favorite first lines

I finally got a chance to go to one of my favorite places ever: the library. Between summer school, family visits and classes, I never got a chance to go & check out a few books I've been meaning to read. Plus, I already had a stack of four books that I already own to finish reading and I bought the six Scott Pilgrim graphic novels to read before the movie (and to possibly add to the classroom library).

For some reason, going to the library got me thinking about the first lines of a book. Then I thought about my favorite first lines of books I've read.
Here are a few that I love. What are yours?

"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men." -Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (I really hope I get to teach this novel again some day)

"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love" -Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Beundia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." -One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." -The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (I also hope that one day I'll be able to teach this again.)

Do you have any favorite first lines? Am I the only one that is slightly obsessed with the first lines of books? I mean, if they're really good, doesn't that just make the rest of the book better?

By the way, I went into the library to choose only two books, but ended up getting more than that. Typical. What I checked out: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (they FINALLY had it!), All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy and The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon.

the fifth year

"Update your blog" has been on my to do list since the last time I posted. There wasn't a whole lot that I had to say, so it never felt that important or urgent to do.

Let's talk about summer school. It was better than I expected. I had ten students: one for English 10, two for English 11 and the rest were for English 9. All the kids were awesome. Two of them were former students of mine. The English 9 kids were pretty awesome. I also got compliments from two of the parents/grandparents involved. If I was to do summer school again, I would prefer not to teach three sections in one classroom. It's not that it was difficult, it just felt like the kids were being cheated out of a full summer school education. I had to cut a few ideas and assignments I had because there was no way I could do them with three different levels in one class. It went more smoothly than I expected, though, and I made enough money in the month of July (summer school only went from July 1-29) to cover my summer class tuition and buy a new laptop. Teaching summer school also made one of my class projects--a pretend observation as an administrator--easier to complete. The major bummer of teaching summer school was that  I missed the opportunity to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. I got to see them around my birthday in June, at least, but it would've been nice to surprise him on his birthday.

My grad program is off to a good start. Two classes down and... a few more to go. I know for a fact I (barely) earned an A in my School & Community Relations class. It was so difficult to do! She kept taking one or two points off of papers that she didn't really explain in the first place (so frustrating), and then wouldn't really explain why she took off points. I only got full credit on one paper, and that's only because it was the second of its kind, so I knew exactly what she was looking for (plus, it was on an issue I really cared about). The other class I took this summer had a professor that was a little absent, so I can only assume I (and the group I worked with on 3 of the 4 assignments) got an A. I know that one of our projects he really loved, and I'm going to assume I did okay on the others? If not, I definitely got a B. Either way, I'm happy. I was really intimidated and not really into these two classes at the beginning, but ended up pretty happy with what I did.

I finally started working (seriously working. as in: actually writing stuff down instead of just thinking) on thinking about new things I want to do this new school year. Did you realize it's the fifth year I've taught? I mean, that's kind of crazy. I realized the other day that I don't feel nervous at all about this year. First, every year has brought less anxiety and nerves. Second, this is my third year at this school, so I'm pretty comfortable in the school. I have a good group of teacher buddies in the school, an awesome carpool buddy and I know most of the students. This is a good feeling. Third, I'M NOT TEACHING A NEW PREP THIS YEAR! YES!! This is probably the best feeling. Every year, I've had a new grade to learn. This will be the 5th time I've taught English 10 and the second time for English 9 and 11. I'm glad the English 11 textbook we offer isn't much different from the one I used before, that will make it much easier. I feel pretty good about my English 9 course, I think I did pretty great (better than I expected, that's for sure) the first time around, so the second (and third? since we'll have two semesters? haha) will be even better.

The only change I'm slightly worried about is changing to the 4x4 schedule. It shouldn't be too bad, though, because we already teach on a block schedule and I taught an every-day schedule for summer school (and that was a 4 hour class! so much more time!). The first semester will probably be rough, but it'll work. I've got three preps, a new co-teacher, and a new class of freshmen (who I've heard are pretty wild). The mantra I'll probably be repeating to myself throughout that first semester will probably be "take it day by day". I'm actually not too worried and not planning too much since I'm not quite sure how this all is gonna go down--just like everyone else in the school. (Plus, I'll actually have a planning period EVERY DAY! No more four-class-in-a-row days!) It should all work out by the second semester (well, hopefully earlier than that, but the second semester should be when everyone fully adjusts and knows what to expect).