I have been watching American Idol less and less.  Somehow, it has lost a lot of the appeal that it once held.  I have watched enough to learn that Northwest Ohio native, Crystal Bowersox, is one of the early favorites.  Good for her!  I have also watched enough to know that Ellen Degeneres has yet to become comfortable in her judging capacity.  She definitely has taken over the void as supreme cheerleader vacated by Paula Abdul… maybe a bit too much.  Enough about that because I really can’t say too much with the amount I have seen.

I will comment on the act that was part of the results show tonight.  A “Breakout” artist of the new year, Ke$hia (that’s how it is spelled) performed something.  Hot off the heels of her 6 million seller, “Tick Tock,” she came on stage and performed “Blah Blah Blah” and that is what it looked and sounded like.  Or maybe I could not hear the lyrics because I was too busy laughing at the audacity of the spectacle. It really made me wonder where she broke out from! I think I’d rather hear “Pants on the Ground” but I think that has had its 5 minutes of fame.  The video on youtube just did not do the hilarious performance tonight justice.  I’ll look back and update the post.  It is definitely one that needs to be seen to be believed.  Honestly, I never understood the need to fill an hour with something that can be done in less than a half hour.

Here is Crystal taking on the Creedence Clearwater Revival song “As Long As I Can See The Light.”

And now for the moment tangenteers have been waiting a good 15 hours for…

A date with the familiar happens all the time, déjà vu and all that.  I think we can all think of more than a few times that has happened.  Today I was in 6th grade science, a field which has sort of been a goal of mine for teaching.  As part of the lesson plan, another teacher would come in for two of the classes and pretty much take over.  This being a good thing of course as I don’t have much experience with the applications they were using on a computer project (iMovie, iPhoto, Photo Booth), nor did I even know anything about the project.  Anyway, I looked at her name and thought to myself, “isn’t she…?”  When it came time for the first of the two periods we got to talking and sure enough, she was the sub-caller for another district I once worked in.  Apparently she got downsized last year when the district went to a computer system (hmm. looks like I can sign up in that district again if I have to keep working as a sub…) and so she got a job in the district I was in today.

But this wouldn’t make for a good blog entry if she was the only one.  During one of the classes I was handing out new textbooks and I came across a familiar last name, so I asked the student if his dad worked at another school I sub in.  Yep.  I told him I subbed for his dad a couple of times.  Well, then a third coincidence happened.  Well, possible coincidence.  I was afraid to ask this time and push the odds.  She had the last name of someone I went to school with when I was in 6th grade.  Now this has happened to me before, one at a time anyway, in other schools- which is only natural given the fact that I grew up in this same area.  I have met my share students whose moms or dads I went to school with or whose parent I’ve seen elsewhere, like a professor at a local college.

Slightly related to this I just remembered I had one student with the last name of Fogerty one time.  I joked about her being related to John Fogerty, of Creedence Clearwater Revival fame if you don’t know him, and she said he was her uncle.  She was serious too; either that or a good actress.  Anyway, I wonder who I will meet tomorrow?