I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
October 19, 2009 - 3:30 p.m.
It's hard to imagine how much I hate my computer at school and the way they run the IT department. When they trained me to use Blackboard they suggested posting items as pdfs. One problem, they gave me a copy of Word that doesn't have the add-on needed to do that. I tried adding it myself but as I expected I got the "you don't have the privilege to install this software," error message.
I gave a test today. That means I once again got to experience how hard students work at not listening and not thinking. This was my favorite. I told them, "When you are finished fold your graph paper and your test paper in half and insert them into the blue booklet." I supply graph paper but tell them they can use their own. Mine is printed on my computer and is not as good as commercial paper. So what happens? One student hands in his blue booklet but I see in his hand there is graph paper. We had this exchange.
Me: I told you to fold the graph paper in half and put it in the booklet."What could be going on in his head?
Student: It's my own graph paper. (I figured it was an extra sheet but I looked in the book and saw there was no graph paper in it.
Me: There's no graph.
Student: Here it is. (Holding up the sheet I first asked about)
Me: How did you expect me to grade it if you didn't hand it in?
Student: You're right. I should have thought of that.
That's enough about my students. You've heard it all before. Somehow I never get used to it.
Guess what I did during my break. I bought a ticket to see Where the Wild Things Are!. I always say I'm going to go to the movies more but I never do. This time it is playing at the IMAX 7 blocks from my school so I'm going this afternoon. This works out perfectly as I have time to update. Of course I could use the time grading. I won't but I could. Let's see if maybe I can get myself to go to the movies at least once a month. The real problem is I prefer going to the movies with someone. We might not talk during the film but I love talking about it afterwards. I used to go with Carey all the time but now that's difficult as he goes with Barbara and she lives in the City so arranging going becomes a production. I used to just call him up and say, "Want to go to see ____________ today?"
This morning nothing seemed to be wrong on the subway but once again I couldn't get a seat. If I can sit the subway ride can be one of the best parts of my day. I sit and read and listen to music and it's wonderful. I can read standing but it takes too much effort to enjoy. I realized I had enough time to do something about it. I got off at Continental Ave. and got on the V local. That meant switching trains at 47th Street to the D but it also meant not having to walk the half mile from the F station. I got to school only a little later than I usually do. I had time to get breakfast and coffee. I had about 10 minutes less time alone in my office. That's another of the best parts of the day. I love having the office to myself. The rest of the day there are always other teachers around
You know that I'm a loyal WFUV listener and a member. I also listen quite a bit to WNYC the most listened to public station in the country. I finally decided to become a member this year but they now got me angry enough that I changed my mind. First thing they did was buy my favorite classical station WQXR and move it to and inferior place on the dial. I now have trouble getting it driving out on the Island. Then they fired half the QXR announcers. NYC plays classical music at night. What they did was move half of it over to QXR so now I don't have a choice of classical music. Then they moved around their weekend schedule in particular the two shows I never miss, Car Talk and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. NYC is actually two stations AM and FM. They used to broadcast Car Talk at 11 AM on FM and repeat it at Noon on AM. Wait Wait was on at 1 PM on AM and repeated at 11 AM on FM on Sunday. Now the AM and FM broadcasts are at the same time! What good is that? I love the rational they gave, "To make it easier to catch your favorite shows." Yes it is so much easier when there is no choice when to listen. So now I simply don't listen on NYC anymore. I go straight to the shows' websites and listen online. I wrote a letter to them on their website but there is a disclaimer that they can't answer every email. I might have issues with WFUV but they read every email and they give a personal response. WNYC lost a listener and a member.
Since when does Word give a running count of how many words a document has and put it in the status bar? I like that. I've written 934 words. That is just about my target. The film starts at 4:30 and I'd like to get there at 4:00. That gives me half an hour. Should I start my grading? Of course not. That's how I plan to spend tomorrow. I just remembered. I still haven't uploaded today's homework. How did I convert it to a pdf? I gave it to Maggie, the English Dept Admin Asst, she scanned it and emailed it back to me. Rube Goldberg would love it.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018
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Horvendile October 19, 2009
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