No Resolutions

I used to have a MySpace account.  I started my blog there.  But after I had a few too many technical difficulties, I moved the blog here.  I have since closed the MySpace account.  I hate to lose all of my blogs from that time, so from time to time I repost them here. 

This one was originally posted on January 2, 2007.  I was just thinking about the new year and resolutions, so I figure that this is the right time to repost this.  

I don't make New Year's resolutions.  I'm against the whole idea.

This is the time of year, of course.  Everybody starts talking about New Year's resolutions.  It's all about what they want to change about themselves in the new year.  And as we all know, in about three weeks, most of them will have given up.  So, why bother?

I don't understand it.  Well, maybe I do.  It's a new year, so people feel like they have a "fresh slate".  Start a new year off right.  Okay, I get that.

What bothers me is that these people are waiting for a new year to start something new.  Why?  Why must we wait for January 1st to begin something?  Why can't we start something on February 2nd, Arbor Day, or on our birthdays?  I mean, birthdays would make more sense.  It's the start of a new year of your life.  That's the best time to start something.

The thing is, I hate the idea of investing January 1st (or any day, for that matter) with so much baggage.  It's supposed to be fun.  (Well, December 31st is fun, January 1st is for recovery.)  Why can't we start something new when we want to?  Why can't we make a "resolution" to make a change when we're ready for the change?

So, I refuse to put the pressure on myself.  New Year's Resolutions?  Bah!  I have the power to make a change in my life at any time.  I will make changes when I am ready, not on some arbitrary start of the year date.

And yes, I still feel this way.  I have made no resolutions, and I plan to make none.  

Shopping for Calendars

I had a whole other topic planned for today, but this day kind of got away from me.  I went out in search of calendars.  I do this every year around this time.

It was the perfect day for it.  The sun finally came out after days of rain (although, I hear that we're supposed to have another storm coming in a day or two).  So, I was able to drive all over town.

First, I hit Borders.  It's the closest.  They had a pretty good selection, and the store wasn't very busy.

I was surprised by one woman who was there with purpose.  She was frantically looking through all the planners.  She picked them up one by one, looked through them, and put them back.  I found it best to step back and get out of her way.  I thought she might knock me down.

The lines weren't too long, and I got out of there quickly.  But they didn't have one calendar that I buy every year.  I thought about it.  The sun was warm.  I figured I might as well drive to Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble was a different story entirely.  They had a bit less of a calendar selection, and there was a major crowd.  However, they had the one calendar that Borders didn't, so the trip was worthwhile.

And as long as I was in that shopping center, I figured I might as well hit the yarn store...

My calendars have been purchased.  It is safe for 2011 to begin.

Avoiding the Crowds

I managed to avoid most of the crazy busy holiday shopping this year.  I got done way early (yeah!).  I only braved the mall once (not for my shopping but as the shopping buddy) on Saturday.

It was dark out and raining, and I could tell that the mall had been packed earlier in the day.  The stores were trashed.  But going out after 6 PM really made an impact on the crowds we saw.  They were very much thinned out.

Yesterday, I went to see my dad.  We braved Trader Joe's to get something to fix for dinner.

Finding what we needed took under 2 minutes.  The line at the register took a bit longer.  Then it was time to leave.  There was a line of cars 5 deep waiting to get out of the parking lot.  We turned the other direction, hoping that the other exit was less crowded.

Just as we turned, an elderly lady started to cross towards her car.  She must have been over 80.  She had an older gentleman (who appeared to be her son) with her.  And they were basically crawling across the parking lot.

I laughed so hard.

Eventually, the lady made it out of our way, and we were on our way.  Of course, by then the 5 cars had already exited the parking lot.

Why is it when you want to move quickly, something has to appear to slow you down?

The Naming of Things

I have a terrible time naming things.  My novels-in-progress aren't titled.  I spend forever coming up with character and place names (and those are changed as soon as I come up with something better, which isn't hard).  If I had to title the chapters, I'd really be sunk.

Naming the items in my shop is a nightmare.

I know I should come up with something cute, clever, or at least creative.  What I end up with is more descriptive than anything else.

I wear my earrings to school.  Why make jewelry if you ever wear it?

One day, I wore my favorite furry earrings to the continuation high school.  Normally, no one comments on my attire.  That day, everyone did.

At least some of the comments were complimentary.

One girl told me what my earrings reminded her of: "You know, one of those things that grows in grass.  You pick them, and when you blow on them they go all over the place."  I did know what she was talking about.  Dandelions.

It occurred to me that this was the perfect name for them.  Dandelion Earrings.  So, I used it.  (You can see them here.)

I have to take the good names when they appear.  I can't seem to come up with them myself.

Stuff We'll Never Ever Need

I used to have a MySpace account.  I started my blog there.  But after I had a few too many technical difficulties, I moved the blog here.  I have since closed the MySpace account.  I hate to lose all of my blogs from that time, so from time to time I repost them here. 

This one was originally posted on July 2, 2007.  I think it's apropos as I'm about to make another batch of these cookies (in a day or two).    

I am planning on baking some chocolate chip cookies.  (You know which recipe.)  It was suggested to me that to streamline this time-consuming activity that I should do the pan cookie variation.  I thought that this was a good idea, so I looked into it.

The recipe calls for a 10 x 15 inch jelly roll pan.  First I had to figure out what a jelly roll pan was.  Once I realized that I had one I measured it.  It's 12 x 17 inches.  And this is where the math came in.

Okay, so first thing: I double the recipe.  That means that this will fill two 10 x 15 inch jelly roll pans.  So, the recipe fills an area of (10 x 15 = 150) 150 square inches.  Double that--300 square inches.  My pan has an area of (12 x 17 = 204) 204 square inches.  So, too big for a single batch, not quite big enough for a double batch.  What to do now?

I went searching for a smaller pan to make up the difference.  I had a small cake pan, but that would only give me 45 square inches more.  300 - 204 = 96.  That was not quite half.  And then I found the pie pans.  Oops.  Now I have to remember the area formula for circles (actually, not an issue--I just hate bringing pi into the equation).

Right, so the pie pans give me roughly 33 square inches (not an exact figure because of the previously mentioned pi).  I have several, so three should do the trick (or at least make it close enough).

Sigh.  Baking should not be this complicated.

I sub for math classes a lot.  And someone always complains: "We'll never need to use this stuff."  I have told them otherwise, but they don't believe me.  I've given up the argument.  But they are wrong.

Lining a Purse

It's a rather dreary Monday.  It's been raining for days.  Days, I tell you!  (This is So. Cal.  It's only supposed to rain for a couple hours at a time.)  The grayness is starting to get to me.

I have to go out later and buy bright orange fabric.

I've been working on a purse for a while now.  After I finished my Christmas knitting (which got done very early this year), I had time to work on something for me.  I had this pattern in a book I got for Christmas a couple years ago.  I'd been meaning to make it for a while, but until now I hadn't had the time.

I got through the knitting easily enough, finishing it in about a week.

But then how was I going to put it together?  I could either whip stitch it or crochet around the edges.  And it needed to be lined.  

I've been contemplating this for nearly a month.  I made a strap (because I hate I-cord, there was no way I was making the strap of the pattern).  Last week I cut lining fabric and sewed on pockets.  Yesterday I assembled the whole thing.  And I discovered that I hated what came out.  

I don't have a picture yet.  I'll photograph the thing when it's done the way I like it. 

The main problem is I hate the lining fabric.  It's a beautiful bright orange, but it's way too heavy for the purse.  It was what I had on hand from a previous project (a superhero cape that I made for my nephew).  I was trying to avoid a trip to the fabric store.  

Last night I went through my button collection to find a fastener for the flap.  I didn't find one that worked.  At least, I didn't find one that I liked.  So, I might as well go out.  

In the rain.  

Oh well.  I have to get groceries anyway.  (I'm out of eggs and milk.)  

There's no reason to make myself a purse that I hate.  If I hate it, I'll never use it.  What is the point of that?  

A Little Knowledge...

I put up the outside Christmas lights the first weekend of this month.  I tested them before putting them out.  They lit.  No problem.  I thought that was the end of it.

My Christmas lights are the white ones in that mesh-type thing that are designed to decorate a bush or some shrubbery.  I pull them across my balconies.  It's a quick and easy way to light the balcony without twisting a single strand of lights around the railing (which I did for a couple years, but I did not like).

The night after putting up the Christmas lights, a section of them went dark.

The next day I went through and made sure all the bulbs were in place.  After touching one, the lights all came back on.  I thought I had fixed it.  I had.  For about 20 minutes.

During daylight hours, I went back to the lights to find which bulb had come loose.  It turned out one of them had burned out.  It was easy to find as the bulb had turned black.  I replaced it, and again I thought I was done.

That night, that section stayed lit for about 20 minutes.

The next day, I went to replace the burned out bulb to find that it was the same one.  So, I watched it.  When the lights were on, I could easily tell which bulb burned out as it was the brightest one on the strand.  And, of course, it burned out again.

I realized that I was going to have to replace the whole thing, because that one spot was going to continue to burn through bulbs.  But I'm kinda lazy, especially about the Christmas lights.  Having to take the whole thing down and put a new thing up was not my idea of a good solution.

What I needed was a way to bypass that one spot on the strand.

That's when it occurred to me.  What I needed to do was to somehow connect a wire through that one spot so the rest of the strand would stay lit.

I found that I could pull the bulb out of the holder that put the bulb in the strand.  I needed a wire to go across that holder to keep the electricity flowing to the rest of the strand.  This wire would bypass where a bulb would have been.  It would have been silly to sacrifice a bulb every night for 20 minutes of a fully-lit strand.

I found some old twist ties, removed the paper, cut a wire to fit just over the holder, and glued it into place.  The next day (the glue needed 24 hours to dry), I put the holder into place.  It lit.  Hooray!

I did this on Wednesday.  So far, the lights have remained lit.

This is a fix for this year only.  Next year, I'm going to have to replace that whole strand.  (Maybe next year I can find some colored lights that blink.)

Forensic Report

Today I covered a forensics class.  Juniors and seniors.  I have subbed for this teacher before, so I knew that his classes would be, um, relaxed, as he's a very easy-going guy.

They had a writing assignment.  They were to write a report from the perspective of a crime scene investigator processing a crime scene that they invented.  They were given possible items that they could find. They were to pick 10 and include them in the report.

I thought it was an interesting assignment.  They weren't pleased.  First period wanted to argue about the assignment with the teacher.  (I asked if the teacher would then relent, and they said probably not.)

One of the things they could find was blowflies.  After having several students ask what a blowfly was, I looked it up on the Internet.  I found this site, and once I explained, they all replied the same: "Oh, right.  We did study that."

Second period wanted to know if they could use people they knew as characters in their report.  The way they asked the question made me think that not pleasant things were awaiting their characters.  The worry was that their report could be seen as a threat against the real people.  Considering the class and the assignment, I said that they were probably okay, but to be careful.  (As I'm not the one grading these things, I have to be careful as to what I say is and is not permissible.)

Then a student in fourth period asked what a matchbook was.  Have matchbooks gone out of style?  Do they no longer exist?  It troubled me a little when I got the question the first time.  After the third time, I wondered when matchbooks had become obsolete, and why I missed this.

I'm not sure when, but it was later in the day when a student asked what an apple core was.

It's interesting to see where their knowledge gaps are.  I have no idea why they don't know some of these things.  I wonder about it sometimes.

Bad Note

I used to have a MySpace account.  I started my blog there.  But after I had a few too many technical difficulties, I moved the blog here.  I have since closed the MySpace account.  I hate to lose all of my blogs from that time, so from time to time I repost them here. 

This one was originally posted on December 6, 2006.  

The class did not want me to leave a "bad" note.  Then one girl pipes up with this: "She does.  The last time she subbed I ended up having to write an essay."

And that just pissed me off...  

1. I do not write "bad" notes.  I report to the classroom teacher what each class did.  It is up to the teacher to determine value.
2. If the students were doing things they shouldn't have been, that is their fault, not mine.  Like a letter grade--they earn the note, I don't randomly "give" it.
3. The class should behave.  They shouldn't try to bribe me or guilt me into writing a "good" note that was not earned.  And...  
4. The girl who had to write an essay was TALKING during a TEST!  She got off easy.  

I shouldn't care.  I really shouldn't.  Kids are all about getting away with as much as they can.  But today my patience fell somewhere below my knees, and they just TICKED ME OFF!!!

Just Plain Mean

It's been a while since I was last in the opportunity class at the continuation high school.  There is a whole new group.  Only one student is left over from the last group.  So, they did not know me, and they did not realize that I do actually know the routine.  But, of course, this was not the issue of the day.

Ana was the issue of the day.

She started out the day as the best worker.  She finished her first assignment and asked for another.  This was a bit of a shock, as the others in class weren't working.  They were discussing their weekend and explaining to me that they could, in fact, use their cell phones in class (this I was not buying).

Then group two came in (there's one group that comes in first thing, then a second group that starts an hour later).  Oscar was in group two, and apparently he's a neighbor of Ana's.  They sat together and started discussing stuff.

I wasn't really listening, but Ana's vocabulary relies much too heavily on words best not used in school.  I told her to watch her language several times.  She'd look at me with a "what?" expression, as most of the time she didn't even realize that an F-bomb had passed her lips.

First, I told Ana to stop.  She informed me that I did not know her well enough to call her Ana.  She told me to call her Ms. Hernandez.  Then I didn't say Hernandez correctly.

She only got nastier after that.

She and Oscar were discussing something.  As is my habit, if I hear something that needs comment, I comment.  Ana informed me that I was not allowed to enter her conversation.  That was not my job.  Why she thought that she and Oscar were having some private conversation, I have no idea.

Then she objected to my watching her.

Later, I learned that she had only been in the class three days.  She had been placed in the class because she had hit someone in her other class, and they needed her out so that things could "calm down".  The office ladies are sure that she'll be kicked out of this class pretty soon.

The opportunity class is always such an adventure.

Time for the Christmas List

My favorite Christmas movie is on next week.

My favorite Christmas movie is a TV movie from 1997 called The Christmas List.  It's been on every year since, but it's been getting harder and harder to find.  I know why.  It's now 13 years old.

They come out with new Christmas movies every year.  I understand the desire to promote the new.  But they haven't come out with a movie that has surpassed it (in my opinion).

I'm not sure why it connected with me so.  Perhaps it was because that Christmas season I was still working in retail (although my retail reality was a far cry from the movie's).  Perhaps I like the idea of a wish list where all the wishes come true (albeit not in the way expected).  Or perhaps it's because it was a sweet movie in a time where I needed to see a little sweetness.

The movie played on a broadcast network initially (I forget which).  In the past few years, it made its way to ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas.  But they've been phasing it out.  It used to play a couple of times during the season.  This year, it's only on once--Wednesday, December 15th at 4 AM.  Yep, 4 AM (that's Pacific time, but still early at 7 AM on the east coast).

That's what the DVR is for, right?

I guess it's time to find it on DVD.  Is it even on DVD?

Strange Freshmen

I need a nap.  I just spent two days subbing freshmen classes, and the teachers left me videos.

A funny thing happened, though.  Normally, I spend the day shushing students.  They don't care about the video.  It's boring.  They've seen it before.  I've heard every excuse.  But yesterday and today, I barely had an issue.  It was weird.

These were 9th graders.  It's December.  I expected to have to keep after them.  When I saw the video, I thought about all the days where I could barely hear the video because the students would not stop talking.  I put the video in, thinking the worst.  Then, I was pleasantly surprised.

There was one class yesterday that really freaked me out.  The bell rang to start class.  The entire room was silent.  They were all watching me.  Waiting.

That never happens.

I even got the other classes' attention without having to resort to my loud voice.  Once it was time to start and I asked for attention, I got it.

I probably shouldn't be talking about this.  I might jinx it.  It's weird and strange and unusual, but it's a really nice change.

Going for the Lose

Today I covered a teacher with a prep 6th period, so of course I was asked to cover an extra class (there's something about that last period of the day and getting an extra period).  It was one of the really special ed. classes.

When I walked in, the room was going wild.  The teacher, who was on her way out for a meeting, told me that all the kids had earned free time.  They had just finished making hot chocolate, and they offered me some.  The teacher explained who I would need to be with when it was time to catch the bus, and she pointed out one student who would need to be escorted to the office, as the teacher was having the meeting with that student's parents.

That boy latched onto me.  He wanted to know if he could do a puzzle.  Then he wanted to go on the computer.  He flitted about until he decided that he wanted to play a game.  Would I play, too?

First he pulled out a game I'd never heard of.  He got the whole thing set up, then decided that he'd rather play something else.  After setting up three different games, we finally got started playing Chutes and Ladders.  A girl in class joined us, so we had three.

We each had two turns when the boy decided that he wanted to play a different game.  The girl and I were into the game at this point, so I let the boy flit away again, and the girl and I continued.

Early on, I got ahead of her.  This was one of those times when I really wanted to lose.  I wasn't about to cheat, either.  Luckily, the girl got the really long ladder, and she won the game.

I had to be careful with her, though.  She hasn't really got the whole counting thing down.  If she got a 5, she would move forward 3 or 4, so I made sure I counted spaces with her.

After she won the first game, we decided to play another.  That's when the new TA joined us.  He was special ed. too, but older.  It was his birthday today, and he had to tell me all about what he was going to get for his present.

The first boy came back.  He wanted me to escort him next door.  I told him I couldn't as I was in the middle of my turn.

I managed to win the next game (and I tried so hard not to).  Then we moved on to Candy Land.  The girl bored of the game, so it was just the TA and me until it was time to clean up.

I don't often sub in the severely handicapped special ed. classes.  It's an exhausting day, even for just one period.  The kids can be sweet, though.

Better than a Tattoo?

8th graders are strange.

It was a U.S. history class, and for 8th grade that means from Columbus to the Civil War.  The section of the book they were in discussed the Missouri Compromise and the election of 1824.  They were supposed to be reading and taking notes, but these were 8th graders, so I found it useful to do the notes with them.

Before they did the notes, they were to study their flashcards for 10 minutes.  This meant that I had to go to each set of partners, remind them that they should have flashcards out, and explain the concept of what studying flashcards meant.  "I should see you showing the card and hearing an explanation of what each term means."

After one circuit of the room, they were all on task.

Some groups wanted me gone, and so were clearly doing what they needed to do.  Some groups wanted to interact with me.

One boy showed me the palm of his hand.  From a distance, it looked like he had written "HI" on it in blue fine-point Sharpie using dashed lines.  Up close, I could see that he had used thread to stitch the "HI" into his palm.

Insert incredulous reaction here.

I tried not to visibly react.  Why had he stitched it into his hand?  He hadn't gone deep enough to draw blood, but he had gone under some of his skin so that the thread would stay attached.  At least, I don't think he used glue on it (but that's a much more comforting thought).

The only answer I got to, "Why in the world would you do that?" was, "It's cool."  Then he showed it off to all his peers.  Many of them didn't understand why he had done it, either.

Know-It-All Freshmen

I could tell that the teacher had called out sick this morning.  I got the call fairly late.  The principal had put together the subbing book (he had written the teacher's name on the sticky note).  The lesson plan had been emailed, and it had a few errors in it.  

The teacher was prepared.  She had put the agenda up on the board before she left for the weekend.  That's where I noticed the error.  The lesson plan said that the class was to outline chapter 10.3, but the board said that they were on chapter 12.  Oops.  

Unfortunately, this was the 9th grade class.  

9th grade is a weird time.  They're in high school, but I've found that the more I treat them like middle schoolers, the easier my day goes.  And they think they know everything.  

When they arrived, I explained the situation.  I told them that I knew that they weren't in chapter 10.  They told me that I must be reading the lesson plan for the wrong class.  

Yes, the 11th graders were in chapter 10.  That was the 5th period class.  I could tell the difference between 1st period (at the top of the page) and 5th period (at the bottom of the page).  I wasn't reading the lesson plan wrong.  The lesson plan had the error.  

(Usually, at this point I'd let them read the lesson plan, but I wasn't in the mood to take the page around and show it to each of the 39 students in class.)  

So, I told them to outline chapter 12.3.  But now this was wrong.  They were only in chapter 12.1 or 12.2 (it changed depending upon which student was speaking).  Their teacher had started giving them notes, but she hadn't finished.  My suggestion that maybe she wanted them to do the next section on their own and she'd finish giving them notes on the other two sections met with harsh disapproval.  No, she didn't mean that.  

I told them to outline something.  Anything.  If they weren't going to take my interpretation of the lesson...  (Which they should do, really.  If I tell them the wrong thing to do and they do it, I'm the one that gets blamed for the error.)  

At least I only had one class of 9th graders.  And the rest of the lesson plan contained no errors.  

Late to the Test

Before I begin, I need to explain a few things.  There are certain school policies that I haven't alluded to before, and I need to spell them out for this post to make sense.

1. Tardy sweep:  Students who are not in class at the bell are not allowed in class.  They go to a place called tardy sweep.  They spend the whole period there.  
2. Rally schedule:  Instead of having a full assembly, the school sometimes has a rally.  This lasts about 20 minutes and is scheduled between 2nd and 3rd periods.  Each period loses a minute or two.  Each passing period loses one minute (5 minutes instead of 6).  
3. The current version of the computer-scored (using a #2 pencil fill in the bubbles) multiple-choice tests are now pre-printed with student names.  The computer can score and record the tests at the same time.  

Today, I covered a U.S. history class.  There was a bit of an overlap of students from the physics classes.  

Before school, I saw the teacher.  (I gave him a heads up that a prank was in the works.)  He explained the day's lessons.  3rd period, the A.P. class, was having a test.  80 questions.  Multiple-choice.  Due to time constraints, he puts the tests out on the desks before the class arrives, and while it was not mandatory, he told me that it might make things easier for everyone if I did the same.  

I had a seating chart.  I had extra time due to the rally.  It didn't take all that long to pass things out, especially when I didn't have students to trip over.  

As the students walked in, I told them to make sure they had their test.  Only two students had to swap, so I guess I did an okay job.  Then the bell rang, but much of the room was still empty.  

The campus is rather large.  This classroom was back-of-beyond.  It's the second to the last farthest room on campus.  It's a hike to get there.  That shortened passing period was a bad thing.  Some students just couldn't make it there in time.  

Many of them got there just after the bell.  Normally, I would send them to tardy sweep, but considering the circumstances, I let it slide.  It took them another minute to all arrive, and in three the room was silent.  They were all working on that test.  

After about five minutes, I went around and picked up tests off desks where the students hadn't arrived.  I looked at the three names, and I was about to go and enter the attendance when another student showed up.  

Ah, what to do?  As it turned out, she was in the band, and they performed at the rally, so I let her in.  A minute later a second student showed up.  

I looked at the third test.  What were the odds that this girl would show up?  I was just about to give up and input the attendance when she did arrive.  She was wearing a cheerleader uniform, so I knew what kept her.  

I was kind of worried as to whether they'd finish the test.  They did.  Many finished with ten minutes to spare. 

Planning the Prank

Today was day 2 in the physics class.  They had bookwork.  Most were doing it, but some were not.  A couple of the boys had an interesting conversation going.

The boys are both on the soccer team.  They are going to some tournament this weekend.  It's far enough away that they'll be in a hotel for a night.  The thing that piqued my interest was that their coach is the teacher I'm subbing for tomorrow (yea, I know an assignment a day ahead!).

The boys had an idea.  Since they are both seniors, they thought it would be funny to plan a prank to play on the coaches while they are away.  One said that they should bring a set of white sheets from home.  Then they could plant fake blood on it.  If they hid a couple players on the team and said that they had no idea where they were...

I wasn't sure where I should come down on this.  On the one hand, funny, if done right.  On the other hand, this sort of thing could go wrong pretty quickly.  The boys realized this too.  They know that their coach has a cell phone, and once the coach calls 911, it's no longer a silly prank.

They discussed variations of the fake blood/missing student scenario.  They thought maybe getting a student fake bloodied might work.  But then the discussion turned to other ideas.  The next idea was to get the desk staff involved.

They thought that once it was lights out time, they should get the staff to call the coach every five minutes with a noise complaint, but from a different room each time.  But the idea was that they were to be silent, so the noise complaints were false.  I didn't see how this was funny, but they thought it was hilarious.

The end of the period ended their plotting with no definite plans.  They said that they had a long bus ride to think up other ideas.

I wonder if they'll go through with it.  If they do, I hope they don't do anything too over-the-top.

Physics Class

Student: "Do you understand physics?"

Me: "Yes."

Student: "Really?"

Because, apparently, I would lie about such a thing.

No, not really.  I think she was expecting a different answer, and needed me to say yes again to verify that she had heard me correctly.

I got to cover a physics class today.  Insert happy dance here.  Unfortunately, it was like just about any high school class I cover.  I spent the day trying to get them off of their strange conversations and back to the subject at hand.

Mostly, they worked on the assignment.  A few asked for my help.  But during 6th period, no one would ask me anything.  They asked each other, but not me.  Sniff.

They had this attitude about it.  It's not like the sub knows anything.  Go away while we do our work.  We're honor students.  We're smarter than you.

Okay, I'm projecting.  I'm in a bit of a strange mood today.  I guess I've been spending way too much time alone.  It's a good thing I worked; I needed to get out of the house.