i'm inspired to blog. i had no idea there were so many people at my church who have xangas, and who, much to my chagrin, are all freaking phenomenal writers. i must persevere!

so, in light of the fact that some of my freshmen were being perfect @$$holes yesterday, i need to find some positive things to blog about.

story 1: ode to j
j was the bane of my existence last year. he's one of my kids who did insane amounts of pot and meth, and got himself suspended like every three weeks. literally a month did not go by without him getting called up to s's in the admin office. he was sullen, and failed multiple classes (though he did pass mine both semesters!), and i thought i'd get a nosebleed from the sheer quantity of conferences i had with his mom last year.

however ... j has flipped the switch this year. regardless of his illicit afterschool activities, j has decided that he wants to be a student. he's gotten superanal about doing all his work "just so" and probably does 60%-70% of his hw, which is HUGE for him. he's still not passing all of his classes, but across the board, all of his teachers say how great he's been, and how much his attitude has changed. he's much steadier, participates in class, cracks jokes, keeps his group on task, and on one beautiful occasion, break danced (broke danced?) and moonwalked to 60's tunes at the start of my class. he met with me over the summer (albeit reluctantly) to work on his summer reading and even comes to serve his detentions without prompting. AND ... in detention yesterday, we had a little chat (mostly me prodding him) about his women troubles. to which he replied, "we don't talk about things like that, ms. chiu." hee hee.

j has a special place in my heart, always has. but as i tell my team, i *heart* him. he's my kid. *warm fuzzies*

story 2: a funny school incident
a girl comes to her advisor at the beginning of the period. she says "mr. h, i HAVE to talk to you RIGHT NOW." they walk out into the hallway and she is carrying her lunch bag. she says, "umm ... so my mom had jaw surgery and she's on vicadin right now and she packed my lunch this morning. ummm ... i think she meant to pack me a diet coke but ..." and she opens her lunchbag and there's a coors light in it.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.