V Not L

I was glad to get the call this morning. I've been spending way too much time by myself, and the result hasn't been pretty. It was good to get out of the house.

I got to school, got the key, and I headed to the classroom. On the way there, I spotted the teacher on his way to the classroom. Uh oh.

Turns out that he wasn't going to be out today. So, I trekked back to the office.

The secretary was surprised. She searched through her paperwork. The teacher hadn't requested today off. She had no idea how she had made such a mistake.

The secretary wondered if she just requested a sub for the wrong teacher. We had to wait until the final bell to figure that out. At that point, they were looking for a bunch of students standing outside waiting for a teacher who wouldn't show. When we didn't get notified that a class was missing a teacher, the secretary sent me to the library.

When the school or the sub caller makes the mistake, I still get paid for the day. Many times, the school can find enough individual periods where a teacher had to leave early, had a meeting to get to, or some such to fill out a day. If, like today, this was not the case, then I get sent to the library.

I like the library. It's a nice assignment.

The library assistant showed me what I'd be doing: attaching bar codes to a set of workbooks that just arrived. But before I could get settled, a call came in from the secretary. They found the class.

The secretary wrote down the wrong name. They weren't close in pronunciation, but I could see how she could write one down for the other. Instead of covering a math class, I was sent to cover chemistry. Not a bad switch.

I got to the class. One of the assistant principals had started things. He got them going and he took roll. The class looked at me questioningly as the transition took place. As soon as the AP left, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

I explained the mix up (they were sophomores and juniors). They were as entertained as I was.

What If? Hearing Voices

It is again Thursday, and I have nothing interesting to report. (I'm not going to bore you with more talk of my knitting. Besides, I'm in the middle of a few things, but nothing ready to photograph.) So, instead I'm going to pose another one of my "what if?" thoughts.

What if schizophrenics really are psychic? What if the voices that they hear are actual voices? Voices from beyond?

But just because they're real doesn't mean that they should be listened to.

There are people in the world who are good at finding followers. These are the ones that can talk anyone into anything. Some become politicians. Some go into sales. Some start cults. Some of these individuals have ideals. They are striving for the greater good. But some of these people are dangerous.

Now, imagine a person like that who is not alive, or at least not part of the plane of existence that we consider real. Most of the world can't hear him/her/it. But our schizophrenic individual can. And this disembodied voice now has someone to talk to.

(Kind of sounds like a horror movie.)

What do you think? Do I have way too much time on my hands? Perhaps I should spend my time pondering other things.

Accidental Calls

There are some days that I really shouldn't write anything that's ever going to be read by anybody. This is one of those days. So, today I'm reposting an old post from July 26, 2007. 

I was back at the continuation high school today. This is rather early in the school year for them. The other teachers were shocked that anyone was out so soon. They started back on Tuesday.

A funny thing happened in first period...

They don't have phones in the classrooms there. What they have is an intecom system. Push the call button once and the office responds. Push the call button multiple times and security comes running. I use the intercom sparingly.

So, it was near the end of first period and the intercom went off: "Office."

I didn't call them. That's when I saw the student sitting on a stool right in front of the call button. The stool was right up against the wall. The button was back height.

Me to him: "Did you lean against the button?" Then, me to the office: "Oops, sorry. Hit the button by mistake."

I glared at the student.

Seconds later, security showed up. He burst into the room.

"What's wrong?"

I glared at the student again. At this point the student realized that sitting on that stool--not such a good idea. He found himself another seat. And I had no more accidental office calls.

After this, I never saw that stool in that spot again. Although, I am a lot more careful about the call button.

Weekend Knitting

My niece got a Kindle for Christmas. Of course she needed a cover for it.

Something has happened to ereaders since I designed my cozy--they've gotten smaller. So, while her Kindle fit into the cozy I have, it had a bit too much wiggle room for my taste. The cozy should fit snugly.

My nook fits snugly in this:


Time for a redesign.

Initially, I thought I would just make something that was a bit shorter. But as long as I was doing that, I might as well pick a different cable, something that was a bit narrower. I looked through my stitch dictionaries. And then I found it.



(Apologies for the lack of quality photo. I couldn't get the lighting right.)

There are so many cable patterns out there. I might as well try something new.

I started it on Friday. I finished it Sunday afternoon. I'm rather pleased with the result.

What do you think?

Unaware

It's the 5th of the month, so I have a little post over here. I'd appreciate it if you checked it out (and left a quick comment).

Last night, I was pondering a story. This is another one that may never actually get written, but as I visualized two of the characters talking, one of them said something interesting. And it led me to a "what if?" 

What if there is a singular consciousness? What if we only tap into a small portion of that consciousness? What if all our minds are linked, but we are just unaware of this link?

(What if I actually used these questions to finish a story?)

Thoughts?

Another Crazy Cozy

I got a new cell phone for Christmas. (I got it in October, so it was a very early Christmas present.) And me being me, I knew I had to knit it a cover/cozy/carry case. My last cell phone had one. My nook has one. Yes, I'm crazy that way.

After my panicked Christmas rush, I finally had some time to sit down and knit me something. I had time to think about what I wanted to do with this one. My last cell phone was considerably smaller than the one I have now, so I knew I was going to have to rethink the last one's concept.

I started with this...



Isn't it ugly? I try to avoid the ugly first try, but this time I couldn't help it. Although, this gave me sizing ideas, so my next one turned out so much better...



It's not quite there, but it's so much closer. I can make due with this until I figure out how to make it just the way I want it. (First, I'm going to need to get some yarn in a brighter color.)

What do you think? Will a bright orange make all the difference?

About a Cell Phone

New year, and nothing to say. What else is new?  

Several years ago, I started my blog on MySpace. After a few too many technical glitches, I moved my blog over here, but I didn't move the old posts. From time to time, I like to repost these old ones. I originally wrote this on January 23, 2007. 

Cell phones are not allowed at school. Well, technically they're allowed as long as they're put away. The actual rule states:

Students may not use or display cell phones during the regular school day... Cell phones must remain out of sight and powered 'OFF' throughout the school day. Failure to comply with any portion of this policy will result in immediate confiscation of the cell phone...

I don't generally make an issue of it unless they do. One time I was having a terrible time with this 5th period--they were turning off the lights after I told them not to (no windows--pitch black room), throwing things that hit me, and generally being as horrible as they could. Just as I almost got them settled, a cell phone rang. I confiscated it. It was the principle of the thing.

But that's an extreme case. Usually, someone has a phone out, and I remind them that visible or audible cell phones are fair game for confiscation, and the offending piece of equipment magically vanishes. Case closed. No sweat.

Today I covered a French class. They had crossword puzzles using food vocabulary (well, that was for French I; French II, III, & VI had other work). It was a pretty dry assignment, so they were talking as well. A typical day for me. And then the cell phone issue came up.

"Want to see my cell phone?" a student asked the class one student at a time. This "cell phone" got passed around the room. He called it a Blackberry, and other students marveled at its access--he had MySpace on it.

Of course I got a look at it. He had drawn a sort of phone looking thing on a fourth of a piece of paper. Freshmen!

Remember when Blackberries were the big thing? Remember when everyone was on MySpace? This wasn't that long ago, but in some ways it was.