Have you ever been alone in a crowded room when I'm here with you?

Have you ever been alone in a crowded room; well I'm here with you...

"T.N.'s a bi... but she likes sucking on Eddie's balls"
-- Kathy

I cannot believe I heard this during drama class today. Teacher was absent and my grade 6s were eating the substitute teacher alive (as usual). Some of you know how comically attached I've become to this class (hence why I'm called in to help with a substitute), but honestly, that comment had some kind of shock factor to it that left me speechless for awhile. I know these kids are prone to making vastly outrageous comments but it still caught me off guard. And where was T.N. (Tiffany N.) throughout this kafuffle? Sitting right there next to Kathy... she just kind of chuckled to herself, which is in and of itself, odd because she's normally horrifically vocal along with being unnaturally perceptive (case in point, her screaming/singing the "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" song today while picking up garbage in lieu of the Santa Claus-like garbage sack she towed behind her). I expected some sort of outburst, whether it was a denial or a confirmation. But anyhow, I just thought that was kind of funny and felt like sharing it.

On another topic, the male dress code. I've written a spiel about formal wear before but I've come to notice something about most guys I know. When you experiment with clothes, sooner or later, most guys will find a niche that they slide into. What tends to happen is that most guys have a certain look that they think looks good on them, and what follows is that they'll buy more clothes that are slightly varied in color/look, but are essentially of that same style. And what happens then is that people come to associate that style of dress with that particular person. Like goodness knows, I could never picture Christian Hendriks in a pair of denim, nor could I ever imagine Asif wearing a shirt that doesn't look 30 sizes too big for him. Most of you who've seen me know that I've pretty much settled into a pair of jeans and shirts that don't look big on me, but aren't small enough to follow the contour of my upper body.

But what I'm essentially trying to get at here is that guys have a way of dressing (in some ways, much stricter than you'd think) that they think looks good, that people get used to seeing them in. I mean, they might not necessarily by sharp dressers, but whatever they choose to wear tends to follow a similar cut. So that being said, I don't quite understand "men's fashion" or "the latest trends" in men's fashion. If guys buy new clothes, it's either because they've outgrown their old ones, or they buy more clothes in the same fashion that they're already wearing. I just don't see many guys buying new clothes that follow any kind of fashion trend that's not already their own.

Holy gwakamoly is it ever hot in the house. It's that time of the year when it really heats up, but the temperature's just short of my dad turning on the air conditioning. Typically, once it breaks the mid 30s, he'll cool the house down a bit but until then... I spend half my day in the basement where it is noticeably cooler.

This room painting project is also taking considerably longer than I thought because I'm at an absolutely standstill as to what color I should paint it.

So, question that arose in my head during a conversation I had before watching Silent Hill (if you were considering seeing it, don't. Like the modern remake of the Amityville Horror, it's a terrible movie). There's a generally accepted statement that a good friendship should be one built on equal footing, with compromise, give and take, and the understanding that everyone will need help at some point or another in their life. We've been through this before, and everyone pretty much agrees that those qualities I just mentioned are good and are signs of a healthy friendship. There are other things of course, like compatibility, mutual respect, the ability to have fun together, etc. That's ideally what a solid friendship should be like.

But there's another facet of friendship that I've come to understand partly due to taking education classes at Queen's. They say that as a teacher, all your students need your help and guidance, but mostly, the students that need your help the most are the ones that probably don't deserve it. And in some ways, you hear that about friendships too. That the people who need friends the most are the ones who don't seem like the deserve it in much the same way that your friends need you the most when they seem to push you away. It's very easy to be friends with someone who'll meet you halfway and reciprocates everything you do in a friendship. But what about people who, by their nature, history, or otherwise, don't do this. The ones who for example, have grown cynical towards the idea of getting close to someone because every time they opened up in the past, they got hurt. These people are going to be the ones that push you away, who probably don't seem like they deserve your time, effort, and frienship because they've put up barriers and/or developed unhealthy habits. And yet, these are probably the people who need you the most.

So how do you reconcile that? These two theories seem to contradict each other on some levels. And the worst part is that when I can't reconcile these ideas, I always seem to shift between the two of them. One day, I'll be thinking "This friendship is just not on equal footing and it's unhealthy for me to keep at it" and the next day, I'll be thinking "But this person needs help, all the more so because he/she doesn't seem to deserve it." So far, the only thing that's resulted from this is that I'm aware it makes me sound hypocritical sometimes.

Life is a funny thing. Friends are funny creatures. Teaching is definitely going to be a funny job. I'm surprised I'm not laughing more often.

So Mandy Moore, who's already something rare to look at, also has one of the hottest voices I've ever heard. How the hell does someone get that lucky?!

Proof that I'm slowly going insane: I just saw a picture of a man holding a piece of bristol board over his head that said "STFU NOOB" written on it and I burst into a mad fit of laughter. I don't know why I find that so funny but there it is.

PWNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also noticed something interesting about my music habits. This may very well apply to other people, but I just noticed it 5 seconds ago. I am currently listening to the very playlist that I was listening to at practically this exact point in time a year ago. And I've realized that I seem to be working on an internal clock of what music I "feel" like listening to. Obviously, I'm constantly being exposed to new music so there will always be a "current" playlist that I'm listening to, which is simply the songs that I've been introduced to not long ago. But at any given time that I suddenly decide to listen to songs from previous years, it always comes at the exact time that they were on high rotation in those previous years.

Per example, current song: Behind These Hazel Eyes
Coming up: Noise and Kisses, Feels Like Home, Sidewalks, 99 Red Balloons, Always

Something tells me I have a very strong song to scenario sense of correlation.

It could just be freak coincidence...

Perhaps I'm making too much out of his "slow start" (if it can indeed be called that since we're actually a quarter of the way through the season) but A.J. Burnett needs to return from the DL double time because Josh Towers is just sucking. I mean, there's a mendoza line for batting average (.200 if anyone's interested... it's the average at which theoretically, you're not batting well enough to warrent playing in the major leagues) so there has to be some similar standard for ERAs (Earned Run Averages). In my opinion, any pitcher, whether it's a starter or a reliever, who has an ERA of over 6.00 is not good enough to be pitching at the major league level... Josh Tower's ERA is in the double digits. His idiocy is bloating the ERA of the bullpen too because they're forced to pitch way more innings than they should because he always gets pulled out of the game early.

On that delightful note, I'm finally starting to get better after a few days of being sick. I coughed up a giant wad of phlegm and felt much better. You probably didn't need to know that.

And what's the deal with those rubber shoes that look as if they were cut from swiss cheese. You know the ones that have random sized holes all over them. Is that the style these days?!

Frigging going out into the cold during recess during my two week teaching period has landed me sick with a cold. Yeah yeah, I know I was under no obligations to go out during recess but what else was I supposed to say when the kids asked me, especially considering that I once spent my lunch period in the staff room and it was the most awkward meal of my life.

"She's confessing!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-- Harold Zidler, Moulin Rouge!

Yes, apparently there's an exclamation mark after Moulin Rouge for dramatic purposes. If you haven't seen Moulin Rouge, go see it. It's a damn good movie if you like music. Like Phantom of the Opera meets Romeo and Juliet. Ewan McGregor kicks serious ass. Nicole Kidman was better in this movie too than I would normally give her credit for.

Plothole - the movie takes place in France. Ewan McGregor needs not have a French accent because he is a British traveller. But nobody else in the movie speaks in a French accent either. They all speak in British accents except for the one scene when Nicole Kidman suddenly develops a French accent while writhing in orgasmic ecstacy.

On another note, I also watched the modern remake of the Amityville Horror tonight because my parents were watching it. If you were considering watching it, don't. It's a horrible movie.

"Sex is like air. It's not important until you're not gettin' any"
--Anonymous

That quote is remaining anonymous because I'm not sure if I'm allowed to exploit quotes from the teachers I am currently working with and who are marking my teaching progress. I've not got a clue how that conversation started but there it is.

Second week of practice teaching and to be honest, I've not done much of it since this week is the week of the May show so all the kids have dress rehearsals all week. This has given me ample time to bond with Mr. Lewis, who they brought in as the cool male teacher to replace the void Mr. Hutchison created when he left (he too was an amazing grade 8 teacher). This morning, we discovered that the grade 8s were missing numerous giant paper lollipops so Mr. Lewis (a.k.a. Jon but I call him Mr. Lewis to avoid confusion) and I went on an arts supply run that took us to the dollar store and to Michaels. While we were making said run, we stopped at Starbucks and he bought me a coffee... we decided it was time for a break so we sat in Starbucks for awhile drinking coffee and talking shop.

Eventually, Mr. Lewis realized we had been gone for a noticeably long time so we were obliged to return and make our giant novelty lollipops.

So far, it's been a fun week.

"One of the players I'll always gamble on is Alex Rios. Not because of his numbers, but because of the following story: Back in 2003 when he was playing for Caguas in the Puerto Rican winter league, Rios had a day off. In the late innings of a close game, he plopped down in the dugout with a giant hunk of chocolate cake and, to wash it down, a two-liter of warm Pepsi. Rios had just about finished this meal when his teammates loaded the bases and his manager called him up to pinch-hit. Rios burped, grabbed a bat, put on a helmet, burped some more, walked to the plate and cracked a double. For some reason, this makes me want him on my team."
-- ESPN article

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Grant has duly pointed my idiocy out to me regarding "Congratulations". The song's by Blue October.

Yeah... notice the new song on high rotation? "Congratulations" is the new hit in my life. A perfect, straight and center bullseye the very first time I heard it. It's one of those songs that has a slow verse and speeds up for the chorus, which is fast becoming the kind of song I'm hearing lately. Jefferson Aeroplane by Relient K is another example. But "Congratulations" features Imogen Heap... so yeah. If my opinion on good music means anything to you, I would recommend this song for a listen.

"You'll get one later... hold on, what grade are you in?"
"7"
"Then you won't get one"
"I mean 6"
"You just said 7!"
"I made a mistake"
"What?! You're in grade 7 aren't you?"
"Wanna bet?"
-- Exchange before the school bell

So far it's been an interesting experience going back to grade 6. My host teacher rules her class with an iron fist, but she says it's because she doesn't believe that teachers should "befriend" their students and I guess there are arguments for both sides. She's a nice enough woman to me and has done a lot of talking.

Honestly, I've come to understand that for some reason, people like to talk to me. The first day of school, she said that every day, we get a free hour at lunch to relax. Since then, she's always "needed to talk" to me during my lunch period and man, can this woman talk. I've heard nothing short of her family problems, the struggle she sometimes has with her biological kids, her students, different schools, teachers, pretty much everything.

I enjoy receiving and sending emails. As much as people seem to prefer phoning or MSN-ing or booking face or whatnot, I for some reason, have a serious penchant for reading and sending emails. Per example, I look forward to the end of this week when I can fire off "Spring Break Week 2" to Jess and most of you know that I very rarely read an email without replying. I like opening my inbox and finding an actual email amongst the plethora of crap I otherwise receive about free merchandise and natural penile enlargement scams.

I also like letters but no one under the sun besides Rachel Manson writes letters anymore. It's this thing where people like MSN or email or booking face because it's convinient. People will complain about writing letters or even sending emails because they say that it's too much effort and not worth the time. For some reason, most people don't derive the same kind of pleasure I get after I've written a letter or sent an email. Sure it's long and sometimes takes a good deal of effort, but I feel a sense of accomplishment after doing them somehow and that makes it worth my time.

"The weatherman has the safest job in the world. They never have to be right."
-- John Gibbons

Those are probably the truest words I've heard in a long time. For the same reason, I rarely check the weather on the news anymore because as Mr. Gibbons has aptly pointed out, they never have to be right. If they predict something and it turns out to be the opposite, they can fiddle with their charts and say "and as you can see, we have a sudden shift in the weather pattern as the low pressure system has caused in influx in the amount of moisture in this region over here" or some crap like that. Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. Whose idea was it to try to foretell what Mother Nature has in store for us?

I'm a somewhat grumpy mood because I have a sore throat, which I despise above everything aside from a stuffed up nose, my music 203 prof, and the York Region Transit system.

I really really need to clean my room. But it's honestly a cross between a pig sty and a bombing raid in here so I don't know where to start. I need some motivation to clean my room, meaning we all have to have some sort of gathering at my house so I feel obliged to put everything in its place so as to not disgust my guests. That's not so wrong is it?