The Daily News1 Two things happened yesterday worthy of repeating.
2 The first happened during my second period class.
3 Listen:
4 I had my students studying Greek roots of words, and sitting at their desks working on sentences.
5 I advanced to my desk to grade some papers.
6 A bit of a noise hit the room, and I always love that, because it is times like that I put on my listening radar.
7 The students talked about this and that, while I decided to grade papers and basically to eavesdrop.
8 Suddenly, I heard a student say, "I LOVE reading!"
9 I tried to maintain my composure, but simply couldn't .
10 I instantly went online and threw that out there on Facebook.
11 Later in the day, I loved that my student loved reading, and shared it with whatever the Facebook world is.
12 I got back a few comments and appreciation from some of me old mates, all of whom like to see that there's still hope for mankind. Quite a refreshing thing for all of us to hear first thing in the morning.
13 Normally, I don't spend a lot of the day on Facebook, since I have to lecture, grade papers, daydream, etc. But if I have a small window of time, I'll throw something out there just for ducks.
14 I continued with my day, lecturing, swirling, laughing, and always enjoying the students at the Chill. When my prep period rolled around, I decided to get outside, too nice a day plus my prep runs right into lunch, giving me a nice long break right in the middle of the day.
15 I went out to the T000000NDRA and tried to find a little metal bookmark that fell out of this terrific book I've been reading when I work out on the elliptical.
16 Did you ever go out to your car and realize that you have not really kept after it in a while?
17 I looked at the T000000NDRA and found old straw wrappers, rocks and pebbles, receipts, a thin layer of dust, and all sorts of other flim and flam. It hadn't reached disgusting quite yet, but really!
18 So I brought everything I use to clean my classroom out to the trusty ol' T000000NDRA, and spent my entire prep period cleaning it all up, freshening it with air fresheners, leaving all the windows down, and taking it for a rapid spin.
19 Your ride always seems slicker, cleaner, and faster when clean. I figured some of the scratches and knicks were memories, so those didn't bother me too much, but by the end of lunch, she shone pretty nicely, at least on the inside.
20 I later tried getting her washed, but when I got to the Shell station over on Capitol, three cars pulled in right before me, just like some ordered cartoon.
21 Clouds gathered as well, so the outside would have to stay a bit weathered, but real.
22 Ah, vell. At least it was nice on the inside!
23 Not that important, I imagine.
24 AnywayZ, I felt nice that I had taken the time to clean and shine the insides of the T000000NDRA, 'cuz it's much more fun to cruise. I looked out towards the Santa Cruz mountains and thought of flying up there after school.
25 Eventually, the bell rang, and I scurried to my room with towels, soap, water, and moist towelettes, and then got back to my lessons. I totally thought that as soon as the final bell rang, that I'd take off to the mountains, just to get away, the way I do.
26 When seventh period rolled around, I looked forward to it. Right as the students entered, I overheard a second comment, the second thing I mentioned earlier that is worthy of repeating.
27 When students enter a class, it is one of the best moments to an experienced teacher. Random comments occur, there is usually a lot of joy among friends, and kids all shout out random things before the bell rings to start the period.
28 I actually overheard a kid say this: "I always thought Farrah Fawcett was an actual faucet."
29 I looked over my glasses to see if this guy was joking, but he was completely sincere. I jumped on my computer instantly to share that tidbit with the world. Unfortunately, Facebook was down, so I had to wait a bit.
30 The contrast with the student in the morning said just about everything you would need to say about education, and perhaps, growing older gracefully.
31 It was a great moment, because it sort of bookended a rather pleasant day.
32 When school was out, I looked at the sky and decided it was a bit too dark and cloudy to head to the Santa Cruz Mountains, so I called my daughter Nicole to see if she would like to work out.
33 Turned out that BOTH Nicole and Caitlin wanted to work out, so I hurried home, got a phone call from a friend who said, "Dude. Have you seen the sky in the West? Beautiful sunset. We oughta go to Santa Cruz!"
34 Haha, ain't that just how it works? I told her thanks, but I was headed for the gym.
35 All three of us piled into the shiny new T000000NDRA. I turned the key, and it lit up and then everything went dead. I tried a second time, and she roared like a lion! We flew to the gym in my Disney ride, and had us a grand workout.
36 The book I was reading had a passage in it by a lighting designer for KISS, which I'll probably share with you tomorrow. It made the workout seem like five minutes. All my muscles started twitching, and I felt my entire body come alive, which happens on certain gym days. It felt great!
37 When we got out, the night was cool but balmy, the T000000NDRA stood under a tree right near an open baseball field, and it was all quite peaceful. Nice night.
38 I turned the key.
39 Blackness.
40 I tried again.
41 Blackness.
42 The T000000NDRA was dead.
43 Fortunately, my daughters decided to take care of the situation. Caitlin is a take-charge sort, and said, "Give me your Triple A card; I'll handle this!" Haha, I was only happy to. When she called, I looked in the basketball courts at the gym. I always like to measure up the skills of the guys on the court, and figured I could have outplayed half the guys there.
44 Fortunately for my ankles, I had a car down.
45 It seemed like forever before the guy got there. None of us had brought cell phones, so it was pretty nerve-wracking. Fortunately Helene showed up with my cell, and took Nicole home. Caitlin and I stayed 'til what seemed midnight. The guy finally arrived, and had all sorts of issues with wires and plugs, but eventually, we got home.
46 All that in one day. Right now my battery is sitting without tie-downs, the ground wire is connected randomly, and there is still corrosion on the battery clamps, but theT000000NDRA is all polished and ready to ride. It was just such an ORDEAL.
47 The entire time I thought, "What if this had happened in the rain? What if this had happened in the middle of the freeway?" And on and on. I have learned to count my blessings, more and more, every single day, and in every single way.
48 Do that at some point this fine morning.
49 Take a moment to count your blessings. ////////////// I did, and just shared it. 50 Have a lovely day.
50 Peace.
~H~
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