11-30-00 Th 1:53 PM

Ugh. I typed eleven minutes this morning. Even cutting it short, I still didn't sign in on time at work this morning. I didn't sign in at all. I went to pick up a newspaper. Ugh. Sometimes, I don't even have the basic writing skills of a high school dropout. We completed a phonics lesson and talked about dreams. We went to music. The newspaper was meaningless. We studied rounding to the nearest ten. I had a bagel and some leftover Thanksgiving ham and green beans for lunch. Then the kids butchered their review questions about the Pacific Northwest, and now I'm irritated and consumed with loathing and still have half hour before I'll be paroled for the day. I stopped at Chevalier's yesterday and muddled over four different copies of Leaves of Grass, I finally bought "the original 1855 edition," edited by Malcom McCowry (?). How can it be original and edited by Malcom McCowry--oh, if he was the original editor. It's said that Whitman suppressed and censored later copies. That didn't quite add up, though, because this so-called original version was the thinnest (and cheapest). I didn't really want to get mixed up in hundreds of extra pages of homoerotic poetry. No hatred--just a matter of personal taste. Anyway, I'll read some when I'm done here. Then, I've got to get home and type another third-person page. I'll use suggestions from Vein of Gold. I could really go for a bachelor getaway. A drunk-in-public. Ugh. Got to go to work tonight. Maybe I'll take Rochelle and Ada to the Museum of Miniatures on Saturday. It will be closing its doors soon. Sunday, we have to go Orange County to celebrate Millie's birthday. Ugh. Then, we've got to go to the old folks' home where Rochelle's grandmother is drooling away. I can't complain; at least it ain't Idaho. At least her sister hasn't borrowed hundreds of dollars we'll never get back. Then, we're supposed to go to my mom's so Dotty and Andy can see the baby. I don't think I'll be reading my newspaper or the Koran. Then, the work week starts all over again. I've had to piss for about two hours now. What else? I slammed my fist on my desk and groan-growled at the kids who were goofing around, and now they're maintaining the appearance of working diligently to write thorough and accurate answers to their review questions like I asked.