Wednesday, November 4, 2009

DRIVING ME TO DISTRACTION




Terrible photos... but we're talking about driving lessons and lessons in general to day. Squeaky is continuing to drive with more confidence daily. Yesterday all I had to do was be present in the car. He managed to everything else perfectly. The fun thing about Squeaky is that once he knows the rules, and he wants to follow them, he will correct himself.
I do not have to tell him if he forgot to use his blinker... he catches it, balls himself out and fixes the issue. At one point yesterday after doing exactly that... he turned to me and said "I guess I'm really teaching myself how to drive." Yep. I'm just there for the funny ride.


Because he can tend to be highly excitible, I do set him up a lot. By that I mean that I give him advanced warning on things. The day before I mentioned that the next time he would drive on the real street on the way home. This is about a quarter of a mile away... but it does have a wonderful "S" curve. He was as concerned about doing that as I expected. But when it was time to have it happen, since he had the time to prepare himself mentally, he was ready. Naturally he did fine.


Most of the lesson involved him driving very well while telling me stories. Can you imagine... a child of mine telling stories? Hahaha We do love our memories and stories at my house in a box. They were all about his favorite teacher "Dot". We lost Dot in the cuts. He was really something. I liked him because he reminded me of my favorite heroin addict... yes, I do too get to have a favorite one of those... named Bob. (I will tell you about Bob maybe in this Friday Fables.)


Dot was an unusual man. He did funny things. His wife sewed in pockets that were very long... so he could put a meter stick down in his pocket to pull out. Why one would think of doing such a thing I do not know. But he captured the attention of the kids.


One time Squeaky answered something right... and asked Dot what he got as a reward. Dot fished around in his deep pockets and produced a cookie with a big bite out of it! Another time, he got a package of gold fish crackers. Dot had a motto about work hard and you get a reward. Think of his pockets as junk drawers... that was the type of reward that he would pass out. A pencil sharpener shaped like a nose... two sticks of Big Red gum left in an abused looking pack. Dot was different.


He had a lot of whimsy in his attitude. One day Squeaky raised his hand. When Dot called on him Squeaky said "Dot, we can't do any work today... Ricky is suffering from date rape syndrome and we have to help him through it." (Yes, it's a quote from South Park) Dot laughed and gave them a free day. Another time he told the kids that he wanted to see some "hard work" on their assignment. So Squeaky carefully spent the period writing the words "hard work" all over his paper. For his audacity Dot gave him an "A".



But Dot was not always the fun or easy guy. Squeaky took it too far one day and Dot told him to get busy or he'd make him run laps. Squeaky says "I'd like to see you try." He was running in the pouring rain for an hour. After that another student, Steve could raise his hand and say... "Dot... Squeaky did blah blah blah... make him run a lap." and Dot would.


We all miss Dot. He was different to say the least. From the robot wars and tin can boat races to his Bozo award for the most obnoxious in the class... yes, Squeaky won that and his name is written on the Bozo to this day... it resides in my yard. It being the Bozo... made of a child's coat tree with a big Bozo the clown head on top and the signatures of all the school Bozos on the post. I need to bring it in for the winter.


We hear that Dot is doing well as a teacher in an alternative school. I am sure that his creativity will do wonders there. The kids stole his cell phone and got his number... so they occasionally call to harass him. He is happy to hear from them. A couple of the kids went to Idaho and under an underpass they saw the words.... "Legalize it. --Dot '89"
Naturally they had to raz him about that... he said it was not his inscription, but they don't believe him. Which ever, it makes me laugh.



I get half of a day off for teacher inservice. Yay! So I'll be working on my house... gotta have it perfect for meeting the deer hunter. Now D wants to come the day after Thanksgiving to visit.
I keep telling myself I need to wait until after the weekend to make any choices and more options keep coming up. The frogs are a hopp'n in the bog.


Have a great day this Wednesday... as the deerhunter pointed out... it's hump day and we're almost to the weekend... are you nervous yet?

33 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Dot sounds like the kind of eccentric person I would like. He & I could compare our nose-shaped pencil sharpeners. Yes, I really do have one. And no I don't have any of these , although I would like the cat one.

    It's only Wednesday, so I'll save wishing you well on your weekend for tomorrow or Friday :-)

    TTFN



    It's only Wednesday, so I'll save wishing you well on your weekend for tomorrow or Friday :-)

    TTFN

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  3. And I still screwed it up! Sheesh.

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  4. Cube-- hahaha I am so glad that I am not the only one who does that.

    Yes, you would have loved Dot. Bright man and highly creative with a nice twist to his humor.
    He was our robotics and higher math teacher.

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  5. Cube-- Talk about sheesh! I forgot...

    Thanks for the link to the wack-0 sharpeners. hahaha I need one of those living dead doll head ones for home. My kiddos would love it. The cat one is cute.

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  6. I must remember to check the comment BEFORE I hit post comment.

    You'd think a person who took 3 terms of calculus would get the order right.

    BTW robotics class sounds like a blast to me. I do love me those robots.

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  7. Wow, that was almost an IM thing.

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  8. Cube-- I keep funch hidden on my bar at work and yahoo tells me the count of my email... which is where all comments go. I love to answer the comments as they come in if I can.

    Its the frog pond training me to jump as soon as a message or email comes in. Last night at one point I was emailing back and forth and back and forth two frogs, IM with one frog and emailing to C4C. All at the same time. How crazy is that?

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  9. Cube-- But I really am having a ball doing it.

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  10. did you know there are children in africa with no frogs?

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  11. billy pilgrim-- hahahahahahah hahaha haaha

    Well... I guess I'll send them mine when I decide what the heck I'm doing and start frogapulting them. I'll aim it for darkest Africa... somewhere near Babbar and Celeste.

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  12. Having a ball? Life is a cabaret, ole chum... so if you're happy, then you're doing something right. Keep it up.

    Glad you liked the pencil sharpeners link. It was an oldie but goodie. When I was searching for it, it struck me that I can't believe I've been blogging since 2004.

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  13. Cube-- Blogging since 2004... AMAZING! I'm so glad you stuck around. Hey... I was impressed when I thought I saw a 2007 date on that post.

    I am having fun, but you know how things can come back to bite you in the butt... I am trying to be as honest and open as possible to avoid the calliope's crash to the ground.

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  14. Dot sounds like the kind of teacher who would have made me like school one hell of a lot more than I did (which is to say I hated it more often than not.)

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  15. I know exactly what you mean.

    I spent second grade recess in the cloak room! (For talking... can you imagine me talking enought to lose every recess for a whole year?)

    I did not like being hit by yard sticks.

    My teachers bored the snot right out of me... until I left public school and went to Ananda and then I loved school so much I never wanted to leave it to go home.

    But maybe that was the drugs.

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  16. Just read back several posts. Driving lessons - yikes! On the verge of having to teach those myself.

    As for the frogs, good for you! I do the same thing with a new date, especially if it is something other than meeting at a restaurant. Give name, phone number and address to someone I trust. And I tell the guy I'm doing just that.

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  17. Thank you. I'm glad my geezer blog and I are still around.

    I missed blogging about my 5th Blogiversary on October 4th. I'm terrible with dates :-(

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  18. secret agent woman-- He came from a site where he was ID verified to begin with, but I have a family who cares... so I've got copies of everything. I have only asked this one and Larry for ID verification... but also the only ones that I have met out of the protection of my town full of minnions. One thing my town is good for... though I find the lack of privacy difficult too.

    He and Larry both gladly agreed. I think that in itself is a good sign. I will not see someone who refuses.

    I am enjoying Squeaky's driving lessons. Now that I have the automatic it's a piece of cake.It will be easier for them to learn the clutch after they get brake, gas, mirrors, turn signals,etc... when/if the deerhunter puts my clutch in for me. That was something he offered. But I want to be sure things will work out before I get into any situation that I feel obligates me.

    Unlike with BBC, who is my friend and does things for other people than me. This is not friendship... yet. Not the time to send the wrong signals. Nor do I care to use anyone.

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  19. I like the sound of Dot...and it sounds like Squeaky really enjoyed his time with him. Squeaky sounds like a very cool kid! Responsible, but fun. A great combination.

    I have always loved Hump Day :-) Who knows why though? haha! The weekend is very, very close. Yay!!!

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  20. Hump day? Who is this deer hunter humping today? I must say I am quite nervous, Poor Bambi!

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  21. laura b.-- Yay for the weekend! My students are laughing at me because I stop what I'm doing and either giggle or grin like an idiot. I can't help it. Even if it doesn't work out... the beach! Sea otters... turtles... seals... sea lions...starfish! But I'd be a liar if I claimed I was grinning about all the animals. Only the one animal. ;-)

    Squeaky is irreverent, often a bit rude and terribly hilarious... but yes, responsible and a has a good heart. I could give him a six pack of beer, a fifth of vodka and the keys to the drug cabinet... and it would all be there when I got back. How funny is that.

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  22. thebear-- Oh my goodness BEAR! When I was reading that my freak-out meter went off! Until I got to the end and saw it was Bambi and not me you were worried about.

    Well... clearly Squeaky is not my only irreverent child!

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  23. laura b.-- Oops... forgot something. I start thinking about the weekend and my brain blows up. hee hee.

    Yes, Dot is missed by his students very much. Squeaky can talk... this is not an exageration... 5 straight hours of Dot stories that make you laught until your sides hurt the way he tells it. He did this to Lorn when we first got him. Squeaky is very fond of him.

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  24. thebear-- No midget for you under the tree this year!

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  25. How fun! Options are always a good thing. There's nothing wrong with a back up plan.

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  26. Creative teachers are so hard to come by. I have a teacher during my last years of elementary/junior high school who was very creative. She was a bit eccentric, but made school a lot of fun. Dot sounds like that type of teacher.

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  27. Squeaky, when she is done teaching you all the boring shit I can teach you how to really drive a car. Teach you about weight and mass and slung and unslung weight and mass. How to control it good on slick ice and how to go fast enough that the chicks will hover around your race car.

    Then you will start learning about chicks, you poor kid, ha ha ha.

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  28. Anything with tits and tires is going to give you problems, but the tires don't talk back to you and pitch shit on you, ha ha ha.

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  29. His body is a pickup designed to pack his balls and dick around so he can pick up chicks, ha ha ha.

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  30. I like the vibe I'm getting from this Dot fellow! sounds like an awesome character. Although his rewards sound more like punishment.

    I am also looking forward for your favorite heroin addict Bob stories. Cool.

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  31. PS. Make Squeaky have to reenact a car chase scene, like the one is Bullit. Pay for his ticket to San Francisco and tell him that he has to have some buddies film him doing illegal U's and driving like mad as if someone is chasing him. I think this will be a constructive project for him.

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  32. Sebastien-- Yes, Dot was a wonderful and fun fellow! You never knew which way the wind would blow... but it was always pretty funny.

    Ooohhh... I loved Bullit! Do you think Squeaky could make a good Steve McQueen? Sounds like fun to me, but I think I'll sit on the side lines or maybe behind something big and very concrete.

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