"Girls, girls, girls-I like that!"

Again, I appreciate the elation that comes along with a Friday. It wasn't a bad day, but I certainly was ready for a relaxing weekend. I had a party in my last period class with my 7th graders in Harlem because they earned it. One of the classroom management techniques I've adopted is to reward the classes that I pull out into my room with a letter each day they behave (as a

whole). They actually grade themselves most of the time, on whether they deserved a letter. My 7th graders earned all the letters in GAME DAY, and therefore we had a little celebration. They need that every once in awhile I think, and it's a relatively good mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Teacher talk, I know.

After school I immediately fell asleep on my bed for about an hour and a half. I have been SO tired lately. I don't know what's gotten into me! Kate and I had plans to visit the Guggenheim because of an awesome exhibit I'd heard about from Nick last weekend. I quickly made dinner with Dan (turkey burgers, mmmm) and then headed out to meet Kate and walk over to the museum. How awesome is it that I live within walking distance of the Guggenheim! It's still amazing to me, even though that's been true for almost 2 years now!

The exhibit was...well, I really wish everyone could see for themselves, but it was

spectacular.

One of the reasons I love art is due to the emotions it creates, which I know is probably different from the emotions art creates in other people. That just seems so powerful to me, but this exhibit really did have me feeling things I've never felt before. It was a mix of wonder and fascination, sights, sounds, smells. A really wonderful mix to different mediums. Cai Guo-Qiang is from all over Asia, and has such an interesting take on art. The cars, seen here, spiral up from the ground, or down from the ceiling (however your perspective), he has 99 taxidermy wolves racing around the rotunda, just to show them crashing into a glass plate wall (representing the Berlin Wall), a sack full of live snakes tied to the ceiling with mirrors showing them, a doubled shower curtain filled with water and acupuncture needles, depicting the healing that will happen with clean water. I could go on, but there's just too much. Amazing.

Kate and I walked out to the Resevoir after the museum, just to get some fresh air. Warm nights around here lately, and I love that. The feeling of spring keeps me going I think. My camera wiggled a little bit taking this picture, but I liked it better than the others, which were straight on. Sort of depicts my mood a little better. Nice, but a little skewed lately.

Oh, and as for the title quote, as Kate and I were walking back to my place to watch a movie, a weird guy with dreds passed us by saying "girls, girls, girls...I like that!" We both laughed and walked a little faster!

I look forward to no plans this weekend. Come what may, and that's a nice feeling. I shall now sleep for hours. Hurrah!