Law of Gravity

Friday was picture day. I've never before experienced picture day. The English teachers usually aren't out for it, I suppose. I can't imagine why... I vaguely knew we had to go to the cafeteria. I thought I knew the way. As I had first period line up outside, I saw another English teacher leading her class. I told my kiddos to follow them. Turned out, I would have totally gone to the wrong side of the building if that other teacher hadn't been there. Then she clued me in that I had to pick up cards to distribute to the kiddos. (The teachers are so helpful. They really are.) These cards had bar codes on them that the photographers scanned. That gave the computer enough info so the students' ID cards could be printed out immediately. After that, I became an old pro fast. By sixth period I knew the drill. I instructed the two kiddos that didn't have cards (the card system was great, but these things are never perfect) to bring their schedules as the photographer ju...

I'm slowly getting up to speed in this middle school English class. During the first full week (the first week of school was just Thursday and Friday), one of the major things I worked on was establishing some sort of routine. I don't have a lot of resources. There weren't many supplies left in the room from last year. (I've been slowly acquiring things. I learned who the keeper of the dry erase markers and paper clips is. So, I've gotten a few necessary supplies thus far.) The one thing the room did have is a working projector. And the teacher in there from last year left behind his laptop. Well, it's the school's laptop, but he didn't return it, so I commandeered it. But the laptop was buggy. There was some antiviral software that needed to be renewed, and getting logged in was a trial. I got help from the technology person, and things seemed to be working. The first couple days the computer asked for a restart a few times. I suppose since the computer...

It was the first full week of school. I am covering a "vacant class" until they are able to bring in a teacher for the rest of the year. I have three periods of seventh grade English and two periods of eighth grade English. Because of this, I got to do something I've never gotten to do before. I got to go over the syllabus with the students. The next day, the eighth graders had a writing assignment. (The seventh graders did too, but they are way more cooperative than the eighth graders. Good for me, bad for the blog.) They were to write a letter of introduction. It's their first writing assignment of the year. Every day I've tried to have a list of what they'll need for the day written on the board for them. (Some days I'm able to, others not so much.) On this day I had that list up. They needed a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. I explained the assignment. They got to writing. Only about half way through the period, one boy said he was finished. That...

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements.  😉 Have you seen the show Flip or Flop ? What if you had to work with your ex?

Oh my! What a week I've had. You may have noticed that I wasn't around much last week. I got slammed. With everything. And next week doesn't look to be too much better. Apologies in advance. Things should settle in another week or two, but until then, I'm just trying to keep my feet under me. First things first. I went from this... ...to this... ...to this... ...to this... ...last week. They started on Tuesday and finished on Saturday. And so, now it's finally done. Whew. (You may remember this all started in January .) But, as all of this is right above my bed, I spent most of last week displaced in one way or another. The first night I slept on the couch in the living room. The rest of the week I could sleep in my bed, but I had to strip it first thing in the morning and remake it when I got home from work, so the contractor could flip it up towards the wall and out of the way during the day. All the while, half of my bedroom was in the living room and out of the ...

Yesterday I whined about getting stuck with a vacant class. But this wasn't my first rodeo . Even when the sub caller told me it wasn't a vacant class, I prepped for the day as if it was. And that saved my butt. Because while there was a school-wide activity prepped for the first day, there wasn't one for the second. I decided to have the kiddos interview each other. It was a simple activity. I prepped ten questions for them to ask each other. Then I gave them a sentence frame to insert their partner's answers into. Finally, everyone got a chance to read their sentence frames out loud. The seventh graders did very well. The most popular wish was to ask for more wishes. I was surprised how many students considered Alfredo their favorite food. One student told how his partner had gone to Ohio over the summer. The partner clarified that he had actually gone to Idaho. The eighth graders... Yeah. Um. They finished interviewing each other. That was cool. However, we did not ...

When I write next year's end of year post, I get to write this sentence: I did cover the first day of school (and this time, it definitely does count ). The thing about the first day of school is, teachers tend to not miss it. There are very few events that would pull a teacher out of class on that very important day. (One year a teacher took her daughter to start college. Another teacher missed because she was on maternity leave. Those are the only events I can think of.) This means, when one is covering the first day of school, one is generally covering a vacant class. Vacant means there is no teacher assigned. No lesson plans. Nothing set up. Thrown in on the first day with no support... So, when I got the call the day before the first day of school, I asked. "Is this a vacant class?" I was told it wasn't. Okay, so technically it wasn't. In actuality... The official teacher is on a leave of absence. His replacement (long term sub) couldn't start until Mond...

The other day as I was clearing out some old papers, I found some blog posts that I'd never posted. I wrote them down with the intent of putting them on the blog, but then... I suppose something more interesting happened that week. That's my only guess. "But if I get another referral, I'll be kicked out of school." He should have thought of that when he refused to step outside and stay outside when I told him to. "If I get another referral, I'm going to be sent to my dad in Texas. I don't want to live with my dad. He drinks." And yet, when I asked him to stop talking so I could go over the day's assignment, he couldn't manage it. "I can't get another referral. Could you make this a warning?" And what were those three other instructions? The "stop talking"? The "step outside"? The "go back where I told you to go"? And what about continuing ot talk after I said he'd get a referral for disobeyi...

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements.  😉 What if you had unlimited wishes? (I had the kiddos ask each other what one wish they'd make, and most wished for unlimited wishes. So, why not?)

The windmill bag was moving along a lot quicker than I anticipated. Right after taking the pictures I used in last weeks blog post , I started on the assembly. Stitching together the bottom went quickly. Before I knew it, I was stitching up the sides. I thought about what sort of border I wanted for the top. I started one round, and then decided that that was enough. I threw it in the wash. I was doing laundry, and I'd get to the straps/handles soon enough. And then school started. *insert screeching brake noise here* So, yeah, I expected to have a finished bag to post today. It's mostly finished, as you can see. The straps/handles won't take terribly long. But I just have a whole lot less time at the moment to work on them. The bag turned out bigger than I expected. Here's a view of the inside... So, overall, I'm pleased. (I didn't really block the thing, that's why the pictures appear lumpy. I'm not going to bother blocking it as it's just for me, ...

This week's quiz is more general... Answer These 30 General Knowledge Questions The three minute time limit is really short, but the questions are fully visible before you hit "play", so for those of you who hate the time limit, you have as much time to peruse as you need. And you can answer them in any order.  I managed 28/30, which isn't too bad. Let me know how you do in the comments.

The other day as I was clearing out some old papers, I found some blog posts that I'd never posted. I wrote them down with the intent of putting them on the blog, but then... I suppose something more interesting happened that week. That's my only guess. I heard the distinctive clatter, rhythmic and regular. I didn't have to see it to know what it was. "Could you please put the Tech Deck away?" Ten minutes later, I heard it again. I went to confiscate. "You told me to put it away. I did. You didn't say how long to put it away for." Semantics. Really? "Besides, you said 'can' and 'please'. So it was more of a request..." So, because I was polite and didn't bark it out, he was going to continue playing with his toy? Deep sigh. I clarified my position on toys in the classroom, especially when there was actual work to complete. I "offered" to keep the toy so he wouldn't be tempted to pull it out again. Freshmen...

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements.  😉 Have you heard of the Mandela Effect ? It's when you mistakenly recall events or experiences that have not occurred. (Definition via this website .) What if the Mandela Effect is us actually remembering an alternate timeline?  And I'm not the first one to think of this ...

I finished all the panels for my windmill bag: After seeing the inspiration picture again (for last week's post ), I decided they needed an edging. That's done too (as you can see from the photo). Now all that's left is the assembly. Unlike how I usually am with my projects, I let a few errors slide through. I could have fixed them, but I decided no one would notice (not really), and as this is just a rough draft (so to speak) of this project, finished was better than perfect. But, I will point out the errors. 1. Half way through this panel, I changed how I did the increase stitches. If you look closely, the bottom looks different than the top: It was the first panel I made. I could have ripped it out and started over. If I had done that, I don't think I would have continued. 2. After I finished that first panel, I raided my yarn stash for other colors to use. As I finished the second panel, I decided to stick to only four different color yarns. But I did not have enoug...

Feeling like you need a good groan? I've got some bad dad jokes for you... Complete the Bad Dad Jokes Don't worry, the punch lines are given. You just have to pick the correct one from the list. You can skip setups using the "prev" and "next". And sorry, it is timed. But you have six minutes. Take a minute to read through the possible responses, and you'll still have plenty of time.  I did manage a perfect score, but I skipped the first three or four, and I took my time.  Good luck.

The other day as I was clearing out some old papers, I found some blog posts that I'd never posted. I wrote them down with the intent of putting them on the blog, but then... I suppose something more interesting happened that week. That's my only guess.  I remember being very annoyed with this boy. But somehow the act of writing this out dispelled much of my anger. I can't tell you when this happened, but it was at least two years ago.  "Remember me? I was in the first class you ever subbed." Me: "Really? You were in the 11th grade history class at [different high school] in [different city which is two hours away]?" "No, I was in the first class you subbed here." I made some joke about how he'd been in high school an awfully long time. I've been subbing a while. At least since before he was in school. The first class I ever subbed at his school... There are teachers teaching at his school that were students in classes I covered. (Truth...

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements.  😉 What if we didn't get assigned a name until age 13 (or 16, or 21, or...)?

Back in April, I posted this picture ... ...and I promised to explain when I had more of it finished. Surprisingly, I've been making quite a bit of progress on it lately. (I thank my little Arctic Air cooler . It keeps me cool enough so that my hands don't sweat which normally at this time of year curtails most of my knitting projects.) I have almost finished three panels... I'm making a windmill bag . I saw this image on Instagram almost a year ago. And I was entranced. I could do that. All I needed was four long rectangles. I started it in November. I got as far as you see in the first picture. I set it aside to work on Christmas and whatever else, not picking it up again until about two weeks ago. And since then, I've finished what you see above. (Well, by the time you read this, three panels will be done, and I will have started on the fourth.) It's coming along. I may finish this sooner rather than later. I also got some more pictures of the blue walking purse...

For this week's random quiz, I went to Sporcle and clicked on "random quiz". And it gave me a pirate movie quiz. Well, okay, then... Missing Pirate Movie Words Quiz It gives you a movie with one word missing. You click on the missing word from the supplied list. Do take note that there are "prev" and "next" buttons. Feel free to skip around.  I managed a 92% (22/24). Considering I'm not big on pirates, I find that pretty good. Let me know how you did in the comments.

Last week I went to the Orange County Fair ... There was lots of crazy food. Burgers with Krispy Kreme donuts as buns. Bacon covered pickles. Deep fried whatever. You know, the usual. As for me, I decided I just wanted a huge hot dog... I'm boring that way. We started off in the craft area. I've been contemplating making a shawl. I found some inspiration... And someone really knows how to felt... The first time I walked right by this frog purse. I only noticed it on my second pass... We also perused the jewelry makers, the wood workers, and the visual arts. There were some talented artists and photographers judging by the works displayed. Eventually we made it outside. (It wasn't the hottest day of the week that we went. It was probably the second hottest, however.) I felt sorry for this pig... She just kinda looks miserable. The sign behind her said she was due on July 30th (less than a week from when we went), so she's very pregnant. And it was hot. But by now she sho...