Random Musings

Usually I have a few random thoughts and observations that never make it to my blog because I can't write an entire post about them. So, I have decided to start randomly posting some random musings. This is also due to the fact that I really like the word musings and wanted an excuse to use it on a somewhat regular basis.

1) Last weekend, I went to Atlanta to visit my roommate from college and go to the LSU v. UNC game (even though we didn't go to LSU or UNC--we just like football and someone offered us tickets). It also happened to be the weekend of DragonCon in Atlanta. DragonCon is a big science fiction/fantasy conference. The people who go to DragonCon dress up. I'm not sure what they dress up like, but I do know I saw Batman, Captain America, Harry Potter, Dumbledore, Dracula, plus a bunch of other people who I didn't recognize at all. I just knew normal people didn't dress like that. My old roommate and I met her parents for dinner at Hard Rock in Atlanta. The restaurant was full of people dressed up for DragonCon or wearing LSU or UNC gear. I spent the whole time thinking about how weird all those DragonCon people were in their costumes. Then, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that the DragonCon people probably all thought that the football fans looked ridiculous. I mean, we football fans (especially in the South) dress up, spend our whole Saturday getting ready and going to games, yell a lot when we get there, and refer to our teams as "we" even though we're not playing. It's really its own brand of weird--and who's to judge whether it's any weirder than the DragonCon bunch.

2) I'm currently having a tv crisis because I cannot watch three channels at once. People who schedule sporting events should be forced to take this into consideration. I mean, right now, I want to be watching Nadal's quarterfinals match at the US Open, the Auburn v. Mississippi State game, and the Saints v. Vikings game (because I started Drew Brees and Adrian Peterson in my school fantasy league this week--so every time Drew Brees completes a pass I feel compelled to yell "Points for me!"). I got a little stressed when I had to make this decision. I know that some people can do that flip-back-and-forth-a-lot-thing, but I have to pick one main event to focus on then just check scores during commercials and stuff. I finally ended up with tennis as my main event. Then I started to panic. Does it make me less Southern that I opted against the SEC match-up? Am I somehow less American because I'm watching the all-Spanish quarterfinals match instead of football??

3) I have issues of Sports Illustrated in my room for students to read--they can get it from our library, so I don't worry about the content (except for obviously I don't keep the Swimsuit Issue in there....). Today, a student came up to me and showed me an article about the college lacrosse player who was killed by her boyfriend this summer. I had heard the story, so I just told him I already knew about it and agreed that it was really sad. Then, the same kid brought the magazine back to me, very concerned, and told me that I might not want to have it in my room because it was inappropriate. He was holding out a page with an ad for Viagra on it. Ok, so that's inappropriate, but the article about murder you don't have a problem with? Hmmm. Maybe those people who argue all the time that violent video games desensitize kids and are bad for them have a real point....

4) I recently took a recommendation from a student and read the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter. They were adorable. All week as I read, I would talk with my student about them. The main character is 15 (she turns 16 in the books), and her dad died sometime before the books start. So, her mom is single and is also the headmistress at the spy school. In the first book, they get a new, cute, guy teacher. So, I say to my student, "I kind of want Cammie's mom to date Mr. Solomon." She just looked at me like I had said the strangest, most random thing ever. Yeah, her response was that was weird and that she had never really thought about it. That's when I realized that I'm kind of old--I identify with the mom in the story, and I think about the mom falling in love with someone. Because I'm closer in age to the mom than I am the main character of the book. I proceeded to feel old for all of lunch and recess.