Due to a strange convergence of events, the eighth graders are now done with school. The sixth and seventh graders have four more days. As do their teachers. It’s a little bizarre, but it’s a long story.
So anyway, last night was eighth grade “Affirmation”. I think we don’t call it graduation because we want them to come to our ninth grade as well. We do call it graduation when they’re done with twelfth grade. Our Affirmation service happens in a church. It’s a worship service/ award ceremony. Last night’s service went pretty well. We were done with everything in an hour and twenty minutes or so. Not bad. The evening ends with people packed into the fellowship hall eating cake and drinking punch and having awkward conversation.
This event is one of the signs of the end of the school year. But it doesn’t seem like the end because today I’m still teaching lessons. Except half my kids are not there anymore. Good-bye, eighth graders.
There has been a rabbit in my garden the last couple of weeks. I would have known even if I hadn’t seen it because some of my seedlings were eaten.
Rabbits are evil.
On Sunday, I saw the rabbit again and decided to shoot it with my BB gun, but I couldn’t find my pellets. By Monday I had found my pellets, but when I took a shot at the rabbit I aimed too high and it cleverly ran into the bank parking lot next door, so I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t be seen with my gun because BB guns are illegal in Baltimore City. Wily rabbit.
On my way out for school yesterday, I saw it again. This time I remembered to aim low. I hit it! It limped out to the bank parking lot and sat there, immobile and injured. I wouldn’t be able to use my gun. Dang it! So I grabbed the shovel…
They never make it easy.
I buried it so it wouldn’t stink. Here lies the rabbit:
I went shopping yesterday. I went specifically to look for new summer shoes. It seems that whatever else I do, I get two new pairs of shoes each year… one pair of teacher shoes in the fall, which I wear every day all school year until they’re worn out… and one pair of summer shoes, which I wear every day all summer until they’re worn out.
My summer shoes are always the same category of shoes. I have discovered over time that this category has many names. My family always called them flip-flops. They are also called thongs or sandals or slippers. Whatever the case, I must always get the kind that has a between-the-toes strap. I’ve tried walking in the kind that just goes over the top of your foot, and I don’t know how people walk in them. I kick them right off. I need that strappy thing so my toes have something to hang on to.
I was also looking for a pair that had more cushion than last year’s pair. Last year’s had a thin slab of hard rubber as the sole. They made my feet hurt. This year’s are much nicer…
I’ve had the air conditioner in my bedroom for a while now. I like it COLD when I’m sleeping. But I haven’t had any need for an air conditioner anyplace else in the house. We’ve had a few hot days in a row now, so I brought the other air conditioners out. There’s one in the computer room now – it gets quite hot there because it’s directly beneath the roof. And there’s one in the living room. It doesn’t seem like that one does anything because I never feel a chill from that unit. But I think its work is maybe just to lower the ambient temperature.
In the summer, I will leave these running almost all the time. For now, they’re on and off whenever it gets too hot.
I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3 yesterday. I really liked it. And of course I bought the soundtrack immediately upon leaving the theater. It’s good, as are the soundtracks to the first two movies.
My only complaint is something that’s been a problem for any movie for a couple of years now: I never know if there’s more movie to be watched after the closing credits are over. There is, in fact, a scene after the credits for this movie, so my sitting and waiting was not a waste of time. There is not, however any further movie after the credits of Spiderman 3, which I also sat and waited for. Time wasted.
Is there a way to tell? They should include it in the crazy fast-talking at the end of the trailers they show on TV: “This film is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America; stay for the end of the credits.”
It’s a good movie. If you liked the first two, you’ll like this one. It’s darker, but tells a nice story. There are lots of pirate captains in this one. I think Barbossa is my favorite of them all. Happy watching! Arrr!
