My New Nickname

This is going to be a short one, I MUST tell you all a little story. Today one of my favorite first graders came up to me as the rest of the kids were lining up to leave class. She blurted out, "Wanna know what my nickname for you is?"
A little scared, I responded, "Uh, sure! What is it?"
"Miss Toothpick, 'cause you're so skinny!"
I immediately burst out laughing, it was one of the funniest things I've heard a kid say about me. It was almost as funny as the time I had a kindergartener seriously ask me if I was an elf. I asked him if he'd been watching The Lord of the Rings. He answered, "Yes, I have the DVD."

"Tu ra lu ra..."

Lately a certain someone has gotten me hooked on creating Top Five lists. Sure, I've spewed out a couple in the past, it caters to my obsessive-compulsive nature. But now, when I have little more than three minutes of free time on my hands, I find that my idle brain begins to construct useless top five lists. So here's one of them, it's a bit of a counter-post to Beener's last top five, and I strongly encourage all that come across this blog to contribute their top five through comments. Musical tastes say so much about a person:

Top Five 80's Songs That I Am in No Way Ashamed to Admit I Love

1. Come on Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
I'm not much for dancing in public, but if this song ever comes on, you better believe I'm the first one on the dance floor!

2. Raspberry Beret - Prince
Poo poo Prince all you want, I'm not ashamed to like him:)

3. Tenderness - General Public
No much to say, just catchy as hell.

4. Voices Carry - Til Tuesday
Aimee Mann in a she-mullet, need I say more?

5. Just What I Needed - The Cars
This song, unfortunately, is the background music of every commercial ever made in the last three years. I still think it's great, I just can't resist that little synthesizer hook at the end.

There you go, not ashamed. And I stress that if I don't received atleast five other 'top five's' in comments, I'll torture you all with a "Top 5 Early 90's Song" list. It won't be pretty.

Miss Missy and the F-inheimmer

As some of you may have noticed, the Skyylark has been on hiatus due to some internet complications. But now that my connection is back on track, and work has grown considerably less busy, I plan to store her to her former glory.

I've been taking a ton of pictures lately. Good or bad, it's a fun outlet for me, and one of few hobbies of mine that doesn't involve music in some way. Since music seaps through every crevice of every element of my life, it's nice to separate myself from it for a spell. So I plan on boring you all with more of my pics, maybe they'll give the casual observer (or lifelong friends and acquaintances) more of an idea of who I am. A very old friend of mine once said that I have layers. I guess i'm not sure whether this was a compliment or not, but I guess I agree 'cause I think there's parts of me that even I have yet to discover. But I guess everyone can say that in a way.

For instance, as a new teacher I find out more and more about myself everyday. Out of pure necessity I have to find a confrontational part of me that has not been explored by any means. I've always avoided confrontation throughout my lifetime, and I think I'm way too patient with people. But this personality trait (flaw or blessing) bites me in the ass at times. So in the last couple weeks I've found myself running against the flow of my nature.
Today I think I've officially become a teacher because one of my students dropped the f-bomb in class today. He not only dropped it, he threw it directly at me. My mom, who has worked in the public schools for as long as I can remember, congratulated me and jokingly stated, "you're not a true teacher until you've been sworn at, kicked in the shins, or called a b*tch." Do I get a badge or a ceremony of some sort? (And I must say, kids are not what they were when I was one. I'm sure everybody says this, but man, is it ever true.) Thus, when placed in a job environment that puts me in the crossfire of such silly verbal abuse, I had to find in myself a person that doesn't simply walk away from confrontation.
Everyone's got layers. Positive or negative they find a way of surfacing. It makes me wonder whether we invent them out of necessity, or if they're there all the time.

I know this last picture is a bit of a mess, but it reminded me of a Monet painting with the dots of color and water ripples:)