« July 2004 | Main | September 2004 »

New Faces

The new teachers I work with are HOT. Got me thinking I might still have some hetero left in these bones of mine. Turns out that one of them is the best friend of a Zeta I know from when I was in grad school. I am sure I have seen her around campus before, but she didn't seem to remember me.

(Sidenote: Sucks saying "when I was in grad school" instead of something that implies I actually finished.)

She is so nice....both of the first-year teachers are incredibly cool, so it seems after two days. It's weird having other teachers there who are around my age. The only other people my age before were another sub and a kindergarten aide. Both male.

Even still, other than the pay and benefits (ha! like those are small factors) I am not sure that I would want to be a permanent teacher. I see what these teachers go through with all the bueracracy. It's crazy. It seems like your job isn't safe during your first five years, and hell, even beyond that.

I hope the students don't try to eat the new teachers alive. It's not like they don't have experience with urban kids, they do. But no one can prepare you for just how big of a snot rag a child can be once they feel comfortable with you.

Posted by Rashid on August 29, 2004 at 8:33 AM

My Entertainment Rants

As most of my friends know, I love me some television and music. Here are some thoughts I'd like to share as the summer comes to a close:

Six Feet Under: What's really going on? Claire becomes a psyche-a-dyke, Rico cheats on his wife, David is kirkin out, and Keith sleeps with a woman? I was blown. Keith, however, still remains very cute to me. I really want him to be gay in real life, but I am pretty sure he's not. But what it blowing me the most is Nate and Brenda....argh, they are so flippin' dysfunctional it doesn't make any sense. It appears as though the boo-boo is about to hit the fan when Maya's mom's family (forgot her name) discoveres that someone else's ashes are in that there urn. I wonder if they will find out she's buried out in the desert?

The Wire: After re-watching episodes from the second season, I realized just how inferior it was to the first. It wasn't actually because of the union storyline -- that part was good. It was just too complicated. It wasn't bad the first time around, but watching the second time is painful. I CANNOT WAIT for season three to premier! I think it comes on September 19th or something like that.

Days of Our Lives: Some of my friends know that I have been watching Days of Our Lives for 16 years. It pains me to say THIS SHOW SUCKS NOW. It was good when they had the serial killer whodunit, and even better when it was Marlena. BUT.....it quickly spiraled out of control when it was revealed that none of the dead were really dead. Ugh, that was such a disappointment. Because now we are being subjected to all these kooks trying to get off the island. Also, the cliffhanger before the Olympics was really crappy. Passions has been better than Days, and that's saying a lot.

Young & Th Restless: This show is THA BOMB. I started watching it intermittently this year after the channel nine news at noon, but before Days came on at 1. I've kept up with the storylines for years and years, since my grandma watched it. But now, I am independently a fan. I am really feeling all the African American characters (they drew me in) but I am really impressed by the fact that they aren't tokens. Drucilla is very prim and proper but can also get real "sistagirl" when she needs to. I am especially feelin the storyline with Devon, played by none other than Bryton, the boy who played little Richie on Family Matters. He has grown up and he's a little hottie. I'ma pretend he's actually 18, although he might be more like 17.....eww, bad me. BAD ME. Anyway, the acting on Y&R is excellent and the stories are great. I highly recommend it. But you gotta ease into it...there are far more characters on Y&R than Days, so it's hard to keep up.

Big Brother 5: This is my favorite game show in the world. I am rooting for the twins, even though I know one is going to go home this week, unless there is a miracle. That's a high price to pay, but last week was definitely Will's turn. UGH I hated me some Will. He was so "typical." As far as gay men go, I liked Marcellas from like two years ago. Yeah, he was gay. Yeah, he was femme. Yeah, he was even a make-up artist or something. But dammit, he played that game! Will was just a schemer. ANYWAY, I like the twins and Drew, but I really think Cowboy is gonna win that thing.

Road Rules: Can these bamas win a mission already? They have already lost half of their original cast. Suckers.

The Real World: Philadelphia I am looking forward to this season. The short Puerto Rican from Ghostwriter (Hector, not Alex) is gonna be a cast member. He's gay!

I ran out of shows I wanted to talk about, but I know there are some more....I'll talk about them later. PEACE!

Posted by Rashid on August 25, 2004 at 10:44 AM

Back to Work

Well, today is my last day of summer. Tomorrow I go into work for "staff development." I just looked at the schedule and realized we have THREE HOURS of "in-service" -- don't really know what that means exactly -- but it's going to be another one of those stupid things where we learn how to integrate art into the curriculum.

From what I observed, only a handful of teachers actually implement the things discussed at these workshops. All-in-all, I think teachers are going to continue doing what works best for them. The only way you could "make" everybody get with the program is to hire all first-year teachers.

Imagine the uproar.

I enjoy being a sub, though. It's flexible and it's fun. I feel like more of a community rep than a teacher. I teach, of course, but being from this community makes me feel more responsible for the kids.

I cannot wait to be PAID again though. I capitalized PAID not because subbing makes me a lot of money, but some money is better than none. I decided to chip away at my credit card debt for my first few paychecks. Like, my entire check needs to go to my debt. I am feeling a little crippled by not being able to use my credit cards -- can't get plane tickets, can't shop on amazon or ebay. It sucked not having the money to get my mom anything significant for her birthday, but she understands.

The good thing about subbing is that it doesn't feel like work. I think it will this fall because I will be starting off the year and sort of charting my own course, but in general you just go in there, give the kids work, and chill.

God bless those teacher's editions. They are extremely helpful for the higher grades. No, not just because they have all the answers, but because you can really tell they are designed to be taught in sequence. They also have a lot of activities for the quicker kids and the slower kids.

It just sucks that my school system creates these pacing charts that basically screw up what the textbook says. I mean, wouldn't it make sense to start at the beginning of a textbook and have goals of continuing through to the end, or at least getting very close to it?

Nope, not in my school system. Thinking back, if I had learned in sequence in the sixth grade, I might not suck at math to this day.

Anyway....it's first grade I am teaching. First grade is not hard. I am a man. Kids fear men. Discipline will be easy. I do need to review the rules on corporal punishment though. Did you know you can't make kids stand in the corner anymore? You can't make them write sentences either....my fifth and sixth grade teacher STAYED giving us some sentences to write!

That's why kids are messed up now....they aren't afraid of anything.

School starts on September 1, I believe. My biggest fear is not the students, but just making sure my kids start out strongly. I want them READING by the time their teacher gets back from maternity leave. Not saying I can work miracles, but I definitely plan of working on phonics. I am not sure, but I think phonics was only big when I was in elementary school. I think they moved away from phonics and into reading stories.

If that's true, that's kind of dumb.....well, I can understand the need for reading comprehension at a young age, BUT if you can't understand the individual words and syllables, or can't say them, what's left to comprehend?

As we used to say in undergrad, "Hey, dumbass!"

Education makes me so sick sometimes. I wouldn't mind opening a private school one day, but the kids who would need it most would never be able to afford it.

So basically, I have to become filthy rich and run a free private school.

Awww, remember Freedom Schools?

Yes, I am that random....at any rate, I want to write a new entry but with a different category...stay tuned.

Posted by Rashid on at 10:28 AM

Matrix: Revolutions

Tonight, I watched The Matrix: Revolutions for the second time with Nikki at her crib. She's really set up the place nicely, with some nice things from Ikea and all those other stores she goes to.

Anyway, so I watched the movie again and probably didn't have that much more understanding this time around. In fact, because of Nikki, I have even more questions.

If the matrix rebooted at the end, how did the Oracle, Seraph, and Sati survive?

I don't know....all I know is that Seraph was one fine Asian man.

*****

The new Juvenile song is hot....sounds like he's saying "Know Ya Clap" but the name of the song I downloaded was "Nolia Clap".....so clearly I need to look up the lyrics and figure out what a nolia is.

Prolly drugs. Everything else is drugs or a sex act.

Tomorrow I go to the salon and get my locs maintained....wooooo hoooo! I am afraid, though, that I will lose some locs. About four or five have gotten weak about an inch and a half away from the root. Unless my loctitian can twist them together, I'm afraid I will have to just have some locs that are shorter than the rest by about a foot.

The ironic thing as that there are all near the front. :-( Would be really nice if they were in the back.

I should sleep now.

Posted by Rashid on August 14, 2004 at 12:51 AM

I Done TOLD Him.....

Did y'all see where the Governor of New Jersey exposed our relationship?

I am so mad at him. He KNEW I was trying to stay on the DL, until at least after the book came out, lol.

Y'all have probably heard all about it by now, and of course he's not my real lover. But he is a handsome man. Personally, I think he's resigning because of the sexual harassment suit the gay dude is bringing forth. Cuz PERSONALLY, if I was governor and had a wife who stood by me and let me say "I am a Gay American" I would NEVER quit. That s*** is GANGSTA!!!!!!

The cheating isn't gangsta...and the being married while gay isn't gangsta. But...better late than never when it comes to coming out, eh?

Posted by Rashid on August 12, 2004 at 9:20 PM

Filth Flarn Filth

So.....I finally finished writing the longest love scene in the world. Oh my gosh. It was so long. The whole thing ended up being 20 pages, inclusive of some important in-between conversations. All my other chapters average ten pages.

That scene is BANANAS. We are talking some 9 and 1/2 Weeks type stuff. I'll spare you the details, but it's definitely a marathon.

I'ma little weirded out by it being so graphic, but it's all for a reason. Or multiple reasons.

The bad thing is that I had to get up very early this morning (early for someone with no job this summer) and let in the gentlemen who will be fixing he ceiling in my old room, stripping the wallpaper, and painting the walls. I went to sleep at like 3:30 last night. I think my body is so used to my cough syrup that it wasn't used to going to sleep drug free, LOL. Let me find out I'm an addict.

So now I am working on four hours sleep, watching Days of Our Lives, and not really doing much of anything because I don't want to fall asleep with strangers in the house. They are nice people though.

Posted by Rashid on August 9, 2004 at 12:58 PM

Love Scenes

My lord, my lord.....I had to take a break from the sex scene I was writing in the second novel. I normally don't like writing love scenes because they make ME feel nekkid. Like my friends/family will be like ewwwwww this is how Rashid has sex! In reality, it's how my characters have sex, but it still has an air of exhibitionism around it.

This scene was really important because it is the culmination of a lot of sexual tension between my two main characters.

Some of you might know that I use music to put me in the mood to write any particular chapter. Luckily, I had a playlist I called "The F*** List." No comment as to whether I have used it in real life before.

Okay, I have.

Here are my songs on the F*** List. Please, download or purchase them where available:

If I Ever Fall In Love, Shai
UHH AHH, Boyz II Men
Moments in Your House, Alanis Morrisette vs Art of Noise
Darling Nikki, Rebecca Romjin Stamos
Say Yes (Timbaland Remix), Floetry
Part-Time Lover, H-Town
Slow Grind, JS
Splash Waterfalls, Ludacris
Pussycat, Missy Elliot
I'm Still In Love With You, Sean Paul ft Sasha
Untitled (How Does it Feel), D'Angelo
Delicate, Terence Trent D'Arby
Red Light Special (LA's Flava Mix), TLC
Woke Up, W. Ellington Felton & Raheem DeVaughn
Justify My Love, Madonna
Rock The Love Boat (Mikenzo Mash-Up), Aaliyah vs Art of Noise
For the Good Times, Al Green
Uninvited, Alanis Morrisette
Candy, Big Maybelle
Sometimes, Bilal
Ecstasy, Bone Thugs N Harmony
Sign Your Name, Terence Trent D'Arby

They are hot and guaranteed to get the draws every single time. But you don't have to take MY word for it. BA-DA-DUN!!

Posted by Rashid on August 7, 2004 at 11:28 PM

I Had a Dream....

I had a dream the other night. I was with a light-skinned guy who was very lean but very muscular. He had to have been an athlete -- I thought track at first, but now I know it was basketball.

I know now that the person I dreamed of was not a boyfriend or a lover -- it was a character from the novel I am currently writing. This is the first time I've ever dreamed up one of my characters. He looked different from the person I always imagined in my head. But that's a good thing, I guess.

This novel, the second one, is going to be THE HOTNESS. I am enjoying the writing of it. Parts have made my cry with sadness...other parts....well, they were highly frought with sexual tension that my readers will definitely find to be palpable. Probably moreso than the first novel.

I am really looking forward to getting my work into readers' hands. I hope my readers can be patient while I make it happen.

Posted by Rashid on August 5, 2004 at 7:12 PM