Reub's journey

30 April 2012

Ackkkk

The local paper specializes in confusing captions. Bet you can't tell which person is me.
A retirement party. This is why I wasn't telling anybody! Generally uncomfortable with group celebrations, this sounds so bad that seriously I would rather go the dentist. But of course I had to inform the school district of my plan. And they stubbornly insist on honoring retirees every year, sending out blanket emails inviting everybody to attend... gaaaaaah...the cat's outta the bag.

They want cringe-worthy information that is difficult to provide:

Biggest influences
Anecdotes
Favorite quote
Advice to colleagues 
Plans
A photo, must provide at least one photo.

If I were to be honest about any of the answers, I would look like the biggest smart aleck ever, but the alternative is to answer with such sincerity as to evoke widespread nausea. So it's best to remain quiet, my trusty M.O.

If I were running this party, I'd make everybody take the "What Geologic Time Period Are You?" quiz: educational, short, and appropriate for anybody changing epochs. I was Neocene the 1st time, Jurassic the 2nd. I'm a dinosaur! Time to retire and evolve some more.


P.S. The point-guard-stance of this dinosaur should help identify me in the above photo.

21 comments:

  1. So then, is that actually you on the left? In any event, you're famous! If we knew which one was you, that is. ;)

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  2. Wow Hilary, you guessed it even before I added the dino-clue!

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  3. Well if you had included the dino clue before my comment, I'd have had to say that even the dinosaur looks like a young puppy.. as do you. But that stance IS funny.

    Happy retirement, Kerry. :)

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  4. awww. can't blame you with serious questions like those to answer. dang-it-all! :)

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  5. I wouldn't be answering those questions either but only because I wouldn't have the faintest idea what the answers were.

    retiring. oh boy. get to start again!

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  6. Aww c'mon. You should either be completely honest, or have some fun with this. Jump out in front of the crowd just this once, hey?

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  7. Congratulations, Kerry, you are going to love this next part of your life!

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  8. Hilary: I love you.

    twg: you too

    Ellen: can you and I just sit in the back and talk about something else? Now that would be fun.

    Reya: Being completely honest & having fun with this might be the same thing! Being the curious introvert that I am, I'll do this, but never never jump out of the crowd to share it. However sharing it online is good b/c there's such distance between everybody. You're in front of the world but it feels anonymous.

    Tabor: Thank you.

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  9. People, you should take the quiz. What geologic time period are you?

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  10. rhyacian. i am sooooo old i never heard of myself before. but when one is confronted with the choice "rules" or "blows" and you're talking about fossils, even if i've never heard of them, it's gonna be "rules", right?

    ok, then permian, 'cause i like sharks. and pangaea. and dimetrodons.

    whew! and WOW! AWESOME! FUN! (which was first written as RUN! which might also apply) congratulations!!!

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  11. Hopefully you can take the skittles with you.

    Savor the next step.

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  12. Oh Ender's Game is a wonderful book.

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  13. Slim: Rhyacian? A new one for me too. Turns out there were quite a few obscure time periods! I've taken the quiz 4x and come up with a different one each time! I never heard of permian either.I do like sponges though, I'm sure about that.

    Thank you for taking this quiz which I love.

    Laoch: The Skittles went home with the kid who made them. But the reason that Claudia and I are laughing is that I was just telling her that the younger students wondered "is that filled with skittles?" and I said yes but they all belonged to the artist.

    Ender's Game did not disappoint. I loved it, & thought it totally deserved the awards that it received. I guess I like these reluctant child heroes. Crazy that it was written in 1977 & foresaw laptops and the internet.

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  14. The second book in that series, "Speaker for the Dead," is quite good as well.

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  15. This made me chuckle. the other retiree and I (just two of us this year) went to the school secretary who plans such things and begged her not to schedule anything. We will both bow out quietly. Move over, I'm in the back with you and Ellen. We'll have to compare notes once we're official and see how it's going!

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  16. Congratulations on your retirement. I'm embarrassed by this sort of celebration too. Perhaps many bloggers are more comfortable behind their computers than in front of crowds. :) I'll check out the quiz.

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  17. Laoch: after zooming through Ender's Game plus a second unmentionable terrible book this week, I'm ready for another suggestion. I'll have to visit the library soon.

    Pauline: The district is throwing a party for the 15 of us on our way out. They will not be convinced otherwise. Very sweet of them, but I wish I could send a proxy in my place...hey now there's an idea...

    EG: In a crowd I shrink to approx 1 inch high. When was the Siderian period?

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  18. The neogene! This quiz is the coolest.

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  19. Neogene? Is that the same as Neocene? or did I get something wrong? Spelling sucks.

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  20. I just looked it up. There are BOTH Neocene and Neogene Periods, and I have now taken this quiz often enough to have ended up in both of them!

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