June 8, 1998 Monday 9:11 AM
We're in class. I told my third-graders whoever wrote the most in their journals could use the computer the rest of the morning. They want to know if they have to write real things or can they make stuff up. "Yeah. Do whatever you want," I say, "as long as you keep writing." Marlin, though, is showing off his karate moves. "Okay, Grasshopper, si'down now." "Mr. Zurn, Alana keeps talking about my dead grandmother," says Mitchell Maiden. "Okay," I say, "the next time you see Alana standing by a big mud puddle, push her in." "Mr. Zurn, can I write an action story?" asks Marlin. "Sure. You can call it "The Man with the Flapping Mouth." "Mr. Zurn, I fell off my bike this weekend." "Did you get any cool scabs you can show us?" "No." "Why not?" "I don't know."
I was punting footballs to the kids last Friday. My back has been aching ever since. Only two weeks of school left. Woo-hoo!
1:15 PM
After school today I'll have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I'll write a letter to my aunt thanking her for the balloons she sent for my birthday. I think I'll bail in for that Zurn history. Got to go to the LACAS office before night school. Got to type for fifteen minutes, do my one page in the third person, transcribe a page from my comp book, and spend an hour with Jim. I'm not reading the newspaper today. It has been overcast all day. I'm hungry. I have to piss. Augie got laid. Einhorn took him to an apartment brothel. What else? Will I smoke and drink beer between classes? I haven't spent any money since the hundred I dropped on dinner at the Stinking Rose Saturday night. I've got enough food at home that I don't have to spend any money on food probably until Friday. Eleven days from today is pay day. I guess I've got about seven hundred bucks in my checking account 'til then. What else? I have to take the movie "Network" back to the Blockbuster on Sunset. Wasn't Faye Dunaway's acting superb? and Ned Beatty, and Peter Finch and Bill Holden? And hasn't its assessment of the future of the airwaves twenty-five years ago proven prophetic? What else? I didn't much enjoy "The Truman Show." It left too many unanswered questions. It would be tiresome to go into why. Well, how can we close out with a bang the first entry of journal #25? By the time I'm done with this one, I'll be on summer vacation. Should I sub my ass off or write? Will I be living with Shirelle by then? Terrifying. What else? What more? The kids are watching "Home Alone 3" right now. And people have the nerve to complain about the quality of public education.
We're in class. I told my third-graders whoever wrote the most in their journals could use the computer the rest of the morning. They want to know if they have to write real things or can they make stuff up. "Yeah. Do whatever you want," I say, "as long as you keep writing." Marlin, though, is showing off his karate moves. "Okay, Grasshopper, si'down now." "Mr. Zurn, Alana keeps talking about my dead grandmother," says Mitchell Maiden. "Okay," I say, "the next time you see Alana standing by a big mud puddle, push her in." "Mr. Zurn, can I write an action story?" asks Marlin. "Sure. You can call it "The Man with the Flapping Mouth." "Mr. Zurn, I fell off my bike this weekend." "Did you get any cool scabs you can show us?" "No." "Why not?" "I don't know."
I was punting footballs to the kids last Friday. My back has been aching ever since. Only two weeks of school left. Woo-hoo!
1:15 PM
After school today I'll have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I'll write a letter to my aunt thanking her for the balloons she sent for my birthday. I think I'll bail in for that Zurn history. Got to go to the LACAS office before night school. Got to type for fifteen minutes, do my one page in the third person, transcribe a page from my comp book, and spend an hour with Jim. I'm not reading the newspaper today. It has been overcast all day. I'm hungry. I have to piss. Augie got laid. Einhorn took him to an apartment brothel. What else? Will I smoke and drink beer between classes? I haven't spent any money since the hundred I dropped on dinner at the Stinking Rose Saturday night. I've got enough food at home that I don't have to spend any money on food probably until Friday. Eleven days from today is pay day. I guess I've got about seven hundred bucks in my checking account 'til then. What else? I have to take the movie "Network" back to the Blockbuster on Sunset. Wasn't Faye Dunaway's acting superb? and Ned Beatty, and Peter Finch and Bill Holden? And hasn't its assessment of the future of the airwaves twenty-five years ago proven prophetic? What else? I didn't much enjoy "The Truman Show." It left too many unanswered questions. It would be tiresome to go into why. Well, how can we close out with a bang the first entry of journal #25? By the time I'm done with this one, I'll be on summer vacation. Should I sub my ass off or write? Will I be living with Shirelle by then? Terrifying. What else? What more? The kids are watching "Home Alone 3" right now. And people have the nerve to complain about the quality of public education.
posted by johnz at 8:59 AM
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