Culture and Unculture

Let me start with the CULTURE--it's classier that way.

Tonight, I attended a local performance of the Christmas classic The Nutcracker Ballet. This was the first time I have seen this--in person or on TV. It was a semi-professional performance, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the children of a former co-worker (who I babysat for when they were little) in the cast. The performances of the cast weren't fabulous, but they were far from horrible. I felt sorry for several of the girls as they were doing the job of about 15 people--or so I was told. There were pauses in the performance so they could make costume changes--into costumes that didn't fit at that. To top that off, the lighting in the high school auditorium WAS HORRENDOUS!!!!!!!!!! The entire middle section of the stage was in the dark. I had the worst headache when we left.

Now, for the UNCULTURE--Our staff Christmas Party.

Yup, you guessed it, it was on the same night as the tickets I had to see The Nutcracker. I made an appearance after the show and was kinda shocked...You see, as far as fun get-togethers go, it was good, almost great. For a staff Christmas part, it was terrible!!! The party was held at a local bait shop. Yes, you read that correctly, a BAIT SHOP. (If you saw any news footage from Hurricane Ike, you probably saw the roof of the place in question--that's right, just the roof was visible...the rest was underwater.) We were told the place would be closed to the public for the private party. Yeah, that didn't happen. I guess before we arrived, total strangers were helping themselves to the food that our employees brought.

To give you an idea of what it was like, picture this....a wooden building with metal garage doors on several walls, looking out over the Intercoastal Canal. There is a small convenience store where you can purchase your choice of beverage. I walk in wearing black capri's, a nice black and white blouse, and black heels. I have to walk past about 5 or 6 men who are standing there in waders up to their waist or chest. I said "I think I'm a little overdressed and will be leaving smelling like fish." Well, no fish were around, but I did leave smelling like beer.

One of our teachers thought it would be funny to make our counselor chug her beer. Mind you, this woman is closer to 60 than to any other age ending in zero. The teacher hit the top of her bottle of beer causing it to foam up so she would have to chug. She didn't know what to do, and it overflowed to the floor, and my shoes. She was just worried that it was going into her Coach purse!

One highlight of the evening was running into a young man who I happened to teach my VERY first year. Luckily for me, he didn't remember me. However, he did make a comment that made me smile. He had given me a very hard time that year--but it helped me grow as a teacher. Tonight, he told a friend that all of his middle school teachers hated him...And, he said they had a right to because he was such a jerk. (Well, he didn't use the word jerk, but I want to keep this blog kind of family friendly!) That was nice to hear he felt he was less than the best student.

Well, that's all for now. I do have a funny story from a friend, but I think I will wait until tomorrow to share.

Sweet Dreams! (Or Happy Day if you are reading this during the day time....It's the middle of the night when I'm writing....)