The death of a classmate may be the one thing that freaks out kids the most.

We had a 6th grader pass away this year (cancer). It was pretty horrendous and I don't think his team ever really recovered.

lisah - where did you go? I was going to say Mezze or their new one... hey. Have you been to Asahi? Looks scary. Is not. Up past Ding How.

To Kali's Court actually! I mentioned it but thought it might be too fancy but our office manager (ish...his title is not exactly clear to me) was all for it since he pays the bills anyway! it was delicious!!! I want to try Meli (the new one) but I think it's lunch menu is pretty limited.

I have been to Asahi. Not scary at all! yummy!

Huh. On the heels of yesterday's roast-your-own coffee beans discussion, I came across this on boston.com: [link]

I never knew about roasting your own beans, but now I have a birthday gift idea for my F-BiL!

One of my friends here in SF has roasted their own beans for years. I used to send them green beans from Zabar's when I lived in NYC. No idea where they get them now.

God. That must smell amazing. My grandmother used to grow her own, IIRC. Never tasted it, though.

Bulgarian food was good. I suspect I'm never going to wakeup today, despite needing to go trade in my knee pads for pole dancing class. The ones I have are unwieldy. The ones with a nice shape, though, are white, and I think they;re crying for attention when no more needs to be demanded.

Started reading the 4 Hour Work Week book over lunch. He makes a lot of claims--about what he's done, and what everyone can do. Hmmph. Right now he's comparing his mindset to your average entrepreneur about to break it big--he's a slacker version. He doesn't care about being rich, more about living rich.

So far all semantics I can handle. I note he dedicates 10% of all profits to orgs like [specifically named] donorschoose.org.

That must smell amazing.

There's a roaster in my nabe, and if you drive by at the right time, it's amazing. You know how in cartoons, some character -- often Sylvester the cat, IIRC -- will smell something amazing, and you see the wavy line that's supposed to be the aroma actually *lift* the character out of their seat and carry them to wherever the yummy-smelling thing is?

Yeah, the roasting beans are like that.

I literally can't conceive of anyone deciding to do something like that to schoolkids on purpose.

I remember telling y'all about the "Scared Stiff" program here in DC. Long story but, the brief is that a group of off duty cops brought a casket to an innercity junior high to teach the kids how drugs are bad. The connection? There was an actual dead body in the casket...rented from the morgue for the occasion.

Those kids weren't thinking about drugs while the cops were screaming "This could be YOU!" at them. Nope, they were thinking about every cousin, brother, friend, relative, neighbor who ever died.

It was a travesty that went completely unaddressed.

Considering the recent death statistics in DC .... (high, very high these days; many of them teenagers)

My district's high school does something before prom that I like. About 4 kids are designated Grim Reapers. They dress up, wear make-up, the whole thing. During the day, they visit a variety of classrooms. They stand menancingly in the back not saying anything until they pick their target. Then, they walk up to a student, point at them, and motion for them to come with them. The student and Reaper leave the room. The student then gets a black t-shirt with "Dead" written on it and they have to wear the shirt for the rest of the day. The dead are not allowed to speak for the rest of the day, either.

The Reapers pick about 37 students to be dead for the day (~1% of the student body). At the end of the day, there is an assembly about drunk driving accidents on prom night and the whole thing.

From what the students tell me, they find it very moving and unforgettable to think of their friends "dead" on prom night.