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 ...
September 20, 2011 - 10:58 a.m.
It's almost ten. I'm going to start writing. Why do I have so much trouble starting? I love writing Wise Madness. It's the only reason I do it. In effect I'm writing it all day. I always think of how I'll express my thoughts here in electrons. Yet every morning it's a struggle to get started.
Yesterday was Monday. My Facebook status summed it up nicely. "Some Mondays are more Monday than others. Today is very Monday." Seven people "liked" it and four more commented agreeing. I struck a chord.
The days problems started with writing Wise Madness. I spent more time writing it than I budgeted. That happens when there is a lot of media involved. I posted photos and videos. I sometimes call that cheating but it actually takes more time. Finishing that late meant starting breakfast late and eventually leaving for school late. Now I still left myself enough time to get there on time. I'd never leave too late to do that. But I didn't leave a safety margin and that was the problem. There was some problem on the E train so it was rerouted over the F train line and my F train just sat in the tunnel while things were worked out. When I got out I raced to school and found one of the three elevators broken and a load of people waiting for the other two which were both going up so I had to go up the stairs to my office. I got my briefcase then had to go to the other building. I had called the elevator when I got to my floor knowing it would be a long wait and by the time I got back from my office I hoped it wouldn't be a long wait. I actually got that part right. In the end I got to my class late. I ran in and raced to the front apologizing how sorry I was that I was late. One student ignored all this and wanted to show me some video on his computer. I told him, "No," and flew into teaching. I did not get as much done as I had planned but only by one question so it wasn't a disaster.
My next class followed immediately but in the other building so once more I go down the elevator in one building and up the stairs of the other. I get to the floor and all my students are in the hallway. They told me another class was in the room. I had gotten an email telling me that another teacher wanted to switch rooms with me. I said OK but that they had to email the class and let me know if goes through. I was not even told what rooms I was switching to. I should have asked that.
I went to the department office to ask the Admin but he wasn't there. Fortunately the chairman was. She checked on her computer and according to the registrar the switch hadn't been made. I discussed it with the chairmen, very quickly, and decided that if the other teacher gave me a hard time for the day my class would move. She gave me a hard time so I asked her what room her class was in. It was in the brand new building I've never been in that is further away than the building I had just came from. I told the class where we were moving. I of course took the stairs down, this was only the fourth floor. No way I was waiting for a broken elevator. I told the students to do the same but of course many didn't.
When we got to the other building I found that we had to take the elevator. There was a door to a stairwell but it said to not open, it was dangerous. There was a guard there. They were stripping it and turning it into an elevator to the basement. Now it was an empty shaft. There was a straight drop down on the other side of the unlocked door.
The elevators in the new building are very slow. Not only that they are annoying. They talk to you. I realized that is probably an aid to the deaf but it could be far more concise. This babbled. Then addition to babbling it made all sorts of other noises; buzzes and whistled. It drove everyone nuts.
The new building was just converted into classrooms. They didn't gut the building and redesign it. My room was totally unsuited for a class. It was very wide and very shallow. The one good thing is that the entire front wall was a dry erase board. The bad things were because of the shape the students at the end had a lot of trouble reading because of the extreme angle they viewed it at. I had no desk to put my things on. There was no room for one. I had to put my eraser and notes down on a student's desk. The last teacher used a marker that didn't erase well so that made reading even more difficult.
The move spent so much time I didn't finish the lesson. I was not a happy camper. I did amuse the class with my rants as I was waiting for the stragglers to show up. If you heard me rant about Facebook you know what it was like. I was good though. I made a point that though someone screwed up with the room change I don't know who it was. They all thought it was the other teacher. I told her to tell any of my students that came late to go to the other building. They said she wouldn't. They had asked her and she wouldn't tell them anything. She wouldn't talk to them. Now I know her. She isn't mean. She is a bit spacey. She was probably just flustered. I said that I told her to tell other students about the move and she knows me well enough to know that I'd kill her if she didn't. My solution when in doubt is to use senseless violence. I hope they got that I was joking. I certainly got a lot of laughs.
I was a bit frazzled by the end of the class and glad to get back to my office. The elevator was fixed by then. I now had several hours to kill before I went out later that night. I used the time moderately well. I got ahead in my preparation of the Calculus class. That's a class that needs prep time. I haven't taught it in a while and it's hard to come up with problems that work out well.
I also prepared a problem set for my Tech Math class. I did not get ahead in my prep for that though. That's not too bad as I know I'm just going over homework next class. I made a homework sheet to hand out with even more word problems for them to do for Friday. Most were problems form old tests but one is a new one with Phineas and Ferb. You know I love putting that kind of thing into my word problems. The test question will involve Perry the Platypus and Dr. Doofenshmirtz. If you don't know what I'm talking about do some Googling and watch the show.
The reason I was hanging out in my office was because I wanted to see the effervescent Aoife O'Donovan at Rockwood Music Hall. The trip down normally takes me about 20 minutes. It never takes more than half an hour. But never doesn't include very Monday Mondays. It takes two trains to get there but it's a super easy switch. I go to the lower platform and take the first train that gets there, A,C, B, or D to West 4th street and take the F two stops from there. With any of four trains to take the average waiting time is about a minute. When I got down to the platform it was packed. I knew that was trouble. There was an announcement that there was a water main break uptown and the B and D weren't running uptown. But I was going downtown and could take the A or C. Then someone from the MTA came by and said not very clearly that there delays downtown and that if you were going to south ferry to take the 1 train. Well of course you'd take the 1 train there. None of the other trains go there. It didn't help me. Then thinking about I decided to take the 1 train down to to 14th street where there is an awkward transfer to the F, the train I needed. You have to walk an avenue block underground on different levels to make it. The walk takes about 5 minutes.
I went upstairs to the 1 platform and got there just as the train was pulling out. Then that train stopped between stations and sat there. It went slowly the whole trip. The problem was a stalled train on the express tracks so the 2 and 3 were rerouted over 1 tracks. When I got to the F train I reached the platform as a train was pulling out. I got the next F and it was the only train I rode that day that went normally.
This was supposed to be an entry on seeing Aoife and the thoughts she inspired but I've written 1600 words and haven't reached the venue yet. I think I'm going to break this up into two entries and make breakfast in between.
In the end I got to Rockwood just in time for the show but didn't have time for dinner like I planned. The rest of the day went much better so make sure to read about that when I post 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
creative commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Horvendile September 20, 2011
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