>last evening, i traded stories with other teacher friends, and we were laughing our lips off — it is absolutely unbelievable some of the things that parents obviously discuss within their childrens’ earshot or what they allow them to see in the media. i was told recently that the american pediatric association’s official position is that no child under the age of three years old should be allowed to watch television. at all. there goes the baby einstein theory. the truth is that we are born with rounded eyeballs, and they do not begin to flatten out naturally and healthily until we are much older. and that watching television as infants and toddlers forces the eyeballs to flatten themselves out (against nature and their will) in order to compute what is being seen on a flat television screen (now, if you have not invested in the FLAT SCREEN per se, you are not absolved of any guilt here…the old-fashioned screens are definitely more flat than round…so they are bad for childrens’ eyes as well).

okay. stepping down off of soapbox. there is a television and VCR in my classroom that has yet to be pled for by my students. i hope to not turn them on in their presence for the entire school year. although i am sure there might be a few occasions…i did it twice during last school year. clifford before nap time one day. and winnie the pooh in spanish another day. all for naught.

i talked to my sister for an awfully long time on thursday night. it was fun. i miss her much. of course when we lived in the same city as each other, we were horrible at spending time together. how silly is that? and my father is about to move halfway around the world, and i will probably see him more once he’s there than i do now, when he lives a mile away. we have all got issues. of proximity and honesty and communication.

i ran into an ex-classmate the other day in the grocery store and recognized her face but could not conjure up her name. but i wanted to let her know that i recognized her, so i said, ‘didn’t we go to school together?’ and in response, she called me by name and then offered up her own name so as to save me from embarrassing myself by having decided on the wrong name for her. anyway, she had her child with her, who was as tall as each of us. shudder. i still like to think i look younger than most of the people i keep running in to that are my same age. except for a few days this week, i looked into the mirror and saw a 45 year old woman. who had not drunk enough water or taken enough vitamins or exercised enough. i am certain it is not as bad as i initially perceived, but it had a sobering effect on me.

well, i am struggling with whether or not to cook breakfast at home (my inclination) or to wait for my company to wake up and get ready to go out for food. she will likely sleep at least another hour and a half (as she never has the luxury), which i do not resent. so perhaps i will shuffle into the kitchen. i have been awake for 2.5 hours so far, have been reading and drinking english breakfast tea lying on the couch with my snuggly quilt my paternal grandmother made for me in 1979. that is life.