Back to School

When the kids go back to school, so do the grown-ups -- for open house.

That was last night, at Little Girl's high school  She's in 11th grade now, and this year, she went to the open house with me.  That turned out to be a good thing.

We start in the gym, where the JROTC, which was started at this particular high school by a friend of mine when she was a student here almost 30 years ago, presents the colors, and we recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Then the band tootles and tweets and bangs their way through The Star-Spangled Banner, and play another number so the dancers can show one of their routines.

The football coach brings in the team and introduces his senior players, and they get their applause.  They enjoyed it, especially the player who seems to go by the name Gumbo.  He must be a character, by the way he cut up, and got the rest of them going.

The cheerleaders led us in a couple of rousing cheers, and then we were dismissed to meet the teachers.

Last year, we went from classroom to classroom to meet each one.  This year, they had tables set up in the common area, and we simply went from the math tables to the English tables to the social sciences tables, and etc.  It got loud and crazy rather fast, so they may want to work on that next year.

It turned out to be good she was with me, as she could point out which tables i could skip, and tell me which teacher at which table was hers.  Otherwise i would have had no clue.

Anyway, i met all of them.  They all seem like no-nonsense people who are truly dedicated to bringing out the best in their students and giving them the best education they can.  The math teacher informed me that his classes will be doing the MyMathLab program, which is what Bigger Girl does at the community college, so i know they are serious.

The English teacher is going to send me the list of novels and other books they will be reading.  We already bought Little Girl the first book, but he is waiting for approval of his syllabus from the board to finalize the rest.  He says has enough copies in the classroom for the next two he wants to teach, books that are always approved, but i'm going to get onto Amazon and buy the rest for her.  They just don't have the resources to always have all the books they need, which is sad.

On a similar note, one of her teachers has her for a class about finance and careers and such (they didn't have such a thing when i was a kid, so i'm not sure when this became part of the curriculum).  She will be teaching Dave Ramsey's My Total Money Makeover book, which i love.  When Little Girl told me about that, and i saw that the website was having a special of $6/book for a case of ten, with only $7 shipping, i snatched it up.  The school can use them, and i'm so thrilled about that being taught, i couldn't help myself.

This year i also got to meet the librarian, who goes by Señor.  When i told him Little Girl admires him, he laughed and said she needed better role models, but you can tell this man is also a dedicated educator.

While there have already been a couple of fights at the school this year (it's inevitable, unfortunately),  they've had a mostly smooth start and students have already been assigned projects and homework and i think she's going to enjoy it and learn a lot.  



Today is

Air Guitar World Championships -- Oulu, Finland (through Saturday; "The purpose of the Air Guitar World Championships is to promote world peace.")

Banana Lover's Day

Be Kind to Humankind Week:  Willing to Lend a Hand Wednesday

Birthday of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Columbia County Fair -- Chatham, NY, US (be a kid again at the 174th annual fair; through US Labor Day)

Day Sacred to Consus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of graineries, horses, and mules)

Feast Day of Pan -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Feast of Incandescent Rebellion -- on lots of websites, and supposedly something celebrated in China, but no detail as to what it is really celebrating

Just Because Day -- internet generated, enjoy something ordinary you like to do, just because!

La Tomatina -- Buñol, Valencia, Spain (annual citywide food fight festival in which around 30,000 people take to the streets to pelt each other with tomatoes)

National Pots de Creme Day

Nugget Best in the West Rib Cook-Off -- Sparks, NV, US (with rib cookers from across the country competing, this is a rib eater's delight, and even includes a rib-eating contest and free nightly concerts; through Labor Day)

Petroleum Day -- on the anniversary of the opening of the first commercial oil well in Titusvilla, PA, US, in 1859, a day set aside to work on figuring out how to do without petroleum

St. Caesarius' Day (Patron against fire)

St. Monica's Day (Mother of St. Augustine; Patron of abuse victims, alcoholics, difficult marriages, disappointing children, homemakers, married women, mothers, victims of adultery and unfaithfulness, victims of verbal abuse, widows, wives; Bevilacqua, Italy; Mabini, Bohol, Philippines)

"The Duchess" Who Wasn't Day -- birthday of Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, who wrote under the pseudonym "The Duchess" and first said, "Beaty is in the eye of the beholder" in her novel, Molly Bawn

Threethousandth Thnork of the Year -- Fairy Calendar

Tug of War World Championships -- Madison, WI, US (sponsored by the US Tug of War Association, and fun whether you are an enthusiast or just looking to watch the fun; through Sunday)

Volturnalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (god of water)

Ziua Republicii -- Moldova (Independence Day, 1991)


Birthdays Today

Sarah Chalke, 1976
Chandra Wilson, 1969
Paul "Pee-wee Herman" Reubens, 1952
Barbara Bach, 1947
Tuesday Weld, 1943
Tommy Sands, 1937
Martha Raye, 1916
Mother Teresa, 1910
Lyndon B. Johnson, 1908
C.S. Forester, 1899
Samuel Goldwyn, 1882
Theodore Dreiser, 1871
Charles Gates Dawes, 1865
Hannibal Hamlin, 1809


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Good Sex! with Dr. Ruth Westheimer"(TV), 1984
Mary Poppins(Disney film), 1964
"Prométhée/Prometheus"(Fauré tragédie lyrique), 1900



Today in History

The Persian invasion of Greece is halted with Greek victories in two separate battles, BC479
Koreans battle and prevent Japanese invasion, 663
The first unmanned hydrogen balloom flight reaching 900 m altitude, 1783
Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well, 1859
The shortest war in world history occurs from 09:00 to 09:45 between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar, 1896
Edgar Rice Burroughs' publishes "Tarzan of the Apes", 1912
First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft, 1939
The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA, 1962
Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altikat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1982
The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed, 1993
Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, 2003
Curiosity, the Mars rover, broadcasts its first audio recording of a human voice from the surface of another planet, 2012