Xing Error

Welcome to X day on the A to Z where we all cheat. Somewhat. (Although, I don't always cheat: "X Marks the Scarf" and "Ximena's Help".) 

Today's post title is "Crossing Error". See, if you mail something (through the USPS), the standard abbreviation for crossing is xing. (I can prove it. This is their webpage with all the standard abbreviations.) So, it's a cheat, but it's a mild one. 

I did manage to spend a little more time on the dragon swatch. 

The blue is the one I did a couple years ago. the neon yellow is my work in progress. 

The dragon is made via cabling. Each row is different, and I have to be very careful reading the pattern. It's not like the usual cable patterns where you can kind of read where things are and know if you're making a mistake. I didn't catch my mistakes (the last time, before I ripped this whole thing out) until I sat back and really looked at what I had done. 

Last week, while knitting along, I thought, "Wait." I couldn't remember if I had done the cable crossing correctly. But, with the way the thing is knit, going back at that point was going to be more trouble than it was worth, so I finished off the row. Then I looked...

Enlarge the image to see in the circles. The bottom circle has the cable crossing over the vertical line. The top circle (the correct one) has the cable going under. Oops. 

But, luckily, I was looking at this at the row after I did it. So, once I knit back, it was just a matter of recrossing the cable before knitting the next row on top of it. 

The cables in both circles are now the same. 

It was a good thing I had a funny feeling after I knit past this. I might not have stopped to look after that row if not. 

Of course, at this point I knew it was time to stop knitting for the night. When I make errors like that, it's best if I rest and come back to the knitting when I'm fresh. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter 

Wind Chime

I was out walking Buttercup the other day, as I do, and pondering blog posts. It was time to contemplate W and what I'd post for today. 

This is Buttercup

Buttercup and I have a little disagreement. I believe we should make a full circuit of the path. Buttercup looks for a shortcut. 

I had not let Buttercup take her usual shortcut. She wasn't pleased. So, she went in search of another shortcut. Only, it wasn't a shortcut unless I let her turn back the way we came. So, she's only making her walk longer. 

Anyway, while on our little Buttercup detour, I spied a wind chime someone had hung under the staircase. 

And that's good enough for today. 

I'm so glad the neighbors are decorating enough to fill my Saturday A to Z posts. They've been very helpful. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter 

Visiting Teacher

Friday. Sixth period. I got an email from the co-teacher, Ms. K. 

The eleventh grade English classes are all co-taught. (This means that there's another teacher, a special ed teacher, who is in class with me.) The ninth and tenth grade ELD classes are not. (ELD=English language development. Read: English for non-native speakers.) 

My day is: 1st block--conference period; 2nd block--11th graders; 3rd block--ELD; 4th block--11th graders. Ms. K is with my 2nd and 4th blocks. (We're on block schedule, so it takes me two days to see all the classes. Both even and odd days are the same, which is good and bad.) 

Anyway, I had seen Ms. K in fourth period and I would see her again in eighth, so getting the email was weird. 

But, the email explained that Ms. K wasn't feeling well and was going home. So, I wouldn't see her eighth period. 

No big deal. It was a minimum day, the Friday before spring break. We were watching a video (on F. Scott Fitzgerald--background info before reading The Great Gatsby). It wasn't like she really needed to be there. 

But, teacher contracts require all missing teachers have a sub. (I've been in classes where both teachers were absolutely needed, so I'm good with this.) Ms. K said there'd be a sub, and she let me know who it would be. (I wonder if she asked the teacher herself. I wouldn't be surprised.)

I was going to get to work with Ms. L again. Woo-hoo! 

Last year, exactly a year ago, I was in that math long term assignment. Ms. L was the co-teacher. 

And... Yeah, that's all the excitement there was. The class arrived. I explained the assignment. They whined a bit. I put on the video. While the video played Ms. L worked on her stuff. I got some grading done. 

(I mean, it's not like I haven't seen her around since then. We've run into each other.) 

It was a nice way to finish things off before our break. 

Of course, this week was our week back after spring break. (I saved the subbing stories for the week I'd be at work.) Next week I'll post about what happened this week (as is my custom). I hope you've had a wonderful week. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Under the Printer

It was the Thursday before spring break. On Wednesday, a kiddo delivered a couple paper Easter eggs with a note. Later, I saw an email which said the same thing. The student leadership had come up with a school-wide game. My job: hide the Easter eggs in the classroom. 

Okay, then. 

They looked like this:

On the back were the instructions. The finder could take the egg to the ASB office and exchange it for candy. 

I pondered where to hide them. It had to be someplace the students would be. I didn't want to make it impossible, but I didn't want to make it too easy. So, I hid this one behind that poster on the wall: 

And I put the second one on the other side of the room, under the printer:

For context:

(If you'd like more context, if you look at the classroom pic at the top of this post, the heart egg is on the left side, just beyond the picture, and this printer is on the right.) 

I had eleventh graders in third period, the period of the game. I wondered if they'd care. 

When, in the morning announcements, they talked about the game, I interjected that the eggs were hidden in the classroom. 

Nadine piped up. "I know where one of them is."

Me: "Go ahead and claim it." 

She jumped up and retrieved it. 

Then she looked around for the second one. I did not look in its direction. She did not see it. But Madden did. Again, I gave him permission to retrieve it. 

He got up, retrieved it, and headed back to his seat. On his way, he gave Nadine the egg. 

Me: "Uh... You found it. You can keep it."

Madden shrugged. He didn't really want it. But Nadine did. 

Um, well, okay. I mean, he earned it. But, that meant that he could do with it as he pleased. And he chose to give it to Nadine. 

There were also three golden eggs hidden, and the prize for those was a gift card to Raising Cane's. Nadine wondered where those were. I explained that they would be hidden for their lunch time, and it would be hidden outside. 

The game finished, we got into our lesson for the day, which was a documentary on F. Scott Fitzgerald. They'd be reading The Great Gatsby once we returned from spring break. (Which will be as you read this. I saved my subbing stories for when we're back at school.) 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Text for Help

When Ms. A left for her maternity leave in February, she shared her online lesson plan calendar with both me and Ms. S (the sub before me). I saved the link someplace handy, and I didn't glance at it again. Until I started the long-term assignment. 

On the first day I was in class, I noted the pacing of the teaching of The Great Gatsby for the eleventh grade classes. I noted that the ninth grade class would be reading Of Mice and Men starting that week. (I've taught both these books before, so I was prepared.) 

However, the tenth grade class had nothing listed to do. Well, the first days I was there they were finishing up an argumentative essay, but for my second week, there was nothing in the plans. A big, fat blank. 

Um...

I didn't even know what Ms. A had intended for them. With the other classes, if something wasn't filled in, I could easily figure out how to fill some time as I had a topic on which to base things on. But not so for the tenth graders. Were they going to read a book? Were we going to do grammar lessons? A writing assignment? I had no clue.

Ms. A sent me a text saying she'd fill in the tenth grade plans. But she was cutting it pretty close. I mean, she's at home with a newborn and a toddler. I don't expect her to work. But I do need some guidance as to what to assign the kiddos. 

Then, Tuesday morning, a lesson plan appeared. Whew. Since my first block is planning time, I clicked on the links to get things set up for the day. Only, the links said I did not have access. Sigh.

But she had texted me to let me know to text her questions I had. So, I texted that I needed access to the material. Her response: "Oops. Geez." 

It's always the obvious things that slip through the cracks. 

Now I know what our unit is on. Short stories. So, now I have a topic with which to work. Yay! 

(We were reading "The Interlopers". I had not read it before, so it was new to all of us.) 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Simple Sabotage Field Manual

I can't keep up. 

I write my blog posts ahead of time. I am writing this on Thursday the 17th. And what I'm mad about right now (the human trafficking to an El Salvador prison) probably won't be what I'm mad about when this post goes live. 

So, in the spirit of "what to do", I'm finally going to share some things I found that I kept meaning to share, but before I did I got distracted by the outrage of the day. 

First is the Simple Sabotage Field Manual. It's on Project Gutenberg, which is a website of ebooks that are all in the public domain. (Do a little look-see around there if you're looking for a classic book and you have an ereader.) A description of the book: 

Office of Strategic Services is a historical publication written during the early 1940s, amid World War II. This manual acts as a guide for ordinary civilians to conduct simple acts of sabotage against enemy operations without the need for specialized training or equipment. Its main topic revolves around promoting small, accessible forms of resistance that could collectively disrupt the enemy's war effort.

 You know, in case you might have use for information like this. 

The other thing I wanted to share was stickers. (I almost titled the post "Stickers" today.) It's a small way to protest things, especially if you have a printer. You can print various messages on stickers or flyers or post-it notes and leave them around town for others to see. If you wanted to do that sort of thing.

I found this idea on BlueSky, and I searched for a good summary of it. But alas, the person who was talking about it started a thread of various stickers that one could use, but it's not in any organized format. Let me know if you are unable to see the thread. (I might figure out a way to list some of these at some point, but it won't be today.) 

I found a couple articles that I think I've already linked to previously (as they are from February), but just in case I haven't: 

• Thirty lonely but beautiful actions you can take right now which probably won't magically catalyze a mass movement against Trump but that are still wildly important
• Soon, there will be a spark

And finally, I'm hearing rumblings of another national day of protest on May 1st. May Day. If you're a protesting kind of person. 

Stay safe. And remember we're all in this together. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter 

Rawr: Or Redoing the Dragon

Okay, so I was going through my old posts to give the review of this particular project when I stumbled across a previous title. Rawr. And I just couldn't not. It's R day, after all. (I mean, "Redoing the Dragon" is not a bad title, but Rawr? Come on!)

Right, so this is a project that I've been working on for a couple years now. And all it is is a swatch. 

Originally, I had bought the pattern (because how could I not?) and tried it out. So, since then I've had this knitted piece just sitting around with no thing to be. I decided to make another, and then I'll put the two pieces together. Only, the third try hasn't gone as smoothly as the first two. 

Last week I finally pulled it out again. And I made some progress: 

The last time I worked on this, I got to here: 

Progress. 

We'll see if I get any further this week. It could happen. (But I'm back at work this week, so less time.) 

In review, I pulled this out a while ago, got it almost completed, and then I had to rip it almost all the way out and start over. There were some glaring errors that I could not fix any other way. (I tried, but I made more of a mess.) But before I could really get to it, I got distracted by other projects. 

It's been sitting around, just waiting for me to give it some attention again. Fingers crossed. Maybe I'll get it done this time. Maybe. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Quotes from '80s Movies Quiz

Normally during A to Z on Saturdays I'll post a random picture. But Q. 

While working on yesterday's post, I found a website called Quizly, and then it just seemed obvious. Not a Friday, but why not another random quiz? Very Q. 

So, I searched a bit and found:

Popular '80s Movie Quotes

Because of course I did. 

As with yesterday's, just skip the sign up and click on "take me to my results" under the other boxes. This one does require some knowledge, but if you're of an age where you went to the movies in the 1980s, then you've got this one. 

I managed 23 out of 24 questions, a 95%. 

The one I missed? Yeah, I never saw that movie. But most of the others were pretty obvious. Good luck. And let me know how you did in the comments. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Planet Personality Quiz

It's Friday of spring break week, so that means it's random quiz day. (My subbing stories will return next week.) I went on an internet search, and I found...

What Planet Am I?

There are a bunch of questions, but they're choose what you prefer questions, so not hard. And then I got: 

Mercury

You have a lot to say, so friends think of you as a chatty, but a wise friend. Your ability to carry conversations make you a great person to make a connection with. Your curiosity may be annoying to some but you enjoy asking questions, so you don't care what people think.

Yup, not me at all. Completely off. No one who knows me would call me "chatty". The opposite of that, actually. 

Ah well. 

So, try it out and let me know what planet you got in the comments. (You don't have to sign up for the site. Just skip to your results.) And let me know if they pegged you correctly or they were as off as they were with me. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Old O Posts

It is spring break. And as per my usual "rules", I'm saving my subbing stories from last week for next week (when I'm back to work), and today I'm on my "summer schedule". Which means Thursday 13. 

Plus, it's April. And the A to Z Challenge. So, what to post that incorporates today's letter, O? Last year I had the genius idea of finding some old D posts (spring break Thursday fell on D day last year), so why not? 

As I found out last year, it won't take me all that long to find enough posts. So, where to start looking? I went to a random number generator, put in the years possible for my blog (2007-2024) and got back 2014. Okay, then. Let's see what I can find...

1. Only One, April 17, 2014

Ah, a prior A to Z post, back when I did my "what if?" day on Thursday. Back when I was doing "what if?" posts. This doesn't bode well that I didn't get an O post until A to Z. This may take more years than I thought. 

2. Old School Horror, May 13, 2014

Spoiler: the horror is the teacher had a chalkboard. Mr. T is still teaching in that same classroom with that same chalkboard. (His room is a time capsule of '80s artefacts. It feels so weird typing that as many of the things in his classroom are things I remember using in the '80s.) Although, I heard through the grapevine that he might be retiring the end of this year. 

3. Out of Focus?, June 3, 2014

A technical difficulties post. Where I attempted to project something to the kiddos and couldn't get it in focus. As I write this post, the co-teacher is using a document camera (like in this old post) to go over notes with the kiddos. Although, using the document camera is falling out of favor because one can do a digital whiteboard that gets projected to the in class big screen TV. Things change, but slowly. 

4. Ongoing, July 7, 2014

A roundup post of some crocheted (and one knitted) projects. I reference my niece's 13th birthday party. She's now 23. Wow, how time flies.

5. Outburst, July 8, 2014

Two O posts in a row! And I was worried about getting enough O posts for my list. This was a repost from March 3, 2008, back when I did reposts on Tuesdays. Some kiddos decided to test me and got a referral. Because 8th graders never change. 

6. Occupational Hazard, September 4, 2014

Oh, I'm so glad this one popped up. It's one of my favorites. It's a repost from May 29, 2009, where I whine about having to watch the first 50 minutes of The Outsiders five times. Because sub. And teachers (used to) always leave videos for the sub. 

7. Oblivious, December 26, 2014

Where I sent a student out of class for blatantly being on his phone in class. Cell phone use has only gotten worse since this.

8. Out of the Box, February 10, 2015

Well, I couldn't get all the O posts out of one year, so I'll keep going from here. This is a "what if?" post. 

9. Optical Illusions, April 17, 2015

Another A to Z post (does O day always fall on April 17th?), this one a Friday. The quiz (it was a Friday, so I posted a random online quiz) is now gone.😞

10. Oblivious, August 26, 2015

This is a different post than #7, but "oblivious" is such a great word to describe the students at the continuation high school sometimes. This oblivious student was playing a game rather than doing his math, and he did not notice me when I approached. 

11. One Song, September 22, 2015

Another "what if?". 

12. One World, October 13, 2015

And another "what if?". 

13. Other Uses, November 30, 2015

And I end this list with a knitting post. The knitted letters that I've been ending my A to Z posts with were made as gift card holders, and this post talks about the time a customer at the farmer's market I used to do asked for me to make one as a car fob holder. 

Wow, this has been an interesting trip down memory lane via the blog. How things have changed (and not changed). 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Nerd Librarian

It's spring break, so I am holding my subbing posts for the week I return to school. That means today is video day (by my self-imposed schedule), or rather What to Watch Wednesday.  

I was at a loss as to what to post about today until I saw an email from one of the librarians in the school district. He has a little YouTube channel. When I noticed that his channel is called "The Nerd Librarian", I realized I had my N. His latest episode is "The AI Episode". 

Yes, that is the librarian at one of the schools I sub at. He's even made the blog before. The English/journalism teacher appearing with him I have yet to sub for, although I have subbed in his classroom (for the teacher that had the room prior to him) and I have subbed for his neighbors. It's just a matter of time. 

The video is about twenty minutes long. I hope you enjoy it. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Malicious and Stupid

I should probably stop writing these. The authoritarian regime is disappearing people. They're kidnapping legal residents (after revoking their legal status) and trafficking them to notorious prisons out of the country. Sure, they haven't come after citizens. Yet. It's just a matter of time. 

Here's Trump saying to Bukele that "homegrown criminals are next" and talking about how El Salvador will need to build "about five more places."

[image or embed]

— Philip Bump (@pbump.com) April 14, 2025 at 9:31 AM

They're taking away legally acquired social security numbers, stating the immigrants are "deceased" and taking away their access to their money. They're telling immigrants to register with the government. They're working on a bill to require people to prove their citizenship to vote, only there is no way for a married woman to prove her name change (marriage certificates are not allowed documents for proof). 

We have a measles outbreak that the regime is downplaying. 

And, of course, the tariffs. That are tanking the stock market. 

It just keeps coming. Fast. And everywhere. 

There is no sense to this. Well, there is. The regime is lashing out because they're malicious. They're doing it all very badly because they are stupid. 

And the press is complicit. Did you hear about all the protests last weekend (April 5th)? No? Yeah, because the mainstream press barely mentioned it. They're not doing their duty. 

Also, Congress. Senator Cory Booker spoke for 25 hours on the Senate floor. And then they all voted for the regime's newest cabinet member. Sigh. 

The federal government is lost. We are in an authoritarian state. 

So, what do we do? I haven't a clue. I found some online articles that I wanted to link to (more for me, really, but you might find them useful).  

• A Threat Model for Opposing Authoritarianism
• All of US: A Directory To Connect, Care, & Build
• Some Actions That Are Not Protesting or Voting

And I will resist as I can where I can. Although, I'm not brave, so if the fascists challenge me, I'm not terribly convinced that I'll stand up to them. We can hope. 

Stay safe. Help others where you can. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Leftover Yarn

I went ahead and burned my usual Monday post on Saturday with my finished (without face) cat pillow. Had to be done. I'm not sure how I would have titled that post today, but "Kitty Cat" was sitting right there. I would have been an idiot not to use it. 

Which leaves me with nothing to post about today. And, I am once again without project. Sigh. 

I really need to get a case of start-itis. That's when one has many ideas, so one pulls out yarn, collects patterns, and casts on a bunch of projects at once. I could use a bunch of projects sitting around right about now. But, alas, nope. I have one lone project waiting for me, that I might eventually get to.

So, what to do? 

Well, I could do another cat pillow. I still have blanket yarn. 

Not quite enough for a cat in any of these (well, maybe the white variegated), but perhaps another two-toned cat? 

Last week I had a tote bag idea. I don't have enough yarn on hand for what I'm envisioning (and I'm not buying yarn for this), but I could do multi-colors. 

Yes, that's red, purple, magenta, and orange. Together. Maybe? Maybe not. Just thinking about it right now. (And if you go through all the posts I've done where I was thinking about something, I suspect only about half of them got finished projects out of them.) 

Then again, I've got nibling birthdays coming up. Twins on the 25th. Middle nephew May 4th. And niece in June. Perhaps I should ask them if they want me to knit or crochet them anything. I probably shouldn't have waited this long to ask the twins. 

Anyone have any good ideas? I've got spring break this week, so I have some time to put some projects together. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Kitty Cat Complete

I normally would post my yarn-y post on Monday, but this worked too well for the letter of the day today, so...

If you were here Monday, you saw my fail. The hole for the tail for the crocheted cat pillow was in the entirely wrong place. It took me a surprisingly short amount of time to fix that (as in, one afternoon). I ripped it all out to the tail hole and then restitched everything. 

The tail is now placed correctly. And I rather like how it turned out.

Hopefully it now looks like a cat.

I'm debating embroidering on a face. I'm terrible at embroidery, and I'm not even sure where to start. (The pattern doesn't offer embroidery ideas, only the concept that a face could be added if desired.) But I rather like it like this. 

Even the change in yarn at the rear looks okay. At least, I think so.

Now, what to do with the thing? I have no use for it. Any ideas? 

Kitty Cat previous posts: 

• Yarn Under my Fingers
• Not Quite a Cat
• Leaving the Mistakes
• Feline Fail

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Jazz Age Notes

Friday. Junior English. Third period.

It was my first day flying solo (so to speak--there's a co-teacher) in Ms. A's class. The lesson plans said to present a slideshow to the class while they took notes. Easy enough. 

I previewed the slides. And I panicked a little. The classes are 92 minutes long. There was no way the slides could possibly take up a full hour and a half of class time.

The classes will read The Great Gatsby once we return from spring break. The slideshow was about The American Dream, F. Scott Fitzgerald (the author), and general historical background on the 1920s Jazz Age (when the book is set). 

But, I had made the assignment from the previous class due Friday, so they'd get a bit of time to finish that up if they needed it. Or so the plan went. 

After the morning announcements, we got to work. As I do, I discussed the slides. They had bullet points about The American Dream. I expanded upon what was there. I pointed out how while taking notes, they didn't need to write down what was on the slides verbatim. 

And as I talked (and waited for the students to finish writing), I watched the clock. Time kept ticking away. And soon I realized this was all taking some time. A lot of time. 

We had twenty minutes of class time left. I did a mental inventory. We had a lot of slides left. And I realized, I wasn't going to finish the slideshow by the end of the period. 

Oops.

Although, this was a good problem to have. I was worried I'd have half the class to fill after finishing up. 

I had no idea I could talk that long. And it wasn't even an issue of me having to stop every two minutes to get their attention again. They were following along, a few piping up when I asked questions of the class. I mean, it went well. 

When I noticed that we were within five minutes of the end of the period, I called it. Not quite finished, but looking ahead to the next week, I realized I could finish off the slides then. I definitely have a bit of a cushion, although that means that we'll do a video on the author's life on the last day before spring break. They were supposed to have a free day as Ms. A was kind of expecting many of them not to show.

No big deal. The video is just on F. Scott Fitzgerald's life. I mean, it's interesting and all, but it won't hurt them if they miss that day. 

The slideshow was 55 slides long. I got through about 30 of them. 

So, now I know I can fill an entire 90-ish minute period with 30 slides. I might need this information later. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Idyllic Transition

The day had finally arrived. The day I had been anticipating since September (or October). I would be taking over Ms. A's classes for 30 days. 

Ms. A has been out since the middle of February. But because emergency teaching credentials only allow us subs to cover 30 days total in one class, and because Ms. A planned a 14-week maternity leave, two subs would be needed. Ms. A told me she wanted me to do the second half. 

The first half had been done by Ms. S, who I had worked with in the past. We were given two days of transition, which are days where she tells me what I need to know to keep the class going. Only, as I had covered Ms. A's classes before, I knew what I was in for.

That is not to say that the transition wasn't needed. It's good to have a couple days where I get up to speed before teaching the class. It's way better than the scramble I usually find myself doing. 

But, we really only needed a couple hours of transition, not two days. (We both got paid for them, so I'm not going to complain too much.) 

I recognized many of the faces in the classes. I had had many of them before, most notably in the math class I covered at this time last year. 

On the first day of transition, Ms. S taught the classes. (They had "study hall", so there wasn't much to do.) On the second day, we were beginning talking about The Great Gatsby (which is what we'll be reading until pretty much the end of the school year), so I took over. 

We started with a bit of background on the 1920s, and then they had an article to read on the author's life. They were to annotate it. I uploaded the article into their Google Classrooms, and then I explained to them what they were to do.

To annotate an article online, they use the comment feature on Google Docs. They highlight the passage, and then they can add a comment to it. Easy enough. 

About halfway through class, Aria approached. I have had Aria in classes for the past couple years. I may have written about her before, but I can't remember what alias I used. Sigh. 

Anyway, Aria had a problem. She had made all sorts of comments on the article (allegedly), but they all vanished. 

Upon some digging, we figured out what went wrong. Aria had clicked on a check mark on the comments she made. Which, if you've ever used the feature, is the thing that tells the program that you have "resolved" the issue from the comment, thereby deleting it. 

And there's no way to retrieve the comments. 

On the bright side, I now knew of one issue that might again crop up, so I made sure to warn every other period about it. 

But Aria's comments... Knowing her as I do, I just said I'd take her word for it and not make her redo the comments. (She wouldn't redo the comments.) 

At the end of the day, Ms. S was again free to do day-to-day subbing assignments. And now I'm in another long term. Should be interesting. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Holding No More

April 1st. Tuesday. My first day in the long-term English class that I knew about since something like October. Maybe September. 

(The teacher had emailed me to ask if I would be willing to cover her class when she went on maternity leave. I was unsurprised at the maternity leave as she had mentioned wanting a second child when she returned from her first maternity leave, which I had covered in part for her.)  

I arrived at the school with my usual carry bag and an extra bag with some other things I'd need for the classroom (as I knew I would be there for 30 school days). 

I went to the office to check in. The first door was locked. The second door was locked. I headed for a third door that would be locked, but it would be manned by the school's receptionist who would let me in. (The other two doors are usually unlocked when I arrive at the school. I was just a touch early this day.) 

As I climbed the stairs, my carry bag suddenly fell from my shoulder. I caught it before it hit pavement. What the...? 

I examined the bag. One of the clasps holding the strap to the bag had broken off. 

Uhhhh....

Yikes. This bag has no other handle on it. With my second bag, it was just plain awkward. But at least the office door wasn't too far. As predicted, the school's receptionist let me in, and I went to check in.

I mean, once I was in the classroom I found a spot for my bag to live in for the day (as I usually do) and I didn't have to worry about carrying it again until it was time to leave. The walk to my car is kinda long for holding a bag that has no working handle or strap. A minor irritation, really.

I have a bag that I used to use that still has a functioning strap. Time to pull it out of storage. It'll do until I find another bag to replace this one. Maybe. 

What a way to start my new long term.

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Gullible

Last week, while trying to come up with some things we can do in the face of our current fascist regime, I advocated talking to people with opposing viewpoints as a way to maybe change some minds. Since writing that post, I have changed my mind. I don't believe that will help. 

Those who are in the cult won't have their minds changed by us. I don't think they will ever realize how skewed their views are. 

After I wrote last week's post, I got into a conversation with a MAGAt. I was lamenting the kidnapping of legal residents for having dissenting viewpoints. The response? How dare they speak out against the country. They are guests here, and they have no right. Would someone go to China and speak out about that regime? 

I rather thought that last argument made my point, but nope. And my argument that they were sending innocent people to concentration camps was met with, "they must deserve it". 

The whole conversation began with a news report about the Signal messaging thing. The comment? This couldn't possibly be true. It had to be fake news. Why? Because messaging war plans is illegal. They're only supposed to discuss these things in a secure setting. They're not even allowed to take their phones into secure locations. 

So, therefore, the reports were false. Instead of realizing how incompetent these people are. 

My argument about the people in charge being incompetent was met with the response that I only watched the fake news. Therefore I was getting it all wrong. 

I give up. 

Maybe if there's someone you can reach, great. But life is too short for me to try to convince the gullible.

Then, while I was mulling this over on my own, I ran across this comic called "Believe". It's about why people continue to believe things that are not true. It's something that I'll need to sit with as well. It has a good lesson for all of us. 

So, in my Tuesday scream into the void, I again don't have much we can actually do right now. I mean, continue to throw sand into the fascist gears whenever possible. And continue to call your reps for either praise or complaint. And stay safe. They're coming for us.

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter