Taking Over

Susan didn't really invite me to guest blog so I guess you could say I am stealing her space to write.  Hopefully, I will be allowed to sleep in the same bed after this evening instead of shunned to the extremely uncomfortable futon in the basement. 

I have been sitting in the recliner enjoying this break and watching Baylor and Washington make me feel even more lazy (it's currently 53-49 at the start of the 4th quarter) when I got the idea of making sure people knew Susan's blog...or now the Newman blog ;)...is still operational.  It's pretty common this time of year to see countdown lists or assessments of the year in review so I thought it might be good to have a list of some things I heard kids under the age of 16 say this year that were pretty intriguing.  For liability purposes these characters are fictional and any similarities with actual events are purely coincidence.

1) Watching CNN Student News with my homeroom the host signs off for the year saying they will be back in 2012 where the big topic will be the end of the Mayan calendar.  A young lady approaches me and says "The world better not end in 2012...if it does my life will be over".  I just nodded in agreement and smiled.  "I won't even be able to get my license either!!" as she stomped out of the room.

2) A witty young man found a picture in a home design magazine of a short balding man with a scarf sweeping his front porch, while working on a Science project.  He promptly delivered the picture to me as a gift and I asked him why he gave it to me to which he replied "It's you!!"  I said it's not me because I wouldn't wear a scarf and I'm too lazy to sweep the porch.  I posted the picture above my desk.  A week later another young man comes up to check his grades with me and asks if that picture is me.  Of course, I just stared at him until he gave me the look like "clearly that was a dumb question".  I told him I would never wear a scarf.  He responded, "I would never wear one either.  Unless I was one of those rich, single guys with a good job in Chicago.  Then I would definitely wear a scarf."

3) A great kid I enjoyed seeing everyday very much made a mix-tape (CD actually) of a bunch of cheesy songs from the 70s-90s.  I don't know why I consented but I allowed him to play a particular selection (Sylvia's Mother by Dr. Hook, 1972) from the disc every morning to start the day for my first class.  One day I let him play the whole CD during work time.  One of the songs was a Backstreet Boys song that I regretfully admitted I knew the words to then proceeded to name all five of them in front of the class.  This kid asked me how I had this useless knowledge and I told him I had a girlfriend in high school that loved BSB and I had no choice but to like them too.  He laughed and shared the pain by saying how much that "sucked" a girl could push the limits so far.  He then asked what happened to the girlfriend to which I responded..."I married her". 

Honorable Mention: As I lectured to a class full of students about the creation of the Constitution I was discussing the variety of ideas delegates from large and small states had about how to create representation that would benefit all sizes of states.  Whenever you are talking about something so exciting kids' minds tend to wander.  I started getting questions about Rhode Island & Delaware.  One young man wanted to know the population of Rhode Island in 1790 (actually 1787 as the Constitution was being written but I told him the first official census was in 1790 which he found to be a satisfactory starting point) which made me chuckle and I had to use the classic response - "I haven't really dug into that but it might be a good research topic for you".  He seemed truly frustrated that I didn't know.  The next day at the start of class I looked right at him and said "about 80,000".  He looked at me like I was from another plant.  "The population of Rhode Island in 1790 was about 80,000".  His response: "Oh...now you tell me".  He was not impressed, apparently 24 hours is too much of a turnaround. 

I had actually planned to blog with a pretty sentimental piece on Owen's birthday about the events of his birth and my memories as a first time dad.  I might save that one for next year's review.  That is, if Susan doesn't block me from her account permanently.  By the way it's 56-67 (Baylor) with 2:40 left.