I know you’re not all on vacation, but I am, and it is sweet. Oh so sweet is the respite from crazy adolescents! Speaking of crazy Junior Highers, I rarely post about anything specific to work, but during this joyous time of vacation I shall choose a hilarious example of why I love my job. In one class I have a student who asks me the other day ,”Are you my friend?” Now maybe the hilarity of the situation won’t transfer over in a blog post, but my standard response to this question is “No, I’m your teacher.” You see, when you’ve been teaching a while, you develop these canned responses, sort of like a script. It’s like the words just flow out of me like they have countless times before. When the student inevitably replies “Why not?” I then say, “We don’t hang out. You didn’t invite me to your birthday party. We don’t text message each other. I don’t help you pass notes in class….” At this point the student usually gets it and leaves the subject alone, but not this particular student. He is in a state of denial and replies “No, I think you’re my friend.” Apparently despite proof of the opposite, he continues to press. I then reply “None of your teachers are your friends, they’re your teachers.” He says, “No, Mr. Smith is my friend.” I tell him to ask Mr. Smith later that day, and then let me know tomorrow what he said.
The next day he walks into my class and looks at me with sad eyes and says, “I asked Mr. Smith if he’s my friend, and he said no.” It was the most hilarious thing ever. Now the student tells me to say hi to my baby so my baby will be his friend. Gotta love it.
Anyways, my brother took me to the shooting range for the first time yesterday. We got to shoot a couple handguns and his new .22 pump-action rifle. I figure since he’s getting into it I should at least go and try it, and as a good conservative that believes strongly in gun rights, I should at least have shot one before. Overall it was really a lot of fun. I think there is a certain mystique that surrounds guns, and until you’ve actually held one, loaded it, and and shot it, you don’t realize how typical it really is. I’m not trying to demean the very dangerous power a gun can have, but it really reminded me of shooting a BB gun. Granted it’s much more powerful and you have to be more careful, but it’s a lot the same. Here’s my first target from shooting 12 rounds of my brother’s 357 Magnum (which I believe was .38 ammo?) It’s a bigger gun than his .22 handgun, and while the .22 is more economical and great for practicing your accuracy, there is definitely something cool about the bigger BOOM you get from the bigger ammo.
My first couple shots were off the mark, but once I got used to the action it wasn’t so bad! Thanks for taking me bro.
Otherwise we’re just gearing up for Christmas in a very low key way. Neither Stacie or I need much, and even the baby already has more than he needs, so I think appropriately this year the focus will be on family. We’re doing my sister’s in-laws on Christmas Eve, my parents and my in-laws on Christmas, and then my Grandmother/Aunt/Cousins on my Mom’s side up in Turlock the day after Christmas. This will be our first road trip with the boy, so it should be interesting. Hope everyone’s Christmas plans and gift buying are going well.
