" I've got everything that you want. I've got everything, and someday I'll be president. I've got everything that you want. I've got everything, except the single thing you really need." ~counting crows

Those few lines of that song ("Love and Addiction," which really should be released on an album) are an example of why I love Adam Duritz. Actually, just one word in that song is an example of why I love him. The way he sings the word "president" makes me want to cry. The first syllable ("prez") starts off on a high note, and then his voice sort of cracks and the the next two syllables of the word are sung at lower notes. Then he rushes right into the next line. It sounds like he starts off full of hope, but he can't even get the rest of the word out of his mouth before he realizes that his hope is futile and he will never be president. It's so sad. He manages to communicate so much by simply singing one single word. It absolutely amazes me.

I started student teaching today, and I survived! My cooperating teacher is really nice. The students are going to be taking exams for the next 2 weeks (and they were taking a test today), so I didn't really get to interact with them and won't get to for awhile. That gives me time to plan some lessons, though. I'm teaching 3 12th grade English classes (Brit Lit), and during a free period I'm working with the drama teacher and one of her drama classes. It seems like that will be a lot of fun. I met so many people today whose names I forgot 2 seconds later (teachers, principals, librarians, etc.), but everyone was so friendly to me. I think I'll post funny quotes here fairly often, because I know I'll have a lot of them. It'll probably be awhile before I get some really good ones because when the kids are testing they don't have much opportunity to be funny, but here are a couple from today:

"That was a fun test, Ms. W. Almost as fun as a hysterectomy." ~a smart-alecky boy

"By 12th grade most of the baddies are in jail already." ~my teacher mentioning one of the pros of teaching 12th graders.

If anyone has any great ideas on how to teach Renaissance poetry to apathetic 18 year olds, please let me know.