I’m taking a break from grading tests to eat a banana. It is delicious. Bananas are best the day before they go bad. Some light brown spots are the key. That’s when the banana is the mushiest and sweetest. Maren likes her bananas still green and stiff so you run the risk of chipping a tooth when eating one. I can’t get on board with that.
It’s a good thing I didn’t write many papers in college at this late hour (1:45 a.m.). I write with the voice of a 5th grader.
I wish to share with you the very weird dream I had this afternoon. Actually, not really. I don’t expect my faithful reader to get anything interesting or entertaining from this post, I just wish to make a record of it so that in a few months I can look back and say, “Man, that was a strange dream”. I was taking a nap on the couch while Sophie was taking her nap. Like all dreams, you will have to forgive the non sequiturs.
Preface:
Before drifting off, I was thinking about a good bonus question for my College Algebra test tomorrow. I think this informs my dream a little. A very little.
Dream:
I’m on some sort of freighter/cruise ship showing some one around. There were four levels (sometimes five) to the ship that could be reached by an elevator. On the second level, we were witnessing a way for an alien and a human to mate. The human male entered some chamber and made a deposit, then exited to the right half of the level (as seen from the profile point of view) and partitioned off from the alien that was clearly trying to eat him. I checked out before watching the alien take part in her? part of the mating process. I was pretty sure something was going to go wrong. So, by myself, I go (naked) back to the elevator and notice there’s a button for a fifth level now.
I’m not sure what button I push, but I’m soon on my way to teach my class. In Arkansas. I’m not sure where, probably nowhere, but it was not any place in Arkansas I was familiar with. That being said, I know that it was a College Algebra class for some college, but class was being held in a separate building for weekend classes. The building looks like just a regular office building at the bottom of a pretty steep hill. The parking lot is up and down the steep hill, and cars park on the slant (where either the driver side or the passenger side is elevated, not the front vs. rear). I go inside to find where my classroom is because today is the first day. I’m still naked, so I am trying to be discrete about this. Thankfully, though the hallway itself was straight, there were many juts and obstructions and twists and turns to hide behind. As I walk by rooms, I check out through the small window who is in the classes. I don’t recognize anyone. Finally, I have a close scare when Dr. Wiederhold (a real-life professor at San Jac) passes nearby taking his class somewhere. They turn upstairs just before getting to my hiding spot. I decide I better find some clothes before finding this room. I go back outside to my truck in the parking lot (which is neither my current truck nor its predecessor, The Moose), return inside clothed and find my room. When I enter the room, there are about 15 students already there, including some real-life current and former students as well as some made up ones. I think two of the made up ones were Russian. I check my watch and it says 5:55 and I freak because I’m not ready for class and I don’t even know when class starts. I ask them, and they tell me 9:30. So I leave to get ready for class. Leaving the parking lot, I notice as I approach the top of the hill, that my brakes aren’t working properly. I turn the truck around and pump the brakes going downhill until I get the brakes working again. They do, and I successfully leave the parking lot this time. As I’m driving down the highway (which is a much different experience in Arkansas than it is in Houston — much more curvier and tree-ier), I find my brakes giving out again when I am simultaneously going downhill and curving to the right while going at a decent speed. Of course, I run off the road into a shallow ditch. I hop out of the truck, surprisingly fine but a little disoriented, hike back to my class to get some help. When I reenter, I am bombarded by questions about the test. (That we’re having on the first day???) I dutifully answer some of them, but it takes me about three questions to get around to asking some of my students for help to get my truck out of the ditch. They all agree enthusiastically.
Of course, this is when I wake up. Meanwhile, I came up with an appropriate bonus question for the test that has nothing to do with the dream.
Maren and I made plans to go on our first date in a long time last night. However, we were sidelined by a little sickness, so we made another go of it tonight. We checked out “The Dark Knight”. I’ve got to say (as someone who doesn’t dislike comic book movies, but thinks they’re usually only okay), it was really good. I won’t go on and on about Heath Ledger’s performance (others have done that for me), but I was more impressed by the story itself and its conversation on heroism.
Plus it was nice to have a night where Maren and I could pretend we were newlywed again.
So there’s this guy in my class that I’ve been working with since the spring. I can’t figure out why he’s not getting it, some obvious things. Tonight, I have my answer. While scouring his tests for clues, I may have discovered the key to it all — he misspelled his own name. And it’s not a hard name.
I mentioned at the beginning of my blog my new love affair with Netflix. Since January, Netflix has dutifully supplied us with a steady diet of the Sopranos. Tonight, Maren and I finished the last five hours of the series. I’m sad to see it over, but this sixth season has been beyond fantastic. From the first season on, I found the series to be consistently good, some seasons better than others, but consistently good. However, because the series came to a close on its own terms, and because I spent six seasons (albeit in seven months) with the characters, the show was able to produce some powerful television because I cared about the fates of Chris, Sil, Bobby, Junior, and even Paulie, as well as the Sopranos themselves. Did the series finale have one of the biggest WTF moments? Of course, but it’s genius in its ambiguity.
My final thoughts:
The first few seasons, I devoured every scene with Tony’s mom Livia. She was a piece of work, and rightfully still central to storylines well past her death.
I can’t count how many times I told Maren “I like Sil”. I could be friends with Sil.
Janice and Paulie could be annoying (some times more than others), but they both had their moments.
Carmela was unbelievable (in a good way) how she could hide the truth from herself at all times.
The relationship between Tony and Chris was…worth watching.
I’m really glad the show dominated the Emmy’s every year. The writing and the acting were always superb. I’ll have to sit down and rewatch the series sometime. At least some of it.
It’s not really a priority in my life, so when my life gets busy and I coincidentally have things worth blogging about, I don’t make time to put those thoughts together for the internet. Tonight should be no different, but I’ve been meaning to get back to my faithful reader.
Unfortunately, I can’t remember all the things worth posting about, but a few highlights:
Sophie is well past Word Explosion and is really living in a suburb called Word Vomit. I have no idea how many words she has now, but she is probably gaining a new word a day. (Today’s word: nice.) Plus, she is emoting with her words, especially with “Okay”, “hurt”, and “I shorry”. Check it out next time you see her.
I taught a new course this summer, MATH 1325 Business Calculus. It was a lot of fun teaching something that wasn’t developmental, but it was a course I’ve never taken, let alone taught. Needless to say, I wasn’t sure what to expect, and the course kicked my ass trying to keep up with the prep. On the whole, though, the class did really well, much better than any of my developmental classes ever have (though I still love them). It’s also the primary reason you haven’t heard from me in a good while.
We took a trip to the Bay Area with the Gibsons and the Kirkseys (no kids). It was a blast. One day I’ll have to sit down and devote an entire post to its highlights.
During Summer II, I’m teaching another course for the first time, MATH 1314 College Algebra. I’ve subbed it a few times, though, so this is going to be easier than Bus. Cal. — hopefully. If you don’t hear from me again, that’s why.
