Jerks and Zombies

So let me pose a question: Is it possible to be friends with someone if you know that he/she is a "bad person"?

If a person is fun and interesting and you enjoy him, but you are aware that he is immoral and fundamentally unkind, can you make room for that person in your life? And even if you can, should you?

(I'm not going to try and pretend that I have "a friend" in need of advice. This is clearly about me, so let's call a spade a spade.)

There is a person in my life who I cannot respect. He and I disagree on everything that is important to me. There is much about him, as a matter of fact, that makes my skin crawl when I think about it too much. Yet I enjoy spending time with him and even find myself seeking out his company. Is this wrong? (I also know that it doesn't sound like I'm talking about "friendship" here, but I assure you, I am). I fluctuate between openly hating and criticizing him and spending far too much free time on the phone with him. I am just suffering from some intense ambivalence about this friendship and am in need of guidance I suppose.

Thoughts?

And now, for something completely different: ZOMBIES!

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/02/monster-mash-up.html

Above is a link to an interview with the author of the book I most eagerly await: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! Yes, you read that correctly. In an attempt to promote Jane Austen's most beloved work, author Seth Graham-Smith added zombie scenes to the original text of Pride and Prejudice. I have already pre-ordered it on Amazon, and I recommend you do the same.

Ukulele Hero

My new favorite activity is practicing my ukulele. How does one come to own a ukulele? Well let me tell you:

When it comes to fine motor control and visual-spacial reasoning, I make pretty much anyone look good. So sadly, when I tried to learn the guitar, I found myself badly demoralized. Luckily for me, I was exposed to the musical stylings of Rose Polenzani (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5kcOlGtWCY) and realized that I need not give up on stringed intruments! The uke is like a guitar with fewer strings, so no need for my fingers to get so confused and stressed out! And lo abd behold: $45 later, I am the proud owner of a China soprano uke and I love it.

I spend pretty much all my free time playing the dang thing, but I've got to say, I've accumulated quite a diverse list of tunes I can play. The list is as follows:

1. This Little Light of Mine
2. Michael, Row your Boat Ashore
3. When You Come Around (Green Day)
4. Makers (Rocky Votolato)
5. She Was Only in it for the Rain (Rocky Votolato)
6. White Daisy Passing (Rocky Votolato)
7. Mr. Jones (Counting Crows)
8. You and I Both (Jason Mraz...how could I not?)
9. Where Your Scar Is (Anne Heaton - That is the link included above)
10. Torn (Natalie Imbruglia)
11. I'll Fly Away (Allison Krause)
12. Free Fallin' (Tom Petty)
13. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Dylan)

And I take requests...as long as they are in C or G...

For Lent, I'm giving up flexibility

First off, I am clearly stealing my blog title style from "Freaks and Geeks." I do not claim to be creative. I claim only that I have good taste.

Anyway, I recently googled my name + blog to see if this was easy to find, and luckily the answer is no. Thus, I have to share one wonderful and one outrageous teacher moment from today. Let's start with the positive.

Today, for the first time in my short teaching career, 100% of my students had their homework done. Now, at first I was thrilled because I thought that meant that they really enjoyed learning about the Holocaust (our current unit) and were too engaged to NOT do their homework. A couple kids came by after school to inform me, however, that none of them actually did it, but it was a really easy assignment to fake. Wuh waaaaaaaah. And you know what I say to that? SO BE IT! At least they cared enough to fake it. Most of the time they don't even pretend to do their work. I see this as a small victory.

Now, hold on to your hats, because this one's a doosey. Is that how you spell doosey? Ok, so I have one student who we will call Frank. Frank is a bright kid, especially in history. Frank, however, has the motivation and organizational skills of a sedated manatee. Not good.

So, Frank had an assignment that was due two weeks ago. He had had two weeks to do the assingment. He handed it into me late, hand-written, and on the back of some scrap paper. I gave it back to him with a note that said, "See me." So after school today, Frank comes in, curious why his masterpiece did not receive a grade. When I explained, we had the following conversation.

Frank: Are you Catholic?

Me: No, why?

Frank: Well, we do this thing called Lent.

Me: I know what Lent is. What are you giving up?

Frank: Well that's just the thing. I gave up typing, so I can't type up this assignment.

Me: ...Uuuuhh...Well, I can't give you credit. I respect your religion, but...Did you really think that was a good idea?

Frank: Well, you have to give up something you like.

Me: Okay, but you've known since precisely September 4th that all assignments must be typed.

Frank: I didn't know that.

Me: Aaaaaaaaaaactually you signed a form that stated explicitly that you understood my classroom rules. So you kinda did...

Frank: Ok.

Me: ...Well...not really "Ok." The quarter ends in less than 40 days. So...what's the plan?

Frank: I dunno. I should ask my dad.

Aaaand scene.

Yes friends, this is the future of America. I would start looking at craigslist postings in Canada in about 20-25 years.

Twitter and Toddlers

So when I am making copies on the ancient copier in the 8th grade teacher's room, I like to take a peek at Twitter. While I was slow to jump on that bandwagon, I have since fallen in love. And you want to know why? Two words.

Tina. Fey.

Tina Fey is on Twitter and it's hilarious! She had an amazing post today that said, "Amos probably didn't start out Famous, but with cookies this good, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy." Or "Did I eat a Caramello bar for lunch? Yes. Yes I did." She makes me incredibly happy.

I also enjoy following The Onion, because their headlines tend to be my favorite part of their articles anyway.

Now, speaking of Tina Fey, I'm sure her die-hard fans watched this when it aired, but since I refuse to watch Jimmy Fallon's new Late Show, I prefer to get my clips via interweb. So, here is Tina Fey on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon discussing her 3.5 year old daughter's contributions to "30 Rock."

Enjoy: http://jezebel.com/5164146/tina-feys-toddler-daughter-writes-for-30-rock

Now, I'm off to rugby training, which will inevitably leave me tired, grouchy, and snappish in the morning. I would hate to be one of my students tomorrow...

Okay Ben...You win

So I'm not sure why, but after re-reading Toni's blog entry about Anna's birthday (again) today, I decided I too should be a blogger. I experimented with blogging in college while all my friends were experimenting with more...typical "college things." Luckily for me, I was too busy on Xanga to participate.

Essentially, I will use this here blog for a few main purposes.
1) I will tell hilarious stories about how ridiculous my students are, but I will make up silly names for all of them in order to protect their anonymity.
2) I will post wonderful youtube videos

and eventually...

3) I will post videos of me playing comedy songs on my ukulele, which is the light of my life. Ben and Toni have Anna. I have my uke.

If that's wrong, I don't want to be right...

Welcome to Moosen Tracks.