Some people from FSC went down to Gilpin Court this evening to help run some games at a carnival sponsored by a local church. As they told us many time, they do NOT celebrate Halloween and this was by no means a Halloween party. But hey, today is Halloween and that’s where I was, so I had Halloween in Gilpin Court.
We had planned on doing this for a while. Ross and I are always talking about how people need to get involved in all parts of the city, and here we had an opportunity to practice what we preach. I totally didn’t want to go. I had so much work to do and just wanted to stay home, watch MTV and knit. But no, we went.
Ross, MattWhite, and I piled into the car and drove down to Gilpin Court. We left at 5:15 and it took us an hour to find where we were going. I don’t know if you’ve ever *been* to Gilpin Court, but I just know that every ounce of my suburban upbringing was pushing to the front of my brain, telling me to get the mess out of there. But, we pressed on and figured out where we were supposed to be.
The boys manned the Dodge Ball game, while Jennifer, Georgia sans Child (not to be confused with Georgia with Child), and I took over the “Krazy Kans” game. I have no idea why it couldn’t just be called “Crazy Cans.” Maybe spelling it correctly wouldn’t be crazy enough. Anyway, it was just a simple game where we set up three wooden bottles (not cans, strangely enough) and people tried to knock them over with beanbags. Simple, right? Or how about THE MOST FUN AND POPULAR GAME EVER. The people were OBESESSED with this game, or else they just thought Jennifer was pretty, cause she was the one passing out the beanbags. Either way, we were a hit. There were toddlers that wanted to play over and over again (maybe because we would make the bottles fall down whenever they played) and even a grandmother who must have played 15 times. It was great.
So, by the end of the night, I was so glad I went. We were blessed with excellent weather and a very strong and visible police presence who kept everyone there under control and kept the rif-raff to a minimum. It was great to spend an evening watching those kids have some good, clean fun. I hope we get to help out with something like that again soon.
I saw Matthew and Morgan last night when Matthew was getting a super discount on our new phones. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen these together, but they are super cute and both seem to be so secure in their relationship. I mean, I don’t know if/how much they fight or whatever, but they seem to genuinely enjoy being around each other. Anyway, it makes me wonder how Ross and I seem to other people. We talk about all the time about how we are the *most* obnoxious people we know, but we also think we are incredibly hilarious.
And so, as any normal person would do, I shall turn to The Rolling Stones…
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need
Oh yeah, hey hey hey, oh…
Thanks, Mick.
Let’s be festive! What with Halloween coming tomorrow, tell me what things scare the CRAP out of you. Here are a few of mine:
1. Vampires. Hands down, the things that scare me more than anything else.
2. Birds.
3. The movie “Stir of Echoes” starring Kevin Bacon. It came out the same time as The Sixth Sense, so no one saw it but me. And I almost died.
4. Things getting poked into my eyes.
5. Babydolls-especially the ones that have the eyes that open and close. Buuuuuh.
I started today with a very frustrating conference. I have an adorable little girl in my class who has failed math every nine weeks for the passed three years. She squeaks by in her other subjects with D’s, but I guess since she’s not a behavior problem and doesn’t stand out, her other teachers have just scooted her along to the next grade, assuming that she’ll catch on eventually.
I met with her mother today (who, btw, was supposed to meet me at school yesterday afternoon, but never showed) and we talked about her daughter’s progress, or lack thereof. Her daughter has already been tested for a learning disability, but nothing came of it because she doesn’t *have* a disability, she’s just got major gaps in her learning. Even though she is in fifth grade, she reads at a third grade level. She doesn’t know any of her math facts at all. After scouring her records last night, I decided that my recommendation would be that we move her back to fourth grade. I consulted my mentor teacher, who agreed with me completely.
After giving the mother the facts, the mother went on and on about how she told her daughter’s teachers years ago that she didn’t have her basics and it didn’t make sense for her to move on to another grade, but they said no. First of all, I know that’s a lie because I talked to her other teachers. So, I went on and made my recommendation that we put her in fourth grade to give her six months to build up those skills before coming back to fifth grade and moving on to middle school where NO extra help is offered. The mother gave me a look saying, “How dare you even suggest that,” then back-pedaled like you would not believe. She said that she thought holding children back was bad for them socially and she thought her daughter would just completely shut down if we did that. I then made it clear that our Assistant Principal would not let her pass fifth grade if she didn’t have certain skills by the end of the year. I asked her which would be more damaging: Failing a grade or having your parent and teachers choose to put you in a grade where you can be successful because they are teaching at your level. I understand that the initial move back would sting some, but I would think getting all F’s for the fourth year in a row would sting a little more.
After much back and forth over this, the mother said that she was going to help her more at home. This, after saying that she only sees her daughter twice a week because of her job. I asked how she was going to help her if she only sees her twice a week, and she said she was going to cut back on time at work. Right. So, we’re left right back where we started, with a poor little girl who can’t keep up, me with my heart breaking over the fact that I know this girl is going to be behind for the rest of her life, and her mother more concerned with own pride than her daughter’s success. Dammit.
As I peered in the mirror on the 25th anniversary of my birth, I noticed two things: a large blemish on my chin, and that the eyelid of my left eye is starting to droop more-so than the right. It’s as if God is saying, “Congratulations! You are not too old for acne, and not too young for wrinkles! Happy birthday, my child!” Seriously, though, the eye thing is freaking me out.
Last night was my birthday celebration. I picked Ross up from work and we headed over to the Hill Café for some dinner. Because I’m now incapable of remembering things since I’m so old, I had forgotten about the traffic mess that was interstate 95 and we were forced to find an ass-backwards way of getting to dinner. We ended up on the other side of the river. I was tired, hungry, and caught in traffic. None of these things are good for me to be. So, Ross decided that we should stop at Legend at get a drink and some snackies until things cleared up. I ordered a drink because I don’t do beer, and we shared some crab/spinach dip sans the spinach because of the E.Coli. Just plain crab is fine by me. I had my drink pretty fast and I was feeling much better. Keep in mind that I rarely drink and one will send me to bed for the night.
Thanks to Ross’s unmatched navigation skills we finally made it to the Hill Café, only after we were chased by a fire engine and I declared it ridiculous that “Fasmart” has no “T” in it, like they have no time to wait for the lazy-ass “T” to catch up, so they’re outta here. As Ross was escaping the fire engine, I kept calling “Fassssmaaart” out of the window. Ross didn’t seem to think that was a good idea. Whatever it was my birthday.
Once in the restaurant, we settled in, ate some food, and I had some more drinks. I was in the middle of a sentence about how much I love Alicia Farrell’s blog when I started to feel the effects of the spirits I had partaken in. I don’t think I ever finished the sentence.
I remember making some phone calls in the car on the way home. I may have left somemessages. Funny how people called me back *immediately* when they got those messages. I remember Stephanie saying that she loves Drunk Valerie, Jennifer being very nice, my brother telling me he was going to save the message I had left him, and MattWhite not being convinced by my impression of Ross. I’m kind of nervous about seeing these people again.
Answer: Everyone!!!!!!!!!
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWwooooohooooooooooo!!!!!!
People in the education world are all in a tizzy over this. Apparently in Fort Worth, Texas, school are teaching kids to fight back if a gunman comes into the room. They are being told to throw books, binders, anything they can find, at his head, and even rush at him if necessary.
In our school system, a gunman entering the school is considered a code blue. I won’t go into what we actually do during a code blue because who knows what crrrrrazies read this page, but we definitely don’t throw anything or even move at all. After reading this article, I’m wondering if that’s the best choice.
This is not to say that I’m all for my children running at armed people. But, I mean, if you were going to invade a school, wouldn’t you choose the one where the kids do what you say over the one where you going to get body slammed by 30 children each weight approximately 75 lbs. and a teacher weighing 130 lbs? It’s a sticky choice. Part of the current implications of being a teacher (at least in my mind) is that you would risk your life to protect your kids. If it’s between one of them or me taking a bullet, I’d throw myself in front of them to take it. But, unfortunately, that scenario seems a bit more likely now. Maybe teaching the kids to fight back would keep us from having to make that choice.
Any thoughts?
