No salt, please.

This looks just like the slug I caught a little while ago. I put it in a mason jar with some grass in it and topped it off with a Ziploc bag and rubber band. I made sure to poke some air holes in the bag and I put some water in the jar, just in case. I plan to take it to school tomorrow to give it to the science teacher for the day for the kids to see, and then I'll set it free somewhere. I've never seen one this big. The picture doesn't do it justice; it's about as long as my index finger and as thick as my pinkie. It's called a tiger slug. Freaking huge!

In other news, today I gave my class the assignment of looking up eight terms dealing with genres for homework. I told them if they were certain they had access to a good dictionary or the internet at home, they didn't have to take their literature books with them (they're quite heavy, and our students can't have backpacks). This one kid raises his hand to tell me he's got a dictionary at home that has some sign language in it. He continues to say, "I only know sign language for two words. 'You' and 'suck'". Really? This was coming from a sixth grader, by the way. So I just looked at him and in my nicest voice asked if he thought that was appropriate for class. He said no, and I said that I agreed. I gave him his consequence and told him that it wasn't a very nice thing at all to have said. On the inside, I was thinking, "I know sign language too. This is the sign for I'm not concerned that you think I suck *shoulder shrug*."

I'm so glad tomorrow's Friday. Not because of stuff like that-that's pretty mild, and I really have learned not to take it personally. Some of our kids just ooze anger, frustration, and hopelessness. I don't think they're hopeless though (and no, I'm not making a bad pun). I'm just not used to the getting up early thing yet. Coffee helps motivate me though, even if it doesn't really wake me up.

I'm also sort of excited about the weekend because our ten year reunion is Saturday night. I wasn't going to go, but then I changed my mind. I hardly ever have an excuse to dress up, so that appealed to me. I found a great dress that was on sale. It's silk, and has green, yellow, purple, and some brown in it. At this point, I would go just to be able to wear that dress somewhere! Of course it'll be good to see some of the people I've lost touch with. I have most of my friends on Facebook, but it's different to actually be around a person and talk with them. I do wonder when Facebook will more or less eliminate the idea of the high school reunion.