In Which Our Boy Gets His Ass Up Off of the Sofa

Sunday was the opposite of Saturday. I mostly did errands (cleaned the house, grocery shopped), and, except for a poorly conceived trip to the library (closed for Easter, silly), it was a pretty good day. Took puppy for a short chilly walk around the lake, and watched a crow chase a red tailed hawk up Hinkson Creek. Pretty awesome.

I did manage to skip the return of Sopranos Fellowship Sunday, however. I had a bit of work to do to get ready for school today, and I got engrossed in the latest episodes of Planet Earth. This is one nature show that puts Jacques Cousteau out of mind. The cinematogragphy is amazing. They pulled all the stops out for this one. It is amazing enough watching great white sharks flying through the air as they ambush fur seals, but to watch a night attack by a pride of lions on a full-grown elephant was brutally unique. One thing you do get from this show is a real idea of how rough life on Earth really is. We humans are so far removed from the reality of natural life on our planet that it is not even funny. Don't get me wrong. I am more than content not to have to worry about getting yanked out of my house by a patrolling cougar, but, as I putter to work each morning, it would be beneficial for me to remember that every robin has to kill a worm to survive, every red tailed hawk has to take down some sparrows to make it through the day. That's just the way it is. "Nature, red in tooth and claw," said Tennyson. He was right.

Today, I finally finished East of Eden. Boring Election and Monkey are correct. It is an awesome book. I haven't yet decided if I like it or The Grapes of Wrath better, but I think I am leaning toward Eden. It is just so well-written. Artfully conceived, beautiful prose. A sprawling and heart-wrenching story (I do love those). And a clear philosophical through-line. How have I lived so long without reading this book? Steinbeck, indeed, rules (along with Flannery O'Connor, Louise Erdritch, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and a host of others).

In addition, basketball was cut short tonight because I torqued my ankle...again! It hurt like a bitch, but it is behaving itself, at the moment. I predict I will not only be able to walk tomorrow, but I'll be able to play in the first softball game of the season on Sunday. That's right, loyal reader, the season starts this week. I'll be playing on two teams, a Sunday co-rec league with some folks from work/school and the old Wednesday Deadliners league. Of course, I will only be able to play in a few games before it's off to Lincoln with the Monkeys, but I plan to have a bit of fun and drink a few beers while I can.

The annual MAP testing starts tomorrow for us. The No Child Left Behind-mandated, state-devised assessment of whether we is learnin' the churlen good is always a fun time for everyone. The best part is constantly explaining to the kiddos why they have to take the test, knowing full well that the only real answer is, "Just because you have to." It means nothing to them, simply because it has no direct effect on them. It is not a graduation requirement. It does not alter their grade in any way. They have no stake in the test at all. The real wonder is that so many of them do it without question. Jesus, they don't even get their scores back until their senior year. Maybe I ought to grade their papers on the same schedule?

The saving grace for this episode of the school year is that it only takes two days, now. When I first started, we used to take a full week to do the testing. It was brutal. A death march of testing.

On a completely unrelated topic: why is Don Imus still on the radio?