Zilch

I had such plans for today's blog post. I was going to knit or crochet a cactus, and I had the perfect Z name for it. I already purchased a pot, and I have plenty of yarn in appropriate colors...

And I knit nothing all week. Well, not nothing. On Saturday I knit about five rounds of this scarf.

Some weeks I just can't get anything done. I sat in front of the TV and watched Legion without even a projet in my lap.

So, for those of you who are new around these parts, you may have noticed my knitted letters. There's a story around those. They first made their appearance in 2015.

They are actually useful, sort of. They're monogrammed gift card holders...

They are no longer listed in my shop Zizi Rho Designs, but if anyone would like to purchase one, these letters are still available...

There's just something about Z-day for the A to Z... Every year it seems like I'm so done at this point. How about you? Are you happy April is over? Did you do the challenge? Are you planning on blogging in May?

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

You're Not a Train

The other night as I was perusing my Twitter feed, I stumbled upon this post:

You are not a train. pic.twitter.com/pq3JGiLxSV

— You Had One Job (@_youhadonejob1) April 23, 2018

I have not laughed that hard in a long time. Too long.

So, I'm sharing.

I don't know if you'll find this as funny as I did. But sometimes something just strikes you, you know? And if you want more laughs, take a look at all the replies. They go from the obvious (pointing out that there are plenty of people who can't read the sign who aren't trains) to the ridiculous.

This is now the wallpaper on my phone.

Did you find this funny? (I doubt you found it as funny as I did.) When was the last time you had a really great laugh? Do you have any good jokes you can share?

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

X-tra

I was back at the continuation high school. I swear, some of these things only happen there...

Yasmine walked in late. I explained the assignment to her. She explained that she didn't do the work, that she only was in the class to make T-shirts, which she wasn't doing that day.

(It's the graphic production class--read: computer assisted art class--and some of the students are on other projects.)

Yasmine told me she'd be watching a video, which is what she does most days. Alas, many in this class just waste their time in this way, so it's a battle I don't fight anymore.

We were twenty minutes into class. The room was silent.

Yasmine pulled out her phone and spoke to someone. Now, she wasn't loud, per se, but in a silent room, I could hear everything. I'd love to report what she was talking about, but alas, her conversation was in Spanish. Something about mesa. That's all I caught.

It sounded like whoever she was talking to wasn't getting what she was saying as she repeated it a couple times. Then she hung up in a huff and put her phone in her back pocket.

I had been giving her a death glare the whole time, but she was oblivious. So, I gently explained that next time she should take her phone calls outside of class.

"Why? It's cold out there. They're not doing anything. I wasn't bothering anybody."

Um, the silent class? Yeah, I think we all heard your conversation. But, the other students would never say.

Me: "You were bothering me."

"What? You aren't doing anything either."

Um, well, I guess monitoring the class is nothing...

"You're so extra..."

Uh huh. Extra. If you hadn't realized, "extra" is an insult. (Although, it could be a compliment in a different context.)

*Before I get the usual "cell phones should be banned" comments, let me explain something. I could have totally sent her out and had her phone confiscated for this. I did not because I didn't feel it was worth the trouble. True, this is why many of the students at this school have the phone issue. But then again, many of them ended up at this school due to things like their attitude, and as the phone wasn't out again, I didn't think making it more of an issue would help matters in the slightest. 

**And yes, I totally cheated for X. Don't we usually? Show of hands: How many of you (who are doing the A to Z Challenge) cheated on their X post? I so couldn't resist when being called "extra" by a student. It kind of fell into my lap.

Have you ever been called "extra"? Do you know what "extra" means, slang-wise? What was your favorite insult when you were a teen?

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

Whodunit?

Eighth grade English. It was the class that stole my clock. On a Friday. With an assembly scheduled.

Basically, I was doomed from the start.

I had gone over what their assignment was. They were doing the settling in thing, where they get their work out, they figure out what they need to do, and they get started. I turned away for a second (I think I was getting the roll sheet or some housekeeping thing like that), and that's when a sharp "pop" sounded.

And the class reacted to the stink bomb that someone threw.

Chaos ensued. Those closest to the offending smell fled the room. Others complained about the smell. Someone pulled out their perfume and sprayed. (It never fails. There's always someone who does this, and I always go after them as we don't know who might be allergic.)

I called security. (Well, I called the office and they called security...)

Victoria arrived. She got the class back in their seats and told them all to write down on a sheet of paper (without putting their names) what they knew of the incident.

While they were doing this, Anisha warned them not to be "snitches" and say anything.

Whether they listened to Anisha, they didn't know anything, or they just didn't want to say, it's hard to tell. But every single page had a variation of "I know nothing" on it.

Victoria pulled three students from class, one of whom was Anisha.

Upon Anisha's return, she informed the class that one of the boys who had been pulled had "taken the fall" for the incident. Apparently, he had stink bombs in his backpack. But it was clear that Anisha was telling the class it wasn't actually his fault.

I kind of wonder who the culprit is. Although, I was more concerned with getting the class back to some semblance of proper classroom behavior. This did actually occur, but only after several students who couldn't stand the smell fled.

I rather think it was one of them.

Those who remained were nose blind to the smell after a short while. And they know what's coming to them upon their teacher's return. They rather think they deserve whatever is coming.

What is your vice of choice after a particularly hard day? What is one way you tortured the substitute teachers you had in your classes? 

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

Video Glitch

10th grade English. They're reading To Kill a Mockingbird. However, on this day they were doing some related studies. They were to watch a video on the Scottsboro Boys.

We were to watch about 50 minutes of the video (via YouTube), then they had some questions to answer. It was a rather standard type of lesson. And, as I do, when the video was playing, I wasn't paying close attention. (It is April. I was reading blogs...)

However, I was sort of listening. So, when the video went from being in the midst of a court trial back to the men being arrested from earlier in the doc, I knew something was wrong. The class was not happy. They were riveted, and they wanted to know more about the woman's testimony.

After some investigation, I discovered that the rest of the video was just a repeat of what they'd already seen. What to do? I called one of the other 10th grade English teachers (they work as a team), and she said it was okay to go on to the next thing as they weren't going to finish the video anyway.

The class, however, wasn't having it. They could see that there was a part 2 on the YouTube page, and they wanted me to explore it. Which they repeated while we went over the next part of the assignment. Repeatedly. (They were worse than middle schoolers.)

On the one hand, I'm glad they were so invested in the doc that they wanted to see how things turned out. But on the other hand, they weren't going to finish the video, and the next part of the assignment told them how things turned out. (Spoiler alert: not good.)

(In case you're interested, you can find the video here: Part 1; Part 2.)

It turned out that the part 2 was the rest of the video. I was curious. While they were doing the next part of the assignment, I previewed it. So, when they finished their stuff, I did play about 15 more minutes for them. (It was a long period, so we had the time.)

Of course they wanted me to play the video for longer...

At least I knew what the issue was (and how to fix it) for the next class. Of course, right at the point when it was time to change the video was when the phone rang... Naturally.

Has YouTube ever disappointed you with a video glitch? Would you have shown the rest of the video to the annoying class?

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

Universal Donor

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. 😉

What if we could gain the abilities of the donor if we were to get a blood transfusion?

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

Turtle Try 1

Last year on her birthday, my niece told me she likes turtles. And so when I saw this sea turtle pattern in Knitty, I thought she might enjoy one.

I sent her a message. She never replied. 

But now it was in the back of my head. And turtle starts with T. The perfect excuse. 

So, now you know what I knit last week... 

It wasn't too difficult. I already had the yarn on hand. The eyes are bigger than the pattern called for, but I couldn't find those eyes locally. (And as I did this with a deadline, I didn't have time to search them out online.) 

It's a cute little pattern, but there were a lot of little things to assemble. A second turtle would be a whole lot easier. 

Maybe. Eventually. 

Have you done anything this month you've never tried before? Do you like turtles? 

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