That razor sadness that only gets worse

Yesterday, Maddening Angel did not return my call, and when I texted her to see if she was ignoring me, she responded very grumpily. Our days of being close as siblings are over. At work, we get along fine, but we never call each other any more. And when she goes out, it's with other people, most irritatingly Ex-Boyfriend B, the guy ten years her senior who does coke recreationally. I'm sad about this. There is nothing special or remarkable or interesting about this guy. Why does he get to have gone out with her? Why would she sleep with him on the second date? Why are they still friends? Obviously, I'm jealous and resentful and bitter, even if at this point MA is rather distasteful to me due to her lack of social standards.

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Class today was Reading I. We talked more about balanced instruction, and the need for kids to be read to, to be read with, and to read by themselves every day. We discussed the importance of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. I gleaned a couple of useful classroom tips. One, ask the kids to come up with likely words on the book's theme before reading it aloud. Make a list. Then, as you read the book, the kids can react (with a thumbs up, for example) if the words they chose come up, creating a more active participation in the literacy. The other tip is that if a child finds five words on a single page that he can't read easily, he probably needs to read a book one level lower.

Here's an interesting statistic: reading skill levels stay the same from kindergarten to 4th grade in about 85% of cases. If you read poorly or well in kindergarten, chances are very good you will read that way for at least your entire elementary education.

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I drove the the Hangout on my way home and gave the three posters I did to the Friar. The lead singer of the band I did them for was there and he said he liked them. Plus, it seems I'm to be paid pretty well, and there's even talk (though I remain hugely skeptical) of art shows and sales of the original. The Friar is really trying to help me out in many ways; I'm very grateful to him.

I would be extremely happy with my life right now if only there wasn't this gaping social hole in it.