Yeah, The Wai-yayyy-ting Is The Hardest Part.

Knicks and knacks from the past week:

1. Last Thursday was the most fun I've ever had at an interview of any kind. I spent over an hour speaking with a principal, an assistant principal, and two English teachers, and then almost another hour being taken on a school tour. I'm pretty convinced this would be a wonderful fit, and that they liked me a lot. But I've had that feeling before in life (girls, jobs, etc.), only to have hopes dashed. So, should I be excited? Should I be patient? Should I stop annoying my wife with incessant fretting over when, or if, the offer might come?

Uh, definite "no" on that last one.

2. During yearbook class on Friday, we discovered that a nice Mac computer mouse was missing. Upon searching, we discovered that it had been severed and then squirreled away behind a hard drive unit. I knew the probable candidate for this vandalism, and informed the principal. About thirty minutes later I was called to his office, where I saw Suspect #1, surrounded by two administrators and our school's sheriff's deputy. They asked me a simple question, and my answer apparently contradicted that of our little convict. As I left the office, and turned left down the hall, I heard a ruckus and looked behind me. The kid was rushing out of the school building, with Principal Goldberg in close pursuit. I heard him scream, "You better just leave me alone!" in an almost girly high-pitched voice, and then he apparently got in his car and just left. Gee, think he was guilty?

Incidentally, he is now suspended, and will be made to pay for the damages. But frankly, should I have to even see this kid the rest of the semester? It will be hard to stomach having him in my classroom anymore.

3. After school Friday, I sat patiently with the mother of the senior who was killed in the gunfire incident on Labor Day weekend. She was giving me cherished photos to scan and put on a dedication page in the yearbook. I can only report my admiration for her composure and dignity. Lord knows such an occasion had to hurt like hell, but she was so easy to deal with, and seemed serene, really. How many of us would fall off in the other direction?

4. Just a reminder that I really want the job at this other school, which is not only closer to home, BUT SEEMS LIKE SUCH A COOL PLACE. COOL, I SAY! COOOOOOL!

Not that I'm obsessing.

5. We are two games down in my son's first year of tee-ball, and in four at bats he has hit the ball fair, off the coach's pitch, all four times (after three unsuccessful swings the batting tee comes out). He also fielded a ground ball that came to him in left field and proceeded to run it all the way in to home plate just in time to tag out the base runner; their collision, while not violent, did knock the runner down.

O.k., in most levels of baseball, that is not the most efficient way to get an out. Fortunately, in tee-ball, it probably is. But as I was getting excited and trying to figure out if he would beat the runner home or not, I realized that he was chasing down the only girl on the field - a little girl that a couple of plays earlier was so excited to make contact with her bat she turned to her parents in gleeful surprise, rather than running to first base.

So there you have it - my son knocked down the girl and prevented her from doing the one thing all tee-ballers want to do the most: cross home plate. The little misogynist.