Nothing says Merry Christmas like a coma!

Not much is new this week. On Friday, the writing center was supposed to come and make a presentation to my class, but they didn't show. I had to make up a lesson on the fly. I had everyone write all period while I went around and conferenced with them individually about their writing. One tough young man was working on a poem about missing someone. It was a little vague, so I gave him some examples of specifics: "Sometimes people compare it to a missing limb. You feel like it's still there, but you reach down, and it's gone." He started crying. Oops. I asked if he wanted to get a drink of water in the hall so he could collect himself, but he kept his head up and said, "Nah. I'm fine." Hee. You gotta love a big, tough athlete who's not afraid to cry. He told me he got my point about how much more powerful a concrete image can be.

In other news...a while back, I was browsing for art supplies, the type that might be suitable gifts for the young people in my life. I spent a while considering Aquadots, which looked cool. Now I'm so glad I didn't buy them. Good gracious! It's a toy that, if consumed, is metabolized as GHB -- a date rape drug! It's making little kids sick, and putting them in comas! You can still buy it some places. I like to think none of the younguns in my life would eat Aquadots, but I remember a time when I was little and didn't have any gum so I chewed on Silly Putty for a while. It was not my finest moment. I'm just saying, even smart kids sometimes do dumb things.

Thanks, Chinese toy manufacturers. First we discovered the lead-painted toys, and now this. They were supposed to use a certain non-toxic chemical to coat the dots, but instead chose a similar, cheaper toxic chemical. Scary, scary, scary. Have fun Christmas shopping, parents out there.

New Topic: My friends called me last night while they were all out to dinner. It was so nice to hear from them. I missed my girls. They had recently been checking out this very blog! Their conclusion: 1-Wow, we sometimes show more cleavage than we are aware of and 2-When we're out drinking, we should always take the pictures before we get too sloshed to look our prettiest.

Another funny note: I've been going back and writing entries starting from my birth. Usually, to maintain privacy I'm really careful not to use anyone's full name. For some reason in my birth story I used my principal's full name. He Googled himself, found the blog and read the whole thing. At least, that's what he told my MOTHER. Yes, Mommy is now aware of the unedited blog. Hi, Mom. Hi, Mr. Blaker. Welcome to the land of too-much-information. It's basically the same blog, just with more cursing, drinking and making out. Enjoy!