Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Three Beautiful Things 04/16/13: Mom and I Have a Plan, Getting English Right, Memories at Max's

1.  I talked to Mom and our plans are set.  I'll rent a car, drive to Kellogg on Friday, spend Saturday there, and Mom and I will travel to Orofino on Sunday and come back to Kellogg on Tuesday and I'll return to Eugene on Wednesday.  I also reserved rooms at the Konkolville Motel for Mom and me. Mom was anxious about how all of this was going to work out since she doesn't drive much out of town anymore, so she was relieved to know we had a plan -- and she likes the plan.

2.  I enjoy helping my students understand such fine points of the English language as the use of the apostrophe, when a sentence is complete, the difference (is this dying?) between "every day" and "everyday".  I try to soop it all up with humor and a bit of overwrought enthusiasm to keep things going.  I hope my fun somehow translates into my students coming to an understanding of these things.  Mostly, I want to help them stop guessing and have as much solid knowledge about our language as possible.

3.  I got off the bus at Patterson and 13th and started to stroll to Sixteen Tons and, for old time's sake, dropped in for a half a beer and some popcorn at Max's.  I might do this more often in the afternoons after I teach my class.  I have some pleasant memories, reaching back to the winter and early spring of 1982, of preparing for my field exam in  Renaissance Drama and Shakespeare and going to Max's after the library closed, riding my read five-speed bike, and having a few Blitz Weinhard beers before going back to my dorm room to get some sleep before waking up at 7 a.m. to have breakfast and start studying again.  There's no such thing as Blitz Weinhard beer anymore.  Some would say that's a good thing, but I would have had one today if there were. 

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