Spring Break is Over

Y

es, spring break has come and gone, like the proverbial flash in the pan, the blink of an eye, a snap of the finger, a tongue in cheek... oops, wrong analogy. Anyway, I will be going back to school tomorrow and hear about all the wonderful places my students have been to--Miami, Key West, the Bahamas, Cancun. And I'll tell them that I got to go to Pentagon City, a nearby shopping mall. Of course, I really didn't go to Pentagon City. I just say that because the students will all know the place and they will laugh and jeer: "Oooh, pooooooooor sensei."

I'm not necessarily trying to garner their sympathy; nor am I trying to foster a superiority complex in them. I just want to see them smile a bit and make the last seven weeks of the semester bearable. Not that school is unbearable; it isn't. And not that my class is boring, although it can be, according to some students. But the weather is warming up and spring is here. With warm weather comes spring fever and the itch to spend time outside, not in class. Indeed, this past Wednesday the local temperature reached 79 degrees. I thought I was going to have a heat stroke. Then Friday came....

What's with the weather around here? I went into work wearing capris yesterday and came back out shivering.
Posted 3/16/2007 10:18 PM by enygma81

You're guess is as good as mine. I swear, it was cooking for a couple of days, then... then... SNOW! Wouldn't you know it? It snows over spring break. SPRING BREAK, fer cryin' out loud. I have been forsaken by the weather gods...

responses as an entry.. what a great idea..
Posted 3/16/2007 6:44 AM by starberri92

Actually, I used to do this pretty regularly, when I wrote almost daily and had more commenters. But beware, some readers may not enjoy it, as I learned from bane_vixen once upon a time. Basically, though, its called "being lazy".

My sense of geography is totally retarded. I thought Virgina was really far from DC. And for some reason, I assumed you lived in Virgina. You do, right? O_O; We'll be in for the Cherry Blossom Festival! I think I look forward to that more than seeing the monuments. xD
Posted 3/17/2007 3:09 AM by onigiri

Nah, your sense of geopgraphy is not retarded. I never associated Virginia with DC until I actually came here the first time in 1992. We landed in Dulles Airport in Virginia, and I expected to see tobacco plantations. Instead, I found a beautifully green environment dotted with small communities from Vienna, Fairfax, Centerville and beyond. It is nothing like LA where you have one continuous urban environment from the San Fernando Valley all the way to San Diego. And yes, I live in Virginia, specficially Fairfax County just outside of Vienna. I live near the Metro--DC's train/subway system--and it takes me all of 40 minutes to get to work, door to door. And since Vienna is a terminal, I always get a seat. As for the cherry blossoms, hope you have it timed right. They bloom for about a week and then they are completely gone. Timing is everything. Check here for updates: http://www.nps.gov/nama/planyourvisit/cherry-blossom-bloom.htm Good luck. And still make time to see the monuments. I think they are worth it.

You sound horribly busy! Hope you find some time to relax... My friends from GW are visiting me in Tokyo at the moment, and one of them asked, "Do you still talk to [Onigiriman]-sensei?" And I said, "Yes, sometimes," and she said, "I miss him!" She doesn't know you, by the way, but I guess she misses hearing about you - it was funny anyway!
Posted 3/2/2007 2:50 AM by jcangel311

Sound busy? hahahhahaha. Busy is my middle name: Onigiri Busy Man... But I must say that I feel terribly flattered. I mean, how can a student I have never met miss me? I guess I tell enough stupid stories in class, so students talk about their stupid teacher to their roommates and others. But flattery aside, this, it seems to me, is how rumors get started. So I had better stop flappin' my mouth too much.
Anyway, in a feeble attempt to stem any rumors about me, here's a question to see if you could detect a falsehood about the O-man.

Of the following statements, ONLY ONE is false. Choose the false statement.

1. Onigiriman won a singing contest in LA's Lil' Tokyo and got a free trip to Japan.
2. Since returning to the US in 1996, Onigiriman tries to go back to Japan at least once every other year to see his daughter.
3. As a professor of J-Lit, Onigiriman once recited and discussed the haiku of Basho on National Public Radio (NPR) for National Poetry Month.
4. Onigiriman worked in a warehouse and can operate a fork lift.
5. Onigiriman's high school GPA was so low, he barely graduated and couldn't even get into Cal State LA. He had to start at a community college.
   

Leave your answer as a comment, if you are so inclined...