I think it has come time to abandon the hope of actually catching up to the correct day on my picture of the day posts. I never seem to be able to get back to the present day. I think I will continue to take a picture a day, except now, I will post only those that are striking to me or epitomize a story or moment I would like to capture.
Here are some of those kinds of moments
Date Taken: 7/16/12
Setting: The Cup
Thoughts: For some reason, I have developed a bit of a possibly annoying habit when I go to ice cream shops. When I order a chocolaty flavor, I often ask the worker to dig into a specific section of the ice cream tub to scoop me the best possible scoop with all the best goodies in it. I also like to ask for sprinkles (crunchy is my favorite food after all) and when they ask me what kind I want, I always say, surprise me. In my head, I like to think that it adds a modicum of entertainment to their otherwise dull existences as ice cream caddies.
Britt, Court, and I went to The Cup and stumbled across a worker that was Britt's friend. I did my usual routine, and when I asked him to surprise me, he really did...
It. Was. Awesome. Date Taken: 7/17/12
Setting: Summerbridge
Thoughts: Jarred had to go to a training session and had texted me to ask me to keep him updated throughout the day. Here...is the remainder of that conversation... Date Taken: 7/18/12
Setting: Summerbridge
Thoughts: Just some beautiful flowers. The red ones took on this ethereal quality and they seemed to form into a heart shape that I found stunning.
Date Taken: 6/29/12
Setting: Classroom
Thoughts: Apparently my natural squirrelliness is going to pay off...
Date Taken: 6/22/12
Setting: Extended homework hut - team Egypt
Thoughts: I got this picture in a text from the teachers of team Egypt. After I confirmed that he could in fact, breathe, I chuckled to myself. Felix (mummified student below), is a genuinely good-natured person. He is always smiling and being goofy. Today, when he was selected as student of the week, he came up on stage and started dancing. He stopped for a second, but when I suggested he keep going and when the entire group of students started clapping, he went on dancing and laughing and made the whole room brighter with his smile.
Felix is always willing to put himself out there to try new things. He isn't afraid to look silly or to try something that might at first be considered uncool. He is also just so upbeat. In gym the other day, he went to catch a ball during a mat ball game and slammed his cheek into a wall. He came up laughing and grinning, rubbing his cheek and not the least bit concerned what other people thought of him. We all laughed, but it wasn't the kind of laughter that brings someone down, it was a laughter that could only be produced by his reaction.
Felix is a student I will probably think about over the years. I will wonder how he is doing in school. I will wonder if he makes it to college and what he will do there. I will wonder if he will leave the Lehigh Valley to strike out into the world. I will wonder what becomes of him as he grows into a man. So many students will come and go during my career, but there are some that will stay with me. Felix is just one of those kids.
Date Taken: 6/21/12
Setting: Challenge Accepted
Thoughts: The students had to build houses to survive the zombie apocalypse...Courtney and I were selling them the materials...at Bob's stick shack...
Also, when I was collecting the students' budget sheets, I found these awesome zombie drawings. The first one is my favorite, I just love that he is saying brains with a z. These kiddies make me laugh.
Date Taken: 6/18/12
Setting: Summerbridge 2o12, Day 1
Thoughts: On our first day of Challenge Accepted, we asked the students to rank the top five things they would need to do in order to survive the zombie apocalypse. They seemed to have a lot of fun with this activity and it is always amazing to watch students work so intently, particularly during the summer. Summerbridge is a place where students come to learn. It isn't easy, and many realize that it is not what they thought it would be once they arrive. So many of these students recognize the importance of education. I don't know if they understand yet that it is a potential path away from poverty, but I think they do understand that it gives them a kind of power they might otherwise miss out on.
These students can be super squirrelly, they can be frustrating to deal with, they can get on my last nerve, but overwhelmingly, they make me smile, they make me laugh, they teach me about life and how to take hardships as they come. These students, although young, have faced many hardships, and they are able to take that experience and channel it into sometimes silly, sometimes profound words that can stop me in my tracks and make me reconsider the way I feel about a given subject. Middle schoolers are squirrels, but they are own that squirrelliness in a way no one else can.
Date Taken: 6/4/12
Setting: Temple
Thoughts: First of all, the blister on my hand looks like the Eye of Sauron. I am actually a little bit afraid of it.
Luckily I saw this little quote (below) written on a bench that same day. Apparently, everyone wants to be unique. For a few short days, my unique feature...is that I have the eye of Sauron on my hand...
Listen, I'm not saying it's a great unique feature, but...it is a feature.
This line also had me thinking about what it means to be unique, to be an individual. I don't know that it is possible to be unique in a world where our decisions are made for us by a larger societal structure replete with normative behavior and shaming practices to keep people in line. Perhaps everybody wants to be a snowflake, but no one can be.
I know that seems like a bleak outlook. I suppose I prefer to think of it as a realistic one. The bottom line is, as a teacher and as a friend, I encourage people to figure out what they feel and what they want. I validate those ideas and feelings. I celebrate a person's sense of self. I simply have qualms about our ability to "know ourselves" when we live in a society that dictates the boundaries for appropriate behavior.
We need rules and boundaries to function, I'm not saying we don't. What I am saying is that perhaps what we think is unique about ourselves or our actions is not. Perhaps our actions are prescribed for us by a larger entity like a corporation or a group of friends. Perhaps thinking we are unique is in itself a paradox - if we all think we are unique then we are not unique by virtue of thinking the same thought.
It's all very scientific...or not.
I don't know that we can be unique, but we can decide what we stand for and act accordingly.
I recently finished reading a very long book titled Jaden Baker. The premise was interesting - a 9 year old foster boy is kidnapped by an evil corporation because he is psychokinetic, aka he can move things with his mind. They imprison him for 6 years, all the while torturing him in a variety of mental, emotional, and physical ways.
Although I read it voraciously, and had an overwhelming need to find out what the hell was going to happen to the protagonist, I didn't particularly enjoy the book. I was reminded of a Seinfeld moment.
[Setting: Jerry's apartment]
(Elaine is digging into her purse)
ELAINE: Oh, I can't believe it! I've lost my "Atomic Sub" card!.. Oh no! I bet I wrote that fake number on the back of it when I gave it to denim vest!
JERRY: So?
ELAINE: I've eaten 23 bad subs, I just need 1 more! It's like a long, bad movie, but you want to see the end of it!
JERRY: No, you walk out.
ELAINE: Alright, then, it's like a boring book, but you gotta finish it.
JERRY: No, you wait for the movie!
ELAINE: (Irritated, and through clinched teeth) I want that free sub.
JERRY: You don't need the card. High-end hoagie outfit like that, it's all computerized! (Snaps) They're cloning sheep now.
KRAMER: (Correcting) No, they're not cloning sheep. It's the same sheep! I saw Harry Blackstone do that trick with two goats and a handkerchief on the old Dean Martin show!
----
ELAINE: Kramer, listen, I got a little phone relay going, so, if a guy calls H&H and he's looking for me, you take a message.
JERRY: You're still trying to gget that free sub?
ELAINE: Hey! I have spent a lot of time, and I have eaten a lot of crap to get to where I am today. And I am NOT throwing it all away now.
JERRY: Is there a captain's hat involved in this?
ELAINE: Maybe.
Elaine is, quite simply, the best character ever created. I love her. She is snarky and feisty and bad ass. Like her, I just wanted to finish this damn book, although unfortunately, there was no captain's hat involved...
The Dean: "Why don't we let Britta, sing her awkward song."
I'm pretty sure that is exactly what my friends were always thinking when I started in on a new song I made up...
I'm not saying these are flattering pictures of me...but, they are pictures...of me.
All I can say is, I'm not ashamed. It made people laugh. I felt hot. Brown is amazing. Lafayette sucks.
Like Britta, I:
-am a raging feminist
-want to save all the kitties and all the puppies
-sing my heart's song
-like brown spandex suits
-am sassy
-don't understand conventional feminine practices.
I think I am basically a cross between Liz Lemon and Britta Perry. I like it, I'm gonna roll with that.
Yeah, this is exactly why I don't want a big dog. They can be so sweet and loving and gentle, but they don't know their own strength and clearly when they get excited they turn into crazy monster dogs from hell.
These next pictures are way better. HOVER ANIMALS!
Taryn sent me this text the other day:
"Devil bird on my car! Scratched up the paint with its talons!"
This picture accompanied the text.
To which I replied:
"I think the universe keeps trying to tell you that car isn't right for you...also he's quite stalwart...he reminds me of another bird you've encountered...a certain protective rooster" No, but seriously, that car has been through so much crap since Taryn and her dad bought it. I caused Taryn to run up over a curb (more on that in a bit) with it, the freshman borrowed it and got into an accident smashing one of the taillights, the horn/security system wasn't working, during a routine oil change the mechanic neglected to put the cap back on causing the hood to start billowing smoke, at which point we pulled into a restaurant parking lot and the horn started going off, which we couldn't stop because it was disconnected and we had to get it towed back to the mechanic. So. many. disasters. The best/worst part of that last episode was that the people dining outside at this particular restaurant kept coming over to try to help us since they were irritated by the noise. They kept looking at me, Taryn, and Mendy and saying, did you try to push the button, you know the one that turns the horn off.
We would look at them quizzically and be like...yeah...we sure did. Dear men, please stop coming over and trying to "help" us poor, pathetic young women...not only did you suggest the most obvious solution, which we had already tried, and the same solution that we tried to explain wasn't going to work, but you also assumed that we were completely inept. Thanks men, we appreciate that one.
Taryn and I had so many wonderful adventures, especially when she was a senior and I was a first year grad student. My class had graduated and it was quite lonely despite the good number of younger friends I had at school still. It just wasn't the same without my classmates. Taryn and I became even closer that year. There were however, four instances in which our friendship almost ended. We always joke about them because they were so absurd, but they happened at such odd or tense moments that it just nearly derailed us.
The four things that almost ended our friendship:
1. A balloon hat:
As Lehigh women's basketball superfans (replete with cardboard and feathered hawk wings and capes), we attended many a game. At one particular home game, Tootsie the clown was there making balloon animals. We approached Tootsie, and as she made us some elaborate and lavish balloon hats, we asked if she knew anything about the mascot basketball challenge. One year, I had witnessed a bunch of student athletes dressed up in character/mascot outfits playing basketball. It. was. awesome. They could barely move in those huge suits and I just remember Mel in a spongebob suit hurling a ball directly up into the bottom rim of a basket. Tootsie told us they would be there to play that exact day. Tootsie...is a liar. Not only that, but her balloon hats caused a great bit of tension between us. I was wearing mine and apparently, was inadvertently nailing Taryn in the face with the back of it every time I turned around. She tolerated it several times, but after a while I believe she grabbed the hat off my head and threw it. I stared at her wide eyed and sat down. So. frightened.
2. Christian CD
We were in Taryn's devil car trying to pull out onto 378 at a rather scary intersection that often requires you to wait for a number of minutes before traffic clears up enough to go. I looked up at her CD rack and pulled down a CD labeled FUN. I inquired and she simple grabbed it and said, oh this is a good one. She put it in and to my surprise, it was a CD full of only Christian rock music. I am not a big fan, and on this particular day, we had been waiting at this light for at least 10 minutes. It seemed like we were never going to get the hell out of there. Then, Taryn started singing. I freaked out, screamed and turned it off violently. She had much the same look I did when she threw my balloon hat.
3. Parallel parking disaster
Taryn lived in what we called the Lakehouse her senior year. It was a last minute house arrangement since we realized at a party that their landlord had rented it to a friend of my without telling Taryn and her roommates. This house is located on the top part of Montclair, which is a giant hill. Taryn made me get out to help her parallel park in the middle of this hill. I still maintain that she had a ridiculous amount of room to pull off the park job, but she was wary. Turns out, she sucks at parallel parking. She jammed on the gas and flew up over a section of curb that was partially broken. Her tire got caught on the lip of the curb and it took quite a while to extricate the car from the curb. I laughed and laughed. She was not amused.
4. Funky bucket water
This one is our favorite. We were setting up for a rave in the Lakehouse basement. We painted the walls, filled empty bottles with highlighter water and we cleaned out the entire basement. During the cleaning, I inadvertently smashed our entire stock of expensive black lights by hucking a crate into the dark cavelike room where they were sitting on the floor. I still think it was stupid to put them there. Taryn and I were bringing a chest of drawers up the cellar stairs that led outside. They were steep and full of cobwebs. (sidenote, Taryn is terrified of spiders and I also dislike them very very much) I was at the top, gripping the top of the chest, which had no good way to grab it. It was cheaply made and in the middle of the stairs, the top layer that had been glued to the top as a finish started ripping off. I was losing my grip, causing me to pause. Taryn started freaking out "The spiders! The spiders! Go! Go!" I couldn't go, I couldn't get a grip!
When we finally got it outside, she was visibly irritated. Then, we looked over at their fence and there was a decapitated bird hanging on the fence. It was very strange. We headed back inside for the last thing to clean - a keg bucket. The bucket was filled with a fowl smelling funky water. Before we picked it up, Taryn looked me right in the eyes and said "if you get this on my I swear to God I am never talking to you again." "Yeah yeah yeah, let's do this." We got it all the way upstairs and just before we set it down, my attention shifted and I let go just before it had reached the ground.
One single splash looped up out of the bucket and landed on Taryn. Without any hesitation, she punched me as hard as she could in the arm and stormed back downstairs and slammed the door. I stood in the yard laughing then just walked up the hill to my house. She called hours later and was like, ok we're friends again, I just needed some time.
Oh life, you are so good and yet so dang tricky. I hate not seeing Taryn every day. She has been abroad so much during the last two years, and I have seen her so little. It sucks. I worry about her. She is working in dangerous places, places of war. I know she finds it exhilarating and she feels a deep and profound sense of purpose, but I can't help but worry about her and wish she wouldn't go. In the back of my mind, I know Taryn will probably never be satisfied living in one place for too long. She has an unbridled sense of adventure and her spirit is far to beautiful to trap in one place for too long. It reminds me of Shawshank Redemption when Red says:
"Sometimes it makes me sad, though... Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend."
I don't want to cage her, but I miss her and it makes me sad to look at the hole that is left when she is not around. She is one of my closest friends, yet she is always so far away, across the country, across the world. I try not to think about it too much, but when I do, I wonder if we will ever get to be in the same place again, if our lives will be more intertwined than the simple meeting of two paths every once in a while. We will honor our day o fun every year, of that I am sure, but one day a year is not nearly enough.
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