Braydon

Meet Braydon: yearbook geek of the decade.

Well, of the past three full years and to the end of first semester, at least. Braydon took photojournalism as a freshman, then joined the yearbook as a sophomore. He currently is a fifth-year senior. We know each other well.

To start, every year I give out silly awards and Braydon wins the "Best at Hovering" award. Everytime I freaking turn around, THERE he is. This wouldn't be so bad, but to be blunt: he has personal hygiene issues. He is a stinky boy some days.

Add to this his overall "nerdy" attire and his poor economic home situation, and you have one helluva kid. He is a computer whiz, although he has to keep his together with duct tape at home, it seems. He's always cobbing together a working machine from crap. He also glommed onto our online yearbook software like a pro; and he teaches the staff like Pi used to -- not very well. Braydon is actually a little better than Pi, but social skills aren't either of their forte's. Plus, they both stunk up the computer lab on certain days.

I need to talk to Braydon about his stench. He is in my room like 3 hours a day, and Friday he really stunk up the joint to the point where other kids were commenting on the smell of the lab. He's a sweetheart; so this won't be easy.

Especially since he's now done all my work on the ladder for yearbook. Over the summer, he assigned pages and reduced the book 4 pages, which helped. Then, on Saturday he assigned all the people and deadline dates AND wrote up a document splitting all the deadlines in an easy-to-print format for grading and such. He's going to split it up by people, also, so we know who is supposed to be just sitting around.

So, I praised him online yesterday in an e-mail and a private instant message on gmail. I've given him the title of co-Adviser also, with Adviser privileges online. Now I'll give him a lecture about washing his ass, and everything will be peachy keen.

Another example of the glamorous life of a public school teacher, plus another example of how diverse the kids I love appear to be, but how they really are all the same. All they need is a laugh and some gentle guidance, and they will bark like puppies for you.

So hover away, Braydon. You've learned my job very well by hovering for 4 years. You're gonna make me look good once again, and I love you for it.