Spent all day at our first debate tournament of the year. I hate having to work on Saturdays, but the kids had such a good time and learn so danged much from the experience that it actually makes it worth the time. We took seven teams (three students to a team) to the tournament where they debated the topics:
- California should not require an exit exam for graduation from public high school.
- The U.S. should end corn subsidies.
- College athletes should be paid.
- The U.S. should offer a health insurance public option to all citizens.
Keep in mind that our debaters are in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. They have about a month to research and prepare to debate both the proposition and opposition sides of all four resolutions. At the tournaments, the kids find out which teams they'll be debating against and whether they will be debating the proposition or opposition sides. Twenty minutes before the debate begins the league presidents announce the topic and the teams have twenty minutes to write out their notes after which they debate the topic.
They are amazing across the board!!!
Watching a bunch of 6th through 8th graders thoughtfully construct arguments and respectfully debate each other with gusto, then go outside and play on the field together does a lot to give one hope for the future ...
We've reached the time in the school year when I get really exhausted. We're really busy all day, then I have after school coaching that I have to stay for, sometimes, until 5:30 or 6:00. I got up on the grumpy side of the bed today and I feel like I'm gonna rip somebody's head off (of course, not literally, but I'm sure you know what I mean ...). I'm tired of asking kiddos that I'm coaching to turn in permission slips so they can ACTUALLY PARTICIPATE in Saturday's event. I'm tired of working practices around kids' myriad other commitments. Hey, I know we all want it all, but at some point we need to teach you to prioritize your commitments so next time around, it's gonna be "fish or cut bait, kids ..." I'm tired of telling the same kids for the 100th time not to play games on the 'puters in the liberry. I'm tired of telling the same kids that if they're going to "study" as loudly as they are (largely having a friggin' party like it's a friggin' pub) that they should move to a table outside on the terrace.
Previous to tonight I haven't been a very good furniture shopper. Two spring breaks ago I was charged with buying sofas for S/O's and my condo in Honolulu. I ended up paying $1200 for sofas that were worth only about $250-$300. Needless to say, the experience made me feel less than great about myself. It was a big painful lesson learned. Recently, I've been looking for two pine armoires to hold my clothes and I turned to Craig's List. I found a pretty nice pine armoire for $150 that was a really good buy. Tonight, however, S/O and I picked up a second armoire that is of MUCH better quality. It's solid (and heavy) as hell and we got it for ... $40!!! The owner just wanted to get rid of it. Apparently a good number of people had come to see it, but because it was so danged heavy there were no actual takers for it. Well ... It now has a new home!!!
Yay for Craig's List and used furniture!!!
I went out for dinner with some co-workers last night. Now, I'm not the most sociable person on the planet, city, block, faculty ... Let's just say that I don't present myself well in groups where I don't know the other people very well and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the term "socially awkward" has passed the lips of multiple colleagues when describing me to others ... Anyway, I've come to realize that, being a tad socially awkward tends to make one into Bubble Boy--I'm totally not plugged into the good gossip and I don't have even the vaguest sense of what colleagues' opinions about one another might be.
In a lot of ways, being Bubble Boy is kind of a good thing (though being socially awkward ... not so much). Every once in a while, though, it is MOST FASCINATING to venture out of my bubble and find out what the world outside is thinking.
It's nice to know, for example, that other people keep a mental list of co-workers that they'd vote off the island in a heartbeat if given the chance because it doesn't make me feel as bad about mine (though, from the conversation I suspect that I might be the only one who keeps an actual physical list ... ha, ha, ha ... just kidding ... sort of ...). It's also distressing, though, to think that you might be on someone else's top four (actually, I'm sure that I'm probably in the top two of at least one person's list, but he's a total bag of intestinal gas so being on his list is something I can live with ...). At work, I try to pretend that I'm a nice person, but you know it is REALLY HARD to fake that kind of thing for as long as I've been working at the place.
Anyway, the upshot is that it was fun and I'm a Bubble Boy ...
Every Tuesday and Thursday, Scooter Kitty and I take part in early morning swim sessions with a bunch of other co-workers. We get into the outdoor pool (which thankfully is heated since it can sometimes get as cold as the 40s even in La La Land) at about 6:20 and we swim until about 7:15 or so. What is really nice is that our school has faculty locker rooms and they even provide clean towels for us to use (pretty crazy, huh?).
Anyway, here's the thing ... Most of the time the place is pretty clean, but I guess men being men there are times when it crosses the line into grossness. This morning I got into the locker room, changed into my swim gear and got going with my swim. Nothing seemed much out of the ordinary and the locker room was in normal civilized human being locker room condition. After finishing my swim I entered the first of the double-doors to the locker room and I was greeted by the very distinct smell of gym clothes in VERY BAD need of a LONG dance with some 2X Ultra Concentrated Tide with Febreze!
OMFG!!!
Talk about RIPE!!! Thankfully, whoever belonged to the togs had left by the time I returned to the locker room and wasn't there. As curious and I am about who the offensive togs belong to you should know that there was NO WAY IN HELL that I was going to touch any of the togs left sprawled on the locker room bench in order to find out!!! Geez, though ... I just CANNOT believe that someone actually allowed that set of clothes to touch their epidermis!!! OMFG!!! GROSS!!!
Ewwwwwwww!!!
Honestly (and this is NOT hyperbole for entertainment value, but the honest truth), I literally threw up a little in my mouth before catching my self and forcing myself to breath through my mouth!!!
Ewwwwwwww!!!
I successfully finished my shower without gagging any further, but ...
Ewwwwwwww!!!
And just so all of you know, I NEVER shower in locker rooms without my trusty flip flops
Ewwwwwwww!!!
If people will wear clothing that smells like that who KNOWS what they have on them when they get in that shower!
Ewwwwwwww!!!
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Do you ever scratch your head and wonder how our economy got so messed up so (seemingly) fast? I do. I just finished watching an episode of PBS's Frontline and, apparently, it didn't happen overnight and the Clinton Administration and Alan Greenspan would seem to have some 'splaining to do ...
This one is very much worth an hour of your time!
I don't know about the rest of you, but all of the crazy (think ... The Balloon Boy saga), angry (think ... Witnesses to crimes in LA apparently being knocked off), and just plain sad (think ... 97 Year old woman homeless and living in a Chevy Suburban in California) news has been making me feel like I need to get into bed and curl up into the fetal position for about a month.
Fortunately, sometimes there is good news to share and this is one example. Stories like this give me hope and remind me that most teenagers out there truly are nice kids who want to do nice things ...
Why is ABC trying to do Betty in by moving her to Friday nights? Who the hell is home (other than me, of course) to watch tv shows on Friday nights? Why do they want to kill Betty? Why?? Why???
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