A Drop in the Bucket

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am still alive and feeling quite ashamed of my inability to post. I seem to have lost my lust for blogging somewhere in the mess of my life. I would like to thank Mr. Ben W for his little "hello" because it gave just that little extra shot of esteem that I needed to pop my head above the surface for a much needed breath of air. It's amazing how simply knowing that someone is thinking about you can straighten crooked lines and soften difficult times.

My life has been a bit chaotic of late. I started and finished my first practicum stint at a very vivid and colourful yet extremely challenging Inner City high school in Vancouver, I did more school work at UBC than I'd like to imagine, I contemplated my life and my career choices, I chaperoned a High School Dance, I broke up with my boyfriend, I sat with tears in my eyes searching for a way outta this place, I dressed up and danced in the streets of Vancouver, I tasted the "high life" at a prestigious private school, I missed my friends, I met new ones, I cried, I slept, I procrastinated, I snuggled my godson, I loved my girl Erin, I forgot who I was and I tried to find myself again... It's been a bit of a journey.

And here I am, no worse for the wear but perhaps no better either. As usual I feel I am at a crossroads and I think I've been here for far too long. I think that it might be a good idea to just sit here for a while and percolate on which path to take. Things that percolate for a long time always taste better in the end.

Me and Luciano broke up, I am not going to elaborate or dwell or say much more than that. Life is full of difficult decisions blah blah blah,

Insert cliche about love lost here
Insert cheesy love song title here
Insert inspiring feminist "strong woman, you did what you had to" crap here

My soul feels torn, need a sewing kit.

anyway, that means that all those tidbits about Brasil that I was planning on delighting you with will end up being sprinkled lightly throughout my future post instead of being set out in a large vat for you to bathe in all at once, unfortunately the water is still just a bit to hot and I don't feel like being scalded.

right...moving on

One of the highlights of the past month was the night I spent chaperoning the Halloween dance at the high school I'm working at - let's relive the moment together shall we.

Bump and Grind 101 - Dry humping a la "paint by numbers"

Welcome to an Inner City High Halloween dance circa 2007.

Basic ingredients:

• a full serving of teenagers
• A light sprinkling of clothing
• several heaping tablespoons of raging hormones
  
• cheap beer and babyduck to taste
• several puking kids to add just the right amount of "kick"
• a handful of police officers to prevent anything from boiling over
  

Put all ingredients in a school gym and bring to a heavy boil over loud R&B music. Reduce heat to avoid burning but still keep at a steady boil, sit back and enjoy the show.

And a show it was! Now I know that this may sound bad, perhaps irresponsible, perhaps un-teacherlike but hell, that shit was great! There ain't nothing like watching 15 year old boys attempt to dry hump their girlfriends in a fit of uncoordinated, hormone and beer infused splendor to put a smile on your face and a giggle in your belly. Watching those guys desperately attempt to seduce their girlfriends was great, watching their girlfriends' exasperated looks as they directed their boyfriends' flailing arms and wandering hands was even better. I must admit that I had a few feminist inspired "hey wait a minute!" moments but I managed to put my brain in check and realize that it's just kids trying to assert themselves in the adult world. I would probably be drawn and quartered by some people in my classes at UBC for saying so but hey, watcha gonna do. In reality, considering the shit that most of my students have to deal with on a daily basis, sex and dirty dancing is just a drop in the bucket and considering the awkwardness with which those boys tried to simulate aforementioned sex, I would suspect most of them haven't gotten any anyway. It annoys me that my colleagues at UBC often jump on moral high horses and pontificate about the downfall of today's youth at the hands of Paris Hilton and 50 Cent. To that I say "pah!" our teenagers aren't idiots, or media drones, they have brains and can make decisions by themselves. Doing shit like what I saw at the dance is all part of growing up and figuring it all out. Adults were saying that same crap about Madonna and Marilyn Manson when we were in high school and we all turned out OK even after dry humping at the school dance, smoking pot in the bushes and playing with those always dangerous and deadly satanic ouija boards. Case and point...Ta da! Long live teenaged silliness. I found it deliciously entertaining and completely harmless.


That is it for now,
Cheers from the land of a thousand dances
J

Ben that email is coming...