Friday. We are now on day two of rain for Southern California which is just about as rare as our state having a balanced budget so I’m enjoying it while I can get it. I left an umbrella at school which is the first umbrella I’ve owned for as long as I can remember. I was telling one of my students that men never use umbrellas and then, after an afternoon of getting pounded by the rain as I was running from one place to the next, it really didn’t matter if I was considered in the running to be a man or not. Even by myself. Sometimes you just gotta’ do what you gotta’ do.
I said good-bye to my ninth graders today. I get a whole new set of ninth graders on Tuesday which tends to lead me to all of these differing degrees of sentimentality which may or may not be completely genuine. Some classes I will definitely miss. I would love to have them and teach them even longer than the administration is willing to give me. But some classes… and I’m trying to be as diplomatic as possible in expressing this… some classes make me want to count the number of seconds I have in each class period. My fourth period were like little brand new puppies who you want to spend all day with but my second period made me want to bring back every form of corporal punishment ever devised in history no matter how barbaric- the more creative the more therapeutic they might be.
My dog Jack is lying down outside with his nose to the glass and wagging his tail. He hasn’t been walked yet and he expects me to walk him even though it’s raining and I don’t know how to explain to him that this is not what sane people do. This is not what anybody does. I don’t even see insane people walking their dogs in the rain. But Jack clearly doesn’t understand this and he’s waiting for me which is testing my normally-strong level of guilt tolerance.
About Me
- Joel Bergman
- I was a creative writing major as an undergrad and finished my master's degree in Christian Apologetics at Biola University. I'm a full-time high school English teacher in L.A.
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6 comments:
Again, you had me in stitches. I love visiting your blog -- [wish you wrote more, actually, but I understand busyness] -- because it makes me laugh EVERY time I come.
Favorite line from this one:
I was telling one of my students that men never use umbrellas and then, after an afternoon of getting pounded by the rain as I was running from one place to the next, it really didn’t matter if I was considered in the running to be a man or not. Even by myself. Sometimes you just gotta’ do what you gotta’ do.
I especially liked the phrase "if I was considered in the running..." too funny!!
Love ya! I think I'm your biggest fan, besides Mama, of course. :) I know that's not saying a whole lot to you, but hey, better to have your sister for a biggest fan than no fan at all!! :)
I loved it. I always check your blog -- sometimes several times a day -- to see if there's someting new. I really look forward to it and I'm always disappointed when there are no new additions. Keep it going.
P.S. -- we're having rain here as well -- an even rarer event. Love it. I've been sitting just listening to the pitter patter.
I haven't visited your site in a long time and I gotta say this was a great read for me, you had me laughing! You haven't changed Joel and that's a good thing:)
Hi, I am the new follower here and may I say I love reading your bloggs---they are very witty.
You wrote:
"I don’t even see insane people walking their dogs in the rain."
I love doing this. The insane lot owns the whole place, then, on a rainy day. But then again, the Norwegians are used to the rain, and sleet, and snow.
They always say that there is no such thing as bad weather---just unappropriate clothes.
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