Tales from Parent/Teacher Conferences...

Out of 147 students, only one student is going to be represented at tonight's parent/teacher conferences. Sad turn out, right? Part of the problem is that report cards went home on Friday (so long as the student was present on Friday) and parents only had today to call to make appointments. So, I am going to sit here until 8:30 pm. And, the air conditioning just cut off at 6:30 (it's on a timer...you would think that the school board would adjust said timer to accomodate mandatory school functions...hmmmm).

My computer is making this very strange gurgling noise that I thought could be attributed to the speakers. I went so far as to unplug the speakers...the noise persists. It's annoying the heck out of me.

[What do you say when a lovely parent, accompanied by his/her not so lovely son/daughter, asks, "How is ________ behaving in class?" I hate being brutally honest with people, and this spills over into parent/teacher conferences. I usually end up smiling and saying, "Oh yes, _______ is doing just fine in class," when in reality, _________ is simply the bane of my existence. In that moment when I'm looking at ________ and then back to his/her mom/dad and I see the plea in __________'s eyes not to sell him/her out, I always decide to cut __________ the break he/she doesn't deserve. Anyway, I just had a parent coupled with a semi-evil child drop in.]

Fun dates on my horizon (and if you put them on yours, they'll be fun dates for you, too):

• Tuesday, November 2 -- Election Day 2004. I'm excited to be voting in my second presidential election. My vote will be cast for the second time in a row for George W. Bush. Let's hope he'll be a two-termer.
• This coming up weekend...a long awaited sushi date with Matthew (you better be coming back to Palm Bay!)
• Tuesday, November 9 -- Derek Webb's long awaited second release, I See Things Upside Down, drops (and goodness me, I hope it's not as difficult to secure as his wife's latest project)
• Friday, November 12 -- Finding Neverland, starring Johnny Depp, hits theatres with its pure magic.
• Thursday, November 24 -- Thanksgiving! :-)
• Some random day in November -- db (Jed D. Brewer's) newest musical project will be available to his many adoring fans (check out: www.jedbrewer.com)

That's pretty much all of the great November days that I can think of.

I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute Matthew, a.k.a. Clark Kent, one of my only enduring friends from my high school days (in a class of nearly 600, I am still only in touch with 3...which is .005%). Matthew and I became friends via AP Language and student council. One of my first memories of Matt is from 11th grade homecoming. We, being on student council, were heading over to decorate the Raddison for that night's dance. Matthew was to follow me (since I have a superior sense of direction). I noticed that he was not in my rear-view mirror, so I pulled off the side of the road and waited until I saw him again. Later, when we reached our destination, Matthew commented, "That was the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me!" Well, our student council experiences from our senior year definitely afforded us some great memories. We were selected as the boy and girl representatives to attend the Emerging Leaders Conference at UF (which is when we both decided we never wanted to go to UF...how funny is it that Matthew is currently studying for his PhD at UF now??). Good times were had on the drives to and from UF :-). In my senior yearbook, Matthew wrote, "You are the defintion of a good person. For the sake of humanity, don't ever change." I thought that was the nicest thing EVER to write. Thanks again, Matt (strangely enough, my signature is missing from his yearbook...I've told him several times to bring me the book and I'll sign it now...it's never too late). OH MAN! How could I fail to mention our nicknames for one another. I, for some reason, always thought he looked like Clark Kent. I don't know why, but he has always reminded me of Clark. Matthew used to ask me, "Does this mean that I look like Dean Cain?" :-) And then HE always thought that I looked/acted like Clarissa from Clarissa Explains it All. I always thought she was way cool, so I took it as a compliment.

Well, 7 years out of high school and he's definitely one of my best friends now. We are sushi buddies and bad movie partners: A League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Abandon, The Girl Next Door, Troy, Secret Window, Underworld to name a few. We were supposed to see The First Daughter (and Matt really wanted to see it...not only because of Katie Holmes' starring role, but it was supposed to be Michael Keaton's come back role). Sadly though, Matthew never came back to visit before it left the theaters.

We've recently started a new tradition, which is definitely one of the highlights of my weeks. We call each other (usually it's me who dials first because I'm super fast) on every commercial break from Jack and Bobby. This used to work splendidly when the show aired on Sunday nights. But just last week it switched to Wednesdays at 9 pm, which complicates things because we both are also fans of The West Wing (which also airs at 9 pm). Both of us share a loathing for the phone...but we're now over the phone hump. Jack and Bobby definitely helped us get over that phone hump...the kind of hump where you never call the other person unless it's to set up plans. I am kind of afraid of the phone and really don't like to call others. However, that's not to say I don't enjoy when others call me. (I guess part of my problem is that I'm afraid that I'll be disturbing whoever it is I'm calling...but now with Matthew, I just don't care if I disturb him!)Anyway, it's now quite possible that we'll call each other on other days beside Jack and Bobby days. Yay! Just this last week we talked on: Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and then Sunday again. Crazy, huh?! (thanks to all those nights and weekends...(a line from a Relient K song about cell phones))

Gosh, it's only 7:30 and I still have one more hour until I get to go home. **sigh**