Miss Paul, bully.

Call me narcissistic, but I like to put myself into all of my students vocabulary quizzes. All as extra credit, of course, but I like to ask questions that I think they should know. For example, last time, was "What is the best class at MJH? Answer carefully." Obviously, it's my class. Most got the point. If they put Mr. Dipo, no way, jose. More on Mr. Dipo in the future.
Today, one of the questions was, "What are two things Miss Paul likes to do?" Really? I tell stories all. the. time. Most of them are about me, doing things I like to do. Shouldn't be too hard to throw out an idea and see if I like it. I even gave the girl who wrote "bike" the point because, well, she's just so sweet.
The overwhelming responses were reading, teaching, singing and dancing. Not a real shocker. Some random responses were, "work in her garden and sit on her porch," which after reading, I yelled, "Victor*! I don't have a garden OR a porch!" He responded that it was just a guess. I gave it to him because I would like to have a porch to sit on. Another favorite response from my 3b period in particular was "bowling," as I had just told them the story of my big 117 point game last night. They were excited for me. Except for that one kid (there's one in every class of every school--you know who s/he is) who says, "one time I got like 175." Sure you did.
But one student left a response that I laughed out loud at. It said, "bullying and teaching." "Louise*! I do not like bullying!" and she laughed sheepishly and said, "Oh, I spelled it wrong." Bowling. Easy mistake.
What she doesn't know is that I get great pleasure out of bullying. Just ask Tracie. Or Laura. Or Erik. Not Alan because he was more of a bully than I was.

PS Laura, I told one of my classes the "gum incident" story and they all said I was so rude. They just didn't realize how disgusting it was. I'd do it again tomorrow. Please don't make me.
PPS *all names of students will be changed because I don't want to be sued.

T-Pain Tuesday

Hey Anne, how do you spell freckles?

Tracie Tuesday + Ode to the 9 volt.

So Tuesday's are generally a good day. Not only do I get to see gems like the one above, but I get to go to bowling. It's a good time. I am still improving, last week my best game was a 94, this week it was a 95. Every pin counts.
But the best part about this week was that one time when I almost won $107 in "Strike it Rich". You can buy raffle tickets for $.25/ticket and they draw a ticket to bowl. If that person gets a strike, they win the pot. If nobody gets a strike after three tickets are drawn, it rolls over to the next week. This was the third week so not only was the pot higher, but they draw until someone rolls a strike. It was nobody's night. It was unfathomable (vocab word) to everyone who'd been there for years because this had never happened before. Finally, one of my tickets was called. I shrieked like I'd automatically won. And then I proceeded to roll a gutter ball. I blame it on the adrenaline. It was crazy high. Oh well, maybe next time.
Go, Hot Tamales (not Tomales)!!

Things you'll hear or see at a jr. high dance.

Boy to girl: my friend says that he thinks you should kiss me.
Girl's friend: yeah, do it! Kiss him!
Boy shrugs shoulders, like, well?
Girl pauses, hesitates, obviously doesn't want to kiss boy 1.
Girl's friend encourages again.
Miss Paul starts to poke girl on shoulder to tell her how stupid the idea is.
Boy and girl kiss.
They turn and walk away in two different directions.

Pushing, screaming, running, attacking, hugging, everywhere there is hugging.

Overheard but the culprits were not seen, "Stop touching my boobs!"

Boy and girl seen in hard core make out session. Ms. Ungricht walks over to couple and informs them they need to suck face outside. Boy and girl are then separated and placed in different parts of the gym.

More running. More pushing. More hugging. If only the sound system was working better, we could have had a real soundtrack to the event.

Tracie Tuesday!!

I heart Music.

I do, I really do. I love that songs can trigger memories like nothing else. One of the groups that triggers such memories is Colors. I vividly remember first hearing them at orientation at Snow College in 1998. They performed several times in the two years I was down there and I went to every one. I had them sign cd's and I dreamed of marrying Russ. He was hot. I guess he still is, but he's married now so I'm over it. We would sing and dance and it was always number one in the road trip playlist (is that one word?). Good, good times were had while listening to one or all of their three cd's.
My roommate Christina told me that they were doing a concert on September 11 at the Sandy Amphitheater and I jumped at the chance to replace her husband as her date. We had amazing seats and it was so weird to be listening to them play and sitting down. But everybody else was and I find that now that I'm 30 I conform a lot more. I couldn't handle it anymore by the last song though and had to dance. They haven't lost anything in their music skills and I found myself commenting to Christina more than once that I didn't remember them being that funny. They played some new songs, which are also awesome, but I really loved hearing the old ones. Undoubtedly, one of the coolest moments of the night was when they paid tribute to 9/11 by singing the national anthem. It was beautiful and so touching to see so many people standing and singing along in respect. I was so so glad I went! Thanks again, Christina (and Aaron for getting the tickets!)!

The guy that opened for Colors is named Ryan Innes. Oh my word, does that man have some pipes!! They kept talking about the "soul" in his music, and really, it was phenomenal. I love the description written on his page:
Ryan Innes has always been one for breaking the ice. From his newsboy cap to his bold kicks, his personal style makes him “fat and sassy”, but it is his wit and boldness that will make you fall in love. With a laugh that melts your heart and a beard that claims it, Ryan Innes has created his own brand of soul. If Michael Buble and Joni Mitchell had a love child raised by Jimi Hendrix and babysat by Norah Jones, that child would be Ryan Innes. His self-titled EP tastes like dark chocolate, smells like musk, and feels like silk. Ryan’s voice will dig deep into your memories and help you release emotions long repressed in a way that is new and inspiring. Not only is his skill as a vocalist impeccable, but his ability to express emotion is the difference he brings to the table—then serves with a side of pie. His lyrics are infused with familiarity reminiscent of your mother’s lullabies. In Beautiful Baby he says “when you give what you’ve got, a little is a lot” and truly, Ryan Innes has given “what [he’s] got”. His is a talent you hear once in a few lifetimes. His music makes you want to love harder, hurt deeper, and let go of all your inhibitions, leaving you speechless—until you learn the words well enough to sing along. -Ashlie Lohner
Babysat by Norah Jones. . .hilarious. Really, though. AMAZING. And not just because he's single. I feel a new crush coming on. It's been a while.

I want this in a poster.