The DN

1   Is it fitting that I started writing today's DN last night, just as the ending of Citizen Kane burned across the teevee screen?

2   I'd love to say yes.

3   I had several conversations this week in which different people brought up Citizen Kane.

4   For the life of me I can't remember who, where, when or with whom. For the life of me.

5   I think that's part of the fun of doing what I do. 

6   I work with people who are quick on the draw.

7   Allusions can't fly as high over the heads of the educated. 

8   Interesting stuff in some ways.

9   We throw things out there to students, and a few are able to field them.

10  A majority don't. 

11  Switch to a roomful of bright teachers and they'll seldom miss, and will often smash the serve back in your face. 

12   Keeps you on your toes. 

13   Keeps the job fresh.

14   It's ALWAYS fun when a student catches stuff.

15    Yesterday, for example, I taught the word "wane." It means "to decrease in strength, intensity, etc."  I gave a few blah blah examples, then tossed this into the mix: "If it's waning, you'll need an umbwella."

16

17   ...

18   Moments. 

19   Keeps it all real.

20   They're what we live for.

21   Moving on, Part One: Anybody lookin'?

22   I found myself pulling staples out of my hair last night. I inadvertently ballpointed the Cloud. The Cloud is my new chair/otto combo. Off white. Comforting. A narcoleptic's dream.  It now has a pen mark on it. 

23   Nothing works. Nothing will get it out. 

24   It's this half-inch smile that will forever need a pair of eyes. 

25  It will be there for seven generations, all because some guy didn't write his name on his homework. 

26  I had to stop everything I was doing, walk across the room to an alpha stack of work, pull out one with his name, come back to the Cloud, compare handwriting, and give the guy a grade. 

27   Yes, that's what happens when people don't write their names on their  homework. Five classes, three assignments. You do them one at a time so nothing gets lost, and all gets put into the book. 

28  When I got up, I had forgotten to click my pen closed. 

29  REALLY cheap pen too. You'd think its ink would come right out with a hot rag. I wasn't flying my G2, which I'm certain would have marred that comfy chair beyond recognition. 

30   Instead, I got a cheap imitation, I think at Walgreens. Most pens at Walgreens are cheap imitations of the good ones. 

31   This is not intended to disparage their fine products. 

32   Cheap little pen. Left a smile about this big: ; ) <--------------------------< winky emoticon dude.>

33  I'm so tempted to give it a wink, because it is angled perfectly. 

35   Iono.

36   Should I? 

37   It would increase the sentimentality of the chair a hundred-fold, but it would see to it that the little smile is never going to come off. 

38   What if Walgreen's has some cheap potion that gets out cheap ink-pen ink?

39   Must be late. 

40   I get excited about such things when it gets late. 

41    If it weren't going into the 11 p.m. I'd throw a pizza in the oven right now. 

42   Moving on, Part Two: Boy, the PTA sure did a good job of painting these benches. 
                                                     ---Charlie Brown

43   akjkldjfdkfsdf;dsfkdsfds;fsaf;f;

44   I'm where I was last night, only a bit earlier. I chugged along until I eventually started typing with my eyes closed. 

45   I talked with some students about that during break yesterday. 

46   One girl said that the same thing happened to her, only she fell asleep during a phone call. I commended her. No reason, really.

47   I commented that she must have been talking to a really interesting person. She said the other person had fallen asleep too.

48   Multi-Taskers Я Us. 

49   Two night's ago I literally wrote this folderol with my eyes closed. 

50   It sorta read like it. 

51   I edited a little, but almost everything that published was close to intact. 

52   I had never done that before. 

53   Probably never will again, but I confess it was fun.

54   For one thing I had finished all my school work, which seems endless.

55   I finished last night's load, began this nonsense, and conked out. The excitement overwhelms on occasion.

56   And to think I caught all of it right here on the good ol' DN.

57   Know why?

58    Experience in painting masterpieces. 

59   Well, that's about it for today. Not much, but quite often no news is good news. 

60   Let's keep it that way.

61   No meetings or anything today. Looks like clear sailing.

62   Gottago. See you again.

63   Peace.

~H~

https://thedailynews-h.blogspot.com/

The DN

1   I wish the week went as fast as the weekend.

2   This one flew. 

3   I remember visiting Caitlin and Josh up in Sac, and something about the building of shelves. 

4   I remember going to Home Depot and buying things: pieces of wood and tools and things. 

5   I also remember being up to my ears in papers, pencils, and alligators. I heard the sound of tape measures, voices, drills and saws. I didn't see much. 

6   When you teach, you sometimes carry your desk in your car, and then you carry the entire thing on your back. You see nothing. 

7    In my imagination I walked a pack mule through the hot streets of Laredo.

8    In reality I had a gazillion papers to grade. 

9   Happens. We lose track. We disappear into a dry sea of papers, grades, and names. Our necks ache. Someone pulls us away. We need a laugh. It is essential.

10  We did get goofy and do some guitar and singing on Saturday night. 

11   Watched a little teevee and ate some fun stuff late. 

12   We laughed a lot. 

13   Caitlin opened the closet and everything smelled wonderfully new; it was that carpentry smell of freshly cut wood and new shelves. 

14   She built shelves in her closet.

15    I loved it. I put down the school stuff and we continued to laugh until we got sleepy.

16   I awakened yesterday morning, went outside to watch the sun rise, and hurried back to doing still more school stuff. 

17   At one point Josh and I discussed how cool Batman was.  We talked comics. I loved comic books when I was young.

18   The conversation brought back memories of walking to the Rexall drug store when I was a kid in South City. That small store had THE comic book rack, which squeaked when you turned it. The squeaking became the sounds of magical lands, other dimensions, goofy laughter, and eye-popping comic-book covers. The pages smelled of news print and musty imagination.The effect was magicaI. I checked the rack periodically for new editions of Action, Adventure, Detective, Superman, and nearly all things DC. The early days were DC.

19   Back then we had to walk across our version of a sandlot in order to reach the drug store. Ours was a hard-hit dirt lot with sticky weeds and  chunks of buried cement for bases. They lay crooked, but perfectly packed in and surrounded by hard dirt.

20    That lot of land led to the Colonial Bakery, a small factory that stood a distance away, somewhere along what one might call the right-field line. The roof of the bakery shot steam in the air, but its real joy was the smell of warm bread it sent across the field and through our neighborhood. 

21  On bake days the entire neighborhood smelled of freshly baked bread. 

22   That was usually a cue to take a stroll across the lot, past the bakery, through a sewer or two, and back up a small hill that led to the See's Candy store that stood at the corner of Spruce Avenue and El Camino Real. 

23   The stoplight at that corner had a crosswalk leading straight to the doorway of the Rexall and the rack with what seemed like hundreds of comic books.

24   I would look at all of them, many of which I had already read. If the day were lucky, I would come home with a brand new edition of Adventure Comics, a Porky Pig, and maybe even a Giant Batman Annual.

25   The Giant Annuals were the best purchase for the money. For a quarter, you could get four or five comic books all rolled into one. 

26   Of course they were simply repeats of older ones, but sometimes I'd get lucky and get a few I hadn't read. 

27   If you were a real comic book aficionado. you didn't mind reading the same story over and over. Nothing since has matched it. Maybe nothing ever will. 

28   Moving on, Part One: I knew when I began writing this that I would never have the time to bring that nostalgic past to my kind readers, but the smell of the weeds, the long, lazy walk, the wonderful fresh-baked bread at Colonial, and the final stop all danced through a brain that was becoming blissfully sleepy.

29   It became fun last night Googling around and fishing for the pictures. It became like and Expressionistic '30's film, especially with Batman swinging through oversized puppets in a giant puppet factory, or a half-page close-up of the Joker's smile. 

30    By the end of the night I closed my eyes and typed the remainder of today's DN. 

31  I did so without looking. I wanted to  see the orange and blue Rexall sign, the blackbirds perched on he wires above the town, the hill with the wonderful words South San Francisco The Industrial City facing everybody south of it. 

32   That was my childhood. 

33   It was swell. 

34   I still visit there every couple of weeks. My Dad has to go to dialysis in that same area. I always think of that Rexall, and of all the people I met there: Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Ma and Pa Kent, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, and Alfred the Butler.

35  I would get home and bury my head in those stories, which took me to other worlds. 

36   All this was written with eyes closed. I would open them to make certain I wouldn't have too much editing in the morning, but I didn't care. That's how I wrote this last part last night. 

37   I drifted through a time zone. 

38   The sounds of a Garbo silent danced through my brain. I wrote with Garbo working sound and lights. 

39   It was primal. 

40   I'm not EVEN gonna lie. 

41   My head was literally in a cloud, the Cloud that is my chair.

42   Old music. Strange yet enchanting, like Garbo herself. 

43    I had to do this. 

44   I had to chase the school down the street. When it flew into the sky, I hurled piece of cement at it. It flew off unharmed. 

45   My school became the town bully last week. 

46   I did a dandy job of ignoring it last night, of bringing in blurry memories of the other day and night, and blurred thoughts of the wonderful laughter and love we enjoyed. 

47   Oh and a dreamy walk through the comic-book mists of time. 

48    I gottago. It's morning. I have a Ricky Nelson singing It's Late through my headphones. Last night I had no idea what this stuff would become, but you know? I didn't really care.  

49   I literally wrote it in my  sleep. Here is literally how it ended. This is the uncut version of an exhausted guy falling into a blissful sleep:

50   Take off our shoes. 

51    Kick back and enddddddddddddddddddddddddddddkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

52   I opened my eyes just now and saw the above.

53   I swear to you that's what it said. 

54    Immago now. 

55    Hope this rocked your day. Or gave you a baby Joker's smile at best. 

56    See you again.

57    Peace.

 ~H~

https://thedailynews-h.blogspot.com/

DN 

WINNERS!!!

1   Niners. Good to have you back.

2   Whew. This might have been an historical change this season. Here's the secret mssr. Harbaugh: let Frank Gore have twenty touches and some fire. This is how it should be. I shall say no more. 

3   Moving on, Part One: Broke my all-time record for parents showing to Back-to-School Night. I think my previous high was 63 or something.

4   Triumphant! I kept working and working hard all last week and got a bit frustrated at times. I'm not EVEN gonna lie. I stayed up WAY late. Didn't think anyone was lookin'. I counted the attendees on my sign-in sheets last night.

5   Ninety!!!

6   They were out the door!!! Parental involvement = successful students. No question. I never dreamed I would blast my all-time record. 

7   Pretty high percentage, considering I have around 150 students. That's just some awesome parental support. Nothing is better for students. Nothing.

8   Triumphant night! Not for me, but clearly for the kids I face each day. STRONG showing, and I now have a mighty member of an amazing team!

9    So not only did my Niners return to full strength, in a parallel world, so did I. After a week of frustration and staying up 'til all hours trying to keep things current, we got the parents on board, with full communication. This bodes well for the students. 

10  I'd love to elaborate, but that's the sort of thing that is amazing to the guy who's reporting it. I'll cut it all short, but to a teacher, last night was a victoriously glorious night.

11  For the record, I had my students' magazines displayed like a Tiffany's window at Christmas. 

12  Their amazing variety of styles threw colors, art, creativity, and brilliance through my room. 

13  Lonnnnng day. I worked all afternoon, which met with rewards and laughter. 

14   It lit me up. 


16   Other worldly. It's why we do it. Those moments.

17   On the way home, I popped on some Rolling Stones. 

18   Loud. I'm not even gonna lie. <I usually lie, but tonight I'm not EVEN gonna lie yo.>

19   Hooped in car, started me up some music. Finger pused button. Opening riffs to Brown Sugar, live. 

20   I pulled out of the parking lot early, got away from the school area, and then cranked it up. 

21   That's really fun, especially when you have that feeling of accomplishment. 

22   The trouble was, I hit every single stop signal invented. 

23   I don't know about you, but I turn the radio down at stoplights. 

24    Anybody lookin'?

25   In my instance, I'm way too old to be cranking music. I'm not even gonna lie.

26   AND

27   I'm a teacher. 

28   We're not supposed to be fist-pumping celebration guys. We're little professors with briefcases and glasses. 

29   Once I'm on the freeway, I bust outta that one, especially when I get pumped. I do contain it and I do drive safely, but honestly?

30   I was HALLLLLLA hyphy. 

31   Wow.

32   That was a combo of "HALLLLLLA" and "hyphy."

33   When did it all go South?

34   I've calmed. <breathes. looks around> Anybody lookin'?

35   I'm chill.

36   I had to celebrate, because last night answered all doubts about where things are headed for the rest of the year. 

37  Can't let down. 

38   I've worked hard for my students. 

39   Just about harder than I ever have. 

40   I was exhausted when I got home. I felt like I won the Super Bowl. 

41   Exhausted and exhilarated into the night. Into the crickets. Into the stars. 

42   Great day. Great night.

43    Whew.

44   If any parents read this, well thanks for the support. You have no idea what your support means in terms of success for your kids. 

45   That's a ton of support for your kids. Do teachers get excited about stuff like that? Ah, nah. <hides huge smile>

46   It's all real.

47   I'm tired. It's still last night. 

48   I'm the only guy who cares, can't do much better.

49   I'm tired. 

50   Moving on, Part Two: Timmeh, we hardly knew thee. Last night Giants' fans saw Tim Lincecum possible for the last time in a Giants' uniform. 

51   It's funny. With Zito I didn't care that much. I still clapped for the good things. 

52   I can't picture Timmeh as anything but a Giant.

53   Thanks for the good times. 

54   Tough stuff, I suppose. See ya Timmy. Thanks for the memz. 

55   Done for the night.

56   Have a GREAT day.

57   See you again.

58   Peace.

~H~

https://thedailynews-h.blogspot.com/

The DN

 Say cheese.

1  I had a lot of DN views yesterday. I usually don't bother counting. I just saw that some graph they have showed a rise in readership.

2  Odd, all things considered. I popped that one off after grading things 'til 11 p.m. It was more a distraction than anything else. 

3  Ya never know. 

4   ...and a vun and a two and a... = ) <--------------- <sideways emoticon happy guy>

5   Grades got done. Accurate grades. 

6   World record turnover of huge writing assignments to gradebook. I worked almost five days in a row 'til midnight. Not complaining; I knew that I had done that. Still lived in fear I might not hit the deadline of 4 p.m. yesterday. 

7   My students inspired me. I read a lot about how they never give up, no matter what. 

8   I wasn't sure two night's ago that I could get that all done. 

9   They taught me to push, and to get things done. 

10  They taught me to focus. 

11  I won't bore you with details, but I finished almost three hours before the deadline! Broke my own record. 

12  That was a TON of work. 

13   I destroyed my classroom. 

14   Looks like I created a monster in a sinister lab. 

15   And it broke free, toe up the room, pulled the door off its hinges, and vanished.

16   <sound up. Crowds screaming "Kill the monster!>

17   I walk into that lab this morning. 

18   Major scene change. 

19   I clean what I can. For my classes, I do a story over the mic. This goes 'til school's out for me at two.

20   And then the ultimate: setting the room for Back-to-School Night. Shine up the magazine racks. 

21   Scrub the desks. 

22   Display all 140 magazines, by class. Get food if time. Pho. King. Coffee. Return to school around five. 

23   Get into the men's room, shave and groom. Quick change. 

24   Put out podium, course syllabi, and extra-credit sign-in sheets. Wait bell to sound. Begin BTSN. Sparkle, if possible. 

25   Like that? "Syllabi." Sort of rolls off the tongue. "Syllabi." Is it a silly song to sing to a kid at bedtime? "Syllabi."

26   So scrumptiously Latin. 

27    Uh oh. <looking around> Anybody lookin'?

28

29   Don't tell Stephen King that I used an adverb. He'd kill me. 

30   King is my hero.

31   Best writing teacher ever. 

32   You wouldn't know it if you read this stuff. 

33   Or you might. 

34   Moving On, Part One: I got into this ritual in the past month.

35   Get off work and jet home. 

36   Stop in at Pho Mai # 1 on Landess, hat askew, a copy of King's On Writing in my left hand. Makes a great bookmark.

37   G-2 slipped over envelope. Best pen out there.

38 Never finish reading. Just go in, order hot pho and ice coffee, and skim for excellent advice. Keep re-reading different parts.

39  Write part of quote, or topic <i.e. "disdain for adverbs!"> and page number. 

40   Tilt hat. Image: author who could kill you with a look. Or slice you with a word. 

41   Order pho ritual. Grab tiny sauce bowls. Pour Sriracha and Housin in. Leave bottles out, like sauce sentinels. 

42   Put feet up.

43   Ignore any beautiful wimminz. 

44   Study the art of writing, written by the master. 

45   When steaming pho arrives, add things clockwise, then stir. 

46   Contrary to popular rumor, that doesn't insult the chef. 

47   Note any cool music in the background. Pho Mai # 1 plays standards. La Vie en Rose. Night and Day. As Time Goes By. 

48  Turn everything black and white/sepia mix. 

49   Ignore any beautiful wimminz. The pen is mightier. 

50   Wait for most people to exit. Pay. Leave HUGE tip. Every time you go in, do that. 

51  Thank owners. They rock. 

52   Stop at 76 station on Morrill for an ice cream sandwich. It's the only way to cap a perfect afternoon of pretending to be a writer. 

53  Head home. 

54  Fall off the rails. Awaken. End this fast.

55  Have a GREAT day.

56   Peace.

~H~

https://thedailynews-h.blogspot.com/