Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

As always, link your post up below!

1. Sometimes it's easier to just shut the hell up and be nice. Some people are who they are.

[can I put this up in my classroom? source]

2. I'm reading The Goldfinch for book club and am really enjoying it so far. The only problem is that it's a pretty large book, and hard back, so reading it while I feed Sawyer has proven to be a bit of a balancing act.

3. Is it just me or is terminating a texting conversation sometimes difficult? A few of my friends and I have sort of a code- when someone just responds with :) we know it's over. Others, especially older people, like to officially end it. Then there are others, where you just don't know. You don't want them to think you're rude for just not responding, but you don't necessarily want it to drag on, and on, and on either. 

4. This video of this two-year-old's first steps is pretty sweet:

5. I received the IB and AP scores for my students this week and was incredibly surprised and pleased. We teach the AP Language course to sophomores, while most schools do it at the junior or senior level- it's tough. I wasn't sure how many of mine would pass, if any, but I had eight! 77% of my IB seniors passed their exam, while I was hoping for 60-65%, so that was another victory. These results are two-pronged: they validate my work (sorry, but as teachers we don't always get a lot of feedback) and they show what our students are capable of.

6. I finally, after talking about it for a year, ordered my external hard drive. What the hell is a terabyte? I can't even wrap my head around that much data! My husband glanced at my computer the other day and saw my non-existent organizational system for pictures and murdered me in my head. There's something about Macs that just don't work for me- on Windows, both on my old computer and mine at work, everything just fits in little folders. I guess they do on Apples too, but I've just managed to make a mess. 

7. Are you lucky enough to have an Earl of Sandwich near you? I've been once in Vegas and then a few weeks ago to the one in Downtown Disney and I'm still fantasizing about The Holiday Turkey Sandwich. Like to the point where I'm ready to drive back just for the food. 

[source]

8. Speaking of theme parks, we have decided that Sawyer won't go to Disneyland until he's four or five. I am excited to take him to LEGOland, though, despite everyone I know saying it sucks. I don't understand how that's possible! A whole entire park dedicated to the beloved colorful interlocking blocks? No way.

9. David Mitchell is doing a reading at UCLA in September. I had pretty much accepted that I wouldn't be going to any events for the rest of the year, but my husband and I are big fans so we're considering hitting up a babysitter. 

10. I canceled my Audible membership today after cashing in my credits (Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, which I've read, Anthony Bourdain's Medium Raw, and A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson). I haven't been listening to them since having the baby (my walks are generally with my husband now, so I don't wear headphones) and I could buy an actual book for $15 a month.