11:55 AM 5-28-99 F
I'm in the teacher's lounge.  I'm all alone.  The noon sun hangs in the morning gloom.  I think I might like to get over to Dedeaux Field at USC this evening to catch Pepperdine vs. the Trojans in the NCAA Western Regional baseball playoff tournament. Maybe Carlos will want to go.  Marco is here now.  He is eating rice and chicken and talking about his education.  He wants to be a lawyer.  Then we started telling stories about what drunk druggies we "used to be."  Now I'm down in the crapper.  I wish I would have written more, then I could knock off some more Idiot during silent reading.  I've got some printing to do and to put my homework in school mail.  I did at least give my updated ELDs to Betty.  The bell rang, but I'm still voiding my bowels.  12:30 PM  Now we're back in class.  I've got half of Miss King's class, and she has half of mine.  She's got the half that's acting in the play.  I've got the half that isn't. What else?  [spires of St. Basil's cathedral in black ink]  We put in "Peter and the Wolf."  It's a pretty lame version.  What else?  I put "Peter Pan" on.  [photo of filmy streaks of cirri]  The kids are grumbling about "Peter Pan."  No bloody shootouts.  I'll have to take these kids outside to appease them.  Ugh.  Onto The Idiot.

9:51 AM Th 5-27-99
I'm in the bathroom.  A kid in the deaf class across the hall is barking like a wounded seal.  I guess I need to get going on that mural when I'm done here.  I still have ELDs and homework to do.  I tore through the paper this morning.  The news is all bad.  How can I keep the kids busy while I do that mural?  I guess I can get out the water colors.  I need to track down some white paint.  My third-person page is supposed to be about prayer.  What else?  I ate three slices of warmed-ever pizza for breakfast with a vitamin and a cup of black coffee.  I walked with Ms. Garcia to the donut shop, sneaking peeks at her chichis.  The Idiot opens with Myshkin, Rogozhin, and Lebedev meeting on a train.  We already have hints of Myshkin's selfishness and Rogozhin's passion.  12:28 PM  I'm having a bag of salted mixed nuts for lunch.  "A MEAL IN ITSELF" says the bag.
The mural is finished.  I got a coffee.  I think I should have gotten two.  After this, I'll read some more Idiot.  The narrator has already used "I" like it's some sort of omniscient first-person.  After that, I'll do some ELDs.  I'm going to have to do some homework when I get home today.  I wonder if Shirelle will loan me her car tomorrow so I can turn it in.  What else?  The mural has a volcano, an Aztec pyramid, an Aztec calendar, a conquistador, a native, a skeleton, and a golden eagle on a cactus.  [photo of the view looking north from the upstairs window at 1333 S. Keniston]  Music is canceled today.  My hands and arms are covered with paint.  The kids are all fanning each other.  Jessica brought an animated version of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf".  Might be good to have on while I read The Zurn, er The Idiot, I mean.

11:15 AM 5-26-99 W
I've got some junk to do today.  I need to hit the Xerox machine and turn in my STEPS test.  I think I might like to ride my bike home for lunch, though.  I should try to hold out 'til after school.  Sonia patted my belly.  "Pizza and burgers," I said.  "Yeah, right," she said. "Cerveza."  Whatever.  I read the newspaper.  The kids took their tests.  What else?  Blah blah blah.  We'll leave for lunch in about five minutes.  I have to do that homework for a salary point.  I need to go downtown and check where I am.  Or maybe Felicia can tell me.  I've got to do my ELDs before Friday.  We have to paint a mural for the program.  Shall I have lunch?  What would be good?  I'm sick of teaching.  Starting next week there are exactly four weeks to summer vacation.  If I ever finish this, I can tackle some Idiot during Silent Reading.  11:50  Now I'm at Tam;s Chinese Garden.  Tam is probably a spy.  The Pillsbury Doughboy is up on the TV in the corner.  The Trials and Tribulations of Daryl Strawberry.  I'll grab my cums before going back to class.  I did that Xeroxing I had to do. It's mostly sunny today.  I'm on the playground now.  Girls are jumping rope.  Ricky's sitting next to me reading what I'm writing.  Another group of kids is playing volleyball.  Assistant Principal Hershel stalks the playground with his bullhorn.  [photo of tree on Keniston]  I took this picture back in December I think. I was shroomin', and I could see how alive the tree was.  It was muscular and determined and graceful in assuming that pose.  

5-24-99 M 10:50 AM
The kids are doing practice STEPS tests right now.  They have to edit and rewrite reports on mammals.  Chris Gomez, who is intelligence-challenged, wants to know how to spell Shaquille O'Neal.  Whatever this has to do with a report on mammals, I eagerly await.  They're not supposed to talk, but Lamarr pointed out that Shaq wouldn't be considered a mammal because "he don't have no hair."
I read an essay last night called "Lots."  It was sort of a socio-economic history of Philadelphia in the fifties and early sixties seen through the eyes of a parking lot attendant.  The lots were presented as a microcosm of American economic reality: basically everything is designed to get the most money out of consumers.
What else?  I have to make copies still of the STEPS administration manual, and I have to put pencils in the testing packets.  I'll do that at lunch.  I made it through the paper pretty fast today.  I guess I'll start reading The Idiot today during silent reading.   Then we'll watch the insects video and talk about insects.
I started my third-person page this morning.  About seasons and details.  Whatever.  I'll finish when I get home.  Then I have to write about Aaron's and Jim's giddiness as they run away from breaking the window.  Would K-mart be open at nine?  Maybe I'll make it eight.  Yeah.  What else?  I have to go to the LACAS office.  Ask about MOCA.  I have to pick up my film.  I know the pictures are all lame.  It was hot for a while this morning, but now it's cool and breezy.  Got to go to LACAS today.  I haven't been to class since I bowed out last Wednesday after Mardi's little OD stunt.  [a photograph of a little carnival on Pico and San Vicente]

5-23-99 Su 6:55 PM
Bernie wanted us to come to Rockin' Taco last night, but I was too tired, and Shirelle was too drunk. She was talking at the dinner table in front of my mom and our guests about how she only gets sex once a month.  I could have punched her.  Then she insisted on driving back to LA.  She was in that drunk state whey you won't listen to reason.  Instead of punching her, I decided dying was better than trying to reason with the dumb bitch and just got in the car.  Dumb is dumb, but a person can't help being dumb, so you have to let it slide, and a bitch is a bitch and there's been nothing a guy can do about that going back to Adam and Eve, and the two together, a dumbitch, will drive a man fucking insane.  She drove like a complete moron.  I was wishing she would get pulled over and thrown in jail.  I didn't say anything.  She spent the night crying drunk.  I pretended to be asleep.  She told me she was going to Demona's.  I said okay, but she didn't go.  I woke up at five this morning.  I read a Ring Lardner story called "Hurry Kane," another baseball story about the behind-the-scenes tricks players pull to get a lovesick teammate to perform, told I that loquacious Lardner voice.
I read chapters fourteen through twenty-one of Luke.  Rich men go to Hell.  A trip that religious conservatives also tend to be money-hoarders.  I read the newspaper.  I typed fifteen minutes.  I returned to my baseball team today.  I booted an easy double-play ball at third that would have gotten us out of the inning, and the opposition went on to score five runs.  Doh.  I flew out to right, had a pop-up drop in for a hit that should have been an infield-fly-rule out; no one touched it.  The ump didn't say anything, so let's call it a hit.  I grounded out to short and flew out to center.  We lost seven to two.  Shirelle and I are at Noonan's now.  We're going to grub.