Things I Haven't Done Yet
Mamacita says:
1. I haven’t entered my students’ names in either the online gradebook or the hard copy gradebook yet. I really need to do this because writing the scores on a piece of paper with first names only on it is getting pretty awkward.
2. I haven’t figured out all the bells and whistles my new laptop is capable of, yet. In a way, it’s almost like getting to know a person. . . .You fall in love, and then you discover that he can sing, play the banjo, and shimmy like my sister Kate. After a while, you realize that he doesn’t put the toilet seat down, adores clutter, and farts like a steamboat fed with cheap coal. And you’re still not finished exploring!
3. There are two empty Oliver Winery Soft Red bottles on the kitchen counter, yet I did not touch a single drop from either bottle. I save the empties for my friend, who makes his own wine. I did not ask him if he stomped his own grapes, a la Lucy and Ethel.
4. I still haven’t put away those green candles yet, and I also noticed that there is a musical Santa still on the kitchen wall. I love that musical Santa; my dear friend Irene made it for me before she and her husband John Orman moved to Connecticut. I will never stop missing them. When our daughters became college roommates, we were all ecstatic! I love you, Irene and John.
5. I still haven’t come to grips with the fact that my adult children know a lot of people I don’t know. When they were little, I knew all of their friends and their friends’ parents. They didn’t go visiting unless I knew for sure that things were supervised and “okay” in someone else’s house. I’m still in shock over the mother – and I use that word as part of a compound word – who invited my daughter over for a playdate with HER daughter, and then left the house for the rest of the day, leaving the two little girls alone except for the father, holed up in his office, who didn’t even know my child was in his house. I had met this mother at various school functions and she seemed fine. After that day, I knew she was not. When I came back in a few hours to pick up my daughter, her friend’s father answered the doorbell and didn’t even know HIS daughter was home, let alone a visiting child. Every time I drive past that magnificent house, my entire body clenches up like a fist. My daughter laughs at me over this. It was many years ago, and she is quite right. But I still get angry when I remember it.
6. I am still angry over injustices meted out to my children – and other peoples’ children – five and ten and fifteen years ago. Things that mean nothing to them now, still make me fume. I haven’t learned how to let it go, yet. I hope I learn soon.
7. My daughter is a sweet, understanding, forgiving person. I would like to be more like her. So far, I haven’t learned how yet. I’m glad she is not like me, in this respect.
8. I still haven’t found my missing Mp3 player. I feel as if I KNOW where it is, but I can’t wrap my mind around a location.
9. I have to get up early this semester. I haven’t gotten used to that yet. Never will. I am a vampire.
10. It’s nearly one in the morning and I haven’t gone to bed yet. Don’t want to, either. But if I don’t, I’ll regret it when that early morning comes.
I wish I had more interesting things to write about; however, I also understand that the ancient Chinese saying “May you live in interesting times” was actually a curse, not a wish for cool things to happen. I certaintly don’t need any more interesting times, in that case.
Leprosy, St. Vitus Dance, and Other Peoples' Poop
Mamacita says:
The newest Carnival of Education is up; click on over and catch up on what your kids’ teachers and other kids’ parents are saying about the state of education these days. You can’t have a viable opinion if you don’t keep up! (This applies to everything, by the way.) If you would like to submit a post to the Carnival of Education, you can! And it’s EASY!
I wish I knew why I am so dog-tired all the time these days. I know it can’t have anything to do with the fact that I stay up all night and try to go to work anyway. I’ve done this pretty much all my life, except for when I lived with my parents, and it’s only been lately that it all seems to be catching up with me. It can’t be old age – that only affects OTHER people – you know, the old ones. . . . so it’s got to be something else. Maybe leprosy. Or Tropicana Fever. (brought about by too much longing for an island and an excess of orange juice to pretend you’re on one. An island, that is.) It’s to the point that I can’t listen to music while driving any more; if it’s early in the morning and I’m going to the city to teach, it makes me sleepier. Yes, even the really LOUD STUFF. Too rhythmic, I suppose. I had to start listening to Audio Books to stay awake, and you know what, my beautiful DIQ (daughter in question) was right – they’re cool!
Once I’m at the college, I’m wide awake. It might be forced, but it’s real. I love my job, and my college, so much! Nice, nice people, my students. I try to be as interesting as possible, and so far even the narcoleptic student has managed to stay awake. He sleeps soundly until the very last minute, but that’s all right. He’s not MINE until the stroke of 9:30. They can all show up with pillows and warm milk and teddy bears if they want, and sleep all over the floor, as long as they’re alert at 9:30. I don’t bother them until it’s time.
We do have all new faucets, toilets, and paper towel dispensers this semester: a wonderful thing indeed. Gone are the days when people had to flush, turn handles, and “pull down” manually. The new fixtures are all motion activated, but the motion has to be extreme or it’s not noticed. What IS noticed, however, would be the row of adults, all gesturing frantically, begging the water to come on, or turn off, and waving dripping wet hands in the air in supplication, hoping for an inch of towel to peep forth. It’s like a band of St. Vitus Dance victims at a revival. Or a tour of Dutch windmill country during a hefty breeze.
I always feel guilty about leaving the stall before the thing flushes. It always does, but what about the times when there’s a long line, and someone enters the stall before it flushes after the previous pooper? Sometimes, that thing doesn’t flush for a minute or more. Ick. I have this THING about pooping on top of a stranger’s poop. Color me goofy.
Dancing for the bathroom fixtures. As if life didn’t come with enough indignities. . . .
Inauguration Trivia from Mamacita
Mamacita says: Presidential inaugurations are of great historical importance, but, as with everything of importance, there is an abundance of “trivia” (that isn’t really trivial at all – more like “fascinating!”) that many people do not know.
For example:
1. After taking the oath of office at the first presidential inauguration on April 30, George Washington spoke the words, “So help me God.” All the other presidents after him have repeated those words. By the way, Washington had to borrow money to attend his own inaugural. (1789)
2. Many people believe that William Henry Harrison’s long speech in chilly weather caused his death in 1841. True, Harrison didn’t wear a hat or overcoat while speaking for an hour and 40 minutes. But the 68-year-old Harrison conducted extensive presidential business for weeks after his address. It’s unclear when Harrison caught the cold that led to his pneumonia, but he didn’t summon a doctor until 23 days after the inauguration. He died about a week later. The “fatal speech” idea seems predicated on the common but false notion that cold weather causes a cold. Harrison’s last words were, “Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more.”
3. The outgoing president often gets little attention, but rarely has it been as obvious as in 1857, when James Buchanan succeeded Franklin Pierce. The swearing-in ceremony had to be delayed for 20 minutes because officials forgot to pick up Pierce at his hotel and had to go fetch him.
4. Ulysses Grant was inaugurated for his second term on a day in 1873 when the noon temperature was 16 degrees. A temporary wooden structure was built for the inaugural ball, and the weather turned it into an icebox. The food froze while guests danced in their coats. The musicians’ violin strings snapped because of the chill, and 100 canaries, brought in to provide pleasant sounds, froze to death in their cages.
5. Pierce and Herbert Hoover both “affirmed” rather than swore the oath of office because of religious convictions. This is an option that any president may take.
6. Because of gas rationing during World War II, there was no parade for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fourth inauguration in 1945.
7. Dwight Eisenhower’s 1953 parade was covered by a 24-year-old reporter who worked for the Washington Times-Herald as the “Inquiring Camera Girl.” Her name was Jacqueline Bouvier, soon to become Jackie Kennedy.
8. One of America’s greatest poets, Robert Frost, had a miserable time when called upon to recite verse for John Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961. The 86-year-old poet was blinded by the bright sunlight and unable to read the new poem he had written. Instead, the flustered Frost switched to an old poem he had memorized, dedicating it to “the president-elect, Mr. John Finley.” (Finley was a classics scholar at Harvard.) The only other President to feature poets was Bill Clinton; Maya Angelou read at his 1993 inaugural, and Miller Williams read at his second, in 1997.
9. Lyndon Johnson was the only president to take the oath of office from a woman, Federal District Judge Sarah Hughes. He also was the only president to be sworn in on an airplane, taking office after Kennedy’s assassination.
10. Before Richard Nixon’s 1973 inaugural parade, officials applied a chemical bird repellent to tree branches along the route. The product, called Roost No More, was supposed to keep pigeons off the trees by making their feet itch. Instead, the birds ate the repellent and keeled over, leaving Pennsylvania Avenue decorated with sick and dead pigeons.
11. George Washington’s was the shortest inaugural address at 135 words (1793). William Harrison’s was the longest at 8,445 words. (1841)
12. Thomas Jefferson was the only president to walk to and from the inaugural, and the first to be inaugurated at the Capitol. (1801)
13. The first inaugural ball was held for James Madison. (1809)
14. Abraham Lincoln was the first to include African-Americans in his parade. (1865) The police barred African American leader Frederick Douglass from the White House reception until Lincoln said, for all to hear, “Here comes my great friend Frederick Douglass.”
15. Women were included for the first time in Woodrow Wilson’s second inaugural parade. (1917)
16. The first president to ride in a car at his inauguration was Warren Harding. (1921)
17. Calvin Coolidge’s oath was administered by Chief Justice (and ex-president) William Howard Taft, and was the first to be broadcast on radio. (1925)
18. Harry Truman had the first televised inauguration. (1949) He used to get up at 5 a.m. every day to practice the piano for two hours before his official day began. John Kennedy’s inauguration was the first to be televised in color. (1961)
19. The first inauguration to be photographed was James Buchanan’s. (1857) Buchanan was the only president never to marry, and when he left the White House, he left a note for his successor that read: “My dear sir, if you are as happy on entering the White House as I am on leaving, you are a happy man indeed.”
20. Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration and parade were held on Super Bowl Sunday. (1985).
21. Bill Clinton’s second inauguration was the first to be broadcast on the Internet. (1997)
22. George W. Bush (former fashion model) mentioned the word ‘freedom’ more than 20 times in his second inaugural address. (2005) At his swearing in, he wore the same cufflinks that his father, George H.W. Bush, wore at HIS inauguration(1989)
23. Barack Obama will be our 44th president and his inauguration will be the 56th formal one. Fifteen presidents were elected to a second term, and Roosevelt was elected to a fourth term. (2009)
24. John Quincy Adams was the first president sworn in wearing long trousers, rather than knee breeches. (1825) He also skinny-dipped in the Potomac almost daily, and was the first president to be interviewed by a female reporter – while toweling-off on the riverbank.
25. James Garfield’s mother was the first to attend her son’s inauguration. (1881) His first act as president was to give her a kiss. The assassin’s bullet need not have killed him; many believe his death was due to massive infection caused by the unwashed fingers of the many doctors who probed for the bullet.
26. William McKinley’s inauguration was the first ceremony to be recorded by a motion picture camera. (1897)
27. William Howard Taft’s wife was the first one to accompany her husband in the procession from the Capitol to the White House. (1909)
28. Jimmy Carter’s inaugural parade featured solar heat for the reviewing stand and handicap-accessible viewing. (1977)
29. All but six presidents took the presidential oath in Washington, D.C. The exceptions were George Washington (NYC in 1789, and Philadelphia in 1793), John Adams (Philadelphia, 1797), Chester Alan Arthur (NYC, 1881), Theodore Roosevelt (Buffalo, 1901), Calvin Coolidge (Plymouth, VT, 1923), and Lyndon Baines Johnson (Dallas, 1963)
30. With the exception of Washington’s first inaugural (April 30, 1789), the presidents were inaugurated in March, to try and avoid the bad weather. In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution changed the inaugural date to January 20. FDR’s second inauguration was the first to have been held on January 20.
31. Theodore Roosevelt’s 1901 oath was the only one NOT taken with his hand on a Bible. He wore a locket containing a lock of Abraham Lincoln’s hair at his inaugural, and never took it off.
32. For reasons only they will ever know, John Adams did not attend Thomas Jefferson’s inaugural, John Quincy Adams missed Andrew Jackson’s inaugural, Andrew Johnson was not present at Ulysses Grant’s inaugural, and Richard Nixon did not show up at Gerald Ford’s inaugural.
33. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are the only president and first lady to walk the entire inaugural route. Carter was also the first to forgo formal wear for a business suit, which he bought the week before in Americus, Ga., for $175. (1977)
34. John F. Kennedy was the last president-elect to wear a stovepipe hat to his inaugural. (1961)
35. The new president is traditionally sworn in by the Chief Justice of the United States – in Obama’s case, John Roberts – but the swearing in of new presidents is NOT one of the Chief Justice’s official duties. Any notary public could do it.
36. 8 inches of snow fell on the morning of JFK’s 1961 inauguration, and the army used flame-throwers to melt it.
37. Although Martin Van Buren was the first president who was not born a British citizen, he and his wife spoke Dutch at home. (1837)
38. Grover Cleveland is the only president to serve nonconsecutive terms – he is No. 22 and No. 24.
39. Until 1885, the public was invited to celebrate the new president’s inaugural. . . INSIDE the White House.
40. Bill Clinton was late for his second inauguration, so the crowd did the “wave” to pass the time until he showed up.
41. The inaugural parade is traditionally long, but nothing that comes before the president’s limo is actually an official part of the parade – they are merely the presidential escort. The parade is divided into five divisions for each of the five military services in order of seniority: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard.
I find the fact that this presidential inauguration comes the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day particularly appropriate. God bless the new leader of our nation, and may all of his – and our – dreams come true under his leadership.
