Friday, September 06, 2002

We Like Sheep...

Sampras creamed Roddick in straight sets. I missed the whole damn thing because I was at Jessie's open house. It was over before I got home. The ESPN or USA bigwigs must have been pooping bricks because they had nothing to show live after that quick whipping.

So classic tennis was broadcast in the time spot reserved for a real tennis match. Sampras and Roddick played for an hour and a half. Boom. Done.

Wow. Better luck next time young Andy. Sampras Advances... perhaps we shall get to see another fabulous Aggassi/Sampras match up... That'd be awesome.

The openhouse was very good. Jessica's teacher this year is so... young. This is her second year teaching. She seems really sweet, but also seems like she's overwhelmed. The crowd was mostly moms. They asked a lot of questions. Like "how much help am I expected to be giving my son with his homework..."

The teacher didn't seem like she knew what to say. Help him if he needs help but don't do his homework for him. If you child can't do his homework on a regular basis, if it is too hard -- call me.

Good answer.

After most of the parents left, I asked her if she had a website. She said no, that she was totally overwhelmed but had some ideas. I offered to teach her how to do it, for free... she told me that a ton of her colleagues want to do websites too. I told her that I wouldn't teach them all for free... cause that'd be stupid.

She told me to talk to the principal. They just got all new technology for the teachers to use, but none of them know what they are doing. I asked if there was any money to hire a trainer in the budget -- she said the principal was going to write a grant.

I am going to look into it -- what the hell.

Can't tell not knowing. I'm calling her Monday.


I got email from a friend who went out trolling for reading material through my "I also read" page. She thought Anna's Sheep and Cow Compare/Contrast entry in "Little Red Boat" was a riot.

I wrote her back thanking her for informing me that I gave her a laugh indirectly (my link to Anna lead to her. Kind of like 6 degrees to Kevin Bacon journal-wise I guess), and I ended with "I like sheep."

She wrote me back saying: "Ah -- now you're getting out Handel's Messiah -- "we like sheep" ... to which we always add "we think they're great"... and so what if the words are supposed to say "have gone astray"!!"

And that brings me to this bit.

When I was in high school our choir sang the entire friggin' "Messiah." A Jewish friend of mine would sit next to me and sing:

"we like sheep, they taste good broiled or grilled."
"we like sheep, they poop less than horses"
"we like sheep, they give us wool" and the like.

And I would start laughing and laughing. We got split up by the choir director. We were lucky to stay welcome in the room after some of the silly things we did.

Another good choir memory is 8th grade choir when we sang "Sounds of Silence," by Simon and Garfunkel. Chris Campion would add an extra line after the part "and my words like silent raindrops fell" where there is a long pause.

He'd sing "and Meltzer smells," alluding to poor mousy little gary meltzer, who did kinda smell but what 8th grade boy doesn't.

Everyone would laugh and laugh. Mr. Selezner, the choir director with white hair that had a distinctly yellow/green tinge to it in the front. (Campion always said it was because he wiped his nose with his hand and kept going through his hair so no one would notice...) told Campion NOT to do this in performance... or else...

Of course he did.

I think there was someone standing behind him to yank him by the shoulders much like the way Bart Simpson gets yanked offstage for singing the "batman smells" alternative lyrics to "Jingle Bells."

Well, I need to relinquish control of the PC to Geoff so he can watch "Shrek" and I can cook dinner. More later.

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