Well, The Heat Wave Ended...

It's -5 as of the last time that I looked, and the skies are clear. The girls had a pie making shindig, and I hung around for a little while, fetching eggs and such until it struck me that I was sort of a fifth wheel and decided to come back over here. I am having a nice quiet night.

We had our thanksgiving meal at school today. The turnout was either better than or worse than last year's, depending upon the person doing the estimating. Things got cleaned up in reasonably short order, and we got pressed into duty by a couple of graduates who returned for help with a paper and a resume, respectively. It was kind of fun, in a gee-think-I'll-bitch about-it kind of way. Then we made a home visit, and I got back in time for a phone conference about our extremely simple, user-friendly, intuitive software that we are supposed to be using to submit all of our evidence to AKT2. My personal take is that the unhappiness and stress level among this group will increase exponentially when they start using that stuff. It sucks. Hope that this entry gets read. I have threatened to just upload all my lesson plans and this whole blog and crash the server in Juneau. It would serve 'em right.

So tomorrow is the big day. It seems as if a bunch of people are invited, and some of them will show up. It will be held at the small house with all the dogs instead of the larger house with two loveseats and space. This is because some people are crazy and sentimentalize this holiday which is miserable for so many other people and reminds even others how they have been occupied and invaded. Yippie shits. I actually began to enjoy thanksgiving most when I began to spend it by myself with a shitty football game and pizza from G&D in Cadillac.

I suppose that it will all be fine, as long as the General Patton of the kitchen does not rear her ugly head. As is true in so many situations, I suppose that only time will tell the answer to that question. Who knows, amybe it will all turn out to be a blast, and I will turn out to be nothing more than an old grouch. Naaah, that couldn't happen!

A Quiet Night

...on the old plantation, but pleasant. The gf is, unfortunately, feeling under the weather, and decided to sack out early. I have just been chatting on line with an AKT2 buddy, and trying to suss out some kind of quick and dirty Thanksgiving writing exercise. I think I have an idea, but think that I will sleep on it and see how it feels in the morning.

I am thankful personally for having had this opportunity, because it has been a unique experience in my life. I still am waiting to see how it will go in the long run. However, for the time being, at least, some sleep would seem to be the best choice in the short run.

OOOOOO....

Almost there-the holiday starts tomorrow...a festive lunch at noon, then off for a few days...if you don't count the phone conference for AKT2 at 4 o clock, and the entries that I need to make for that program this weekend, and the lesson planning, and trying to figure out what to do with the math class and the middle school and the freshmen, and etc, and etc...at least we get summers off...doesn't seem especially relevant way the hell out here right now.

I have a new assistant dog walker. She stays for the after school program, and then comes over to help with Dan and Buddha. She referred to it today as her new after school chore. She sat looking at the clock until it was 5:00, and not in an especially patient fashion, either. I finally got the message that my presence was required, and soon, at my house, so that she could get along with her duties. Her dedication should be an inspiration to us all.

It does sound as if the lunch will be fun, even if I get to be a server. I expect that I will enjoy that.

A series of blogs are breaking out around the school, which may lead to a need for vaccines...perhaps the government will make supplies available for all...but watch out for the side effects...I wonder how many people will read the student blogs. I know that I will be interested to do so.

Short Week...

I just keep telling myself that...the gf is feeling pukish, and I am into another day of not feeling it. I don't expect great concentration from the young 'uns as the week gets shorter, and the pressure is nonetheless there to do something creative with them. I understand the teachers who mostly show movies sometimes, although I think it is a bad idea. I hope that maybe the resistance will diminish somewhat after Christmas, when they see that I did return. The turnover problem out here really leaves a strong residue of skepticism, which I understand, but don't especially like.

Happy 200!!

Whoopeee!!! It's time for a big celebration!!! Post number 200!!!!! Unfortunately, there are no wonderful prizes to give away or anything like that.

I would like to welcome the newest reader of this blog. WELCOME! Glad to have you along for the deranged mutterings of a 55-year old guy who hangs around with middle and high school students all day. Actually, most of them are pretty nice kids. Even most of the ones that I wish to drag off to the swamps on a regular basis. I am still trying to figure out exactly what I was thinking when I decided to come here. The good news is that I think that it was probably a good idea. Mostly.

The middle-schoolers (I am tired of typoing junoir-high) were a real exercise in foolishness today. Mondays can be treacherous, and this one was no exception. If it came to a choice between rational behavior and idiocy, they pretty much chose the latter without fail. Even many of the good ones were sketchy, and the middle of the roaders were just nuts.

The site administrator is thinking about shifting the times for reading and writing to later in the day sometime. He is thinking of moving Yup'ik to the morning, as the kids seem to like it. We shall see.

High schoolers were pretty much better, and that seems to be getting pretty consistent with the freshmen. Of course, about half of that class has moved elsewhere now.

I must be moving on, as it is nearing 9:00 pm, and DishBitch has yet to make his appearance. LaundryBitch has already done his thing. Hope that all of you enjoy our 200th post here at No Roads...

Not Feelin' It This Morning...

I was looking forward to a short week, but I definitely got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. The title of the post tells it all...it is just not working for some reason today. I dread leaving the house. Things feel claustrophobic. It's weird how quickly my outlook can change in this job. I hope to make things better as the day goes on. I probably just need to focus on the minute-to-minute, rather than thinking about the day as a whole, or it will seem overwhelming.

Lazy Sunday

MMM, sleeping in...the melatonin does a nice job of regulating my sleep now, and that is a thing that I am happy about. There is not a whole lot of things to do today, as it is a short week, and I have material for lesson plans left over from last week. I have a quick meeting this afternoon, and I guess that will be it. The dishes could stand washing, but not much else is pressing.

We have two and a half days this week. We will have a community dinner for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, and I plan on helping serve. Maybe I will get some pictures from that for a post.