rags and riches

Fate can be a fickle thing. Sometimes it showers you with money, sometimes it drenches you in... well, let me take a step back.

Today was an average Friday. One kid out for truly bizarre reasons, one kid tattling on another for something he didn't even witness, one horribly written math common assessment.

First of all, when a question says, "How many miles do Mr. Pride still need to drive?" somebody needs to call out the grammar police. But when the very first question doesn't even have a correct answer choice to go with it, I just get really upset for even having to waste my time giving the test.

The question read, "Donna invited 20 friends and 6 relatives to her birthday party. Only 13 of her friends could come to the party. Which is the best way to find the total number of people who came to Donna's party?"
A) 20+6-13
B) 20-6-13
C) 20-+6+13
D) 20-6+13

Nevermind the fact that Donna herself would be at the party, the correct answer should have been 13+6. To get answer A, which is undoubtedly the answer the writer was going for, the question should have said that 13 of her friend could NOT come to the party.

Ugh.

Anyway, after the school day was over, I was treated to the discovery of two quite opposite findings.

First, as I reached the bus that I have duty at, I noticed an election sign lying on the grass. Several kids were standing around it, pointing and gibbering, and some of them were stomping on it. I went over to move it, but as I grabbed it and picked it up by the paper portion, one kid started shouting, "NO NO NO!!" I thought, ooh, maybe somebody put it there to mark an ant mound, I better watch out. But no, as I looked down, there were no ants. Merely 4 of the biggest, beefiest dog turds I had ever seen. Apparently, the sign had been holding back the smell as well as the sight of these cylinders, so I carefully put the sign back in place.

Later though, on my way out of the school, I found a dollar bill lying in the middle of the hallway. The only teacher nearby laid no claim on it, so I seized it as my own!

From dog poop to greenbacks, all in the course of a school day. What a life.