Good morning! It's a yukky day in the northeast as Tink leaves for school late....yes late....late is the new early for her. She operates on "Tink-time." Tink time is 15-20 minutes late on my watch. I have tried working with her and motivating her in any way that I can, but I have failed miserably. I have given her multiple watches and alarm clocks (she has three). I have let her be late thinking that her professor would deduct points or embarrass her. But Tink is a strong one....she will do what she wants to do when she wants to do it...get it?
Speaking of late, I finally have the tree and lights up with Grandmom and Grandpop's help. They were instrumental in helping Tink and me to decorate a very large tree. I must say that Grandmom's eyesight is still pretty good, as I stood on a chair trying to fix the star so that it was not lopsided. There was a point where I finally did not care and if the star was upside down, I was not going to lose any sleep on it. But Grandmom would not let me down from the chair until the star was perfect. Even though I was ready to jump, she kept me up there..."a little to the left...a little to the right...move it lateral.. ..no, no, to the right....too much...left, left, left....." ahhhhhh! And now, the star is perfect, don't touch it or face the wrath of Grandmom!
As I caught up on holiday preparations, I fell behind in my work. And so, today is catch up day. Does this happen to anyone else? As a task is completed, another one comes along and instead of being ahead of the game and sitting back and enjoying the fruits of your labor, you have to jump into another project.... then another....then another...then another....What's the deal? Who designed this life? Don't answer that....as the pressure builds, my mind and body turn to mush. So, it is important for me to keep lists and notes and refer to them on a regular basis to keep me on track.
My students discovered this lack of concentration and ability to stay on track in me last week as they kept changing the subject so that I could not meet the goals of the class. As I was on target, they would ask a huge question like: "Why did God make me?" or "Why aren't there enough minorities represented in health care?" Oy! These are big, philosophical questions that pull me away from the lesson at hand which was scholarly writing! Did I allow myself to move away from topic to reflect on the answers? Sure! They had questions and part of learning is following the flow of thought to develop a philosophy on the subject. I always add time in class for these side discussions which are generally the ones that the students remember. I doubt if they can recall the goals of last week's class versus the results of our discussions based on questions. I guess this is the way that I 'roll' as a teacher....which is a curvy and crooked road to achieving the course's objectives.
I do remember as a kid in Catholic school asking the teacher in second grade two very important questions. Question 1: "If the priest dies during mass, can we leave?" Question 2: "If we hold our hands down instead of up to heaven, will God get our prayer?" She looked at me baffled and sort-of answered the 8 year old question with a "Seriously? are you kidding me kind of look..." And so, I now have the answers to these questions and think that I am much smarter than I was in second grade.
Moving on to college and Mr. Buddy, I heard from him twice yesterday. Both times were to talk to me about a clogged bath tub. Why didn't he ask his dad? I will let you answer that puzzler....anyway, when he got home, he put me on speaker phone to talk him and Angel through the process of de-clogging the tub (by the way, I am awesome at de-clogging the toilet too). Here is how it went:
"The water has not gone down in two days and it is pretty gross...."
"Eww...OK, can you see the drain?"...."No"
"OK, you have to find a bucket or large beer mug and begin to bail the tub out. Make sure you throw the dirty water into either the bathroom sink or outside...When you finish, call me back and we will talk about taking the drain off and using a wire hanger to pull the hair and gunk out..."
They never called me back which tells me that the drain is unclogged and the water flows freely. Problem solved...time for a shower in a very dirty, cruddy, bacteria laden tub...unless, yes, unless, they had the forethought to clean the tub before they used it. What does BP mom think the answer to that is? What do you think....ewww...
Have a great day!
No comments:
Post a Comment