Brain Lint, Back to School Edition

Turnabout Is Fair Play

School has started.  We began with a half day, and are taking Friday off, and are heading into a long weekend that will make next week short, too.  There's a lot to do to get the school year rolling, and if this week is terribly inconvenient for parents, well, we can't help that.  And then, as soon as the day ends, I have to bolt for my car to pick up my kid because her preschool isn't offering aftercare for the first week of school because the kids need time to adjust, and I just have to say that this is all terribly difficult to try to juggle her schedule with my schedule and ... oh.  Huh.  Whaddya know. 

An Object Lesson

Just in time to introduce myself to my new crop of students, I got poison ivy on my right arm and knee.  I've spent the past two days standing up in front of rooms full of kiddos, alternating between scratching desperately and trying desperately not to scratch.  (BTW, I've done all the stuff you're supposed to do, the special soaps, the steroid creams, blah blah blah.  For some reason, my skin seems to be particularly sensitive to poison ivy and it takes FOREVER to get rid of it.)  What started out as insect-bite-sized welts and bumps on Monday has transmogrified into a suppurating mass of red, weeping, leathery skin.  Doesn't that sound attractive?  (And do you know how much fun it is to work 'suppurating' into a blog post?  I love that word!  Suppurating!)

Here's the kicker:  Know how I got exposed to this lovely member of Mother Nature's outdoor delights?  Weeding the garden.  That'll teach ME to be a diligent homeowner.  Next time, I'm hiring the guy from the garden center to hack at the crabgrass while I sit on the porch and sip some lemonade.

The Tides of History are Lapping at the Shores of Necessity; Or, Stop Me Before I Analogize Again!

You may not see me around these parts as frequently over the next few weeks.  In addition to needing the time to organize my folders (patterned folders! so cute! much better than the old red-blue-yellow-green options we had for so long), I've become addicted to the 24/7 election news coverage.  So much so that my arm hurts from all the pointing and clicking I've been doing.  Not to mention the fact that the girls basically tear the house apart and fight incessantly when they sense I'm disengaged from them (Is there any sound more piercing than the scream of a toddler frustrated by the complexity of Legos?  No.).  In all honesty, I find myself getting worked up into a fever pitch of anxiety over this coming election.  I won't bother to belabor the point, but the upshot is, I have to take a break from the computer for a little while so I don't obsessively search the web for the latest poll results (up two points! among left-handed cow-herders!  in a swing state!) and work myself into a swivet of either joy or despair, depending on the news.  It's getting to the point where my plans to set up a bulletin board about the candidates with bumper stickers and the like (after all, it's a US History class in an election year) are tentatively on hold, because I'm at the point where I can't be sure I won't go off on a kid who voices an opinion I disagree with.  That is definitely not acceptable.  So after this post, I'm going on a weekend-long, self-imposed news sabbatical, and then if my blood pressure falls back from the "human fountain" range, we'll see.

Having said that, if you've been following events at all, I'd love to know:  What did YOU think of "the speech"?  And what do you think of McCain's Veep pick? (Although, really, her son's name - Trig?  What if she has another kid - will it be called Differential Calculus?) I promise, I won't flame you if you're not on my side of the fence.

Comments

[Laura]

I hear you! I teach 5th grade and we have been all about the Olympics and DNC in the past few weeks. And suddenly, I realize that the Republicans are having their convention next week. I feel an obligation to discuss both sides and to do so fairly. Do I have to actually watch the Republicans in St. Paul? This is going to be a tough one.

I also put my foot down on discussing politics in my classroom. Most of my kids are Obama supporters because their parents are. Well, I'm not going to share my opinions and I've made it clear that I don't want them to share theirs either. It makes for a much calmer classroom for everyone.

[leolabeth]

Yes, I am Queen Obsessed of the Land of the Obsessed People over this election. It hit what I thought would be a fever pitch Friday with the build-up then announcement of Sarah Palin's VP spot. Somehow, I've managed to continue this obsession, though it's more along the what-won't-the-evangelicals-do-to-this-country? tack than poll numbers, through today. Through my sister's triathlon, bending her teammate's wife's ear, through the ride home--even Garrison Keillor was onboard--through what I thought could be a little quiet time and a nap. Nooooo. I must tap and click and comment, oh my.

As for what I think of Palin, it's a moving target. She seems like someone I could admire, I have a weakness for those who manage families and athletic endeavors (the distance running thing, if true) and appear to have some brains. Then she seems like someone worthy of my contempt, all that anti-science nonsense. Good grief, evangelicals really irritate me. Also, all the evidence seems to point to her firing the Public Safety director without cause and that can't be good. (Although it should be for Obama.)

[Cherie]

A columnist compared the choice of Sarah Palin for VP to the nomination of Clarence Thomas for Supreme Court. You know if she were a Democrat, the Republicans would be tearing her to bits over many things including the fact that she has a 4 month old, now that fact that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant, her lack of experience, the fact that she was a beauty queen, etc. etc. One of my main objection is to her lack of belief in science--see where that got us with Bush. Also another issue is that there is no way McCain would have picked her if the Democrats didn't have Hillary and Obama. No way. I really don't want her one heartbeat from the presidency--I don't think she'd be ready.

Obama is a great speaker--and it is a very important quality in a president because it can move people to come together and get something done.

I've been totally obsessed with both Olympics and the DNC convention. I feel like I should give the Republication convention a try... Nah. I'll just watch the Daily Show. Did anyone see the beer commercial one? Very funny.