Dotty Parker

think pink, but no ink

Today I was a substitute teacher. I had fun, too!

I learned about fingernails. That half-moon arch is called the lunula. Did you know that? I certainly didn’t. And here are some ab fab things you should know about your dainty paws. I’ll give you a fun fact, just to make you want it more!

Dietary changes that supposedly strengthen nails don't work. Unless you're deficient in protein — rare among people in the United States — adding protein to your diet won't strengthen your nails. Similarly, soaking your nails in gelatin won't help either.

Those bastards telling us to drink gelatin! A bowl full of jelly, indeed.

We read a book called Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, I think, which I didn’t quite finish and am anxious to try to accomplish. I’m going back to the same school tomorrow, so I may have to scoop up a copy. It’s about a boy in a plane crash! And he has to survive on his own! And the tool he has to help him…can you guess what it might be? Could it be a hatchet? It might be…

There were lots of good things, but the silliest was my rediscovery of a Pink Pet. The eraser of old. I remember the eraser having “Pink Pet” scrolled across it in a fashion that inspired confidence in penmanship and the utility of the eraser.

I may have been mistaken, however.

The pink pet doesn’t have the scrolling ease of handwriting, although it does have the accuracy of a person who may like a pink pet, but just wants the fun, frisky pet part, not the rubby smudgy oops part.

And so there was my eraser joy.

And my big, very happy joy for the day came from a girl who talked to me and answered my questions. She’s a selective mute and doesn’t talk to people. She didn’t talk to the last substitute they had and she wouldn’t talk to the principal of the school. She doesn’t talk to her schoolmates. I feel so happy and friendly and kind. I’m my very own pink pet today. *squeaky squeaky*

Posted by dotty at March 2, 2006 11:08 PM | TrackBack