A couple of weeks ago, I asked the question: why do high school seniors get out two weeks earlier than the rest of the students? Today I found out the answer. Apparently, in the pre-computer age, records had to be sent to the state department of education and processed before diplomas could be issues, a process that took about two weeks. So in order to synch graduation with the end of school, grades had to be sent in two weeks before the end of the school year. And once there are no more grades to be given, there isn’t much point in keeping the kids here.
In this day and age, with most grades computerized and with the diplomas issues by the local district, letting the kids out early is an anachronism. But technically, so is summer vacation, and I’m not about to argue with that one.
Speaking of summer vacation…
Today was the last day of school for the rest of my students, the ones who are gonna be back next year, as they haven’t graduated yet. The teachers still have one day — we’ll be back Monday — but for all intents and purposes, the school year is over. And not a moment too soon, really. I’ve got some great kids. I love what I do. But there’s only so long you can be around a person in as intense a situation as school is before you start to grate on each other’s nerves. There are a lot of kids in my classes that I’m going to miss next year, but I know i’ll have another batch of great kids coming in. I’m glad, though, that I’ll have two months before I have to start that.
What will I be going in the meantime? Well, Erin is coming to town for a visit next week, and I can’t wait. Other than that, the biggest thing I’ll be working on is the initiative I’ve been talking about, clandestinely, as “Project Rebirth.” I’m still not quite ready to say exactly what that is, although I think I’ve said enough in various places that someone has probably figured it out by now, but it’s been moving along at quite a pace lately. I’ve got a major push that is going to need a lot of work out of me to make happen, and that’s what summer is going to be for.
Random Question
Has there ever been a decent zombie movie made that didn’t use the “I got bit but I don’t want to turn into a zombie, please kill me” scene?
Agent Orange
MINE.
Evertime Realms 
Do you consider 28 Days Later a zombie movie, because that did not have the “I got bit but I don’t want to turn into a zombie, please kill me” scene.
That’s a tough call. 28 Days Later falls into the new subcategory of “quasi-zombie.” The plague victims aren’t really zombies since they aren’t, technically, dead, but the film still utilizes many of the techniques and tropes of zombie films. Quarantine also falls into this category.
28 Days kind of did…with the father getting infected. If it didnt move so fast he probably would of uttered those lines.
Baby, are you holding an orange?
No, an orange-ish candle.
looks like an orange.
Your seniors got out 2 weeks early?
See, at my high school, they reacted to that little bit of logistics slightly differently… by calling everyone back for the graduation ceremony in October.
Now, maybe it was a bit of a bummer to have such a delay, but it was also a great excuse for “Hey, we haven’t seen each other in a while, let’s underage-drink while we still can!”
And we did. Oh how we did.
(/fondmemories.)
Must be a Canadian thing, brother. 😀