It has been way too long since I scrawled any of my off-base musings in this space...at least since Thursday. It is another basketball weekend, which makes me a basketball widower again. I was last night, anyway. I thought it would be quiet and fun. It was more like quiet and a little lonely. I was content to live single for a long time. Something has changed.
This morning, I got a call asking if I wanted to come up to Bethel for the games today. So I hurried up and got some of my work for next week done.
Now the games are done. It looks as if we are going to move the kids by snowmachine. Two trips. I am staying behind. Basketball widower again.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Glorioski, It's the 300th Post!!!
This is where I need some of those goofy emoticons like they have over on Skype. Then we could have us a little internet party right here at N.R.L.T.N. That would be really keen! Then we could have a big sleep-over, and make popcorn, and stay up all night...
I actually am staying up pretty late tonight, even though it has been a really busy day. I am all pumped up, because I actually finished my to-do list for the day, got some classwork recorded, had a kid pass a test (gets me all excited), finished standardized testing with the 7th graders, AND got in a workout at last on our spiffy spinning bike. Nothing like energy to get you through the day. I find that I kind of have a little work set-up at my new desk. I actually use a student desk, which affords me a view of the door, and allows me to converse freely with any of the staff or students that happen to be passing, and that is a generally pleasant thing to do after the formal end of the school day. Of course, at our place, the concept of an end to the school day is kind of a fluid one. As I was leaving at 8:30, basketball practice was still ongoing for the boys, and one of our students was doing some catch-up work with her math teacher. It is possible that they are all crazy, and it is possible that I am slowly, over time, beginning to join them. (Actually, I think that it is beginning to happen pretty quickly now.)
What to do? My best guess is to enjoy it and live life. I have spent too many months resisting the insanity. Maybe a better idea would be to jump on the wave and ride it for as long as I can. After all, my 56th birthday is coming is less than three weeks. Who knows how many more I get?
I actually am staying up pretty late tonight, even though it has been a really busy day. I am all pumped up, because I actually finished my to-do list for the day, got some classwork recorded, had a kid pass a test (gets me all excited), finished standardized testing with the 7th graders, AND got in a workout at last on our spiffy spinning bike. Nothing like energy to get you through the day. I find that I kind of have a little work set-up at my new desk. I actually use a student desk, which affords me a view of the door, and allows me to converse freely with any of the staff or students that happen to be passing, and that is a generally pleasant thing to do after the formal end of the school day. Of course, at our place, the concept of an end to the school day is kind of a fluid one. As I was leaving at 8:30, basketball practice was still ongoing for the boys, and one of our students was doing some catch-up work with her math teacher. It is possible that they are all crazy, and it is possible that I am slowly, over time, beginning to join them. (Actually, I think that it is beginning to happen pretty quickly now.)
What to do? My best guess is to enjoy it and live life. I have spent too many months resisting the insanity. Maybe a better idea would be to jump on the wave and ride it for as long as I can. After all, my 56th birthday is coming is less than three weeks. Who knows how many more I get?
The Week Flies By
It seems so recently that I was having my little moment of gastric-induced Zen in the snow outside Joe's steam house, yet it is already Thursday. Many things to get done today in preparation for travel, and one last night to share with Chelsea before she goes off to chaperone with the girls' team to Bethel. She will be back for Saturday night, and then I am off for five days to Anchorage. It will be kind of lonely. We were laughing last night about how contented we can be just to be in each other's oddball company. It's one of those really inside jokes that no one else on the outside really gets. Not exclusionary, just hard to explain.
I find that I often wake up in the early morning trying to figure out some classroom problem or how to reach a particular student on that day. If I cannot figure it out myself, I will usually ask Chelsea what she thinks about it. She always has an interesting suggestion. I would be even farther in over my head if I were out here alone.
There is much on my to do list for today-laundry, lesson planning for next week, things to get together for this conference. I must also make sure to make time for the two of us.
I find that I often wake up in the early morning trying to figure out some classroom problem or how to reach a particular student on that day. If I cannot figure it out myself, I will usually ask Chelsea what she thinks about it. She always has an interesting suggestion. I would be even farther in over my head if I were out here alone.
There is much on my to do list for today-laundry, lesson planning for next week, things to get together for this conference. I must also make sure to make time for the two of us.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Hey, It's Wednesday!!
I have no idea-the title just came into my head and it is technically true, although I guess for most of you folks reading this back home, it is not.
Got through it-cold is simmering along. It needs to be gone by Sunday. I have to fly, and that is not something that I want to do with a bad cold. Ever. I have done it, and already one time during this school year. But I don't want to, and that is the main point. I have been working diligently on sleep, and vitamin C, but it just seems to be hanging on like those party guests that won't leave. Tomorrow night will be busy with preparation for my trip, and Friday night is basketball, which will keep me busy late (sort of). Saturday means regular and sub lesson plans, and Sunday I am gone. But it just keeps hanging around. I am beginning to fear that the damn thing will come home with me in May. That is probably a little paranoid. A little. Could it be like the tropical explorer who gets that case of malaria that haunts him the rest of his life???
Nothing like the melodramatic for me!
Got through it-cold is simmering along. It needs to be gone by Sunday. I have to fly, and that is not something that I want to do with a bad cold. Ever. I have done it, and already one time during this school year. But I don't want to, and that is the main point. I have been working diligently on sleep, and vitamin C, but it just seems to be hanging on like those party guests that won't leave. Tomorrow night will be busy with preparation for my trip, and Friday night is basketball, which will keep me busy late (sort of). Saturday means regular and sub lesson plans, and Sunday I am gone. But it just keeps hanging around. I am beginning to fear that the damn thing will come home with me in May. That is probably a little paranoid. A little. Could it be like the tropical explorer who gets that case of malaria that haunts him the rest of his life???
Nothing like the melodramatic for me!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Oh Crap...
The cold now appears to have become a sinus infection, so at least we've got that going for us...oh well, at least I can eat solid foods again. I thought I was close to a breakthrough with one of my more difficult students today, but the moment was gone in a flash. Oh well, persistence-perhaps it will pay off in the long run. After all, what other choice do I have?
The remaining two totes came here in the mail, which is a good thing, although it does mean that I have to carry the man-killers across from the school. We pack a lot of stuff into those little buggers, and some of it has a very high density...
I get my last observation tomorrow, in preparation for my last review of the year. We are already into the third week of the semester, and I will be gone for all of the fourth one. Time is beginning to move quickly.
Finally, I will again grapple with the weird forms that AKT2 has given us for documentation. I tried to make some changes to one, and lost the whole damn thing. Oh, crap!
The remaining two totes came here in the mail, which is a good thing, although it does mean that I have to carry the man-killers across from the school. We pack a lot of stuff into those little buggers, and some of it has a very high density...
I get my last observation tomorrow, in preparation for my last review of the year. We are already into the third week of the semester, and I will be gone for all of the fourth one. Time is beginning to move quickly.
Finally, I will again grapple with the weird forms that AKT2 has given us for documentation. I tried to make some changes to one, and lost the whole damn thing. Oh, crap!
Testing, Day I...
Yawn...my students were actually pretty tolerant of the whole thing, which is gratifying, if mystifying. I hate to do the "when I was your age" thing, but we actually had it better in that respect when I was a kid. I recall a standardized test being given every couple of years or so to see where the student had advanced. These kids are now on a schedule of at least one, perhaps two, and maybe even three different tests in the course of a semester. The efficacy of this approach is clear as regards the profit margins of the companies that prepare the tests. Given the level of moaning about academic achievement in this country, the benefit conveyed upon the students is more difficult to discern.
As for me, I was bored out of my mind. I wonder if tolerance for that is a necessary prerequisite for this line of work.
As for me, I was bored out of my mind. I wonder if tolerance for that is a necessary prerequisite for this line of work.
Where Have I Been?
Sick. Again. Enough already.
It began on Sunday night. I got an invitation to steam at Joe's place. No-brainer, right? Before I went, I had a bowl of salad at home. Again, no big deal...or so I thought. Early on, I realize that I feel really full and uncomfortable. My intestines are beginning to make not-so-funny gurgling noises...I feel kind of dizzy. I decide that I probably should stay out of the hot room for a round. Joe and I are sitting in the outside room and I move over by the door to get a breath of cold air, because the room is way too stifling. As I am leaning out of the door, I think that I need to belch.
You can take it from there. Suffice to say that I found myself standing outside in the snow, naked, vomiting vigorously. Everyone in the steam got a nice audio show. I managed to get cleaned up and get home, but the stomach symptoms continued through the night. I spent the majority of the day yesterday in bed, trying to sleep this thing to death. On top of that, it feels like my cold has relapsed. Monday was a pretty crappy day. Literally.
On top of all that, we had a meeting of our AKT2 group about the myriad of submissions that we have to make over the next year or so. It is worse than I thought. My feeling is that we get relatively little support and an immense amount of demands. I get enough of that as it is in this line of work. There. I got that out of my system.
Anyway, today is a new day, and I am going to work on optimism and upward striving. I figure that if I spend an hour a day on the AKT2 stuff, I can get it done without too much trouble. We have standardized testing today that I need to proctor, so I want to get off to school a little early to coordinate that stuff. Time to get back into it.
It began on Sunday night. I got an invitation to steam at Joe's place. No-brainer, right? Before I went, I had a bowl of salad at home. Again, no big deal...or so I thought. Early on, I realize that I feel really full and uncomfortable. My intestines are beginning to make not-so-funny gurgling noises...I feel kind of dizzy. I decide that I probably should stay out of the hot room for a round. Joe and I are sitting in the outside room and I move over by the door to get a breath of cold air, because the room is way too stifling. As I am leaning out of the door, I think that I need to belch.
You can take it from there. Suffice to say that I found myself standing outside in the snow, naked, vomiting vigorously. Everyone in the steam got a nice audio show. I managed to get cleaned up and get home, but the stomach symptoms continued through the night. I spent the majority of the day yesterday in bed, trying to sleep this thing to death. On top of that, it feels like my cold has relapsed. Monday was a pretty crappy day. Literally.
On top of all that, we had a meeting of our AKT2 group about the myriad of submissions that we have to make over the next year or so. It is worse than I thought. My feeling is that we get relatively little support and an immense amount of demands. I get enough of that as it is in this line of work. There. I got that out of my system.
Anyway, today is a new day, and I am going to work on optimism and upward striving. I figure that if I spend an hour a day on the AKT2 stuff, I can get it done without too much trouble. We have standardized testing today that I need to proctor, so I want to get off to school a little early to coordinate that stuff. Time to get back into it.
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