The first job I selected for the fourth district I am now in may still be coming, but the second job was a two-day job for 8th grade language arts.  It was at the school where I know a few of the kids from my church.  As it turns out the school is only about a half mile from my church too.  I noticed on the map that this school was comprised of two buildings: an elementary and a junior high school.  As such, I did not expect to run into them since they are in elementary.  As it turns out, the schools were connected and there is some shared space such as the cafeteria.  I still didn’t run into them on the first day though.  It was actually the second day when I was entering the building that I saw two of them.  They were early because they were doing broadcasting, which is becoming increasingly common in schools these days.  At this school I would guess the elementary and junior high sides share this as well, with the elementary using it in the morning and the junior high in the afternoon during their homeroom.

This day was divided into two-period blocks again, another common thing in junior high/middle school that I did not have when I was in junior high.  Reading and other english classes were separate.  Would you believe I had a dedicated spelling class in 6th grade?  “What class do you have next- math?  Gym?  Social studies?”  “No, I have spelling.”  I don’t even recall what we did all week outside of the pre- and post-tests.  I do remember some of the tests were verbal though, and not a fun game like sparkle either.  There was one time they gave me the word “anxiety” and I mumbled something like “angziety” but when asked to repeat myself louder I changed my answer and got it right- total luck.

The first two blocks were 8th grade as the job description promised.  On Thursday they had a test which followed the daily “caught ya”  sentence correction.  Easy enough for me.  Following that we started an Edger Allan Poe story in their books.  Rather than reading it together there was a CD recording.  Unfortunately this was so soft the room had to be absolutely silent in order to hear the reader.  We only got through a few pages of this.  I tried to play it on the DVD player and see if it came out any louder through the TV than the portable CD player, but oddly enough the DVD player didn’t recognize the CD.  Did it only play DVDs?  First time I’ve ever encountered a DVD player that didn’t play CDs, unless it was just this one for some reason.

The last block was 7th grade.  They started the same way, with a daily sentence and a test.  The same test in fact as eighth grade.  Huh?  She gives the same lesson to both grades?  Well, not in every case as it turns out.  Following the test we did vocabulary and were supposed to do a worksheet on symbolism in poetry afterward, though we ran out of time before finishing the vocabulary.

Between these blocks was the 4th period lunch, starting at 10:07.  I guess I should really say breakfast.  Remember I mentioned the two schools sharing some space?  Well this early lunch was a consequence of that.  I am pleased to say I didn’t truly get a chance to eat until 1:30.  The teacher I was subbing for only had the first and last periods of (not counting homeroom, which follows the last period).  She apparently has lunch duty during 4th.  As the general rule goes, if the teacher has a job (s)he gets paid extra for, the sub doesn’t do it.  If it’s part of the regular duties, the sub has to do it too.  Some schools pay a stipend for lunch duty, some don’t.  This one does, so even though I didn’t get to eat until late I was quite happy because this school is an exception to the rule and gives subs a chance to earn stipend pay in cases like this, so I did! 🙂

The last ten minutes of the day was homeroom.  That’s right, ten minutes.  Well, they had to fit in the broadcast announcements some time, and elementary uses the room at the start of the day, so enter homeroom period.  There is not enough time to work on homework in the last few minutes following announcements, so the kids get to chat.

Friday was similar to Thursday, except the plans were different.  8th grade watched a video, again on Edgar Allan Poe, and 7th grade finally got to work on POEtry (sorry, my bad attempt at a pun) once they finished vocabulary.  Following homeroom, I got a surprise: another student from my church.  He’s in 7th grade now, but when he was in 4th grade I had him on the weekends.  He should have been with me for 5th grade too, except he was allowed to start going to the church’s junior high program for some reason I never fathomed.  Ironic, considering as far as school is concerned this district doesn’t start junior high until 7th grade.  I was going to mention this to his dad since I volunteer with him, but he wasn’t there this weekend.

So, how was your week? 🙂

That’s right!! This weekend on two different channels broadcast from the same city, they are having a Holiday Music Preview in preparation for their annual 24/7 marathon of merriment which begings the day after turkey and all the way through December 25th.  One of the tunes is one in a long series of parodies to the immortal classic “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”  Entitled “The Twleve Pains of Christmas,’ Bob Rivers and his Chorus (thank you to the digital radio dispplay that lists the title, artist, and year (on occasion) lists the things that most annoy them about the season.  One of the voices is a dead ringer for Archie Bunker who hates hangovers.  While I do love carols, novelty songs, all the best in Christmas melodies, it IS TOO EARLY for them.  I can only imagine the people who listen to the All Christmas Channels All The Time All Year Long (of which there is at least one.  I have also heard some of my favorites already which I had to give listen to.  “Snoopy’s Christmas,”(Snoopy vs. The Red Baron… nothing to do with A Charlie Brown Christmas)  “Hippopatamus For Christmas,” “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.”  I will post later about some of my favorite traditional carols down the road.  OK, OK… admittedly, I have not changed my car radio all weekend, but I still do think it is too early.  So, I think my title should be included in a new take on the song.

I tend to be up late at night writing these blogs. Recently I’ve been using my little computer light instead of the room light. This gives me just enough light to find the special keys on the keyboard that I don’t have a feel for in touch typing. Working with computers for the past 20+ years has given me some comfort with the keyboard, but I still have to look for keys on occasion.

Anyway what I’m really trying to say is that I write a lot in the dark. With the darkness surrounding me, my thoughts tend to follow a different path. Outside of the little circle of light near the computer the rest of the room is dark. I listen to the sounds of the evening. The dog shifting in his sleep, the frog gently croaking in his tank, his crickets with their serenade until supper time. 😉 Even a daughter shifting in her sleep makes noise from the next room over. Trains can be heard in the distance. I’m sure if I would open a window, the owls would be audible in their late fall hunts.

For the most part I find the dark peaceful. My mind can wander were it wants. Thought of friends, family, ghosts from the past can and do fill my brain. I can think of many wonderful events in the world of science, theater or movies. Books may take up my time, and lesson my words here. This, I think is a way for me to rest. My dream state while being awake. I’ve often wondered how I can get by on so little sleep. I do tend to make up for it on the weekends, but I’m usually around 9:00 or so (believe me that is well past my 6:00am wake up during the week). Even when 2:00 rolls around, I find my self full of thoughts and a busy mind.

Tonight I still have thoughts running in my brain. Thoughts of strange beasts, and burning estates (it was a game people!!!) Thoughts of having fun with friends. Odd little thoughts that I need to work out. All thoughts in the dark.

Thoughts in the dark to lead me in lifel
Thoughts to clear my head and mind.
Thoughts of the here and now
Thoughts of the past and then
Thoughts that may take me to the light.

Tonight, a great friend and I went to see my niece and nephew in their elementary school’s production of Schoolhouse Rock, Live! Ok, so it was the juniorfied version of the show. phooey!  A year ago our community theatre did a production of the full 21 song-filled show in which I was the central character, Mr. Mizner, on his first day as a teacher.  The 80 kids on stage tonight delivered a very fun, energetic (but shortened) version.  The kids were broken down into four groups each of which were on stage in turn  during certain songs (you try putting 80 kids on stage at the same time).  I attempted to find my two stars and easily spotted Elizabeth when she was on stage.  However, my godson, Joshua, decided to hide himself whenever possible.  BUT, I did catch him getting into the dances a few times.

I was pretty impressed with the work put into the show.  Lots of high energy (as it should be) and choreography that even I could have done.  There were only eleven of the songs from the full version present.  I was surprised that “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly” was not included.  I thought that the kids could have done a good job with that and had fun.  Most disappointing, to me anyway, was the absence of “The Tale of Mr. Morton.”  But, as Megan pointed out repeatedly… “It’s the JUNIOR version… j-u-n-i-o-r!!!”  I thought… ok, but… I don’t see why I got to sing the song and the young man playing Tom did not.  THAT IS HIS BIG NUMBER.  I would have been disappointed if I were him and did not get to sing it.  The kid did a good job in the part, but he could have shown a little bit more apprehension at the beginning.

Tonight’s version of “Do the Circulation” featured a soloist resembling Elvis Presley singing the song and doing some moves.  This was a fun bit, but I liked our idea of turning the cast members into gym equipment (treadmills, weight benches, etc) and having the kids in the choir operate them.  Since our version had a female singing the song, it would not have worked.

I also missed the added dialog that our wonderfully gifted and talented director and awesome friend added to the show for a more cohesive and flowing plot.  Tonight, the constant raising and lowering of the lights between each song was at times tedious but I don’t suppose there was anyway around it with all the kids coming on and off stage.  I wonder how many parents had to be behind the scenes to corral all 80 of them.  Carol… could you have done THAT by yourself?  You only had 30 to work with.  Here is your chance to COMMENT on our blogs… hmmm.

A fun evening although our plan to eat at the Olive Garden before the show did not work out.  Promise Megan that we will go there reaaaaaaly soon… thanks for coming.  And you can comment, too.  I know you are both out there reading and lurking in the shadows 🙂 .

No one as far as I know asked the question posed in the title, but today I certainly felt that way, as the nerd that is, not the one asking the question. I suspect my brother felt the same way. You see, we went to the funeral of someone we have never met. As such, we never met her family either so I am certain more than one person was wondering, “Who are they?”

Let me start at the beginning.  About twenty years ago my uncle met a woman and her family.  Eleven years ago they started seeing each other.  They never did get married, so I can’t call her my aunt, but they were close just the same.  In all that time none of us were ever introduced to his girlfriend; I’m not sure why.  A couple of months ago she was diagnosed with brain cancer, apparently inoperable, and was given a prognosis of just several months.  Then, the cancer showed itelf to be extremely aggressive and about about a week ago I learned her prognosis was downgraded to just a couple of weeks.  Less than a week later she was gone.

I suppose the wake yesterday would have been a more appropriate time for near strangers like us, but we didn’t make it so we went to the funeral today instead.  I pretty much went just to support my uncle and my mother as again I never met his girlfriend or her family.  She did leave behind several grievers though including children and grandchildren, so my uncle wouldn’t have been her first husband had they gotten married.  I must have looked like robotman at this funeral.  How can one be sad and grieved when he doesn’t even know the subject of the funeral?  Truthfully, as far as sadness goes I do tend to be kind of a robot at times.  Even at my father’s funeral I never broke down, and you can’t get much closer to someone to be grieved over than a parent (or child to put the bond in the other perspective), with the exception of a spouse. Needless to say my uncle was very grieved and like my mother with her spouse, JustJ with his, and countless others who have lost the one closest to them, he will not soon get over this (nor should he, if anyone thinks I am suggesting this).

The funeral was a three part affair.  We met at the funeral home and any who wished to were able to make last respects at this time.  Though I had never met her and thus didn’t need to see her body I nonetheless joined the line as we processed past her and out the door to the vehicular procession, the part that drivers everywhere are always thrilled about 😉 .  We headed to part two- the church where the funeral would be held.  It was a Catholic service, so I found much of the ritual unfamiliar and I found I could not join in many of the prayers.  Those prayers were either to Mary, to the Saints, or just prayers for the deceased.  As a Protestant I do not believe in any of those.  I pray to God the Father directly with Jesus as my only intercessor, and I believe once dead a person is judged immediately and then goes on to one of two places so therefore prayers for them are useless.  Prayers for the family and others still living on the other hand are more than welcome and I either joined in at these points or prayed in this fashion during the other prayers.

Part three of the service was the long procession to the cemetery.  It was at this point we made our departure and headed home.  My other uncle was also there and chose to stay so at least there was someone still there for my one uncle from his own family.  I do hope everything went well with it.  I expect we will be seeing my uncle and my grandmother soon.  My mother is very close to them both even if I don’t get close to my extended family.  She tells me there is a lunch planned for the near future.  Perhaps I’ll pay for it if my uncle will let me.  He always covers these things and it would only be right if he didn’t have to this time.

Tonight saw the return of our semi-regular game night.  I will not comment on the night itself but on one of the challenges I was asked to perform outside of the games.  Somehow, we got off on the tangent of James Bond.  I was asked to list all of the villains in the 21 (now 22) OFFICIAL films.  In order to set the challenger’s mind at ease (or else to illustrate my Bond geekiness) i will attempt to do just that and throw in a few henchmen where I can.

1. Dr. No (the title character… no real henchman, unless you include Professor Dent)
2. From Russia With Love (Kronstein (sp?), Rosa Klebb and her boot, and “Red” Grant with his evil watch, plus the first appearance of Ernst Stavro Blofeld… some of him… and his white pussy… cat)
3. Goldfinger (Auric Goldfinger and his industrial laser beam “that emits a light not to be found in nature” that nearly dessicates 007s manhood and his man servant, Oddjob with his bowler)
4. Thunderball (Emilio Largo… and again some of SPECTRE Number 1, Blofeld)
5. You Only Live Twice (Blofeld’s first full on screen role along with the beautiful but deadly Helga Brandt)
6. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Blofeld back for more along with the evil Irma Bunt… NOT SO LOVELY)
7. Diamonds Are Forever (Blofeld yet again along with the strange duo of Mr. Wynt and Mr. Kidd)
8. Live and Let Die (Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big, along with his gang of voodoo worshiping henchmen and woman)
9. The Man with the Golden Gun (Francisco Scaramanga aka… the title character with henchman Knick Knack (who you may remember as the little guy who played Tattoo on Fantasy Island)
10. The Spy Who Loved Me (Karl Stromberg and the first appearance of steel-toothed giant Jaws)
11. Moonraker (Hugo Drax plus Jaws gets a Dolly)
12. For Your Eyes Only (Aristotle Kristatos)
13. Octopussy (Kamal Khan played by Louis Jordan since someone asked… plus Mad General Orloff… I don’t consider Octopussy and her bevy of beauties to be true villains)
14. A View to a Kill (Max Zorin and May Day… deplorable)
15. The Living Daylights (General Koskov and Brad Whitaker (played by Joe Don Baker who would return in later films as a CIA agent)
16. License to Kill (Franz Sanchez and Milton Krest… plus an appearance by Wayne “Figgy” Newton)
17. GoldenEye (Alec Trevelyan and Xenia Onatopp who likes it onatopp… literally)
18. Tomorrow Never Dies (Elliot Carver and Mr. Stamper)
19. The World is Not Enough (Elektra King and Renard)
20. Die Another Day (Gustav Graves, Zao, and the most iconic name of any henchman, Mr. Kill)
21. Casino Royale (Le Chiffre… who once again nearly brings Bond’s manhood to an end)
22. Quantum of Solace (have yet to see)

Ok… ok… say what you will I can handle the jabs.  And, no I do not sit around and watch a Bond movie every night although most of them (with maybe 5 exceptions) are better than anything on television with the exception of Thursday nights and Saturday and Sunday afternoons).  Now… how many did I cheat on?  Honestly, Two.  Maybe next time I should go through the names of the Bond babes.  My favorite villain:  I really enjoy Goldfinger’s over the top character and evil scheme.  Thank you Mom and Dad for introducing me years ago when I used sneak down and ended up sitting at the top of the stairs and listening when they would play on regular tv (edited for broadcast and all) past my bedtime.

Unlike previous posts of mine, this one is being written to compliment the status of gas prices these days.  Here in NW Ohio, we ‘re paying $1.99 for gas – it was actually weird looking to see a 1 up there on the price board at the gas station.

But I’m really happy about it, of course, seeing how gas prices have been cut in half from only a short time ago.  All of a sudden, it’s taking me twice as long to pump gas – but I am NOT complaining!  Also, it’s now feasible to round up to the next dollar amount when topping off your car’s gas tank.  Did you notice that when gas prices were so high, one squeeze of the gas pump cost, like 6 or 7 cents?  If I wanted $15 worth of gas and I stopped the pump at $14.96 or above, there was no way to get it so I’d be paying the $15.  One squeeze of the pump and my total was now $15.03 or above all of a sudden!  So now, even though it takes me twice as long to pump gas, I appreciate being able to choose a dollar amount to spend and be able to stick to it.  And when I was in Illinois last weekend, I asked my grandpa what he remembers the gas prices being when he owned his gas station way back when.  I don’t know what year he was talking about, but he said he remembers gas being 19¢ per gallon!

What was the reason for the sky-rocketing gas prices, and how did the problem seemingly fix itself?  Something to do with politics, I’m sure, but I don’t really care as long as they keep getting lower.  Since I spent so many posts complaining about the gas prices when they were horrible, I thought I’d try to send out a little bit of good karma by noticing and sharing my appreciation for the low gas prices we have now – cross your fingers that they’ll stay!

Life is a journey, be it driving down the highway, or sailing the seas. Not always a smooth journey, or the most pleasant, but it is the the path we must take.

For me the journey is made easier by those who share my path. Our paths converge and diverge with others all through our lives. We call these people family, friends, coworkers, associates, enemies. Do the paths just cross, or do they stay together for a long time.

Pass my way, or I can go yours. We can laugh. We can cry. Most of all we can share.

Life is a journey, make the most of it, for we can’t ever go back to the beginning.

Look back to see who you are, look forward to see who you will become. Life is a journey, pass this way with me.

My dad got home from the hosptial this afternoon (HOORAY!!).  I think Mom was getting annoyed driving the 45 minutes to see him sleep and mumble through the day.  Yesterday, the doctor was concerned that Dad’s blood pressure was erratic (at times high at others low).  Mom asked the doctor when he might be coming home and he just looked at her as if to say… “You must be joking.”  So today, after her shortened day in the beauty shop, she set out again.  Apparently, Dad was better, blood pressure stablized, everything good.  Being a good boy for a change.  Terrible patient.  When I got home from work, it was as if he hadn’t just gotten out of the hospital.  He was walking around, bending over, picking things up off the floor.  I asked Mom if he should be doing this.  The only restriction he has is on driving.  I will not be surprised to see him go across the street tomorrow to do his school crossing guard duty.  The town was SUPPOSED to get someone to do it for him the last 4 days, but I was informed that some of the time no one was there… How nice.  It’s like I’m sure the whole town knows what is going on with him (the town is not that big) plus Mom called yesterday to tell them that e would not be doing it today.  Oh, well… at least he is home and things will get back to normal… whatever that is.  BTW… thank you all for the warm wishes and support.  Knowing that all my loyal friends and readers are thinking of us sure helps a lot… you are all “The Best.”

Wednesday was one of those specials days. That is, subbing for a gym teacher. But first, let me talk about the days before this one. Monday, I took a full day job at one of the furthest schools from me. It was a bit of a mixed bag as well as a slight disappointment. I knew this was an 8th grade teacher so I was prepared for that. What I wasn’t prepared for was the fact that this was a half-day job that was mistakenly entered in as a full day, so I ended up only working half the day. Actually only a couple of hours. This allowed me time to seek a half-day elsewhere, but I didn’t find one. I did find a half day for Tuesday and took it knowing that a job would be hard to find that day since most school districts had off for Veteran’s Day, but not for Monday afternoon. The mixed bag for this day was the teacher taught both mat and science. When he came back, he taught social studies. Jack of all trades here, like an elementary teacher? 😀

So next day I didn’t set my alarm as my half-day was in the afternoon. Just after six, r-i-n-g! Job assignment opened up for the morning. Cool. 8) So after quickly eating breakfast and getting ready since I had to be there in an hour, I filled in for the special-ed reading teacher at a junior high. Unlike my two periods yesterday, I had to work four periods. Breaking even I suppose. These were actually two block classes so it didn’t seem like four periods anyway. Then I was off to my afternoon assignment. Arriving there forty minutes early (it was almost down the street with a start time an hour after my end time at the other school), I sat in the lounge and had an early lunch. This assignment was pretty much like my assignment last week for two days. I met with a couple of groups of kids in the teacher’s mini-room, typical of some special ed pullout teachers, and went to help in another room later on. Well, I tried anyway- it wound up being another pullout. The last students of the day didn’t need me, so I had an extra break at the end. 🙂

Back to Wednesday.  The gym teacher was still there when I arrived, so he explained what he wanted me to do with the kids.  They started off with laps around the gym then moved into kickball.  I had 5th grade at the start, and they of course knew what they were doing.  The second class had a lot of home runs because the teacher set the bar for home runs pretty low.  At least for the older kids.  I’m sure with the younger ones the zone is fine, but with so many 5th graders kicking home runs it really needed to be set higher.  This reminds me of playing kickball outdoors when the weather is nice.  It is really different.  No walls, no ceiling, no automatic home runs, no ground rule doubles when the ball hits the basketball backboard…  Anyway, back to the present.  The second half of the morning was Kindergarten.  After they did their five laps, we practiced basic motor skills like hopping, skipping, galloping, etc before going into kickball.  From 5th to 5- quite a difference.  Now I had to teach them kickball, but they can only take in so much at once.  The real teacher will have to reteach them I’m sure, adding rules I didn’t cover.  There were a few who had played before, but to most it was a new thing.  The afternoon was quite different.  There is a student teacher in this class who was out observing another student teacher in action at another school in the morning.  In the afternoon, they swapped positions and came to this school.  Kickball struck out and the new home run was dodgeball.  Bad baseball analogy aside, it wasn’t regular dodgeball, but a variation with two medics on scooters (those square things on four wheels sat on by gym students across the nation, not a Razor if you’re wondering) who can tag their teammates who are out to get them back in.  Additionally there are pins set up at the back of either side that can be knocked over.  If all of them get knocked over, the other team wins.  During the afternoon I of course took a back seat in all of this, but when the student teacher inserted himself into the game, I just had to join the other team.  😈  Too bad I am terrible at most sports, dodgeball included, but it was a blast anyway.  I’ll have to join in more in the games on the weekends at church.

Today was 7th and 8th grade LA/Lit.  More on that tomorrow though since I will be doing the same thing.