(And Rediscovered)

1. Chocolate Cheerios. Food. Of. The. Gods.
2. Getting upset because people don’t care as deeply as you do is pretty much useless.
3. Teenagers from Hooterville can do some pretty amazing art.
4. My tolerance level for Pharisees is inversely proportional to my advancing age.
5. Dogs can teach us volumes about loyalty and unconditional love.
6. If you are looking for some of the meanest girls on the planet, I know where you can find some.
7. Nearly 75% of Droid users are men. Guess that makes me one of the boys. Truth be told, I do wish the Droid was prettier, with softer edges. But it definitely “does.” I’ll take that any day.
8. When you get up at 2 a.m., you’re really really really sleepy at 5:35.

FO

Random Neuron Firings

Apparently, it’s anger management time again for Naomi Campbell, who allegedly roundhoused her limo driver. The Daily News calls her a cantankerous catwalker. HA

Once again, I will climb into the pulpit to laugh out loud at the lunacy: alcohol is legal, but pot isn’t. I don’t have time this morning to opine on that absolutely absurd paradox. The end.

Words I didn’t want to read this morning:

You are a public employee. You are paid with tax dollars. Your salary, retirement, health care, class size, curriculum, subject standards, teacher standards, school calendar, school day, and even school lunches are all decided by politicians. Your livelihood and work conditions depend on politics.  ~North Central Ohio Education Association newsletter article on why I should care about politics

Yay.

So tonight will be a rare evening at home (our varsity men’s basketball team is playing their first tournament game, so I gave everyone the night off). Whatever shall I do? The Thriller is making dinner. That part will be fab.

FO

That’s what they called it at the bobsled/luge track. I understand it was given that name by gold medalist Steve Holcomb, who observed that athletes usually made it around Curve 13 with success only 50 percent of the time. (Guy has a great personal story to tell, also — you should read it.)

Speaking of Canada, it was their goal to “Own the Podium.” While they didn’t do that exactly, they did shine. They ended up with more gold medals than anyone else, which is cool for a host country to claim. Kind of bummed the US gave it up to them in hockey, but that’s sport for ya. Note to Apolo Ohno: holding up seven fingers after your race makes your fellow competitors wish you’d take a header into the wall, not to mention it just reinforces the stereotype of Americans being arrogant jerks. A little integrity and humility, please, for the sake of your country…

But enough of that. Back to me.

I have a 50/50 curve of my own coming up, only unsuccessfully navigating it is not an option. Why are we so demanding of ourselves? Is it our upbringing, as was alluded to in yesterday’s yammering? Fear of failure? Truth be told, it’s not *my* 50/50 as much as it is my students’. But as they say, the captain always goes down with the ship. If they miss some mark, I will bear it.

Still, as with the bobsled athletes, dedicated training has to pay off at some point. I have told my students on several occasions that they are living my vicarious dream: to be onstage again. My hope is that they see that for many of them, the opportunity they enjoy right now is temporary, as none of them will be musical theater majors, and almost all will not perform in musicals past high school. So, making the most of it while they have it is crucial.

And that realization will hopefully help them through the 50/50 curves.

Photo credit: Getty Images

How’d that happen?

Seems like last week when I started this little labor of love. Once in awhile, someone will mention a subject I’ve written about here, and I won’t remember having done it. One day, I will revisit some early stuff and peruse the silliness.

But for now, I say a huge thank you to all my Finkville family for coming back every day or so to read, even if you don’t comment (and you know I wish you would). Many interesting conversations have taken place here over the last two years — I look forward to a few more, as long as I still have stuff to talk about.

And I will.

Gracias por todos,

RF

Say that five times fast without blowing it. Betya can’t.

I know it’s an oxymoron, but today I realized its true importance. I’ve been up since 2:45, see. And while I was lying in the bed, trying to go back to sleep, several unfinished tasks popped into my head. I wanted to write them down because I knew I’d forget them by the time I got to school today — but I had no paper and pen.

Now it’s 4:10 a.m., and, as predicted, I have forgotten the lot. Great.

J’ever do that? Make a mental note to take care of something, then promptly lose the mental note? My sister is a list maker. She never forgets anything. The Thriller just never forgets anything, period. I’ve made lists a few times in the past, then lost them all.

Note to self: search the Droid Market for a free notepad app.

Update (3 minutes after typing above sentence): Downloaded the “Easy Note 2 Do” application. Now if I can just remember to use it…

Is it Saturday yet?

FO