Actually 26 years ago just about right now I was wandering about downstairs
at my mother's house saying, "Mom, I think we need to go pick up Mark and
get to the hospital."

There was an ice storm going on and the roads were coated with about an inch
of ice. In Dallas that is doom.

Mom was putzing about upstairs and I stalked around downstairs getting very
impatient.

She hollered down that we could go ahead to the hospital and she'd pick up
Mark later.

I wasn't buying that. He had already called me three times and wanted to
know where the hell we were.

I just had this funny feeling that my mother would get me there and not
leave and pick him up, so I was adamant.

I should explain that my mother is 37 minutes behind the rest of the world.
She missed my high school graduation (I was 22 out of 701 to graduate)
because she was looking for a parking place. She would have missed my
wedding but I lied to her about what time it was. I very nearly missed my
college graduation because she was driving.

We piled into the car and crawled across North Dallas in the ice. She drove
very well and poor Mark was standing at the curb freezing
his ass off waiting for us about 2 am. We piled him in and finally made it
over to Medical City. It was 14 degrees.

Virginia arrived at 6:18 am. That was her time, and she was sticking to it.
Officially she was due Dec 21. This made her three weeks late. My doctor
argued with me, saying I must have miscalculated, but I knew my window of
exposure and she was three weeks late. After her grand arrival, all of the
medical folks looked at her and said "this baby is overdue, she's post-term"
DOH. Like I didn't know already? Virginia didn't care. She does things when
she wants to do things and I suppose that includes being born.

My first and greatest artwork is 26 according to the calendar, but
officially there are still a few hours of early morning to go by. . .

I wish I could see her today. I think of her across the pond in her almost
6 month marriage and I am joyful that she is so happily settled.

(jaws theme music interlude)

I hear that Virginia and Neil may want to start a family soon, so I may be hoping for the
next generation of artwork. Who am I fooling, I can't wait. I want it to be
on their own time, but I do wait with bated breath. . .

I wax poetic. I remember so clearly what I was doing so long ago at this
very moment.

How cool is that?

Me Talk Pretty One Day

I've finished book #3 for 2008. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris is sarcastic, funny and sweet. I laughed out loud any number of times and will take one of these stories to my book club next week to read aloud.

I've already started #4. I'm moving pretty well for today only being the tenth. This book is a gift from my friend Jane. I would have never in a million years picked this one up. That's the beauty of friends that read. Sometimes they put something on your stack that you would have never thought about.

What did I see today? I saw my hands covered in graphite. I kept washing them, but part of the hazard of teaching a drawing assignment is that one continues to interact with dirty stuff.

I saw views from the video cameras in the hallways. My administrator was so excited that she hollered for Amy and I to come in and watch. I later had to go over to the discipline office and found our discipline administrator doing the same thing. She smiled and said "I may not retire this year if I've got this to watch!" Please, can we keep her? It would take three people to do her job.

I did have one unfortunate encounter. Why are children so silly. For some reason, they think that if they act really aggressive and obnoxious that they are grown. What they are is silly.

I only wrote one referral on the angel. It could have been four or five, but I didn't have the time. She's still in a heap o' trouble.

There is some excitement around school. There are rumors of a walk-out tomorrow. Some person high up the food chain decided that it would make some of the low performing schools better if the high performing clusters from our school were looted and sent across town. Who in their right mind would want their child to transfer to a low performing school? That's just nuts. The kids and parents are livid. I haven't talked to a single person that was in favor of such a move.

One more yahoo who has been promoted to his/her level of incompetence. (to quote my mother) It makes you wonder.

There are good things going on at school. We are working on things that will really make things better for everyone. Change is painful. Sometimes it is good. I'm planning for good.

Book 2 2008

I finished book #2 for 2008 this evening. Wow, I think I'm ahead of 2007 by about three months.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris is funny, irreverent and reminds us that we should be grateful not to have such a sibling. If I had such a brother, I would pour him into a column at the new Cowboy Stadium. I love Sedaris and I'm now reading another of his tomes which will hopefully become book #3 for 2008.

Today was interesting. The kids came back to school today and I saw some funky stuff. There were boys that had 3 different price tags hanging off their obviously new pants. I asked my art history kids about that. This engendered some lively discussion. Mr. Foster said that they were posers. He said that they got the pants at Burlington for thirty bucks and then took off the Burlington tag, leaving the original tag that says eighty bucks. This class meets in the library, and giggles greeted the site of ANOTHER boy walking by with tags swinging.

The kids seemed to agree that this was genuine poser behavior--trying to show that they spent way more money than they did and were willing to demonstrate this by leaving the price tags showing.

When I grew up, that was considered, well, tacky. Minnie Pearl made a statement with a price tag hanging from her hat. It was ludicrous.

I was still tripping about that when I caught up with my friend Mr. D. He said he'd noticed the same thing and as we drove up to 7-11 for our morning smoke and cup of coffee he informed me that some of our students were wearing six or seven hundred dollar outfits. I knew that some of the stuff looked pricey. That's just hard to stomach when the same kid says he can't afford a pencil for art class. I always ask to see their shoes when they say that crap. If they are wearing $200 shoes or have a cell phone or are carrying a Dooney or Coach bag then I fail at sympathy.

Mr. D. told me that some of them spent ridiculous amounts of money on stuff that they'd wear to school and then return to the store. He thought that's why they left the tags on. Regardless, it's pretty silly.

This afternoon we met to work on the school redesign project and it was really good. There was a large amount of enthusiasm and creative energy. I love it when that happens. It's invigorating!

More will be revealed!

Book 1 2008

Book 1 of 2008 is done. I've worked on it for a couple of weeks as it was 1128 pages.

Tedious in places, it forwards a good story in the 3rd of a series called "A Song of Fire and Ice."

It's made me glad, made me sad and furious in some spots. George R. R. Martin cannot be relied upon to kill off a character. They have annoying way of showing back up alive. Just when you get used to a beloved character being gone, they pop up again like a persistent pimple.

I'm going to have to go to Borders tomorrow to get the next one. I asked for a book store gift certificate with the intent of getting it. I had pre-ordered A Feast For Crows from Amazon prior to its publication, but it never came and I never followed up. I had to start the series all over again to get back to where I was several years ago.

I like books that I like to re-read. I always get more from them in subsequent readings. Life gives me experiences to lend to the reading and the meaning changes.

It's only 9pm and I must pick up another book in the mean time. I'm horrible about reading part of a book before I pick up another one and I have have read tomes all over the place. Part of my goal in 2008 is to FINISH a book every week. My bookclub should be good for at least six of them. I look around and my eyes settle on the book my friend Jane gave me for Christmas. Perhaps I can gobble it up and get back to Feast For Crows before I've forgotten the story line. I still need to read a David Sedaris book for book club. Oooooo, which one? (goes and digs in the headboard of the bed) Okay, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim I've not read it yet, so I guess it's the lucky winner.

More will be revealed. . . .

I didn't see much, I hid on the porch

I've been laying low. I count a good weekend as one that I don't get out of my jammies

We are starting a new year. I have a few small goals.

I'm not going to smoke inside my house. I've gone outside to the porch to smoke. I don't want Rachael and Becca to gripe that their clothes smell like smoke when they come home to do laundry.

I'm going to rid myself of any clothes that do not fit. My closet bar is drooping. Mostly because I value the books better.

I want to read a book a week. I'm at the end of a nice one. A Storm of Swords. I want to finish it tomorrow and get the next one in the series.

I cringe at this time. I am shy. I don't want to talk to anyone. I DO want to talk to folks I knew back when. I'm so lucky that some of them are talking to me.

Woo Hooo, happy new year.

Please be kind. Be kind to one another.

SQ