Breaking down the pride and the prejudice...

An excerpt of a conversation I had with one of my students:

Me: Mindy*, your assigned partner will be Bob.
Immediately, Mindy puts on grumpy-face.
Me: Mindy, is there a problem?
Silence. Arms cross.
Me: I notice you didn't want to work with Bob last time. Is there a reason for this?
Silence. Shifty-eyes.
(Do I talk to myself??)
Me: Well, Mindy, I'm not impressed with your attitude. It does not require a lot to simply share a book with Bob (who by the way is death boy, ahahahaha). I think you are being stubborn, and you have a very negative attitude. I haven't seen you trying to make any type of improvement in your attitude, so I'd really like to see an attempt (at this point, I really just wanted to say, Listen, it's not like you two have to be boyfriend and girlfriend, AHAHAHAHAHA, she would have DIED!).
Silence.
Still talking to myself.
Me: Well, Mindy, I'm going to ask for an answer before you leave today. Can you make an attempt to work better as a group?
Silence.

A LONG time later, she runs up to me and says, "My answer is yes."

Gah, took long enough. She was all pouty mc-pouty pants.

AHahahaha, and I realized some things. First of all, whining is stinking annoying. My kids were ALL complaining today about muscle pain after my gym classes. I was so annoyed. And then I realized, that's what I do. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Second, I hate running on treadmills to nowhere. I'd like a better goal than a time I have to reach. As I was running though, I started thinking about perseverance. I am ALWAYS talking to my students about perseverance. How am I supposed to teach them about it if I can't even persevere? I'm so lazy. I know, I know. But mental perseverance is a lot easier when your body isn't dying from running, ahahahha. Don't know how you do 10K, ppl, but I'm stinking impressed.

*names have been changed to protect the reputations of my funny students.