Wednesday, June 30, 2010

this kid wants to be a single lady

thanks to joey for stumbling upon (and passing on) this link - the first 10 seconds aren't that funny, but it absolutely gets better from there.  LOVE IT.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

willis v. watson

really interesting article on a new computer that can beat people at jeopardy!  willis: watch out.*

(i would like to urge everyone to click the link in the article to play a fake game against watson the computer.  watson was pretty impressive, i thought.)


*for those with short memories, willis qualified and tried out for jeopardy in person!  any time between now and 18 months from now he could (emphasis on could) be called to appear on the show.  OMG.

Monday, June 28, 2010

oxford, take 2

i'm in oxford!  i got in on sunday, and i can't help comparing last year's arrival to this year's. 

last year: i take the train from bath, where i'd been sightseeing, and then proceed to take the longest possible route, on foot with all my belongings, from the train station to pembroke college, where i'm staying.  i feel really lost the whole time, because, in fact, i sort of am.

this year: i take the bus from london, a bus i have taken before, and i know that it has a stop literally across the street from pembroke.  i get off at that stop, cross the street, and i'm here.  i feel very proud of my navigation abilities.

last year: by accident i meet a coworker-to-be at the college gate at the very moment i arrive.  he takes me on a little walking tour of town and makes sure i get to our first meeting on time.

this year: i don't meet anyone at the gate, but i do recognize the porter on duty and we chat a bit.  i've prearranged to meet two friends/coworkers from last year to find a pub and watch the england v. germany soccer game.  one of those friends is the stranger from last year who took me around on the first day.  we meet at our predesignated time, hug, tell stories, and watch soccer until our first meeting.  [side story: england loses.  the pub is NOT AMUSED.  every time england gets the ball, people from all over the pub start yelling "come on england!" - that EXACT PHRASE - and every time their star rooney gets the ball they yell "come on rooney!"  every person who cheers is saying one of these two phrases.  this is apparently how you cheer for football here.  when england scored "the goal that wasn't" YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD THIS PUB.  to say they were angry that that goal didn't count IS THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR.]

last year: at our first meeting i am introduced to a bunch of people whose names i promptly forget. i feel overwhelmed, but excited.

this year: at our first meeting i know two thirds of the people there, and there is all sorts of hugging and laughing and "i didn't know you were coming back!" and catching up, and it is the most amazing feeling to be in a city 4,000 miles away from home and to know so many people so well.  i am overwhelmed by it in a way i didn't expect to be.


all of this is to say: life is very good right now.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

london

i had a wonderful day in this beautiful city, BUT I FORGOT MY CAMERA.  and then of course there were so many things i wanted to take pictures of.  damn it.  highlights: perfect weather.  a circle of little girls and their preschool teachers, in st. james park, DRESSED UP AS DISNEY PRINCESSES.  so cute.  billy elliot was incredible.  i watched the us v. ghana game in the pub across the street from my hostel, the horse & carriage, and it did not end up as i wanted it to, DAMN IT.  now i'll have to cheer for england, but it won't be as exciting.

since i forgot my camera, you'll have to make do with this, which is beautiful:
http://scenes-from-my-hood.tumblr.com/post/735593176/thedailywhat-time-lapse-thing-of-the-day-alex

Friday, June 25, 2010

begin adventure

i have arrived in the uk safe and sound!

here was the scene at my gate at the atlanta airport: 40+ american high schoolers, all wearing red jackets, embarking on a chorale trip to europe. AND THEY WERE ON MY FLIGHT. in the airport they were doing all the things that high schoolers in big groups do - play big games of cards, laugh too loud, play volleyball with a balloon and then proceed to scream when the balloon pops. every person at that gate who wasn’t with the group was thinking one thing: SHIT. other than taking a million years to board, the kids actually appeared to sleep through the flight, so the potential catastrophe of laughing/talking/singing on the plane was avoided. whew. i sat next to a really nice british guy and his two sons and i slept off and on during the flight. when we landed in london i was exhausted, though, because sleeping in an upright position isn’t the best sleep. i mean, obviously. but i have persevered - i showered and went on a walk, bought a ticket to see the matinee of billy elliot tomorrow, visited van gogh and monet and degas in the national gallery, had a meal, and i’m now resting a bit before i go to the pub across the street to watch the football (look at me practicing my british english) match at 7:30pm my time / 2:30pm your time.

i’m reminded already of my biggest complaint about being a woman and traveling alone: i don’t feel very comfortable walking around after dark. and granted, it doesn’t get dark until pretty late here, but i found last year when i was traveling - and i continue to find - that i make my evening plans around locations that are close to my hostel. i might have gone to see billy elliot tonight, for example, but getting home at 9:30pm or so from a location a ways away makes me nervous, as it probably should. so matinee tomorrow and football watching tonight. YAY HOORAY FOR FOOTBALL WATCHING.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

yogurt + planes

yesterday afternoon i went to the gym, watched world cup soccer, sweated a LOT, and then went to yoforia to get a cold treat (the plain yogurt with kiwi, strawberries, and mango on top.  IT IS SO GOOD IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL).  in the parking lot was a car with this painted on the window: "my sailor comes home in 3 days!"  i had a little "aww" moment for this woman (i have decided it is a woman based on the handwriting), wondered if it really was 3 days (how long had this been on her car?), ate my yogurt, and went home.

today i went to the gym, watched world cup soccer, sweated a LOT, and then went to yoforia again.  DON'T JUDGE ME.  i am leaving the country for seven weeks.  i can have yoforia two days in a row if i want to.  in the parking lot was the same car, with the same painting on the window, except today the "3" had been wiped off and replaced with a "2."  i have decided that this woman works at yoforia, and i love that she's keeping a countdown on her car until her loved one comes home.  for some reason i feel like i've just observed an intimate part of her life, though it's clearly a part she wants to make public.

hooray, random yoforia worker.  i hope the next two days fly by for you.


and speaking of flying!  i depart tonight at 10:55pm for london.  as soon as i get settled in at my hostel i will update you on my (hopefully-nondescript-because-i-will-have-slept-the-whole-time) flight.  goodbye for now, friends.  i will see you soon!

85 N

text message transcription:
[background: jenny was driving from atlanta to her hometown in north carolina.]

me: how's the drive going?
jenny: south carolina is just a boring obstacle blocking my way into north carolina.

THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL EVERY TIME I DRIVE HOME, TOO.

south carolina, i know you have some lovely parts (okay, one lovely part: charleston) and you give jon stewart a lot of material for his show, but most of the time you just stand in my way.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

goal!

i pretty much can't believe that just we won that game and WON OUR GROUP!  oh the us deserved to win that game and i'm so happy that we did.  yay hooray!

(in true claire fashion, i spent a lot of time this morning talking to the tv.  and it worked!  now i need to work on lowering my blood pressure because it is currently VERY HIGH.)

surreal conversation with my sister

becky: we only have four and a half days of school left!  and one of those days is field day and another day is 5th grade graduation, so really we are almost there.
me: hooray!
becky: my class is singing a song at 5th grade graduation. [becky teaches 4th grade in harlem.]
me: fun!  what song?
becky: "empire state of mind." the alicia keys version - not the parts where jay-z raps.
me: ohmygod.
becky: i know.

note: at mulberry school, where i went to 4th grade, i'm pretty sure we sang "god bless the usa," by lee greenwood, during a school assembly.  i think this song comparison really epitomizes the larger difference between growing up in rural north carolina in the 1980s and growing up in new york city in the 2000s.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

pining for 76 degrees

monday was the official first day of summer, and ohmygodiamsotiredoftheheatalready.

things i love about summer:
not working
sleeping late
spending time with friends
taking fun trips
the ability to pick up and move across the ocean for seven weeks
drinking beer on patios
heavy rain showers that cool off the day
flip flops
people get married
[note: many things that i love about summer are made possible because of my awesome job.  so here's a toast to my job, too.]

things i hate about summer:
HOW HOT IT IS
getting sunburned sometimes
sweat dripping down my back if i'm outside for any length of time
friends not always being around because they are taking fun trips themselves

but back to the fact that it is officially summer now.  it was 94 degrees in atlanta on monday, the summer solstice.  I DO NOT APPROVE OF THIS.  i am deliriously happy about going to a country where it will be significantly cooler than that.  for example, on monday in oxford, england, the high was 76 degrees and the low was 52.  i know that many people like the summer heat.  i am not one of these people.

so here's a toast to england - to wearing jeans and sweaters at night, to not sweating as soon as i walk outside, to sleeping with the window open.  and, again, a toast to my job for giving me the opportunity to do this.

as much as i'm looking forward to being in england, though, i feel a little sick when i think about not seeing my friends all summer.  i said goodbye to one of my best friends on monday - she's left town for a week and won't be back before i leave for england.  AND THEN SHE IS MOVING TO IDAHO.  this is not cool.  she and i work together and i'm used to seeing her several times a day and then at night or on the weekends.  so with the excitement of going to england i'm also feeling the sadness of leaving my friends - some for only seven weeks, some for much longer.  i'm trying not to think about it because it just makes me sad.

things end.  things begin.  but transitions can be hard.  exciting, but hard.

love to the max

the quickest way into my heart?  a good mixed CD.  and colin made me one!  based on the song list i am SO EXCITED to listen to it, but i am going to wait until i get on the plane for england.  it's like i got a toy in the mail a week before christmas, unwrapped it, and then put it on counter and waited until christmas day to play with it.  oh, it's going to sound so good on thursday.  i can't wait.

but let's first have a moment for how well colin knows me.  she titled the CD:


WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING that my travel blog last year was titled "from claire to here."  oh, she knows me so well.  could not be more excited about this CD.  really couldn't.

and because colin is a 4th year (yay!) medical student, this is the CD case that she had lying around her house and put my CD in before sending it:


HA.  i am so entertained.  the empty CD cases that i have lying around my house are titled things like "teaching with primary source documents."  you can decide which is dorkier.

Monday, June 21, 2010

daily schedule

i know exactly as much as the rest of america about international soccer teams and how good they are.  that is to say: i know nothing.  but i love watching world cup soccer, as i've said before, so i keep this link open on my computer all day and refer to it when necessary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Rankings  brazil vs. the ivory coast - who should win?  well, the fifa rankings will tell me.  and this lets me enjoy the game just a little bit more - when new zealand ties italy, well that IS an upset.*  since the world cup began, this is my typical morning:
set alarm for 9:30am.  snooze it while i get used to the idea of waking up.  pull out computer and watch highlights of the 7am game.  hold computer really close to face so i don't have to find and put on my glasses.
stumble out of bed and into the living room by 10am.
turn on tv in time to watch the second game of the day.
lie on couch and watch world cup soccer until noon.
at noon, actually begin day.

I LOVE SUMMER.


*this is one of my favorite things about soccer: you can have an UPSET TIE.  you tie.  and that can be an upset.  this entertains me greatly.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

you know you love me - i know you care...

on saturday, willis and kelly and i went to get manicures and pedicures, in preparation for thomas and lindsey's wedding that night.  let me say first that my nails look awesome.  let me say second that justin beiber was working at this nail salon.

facts you need to know to understand this story:
1. most nail salons i've been to are operated by asian people.  this nail salon was no exception; everyone who worked there was asian-american EXCEPT FOR FAKE JUSTIN BEIBER.
2. justin beiber is this new hot teen singer.  real justin beiber, that is.  anyone who wears their hair like he does and is under the age of 20 i also call justin beiber.  THERE ARE A SURPRISING NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT THIS MONIKER CAN BE APPLIED TO.
3. this video is ridiculous, but it allows you to see and hear justin beiber in action, in case you're living under a rock/at my parents' house and haven't heard him before.  also (i can't believe i'm saying this), i love this song a little bit.

so you will understand, now, that it was odd to see a 16 year old justin beiber look alike giving manicures at this nail salon.  i gawked a little, but not as much as the woman next to me, who got on the phone and said "you won't believe this - i got a manicure from a little white boy!" really loudly.  i was embarrassed for her.  however, this phone conversation did answer a lot of our questions without us having to ask them - which we wouldn't have done.  (i just pretended it was normal to spot a celebrity working in a nail salon.)  kelly and i found out by continuing to listen in on this woman's phone conversation that apparently justin beiber is dating the nail salon owner's daughter, who also works there, and this is his summer job.  and we saw his girlfriend/the salon owner's daughter - she was also 16-ish and after a little while they left together to get sandwiches from publix for lunch.

are you as entertained by this as i am?  please say that you are.


now don't mind me - i'll be watching the music video again.  i hope that all of you find love at a bowling alley while your friends have a dance off with the other person's friends.  (rolling over a pool table is optional.)

Friday, June 18, 2010

chang and eng

really interesting article from nora - she knows about my love of all things interesting about my hometown/county!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

math

best night ever = braves game with kelly and claire [making friends with the six year old boy behind us, cheering on the rain (it actually only sprinkled) because it brought cooler weather, THE DRILL PUSHED THE PAINTBRUSH OVER instead of vice-versa (and we know how i love cheering for the drill), the atlanta skyline at night was gorgeous, and the braves won 6-2.  it was awesome.] + going to see galen play at limerick junction afterward [my favorite bar, my favorite musician, sing-a-longs, great friends, a beer.]

it was one of my last nights in atlanta before i hop across the ocean for seven weeks, and it was a damn good night.

reason #221 why i love summer: having fun without worrying about having to wake up at 6:30am...

my mom saw avatar before me. what is this world coming to?

so, i saw avatar this week and let me just say this: interesting story, cool visuals, but THIS was a best oscar contender?!  more than ever, i'm happy that the hurt locker won.  and now, unlike my previous rants, i've seen avatar and thus can talk bad about it all i want.

3 out of 5 stars.

and that is my movie review of the day.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

i'm back in the land of the internet, and this post is what you get

on sunday night i got two emails, in quick succession:

email 1:
http://www.theoneill.org/about/preston.htm

was just on the tonys. he was also, if you'll recall, in our musicals class.

we're all winners tonight!

c

email 2:
Woo -

I'm watching the Tony awards right now, as I do every year, and I just saw a guy we went to Duke with accept an award! Did you know Preston Whiteway? I knew him, but I can't remember how - I assume through you, since you knew everyone? I remember him being really into theater in school, and apparently he's been the managing then executive director of a regional theater in Connecticut since we graduated. Makes me feel totally unaccomplished.

- Rachel C.


i have a million things to note about this.  a million!  but i will just tell you a couple things.
thing 1: ohmygod a kid i was friends with at duke - he was in my freshman dorm, and we also took a couple classes together, and we definitely watched some basketball games together, and i worked with him when i volunteered as an usher (free way to see shows) when broadway tours would come to duke -  ACCEPTED A TONY AWARD ON SUNDAY NIGHT.  he runs a regional theater that won the best regional theater award, and as the executive director, he accepted it.  HOLY SHIT.
thing 2: yes, i took a class on musical theater in college, and it was one of the best classes i took in all of college.  you didn't have to have talent...you just had to like musicals.  WHICH I OBVIOUSLY DO.
thing 3: it makes ME feel unaccomplished, too.  preston just accepted a tony.  i slept in late and make a birthday cake for my dad.  not the same thing.
thing 4: rachel always signs emails "rachel c.," and i feel i should point this out to the public.  apparently she was in kindergarden with another girl named rachel, and when she first had to write her name on papers, she always had to write rachel c.  and it stuck.  rachel c. is adorable.
thing 5: love my friends for emailing me this!  really, just love my friends.

yesterday i got this email from colin, after telling her i really wanted to see preston's speech but was having trouble finding it online:

i win at life.

http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/interactive/video/index.html?category=creativeartswinners

scroll down, you'll see it. good speech!

c


best. friends. ever.  seriously - moments after a mutual friend is on tv, these two girls sent me emails.  BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME.

and GO PRESTON!


(i'm realizing that there are a lot of capitalized words in this post.  THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GET EXCITED.)

Saturday, June 12, 2010

pause

please pause for a break in our regularly scheduled programming while i go home to north carolina for two days to visit mom and dad, see some stars, pet some dogs, breathe some clean mountain air, not get stifled by the heat, check on the progress of my mom's garden, bake a carrot cake from scratch, and celebrate my dad's birthday.  i will be living in the land of no internet, so i'll be back on this here blog-thingy on tuesday!  for those of you with real jobs, i hope the beginning of the week flies by for you...i'm sorry i won't be here to distract you.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

12 hours until kickoff!

do you know this about me?  I LOVE PETTY COMPETITION.  not competition to see who is going to make the most money or be the most "successful" or run the farthest or the fastest, but mini competitions.  who can correctly guess what time we'll finish grading AP exams on the last day.  who can correctly guess the electoral vote count in the presidential election.  who can make the best men's basketball tournament bracket.  this I LOVE.  i love following competitions that are larger than myself and i love playing games to pass the time.  if there is competition involved, i will become interested.

enter: world cup 2010.

have i watched a professional soccer game in the last, oh, four years?*  no, no i have not.  but give me a competition and i will get excited.  hence: i'm in a world cup pool that my friend clay started, and i'll be watching as many of the games where the us (or england, my adopted country** for the summer) is playing as i can.  it's a competition.  there will be an ultimate winner and thus (for me) a lot of fun along the way.  i'm all of a sudden a big soccer fan.***

and for your enjoyment ladies (and some gentlemen), i give you this.  though i would like to dispute the inclusion of some of the players on this list...


*since the LAST world cup, that is...

**and a country that will probably make it further in the competition than the us will, and i will cheer for them when the us loses.  PLUS, they're in the same group as the us.  what could be more exciting?

***for those who don't know, i played soccer all growing up and was the captain of my high school team.  (go unicorns!  you can make fun of our mascot later.)  i'm KNOW the rules.  i just never watch the games.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

mashup

those of you who love newsies (colin, rachel-in-DC, jenny, nora - i'm looking at you...i hope i'm remembering your love of newsies correctly) will lose your mind over this.  (thanks to colin for posting it on facebook so i could find it and love it!)

the rest of you under age 40: it also involves lady gaga, so you are required to watch it, too.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

final count:

2,150 essays.

i am a bad ass.

now: long walk and then getting in the ocean for the first time!  hooray for getting out at 1pm on the last day.  i'll be back in atlanta tomorrow afternoon!

the birthday problem

last post about the AP reading (i promise):

my day: get packet of 25 essays.  essay 1: open blue book (it's actually pink), find question #4, read, record score, close.  essay 2: same thing.  YES, I'VE DONE THIS 1,925 TIMES.

on each packet is the student's ID number, initials, and date of birth.  for the past two days i've entertained myself with this game: how long will it take me to find a student with the same birthday as me?

day 1: it took 185 essays before i found one with the same birthday as me.  this student scored a 0/5 on my question.  i was very disappointed in my birthday sharer.
day 2: it took 125 essays before i found one with the same birthday as me.  this kid scored a 4/5!  good work, birthday sharer!  and then like 10 essays later i found another kid with the same birthday as me.  less exciting this time...i don't remember what the kid got.

now, the question is: how many essays SHOULD it take to find one with the same birthday as me?  [dad or rachel-in-waco: figure out the math for me.  i am too tired to do so myself...]  i don't know the answer, but this essay is interesting in that it addresses (sort of) the same principle, mathematically.  (thanks to dad for reminding me of this!)

Monday, June 7, 2010

1,925 down, more to go...

well, friends, over the past six days i have read exactly 1,925 essays on the same prompt.  that number looks like one i would make up, right?  random high number?  FALSE.  i have been keeping track - tally marks for each packet of 25 that i finish - and that is the total number.  I AM AMAZING.  BOW DOWN TO ME.  (no, seriously - i need some positive reinforcement here.  tell me i'm awesome.)  the people in charge let us go at 4pm today instead of 5 and people screamed and clapped.  we are that tired of reading the same essay again and again.  one more day to go, but the fact that they let us out early today leads me to believe we'll get out early tomorrow, too.  honestly, i don't know how many more of these essays i can read without going crazy, so getting out early is necessary.  i just had a long phone conversation with willis, in which he relayed funny stories from a boys' weekend in durham and gave me some much needed laughter...i'm going on a long walk next, and then getting dinner and settling in to watch a movie.  where am i getting dinner, you ask?  well, the options within walking distance of my hotel are:
1. indian food (already had that twice)
2. sushi (already had that twice)
3. burger king (embarrassingly already had that twice)
4. barbeque joints (eww)
5. restaurants with a nascar theme (no way)
6. quizno's sub shop (a possibility)
7. chain pizza restaurants (a possibility)
8. oh wait, that's it.  legitimately it.

i might be walking into a papa john's and placing an order for take out.  so classy.

i can't wait to get back to the food utopia that is atlanta.

oh, and i keep forgetting to tell you guys this: the convention center where we're grading AP exams had a big sign out front that alternates between flashing two things: "welcome college board AP readers!" and "tickets on sale for WWE raw on july 31."  you know, one location, two similar events: exciting AP grading one month, fake wrestling the next.  no discrepancy there AT ALL.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

"put it on the avery tab!"

a couple pictures from my cousin pat's wedding (also known as "katy's dance party") last weekend!  the whole affair was super low key and really fun - and they looked (and are) so perfect together:


the weekend: aunts dancing until midnight, photo montages, trivia questions, good beer, bright flowers, kites, GORGEOUS weather, a brewery tour, my sister and my cousin laura going after the bouquet in a somewhat intense fashion, finding an after party with sara, lots of good food, the sausage race and cheese fries at the brewers' game, playing/losing dice games.  i genuinely love spending time with my extended family, and it was great to have a weekend together.

my cousin grace and i appear to be having fun, huh?  (thanks to aunt lisa for the picture above, and for this AWESOME picture of dancing glory!)


my cousin sara and my sister and i shared a room at the hotel, and it was one of the best parts of the weekend.  it was designed partially as a cost-saving measure, partially as a no-one-should-have-to-stay-alone measure, and it was genius.  there was much giggling, and no weekend is complete without a lot of giggling.  right now i'm in florida, alone, grading these AP exams, and i'm wishing i was sharing a room with the two of them and doing a lot of giggling.  sigh.

until the next family wedding...

Saturday, June 5, 2010

nerd alert

when one is sitting in an almost silent room, reading the same essay over and over again from 8am to 5pm with minimal breaks, one starts to sing songs in one's head.  the songs i am singing are:

1. from the musical in the heights, i often start singing from a song called "blackout" - the line is "we are po-wer-less, we are powerlessss" (i am adding emphasis for you so you can sing it in your head).  example of what a student writes: "the federal government is powerless to prevent the states from enacting laws that blah blah blah."  i sing: "pow-er-less, we are powerlesss!"  note: this happens about three times an hour.

2. okay, not a song lyric - some poetry!  because i'm a dork!  hooray!  facts you need to know: (a) i love t.s. eliot and i have bits of his poetry memorized.  (b) i do not wear a watch.  (c) i cannot have a cell phone (which usually acts as my watch) in the room where i am reading essays.  how are all these related?  i will tell you.

"For I have known them all already, known them all:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?"

[from the love song of j. alfred prufrock http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html]

i am figuring out how many packets of essays i can read between, say, the beginning of the day and my first break.  this helps me get through the day - if i read four packets of essays, it will be break time!  i am silly j. alfred prufrock...every day he stirs his coffee and puts the spoon in the sink, and there is one day.  i read four packets of essays, and there is one session.  the time isn't important.  every time i finish a packet and put a tally mark down to mark it, i think "i have measured out my life with coffee spoons."

i told you it was a post that required a nerd alert.  musicals and t.s. eliot?  i am so cool.

[trivia!  connections!  what long-running broadway musical was inspired by a t.s. eliot poem?]

[and yes, i am reading essays on a saturday.  and a sunday.  yikes.]

Friday, June 4, 2010

unsinkable

this is awesome...and (full disclosure) made me cry a little.

actually, that's my pet peeve with other blogs i read.  if you're going to link to a video and tell me i should watch it, i need to know if it is (a) scary, (b) funny, (c) involves cute animals, (d) will make me cry, etc.  i need a preview.  so this video is well made and inspirational and thus you may cry a little.  that is my full disclosure.

daytona, day 3

okay, people, i graded 100 more essays today than i did yesterday.  100!  i am amazing!

i actually don't know where these hundred came from, but at the end of the day that was the total.  so there.  i guess i'm hitting my stride.  and: our table (the 7 of us) was declared by the computer that calculates these things as statistically most accurate of all 16 tables grading our question.  i have no idea what this means, but we're supposed to be proud of it.  so we are.

official pet peeve: spelling "trial" as "trail."  um, students?  "trial" was written IN THE QUESTION.  how are you misspelling it in your answer??  i would guess that one out of every five students does this and it makes me want to punch them in the face.  (not really.  but i have started talking to the exam booklet about it as i grade.)

Thursday, June 3, 2010

daytona beach

i'm in florida grading AP exams right now.  i'm trying to find funny things to tell you about, but really my days are 8am-5pm, with breaks and lunch thrown in there, where all i do is read the exact same essay over and over again, scoring it and bubbling in the score on a scantron sheet i'm given.  kids write funny things occasionally, but i'm pretty sure i signed some sort of confidentiality agreement, so i can't tell you what those funny things are.  i will tell you the things i CAN tell you.

211,000 students took this exam this year.  each exam has four essay questions on it.  i am trained in only one of those questions, so three other people also look at each student's exam and assign a score for the essay they are trained in reading.  there are 600 readers here total.  i am not going to do the math to figure out how many exams my share is, because i'm pretty sure i don't want to know.

today i read 12 packs of 25 exams each.  i am keeping track because it helps me feel accomplished.  when you are grading your own students' essays, you know how many there are and you are working towards that goal.  here, when i finish a packet, i raise my hand and my new friend jim comes by and gives me a new packet.  I'M NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO WALK THE 10 FEET TO TURN IT IN AND GET A NEW ONE.  this is because that would waste time and be loud - chairs scraping, people walking, etc.  jim's job is to bring the 24 people in my section their new packets.  jim is approximately 70 years old and is my new BFF and says things to me like "we have to stop meeting like this" when he gives me a new packet.  i realize this might sound creepy, but it isn't.  it is some of my only human interaction before i'm grading again, so i laugh at his dumb jokes.  and i grade.  and i change positions in my seat (aka "squirm around").  and now grading is over for the day and i am free!  hooray!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

thank you, papa john's

last week i saw this label on the pizza box in our refrigerator and i had to take a picture of it.  see if you can find what entertains me...


this makes me laugh a lot.  what does that say about me?

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

major league baseball knows how to entertain me

you know my love for the tool race at braves' games?  well, at milwaukee brewers' games, they have a sausage race, with five sausages: a bratwurst, a polish sausage, an italian sausage, a hot dog, and a chorizo.


[from: http://blogbeckett.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/mlbsausageraceap.jpg]

we went to a brewers game on sunday and the game was fun and all, but when the sausages took the field for their daily race I LOST MY MIND THEY WERE SO CUTE.

life is good when you are at a live sporting event anyway, let alone one where mascots run around to entertain you.