sweet dreams are made of cheese

about a week ago, a close friend's dream and my job crossed cosmic paths. we both killed santa claus...

lala had a dream in which she and i were in college together hanging out (in an undoubtedly smoky room) when suddenly we ran to the window. tanuel had somehow gotten her hands on a missile and was preparing to launch. after a military file video of the launch, bloody reindeer began, wait for it... raining from the sky. followed soon by a mangled sleigh and the fat red one. all beyond CPR.

the next day, unaware of this prophecy, i was leading a discussion in a class using google earth. we were talking about the continents when an autistic student reminded me about the north pole. so i spun the globe to show it and talked about the icy cap of our planet. the same student then announced that this is where santa lives, "and he is real," he stressed, reassuring himself. other students in the class were starting to tell him that santa is not real, but he wasn't hearing it. i delicately told him that santa was not real, and moved on with his dreams all over my new shoes.

a few days later, lala told me about her dream, and i was struck by the beautiful circle drawn by our in-santa-cide (too on the nose?)

summer fun

a beautiful surprise greeted me when i got off the plane in ND; a call from one of the most fabulous women on the planet, rrrrachel, who was visiting from barcelona. after i got back home, we played in a sweaty park and frolicked with the fairies.

"my love" by the bird and the bee accompanies the video

can't forget my poncho goblin

the return to school remains overwhelming, even after 10 years of teaching. how i handle the stress has greatly evolved and improved yet there's no way to transition smoothly from summer vacation

mode (when my attention span need not exceed an episode of the tyra banks show), to having to pay attention to 4 hour workshops. i completely get why junior high students are not ready to sit still when school starts.

as usual, we started classes the day after labor day, to allow families to repeatedly attend the minnesota state fair. this year, they sold "fist of bacon" -- strips of bacon stacked 4.5 inches high, breaded, and deep fried. doesn't just reading that make your heart slow down? ew. not sure what sounds more horrific, the bacon or the fair.

i imagined that my labor day weekend would be extremely lazy and gleefully uneventful. but an unexpected and fantastic twist unfurled thursday night. a couple calls magically brought a plane ticket to good ol' ND to play with the fam at the cabin. didn't take many pictures, but had an amazing time. we had incredible weather -- 85 and sunny -- both days, so the pontoon rides and captain morgan flowed with ease...