BitterSweetLife

Much to my surprise, some people actually seem to care when you get a picture in the paper. Never mind that it was just a happy accident; a guy gets a blurb in the local daily, and immediately his net worth rises. Well, I guess that’s ok.

Not only have a few teachers dropped by the blog, but my recent run-in with the printed page has had off-line repercussions as well. Imagine my surprise, when, strolling in to my toughest class at the seminary this semester, my professor handed me a clipped-out copy of the article, kindly suggesting that my mother may have wanted a copy. (This professorial favor was offset by the destructive, tortuous exam that immediately followed, but that, as they say, is another story.)

But the Star saga doesn’t end there. On Wednesday, it was business as usual, and I was set to reenter the subbing arena. The weekend and its make-me-look-good article had been duly enjoyed. I was prepared for the battles of the will and “class struggle” paradigm that’s par for the course in this subbing life.

So imagine my surprise when the day came off without a hitch. When I entered my classroom, and the teacher next door dashed in with some pointers, she pulled up in surprise—“Hey, Mr. Famous Teacher…” Later, several students looked at me with that slightly-perplexed “Shouldn’t I know you from somewhere?” expression that must annoy lesser celebrities to no end. Maybe the students didn’t know quite where to place me; or maybe they were remembering the good times last Friday, playing kickball; or maybe it was just my imagination—but it worked. There was one definite instance of face-recognition, though. As I walked out to the car, one guy collared me: “Hey…didn’t you have an article in the paper?” Incredible. He actually seemed impressed. And I didn’t even know kids read the paper these days.

However, the plot thickened on Friday, when I went back to work. When I picked up my sub assignment, pinned to my folder was—gulp—the familiar article, once again clipped out for my convenience. “I thought you might want another copy,” the secretary told me with kind sheepishness. “I read the article and thought it was very interesting.” No way! I didn’t expect my “coworkers” to read this! As I walked into the teachers’ lounge, mentally reviewing the article for potentially-damning material, one of the veteran teachers looked up in the middle of a phone conversation—“[Hang on a sec] Hey, great article!”

Ridiculously, these incidents set the tone for the day. When I finally headed out, I had been the recipient of student confidences—“Our last sub acted all strict with us, but at the same time she wanted us all to be her friends”—teacher confidences—“My plan was to watch Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar, and tie it to our topic…”—and student accolades—“Mr. V, you rock! What’s up, Mr. V? Hey Mr. V, when you have kids, you should name one after me.”

One has to wonder, where will all this end? Fortunately, I think I can supply the answer there: Could this mean…a chance to break my previous “smooth subbing assignments” streak of 29.7 days? It might just happen.


It seems appropriate to link a few classic sub posts here.

Life of a Sub
Probably the quintessential subbing story, also the first.

Adventures in Lower Education
I elaborate on an experience unique to subbing, the "pseudo-bouncer encounter."

A Place in the Sun
My most 2nd most recent subbing post, in which startling parallels between secret agent assignments and the daily sub assignments materialize.

Playing Tag With Fame
Not truly a subbing article, here's a quick account of how this enjoyably ridiculous KC Star business came about.