Today’s idiot story. I forgot to blog, and I wanted to. Now I have to rush as I now have to get up at 6 AM to get to school. That’s cutting it close. I have to be efficient getting ready in the morning. I used to be able to do it. I will not be getting up early enough to blog in the mornings. That’s not my only idiot story. The idiocy started early. Have multiple options on route in the morning and follow Google Maps’ suggestion. Today it said to take the 4 to the L. when I travel by subway, I make a mental image of the route and follow it. This meant heading south on the 4 then heading east on the L. I then got involved in reading the Times. When I got to 42nds street I hopped off the 4 and headed down to the stairs to head east. One problem, the L doesn’t stop at 42nds Street. That’s where the Manhattan’s other E/W line the 7 runs. That’s the train I take the Citi Field to see the Mets. That’s become the habit and the thing I do without thinking. Fortunately, that didn’t cost me much time. It was rush hour. Either another 4 or maybe a 5 came a minute later and it’s only one stop to 14th street, the correct station. Then I had no wait for the L. they run very frequently.
There was no hard deadline for me to get there today. It wasn’t a classroom day but the Back to School Jam, essentially a street fair. What I had to do was take care of basic business. I got my schedule, I got my email password, gave my Driver’s License and SS Card for HR to make copies of, and get my school ID. Turns out I couldn’t get my school ID. I got my email password but found it there was something wrong with it when I tried it when I got home. That’s the most consequential idiot story. I should have tried it there. I could because I was issued a computer. I am now an official MacMan. It’s much lighter than my PC so I will bring it tomorrow and get the password taken care of. Good thing I like the tech guy. Hopefully he won’t think I’m an idiot. I can think I’m an idiot, nobody else can. I say it with love.
There are great perks to having a back to school jam If you know me you might guess what got me most excited, free food! There were hot dogs, super burgers with Montreal rub, and soft ice cream. I got to socialize with the other teachers, a few of the students, and the people manning the booths. Various organizations were there including the Brooklyn Public Library. I know have a Brooklyn Library Card. My first step towards moving back to the borough that I have the most friends in.
As a bonus I got my first paycheck! I immediately deposited it via my phone app. I love being able to do that. I love having money. I can now do things I haven’t been able to do for years. The article I was reading when I got off the wrong stop was on a new play by my favorite playwright Tom Stoppard. It’s partially autobiographical and addresses his until now neglected Jewish roots. His mother remarried an Englishman, Stoppard and his mother took his name, and became English. As often happens in his later years he reconsidered. The same thing happened to David Hein’s mother. You know him as the co-creator of Come From Away along with his wife Irene Sankoff. Their first play was My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wedding, a true story of his mother discovering her sexual orientation and Jewish roots! When I read about LEOPOLDSTADT I immediately thought of David and emailed him the story. He wrote back and told me that he had just read the article before he read the email and thought the same thing. I also had to email Lauren, my best friend from college. Stoppard is one of the things we bonded over. We’ve seen many of his plays together. All that is how I got so involved that I got off the wrong stop.
I had therapy today. That was weird as I had it in my classroom. I discovered that when it’s empty it has terrible acoustics. She said it sounded like I was in the shower. I then noticed the reverb. I hope it’s better when there are bodies in the seats. I’ve been at enough sound checks at concerts to know that makes a big difference.
I forgot my swag. I got a cool purple school t-shirt, purple school shorts, a purple backpack, and I won a stress ball and a plastic pinkie ring with flashing lights. I also made myself a bead bracelet. I’m crafts guy now. I was all blinged up on the ride home with my ring and bracelet on. There are benefits to not worrying if something makes you look foolish.
While all this was going on the Mets won a day/night doubleheader. I was able to watch the night game. Jacob deGrom didn’t have his best stuff. He pitched seven shutout innings and gave up only three hits and just one walk, but he “only” struck out 8 batters. The Mets won 10-0 after winning the day game 5-1. They lost three games in a row and Met fans were panicking. That’s what Met fans do. What I’m going to do is go to sleep early. A nice thing about the Mets starting early is that finish early. My new plan is to go to sleep at the end of the Met game. Of course, I didn’t because I had to write this first.
Wise Madness 