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Sunday, October 05, 2008

I bought... 18 floss holders... it seemed to make a lot of sense when I did it. The internets... gah. Anyways, if you are reading this... you just spoiled your Xmas surprise.

I have been dogsitting my friend's dog this weekend. First, dogs are a lot of work. And how can one not feel terrible when our puppies are not getting their needs met? They are just so... cute. On the other hand, perhaps more work than they are worth... Peter suggested this might be different if there was a yard for the pups to run around. Second, I noticed that dog owners seem to be in some sort of club... a social network that we cat-lovers don't seem to have access to. During my under-cover visit to the dog-owner's club during a walk to a dog park, I think more people talked to me than ever. Though, when I told them that the dog was not mine, some people did sort of lose interest. haha. One guy at the park said that owning a dog was basically having to reorganize one's lifestyle. I can see that. I am not sure how my friend, this dog's owner, can do school, work and have any kind of social life...and be a, presumably, good pet owner.

We just watched a movie called Zombies Anonymous... genius.

Today, I made such yummy crockpot soups. :) Though, slightly less yummy than last time.

Harm asked if people ever asked about my occasional omission or additon of "s" into my sentences. I figured, if Palin can call things "cool" as a governor, I can occasionally speak like a lolcat. :)

Anyways, to give you an idea of why these flossers are so great... I have been flossing now for the last hour... on and off... flossing has just been made easier (and considerably more mindless)

Monday, September 29, 2008

Laundry day

Alright! Finally, I decided to cut the crap and do my laundry. I gathered up my dirty clothes, my big bag of quarters and drove the 3 blocks to my local laundry place. I stuff my clothes into 3 washers, two of which were front load and I think about a conversation I had regarding the front load washer technology. I put in the 2 dollars for each of the washers and turn them on. 30 minutes later, as the last of my wash are ending, I hear this annoying squirting sound. I look up to find a lady pre-spraying her clothes with some sort of spray, something that you are supposed to do with "tough stains" to add to the effectiveness of the... detergent... oh shit.

I get up stupidly and watch the last minute on my machine end and consider the options I have. I don't have anything planned, so I could technically wash them again with detergent. Though, I didn't even bring detergent, which would mean I have to spend money on that and another 6 dollars for the wash. I could just take the clothes home and wash them again with my detergent there... or, I thought, I could just dry them. Were the clothes smelly still? I picked up several wet articles and sniffed them. They smelled... wet.

I got home from laundry with semi-fresh clothes, hot from the dryer and then crashed out on the couch for several hours. When I woke up, I wondered what in the world happened, I don't nap. Especially not when I have things to do. Feeling a little sniffly and not particularly alert, I went to the kitchen to pop another couple pills... then I realized, and I turned the bottle around to read it. AW, might cause drowsiness! Nothing a couple cups of coffee couldn't fix?

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Weekend report and massive failures

It's amazing how much of life can be failing all at once, and how relatively unstressed I feel about it.

First, I have reported about certain car issues... also my bike is not wanting to be fixed, external hard-drive with life documented on it crashes, eczema flaring, wallet's missing, not to mention having felt pretty not-well most of yesterday. In fact, yesterday I felt so yucks, I had to leave my carefully scheduled plans (in the middle of the CAL game to laze around the home, wanting so badly to clean, sleeping early, and sleeping in. However, I woke up this morning feeling relatively well, hardly, if at all contagious. I spent the morning intermittently organizing, chatting and doing homework. Then Harm came over and gave me a DJing lesson. This was rather fun, though had some frustrating moments. We seem to listen to pretty different music, but I do now better appreciate his music... Harm then let me try mixing some of my own tunes... which was a complete and utter failure. Apparently love songs have no beat. Unfortunately during my search for the right slow-jam, I discovered that my hard-drive was not reading. I tried to think about the data on it which I have been hoarding for the last several years, music, class notes, some work documentation... photos... It's not hard to identify the photos as the only part that I feel any regret losing. Photos of my family, photos of college, photos of folk who aren't really around any longer... and more than a few photos of my toes (they are always available for photoshoots as it were) somehow, I couldn't get myself to find the loss devastating...

homework completion, house cleanliness, and overall contentment levels: relatively high.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Inspired

Today, we were doing some small group discussions in class when my professor, who had previously been wandering around the classroom said, "Looking at no one in particular, I can tell that very few of you did the readings" Everyone looks a bit ashamed. But she goes on to say that it is okay, that she understood and she would never want that to get in the way of our learning from her. She said that her intention was to consider the situation and make sure that everyone gets the most out of her class, regardless of whether or not we were able to get to the readings. Of course, what she said was a thousand times more elegant than what I just said. It embodies everything I'd want to accomplish as a teacher. Trust in my students, passion for teaching and trust that what you have to offer is worth your student's time. I don't necessarily think the same line of reasoning would work for our younger students, but the philosophy behind her telling us that is simply... exactly right.

I think as a teacher, and a person, who puts a lot of time and effort into my lessons, I would feel terribly distraught if my students did not do the work required for me to continue on with my lesson. I aim to be that person, who can keep in mind that the point of my being there is to help facilitate learning in my students, and not just to carry out my lesson plan.

It's weekend! :)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Teaching tales and transportation trouble

First, a quick not regarding my being a teacher. I love taking pictures and they recommend that pictures and videos be taken of you teaching. This is for journaling purposes and also to reflect on your own practice. I had my supervisor take some pictures for me. Let me just say, man, I look so uncool. I must be the most uncool looking teacher ever. I am not sure if anyone talking looks so uncool, but I have several pictures of me now, looking extremely uncool, with my mouth open, pointing at things.

Sometimes, I feel like a kid pretending to be a teacher. Sometimes when planning my lessons, I think that I work so hard on each one, that I must not know what it means to be a teacher, teachers have to teach every moment of the day... you just can't spend 2 hours PREPPING for one little lesson. I think that a lesson that takes that long to prepare, is either too long or better be reusable.

I got to my placement an hour late today because I had to drop off my car at the mechanic who I had diagnose my care yesterday. He had accidentally broke my mirror while backing up. He sort of fixed it, though it is not "as good as new" I need a carwash and I'm afraid.

Next, as my car slowly but surely falls apart, my bike is starting to function! I now have gears! Though, I had nothing to do with those getting fixed. :) Thanks.

I can't wait for this weekend. All sorts of fun things planned. :)