i have ZERO motivation to write my test. the very thought of it is daunting, to say the least.

dude, one of my classes has gone to hell in a handbasket. it's awful. you have one kid who goes around threatening to slit people's throats and kill them. not because he really wanted to, but there are some serious disconnects upstairs ... it's like tourette's (sp) but not. he seriously cannot remember saying these things like a second afterward. then there's the class idiot. and then there's the class drama queen. and the class nerd, who serious is going to get his ass kicked after school by the bike racks if he doesn't stop pushing other people's buttons and being a condescending schmuck. this is to say nothing of the class stoner, nor the class adhd kid, the class food-disordered, the class bonehead, the class bitch, the class clown, the class deadbeat, the class idiot, the class whiner, the class libertarian, the class goth ... God help me. it's like all your best and your brightest (aka every soph algebra repeater on the face of the planet) coming together to create a dysfunctional "saved by the bell" except miss chiu keeps you after the bell consistently, because you cannot shut up for ONE SECOND.

pushing that aside, i wanted to write a little ode/shoutout to jj the ham. usually, he's either pushing my buttons in class or calling me an f-ing bitch in class, take your pick. but there's a special place in my heart for this advisee, mostly because i truly believe he's a good kid with potential. it's just in there some where. real deep and ya just gotta really really dig. yesterday, i had the crappiest advisory, and i have my moody third period right after that. i went into the period scowling, but the kids had put in a hokey 60's compilation cd (one of kristin's, not mine, mind you) and turned it up. and jj, because he can get away with things like that, starts to DANCE. and he's really good! he's got all these quirky moves, and everyone is clapping and laughing and he starts to moonwalk. i ask him to dance some more and he does that weird floppy-fish on the ground ... and man, he can get his legs up in the hair pretty high. he's very bendy. it was hilarious. i think i'm going to ask him to dance at the start of class every day from now on. Lord only knows i need the laugh.

on top of that, halfway through the period, completely off-topic, he says "miss chiu -- how old are you." i say, "i'm 25, baby. i told you that before." and in the middle of this lesson on totalitarianism and stalin, he says "miss chiu, if things don't work out with your boyfriend, i have a black brother. he's 30 and he just bought a house and he just broke up with his girlfriend." i almost started to howl. this starts taylor off, who says "i have a brother who's 21, and he lives in santa cruz. he's very cool ... but uhh ... i don't want you to get with him." i'm not sure this was entirely appropriate conversation for school ... but uh, nice to know that my kids have my best interests at heart? luckily for me, i do like my bz ... so i don't think i'll have to rely on hookups with my kids' siblings. that is so freaking wrong.