I'm a bit of a hypocrite. I spent two years getting a master's, focusing half of that time on getting certification to be a reading specialist. It was pretty much one year of hearing "Kids need to read read read read read read read" to become better readers. I feel like with that certification under my belt, I should be a huge reader. But I'm not. I have a "reading season," which is generally from about June through early September, depending on the weather--I like reading outside. So far, since I finished my regular teaching in June, I've read 6 books, which is considerably greater than the mere two or three books that I read for pleasure through last fall, winter, and early spring. The problem is that everytime I try reading inside, there are way too many other things to distract me, or the couch is too comfy and I wake up an hour and a half later. Another problem is that I was so totally turned off from reading during high school. I don't like being forced to read something.
Anyway. I know I'm not a ravenous reader at the time being. And I actually kind of thought I generally read less than a lot of people. Maybe I just have really smart friends? But this article completely shocked me. One in four adults didn't read a single book last year?! That fact alone made me think about how dumb our country is, but a few quotes in the article hammered that idea home:
"Fiction just doesn't interest me," said Bob Ryan, 41, who works for a construction company in Guntersville, Alabama. "If I'm going to get a story, I'll get a movie."
"I just get sleepy when I read," said Richard Bustos of Dallas, Texas. Bustos, a 34-year-old project manager for a telecommunications company, said he had not read any books in the last year and would rather spend time in his backyard pool.
On another subject completely, I chugged an iced coffee at 5pm today, severely breaking my "No coffee after 12pm" rule, as well as my "Coffee needs to be sipped slowly through the course of several hours" rule. Around 6 tonight, my hands were shaking, I was sweating all over, and my legs needed to be moving to a rhythm that matched my heart rate. Bill and I walked to Harvard square and back so I'd be able to sit at dinner without looking like an antsy four year old. It was ugly. And, nearly 7 hours later, I have a feeling I won't be falling asleep anytime soon.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Ballz
Hooray for vacation! The weather's been lousy so far. But I always feel like I should be outside and active when it's nice out during the summer, so it's been really nice to be mostly lazy for a few days. I've been reading a lot, and it's making me feel really smart. I've also done a fair amount of shopping. I picked up new sneakers, which I think look fast. I'm going to test them out tomorrow morning. I'm hoping all of a sudden I can run a 19 minute 5k. They're magic shoes.
I've also done my share of drinking. I played Taboo in a bar, and Caitlin and I lost a beirut game to a pair of 22 year olds, making me feel very old and useless.
I went to what was perhaps my favorite Sox game so far last Friday. It started off great because it was a makeup game from the first weekend of the season, and it was a one o'clock game so I got to skip the last day of summer school. I told them it was a "family celebration." Which was sort of true, right? The whole afternoon was much sweeter knowing that I should have been working. The day was great. We had amazing seats on the third base line. The weather was perfect, sunny and not too hot. I got to see Manny up close:
And I got to see Papelbon pitch. He's southern, but cute:
During the 6th or 7th inning, I looked up, and the jumbotron even said "The Red Sox welcome the Gross family to Fenway Park." I know it wasn't us, but it was still neat.
But the best part was during the 8th inning. We were all hoping that we'd get some foul balls in the seats we had (my dad wanted to bring his glove, but I told him he'd look dumb. I had to have the same talk with my mom, who wanted to wear a fanny pack instead of bringing her purse). At the bottom of the 8th, David Ortiz hit a really high foul ball. It was up in the air, and seemed to be headed directly toward us. As it was racing back to Earth, I knew right then that was how I was going to die. So naturally, I ducked behind my dad and screamed "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD." When I opened my eyes, it had landed on Caitlin's seat (she had also instinctively moved out of its path), so I grabbed it, along with two or three men. I yelled "I have it I have it!" and the other guys eventually let go, and I looked and realized I had David Ortiz's ball!
My mom took this picture right after I got it. You can't tell, but I shook for a solid 15 minutes after.
You can however see the big man in the red jersey behind me, who was pretty pissed that I got the ball. When the kids behind me wanted to hold the ball, he said that you could probably see his fingerprints on it.
And here it is!
I have a very exciting hump day planned for tomorrow. I think I might have a lunch date with Kate, and if so, I plan on stopping off at the Apple Store to touch an iPhone. I've also decided I miss having actual photo albums (that aren't online), so I'm going to get a lot of pictures printed out. I should get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be exhausting.
I've also done my share of drinking. I played Taboo in a bar, and Caitlin and I lost a beirut game to a pair of 22 year olds, making me feel very old and useless.
I went to what was perhaps my favorite Sox game so far last Friday. It started off great because it was a makeup game from the first weekend of the season, and it was a one o'clock game so I got to skip the last day of summer school. I told them it was a "family celebration." Which was sort of true, right? The whole afternoon was much sweeter knowing that I should have been working. The day was great. We had amazing seats on the third base line. The weather was perfect, sunny and not too hot. I got to see Manny up close:
And I got to see Papelbon pitch. He's southern, but cute:
During the 6th or 7th inning, I looked up, and the jumbotron even said "The Red Sox welcome the Gross family to Fenway Park." I know it wasn't us, but it was still neat.
But the best part was during the 8th inning. We were all hoping that we'd get some foul balls in the seats we had (my dad wanted to bring his glove, but I told him he'd look dumb. I had to have the same talk with my mom, who wanted to wear a fanny pack instead of bringing her purse). At the bottom of the 8th, David Ortiz hit a really high foul ball. It was up in the air, and seemed to be headed directly toward us. As it was racing back to Earth, I knew right then that was how I was going to die. So naturally, I ducked behind my dad and screamed "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD." When I opened my eyes, it had landed on Caitlin's seat (she had also instinctively moved out of its path), so I grabbed it, along with two or three men. I yelled "I have it I have it!" and the other guys eventually let go, and I looked and realized I had David Ortiz's ball!
My mom took this picture right after I got it. You can't tell, but I shook for a solid 15 minutes after.
You can however see the big man in the red jersey behind me, who was pretty pissed that I got the ball. When the kids behind me wanted to hold the ball, he said that you could probably see his fingerprints on it.
And here it is!
I have a very exciting hump day planned for tomorrow. I think I might have a lunch date with Kate, and if so, I plan on stopping off at the Apple Store to touch an iPhone. I've also decided I miss having actual photo albums (that aren't online), so I'm going to get a lot of pictures printed out. I should get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be exhausting.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Remix
I've got this boy in my class this summer who I'll call Teddy. Teddy's 11, he's very cute, and he likes to have the back of his neck scratched. He likes Barney, Sesame Street, and he LOVES Teletubbies. He is crazy about meatballs and chicken. Teddy is definitely autistic though. He has a pretty hardcore obsession with watching people walk in flip flops, and he has just a few phrases that he says. This summer he's been working on things like counting how many spoons are in a pile, or sorting out pictures of girls, boys, and himself.
But Teddy is pretty amazing on the computer. Still, I was completely shocked on Monday when Teddy was using up his free choice time on the computer, and all of a sudden I heard a song that was not at all like the sesame street songs I usually hear him playing. I went over to find out what he was doing, and saw that Teddy had gone onto Youtube, and found this:
Teddy was extremely thrilled with himself, as were two other kids, who looked on, mesmorized, at the jackpot that Teddy had found online. Since then, all week, anytime Teddy earned computer time, he's been on youtube, searching out teletubbies. I've caught him finding Teletubbies videos that range from "YMCA" to "Shake That Ass Bitch," which sadly I had to ask him to turn off. It was awfully good though.
But Teddy is pretty amazing on the computer. Still, I was completely shocked on Monday when Teddy was using up his free choice time on the computer, and all of a sudden I heard a song that was not at all like the sesame street songs I usually hear him playing. I went over to find out what he was doing, and saw that Teddy had gone onto Youtube, and found this:
Teddy was extremely thrilled with himself, as were two other kids, who looked on, mesmorized, at the jackpot that Teddy had found online. Since then, all week, anytime Teddy earned computer time, he's been on youtube, searching out teletubbies. I've caught him finding Teletubbies videos that range from "YMCA" to "Shake That Ass Bitch," which sadly I had to ask him to turn off. It was awfully good though.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Annnnnd....
A very Happy Birthday to Ms. Caitlin Melia, who turns a whopping 25 today. That's a pretty high number, but I'm happy to report that Caitlin is aging well. Caitlin is one of the most dependable, trustworthy people that you could ask for as a friend, plus she can tell you which nuts have the most protein! (You'd never guess the answer...)
Happy birthday!!
Happy birthday!!
There is freedom within
What a great weekend. I kicked it off by taking Friday off to go to a surprise "Ladies Luncheon" for my aunt's 65th birthday. And that kind of blew, but it was nice to get a day off from the biter trying to pull my hair. Doesn't she know it messes up the curls?
On Saturday, I went to Caitlin's dad's 50th birthday bash, which just reminded me how lame my family is. It was pretty nice sitting around, chatting with the Medway girls for hours, sipping on Sam Summers and chowing down on good bbq food.
We're a pretty hot group.
And Sunday I did a little reading in my pool lounger, and then headed off to a Pete Yorn concert! Pete was, once again, amazing. But it was way different from the other PY concert I went to, and it was all due to the fact that Pete Yorn opened for Crowded House. Don't know them? Sure you do. They had the 80s one-hit-wonder, "Hey now, HEEEEY NOW, don't dream it's over..." So, Kate and I were easily one of the youngest people, and enjoyed being in the company of people in their 40s and 50s who were thrilled to relive their 20s and 30s for once magical evening.
Here's Pete. Our seats were awesome, but my camera isnt:
Look! He's playing his harmonica in a song I really like.
Here's Crowded House, singing I song I didn't know:
We sat there in our chairs, drinking $8 beers during the Crowded House portion of the evening, while people that were our parents' contemporaries were standing up, singing along, and giving us mean glances like they wanted us to stop saying bad things about their favorite band, or at least use quieter voices. Oddly, they didn't seem to appreciate each time Crowded House began the introduction to a new song, which we of course didn't know, and Kate and I just started singing:
Kate:"There is freedom within..."
Me:"There is freedom without..."
Together!: "Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup."
I don't even get what the lyrics mean. But Kate tells me it's about the Berlin Wall going down?
Then the night changed when they played "Don't dream it's over," and we were definitely not ashamed to stand up and sing along. The Australian group of guys sitting near us, who thought that Crowded House, being that they're an Australian band, were just about the coolest thing ever, turned around during our favorite song and asked if we were huge fans. So we got a picture with one of them. His neck was thicker than my leg.
Here's Kate, singing along:
Don't laugh. If you were there, you would've sung along as well. It was pretty awesome.
BUT. The best part of the weekend was finding out Saturday night that my brother and Katherine got engaged!! I am so happy for them, but wish that they would move up their wedding plans to like, September. That's not too much to ask now, is it? Anyway, congrats Eric & Katherine!! I need some updated pictures of you I realized.
On Saturday, I went to Caitlin's dad's 50th birthday bash, which just reminded me how lame my family is. It was pretty nice sitting around, chatting with the Medway girls for hours, sipping on Sam Summers and chowing down on good bbq food.
We're a pretty hot group.
And Sunday I did a little reading in my pool lounger, and then headed off to a Pete Yorn concert! Pete was, once again, amazing. But it was way different from the other PY concert I went to, and it was all due to the fact that Pete Yorn opened for Crowded House. Don't know them? Sure you do. They had the 80s one-hit-wonder, "Hey now, HEEEEY NOW, don't dream it's over..." So, Kate and I were easily one of the youngest people, and enjoyed being in the company of people in their 40s and 50s who were thrilled to relive their 20s and 30s for once magical evening.
Here's Pete. Our seats were awesome, but my camera isnt:
Look! He's playing his harmonica in a song I really like.
Here's Crowded House, singing I song I didn't know:
We sat there in our chairs, drinking $8 beers during the Crowded House portion of the evening, while people that were our parents' contemporaries were standing up, singing along, and giving us mean glances like they wanted us to stop saying bad things about their favorite band, or at least use quieter voices. Oddly, they didn't seem to appreciate each time Crowded House began the introduction to a new song, which we of course didn't know, and Kate and I just started singing:
Kate:"There is freedom within..."
Me:"There is freedom without..."
Together!: "Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup."
I don't even get what the lyrics mean. But Kate tells me it's about the Berlin Wall going down?
Then the night changed when they played "Don't dream it's over," and we were definitely not ashamed to stand up and sing along. The Australian group of guys sitting near us, who thought that Crowded House, being that they're an Australian band, were just about the coolest thing ever, turned around during our favorite song and asked if we were huge fans. So we got a picture with one of them. His neck was thicker than my leg.
Here's Kate, singing along:
Don't laugh. If you were there, you would've sung along as well. It was pretty awesome.
BUT. The best part of the weekend was finding out Saturday night that my brother and Katherine got engaged!! I am so happy for them, but wish that they would move up their wedding plans to like, September. That's not too much to ask now, is it? Anyway, congrats Eric & Katherine!! I need some updated pictures of you I realized.
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