Gymteacher's Clipboard

I am reading during my lunch hour. I'd never, ever read during class. And if I ever did sneak a page during class well that would be a celebration wouldn't it (?) as a Gymteacher could never haul a fully intact copy of The Extra Thick And Potentially Intellectual Book around a high school while at the same time bullying kids into being in uniform and being less fat.

So it would be a celebration wouldn't it if a gymteacher dismembered a Modern Literary Classic Hailed By The Critics As A Modern Literary Classic and read it page-by-sweat-soaked-page when he could instead have invested those precious moments in bullying kids into "excellence".

But I am not really a gymteacher am I?

Just like I was never a soccerfootballplayer.

Maybe I was a beautifulgamer who was too often beautifulgaming when his coaches thought he should just "get on with it, break the striker's leg and play simple football" (said with a thick Scottish accent).

But I was never really a soccerfootballplayer and I am not now really a gymteacher.

I am a mere reader. A reader of other people's thoughts and creations. That's my specialty. That's my craft.

And speaking of reading, I have been struck by this line on page 26 by The Guy Trying To Not Get High On Dope:

"Reading while waiting for marijuana was out of the question..."

When to read then?

When there is a gun to our heads?

When The Blonde Woman promises you sex to get you to read so that you'll be smarter when she takes you to cocktail parties instead of just being some guy who gives her sperm, children and a steady wage?

Shouldn't we read all the time, or at every opportunity, if we are true readers?

I want to be a reader. A great reader.

I want to fill the gaps of the day with reading, not sperm.

I want to become the best reader in the world. I would do "anything" to read. I'm going to win this game. This game of reading. I'm going to complete this task, meet this challenge, where others have failed.

Bring on page 27!

Oh shi*t, The Carcass is at home! It'll be hours before I can get my hands on a few more scraps of white meat.

And to think I had an entire "prep period" ahead of me.

What to do now?

Maybe I'll mark some papers...