Bag?

Sure, I'll take one. In goes the Stan Kenton album, Cuban Fire (which I claim to be the hottest big band record ever) and the complete Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard, 1961, my choice for the greatest live jazz recording ever. A blank card with a detail of a kaleidoscope image. Something for next winter: a baby outfit for Al and Emmaline. I salute Vintage Vinyl & Hemp Emporium in downtown Regina.
And I salute the man who in the parking lot of the Albert south Safeway found my wallet and made sure I got it back.

Nag

My son keeps asking me about financial planning. Not advice--I'd be the last one to have any--but prompting, as I stagger toward what might turn out to be retirement. He hasn't been satisfied by my evasions: it's not about money, it (whether and when to retire) is about do the benefits of my job outweigh the irritants and how badly do I want to write full-time.
One way to look at Tom's appropriate but uncomfortable reminders is that my years of parental nagging are bouncing back my way. Years ago when Tom was a speedy pinch-runner for the ballteam (The Fighting Words) I ran at U of A, I reamed him out for getting picked off 3rd base. He was about 12 at the time. My team-mates thought I'd been a tad harsh. About five years ago, when I ran another ballteam (Glove Story) here in Regina, Tom, now 23 or so, was the star slugger and outfielder. Still, I was on his case so much for throwing to the wrong base or his positioning in centre field that he finally told me to shut up and let him play. He was right.
Anyway, as a freelance comedy/improve writer/producer/performer, he's a bit like me when it comes to financial planning. It's more about doing what he wants to do.

Sag

I hung my lights differently this time--sag-like, from a bookcase over a frame under a mirror across a mask and window down to the socket. I'll hang decorations from the cord. This is mainly to leave room for the tapletop tree--a series of walnut arms that fit together treely, made by PossibiliTree--which will sit under the left sag.
About a quarter of my decorations come from a decoration party I hosted in my apartment in Edmonton in about 1993. Everyone brought one--taking the either tacky/gag route or the classy route I revisit every year at this time.
This time for me begins once I get my youngest daughter's birthday party out of the way, as I say. That's tonight.

Bag

This morning I was looking for a backpack for my grandson and getting keys cut. For while there, in the toy aisle of Canadian Tire, I thought about writing down the names of the various Barbies but decided, at Vampire Barbie, not to.
The topic of Barbies had come up in one of my classes. I'm all for such a conversation, but this morning in the toy aisle of Canadian Tire, I got tired of Barbies.
Later back in the classroom I mentioned the toys. And Possibilitree, the wooden Christmas tree builders I'd read about in this morning's Globe. Why the name Sport Chek didn't come up--well, you'll just have to ask it. I did note their slogan: your better is here, or something, better as noun.
I've also worked up a routine on menswear, the story of a word like that. Not much of a story, just what's up with the mens?
This is a blog entry I won't be able to make when I quit teaching.
And today I heard a story teachers love.

Gag

I'd been poo-pooing the Riders over their inflated sense
of entitlement. Today I showed up wearing a jacket zipped to the neck and waited a minute. When it got too hot I said so and whipped off the jacket, revealing a Rider jersey. The class stirred to acclaim. But right away I ripped down to the next layer, a Leaf jersey. An hour later, 48 hours before kick-off, Go Leafs I was shouting.

Lag

I can't explain the lag between posts, but I've been teaching. And I'm not sure why this time in the semester brings me out grumpy. This is what I put to my first-year class yesterday:
1
How many people are present in your group right now?
2
How many phones are visible?
3
How many in your group had all three of your journal, Beauty Tips and “Sentence Combining Nov.18” sheet on the table in front of you before I began speaking?

          Reasons this was not done:

4
How many in your group checked URCourses for this class since Monday?
          Reasons this was not done:
5
How many in your group completed the “Sentence Combining Nov.18” (which means all 6 sentences) homework for today?
          Reasons this was not done:
6
How many in your group completed the other homework assignment for today: read (which means think about and prepare questions and observations for) the rest of the “Road to Dawn” chapter of Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw?
          Reasons this was not done:
7
How many in your group can I count on to have read (which means thought about, printed out, and prepared questions and observations for) poem #19 for Friday?
I meant it. They've been a good bunch but had let their standards drop. I tallied the results for each question. The numbers showed very good performance, except for those confused.
We moved on to something else. In the end, I thought I'd made my piont without the usual rant 'n rave.

re Dave McFadden

I see in today's Globe that Dave McFadden, one of my teachers in Nelson years ago, is ailing. I wanted to tell a few stories about him but they're pretty weird and they'd take too long. Dave liked play, that's the gist of them. It was wonderful to experience as a new writer.