I don't have time to write anything, since I'm behind as usual, but here's a funny picture of Ben. Don't be intimidated by our utterly original photographic vision and whip-smart, dry sense of humor. We don't think we're superior to you.
Don't try this at home!
And here's another idyllic (to me) scene from Waipio Valley. I wonder if my dream home would still have a rusty tin roof if I pictured it in a dank, weedy city block. Probably not. 
This was the view from our "sleeping loft." I'd follow it with a view of my classroom to make a point, but it would be too depressing.
It's not so bad. Tomorrow begins the sixth-to-the-last week of school. In the past week, I've eaten at eight or nine good restaurants, spent two days that should've been spent at work unrepentantly reading, and enjoyed the adoring benevolence of my Benj. So I will just try to be grateful that I had some nice days off, and not compare them to the asbestos-clogged week on which I now embark.
Also, I could remember how there were termites in the cottage and my allergies made my nose grow two sizes. AND I was constantly afraid of being bitten by a centipede.
My work week ends tomorrow, thanks to the self-granted 4-day weekend. Ben's dad and stepmom are visiting us for 10 days, and we are going away with them for two nights to this place.
Now, this all seemed like a grand idea when it first came about. I've wanted to stay here since Ben and I were planning to sneak away from the booksnore in 2004, and I would show photos of it to everyone at work, all, "Look at where I'm going!" We realized we couldn't afford it, and chose instead to stay in my childhood bedroom.
So I was psyched to stay in this cliffside perch, with its purported sweeping ocean vistas and moonlit hot tub. There's only one bedroom, but a sleeping loft sounds fine! According to the website, four people have stayed here and had a great time. Bring on the backgammon.
Until I watched an episode of Coach over the weekend, and realized, this is a mid-90s sitcom plot waiting to happen.
Hayden and Christine, Kelly and Stuart go off for a ski weekend. They arrive at their cabin, to find (to Hayden's fury) that instead of two bedrooms, it has one bedroom and a sleeping loft. Stuart's humidifier, which he needs to combat the altitude, won't work in the sleeping loft, so he and Kelly get the bedroom. Great tension ensues, and eventually Stuart accidentally locks Coach outside while he's soaking in the hot tub.
This would be way more parallel if we were going away with my parents.But I thought I'd still try to make it work. My dad's not a Big Ten football coach, but he is a dedicated UH Rainbow Warrior fan. His relationship to Ben could totally be blown up to Coach/Stuart proportions. And we could convince our tall friend, Alan, to cut his blondish hair into a tilted bowl cut.
Maybe enough years have passed that I could actually sell the story again to someone in Hollywood.
Guess what? Now I wear glasses!
Pic to come when Ben gets home. This will also be a good chance to show off my Rachel 'do.
Oh, but I only wear the glasses while driving. If I ever go to the movies, I'll wear 'em then too. Maybe now I'll achieve the gravitas and hipness I've long craved.
It's what I need.
Maybe if I posted everyday, I would write with an economy of words, happen upon daily insights, and gain the trust of you, my readers, that checking my site doesn't hold an 80 % risk of being a complete timewaster (there's something about visiting a site that hasn't been updated since 2003 that makes me very, very depressed, and this happens to me a lot as a teacher).
Other reasons why I need discipline:
* I spent Day I of my III-day weekend (Good Friday is a state holiday for some unfathomable reason I will not question) lying in bed unsatisfyingly until IX (I kept having dreams that I needed to wake up), watching the morning news (I detest Matt Lauer with the heat of a thousand balding, overpaid heads), and "helping" Ben at his paper. "Helping" because I was there for III hours, supposedly proofreading, and spent .V (how do you write fractions in Roman numerals?) of them proofreading, II reading a P.D. James novel, and .V picking at my fingernails.
* I've decided to quit junk food (a recent re-addition to my lifestyle after V years of stoicism), but today I both stopped at Wendy's AND bought a pack of powdered sugar donette gems from the gas station.
* I had to be formally observed by a vice-principal this week, and during the period she was there, three students came in late; I had to shout, "Hey, guys! Will you puh-LEASE listen!" at least five times; the same three students left class early without permission; and another ratted on me for selling drugs at recess. Just kidding about the last one. (Somehow, that is a writing "technique" I just can't seem to let go.) She said my lesson was great, but kindly noted that all first-year teachers struggle with classroom management. Yeah, it's the last quarter. I'm starting to realize that.
* I can't even maintain a lame-brained "theme" like Roman numerals for more than two bullet points.
* I can't restrain my use of parentheses (they make it so easy to write a run-on sentence that mirrors my thought process).
* This list sucks and I'm going to go watch Cheap Seats.
Does anyone have any ideas for studying lyrics with a rather remedial class of 11th graders? I promised them this assignment before spring break, and if I don't follow through on Monday, there could be a mutiny. Of course, I told them about it without thinking through how we would study their chosen songs, which are largely about hard core drug use (a 50 Cent ditty about heroin), recreational drug use ("Wrap it Up," a double entendre for both rolling a joint and fornicating), and whatever other kinds of drug use there are, without degenerating into a session of "listening to CDs." (No one in this class has an ipod, thank goodness.)
So, the parameters are: they get to choose their songs, I get to veto the really bad ones, and I need to make them study the words and write about the songs in some way. The goal is to learn that understanding and analyzing how language works can be fun! And you do it everyday without realizing it! And knowledge is power! And if they are inspired to lift me up at an assembly while singing "Lean on Me," so be it.
