Despite my desire to have my one job (my only job, that my father bought for two zuzim, Chad gadya, chad gadya -- sorry, little Jewish humor there)...

...I am going to have to give up the occasional summer break and/or weekend time to teach classes for my favorite demographic, Poor Smart Kids, if I am going to stay sane. The 7-Week Stand and Deliver Algebra 2AB Experence had its challenges, but refreshed me after months of low achievers. Now, I'm sacrificing some sleep/Friday night drinking/gas/etc to teach an SAT math class for hand-chosen Smart Poor Kids, and after one class, they already rock my world. As is typical for this type of thing, I've already located the one who's better at math than I am. Rock.

Do any of you have air purifiers or know anything about them? Recommendations for brand/type? Home and/or car -- I apparently need them both.

I'll find out for sure on my follow-up visit on Monday, but apparently LA has given me asthma. I imagine working in the 'hood (don't get me started on the environmental justice thing) didn't help. Ah well, at least it's not TB.

"Whether Halliburton, Enron, or anyone, greed is a weapon of mass destruction" **

Best headline for the late Kenny-boy: Disgraced boss Ken Lay dies at luxury ski chalet.

World Cup fever

God help me, I've become a sports fan. However, it looks like I'll only have to be one once every four years. I actually wasn't all that enthralled when I was in East LA every day, with the games on during lunch and nutrition, but I've picked up the slack during my unpaid time off. It's almost more about LA tourism than the games.

Last Saturday, noon: Argentina vs. Mexico
Through an odd confluence of events, I wind up at an Argentinian cafe in Hollywood, where the beer and food prices are high but the atmosphere can't be beat, including the proprietor who we dub "our Argentinian grandmother" wandering around to make sure everyone is satisfied. They'd pushed the tables aside and set up rows of chairs, like at the movies, probably in violation of all fire codes. So, yeah, don't tell my students I watched a Mexico game and cheered for the other team. It was good times, especially when Argentina seemed to have won the winning goal, and everyone jumped up screaming, cheering, dancing on chairs, and somtimes tearing their shirts off. Turns out that goal didn't count for some reason, but Argentina won in overtime, so it's alright.

Last Sunday, noon: Portugal vs. Netherlands
Wouldn't you know -- the two ethnicities in LA that seem unable to support a bar or cafe (let me know if I'm wrong!) Not knowing where else to go, we start at a Brazilian place, but it's dead in there, so we come home during halftime to watch the rest of the game where the drinks are free. The two teams beat the shit out of each other for the whole match, earning the most cards given out in World Cup history. Action-packed, but embarassing. It's soccer, not rugby!

Friday, 8am: Germany vs. Argentina
As much fun as it was to cheer for Argentina last week, I'm going to a German bar this time, so it's time to switch sides. Plus, it's Germany, the only place I've ever lived that doesn't suck at soccer. And it's an excuse to return to the Red Lion, a great German bar/restaurant that makes me feel like I'm in some Bavarian hole-in-the-wall. We arrive merely an hour early and still get great seats (this is a feat, for World Cup games at this point in play) and are drinking delicious German brew, degenerately, at 8am when the game starts.

Unfortunately, we heard rumors that the idiots at the bar cheering for Argentina were plants from the Jimmy Kimmel show, and sure enough a TV camera soon turned up. Ugh.

Germany did what, I'm told, Germany does best: play conservatively and wear down the other team. Argentina got a goal -- cue Jimmy Kimmel assholes chanting "What's the score?" -- and I went to the bathroom speculating that Germany would tie it up while I was gone (they did!) Fortunately for us, Germany kicks butt at penalty kicks, so they won, to MUCH jubilation at the Red Lion. The Jimmy Kimmel people slinked away as WE chanted "What's the score?"

Saturday, 8am: England vs. Portugal
I opted to not wake up at the crack of dawn two days in a row, since I'll have to do that for work five days a week very soon. It's probably just as well that I missed it, or I wouldn't have been able to stop bursting out "England, ENGLAND!" a la the badgers. Apparently one of our friends who was there was still drunk from the night before, which would have been fun to laugh at, but you can't win 'em all.

Saturday, noon: Brazil vs. France
Unlike most Americans, I have nothing against France, but there are a lot of Brazilian businesses on Venice Blvd not so far from my apartment so I figured I'd be Brazilian for the day. First, we stood in line in front of Zabumba, ironically under a big sign announcing that they were open for all World Cup games, missing the end of the England game while they made us wait out in the hot sun for no reason, before arbitrarily letting people in from the middle of the line (in badger parlance: sucky sucky sucky ASSHOLES ASSHOLES!) This caused many Brazil fans to simply walk off in search of another place to watch the game, and we did the same.

We wound up at a Caribbean restaurant called Bamboo which was not ideal ($5 cover AND they jacked up the price of the food) but at least we got to get in, sit down, and be treated like human beings. The only snag was the guy from Fox 11 whose presence was distracting, and occasionally he blocked the closest TV with his big TV camera (and, after the Jimmy Kimmel experience of the day before, can't I get a break from the media?) As for the game, I don't know much about soccer but yesterday's sports page confirmed my suspicion that the game was embarrassing for Brazil -- poor teamwork, not assertive enough with goal attempts.

The entire French community came out of the woodwork to rub it in, driving down Venice Blvd honking their horns, whooping, and hanging French flags out the window. Now, if there are this many French people in LA, where can I get some cheap French food?!?