It all started the beginning of February when 25% of our school was sick for a couple days and our principal canceled school on that Friday to hopefully prevent any further destruction from the ravenous viral army.  He figured the 3 days would give the wounded time to heal and the strong, well, an extra day to celebrate their triumph over evil.  I self-appointed myself one of the heroes, humbly of course, and declared that I had not been sick all year! (it was true…at the time)  I actually made this statement at least 3 times in the course of 2 days as people were discussing how sick all of the kids were.  Each time I mentioned that ill-fated phrase, I was met with gasps of horror and comments like, “Don’t say that, you’re gonna get sick now” or “Now you’ve done it,” and I even heard a few “Knock on wood!”  Oh, how I wish I had knocked on wood.  Those days begin my downfall.  I won’t get into all of the ins and outs, but let’s just say that I battled hard and I battled long.  There were a couple times where I thought I had that virulent pest cornered.  I was on antibiotics even…nothin…he just looked at me and sneered and plugged up my nose again.  I’ve been blowing my nose for over 3 weeks and Kleenex just called me for an endorsement.  How do I answer that?  Can I get paid even after I stop blowing snot?  Sure…sign me up.  Anyways…last Saturday I had enough energy and clear nasal passages to record an album with a couple buddies.  Except, you’ve heard of the “calm before the storm?”  Well, that’s what Saturday was and boy has it been a storm…  I just finished my second day at home from teaching and still feeling the effects of the crashing waves.  Why oh why didn’t I knock on wood?

Do you remember ever hearing these things from adults?

CDs will never compete with records…You don’t even KNOW what a record is?…You’re actually BUYING something online?…Isn’t that unsafe?…You’re writing your schedule on your PALM?- oh, I knew it’s a computer thingy- what wrong with good ‘ol paper?…Before cell phones we actually had to PLAN OUT what we were going to do every day.

Remember those?  I think I’ve either heard them directly or had them asked of me.  Our generation has shown that these things have not only stuck around, possibly even become outdated themselves or are now necessary to know about.  I caught myself lately making similar comments…

“Text messaging…okay…it’s nice to use once in a while.”  “Ttyl, brb, lol, jjik, sslk, aaok, bdsc…wait I did I say something wrong?”  What the heck is up with these messed up shortcuts…don’t people actually know how to write anymore??  I guess it’s time catch up and ask my 6-8 graders how do to this.  I don’t want to fall too far behind…

B4N