COLD

Cold is what it is here tonight. I mean REALLY cold. Blight of the earth cold.

So I've added a book signing on June 17 in Sharon, MA, at Annie's Bookstop that should be fun. It will be with Marianne Mancusi, author of A CONNECTICUT FASHIONISTA IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT and other books. I'm feeling like a big shot just saying that.

My students have asked me lately about the book. Good thing they don't yet know about the web site. I think I'd be a little embarrassed to have them looking at that. Once we get through with the semester, that will be fine.

My Obnoxious Nice Kid is still driving everyone crazy in one of my classes. He needs attention all the time. I try to be nice to him, but sometimes you can just feel the class hoping for a senseless beating. He does get off a good one now and then, such as the other day when we were trying to compose a definition of the word "slacker." "There's one in the White House," he cracked and everybody laughed. But then he won't let go of it and keeps making the same joke. He continually talks about the evils of capitalism, even when we're discussing adjectives and adverbs. He literally raises his hand for every question.

I'd rather have him, though, than some of the arrogant ones I've seen over the years. A good friend of mine, perhaps she won't want me to say her name, coined the phrase "cuntly snoot." It's a good one for people like that. This student will usually approach me privately and say that no one else in the class is up to his level and none of them are really worthy enough to peer edit his work.

That calls for the Tupperware Laugh. (definition of TL: the laugh you give when someone asks you to host a Tupperware party)

Blooper of the week: "It was interesting reading Charles Darwin's Origin of Spices."

j'ai envie