The Daily News

1   How was my day?

2   See above. And below.

3   Peace.

~H~

The Daily News

1   Yesterday was a fun and playful day in the classroom. The students put vocab sentences on the white board using spring-colored dry erase pens. 

2   It was cloudy enough outside that I was able to put the blinds all the way up so we could see the hills and clouds.

3  I just gathered a bunch of stuff together while the students enjoyed each other's sentences. 

4  I go over each sentence and correct usage and stuff. In the midst of all this, I saw a small message planted in there for me.

5   It said this: Obrigado Mr. Harrington.

6   I don't get out much, and the only time I've heard the term "obrigado" is in the Beatles' nonsense song Sun King off Abbey Road.

7   We were also passing back papers and putting them in folders, a group job. The girl who wrote it looked up at me, all ears and braces.

8   "Did you read the board Mr. Harrington?"

9   I looked down and said, "Yes. Was that you?"

10  She smiled and then said, "Do you know what obrigado means?"

11  I embarrassingly answered, "Actually I don't."

12  "It's Portugese for 'thank you.' "

13

14  Great moment. 

15   I know someone told me that one time, perhaps long ago, but I always associated it with the mumbo-jumbo that came out of Sun King. 

16   

17   I had to ask myself how I got to be around 400 years old not knowing that. 

18  Some things just slip on by.

19  Moving On, Part One: I was SO exhausted last night that I again missed the Giants/Bums game. 

20  Nobody was home, so I knew I could have anything I wanted for dinner. I decided on a veggie shake, since they're pretty easy.

21  

22  I opened the fridge and saw that we had all sorts of delicious leftovers, so I pulled them out too.

23  Ever do that? I had food surrounding me on all sides. I felt like I was playing keyboards for Yes. 

24  I must have been really hungry, but I focused down on the veggie shake, since putting healthy things in your body makes more sense than eating leftover rice and stuff. 

25   Didn't matter. I wound up having a bazillion vegetables. I have a tendency to overload the Magic Bullet, and while I was making the shake I kept grabbing Triscuits, cheese, and other boushit that doesn't sit well with veggie shakes. 

26  I drained the first shake in about one gulp, and then chased it with another. 

27   Before I knew it, I had the messiest kitchen known to man, and we are trying to stage our house because we are selling it. 

28  HUGE mess. 

29  It seemed as though I was cleaning up for around three hours. 

30   I finally collapsed, and then awakened a few hours later.

31  This old movie called Ride, Vaquero was on TCM. It was a western starring Anthony Quinn, Ava Gardner, Robert Taylor and Howard Keel. 

32  Quinn plays a guy who wants the fences down and the cattle free to roam, and he shoots anybody who disagrees. 

33   Great cattle-drive scenes and lots of barroom brawls, fisticuffs, and of course, despicable shootings. 

34   Interesting film at best, but surely the stuff of nightmares when you have slammed veggie shakes and chased them with garbage prior to. 

35   I'm pretty sure I never got to sleep last night. 

36   Ever do that? You go to sleep but every hour on the hour you realize you have been awake?

37   Surely I need some rest.

38   And it is still first thing in the morning. 

39   I feel okay, just other-worldly. I've felt like that for a couple of weeks now, so I did appreciate the obrigado.

40   I don't know what I did except I did cancel the vocab test on Friday because the students were stressing on a bunch of projects for other teachers. 

41   I did it as much for myself as I did for them, since I won't have a batch of tests to grade. 

42   I've been counting and I'm pretty sure we have something like twenty-four more days. In my world, this seems an eternity. 

43  Retirement can be so close, and yet so far. 

44  I love when people look at me and say, "You're too young to retire!" 

45  I always appreciate that sentiment, but I don't think there is such a thing as too young to retire. 

46  Especially not to this Old Brown Shoe. 

47  Ah, you just have to put your shoes on one at a time.

48   Cliche's. 

49   Gottago.

50   Enjoyed writing this.

51   See you again.

52   Peace.

The Daily News

1   One great thing about worrying is that you are perpetually in the same frame of mind.

2  Exhausted.

3  Yesterday this student came up to me and said, "Mr. Harrington, I heard you were uber stressed, so I made you a pie."

4  I looked up from all my woe and here was a cream pie. 

5  Uber.

6   I'm pretty sure she had a cache of cream pies, but it was still a nice thought.

7   

8   Besides, I technically have nothing to stress. We are in the midst of closing a deal on a new house in Sac, and setting our own place up for sale. 

9

10  Outside of the fact I might be living in a cardboard box somewhere in all of this, I've nothing to stress. 

11  

12   I've been on a short fuse though. Not gonna lie.

13   Not EVEN gonna lie.

14   It doesn't help that our schedule at school for the past two weeks has been upside down, inside out, twisted, turned and put away wet.

15  At the end of the day yesterday I thought this: I am done with testing forever. No more. 

16  Unless I come back and do it as a retired substitute, which I would rather avoid. 

17   

18   Yesterday we sat in the middle of Midsummer, reading the scene I've read a bazillion times. It's the one where Lysander falls in love with Helena, and Hermia has a bad dream about it. 

19  At one point I heard the same dialogue I've heard over the years and then looked up at my students enjoying the story for the first time, and looked up at all the Renaissance masks from over the years. 

20  It looks as though they have tripled this year and that my classroom finally looks the way I want it. 

21  All's well. 

22  Got home and popped a fascinating DVD into this small player and learned about the massive tension that took place when Shakespeare was still working his first venue, which was the first theatre in England. It was called the Theatre. 

23  It talked of how the aristocracy closed the Theatre when the plague hit, and how Shakespeare's company took it apart, shipped it across the Thames and built the Globe. 

24   His Catholic side came out and there were moments of massive criticism and rebelliousness in his work, especially with Richard II. 

25   Cloak and dagger stuff, to be sure. It is from this documentary called In Search of Shakespeare with Michael Wood. 

26  It kept me so riveted that I missed last night's ball game. 

27  All of this is coming off the top of my head, since I didn't have time to review what I just watched and am still shaking my head in some disbelief. 

28   Since my house is toe up, it is all I can do to get this out there. 

29   Nothing bad, mind you, just impossible to report things as accurately as I would like.

30  I feel like I'm in a foxhole trying to get info out the masses. 

31   The fun thing is that our entire building is doing Shakespeare right now, so every teacher has something amazing to share. 

32   We're a bunch of giddy nerds. 

33   I love it, because it is just a fun time. I remember going into testing training last week and my friend turning to me and saying, "Good morrow, sir!" and my response being, "Is the day so young?"

34   Those are Romeo's first words. 

35    And as anyone knows I am quite the Romeo. 

36

37

38   There's that kid again. 

39   

40

41   And that disbelieving dog. 

42

43    I'm waiting for that Asian cannonballer.

44

45

46   Quite a wait.

47

48

49   

50    

51  Is Jessica Rabbit the Dark Lady of the Sonnets?

52

53   

54   Where IS that guy?

55

56

57   

58

59   Okay.

60   More to come.

61   Gottago.

62   See you again.

63   Peace.

~H~

The Daily News

1   All right Warriors!!!

2   Powerful good!!!

3   Don't wanna jinx you, so just keep it up dudes!!!

4   Yee-HEEEEEEEE!!!!

5   Toldja people would come out of the woodwork.

6   Busy lives.

7   Busy lives. So busy I wrote the opening Warriors stuff before the game!

8   Moving On, Part One: Did you know that Hello, Kitty is celebrating her 40th anniversary?

9   Kitty White began in Japan. That's her real name, by the way. Kitty White. 

10  Always neat with an ice cream cone, despite no mouth.

11  

12   That's a lonnnng time ago.

13   I was just a whisper.

14

15   Ah, you're on to it. Lemmmeeee alone.

16   Anybody lookin'?

17   I bought a house in Sac last night, at least I think I did.

18   Small place, pleasant neighborhood in the Natomas, access to a club that has a gym, an olympic pool, a cantina, waterfalls, hot tubs and all the other temptations of living the dream.

19   AND near everywhere and anywhere that's cool. I love the mountains and you are pretty darned close when you chill in that town. 

20   It's near lots of family and even a few friends. 

21   And fear not: I'll stay in touch.

22   Where?

23   Why, here. Well, on Facebooks for now.

24   I can't wait 'til we can get rid of cell phones and just use our hands. 

25   I want to be a computer, not a computer operator. They have the tech.

26

27

28   What?

29   I read somewhere that they can put chips in our hands or something.

30  

31   Yeah, like THAT'S not creepy.

32

33   Oh, the times we live in. 

34   Ah, it's all good.

35   

36   I hate Tuesdays. 

37   <begins rant>

38   <ends rant>

39

40   I'm in too good a mood. 

41   I'm still wondering why Kitty White has no mouth. Makes me wonder other things. For example:

42   What do you call a deer with no eyes?

43

44   No eye deer.

45

46  Anybody lookin'?

47  Ah, it's all good. 

48  We're STILL testing. This is our sixth day.

49  

50  I feel like I'm moving in all directions. Pretty worldly, eh?

51   

52  Psssst. 

53  (getmeouttaherrrrrrrre!!!!!!!)

54   I'm getting out just in time. I don't mean that in a bad way; I'm just tired of going in each morning. I'm glad this happened late in my career. 

55   The nice thing about testing is I get to work with younger teachers who are amazing. Many are hilarious and intelligent, and it is really fun working with them. 

56  Nice to see we have tons of talent out there. And yes, education will move wonderfully into the future. I see lots of hope.

57  With that, I'm bowing out for today. I don't do Tuesdays, never did. I say a few words, crack a few jokes, and give a little classwork. They pay me handsomely to do this. 

58  Gottago.

59  Have a GREAT day.

60  See you again.

61   Peace.

~H~