(Parenthetically speaking.)

A kid in my class recently discovered Huey Lewis & the News. My teacher likes them (unironically. I asked him). That same kid has never heard of Van Halen.

(That kid asked me what kind of music I listen to, and I fumbled it. I said, "Oh, heavy metal - what the fuck? - a little punk, classic rock." Then the only other adult in the room, another student, asked me if I liked Rush. I said, yes, I saw them three times. Now I'm a cool kid, too.)

Another kid raised his hand and called my teacher "professor." (I turned to the girl next to me and said, "Did he just call him 'professor'?" She chuckled. I'm pretty sure he gave us permission to call him "Chris," but no one has done it yet. "Professor" seems a bit much, no? Then again, it's his title, so I'll be respectful. Mostly.) He raised his hand because he wanted to point out that "Chris" had a typo on the instructions he was giving us (he switched in "parent" for "partner"). I turned from the girl next to me and said, "Oh, are you discussing typos? Because there's also one in the syllabus. But my friends all told me not to point it out." He said, "Your friends were right." Pretty sure he hates me now, but that's OK, he looks like my ex-boyfriend. 

That same girl read the rough draft of my essay about Selina Meyer from the TV show "Veep." She hadn't finished writing her notes for me when I left (I finished my notes on hers. I liked it), but before I left, she told me that I don't need to use so many parentheses. She might be right.