The Good Word

“That’s more than a dress; that’s an Audrey Hepburn movie.”

By far my favorite line in Jerry Maguire.

I’ve been a bit off the past couple days. I’d be willing to tell any of you exactly why in a more personal fashion, but it’s enough for you to know here that I’ve been looking for a bit of distraction. I’ve been taking walks, buying books, and watching movies (Roger and Me, A Mighty Wind, Spider-man 3 and Jerry Maguire in the past four days).

I’m hesitant to admit it, but Spider-man 3 really wasn’t the comfort movie I needed, mainly because it hit too close to home. I’d like to not be the sort of person who find analogies to his own life in superhero movies. I’d like to be hipper than that, I really would. But I’m not.

Jerry Maguire ended up being it - the distance I needed.  I understand now why we let Renee Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr. be in movies. The only time I didn’t enjoy the movie was when I knew  the lines “show me the money” and “you had me at hello” were coming. Seeing those scenes for the first time was kind of like being nine again and watching Star Wars for the first time, and finally hearing Darth Vader say “Luke, I am your father,” and realizing just how much people who think “help me help you” is a joke all by itself deserve to be drug out into the street and shot.

I liked that at the end of a 10-minute scene where Jerry is trying to reason with Rod as he “air dries” after a shower, Jerry stomps off as Rod says, “The difference between you and me, Jerry, is that you think we’re arguing and I think we’re finally starting a conversation.”

I liked that Dorothy radically changes her life based on Jerry’s mission statement, but never calls it anything but a memo.

I liked that the deaf girl in the elevator was also Matt’s deaf girlfriend from Seventh Heaven, and that the same guy who played the blonde, twitchy, musically arrogant friend who always wore a manpurse in High Fidelity also played the blonde, twitchy, musically arrogant babysitter who wore a manpurse in Jerry Maguire.

I liked Bruce Springsteen’s song “Secret Garden” until I realized it wasn’t “Who’s Gonna Drive You Home” by The Cars.

My second day went much more smoothly than the first, so much so, in fact, that I decided to run the Jack Quinn 5K last night. That would be the weekly 5k with the local running club that begins and ends at an Irish pub. The idea is that you run and then drink. Not exactly my favorite combination, but I'm sure I'll take full advantage of the amenities offered by Jack Quinn's to the runners some other night. They also feed you pasta, salad, and bread, and after 10 runs you get a free shirt. It doesn't cost anything to run so it's pretty much the best deal this side of the Mississippi.

Good move on Jack Quinn's part. I won't have to pull a Panino's on them to feel like I'm getting my money's worth.

Also, I not only got encouragement from several of you by phone and via comment, but I also got some surprises today.

Something to Blog About

Throughout today I received four packages from faraway friends. First of all, midway through my school day, I received a mysterious package from Stephen Wood at the Family Life Center in South Carolina. My first thought was "Huh, I wonder if Karen told someone I was teaching Latin and they sent me something." But, it turns out that Karen just used company mailing labels to send a bag of pretzels to my school.

Then, when I got home I not only had a gigantic package (like 5 inches tall) placed oh-so-subtly under my doormat, but I also had two smaller parcels in my mailbox.

These are credited to Jose, Kendra, and Maggie respectively. From Jose, I have a copy of G.K. Chesterton's Life of Saint Francis, from Kendra a copy of Joy of Cooking, which looks amazing, and from Maggie (via the Money Saving Mom blog) a month's supply of multi-vitamins.
Also, I got a shout-out from Jennette on her blog, for which I am also thankful.

You guys really made my day today and I wanted to thank you for it. Really I'm just glad I'm not a bee with AIDS.

This blog's for you.

Wow. I really crossed a line with that one....

Today I demand that you all listen to the song of the day. It's so good and so 90's.

Monthiversary/First Day of School

Today marks a couple milestones. First, is it the monthiversary of my blog. I've managed to post every day since July 25th, which was a big goal I set for myself at the end of the summer. It's also my first day of school. Today I'll finally begin the year that has been in the back of my mind since I was old enough not to want to be a zookeeper when I grew up. It seems surreal that I'll actually be doing it.

I'm nervous and excited. I've told myself again and again how I want to carry myself. How I want to interact with the students. I know that if I walk with integrity and convey an earnest love for what I'm teaching, then if I fail it will be because teaching is not my vocation. We'll see what the first day brings. As prepared as I am for the exhaustion, I don't think there's any way I can be prepared for experiencing my first day with the middle schoolers.

I love that some of these kids will be in my class for three hours a day. All 7th and 8th graders at CMCA have two English classes per day and about 15 of my students will be back again for Latin.

Here's how my room looks at the moment. If all goes well the blank spaces on the wall will soon be filled with poems that we read and discuss in class, artwork from the Latin students as they illustrate vocabulary words, and the quotations which we will discuss at the start of each class.So, think of me today. Remember how your 8th grade year went and let me know what to look out for, what to do, and what not to do. I'll owe about half of you a call when I'm done for the day. Hopefully I'll still be standing when it's over.

ser·en·dip·i·ty Audio Help /ˌsɛrənˈdɪpɪti/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ser-uhn-dip-i-tee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun

As much as I hate to double-post I have to tell you all:

How Blogging Nearly Killed Me

1. I was REALLY behind this morning. Probably because I spent an hour and a half trying to format that darn Star Wars post so that it didn't look totally jank.
2. Because I was late getting ready I put on my favorite shirt (I didn't have time to look for anything else) and instead of making myself a wrap for lunch I threw 2 bananas and a cup of yogurt into a bag and headed out.
3. Because I was running late I got to school, threw my lunch bag into my room and headed to the opening presentation from the school's executive director.
4. In throwing the bag down I made the yogurt explode and destroyed one of the bananas.
5. When lunch came around I found out what had happened to my food just in time to have a co-worker come by to let me know that a bunch of people were eating at Chipotle for lunch. Good deal.
6. But, because I was hasty in the morning I didn't transfer my wallet into my jeans and therefore I didn't have money for lunch.
7. I told the co-worker I had to run home first and asked if they were going to the Chipotle downtown. She said she didn't know and that I should call her and find out. She asked if I had her number. I said yes and left.
8. After arriving at home, and (luckily) remembering to grab my wallet, I pulled out my phone to call about Chipotle. Turns out I didn't have her number.
9. I decided to eat lunch at home, listen to yesterday's song of the day a couple more times, and then I headed back to work with plenty of time to spare. I grabbed a Flavor-Ice Popsicle and left.
10. Four blocks away from my house a woman went through a stop sign and crashed directly into my driver's side door, knocking the ice out of the popsicle and make it appear as though there was blood all over my car.

This afternoon I got in a car accident. Don't worry, Gretchen is fine, but she'll need a hell of a face-lift. I'm a little scratched up, but I'm alright too, though if the ol' biddy was driving about 10 mph faster the direct impact into my driver's side door wouldn't have been pretty...

I wasn't at fault for the accident, in any way, and the woman who hit me has insurance so it'll be fine, but nearly getting killed and destroying my car is not my idea of a relaxing lunch break. Also, it was my last day to prep my classroom, so guess who's going to be working all weekend.

The interesting part though is the series of circumstances that led up the accident, and the ten things that I could have done differently to avoid it. Pretty funny if I do say so myself.

Oh well, I guess that's just one more old person who has had their license revoked for hitting me. And if you add that to the two times I've already been hit by a car while on foot in the Springs, I can say with surety that Colorado drivers are worse than Michigan drivers.

Here are the real victims:

At least I know where I can buy the same shirt for $10.

P.S. To add insult to injury (I feel like I use that phrase every other post) my favorite pen exploded in my hand while I was filling out the accident report.

I'm not obese. For my height I'm probably technically overweight, but most would call me "cuddly". Or at least most people in Michigan would call me that. But, unfortunately, I've moved to the most ripped state in the Union, from, by far, the most pleasantly plump. While I can't back that up with authoritative data, I can say that living amongst these people, despite their boisterous (doesn't that word have to do with sound?) armpit hair, I've developed a bit of a complex. So the other night Brad and I went for a run.

I haven't run regularly since my internship at Grace Church (where running was mandatory), but when I was doing it I loved it. We ran as a group three days a week and in the course of the summer I went from being the second slowest person to the second fastest of the eight interns. I was even running on days when we didn't have mandatory runs. I even started running twice a day about half way through the summer. Then, one Saturday, I decided I was going to do a homemade half-marathon. I had run 10 and 1/2 miles during my long run the week before that and I knew that I could do it. The only problem was that during the course of my run, which took a couple hours, the temperature rose from low 80's to the high 90's. I got dehydrated, pulled my ACL and haven't really run since.

Today, as sore as I was from running with Brad, I got up at 5:45 and ran again. Two miles has never seemed so long. But I did it.

Since mid-July I've been waking up five minutes earlier every day. My goal is to be able to execute a morning routine which includes running, showering, shaving, ironing, making a lunch, and arriving at the school before 7am to get done whatever I need to do for that day. 5:45 is definitely not early enough. I'm guess it's going to be more like 5:00AM.

What's my point?

To function in this world, to be an effective teacher, doctor, pastor, construction worker, nurse, artist, writer, whatever, you need to be a little bit better today than you were yesterday. But, like most, I'm seldom on track. Sure I get a couple boosts of resolution during the year: New Year's, first day of school, my birthday, etc. but I've never been able to really succeed at progressing unless it was in a situation like running with the interns at Grace Church. With the interns I always had someone to measure myself by, someone to compete with, and 8 someones (including our running coach) to keep me accountable.

My goal with this blog is 50% communication (of ideas and thoughts with people I care about), 50% blatant and shameless self-promotion, and 50% just loving to be able to stay in contact with the people who read it. People who I otherwise might talk to once a month, once a year, maybe once again before I die.

So, today's 'reader response" isn't for people who are witty, well-read, or especially into some niche of pop-culture. It's for whoever wants to stay in contact with me in a meaningful way and do something today about making yourself a little better today than you were yesterday.

If you'd like to do this (and if you're reading this I would like you do this), just leave a comment telling me one goal you have for today, one goal you have for the week (before next Thursday) and one goal you have before New Year's.

Here are mine:
Today: I will have a week's worth of lesson plans done for at least one of my English sections.
This Week: I will hang out with someone this weekend, despite the fact that Brad and Leroy leave tomorrow (I have made approximately zero friends in this land of 5% body fat).
Before January: I will be able to run the 10.5 miles I was able to run before I attempted that half marathon two years ago.

I'll keep you guys updated. Do the same for me. And if you don't want to post your goals for the whole wide web to see. E-mail me at zogood@gmail.com

Oh, and if you really want to do something to improve your life, never watch August Rush.