_monday oddities

last night was strange, unique, odd. *i used to spell odd 'ood'. it made sense to us. by 'us' i mean the two of us who understood it. anyway....* here is somewhat of a rundown of yesterday's experiences.

_i was at my regular tea shop (can't call it a coffee shop...i don't drink the coffee there....i don't like it....shhh) grading papers. two students from the same class wrote two extreme journals. i'd asked which of five qualities were most important in a musician: talent, desire, practice, environment, encouragement. the first student chose practice. he went through the expected jargon of why practice makes perfect (like i hadn't read that 30 times already...) but then said this, "Miss Longbrake never needs to practice. She never messes up. She's perfect." sweet yes, but delusional! the journal i read immediately after had a different flavor (not flavorful-calm down joel). this student had been disrespectful to me early on in the class period, and i had to confront him. his journal stated that encouragement was the most important quality in a musician. he went on to say that no student will ever feel encouraged if YOU keep treating him like this. this was a journal of hostility! apparently this kid thought that the consequence to his behavior was discouraging, as if i should have thanked him for treating me like crap and asked him to do it again! oh the glories of elementary teaching!

_to top off the 'lousy teacher' feeling, the guy next to me at the tea shop told me i wasn't a real teacher. OH NO NO NO! i might have hit him, but i know him; he could snap me like a chicken!

_my life is a musical. i sing from the time i get up until i reach unconsciousness. if i'm not singing out loud, i'm singing in my head. i'm a music nerd- and proud to be! because i live in an apartment, i'm not too comfortable singing at home; i don't want to bother anyone. i sing at school all day, but not in my genre of choice (except when practicing la boheme with mrs. shirey...that's fun). this leaves me with driving. i sing every time i'm in the car-full voice. there's no other way. i often forget that my windows aren't tinted to the outside world, or that my car is not soundproof (more of an issue in summer). so last night while driving down maplecrest, i was singing a duet (all by myself-yes, i'm that talented) and forgetting that i was at a stoplight. i glance to the left and two people are laughing at me. i can deal with that-strangers laughing? not a problem...until i looked over at them again. they are two pseudo friends from church, waving and laughing. eh it's ok-they're moving to uganda soon anyway.

_the reason i was driving down maplecrest was to go to my beloved target. i had bought a skirt last week, brought it home, and realized that they hadn't charged me for it. why didn't the super tall female cop stop me? or what about the giant plastic sensor stuff? just for show? in my mind (in a musical version, of course) i had plotted how the encounter would play out: i'd walk up to the returns counter and explain that i hadn't been charged for this skirt. the employee would thank me profusely and praise my integrity, let me keep the skirt for free, give me target credit for life, ask me to be her best friend, throw a party in my honor (song & dance included), and make me the queen of targetland. instead: she scanned the tag, told me the cost, gave me change, and told me to have a good evening, as if this kind of honesty happens every day!

_i stayed up to watch the snow start to fall, mostly because i wanted to rest easy knowing there was a strong possibility for school cancellation. it didn't start until 3:30am; good thing we cancelled school. i wouldn't have been teacher of the year, for sure. BUT I AM A REAL TEACHER! (capitalization directed at YOU-you know who you are. i won't trivialize this with names...)