Rain outside my window...

... tells me that my summer's fading away. And this new place I'm in is getting more and more real every single day.

I'm definitely the type of person who builds certain life events up in my head until they're overwhelming, only to discover that the event in question wasn't as monumental as it seemed. I know I touched on this during the previous post, but I figured that since I run the show around here, I should just keep banging the gong about it continuously.

On a completely different note, one of my sponsor teachers and I have been creating little games in class when we do attendance so we can remember student names a little bit better. We've covered things like "what did you do over the weekend" or, "what is your favorite meal". I'm the first one to admit that it's totally cheesy, but it is definitely helpful when trying to remember the names of 30 Grade 9 kids. The last day we did one on pet peeves. Some of them were a little strange, others were funny, but most were typical. My favorites, though, are always the most random ones. Like feet. Some people (mostly girls, I've found) hate feet... everything about feet. The look, smell, feel, etc. EVERYTHING. And this seems like the strangest thing ever. I dated a girl before K and I were together who hated feet so much that she actually tattooed her foot with little stars and things (small and tasteful, of course) to make them less revolting.

My sponsor teacher's peeve was smelly people. After admitting this, she entered into a long tirade about a triathalon she was participating in and this smelly guy on the bike course with her... just to avoid being behind him, she would speed up every time he tried to pass. I think she scored a personal best because of it. Seems strange that a little BO would push you to accidentally strive for excellence. Sort of makes me wonder if guys like Lance Armstrong had peeves that pushed them on to success.

I try to think about mine and I come up with the standards... bad drivers, line jumpers while waiting for tickets for a concert/show, movie talkers in theatres, and generally stupid people. Now, the last category can include most (if not all) of the previous 4 categories, but can also be applied to a host of other groups. I won't go into detail, but there's definitely no shortage of boneheads around. And a broad, all-encompassing category is necessary to include these goof-offs. Others to enter this category are those who talk about something they know nothing about, buffoons at a restaurant that treat their server like a whipping boy, and stereotypical North American travellers who go abroad and ask people from a non-English-speaking country, "Do ya'll speak English? ENG-LISH? DO YOU SPEAKY ENGLISH??" That really gets my goat, and really takes the cake... idiots thinking that saying it: a) louder b) slower c) with an accent will get them the response they want. I think Jeff Foxworthy would respond to them by handing them a sign that reads "Stupid", while stating, "Here's your sign".

Enough boringness for tonight... still have some stuff to do for class tomorrow, and knowing me, if I don't do it now, I'll be asking for an extension. That's just the way I roll :)

- T