We Are Who We Are.

Okay, first of all, I apologize for taking my title from a freaking Kesha song. I listen to the worst of worst pop music, tossed together with some upbeat indie stuff, when I'm at the gym. That's why that song title came into my head as I was thinking of this post while I was on the treadmill. Anyway, I am getting sick of the same old same old, so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to add to my lame and cool workout music.

Here's a post about me being who I am. Which is a nerdy science teacher who tries her hardest to make stuff funny.

I'm teaching one of my classes a unit on optics. You know, light, mirrors, refraction, lenses, etc. It's so not as fun a chemistry because we can't light anything on fire (well, I guess I could try it with a magnifying glass... hmmm....) and we can't dissect anything (well, actually we could cut open a cow's eye if there are any kicking around... hmmm....). However, I can try to pepper in some lame jokes during my lessons to liven things up.

Today we were talking about all types of mirrors. When describing the properties of an image formed by a mirror, we science teachers tell students to remember the acronym SALT which stands for size, attitude, location, and type.

Here is how I always explain SALT in my most deadpan and driest of voices.

"S stands for size. Is the image larger, smaller, or the same size as the object? A stands for attitude. Is the image ruder than the object, or is it more polite? L stands for location..." And on I go.

Now, today's class was absolutely silent when I made my little speech. I turn around and I say "Seriously?" and I look at them. They all sort of look at each other and start to laugh. "Miss, you weren't serious about attitude**, right? Right? What if we mess up on the quiz and get that part wrong?"

"Then I know you weren't really paying attention the whole class."

"Oh... well will you at least write LOL on the quiz?"

"Sure. However, did you like my delivery? I tried so hard not to laugh. I think you guys totally fell for it because you were so quiet!"

"No, no, we didn't. We just wanted to make you happy!"

Anyway, my next lame joke was when I was explain the meaning of the word converge, which is used in reference to light rays that meet up in one spot.

"So now you guys can impress your friends with your new vocabulary. You can say to them 'hey, want converge at the mall after school?' "

Of, course I got a chorus of "Oh Miss, that means our friends would get all confused and wouldn't know what to do! And we'd sound like giant nerds. That would be a horrible thing to say."

"I know it would be. However, my lame explanation will help you remember the meaning. That's why I say these things, you know."

Anyway, that's how I amuse myself during a dry lesson on mirrors. The funniest thing was I told my work spouse this story after school, and she was like "I so use the same joke about attitude! It's so fun. I like to say some images are mean, and some are nice!" And no, we had never converged previously about this joke. It was an example of independent discovery, just like Darwin and Wallace and the theory of evolution due to natural selection.

So yeah, lame professional science nerds. We are who we are.

**In case you were wondering, attitude is whether the image is upright or inverted.