So much I wanna say

The thing about best friends is that they can talk for years and never run out of things to say. Char and I are much the same, but we also have quirky conversations too. For example, Jack Wild died a little while ago. This was heartbreaking to the both of us, as we'd just looked up his picture to see what he looked like after he grew up. We both love looking up child actors to see what they look like now.

The other day, one of the greatest movies of all time was on tv. So I had to look up one of the actors to see what he looked like now:

Does this ring a bell to anyone? Can you place him? No? OK hang on,

Now do you know who this guy is? Pretty awesome, huh? It's Short Round for you Indiana Jones fans, Data for you Goonies fans. He grew up. Sigh. He was my favorite Goonie. Right alongside Chunk.

My son is downstairs trying his best to bring his fever down. He hates missing school. He is upset because he knew that going on vacation meant no perfect attendance record for March. And now being sick means no perfect attendance record for April too. Plus he's missing out on the last installment of the state test for second graders.

Let me go into this test for a minute. I am not a big fan of the "No child left behind" act. Sure, I agree that in theory, it sounds great. But in practice, it doesn't work. They give these kids these statewide tests to ensure that they all know what they've been taught. My son will get high scores on this test. He always does. This SHOULD mean that they will teach him a more advanced curriculum to be at his level, BUT IT DOES NOT. The teachers will keep him on par with the other kids in the class, because his high scores pull the curve up, therefore making them more money for the school.

Combine that with the fact that we all know that these tests do not go against their normal grades, right? Or so we thought, but they still get held on their permanent record. Which is what the teacher told my son. Which is why on Sunday night, my seven year old son was up at four in the morning with test anxiety. I told him that the test really doesn't matter, but he was insistent that since it was on his permanent record that it was a big deal. Why do they do that? They shouldn't have put so much pressure on these kids. That really pissed me off.

And now he's sick. Which means, he's missed the last day of testing. Sure, he'll be able to make that up and all. It just upsets me that he's downstairs (in the basement, the coldest place in the house) willing his fever to go down from a 102 degrees so that he can take this test. That test can be shoved up his teacher's ass for all I care. Permanent record... who tells a kid that? Disgusting.

All right, I got that rant out. Sorry but it just needed to be said.

As far as I go, I have noticed that I tend to read blogs that I recieve alerts for first. I don't recieve alerts for all the blogs I normally read, so this means that somewhere along the line, I've been slacking lately. I promise to get to the blogs that I've missed. I feel guilty about it and all. I should be a better commenter and all that jazz. I promise to be better!

Ok, I'm out. I'm gonna go drag my son out of the basement and lie to him that his temperature is normal now. Sigh.