The DN

1  Well this was lofty!

2   A baseball game with ducks, umpires that needed to duck, and ducks on the pond.

3   The Giants' game last night went five hours and twenty-nine minutes.

4  Wacky win, but it worked.

5   It wound up a happy Cinco de Mayo over here.

6   Hope you had all sorts of fun and shenanigans.

7   Moving On, Part One: Long game=short DN.

8   If you don't like it I'll be in my trailer. 

9   <looking around>

10  Anybody lookin'?

11  <crickets>

12   Didn't think so.

13   On that note, I'll duck out.

14

15   Nahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

16   JUST kidding.

17   I AM trying to break the world speed record here.

18  That was one lonnnnnnnng game, and yes, if you missed it we had a mini-delay because of ducks. 

19  That's why we watch this game.

20   Suh-WING batta. Atta babe.

21   Moving On, Part Two: The last few weeks of school become bizarre and distorted, nearly every year. Fortunately we haven't had some of the heat waves of yesteryear. 

22   I'm sure that most everyone in education begins to lose it at one point or another.

23   Each year I tell myself this: Nothing is real.

24   And nothing to get hung about.

25   I really forgot to arm myself this year and began taking things WAY too seriously. I usually pride myself in popping the end of the year on the snout and dancing on tabletops. Envision Fred Astaire, if you will.

26

27   I usually have TONS of fun, but this year it got interrupted by some stuff that evidently was more important, at least it is to people far removed from the daily goofiness of the classroom. 

28   I rebounded pretty fast from lots of absurdities. 

29   There are many. 

30   I remind myself of this every year.

31   It might have been the late Easter and the sudden realization that most of my best lessons have hideously distorted by all sorts of outside sources. 

32  My answer at this point?

33  Meh.

34  I armed myself with two guitars and an amp, just in case. Break glass and play music at day's end. Turn the amp up loud and begin to play. It's late in the evening. 

35   So we didn't get the Shakespeare skits out this year, major disappointment.

36  I WAS able to bring in a mini unit on the songs of Simon and Garfunkel. 

37  My favorite moment of last week was listening to students from my fifth period class arguing about the song Cloudy from S and G's epic album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. 

38  "I think it's a sweet, beautiful song!" declared one girl.

39  "But the guy is clearly depressed. He left his shadow waiting down the road. How pathetic is that?"

40  "It's such a sweet melody, and I love when he asks the sunshine to come out and bend his mind 'cuz he hasn't seen his friend in a long time."

41  "You idiot. It isn't his friend he wants to see. It's the sunshine."

42  "Why do you think the guy's depressed?"

43   "That line about the clouds. 'They don't know where they're goin' and my friend neither do I...I'm cloudy...' "

44   "Well I think it's a cute song."

45   And so on. Wanna smile? Listen to students argue about things. You KNOW learning goes on best when students argue and debate over trifles. Always entertaining. Why? They're THINKING. It's that simple. I loved it. Cloudy of all things. I brought Shakespeare, Poe, Angelou, Dr. King, Socrates: and they argue to death about Cloudy. Teacher smile. They're the best. No bubble test can match it. A song that  is two minutes and eleven seconds, depending upon which version you listen to.

46   Ah, lots of fun. We've been on a mini-poetry beat this past week, and those songs have swirled through the room and sometimes down the hallway. 

47   I sang the classic America for several classes, did okay. Told them it was called Murica, but only to get their attention.  Yesterday I had a greatest hits going while they worked on some classwork. I told them about Emily Dickinson earlier, and about her poem called Success is Counted Sweetest. 

48  Later in the periodThe Dangling Conversation played, and I stepped up to the mic and sang it really well. On America I was a bit off with my guitar work, although I never play that loud enough for anyone to really notice. 

49  On Conversation I remembered all the lyrics and hit every note perfectly. It felt great to sing without the fear of screwing up on guitar, so I think the voice relaxed. When the line, "And you read your Emily Dickinson, and I my Robert Frost, and we note our place with book markers that measure what we've lost..." students looked up and smiled. 

50  It was a semi-coincidence. I just like that song because it brings in a lot of poetic features: Rhythm, rhyme, syncopated time; you get the drift.

51   Such a beautiful song, and my heart soared as I sang. 

52   I looked out on the hills and smiled. Learning happened. Somehow, somewhere. 

53   That's all.

54   See you tomorrow.

55   Gottago.

56    Peace. 

~H~

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

Here's Cloudy. It's 2:25. This is the long version. = )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tth-lt1TvI

The DN

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

1  We celebrate the WIN at the Battle of Puebla today, got it? Hope you all join in and celebrate this remarkable day. Do so in style, and stay safe! It's a rich, proud time so let us all enjoy! I LOVE Cinco de Mayo! Let's dance!

2 Moving On, Part One: Anybody ever watch the documentary about Willie Mays? It's called Legends: Willie Mays. Incredible. It was playing late last night when I began writing this nonsense. 

3  I have yet to see all of it.

4  I usually see bits and pieces but inevitably get interrupted. 

5  I came in right around Bobby Thompson's Shot. 

6   I had finished planning for the school year somewhere around 10 p.m. when I looked up and noticed that piece blazing in front of the teevee.

7   I was pretty exhausted because I am always exhausted these days.

8  Occupational hazard.

9   I never got a chance to watch it. I'm going to try watching all of it tomorrow. 

10  Don't you LOVE that? I've seen bits and pieces over the past couple of years but never got to give it a good look. 

11  I'm now ready. I know they play it all the time. I'm pretty sure I could catch it on You Tube.

12  I recorded part of it, but it ain't enough. 

13  Love it. I'm gonna fly low, get home, make me some authentic Mexican food, don a sombrero, and watch this little jewel. Perfect way to put away worries and enjoy Cinco de Mayo!

14  Moving On, Part One: Great Warriors/Clippers' game. I'm sorry the Warriors lost, but I have to give it to them for living up to their names. 

15  Too many turnovers, and STILL the Warriors kept shooting one miracle after another into the hoop.

16  Pretty amazing story, and a series for the ages. 

17  So maybe I won't quit watching sports.

18  Knitting isn't all it's cracked up to be, I'm telling you.

19  Now that the Sharks and Warriors are watching Baseball from their couches, things have relaxed a bit. 

20  Things have turned normal again.

21   Just like that.

22   Moving On, Part Two: Video walls? Prysm? Did that just roll across the screen like an old cartoon?

23   The trouble with technology is that every time it takes a step forward, it takes two steps back.

24  Cliche'?

25   I don't know.

26   You're talking to a guy with a T-O-S-H-I-B-A that breaks down every day or so, AND with Windows 8. 'Nuff said.

27  It's become my annoying little friend. 

28  I sometimes navigate through perplex stuff on the thing, and then I turn around and try to cut/paste something and it won't happen. 

29   A cartoon cloud just popped above your head and hovered. It showed a huge screw, and a baseball, with the words "User Error" right above.

30  To a degree you're right. But here's my thing with 8: It's like someone has come over to your house and put everything in the wrong cupboards. It's that simple. 

31  

32   It IS.

33   Okay I'll stop now.

34

35  Anybody lookin'?

36  Fewer and fewer.

37   Ah, I don't blame ya.

38  You could read SO much more on Facebook. 

39  Careful though.

40   That stuff  is addicting. 

41   You need to get out and see the sky.

42   Computers.

43   Moving On, Part Three: On Friday I stayed at the school grading papers, and worked until it was unbearable. 

44   It was one of those days that you would keep picking up  six new things to do and say, "Same day." Sometimes Friday does that. You want to go home, but for some reason you're trapped in a sea of papers and boushit. 

45  I was going goofy. I kept having to do one more thing. 

46  I was finishing up my last class of the day when something made me laugh.

47  One of my lower-achieving students had just torn off around twenty vocabulary sentences. The last word he had to use in a sentence was "retort".

48   He wrote this: "I don't often retort, but when I do, I do it with class."

49   Happy Cinco de Mayo.

50   Hope that put a smile on your face.

51   Stay safe, my friends.

52   See you again. 

~H~

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

The DN

1  Whoa.

2   Did I just dream that the Warriors won?

3   Well!

4   How 'bout THAT?

5   That'll teach me to turn off the teevee and take to knitting.

6   I'm breakin' out.

7   No more knitting for me, dude.

8   I'm FAR too manly for that.

9   Uhhhh...

10  Just KIDDING.

11   People are so serious these days.

12   You really gotta watch your pees and cues.

13   Anybody lookin'?

14   Moving On, Part One: Do you wake up each day and say, "Well, at least I made it through yesterday!"

15   Me neither.

16   Do you have trouble deciding between "neether" and "nither"?

17  Here go.

18  Nither is douche.

19  <hashtagonohedihint>

20  Yeah, he did.

21  He lives in Murica.

22  That's a place where we used to have a Constitution.

23  Remember?

24  Moving On, Part Two: I wrote this entire DN this morning.

25   I usually write it the evening prior.

26   Like that? "prior".

27  Sounds pretty douche.

28  <insert lady with pie.>

29  Mmmmmmm. Pie.

30  AnywayZ

31  It's "anyway" you douche. 

32  To remain free as a citizen to say anything I wish, I shall include a copy/paste from Dictionary.com:

douche

  [doosh]  Show IPA

noun

1.

a jet or current of water, sometimes with a dissolved medicating or cleansing agent, applied to abody part, organ, or cavity for medicinal or hygienic purposes.

2.

the application of such a jet.

3.

an instrument, as a syringe, for administering it.

4.

a bath administered by such a jet.

5.

Slang: Vulgar. douche bag (  def 2 ) .

33 Evidently if you copy/paste from Dictionary.com you can never return to the justify/left area of your blog. 

34 I didn't realize that. It seems communistic to me. 

35 All apologies.

36  It's similar in some sort of way to walking around with your underpants riding ridiculously higher than your pants.

37  Last time I looked that was constitutional.

38  So was saying stuff.

39  Remember those days?

40   Anybody lookin'?

41  I need to thank my nephew Brian for reminding me that we even HAVE a Constitution.

42  He stood up for it when the rest of the world wanted to hang that douche bag Sterling for talking.

43  Brian was right.

44  Brian IS right. 

43  Brian is hella cool.

44  Brian is an American.

45  Brian is the extreme opposite of a douche.

46  Loves ya Bri.

47  Anybody lookin'?

48  Freedom.

49  I'm lovin' it today.

50   Go all sports' teams. 

51   Go everyone.

52  Love yuz Murica.

53  I taught Simon and Garfunkel's America yesterday.

54  I played it on guitar and sang it. 

55  I loves me some Murica.

56  Gottago.

57  See you again.

58  Peace.

~H~

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

The DN

1  Oh Sharks.

2  You break our hearts, year in and year out.

3   It's okay.

4   Thank you for your fighting spirit.

5   Your fans once again salute you, if they are true fans.

6    That's about all I care to say at this point. 

7    Tremendous frustration.

8    It had to happen last night, and it didn't.

9   We still love you, because you are our team.

10  But yeesh.

11  Why be SO predictable?

12   M' bad.

13   Just in mourning. 

14   Still love the team AND the town.

15   Our town.

16   ffdjalfjdl;fm

17   So now what?

18   On to the Warriors, I imagine.

19   ffffdafdfdfaf.

20   I keep telling myself that we are SO lucky to have such tremendously talented teams in the Bay Area.

21   And I also keep telling myself that only a tiny percentage of teams in any sport will eventually win a title. 

22   That is why I decided to take up knitting.

23   I joked about it all week and now I have puncture wounds in the tips of my fingers.

24   Anybody lookin'?

25   It is what it is.

26   Moving On, Part the First: I did manage to write a student a beautiful recommendation during the debacle.

27   Glittering, and the kid deserved every glit.

28   Moving On, Part Two: I never thought I'd say this, but American Idol's Caleb and wazzername killed it with a soulful rendition of the Stones' Beast of Burden. 

29   Wow.

30   Really really REALLY Sharks?

31   <sigh>

32   fklk;ajfdasdf

33   Ahhhh. Whatevs.

34   I can't stand it.

35   I retire as a sports' fan.

36   I'm all of us, in a way.

37

38   Seriously...?

39   Imagine me at a loss for words.

40   I feel your pain, Sharks' fans.

41   I'm officially one of you.

42   Love you team.

43   But I retire. For now.

44   I guess that's the deal.

45   I need to get some rest.

46   See you again.

47   Thanks Sharks, for a GREAT ride.

48   But I gottago.

49   See you again.

50   Peace.

~H~