Friday, April 08, 2005

I wrote a post before, but I forgot to post it

Yesterday I made myself a very shitty cup of tea. It tasted like very strong body odor, but it was one of those times where I thought "Maybe it'll get better by the next sip," so I drank and drank, and it didn't get any better, but there was still then chance. Then I realized that I'm at the bottom of the cup and it did, in fact, remain shitty till the very end. Sometimes the good tastes aren't heavier than the bad ones, and this is how I manage to make it through 3-4 cups of tea each day. I believe my veins are now filled with the stuff.

While consuming this I was sitting in the kind of chilly outside. I started to feel really worried and sorry for the birds because OH MY GOSH they live outside! So I started to contemplate what they do during the winter (dig a hole, go in the mud, stay in the nest, but that only has a bottom doesn't it?) when I had a revelation: birds actually go south for the winter. I sat there feeling like a moron and remembered the time when I spent 5 minutes of my life wondering what dried grapes would taste like (they're raisins, by the way, they've even got a special name)

Then I started to think about the birds who go south for the winter. The most recent ones I got to know were the Wilsons, who went to Brazil for "spring" break here taking one of their 3 babysitters along with them. Excessive? Yes.

I now tutor fifth grader Frankie Wilson after school. His dad told me he's got this disease where he has trouble with "executive functioning." I'd be ok with the executive functioning as long as he didn't call ADHD a disease (I believe people call it a disorder, I actually think it's an invention parents who couldn't tell their kids "no" made). Because all little Frankie really wants is someone who will be around to listen to how much money his mom makes, or to assure him that he really doesn't have a lisp. I'm fine with the second part.

I obviously much rather enjoy hanging out with Darrius. He's not exactly a stellar student (he missed school yesterday because he stayed up too late watching Jerry Springer the night before, and his nanny doesn't wake him up for school), but he DID get most improved in math and literacy last week. Yeah, I'm bragging. He also laughed at me for 10 minutes straight last night because I'm so "white," but at least he can keep me entertained for 2 hours. And if the two would have to have ADHD, it would be Darrius because he's like a jumping flea, but I've never heard him use anything as an excuse for his behavior. Well, I guess Jerry Springer is an excuse. The long and short of it is that I feel really bad for being half an hour late on Thursdays to go to Darrius. I don't think he'd care if I show up or not, but I'd still really like to, and I'd also like to reassure myself that somehow I've learned enough to differentiate between what's genuine and what's not. I feel rather guilty going over to Frankie's house, but at least I am not planning on spending what I get on...lotion? or movies. Other plans are in order.

Anyway, spring suddenly finally came here. There are a TON of daffodils everywhere, and walking back from school one evening I met a guy in front of an apartment complex with enormous binoculars decorated with paint hanging around his neck, with his long beard in a braid along with his long hair, yelling "THESE ARE MY FAVORITE FLOWERS" while waving a handful of daisies to anyone walking past. This isn't a stop and smell the flowers message, nor is it one saying that maybe "my next cup of tea might be better."

Instead, it SUCKS when I go to class on Friday morning and come back to find both my roommates still sleeping while I have to go somewhere else again.