WOW!!!

The Daily News

1  WOW!!!

2  That was all I could think last night. What an amazing treat for San Jose Sharks' fans!!!

3  I loved it. I paced around the living room most of the night, but settled in late in the game, and I STILL worried it, to the very end.

4  One for the ages.

5   Total team effort.  

6  I had an "Old Guys Rule" hat I was going to post at the final horn, but it just would never have worked. I prefer the picture above, with Joe Thornton looking like Don Quixote, the Impossible Dream finally a reality.

7  They played as a team. They supported one another, and clicked on all cylinders. Young and old. The San Jose Sharks, ladies and gentlemen, are going to the Stanley Cup playoffs, and with lots of love and teal luck, they'll bring it back to San Jose.

8  It's funny, because last night I wanted to go outside and see a sea of teal and black, and people honking and all that. 

9  I stepped outside. I was in Sacramento. Nobody was outside after the game. I booked it over to Target wearing my San Jose hat. 

10 Nobody said a word. I went to Target because it is open 'til 11 p.m. and I had an opportunity to add a few thousand steps to my daily walking. 

11  I'd love to say I ran into a Target filled with Sharks' crazies, but alas! None to be found. I went over to the sports' merch, just to see what stuff they had. 

12  I could have gotten myself a Kings' hat, or even a Giants' or A's hat.

13  No teal, no zeal. 

14  It was all good. I often forget that I'm situated so far from home. It doesn't seem that far when I drive it, but stuff like this?

15  I could get the Sharks' on the radio, but it is all raspy and crackling.

16  So it was REALLY fun to party with all the classic Sharks' fans that I know. 

17  Most of them know and have loved the Sharks since they arrived in San Jose so many years ago. 

18  Silver anniversary.

19  Wanna feel old?

20  Well don't.

21  I felt like a kid! I also felt like a politician, going on Facebook and liking everyone's comments. I felt like the President, walking through a crowd and kissing teal babies.

22  I couldn't even keep up. Every comment was genuine. People got emotional, and deserved to feel that way.

23  I got homesick. As much as I love living up here in Sac, I miss that sort of thing. 

24  Anyway, what a game, and what a night!

25  I hope to remember this for a long time. I hope I could tell my grandchildren about it some day.

26  Hey.

27  Wait a minute!

28  I CAN tell my grandchildren about it!

29  So I'm with you, San Jo peeps.

30  GREAT fun, and now, the real teal deal.

31  I wrote this all in one sitting.

32  Sometimes that works, and sometimes that works. 

33  I never thought I'd hear myself say this but...

34  I secretly don't care that it is the last day of school for the ESUHSD. The Sharks WON, and are in the big event, AND it is the last day of school.

35  There.

36  Much better. 

37  And this is the second-to the last DN, and the last last-day-of school piece. 

38  I never saw all of this stuff comin'.

39  Ah, actually I did. That's why I got a little caught up yesterday. All apologies. 

40  Moving On, Part One: Well! Happy last day of school! The last day is usually somewhat quiet. The seniors are gone, and finals seem endless.

41  The final bell will ring, a few screams and affirmations will happen, but water sprinklers will also go on, and staff will be asked to move everyone off campus. 

42  That's how it all goes down. The real ceremonies are the banquets and assemblies going into the last day. The last day itself is a line outside the bookroom, a few laughs, and sea gulls. 

43   It all becomes a bit unceremonious. Kids pose for pictures, warm smiles everywhere. Teachers will pose with students, and the day will soon slip into early afternoon. And before long, the parking lots will be mostly empty, with a few staff members talking it along, and that will be that. 

44  And the DN will say a few corny good-byes, and this year, for the first time I shall not have to go through all the rigors of grading finals, cleaning up, getting sign-out sheets signed, and all those other things. I will sit, and remember at home, trying to capture things I will never be able to capture. 

45  And tomorrow I will publish my very last Daily News, after hammering it out for twenty years. It hasn't been online for twenty years, but it will still be twenty years.

46  And I shall end my final Daily News with these words: The Rest is Silence. They are Hamlet's last words, and over the years, when I would finally sign out, turn in my keys, and leave for the summer, I would write those words on the board, have one last look, and then close the door behind me. 

47 Sometimes I wouldn't get everything cleaned up and signed for several days. 

48  I don't put those words up until I am absolutely cleared for summer take-off. 

49  Then they go up.

50  Oh, this nonsense won't disappear altogether. I hope to use Facebook to throw some things out there during the summer, as always. One thing I will probably do is to make a cover page, and an index. The articles shall be archived, but it won't happen over night. So. <breathe>

51  I'm not going anywhere, yet I have enjoyed bringing this goofiness to you over the years. 

52  Some of you have read this stuff since its inception. Others discovered it more recently. 

53  I has always been a kick in the pants, at least for me.  

54  Did I ever have certain people in mind when writing?

55

56  Every single day. Different people all the time. If it feels I was thinking of you at certain times, I probably was. 

57  More to come. To the students: I can only give you the words of the great Carlos Santana: Go out and make it better. 

58  Keep in touch with me on Facebook. You are officially a friend, the second school is out. I can offer editing help to you for life, just don't all of you ask at once, or I'll have to charge. 

59  I'd rather hear about you, and how y'all are doing. Feel free to write, or even to email me. I've one email address that is this: harringtonb9999@yahoo.com. I'm not good at checking that one, but at least you can reach me, and from there, I'll send an email address I check more regularly.

60  With that, congrats for getting through the school year. I miss a lot of you more than you'll know. Do well, and enjoy your well-earned time off. You may officially call me "H", or, if you're more comfortable, "Mr. H." You could call me late for lunch, for all I care. Just feel free to stay in touch.

61  Gottago. It's difficult, but gottago.

62  Go Sharks! Go Warriors too!

63  See you again.

64  Peace. 

~H~

fin.