The Other Dog

Hershey is a chocolate lab that my family welcomed into our home when I was a senior at Alta Loma High School. She came around in late February or early March of 1998, and, by process of elimination in  knowing how old she was at the time, everyone figured out that we shared the same birthday. Even if she wasn't born on exactly January 14, it was close enough that the family made it her official birthday. Because of that, and because she always seemed to like me just a little bit more than everyone else, Hershey and I have always shared as special a bond as a guy can have with the dog his parents bought as a way to compensate for said guy's impending departure for college. Even though I moved out a few months later (and came back and then moved out again and then came back and moved out for the last time after that), I always made sure to spend a little bit of time with her each time I went to visit my parents. She wags her tail every time I come around, although to be fair, she does that for everyone. But she did always rest her head in my lap and desperately wants to shake whenever she gets the opportunity.

Beamer & Hershey

When my mom added Beamer to the house, Hershey became the butt of more than a few jokes. Beamer is easier to train and always had more energy from the day he arrived. It got to the point that Hershey started to get the nickname of "the other dog" (i.e. the one that gets ignored). So I made it a point to ignore Beamer as much as possible (because I am spiteful towards animals for the sake of other animals), despite his attempts to wow me with his impressive six foot leaping ability, and focus on Hershey more. Again, she's a dog, but I could tell she always appreciated the effort.

Hershey isn't doing too well right now. She's having a hard time getting up and some x-rays this weekend revealed that a lot of the cartilage in her joints, specifically her hips and back, has worn away. I don't know how much longer she'll be around, but Angela and I made a special point to spend a little time with her on Sunday. She wagged her tail and put her head in my lap and pawed at me to shake and never wanted me to stop petting her belly.

She's a good dog.

Frosh
We continued reading The Most Dangerous Game on Wednesday and Thursday. Spoiler alert: the game is not Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Unfortunately, due to some discipline issues on Thursday, fourth period didn't get the chance to read as a class, instead choosing to get all of the talking amongst themselves as opposed to doing so as a class. I hope everyone enjoyed the ending because it really is a story that's entertaining and exciting. Who doesn't love a good chase sequence deep in the jungle that ends with a gigantic bearded man getting a knife to the chest? Now that I've typed that out, the story seems less school appropriate.

We moved forward on Friday (See what I did there?) with the little time that we had thanks to the rally schedule. Hopefully, many of you will see fit to check out the game on September 24. Also, I'm hoping that I get to meet many of your parents at the forthcoming Progress Report Card Night this Monday evening.

Seniors
There was quite the spirited discussion about what constitutes a "good" television show on Tuesday. One point I neglected to make, which I think is quite important in the realm of subjective quality discussions, is that there is a difference between something being objectively "good" and liking it. There are plenty of horrible television shows that I watch, some of which I even like. Jersey Shore is one; another is Entourage.  There are plenty of excellent shows out there that I either don't watch or downright dislike. While nothing of the latter comes to mind, I know that there are plenty of the former. The point is that taste is subjective and no one is wrong for liking something that might not be of the highest quality . . . except for people who watch Two and a Half Men. This relates to our time spent on Wednesday with Blues Traveler's song, "The Hook." We discussed it's subversive meaning and the fact that it's actually quite the bitter and angry ditty, despite it's upbeat tone.

For Thursday, we went over ethos, pathos and logos. For many of you, it was a review of a concept from last year, which is totally fine. Keep in mind that no one ever hurt themselves by learning too much about a single topic.

You took the second lit terms test on Friday. I'm going to do my best to make sure that those tests get into the grade book prior to Progress Report Card Night, which is Monday evening. Make sure to tell your parents to attend because I don't want to be too lonely.