Run that name by me again?

Hello everyone. I just need to say this right off the bat. . . I'M TIRED. Really. My legs and feet hurt, myhead hurts, my eyes are itchy. I'm tired. It finally all came crashing down on me today. . . .I'm back at work, and work makes you tired. I know that this is an obvious equation for most people, but I'm always surprised by it. This reminds me of (NERD ALERT!) Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer who said something to the effect of, "human beings are so strange. They all die, and yet they're always shocked when it happens." Too true. Joss Whedon really is a philosopher. He He He.

So, I have a great group of kids this year. I have yet to discover which class is going to drive me nuts. I know that sounds pretty pessimistic, but every high school or middle school teacher (who is honest) will tell you that every year, you have at least one class that you almost DREAD seeing come through the door. I think it's to keep a karmic balance of some sort, or an illustration of the truth that we have to know the bitter to appreciate the sweet.

Anyway, my kids seem to be sweet so far, and I'm having a fairly easy time remembering their names in context. Of course it did take the better part of the first week to realize that I was teaching both halves of a set of identical twins, rather than teaching the same boy twice. I know, I'm QUICK!! But (hee hee hee), I have a very cute, smart, and sparkly girl with perhaps the WORST name in the history of the world. Her name ends with the word, derriere. YES, her mother named her something that ends with, well, an end. I can hardly keep a straight face when I call on her, and NO ONE seems to notice that this is a name ripe for mockery. Maybe kids just don't know the word derriere. I learned it early, during a conversation between my father and our good family friend Elly about which words for the gluteous maximus were "above the line" and therefore kosher, and those which were "below the line" and became forbidden territory. I seem to remember bum, tush, and rear were "Above the line" and butt, a** (this is a family blog and that word was always so far below the line that even as an adult I can't write it in a blog that my mother reads. . . when I type the URL for her), and derrierre were below the line. Derriere was below the line mostly 'cause my dad thought it was a silly word and Elly really wanted it above the line. There's little in life that my dad enjoys more than teasing Elly, so there you go. I could give you further examples like this one time when my mom, dad, Elly and her husband Don were stuck in traffic and Elly had drunk a 32 ounce Diet Coke. . . .but I'll leave it there.