Well, it's been a day. I'm grateful that the high points are high enough for me to keep moving past the low ones.

The kids are funny:

Me: [looks at female student sitting on male student's lap during group work] " Julio n'est pas une chaise! Ton pupitre est là!"
Female student after some thought: " Non...c'est my chaise right heruh," pointing to Julio's lap.

I wish I could've just laughed and said " ok, whatever"...but this authority thing...had to threaten parent calls to separate them.

Me: " Just to make sure...do you all know what a skit is?" ( They're not used to creative educational activities I guess )
Student: " Skeet skeet skeet?"
Class: *muffled guffaws*
( skeetskeetskeet aparently is slang for sex or masturbation, popularized by Nelly's "shake yo tail feather" and Dave Chapelle)
Me: " No, thatsNOTwhatitisanddontTHINKidon'tknowwhatyouretalkingabout!"

The same kid that said skeet skeet skeet: " Mademoiselle, can I be Ron Jeremy in our skit?" *smirks
Me: Most definitely not. And HOW do you even know who that is??
Student: : HEY how do YOU even know who that is? Miss, you be watchin porno!"
Me: " END. NOW. This script better be rated a solid 'G'" [thinking:] I don't even want to know what angle he was going to take with the Ron Jeremy thing in their skit.

Oh, then I got called a "nigga" in 6th period after I gave out a detention. I called the student out in the hall for a one-on-one and looked him straight in the eyes and said " That really offended me. Why would you say that to someone?" Then just like that, he spilled his guts. I feel like sometimes I have too much empathy...because I remember being 14 and all the sudden being charged with so much more academic responsibility. Yeah, he shouldnt have called me a name, but he was just frustrated beyond frustration. SO, I think I've got a handle on it now. We'll see.

I changed the seating chart, eliminated bathroom breaks, and called 4 sets of parents today.I get so frustrated at these kids sometimes, but ironically, the kids that get in trouble are the kids who say "salut Mademoiselle!" in the hall or at lunch. I think that maybe a part of them likes being held accountable for their actions. The grades for the most part are pretty decent, and they ask good and relevant questions...so I guess I'm doing something right. Ive had 7 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours from staying up worrying about well, everything. I had a caramel machiato for dinner. I started seeing colorful shifting shapes across the sky driving through Dallas. Time for a nap.

So I really want to go to Austin this weekend to see Austin folk, but gas just went up so much because of Katrina. Which man, that's just surreal. I was just there in Nouvel Orléans a little less than 2 years ago. I can't picture Bourbon Street under water. My beloved Pat O'Brien's!! It's bizarre that we haven't gotten any rain from that. I read somewhere that there are giant floating mounds of fire ants, and gators in the city limits eating some of the dead bodies search teams have had to bypass to save the living. There was such a huge homeless population in N.O., no wonder there's a high death toll. Depressing.

( Mike's stance on the nigga story:)
Mikeymo39: wow
Mikeymo39: you are now officially a badass sarah
Mikeymo39: TRU
Mikeymo39: NIGGA!

Hehe, props to him for mentioning me in his blog. :-D You can see a picture of him making me dinner here.

I need sleep before I die. I promise I will say something slightly less boring/slightly more intellectual maybe even....later.