Another Day In the Life

Another restless night and stomach pains

What did I eat that made me so sore?

I didn’t have anything scheduled for work

but checked the availability as I was

willing to work at the middle school today.

No jobs were posted.  Just as well.

I thought perhaps I would sleep for much

of the day and then I received a text.

I really like working with the aide who text me.

If it had been anybody else, I would have said “NO”

but I got dressed and scraped my things together.  

Roland fixed me a lunch.  And then I was off.

The morning drive was in thick fog. 

I thought that would mean sun and

heat during the day, but it was cold. 

All day.  I only had to be outside two times for recess.

In each class I’m supposed to help with phonics

And letter sounds.  What a confusing language!

ONE – a word that rhymes with “sun” or “fun”

– where are the phonics?

Nobody looks at the “O” and expects a “wwww” sound.

What the hey?

One student asked for the pronunciation of “doughnut”

which is often spelled “D_O_N_U_T”.  That makes sense. 

Well, sort of.  Can “u” and “a” be pronounced the same?

I think “a” has a variety of sounds:

dance, carnation, awesome, alligator

and what is up with the “gh” sound?

Laugh, ghost, dough   or  “oo”

Cook, food, door

And once again why is the spelled a

different from the written a? Lest we not forget

c as in city or c as in cake?

                                      chocolate, school, charade

and what is up with the spelling of “choir”?

The only part to be read phonetically is the “r”

The i is pronounced, but in the wrong place. 

So how does the letter “O” fit in that scenario?

Oh, the things I think about when I am at my job.

A Six Syllable Word

When I was younger, I remember my Aunt Trudy using the word "discombobulated".  I knew the meaning had something to do with a state of confusion.  I did not recognize this as a real word, however, as I have never heard anyone ever having used that word before except for Aunt Trudy.  Then just a short while ago when I was watching a rerun of the Match Game.  Tom Bosley had said that he felt discombobulated and it sparked a memory.

I think the word itself is funny to hear as it sounds as if it was just made up by one in a "discombobulated" state.   Research tells me that the word has been around since the late 19th century.   Aunt Gertrude was born just 21 years after the start of the 20th century.  She obviously knew people who had been born in the 19th century who were still using that word.  I have been curious to know about where it had come from or why it was said. 

From one site (here) I learned that it is suggested that the word started out as a playful and nonsense word that somehow caught on during its time.  Does anyone else know of anyone who even says it anymore?  This site provided nine comments.  I have chosen two definitions to share:

It's a slang (originally American) word of unknown origin that goes back well over a century. Probably just a fanciful alliteration of discommode, discomfit, discompose, etc.

It certainly doesn't derive from some pre-existing word combobulate. I think normally you'd be understood if you tried to use that 'back-formation', but I don't think it will catch on.

comment made on 8/20/11

and

I can not speak to previous answers. My opinion is based on personal experience. I first heard combobulate/discombobulate(both terms) in the late 1940s from my 60-year-old grandfather, when I was four. On being asked, he could not recall its source.

Several days later, he came to me with a crumbling old letter he had received as a very young boy (mid 1890s), passed down from his grandmother. It was dated in 1823 and written by his great grandfather, and it contained the word combobulate, meaning (from the sense in which it was used) “to make order”.

At the time of writing it, the elder gentleman was in his mid-60s, so I am left to presume that the term goes back a good deal further.

7/28/15

If the word truly does interest you, you can also check out this site.

Numbers and Nightmares

I've turned in the math assignment for this week and have taken the assessment.  One more week and assessment to go.  This is how I truly understand math:

If Bob is waiting for his bus at the corner of Lupis and Vine on a Tuesday and he is eating Strawberry ice cream, but not quickly, and his melted ice cream is dripping onto the sidewalk before the bus comes;  meanwhile, three cars have passed and none have bothered to offer Bob a ride, how far is the sun?

 If Lisa has agreed to babysit for Mrs. Brown, and walk the dog for Mrs. Green and water plants for Mrs. Plumb, what color is Lisa's shirt?

 If Hector collects rocks and balloons and gives one balloon to Kathy for nine seashells, what day of the week is it?

I do like my instructor.  I wish I had just one ounce of her passion.  But I don't.  It's math.  I've found some videos that have been helpful.  Others are . . . what??????  I came across one video in which the Berstein Bear was showing me how NOT to do the math - okay it wasn't the actual  Berstein Bear - itt just felt that way as he demonstrated at least six ways not to do it before he demonstrating the correct way.  IF he shows me the correct way.  He pretty much lost me at polyominols and what this letter could be and what this figure could represent . . . huh?

I did come across one over twelve minutes long and for the most part was easy to follow.  But what are you supposed to think when the instructor of the video starts yawning?  I'm with you Pal.  I was there before the video even started.  I know I'm not the only person who hates or doesn't get math.  My class is full of lost individuals.

Sometime between 3 and 5 this morning there were numbers and factors taunting me.  They were laughing at me while I slept.  Some were dancing to the soundtrack of La La Land.  That was weird.  I don't appreciate these numbers haunting me, bullying me.  Gosh, just let me sleep! It's bad enough I have to deal with algebra when I'm awake (actually I did take a nap before completing my assignment as the equations really did put me to sleep. 

 I HATE Algebra.  I still have two more weeks of "What the heck?"  I finally posted my discussion - which I normally try to do on Monday or Tuesday, but not with this class. My brain has a major cramp.  We're supposed to solve  - or rather break down the simplified so that it reads with complication and I can't do that if I don't understand it.  That's only part one.  In part two the class is supposed to explain why we need Quantitative literacy . . .  wha-wha-what?  Quantitative whatnow? 

I did a copy and paste for a reference I might consider using later on.  It came out like this:

Quantitativeliteracyistheabilitytoidentify,understand,andusequantitativeargumentsineverydaycontexts.Anessentialcomponentistheabilitytoadaptaquantitativeargumentfromafamiliar

that reads pretty much to my understanding.  Now onto my other class - which surprisingly I am doing quite well in.

I didn't realize I was Signing Up for a Foreign Language

       I couldn't sign into my lecture last week; it doesn't appear anyone did, and so my instructor found a new way of getting in to see if that would make a difference.  There were two students who joined the morning lecture this week.

       I am such an airhead during the morning.  For some reason, I can't find my chat box unless I shrink down the screen.  When I tried to stretch the screen, apparently the image was magnified, but not the box itself and so I couldn't see all the demonstrations.  I did try to answer questions.  I know my eyes may be looking at something right or left, but my mouth always says the wrong thing.  Always. 

       I don't know how I've lived this long and haven't been able to distinguish my left from my right.  I know what they are when I'm driving - but if I'm not the one behind the wheel, I can still sometimes get it wrong.  If I am giving directions to someone, I will say, "Pay attention to my hands and not my mouth" and still manage to point right when I say left or vice-versa.

       In Utah, I would say, "East, West, North or South" to  avoid my left/right slip of tongue.  I can't do that here.  With all those twists and turns on the  roads and an overcast sky, I honestly am more confused by e,w,n, and s than I am with l and r.

       Thus far, the assignment seems a lot easier this week than last, but I was quite lost as I tried to follow yesterday.  The instructor asked if we had questions and I did, but I thought I ought to get a better handle on whatever language she was speaking so that I could process it in my mind and translate it into something I could make sense of.

       My instructor said she had always wanted to be an accountant.  That is such a foreign concept to me.  Why would anyone pick said career at such a young age?  I don't foresee any glamour associated with being an accountant.  I don't think I ever had any concept of it before.

       I was going through a bunch of youtube videos hoping to find one that would help me believe that accounting could/can be fun.  There were a couple that showed different accountants telling their favorite accounting jokes.  I would like to understand the jokes and learn why they are funny;  as of now, I don't understand any of them - nothing about accounting makes me laugh.  Even the idea of a child saying, "I'd like to be an accountant when I grow up," leaves me speechless.  

       I signed onto my laptop during the afternoon as I can't seem to type as fast as I can vocally ask.  Like most people, I hate the sound of my voice when I listen to a recording of it.  And there it is - for not only all the class to listen to, but my instructor puts her videos on youtube for some reason - oh, joy.  But perhaps it's an accurate representation of how I feel - like I'm in a foreign land and I haven't yet learned the language.  And this is just the first in a series of 23 accounting classes.

       On the plus side, I don't have to waste my time looking up references just for the sake of looking them up.  No wordy essays for this class.  No APA format.  It's all excel and exams.  Ironic that I like to write and I don't like numbers.  This election year must have ruptured my brain or something.