So this is my first real post. This is just to let people know that this blog is not me trying to express myself or impress you. It is to explore my personal literacy narrative and share some random thoughts. I will try to add interesting bits to keep things entertaining for my students, but this is mainly a work thing.

Literacy: I have no recollection of learning to read. I'm sure my folks did some stuff at home to get me going, but I seriously don't remember any of it. I got to first grade and it was the first time we were broken up into reading groups. The different books were named after instruments and our groups were named as such. I think I was with the Bells. I remember Becky, Nick, Greg, and Maranda were in the group. I had a major crush on Maranda. She was tall for her age but really pretty. She was also from West Virginia and had an accent different than other girls. On the first day of Bells, Nick was chewing on his pen. From some dark place in his 7-year-old soul he decided to bite down extra hard and ended up with a mouth full and hands covered in navy blue. I have a lot of mouth issues--I can't stand to be around people chewing gum or brushing their teeth, and when people touch the pencil lead to their tongue I throw up a little--so I found this unsettling and tough to look at. Maybe Nick was excited to be in Bells. Maybe he was the first to realize that we were the advanced group. I don't know how I got there. Do they even test kids that age on reading and stuff? Again, I don't remember learning to read, I just remember being good at it.

Reading got tougher over the years, though. I read some of the _Goosebumps_ and some book called _The Phantom_ (I think) that had some ghoulish looking football player on the cover. Remember those book order forms that scholastic used to send home? I wonder if they still do that? Anyone with kids know? Anyway. I used to beg and beg for books and my Mom would always give in, because I was a kid who wanted to read and that was a good thing, right? Right. I'm pro books for kids and reading with them. But there came a point where I didn't finish some of the books. I would read for a few days and them not pick them up for months, or never. When it got bad, I would order books that I've never read. This addiction to books but not reading was the beginning of a downward spiral that I've only recently recovered from. More likely I'm still in denial. More on this buying books I don't read in coming weeks.

So to wrap up this initial post. (Isn't this riveting stuff by the way? Aren't I important enough to listen to? Isn't this a pleasant distraction from your life that you'll continue to find isn't nearly as interesting or well-chronicled so therefore more interesting as mine? I'm seven kinds of awesome, evidenced by the fact that you're still reading. Or you're in my class and you are required to, but this is what happens when you aren't asked to buy expensive books.) I would like to find out how I learned to read. I'm going to ask my folks and brother. I'll let you know what I find out in the next exciting post.

Don't judge Weezer for their work after _Pinkerton_.