a turquoise flower

This was posted early. It's not Friday yet. (Where I am it will be in about thirty minutes.)

1. Who was your favorite teacher? My sixth & seventh grade math teacher, Mr. Dyer. (The situation at my middle school was that for two years, you had the same teachers. Only the last year of your middle school was going to be absolutely new.)
2. Why was that teacher so special? Even though I really liked all of the teachers I've had so far, Mr. Dyer was really special to me because he made math fun for me...which is saying something because I despise math. I also think he was the most fun teacher I had.  I don't know how to explain it well, but he was a teacher who could teach you a lot, while making it fun and not so serious. I've also had teachers who were serious all the time and teachers who were never serious, and you didn't learn anything from them (I think there was only one teacher who I had who was like this though). I love Mr. Dyer and I still miss him. I thought he was the best math teacher I ever had. He's a big Celtics fan and a Catholic, I think, who went to Saint Joseph's College for boys. He also reminded me of my father because he seemed the fun, loving person who was tough on you because he cared.
3. Do you think teachers get paid enough? For what they do? No nearly enough. But some don't seem to mind that much, I've found, as long as they know they're making a difference in your life. But I really think they should be paid as much as doctors, or lawyers, because their jobs are also as tough.
4. Do you have a favorite year of school? Not really a favorite, but the one that sticks out in my mind the most is my first year of high school. High school is so much different than elementary and middle school that I was shocked. It was also a pretty good year because I was in a new environment and it wasn't horrible like I thought it was going to be.
5. If you could travel back in time and tell yourself something now that would have helped you get through school, what would you say? Oh man, I really have no idea. I didn't have a rough time in school. It was pretty easy for me, not that I'm bragging. I came over here when I was just seven and when you're that age, it doesn't matter if you are in a completely different country and culture, you adjust pretty well. I think that was my advantage because while all the other kids were unruly and outgoing and normal kids, I was always the one who listened and was shy and didn't dare to do anything for fear of something horrible happening to me. I think the teachers picked up on that and really made me  quite comfortable and happy. And as I progressed through school, I learned how to succeed.

I did not mean to rant so much, but I'm feeling verbose tonight and couldn't really stop on elaborating the questions.

Because I like this week's Friday Five questions...

1. What book or books were special to you in your childhood?
The Boxcar Children by Gertude Chandler Warner. I loved them. :)

2. What was particularly special or memorable about those books?
I like mysteries and I liked all the adventures Benny, Violet, Jesse, and Henry went on.

3. Have you re-read any of them as an adult?
Yessss.

4. If so, were the books as good as you remembered them?
Not really. I mean I still like the characters and everything--they will always be close to my heart but I realized that my reading level is higher now than it was in the fourth grade and the writing is really easy to read.  That kind of threw me off and made the reading not so fun as it was all those years ago.

5. What do you think about movies being made out of children's classics (like the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of The Rings, etc.)?
Um, I'm a bit undecided about this. On the one hand, I like seeing the movies and reading the books as well. I'm a visual person. But then on the other hand, some directors aren't as true to the books as they could be. They don't do any justice to the books and it  turns a person off from those books. And I really hate it when I love a book and then the movie comes out and I can't stop wincing.