the generational gap. Of course certain slang words like cool and such make it into the popular lexicon, but certain phrasing remains isolated, sometimes even to an area or group of people, long before it becomes common knowledge. Things I have said since high school sound strange and foreign to people when they first hear them. It makes me a little self-conscious, as my books are set about another generation or two into the future and I have not given them their own little language quirks; I've merely used the ones I know. Also, will people reading this a few years down the road even understand what I mean? Will they just be confused as my editors are and think that there are typos? I don't know, but that's ok. I don't plan on stopping the slang. I think it adds to the characters and gives them a distinct voice. And that is really all that matters.

Qop! (Randal Graves played by Jeff Anderson in Clerks the cartoon)
[opening argument to the all-black jury of NBA players] Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Dante Hicks is just like you. He lurves grape soda. He knows what it's like when the guy at the supermarket won't take your "food stamps". Or how it feels to wait all month for your "welfare check". [waving his arms from side to side] Hey! Ho! Hey! Ho! Thank you.

Alone

So I live alone now. This is, admittedly, probably a temporary situation. I have a roommate lined up for November, a possible one for December, and then maybe another one for next year. This is met with mixed feelings by me, honestly. I have only lived alone for two months. I like it a lot of the time. I can walk around, er, less than fully dressed. The temperature is what I want it set to. I can stay up late or go to bed early. The tv is always mine. Hell, every room in the house is mine. Yet, as I empty out the spare bedroom, that only had clothes and a bed in it anyway, in anticipation of the roommate coming in two months, I do feel a little happy. For one thing, I like to see people. And when I'm home alone all day, and every night, it gets lonely and sad. I think I would like a roommate. I think I would also like a bigger place to share with them, because while this place is big for me, it will not be big for two people. I use every inch in it except the spare room and a few kitchen cabinets. Ah, well. The mixed bag will stay for awhile now, and likely I won't be with roommate for long.

Qop! (this one's for you, Nick!)
"My name is Wil Wheaton. Jack Thompson can suck my balls. If you have a problem with that, go fuck yourself." ~ Wil Wheaton, Pax 07 Keynote Address