Attempt at Half Full

Admittedly, I tend to be a bit debbie downer in my blog posts.  I usually only come up with something to blog about if I'm in the mood to criticize and complain.  I've decided to break that trend today with a happy post!
Hmm.  I got nothing.  Oh, wait, I know.  I received a pretty empowering gift from a student the other day.  It was a journal made by women in Bangladesh who were given the opportunity to learn skills and trades to help them climb out of poverty and become empowered.  My student wanted to get me something significant to our class together, and also something she thought I would like and enjoy.  It was a heart warming gift, given the student had always gravitated towards the poverty and women's rights issues in our class.  It is these moments that help me stay teaching!

I'm a Cranky Wimp in the Heat

It's was about as hot as Ryan Gosling out there yesterday in Boston.  Shirtless.  Yep, that hot.  So, naturally, I needed to take my dog out at dusk to let him cool off and do his bidding and what do I find?  A guy, standing in a tree, just watching, waiting and being generally creepy in the dog park.  Watching and wait for what?  His dream lover to show and run up the trunk into his arms?
Ugh.  Now, I don't mean to complain about the Allston-Brighton area, but egads, what new oddities am I going to run into tomorrow?  Maybe I need to set the scene some more just to show how truely irritating this pre-summer time in college-ville can be.  I had just passed a yard full of sloppy college kids, a couple screaming out their apartment windows likely in the midst of a breakup.  Oh yeah, and let's not forget the dude who decided it would be a great idea to tear down the busy street and then screech to a  full stop in front of his friend to show off his new ride.  Really?  I mean, REALLY?
No shortage of tomfoolery in this area.  Or should I say, a massive shortage of brain cells?  The heat must have started to cook student's brain cells away already. The smart ones went home for the summer, already, it seems.  Yikes, isn't it too early for that?

Sweaty Season Salutations!

Who likes to make lists?  Are you avoiding doing your work right now by making a to do list instead?  We all know we do those silly procrastination techniques to avoid having to do the heftiest of tasks.  I do it, you do it, we all do it!  That is actually, in fact, the reasoning behind this here bloggy post.  That, and the fact that it is headache inducing sweaty shmetty at my work.  Why wouldn't they install air condition in this building?  I can't focus!  Too much sweat!  Tomorrow is going to be 88 degrees F.  Yikes.

MERCHANDISING!! MERCHANDISING!

I went out to the Red Sox Star Wars on Monday and received a lovely little plastic baseball that is the shape of the death star.  Of course I was excited to get a baseball, but once I stood in line, eagerly awaiting glory and riches, the realization hit me that it might just be a hunk of cheap pressed plastic.  It was.  Terrible.  To top that off, once I had it in hand, I exclaimed in disappointment, "Its not even accurate!"
Thinking this was in jest, my friends erupted in laughter.  I was not joking.  How dare anyone taint the illustrious power of the death star by limiting it to a little plastic niblet.  The plastic, which insults the 'sport' of baseball, then the inaccuracy slices through my fandom.
So, I was thinking...what will they do next?  Give away a free millenium hawk replica?  ...BUT wait, it comes with a free ewok co-pilot!  Ugh.  Amateurs.  Merchandising use to be an art.

So at any rate, I'm not the hugest star wars fan, compared to some extremes, but at at the very least I have the basics down.  BASICS, people!  (And basic happens to be the standard language in the star wars galaxy.)
END NERD RANT  *drop the mic*