1) I played in a 9 inning game on Sunday and only got one at-bat. One measly at bat. Grr…
2) My phone started randomly popping up a message that says, “This accessory is not optimized for this iPhone.” What accessory??
3) I’ve been forgetting my chapstick (well, actually Aquaphor) at home regularly. Don’t get me started on how important lip balm is in my life – and in other people’s lives too, apparently.
4) My house. Why does it always feel like I need to fix something up? And why does it always feel so dirty?
5) I lost my Incredible Hulk travel coffee mug. I guess I have to finally start acting like a grown up.
The last one on the list really got to me. After all, this year has been a very transitional year for me. Compare these two conversations from this year and last year:
(Last year)
Student: “Mr. Lin, who invented math?”
Mr. Lin: “Math has existed since the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and Mr. Lin was a young boy.”
Student: “Mr. Lin, stop pretending like you’re old.”
(This year)
Student A: “Mr. Lin, how old are you?"
Mr. Lin: “Old. So old I had a pet dinosaur when I was a kid.”
Student B: “No he’s not! He’s 34.”
Student A: “Wow, you look young, but you’re really old!”
OUCH! Well, I guess I had to face reality at some point. In any case, to cheer myself up I decided today to take note of the little things that MAKE my day, instead of ruin my day.
1) Coffee from Starbucks yesterday. FREE. From a pretty girl. It doesn’t get much better than that!
2) A student laughed at my math message* on Monday and said, “I love this class!”
3) The Pittsburgh Steelers are my football team. It’s nice to cheer for a team that wins. (Sorry Skins fans!)
4) My new memory-foam mattress. So wonderful, it makes 6 hours of sleep feel like 8. Seriously.
5) My Incredible Hulk mug magically reappeared in the teacher’s lounge.
I love working with 10 year olds. They are so entertaining that I don’t even need TV. And, they give fantastic gifts at the end of the year – gift cards, drawings, new whacking sticks (yes, I really got one), and one ceramic mug complete with a spill-proof lid and featuring the image of a large, green Marvel superhero. It also came with the words, “I’ll never forget you, Mr. Lin.”
It’s amazing how the little things can make you feel so good. They can even make you feel like a kid again.
*A warm up activity to get students thinking about math. I think this one was, “Mr. Lin needs to buy new whacking sticks because he broke all of his old ones. Use the table in your handout to determine which store he should buy them at.”
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