| September'99 | . |
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You never know. I was loading some new software this afternoon, and seemed pretty successful, but then I started noticing a few glitches in different things. Before I knew it, my AOL wouldn't start. So I had to reload that whole thing. And a document in one of these new programs refuses to show up where I have placed it. I can hear Ray's voice, "Tom, it's tech," in those same fatalistic tones we get at the end of the movie, "Don't, Jake. It's Chinatown." I know the problem. I've been getting too cocky. The gods of Apparently Simple But Actually Complicated Machinery will always let you know when you are over your head. They have lured me out to deep water and left me floating...just to keep me humble. So I bow down before them in miserable supplication. "Spare me, oh gods, from the random crash and the corrupt file. Keep them creepy whizzle-midgens far away. And I will remember my tiny place in the Big Scheme of Things." As ancient men and women knew, that's all you can do when you're completely without control...all illusions of power and competence shot to the moon. On other fronts, classes today were a very mixed bag. I've only got two preps, the sophomores and the freshmen, but the differences among the periods are striking. I can't assume that just because something worked with one group that it will fly with another. Period B seemed to be with me on Franklin, but the very same stuff in Period C seemed to go nowhere. I was pulling teeth, as they say. The freshmen classes began reading "The Miracle Worker" out loud with volunteers for the parts. I was pretty happy with the quality of the oral reading (and the attempts by some to actually get in character), but the overall attention of the class varied enormously from period to period. The "maturity levels" of individual freshmen seem to be all over the board. Some could be juniors; others are still back in the primary grades. I've got a lot to learn. What do I mean by "maturity"? Mostly this: demonstrate an ability to stay focused on the work at hand, cope with distractions, and avoid distracting, take responsibility for your action. I know it's hard to sit in classes all day. And it gets more difficult as the day progresses. That's why I'm kind of amazed that some of my fans in Joliet are yearning nostalgically for the good old days of period 8 last year. I must have been awesome, wish I could have taken that class myself. No jogging tonight. Why not? Well, I've been very good with it. So good, in fact, that my feet hurt. I put some cushy new insoles into my school shoes over the weekend, but I didn't notice much difference today. Could the floors be that much harder here at Carmel? Yeah, I bet that's it. I've been listening to Wilco's Summerteeth, which I didn't like much on the first couple of listens. But I think it's growing on me. I'm starting to understand what they're doing with the Beach Boys and what sound like a good handful of bubblegum licks. I wish I could make some music...never should have quit those piano lessons. On that note, I met the violin teacher today. She appeared right after my last period, introduced herself (so why can't I remember her name?), and let me know that she'd be commandeering my room four days a week at this time. As it now stands that's not a problem, but what happens when/if I get a group of something going? Nevermind. As we learned in kindergarten, it's important to share. That's how we all get along. |
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Philip Larkin |
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