8 percent fun!

We're getting back up there, folks. Now, look. The length of time it takes me to write this post cannot be longer than my "Banana Yellow" playlist -- which is just Leona Lewis's "Better in Time" (for when I feel like I'm going through a break-up, which is way more often than I am actually ever going through a break-up, if that makes sense), Jesse McCartney's "Leavin'" (yes, that song is by Jesse McCartney and not some black dude. I, too, was initially confused about this), Miley Cyrus's "7 Things" (for when I feel like I'm going through a break-up and I'm also 12 years old), and Taylor Swift's "Our Song" (which is completely unreasonable). I give you the playlist for three reasons: 1) in the interest of total candor, you should know that I choose to listen Top 40 sometimes (read: most of the time); 2) The fact that I listen to Top 40 is TOTALLY FUN, right?; and 3) I am not going to type for long.

As you can see, we're doing better with the funness. This is almost entirely because now I have A BIKE, so I totally BIKED to work and I BIKED back, and I felt completely adorable doing it. I had incredible daydreams about having a cute little wire basket on my bike, and about meeting beautiful bike people with bike soundtracks and bike-a-thons. I'm finally becoming a true Portlander -- ironically, in New Orleans.

And it was a good Joe day. The weather was freaking incredible and we walked down to the Snowball shop on Magazine street and I got a Snowball flavored as "Tigers' Blood" which looks JUST LIKE a ball of ice soaked in blood. And we bought apples for pie-making at Breaux Mart (Joe noticed that there was a split-infinitive on the backs of the gummy alligator packages, causing me to understand completely why I love him so much) and then ate grilled cheese and played one of those really EPIC games of Scrabble (297 - 253. I'm not going to tell you who won. Except that it was TOTALLY ME). By the end of the night I felt redeemed. I'm definitely fun again.

Topics of conversation with Joe this afternoon:

• Pizza Tycoon -- shortlived and awesome PC computer game
• How hipster it is to love avocados (I never realized it, but avocado is totally the Williamsburg of vegetables)
• Current breast size of former members of Full House.

Sentences in these conversations that began with "Today my students..." or "Oh man, my management system..." or "My principal is a...": 0.

Refreshing.

At school, by the way, things were okay. Again and again I thought to myself how much I loved my job. I think the highlight of the day was lunch. There is a nice little roster of misfits who like to hide out in the ARC room rather than eat with the other kids, and each and every one of them could appear in a Daniel Clowes graphic novel. Jayda put on disco music and our newest student, Casey, tried to dance with the only girl his age in the room -- emotional, talented, brilliant Debbie (who has just started wearing make-up and looks like a china doll because she's in the bright-blue-shadow/ cherry-red-gloss phase of her make-up wearing life). Avery was singing along and swaying, and Jayda sang with him. Ms. Flora danced, too; Saday looked up new skull-themed accessories on HotTopic.com. And Drevin, the vulgar and offensive boy who is always being called to the office for behavior issues but genuinely means well was just laughing and watching it all. It was kind of like a very dysfunctional family picnic.

I make it sound all wrong. In fact, the room is a mess most of the time, with shouting and screaming and hiding out. But I still love it; every single minute of it. I'm having a blast.

And Avery TOTALLY knows all the vowel sounds now. ALL OF THEM! Jayda might not have meant it, but she said to him today, "I'm so proud of you, Avery; you've learned more in the past two weeks with Ms. Johnson than you have in 21 years of school." And that felt really fucking good.

And now I've reached the end of the playlist. I'm exhausted. Biking... man. Who knew?