O - Hi! Vomit!
It's all a big test
It’s testing week at school. Oo boy. Not my favorite. With all the tests being on-line this means I have to have all sorts of things working as smoothly as possible. Ugh. The perils of job security. If you don’t know, we test three times a year (fall, winter, spring). I think most public schools still just do the once a year thing. Our tests aren’t long, thank goodness. Just two 40 minute tests (reading and math).
Second grade was already testing and I was walking across the courtyard to check on them. Got to make sure it is all going smoothly. I looked toward the Science room and noticed a woman I did not recognize standing in the doorway. To the left of her was a 6th grade girl on her knees bent over, tears in her eyes. I’m like, “well, this is weird”... so I speed up and head on over. Turns out the girl isn’t feeling well. Really not feeling well as evidenced by the puddle of vomit in front of her. The woman, as it turns out, was a new substitute. First day. First class. That’s a joy… Oh my. So I talk to the girl and ask if she wants to go to the bathroom or to the office and she’s just like, “I just want to go to the office and go home”. And so she gets shuffled off to the office. I go next door and get some kitty litter and spread it out over the incident. The woman gets a couple of chairs to mark the spot. It is right in the main walkway… don’t want anyone stepping in it.
What a first day… poor sub.
Testing went just fine, btw.
Santigold - excellent songwriter and I love this video… Yes, it ties into the vomit theme :-) Skip to 1:14 for the visuals if you’re up for it. They had to have fun making it… so disturbing. I kind of feel like eating some strawberries.
I am not a vomiter. In case you were wondering. I figure I’m part vulture with stomach acid that will devour anything. Bring it on! (knock on wood… ) Once in college on a camping trip I did over indulge to a great extent and had quite an unpleasant evening. Don’t start with beer, then switch to vodka, then let your friend convince you that beer, orange juice and vodka are a good combo. No. Not a good combo. I do still remember the laser light show on the Grand Coulee dam. Big laser horses running along the face of the dam.
But that’s it. Not even my long nights hanging out with Russians at the University of Washington resulted in any other tragedies… but they are much smarter drinkers. They had mastered the art of eating greasy food, drinking, then eating more greasy food and drinking again. There was always another bottle of vodka in the freezer.
The Flu will sometimes wipe me out and cause other issues… but the big V is not one of them.
The only other laser light show I’ve seen was in Prague, I think. A big laser light show to Depeche Mode. TK was there. He might correct me. I think it was inside some dome thing.
The animals at the top?
What? Oh, they live in my classroom and I thought they’d make a lovely stack photo. There’s Banana Split, Shelly, a few brains, a lamb, a spam wasubi, a penguin, a few ducks, a bunch of brains and a puzzle that middle school students love to torture themselves with. Rarely solved, it is. Sometimes I turn my back to them, solve it, and then show them that the ring does indeed come off. Then I put it back on and give it back and they get all exasperated. The animals sometimes journey to student desks. I like to make it so the animal is staring at the student. The kids move it… invariably. Apparently that’s kind of creepy.
Many students are convinced there’s a camera in the Bear’s eye. I hinted at it once as a joke and now they don’t believe me when I tell them there isn’t one. Sigh. The eyes aren’t quite the same color so it made the story all too believable.
Today was the funeral
for the 4th grader’s mom. Right next door at the church. Many staff and some classmates attended. I had some of his classmates in my class as it was going. It was a solemn day. I hear it was beautiful. Sure feel for the guy. Fourth grade. My thoughts for him and his mother combined with mother’s day and thoughts of my own mom passing last year have left me feeling pretty empty the last couple weeks. Took me a while to figure it out. A heavy lonely when I get home. Even on days when I’ve hung out with friends or been super busy. Hugs. More Hugs. Remember the good things. Mom’s laughter. Even when she was in the low security memory facility she was quite a jokester. One day we were standing out front waiting for the super GM to drive up. She flung her leg out like a street walker, enticing him to stop in the most lurid way a mother can. Giggling all the way. I just shook my head. Big smile on my face.
PS… YouTube is still playing… making selections for me… and there’s more vomit! The Dø singing Gonna be Sick “I’m gonna throw, gonna throw, gonna throw up…. “
The video reminds me of The Stewart Island Experience. South of South Island in New Zealand. Katie and I went there on my birthday during our 5 week New Zealand trip (oh yeah!). A catamaran ferry took us there. The seas were rough. Very rough. I fixed my eyes on the horizon and made it - just feeling queezy. Katie made it to the dock on Stewart Island but within 30’ of walking on the dock she was heaving over the side. So nasty. Pale. The worst part was really knowing that we had to go back 4 hours later. Katie saw a helicopter leaving. Someone said a woman had broken her arm and was getting helivac’d out. Katie thought it might be a good idea to break a limb and avoid the boat ride back.
The boat ride back to Invercargill was indeed miserable. A lot of people were having issues. The stewards were running around handing out bags left and right. The locals were at the back of the boat, at the bar, drinking. An albatross floated along next to us in the stormy rain and wind. It was quite a birthday experience.
***addendum 5/8/24. TWO, yes 2, kids vomited at track practice today.***
If all this vomit was too much for you… try Fujii Kaze’s Workin’ Hard. No vomit. A feel good music video.