we're halfway there

Officially halfway through the first teaching year in the USA. It feels like time is progressing fairly quickly. I have yet to cover India or China or really anything east of Iran but that changes this week. I had a teacher in service day where I went to training to learn how to god I have no idea what we were supposed to learn though I do know we were slated for four hours of training and got through it in oh let's say 45 minutes. Basically it was, " We have only three more hours training at this than you so don't expect much." That was how the training opened and from there it was pretty much here is a slide no need for us to read it to you. Next slide we don't need to read to you. Etc. The good news is I was happily home again by 10:30. So after some lesson planning and reading i find myself both caught up with work and relaxed. A nice feeling to have midway through the year. On a side note happy new year (china) and go pats.

amazed

yesterday while riding home from work and a post-work week beer with a co-teacher, i got to see what must be one of the top 5 things I have ever witnessed in my life. I was biking along the ATT and was just getting to a bridge that is about a mile from my house and i was looking up towards the darkening sky and saw a shooting star, now i have gone out to the countryside to watch the Perseid meteor showers before and they are nice, but this was truly magnificent. Just stunning. the thing ripped across the sky, burning and sending chunks of smaller bits popping off. the falling star didn't burn for a second or two and then disappear it streaked across the entire sky, amazingly bright and glorious. I was and still am in awe. I wish everyone had seen it. It made me appreciate the beauty of randomness and chance. A lesson I will carry and try to remember for a long time.

holidays

as the holidays approach I realize that I havent been around the states for a a festive season for a long time. I am really lucky with the prospects for this year. I get to spend thanksgiving with my rents and grandmother in South Carolina(i know but one cant have it all) and the best part is i get to help make the turkey dinner. It will be my mother and I just like when I was a kid except this time I will get to have some wine while preparing and not have to sneak off to get intoxicated. I am actually looking forward to the turkey even though I havent been eating meat for the last 5 months. I figured that if I am going to eat one meal with meat it would be one that tastes the same as it did half my life ago when i last had it. I hope it is as good as I remember and not just nostalgia skewing the memories. Then it is to the other holiday. Xmas. And again i am in luck. I get a few days off from school so I will have time to spend Xmas with my favorite company. ME. I get to spend the entire vacation reading and lounging and generally doing whatever I want. Its perfect really. No one to entertain, no one to be entertained by. I couldnt have planned it better. Durham is amazing still, I have a few bars that i frequent, I have met lots of interesting people and I like the commute to work and downtown. 3 miles on a bike trail is ideal. Its getting colder and the mornings there is frost on the grass when I leave, makes me so happy to be on a bike where i can look at it and be awed.

pretty sure

The Wall Street Journal might be one of the worst papers ever. After all today they said this,
"In reality, the First Amendment guarantees the right to freedom of speech--to state one's views without government censorship or the fear thereof. It guarantees no one the right to make "news." Nor does it guarantee the right to engage in unlawful behavior with the purpose of "making views known." - Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577044352579113824.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I think I might have read the first amendment before spouting off about unlawfulness if I were writing for the Wall Street Journal. After a cursory glance at the actual text of the constitution.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
I think we can all see why this riot gear and pepper spray and rubber bullets are a problem. Those that occupy dont just want one of their rights protected. They want them all. Of course the Wall Street Journal argues that it is fine to say whatever it is OWS is saying, but how dare they assemble without a permit. Permits are not needed its our right as Americans to be here.When did the constitution become a crime? When will it stop?

lesson learned

I have been teaching a unit on West African folk tales. Generally they follow the same rules as other fairy tales, bad guy does something gets caught moral....
So we read one in class where a trickster cheats his way to marry the kings daughter and is found out because he leaves his water bottle at the place where he cheats. It is of course found out and the marriage is annulled and he is punished. Pretty clear message and moral i think. So I ask my students to tell me what is the story trying to teach, most of them got it, honesty, cheaters never prosper, the truth always comes out, but this one girl in my third period class when I ask raises her hand straight away. I call on her and she says," the story is telling us not to leave any evidence." And people wonder why I love teaching. That kid is going to grow up to be something what a way to see the world. Other than that I got my Praxis scores back. I needed a total of 149 to pass. there were 200 possible points. I finished the Multiple choice section in 27 minutes instead of the recommended 90. I wrote pages of answer to the short answer questions. I had gone out the night before and was really not in the best shape for the test. I barely scored a 196. I even know which question i missed. Ah well next time i will do better.

occupy

so without trying too hard I have been really busy. like not enough time in the day sort of busy. I am also a huge procrastinator and am not so much into the whole need for things. So with all of these forces at work I have gotten little done with regards to the house i bought. it is fine. like livable and I have had people over, friends, family, coworkers , randoms, others but it is by no means finished. i can actually list every single item in my house. a friend was talking about how much shit she has and her need to get rid of some crap and i mentioned that i could name everything including the # of pairs of socks that I have. they thought i was joking. I went through each room and listed off the items and they still thought i was joking. who after all has a bedroom with a bed, small nightstand, sheet set, and one pillow? I do. no comforter, no dresser, no mirrors, nothing else. Well long story short this coworker ended up at my home a few weeks later to pick me up to go out to a party and asked to come inside. I was unsure why but ... she comes in and looks around and looks at me and just sort of goes blank. I asked what was the matter and she says,"you werent kidding." and i was not. other than that i have a new bank account. MF bank. seriously mother fucking bank. ok really Mechanics and Farmers bank but still MF bank. How is the world not MFbanking? 1/4 done with this school year. time flies. will try yo keep up the posts a bit more.

help

somebody. So I had a strange experience with a woman in need. I was biking from my house back to the downtown and I was in a bit of a rush as I was trying to meet some friends for a concert and they were holding a spot for me on the lawn and as it was a free concert holding prime spots can be difficult. I was making a sharp turn onto the ATT and a elderly woman in an electric wheelchair was sitting still with her cell phone out. I looked at her and she pleaded "can you help me?" I stopped and asked what she needed. She had run out of power in not just her wheelchair but her cell also. She lived,"just at the corner" and could I ,"push her to her house" I am if nothing else a good person at heart so I locked my bike and pushed her to the corner. When we got there she informed me that now she could ,"see her house." It was another half a mile distant. It was about a thousand degrees out and I was already late but I couldnt just abandon her though there were more people around at that point so I pushed on and after much sweating and lamenting my kind nature i finally arrived at her home. I swear the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I finally got back to my bike and found 3 hoodlums standing around it looking at the lock and cable. I gave them a hard time and biked into town in time to catch the last of the concert but not in time to get a seat. Eventually I met up with the folks I was going to meet and had a beer, so in the end no harm no foul. But really who goes almost a mile away on an electric wheelchair that may or may not make it back and further why didnt she have a charged cellphone. To rely on the kindness of others is a bad policy, I dont know if I would do it again. Then again I would because many people have helped me when I was in a bind and I feel like somehow I can work it off. Its a hard life working off all the good that has happened to me. I should be thankful to be so in debt.

wild

The last few days have seen a bunch of wildlife in and around my home. Three sightings in particular. First, deer. That is correct there were deer near my home. I was biking on the ATT (American Tobacco Trail) and as I sped along I heard a rustling on the right side of the trail. I looked over and a Deer ran across the trail just in front of me, it was amazing until the second deer ran out following the first deer nearly colliding with me on the trail. I braked hard and swerved to miss the second one almost going off the trail, good times. The second animal was a snake in my house. IN my house. I was in the back room with the door open doing some work in and out of the house and when I can in and shut the door there was a snake, beautiful green little guy, about 18 inches long. It slithered out the back and onto the porch I followed and shooed it off the porch and into the yard where it slithered to the trees. I havent seen it since. I am not such a huge fan of snakes but this one didnt get all pissey when it had to go so I didnt mind it. finally a huge ant fight. Ant war really. There was a small hole in the deck which I had taken little notice of until today when I went out back for my coffee. I stepped onto the porch and looked down and it was covered with red ants. They were scurrying and biting each other and generally in a state of agitation. I quickly moved off the porh and into the yard for a better view of the action. Seems that ant team A lives in the yard. Team B in the hole on the porch. I guess team B did or said something to piss of team B because team B was attacking. They were up on the porch going into the hole and carrying out larva, and then returning to the yard. Team A was being slaughtered. Dead ants abound. I watched for a good 30 minutes as the battle raged. I wonder what happens to those captured larva? Are they eaten, raised as members of the victorious team? How did the ants decide that today was the day to fight? Was there planning did they have a meeting? Later when I went out back it was as if nothing had happened. All the bodies have been taken away, the hole on the porch is quite as always and the ants in the yard are again just milling around a few at a time. Just a strange thing to witness. I was going to get some insecticide to put around the porch to kill them but now I feel bad about it. They have a society that executes advanced maneuvers they took captives, they arent there to piss me off they are just there. If they dont come inside I think I will let them stay put. No harm no foul.

As an aside my matress arrived as did the couch and loveseat, and the house is coming along. The ivy has subsided and I have a bicycle. Life is good.

since i rocked and rolled

its been a long time...
lots has happened. I made it back to the US. I saw almost all of my family. I caught a bunch of fish. i ate way too much good food. and i moved. so now i am in my new house in durham. it isnt actually new just new to me. its a good place with friendly neighbors, close to the things i need and seems like it will be ok to be here for a little while. Things were looking real rosy when I was offered a job as a teacher however that went south with some administrative crap. Long story short i am still unemployed. also it is sweltering here in durham. like 100 daily and humid. this wouldnt be so bad but i have no ac right now as the house is old and the ac needs to be replaced. it is an investment so for now a box fan and sweat are all i got. also the back deck had no railing and the home insurance told me i had to get one if i wanted to keep insured so i spent some time building that. there are lots of things to do before i am ready to say i have settles in comfortably. I have no bed, i sleep on the floor. I have mo furniture so i cant sit except on the floor. I do though have an amazing case of poison ivy. it is horrifying. weeping blister on my legs, arms, torso, hands..truly uncomfortable. i took some medicine that should have helped but i just keep getting new spots of fresh ivy every day. the old spots dont heal they just turn bright red and swollen and then new blisters appear. on a plus side i learned how to install floors, bathroom vanity, toilets, and a few other things. I have another doctors appointment on tuesday to see what else can be done. probably nothing. but i will hope for the best. the itching is insane. it is like each separate area is connected to every other area. if i bump one against a door or brush against a wall all of the areas cry out to be scratched. its like they are alive and addicted to it so my whole body is constantly screaming to be itched and it never gets better. Needless to say sleeping is tough, hot, itchy, on the floor. Welcome to my new life. I will try to get pictures up soon. No promises.

excited

I was so excited throughout the night that I didn't sleep. At all. I get into a taxi in 45 minutes to head off. Happy, happy ,joy,joy.