April 30, 2013

This morning the librarian sent out an email informing the school that she was working on the new book order for the library so if anyone had any suggestions for books they wanted to see in the library, they should let her know. I couldn't resist sending the suggestion of 50 Shades Of Gray, saying I hadn't read it but I assumed it was a good educational book on the various shades of gray, and all the kids could probably use a little more help in identifying their grays. I saw her later in the hall and she said she started laughing out loud when she read my email.

There were two MAP tests today, which were uneventful, and then a lot of regular lab stuff mixed in between tests. I also helped a couple fifth graders with graphs in Excel for their science fair projects and I scanned one of the para's car registrations so he could email it to his dad. And learned things about wasp traps with one of the kindergarten teachers.

I think it was yesterday during the third grade MAP test when one of the kids got a huge passage about different types of telescopes. She proceeded to take the next five minutes learning all about telescopes, pretty much forgetting that she was taking a test because she was more interested in learning new things. She called the teacher over to tell her about radio telescopes and the teacher reminded her that she was supposed to be answering a question about the passage. Later on the kid next to her raised his hand and asked me what it meant when a sentence had a smile in it. I looked at the question and just said “Simile?” He just said “Ohhh...”

Tonight I made spaghetti for dinner, which tasted just like it does every time I make spaghetti, and then didn't do a lot. It was a pretty typical night. YouTube videos, internet randomness, and a little progress on my DVR. I am almost up to Doctor Who from Saturday. I also did a test run for the potholders I want to make. I think they will come out looking pretty good. Fingers crossed anyway. At least if they don't, I won't have to see them again because I will be giving them away.

Now I am going to record my day and then maybe go to bed. Or read a little. Or none of the above.

April 29, 2013

Today it was over ninety degrees outside. It is supposed to snow on Thursday. I want the snow. For years I went back and forth, saying my preferred season was the opposite of whichever I was currently suffering through. Now, I am pretty confident in my belief that I prefer freezing over sweating. It is much easier to warm up than it is to cool down. I like wearing hoodies and I hate being hot.

It was a fairly uneventful day. There were two MAP tests which went smoothly. I got all of those scores entered into my spreadsheet shortly after the tests and I did a little formatting on my spreadsheet. At some point the principal is going to get me state assessment and Dibels scores so I can start making note cards for each kid. I'm still trying to decide how I want to do it. I almost think it would be easier to do it as a report in Access. I might start messing around with that more seriously tomorrow. I haven't jumped fully into it yet because I don't know if the principal is going to have me print them off on actual labels to apply to note cards or if I am going to print them off and then glue them to a note card. That will change how I go about the formatting so I don't want to put in a lot of effort and have it not work out.

After work I went to Hobby Lobby for yarn. They still only have the two blues that I am using for my blanket, not the maroon or gold, but I wasn't there for that. I wanted to get yarn to make potholders for two of the teachers at school. The kindergarten teacher has given me two gift cards (one for Christmas and one for para/aide appreciation week), and the first grade teacher made me cookies for para/aide appreciation week. So I figured I would thank them with potholders because they are fun to make and they are also practical. I just have to remember how to make them. I want to use the waffle crochet stitch, which I can remember, except for the turning part. I am hoping it will come back to me when I start crocheting. I can almost guarantee I'll have to start over at least once.

My mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday and she mentioned paying for the Kindle I wanted, but she mentioned that this morning and I ordered the Kindle yesterday. So I thought about it today and I decided I wanted a new office chair for my room. Currently I am sitting on one that is only a seat. No arms or back. It is nice because I can sit on it cross-legged, which would be more difficult with arms, but I think a whole chair would be more comfortable. So at some point we are going to go to Staples so I can test-drive some chairs. If I was a rich man I would definitely drop hundreds of dollars on a nice chair because they look incredibly comfortable and I would be spending a lot of time sitting in the chair. But I can't justify that kind of expense at the moment so I am hoping the more inexpensive chairs are halfway comfortable. If I had the room I'd hold out for a recliner but I think I would probably spend more time napping than being productive. It's probably good I don't have the room.

I think I might be closer to becoming an adult, asking for a chair for my birthday. My twelve-year-old self would be flabbergasted. I should be asking for video games and toys. I already buy too many video games, though, and I really want a chair.

Tonight I didn't really do much. I called my friend to wish him a happy birthday and we talked for a little bit but he was working on building his porch so we cut it short and he is going to call me back later. Though I plan on going to bed soon so it might have to be tomorrow. I don't know if it was the heat today or what but I have been exhausted since this afternoon. I'm going to record my day and then go to bed.

April 28, 2013

Today was a typical lazy Sunday. And I enjoyed it. I got to sleep in a little bit and I had a nap in the afternoon. Most of my day was spent messing around on the internet and watching stuff on my DVR. I made it to Thursday, which isn't too bad. I just wish I had more motivation to watch TV. Or to be more productive with the time I spent not watching TV.

Tonight I played LEGO Pirates Of The Caribbean for the first time since I played the demo. I still need to finish LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 but I'll get around to that eventually. I also have Harry Potter: Years 5-7, Batman 2, and Lord Of The Rings. I really need to play more video games. Considering how many I have.

I also played Blacklight: Retribution for the first time in months. I was in the mood for some FPS action on the PC. I played a few matches and totally sucked in the beginning. The first match resulted in no kills and in the second I got two. But then a miracle happened and I ended up topping the leaderboard on the third match, with twenty kills and fifteen deaths. That will never happen again but it was amazing.

Speaking of video games, I think I have finally decided to return the AverMedia Live Gamer Portable to Amazon. I got an RMA label to send it directly back to AverMedia but that would result in them sending me a new one. Which would be awesome but if the problem is with my computer, not the device, then I would have to send it back again and go through whatever process to get a refund, and that sounds exhausting. If I send it back to Amazon, I can get an instant refund and not worry about it anymore. I could also exchange it for another one, and if it doesn't work, just send it back again for a refund. Sending things back to Amazon is simple and a process I am familiar with.

But now I'm going to go to bed because I should have done that awhile ago. I feel like six o'clock is going to come way too fast.

April 27, 2013

Today I was at work all day. Well, at least most of the day. From 11:45AM to 12:45AM, with an hour break for lunch. I should have been there until 1:00AM but the managers decided to send me home early. I always love being sent home fifteen minutes early. There really is no point being sent home early that close to the end of the night. I was about to go around and shut off the projectors for the movies that were over and after that I probably would have had only a few minutes for the last movie to drop. I guess it's the thought that counts.

Most of my day was spent reading the book club book, which I came within eighty pages of finishing. And I would have finished it but I also read some of Scientific American, an issue I bought at least a couple months ago and never got around to reading. It is on the origin of humans and what makes us humans. There are a lot of interesting articles in it. One thing that I learned was a leading theory on skin pigmentation. It is believed that dark, pigmented skin came along about 1.6 million years ago, which coincides with humans becoming relatively hairless. The thought being that without the hair to protect us from the sun, humans developed dark skin as protection.

Now I am going to sleep. I have reached that level of tired where my blinks are turning into tiny naps and my mind is finding it hard to remember that I actually possess the ability to create words in coherent sentences. Sleeping in is going to be amazing and I have been looking forward to it all week.

April 26, 2013

Today was a pretty decent day. In the morning I read with kindergarteners and helped out with literacy centers. Then I had one MAP test. I spoke with the principal and at some point in the near future, probably Monday, she wants me to start compiling test scores (MAP, State Assessment, Dibels) for all the kids so I can put them on index cards. I'm assuming for their file. A bunch of busy work but I am kind of looking forward to it. It will give me something to do.

This afternoon there was a basketball game, kids against adults. The last time I played basketball was in ninth grade and dislocated my right knee. So I opted to just be a spectator. The classes were lined up on either side of the gym and on the stage and kids and adults rotated in and out. I think each class had one team except for sixth grade because there is only one sixth grade class. The best outfits go to one of the fifth grade teachers and my para friend. The fifth grade teacher was wearing sweats, a t-shirt, and a headband. The headband was awesome. I didn't even recognize my para friend at first. She recently cut her hair shorter so that didn't help, but she was wearing a tie-dye school shirt, over-sized shorts, knee-high striped socks, and a bandanna on her head. She kinda looked like a dirty hippie. There were also cheerleaders, two paras and the sixth grade teacher. The sixth grade teacher was doing it because she likes the attention and thinks she is young. I also think one of the paras was annoying her because she was stealing her thunder by being a funny cheerleader. I have no idea what the final score of the game was but it was a lot of fun to watch. The game was over right around 2:30 and after sending some PDFs to one of the first grade teachers, I had nothing to do the rest of the day, so I hung out in one of the kindergarten rooms.

After work I took a short nap that I wish was much longer. But it wasn't and I had to make dinner and then go to work at the theater. I continued reading the next book club book and also watched Pain & Gain. I missed the beginning but the rest of it was hilarious. During the first set the audience appreciated most of the humor but during the second set, the audience pretty much only laughed at Mark Wahlberg, completely ignoring most of The Rock's comedy. I enjoyed the movie though. Hard to believe it is somewhat based on a true story.

Tomorrow I get to work a double because one of the managers is getting married and half the theater asked off. I didn't even know the wedding was tomorrow until I saw the schedule and then was informed by my friend. I don't mind that I wasn't invited because the fiance (who worked at the theater for years) annoys me and I'm not a big fan of weddings, but I am pretty sure I have known the manager longer than anyone at the theater, including the fiance. It seems a little strange that I didn't get an invite but I guess we're only work friends. No problem with that. Other than having to work a double to cover for everyone who is going. That kind of sucks. I still hate the theater.

April 25, 2013

Today was a really long day. There were the last three state assessments and another MAP test. That meant half of my day was spent on my feet, watching kids take tests. Not the most exciting of days at work.

After work I went to my brother's last home track meet of the year. I stood with my dad and sister and talked while my brother briefly ran. His first race was at 4:30PM and it was a relay. He ran by us twice. His next race wasn't until after eight o'clock. We stood around and talked until six o'clock and then parted ways. I needed to go home and eat dinner before calling the new volunteer kid to see if we had a visit.

It turned out we didn't have a visit. He had Chemistry labs to work on or something and didn't have the time. Kind of a bummer because it makes me look like a delinquent volunteer but I had plans to hang out with my friend when I got back into town so we just moved those plans forward.

We went and got slushies and then went back to her house and continued watching season six of Dexter. I have no idea when we actually started watching that season but I do vaguely remember a lot of what we previously watched and bits and pieces came back to me as we watched. While watching we also had some random conversation. I am always up for random conversations.

But now it is late and I spent way too much time on my feet today. That is exhausting. Tomorrow is going to be an equally long day, not for the standing but because I have to work at the theater. I hate that place.

April 24, 2013

There were three assessments today and it kind of felt like I was testing all day. It made the time go by fast after it was all over but during it felt like time was standing still. Especially with the kid who takes an hour to take the test and then another half hour going back over every single question. He spent at least twenty minutes on one question the second time around. And he didn't change his answer. He should qualify for special accommodations and shouldn't be testing in the lab. Purely based on speed. He holds up the whole operation and the lab can't be used for at least thirty minutes (sometimes closer to an hour) after everyone else is done. He should be in a small room where he can take all the time he needs and not hold things up for entire classes that are wanting to use the lab. It's really too late now because his last test is tomorrow. One teacher was telling me today than an hour and a half is an improvement because last year he would take up to three hours. That is some very thorough, misplaced dedication to a state assessment.

In celebration of para/aide appreciation week, we all got gift cards and a special lunch today. I didn't plan on going up to the lunch because I tend to eat in the lab, but my mom brought me down some vegetables and a massive piece of cake that the receptionist made. She is known for her cakes. And for good reason. It was a white cake on top of a chocolate cake, sandwiching a bunch of fresh fruit held in place with frosting, with more frosting on top. And the frosting was homemade and involved white chocolate pudding mix I think. It was amazing.

The highlight of my day, other than the cake, was the second grader's life statue museum. For many weeks now they have been researching famous people throughout history. This culminated in them dressing up like the person they researched and giving a speech about their lives. They were each standing behind tables in the gym with a “Start” button made out of paper in front of them, and they would start their speech after you pressed the button.

The gym was a pretty poor location because there was way too much background noise and the kids couldn't really talk over it. I leaned down for each one but I could only pick out bits and pieces from each speech. I went through all but two of the kids I think and built the anticipation by slowly lowering my finger to the button and trying to catch the kids off guard. I figured it would take some of the tension away and they seemed to enjoy the levity of it.

My favorite living statue was a girl playing Helen Keller. She was the most animated out of all the kids with big gestures and dynamic changes to her voice. She'll probably be a drama kid someday. One of her lines was “I got really sick when I was little and everyone thought I was going to die... BUT I DID NOT DIE!” She said the last part with genuine, Christmas-levels of excitement. It was pretty great.

Dinner was Chipotle and it was pretty good. Not much to say about it really. I showed my mom and sister several videos and funny pictures. Then my sister and I watched an episode of Radio Respawn in honor of Sark leaving Machinima. He says he will still be coming back, pro-bono, to do Radio and Inbox but it kind of feels like when Hutch took a month off and then quit right after coming back. I imagine Radio and Inbox will survive maybe a month at most before it either goes away completely or becomes very sporadic, at least with Sark hosting.

The rest of my night was spent doing a lot of nothing. With no intention of actually playing the game I checked Black Ops 2 to see if the Nuketown playlist was still active. It was not. A little disappointing but my left wrist and forearm have been bothering me so I wouldn't be able to play it anyway. Woe is me. Now I am going to record my day. Maybe. And my yesterday. I'm falling behind.

April 23, 2013

Last night the stranger from Avermedia took over my computer for awhile. Nothing came of it but it was interesting to watch. He was doing all sorts of stuff that I had never seen before. I got an email this morning from him and apparently the thought is it might have something to do with graphics card compatibility. I still have awhile to return it to Amazon so I'll sit on it for awhile to see if the Avermedia people can come up with a solution.

Also last night and throughout the morning, it snowed. Not like it is the end of April or anything. Kind of nuts.

During the first assessment of the day a para came in to get an iPad. This was kind of funny considering it was the sixth graders taking the assessment and they are notoriously bad when it comes to being obnoxious with the iPads. At the time, the teacher didn't say anything but she did catch the para by the door when she was about to return the iPad and took it from her.

Later on the sixth grade teacher went to the resource teacher in charge of the interns and said “one of your little interns came in during the middle of my assessment to get an iPad.” So the resource teacher sent out a very scathing email to all of the interns, tearing them a new one, saying whoever got an iPad this morning knew who they were and who they needed to apologize to, and then forwarded my email to them about not getting iPads during testing.

Sometime after this, the resource teacher was talking to the sixth grade teacher again and asked her to describe what the intern looked like. As they were talking, the para walked by, and the sixth grade teacher pointed her out as being the one who came in. The resource teacher just looked at the sixth grade teacher, who said “That's not an intern, is it?” Nope. I think she may have been the first semester but now she's an intern. Either way, the resource teacher is not in charge of her but she still sent out that email tearing them apart. She came into the lab after lunch to tell me all this and was laughing really hard because of the mix up. She said she hadn't seen any of her interns since the email and they all appeared to be avoiding her. Probably not exactly sure who was in trouble. I did find the whole thing pretty funny and it is a good way to just randomly keep people in line. Granted it's with fear. It is also funny because the sixth graders are generally the ones responsible for interfering with tests so she really has no room to complain. The resource teacher was telling this story to one of the third grade teachers when she was in the lab and that teacher responded that the sixth grade teacher was just a woman scorned and was trying to get back at everyone.

During the second assessment I had another good conversation with the fourth grade teacher. My para friend peeked through the window at one point, with the same kid the para had this morning, but I'm glad she didn't come in for an iPad because the fourth grade teacher doesn't hold back. She will disrupt her class by calling out from across the lab and shaming you for interrupting her test. It is effective and gets to the point, but it is also mildly embarrassing. Anyway, I learned that the fourth grade teacher isn't that into animals. She currently has a hamster because their life span is two years and a guinea pig's is three years. She has a cat, and used to have a second but gave it away after it peed on a cashmere sweater. And she tried to set both of them free on the way here from where she came from because they were being annoying or something on the roadtrip. She set both of their carriers out at a rest stop and opened them but neither of them wanted to get out. She also instructed her son to just kick the goats away at a petting zoo / farm when they were chewing at his shirt. Another visitor was apparently disturbed by this and she was like “What? They're goats. They eat trash.” She is a very interesting person. She can be pretty funny but I'm glad she likes me because she can also be kind of scary.

We had the first MAP assessment of this round today and it went fairly smoothly. It was nice having something to do and I was able to get all the scores entered into my spreadsheet fairly soon after the test. It was second grade taking the MAP test and the teacher was a little annoyed right off the bat because the sixth grade teacher was supposed to tell her when they were done with their assessment so the second graders could come down and start their test. There is always one lingering sixth grader who takes an hour to take a test and then thirty minutes going back over every single answer and solving it again. So when it got down to him and the time rolled past when the second graders were supposed to come to the lab, I gave them a call to see if they were still coming. The sixth grade teacher never called or sent someone to let the second grade teacher know. Not surprising.

Tonight I didn't do a lot. I was going to see if the LGP would work with my Xbox, to make sure it was a compatibility thing with my computer and not a problem with the unit itself, and for a bit I thought my Xbox had crapped out on me. It has been getting noticeably slower later and a lot louder, so I wasn't too surprised. But then I unplugged the LGP from it and plugged my Elgato back in, which worked just fine. That is awesome because I don't really want to spend $300 on a new Xbox when the new one is coming out fairly soon. I generally wait awhile before buying new Xboxes when they come out, waiting for a game I really want that is only on the new console, so I would like to be able to save my money for that, and not buy a brand new old one. I guess it is good news that the LGP didn't work with my Xbox, maybe, because it means it might not just be my computer. Unless the weak link is how the software is interacting with my computer. I don't know. Again, it is more of a headache than it is worth.

April 22, 2013

The stranger didn't show up last night. I got an email excuse this morning and we are going to try again tonight. I'm kind of over the whole thing. I've decided if the stranger doesn't show up, I will be sending the LGP back because I'm tired of messing with it. If the stranger does show up and can fix something I am doing wrong or determine that the unit I have is defective and sends me another one, then I'll give it another shot. I don't know which outcome I would prefer at this point. I'm out of the mood.

Despite my feigned interest in TV and movies as of late, I want to marathon Arrested Development and The O.C., maybe non-stop. Summer is coming. The new Arrested Development is coming to Netflix next month and I would like to catch myself before getting a free month of Netflix and watching it. And maybe remember the good old days in case the new stuff is awful.

This week is para/aide appreciation week and this morning one of the first grade teachers brought me a plate of chocolate chip cookies. And the plate was shaped like a gingerbread man. It was pretty great. She gave it to me as a 'thank you' for all the stuff I have helped her with but I want to do something as a 'thank you' for the cookies. Not sure what yet though because I am currently experiencing a lack of creativity. We'll see.

I went down to read with kindergarteners this morning and one of them took a header into the bookcase. I didn't push her. She was ahead of me and looked back to ask if we could only read four pages. Then she tripped and turned her head just in time to hit the bookcase with her chin. I calmed her down a little bit but she wanted to tell the teacher so she did that and I got another kid to read with. I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up with a bruise because it was a pretty solid hit.

There were two assessments today and they were uneventful outside of having to get a new password for a kid because the one on his ticket wasn't working. That was kind of strange but whatever. The principal was at a meeting so I went down to the kindergarten teacher who was able to call her and get the password. And we all lived happily ever after.

I added in the the Duck Hunt dog to my Super Mario Bros. pixel drawing. At the moment I have him coming out of a pipe holding a duck. I think I am going to add in the Duck Hunt scene after the end of the Super Mario level, like have it transition in after the castle. Time will tell.

The City was working on something water-related a block from school today and they called to say there was a small chance they would have to turn off the water to the school. The principal made this announcement and said it would be a good idea to go to the bathroom just in case the water did shut off. There was then a mad dash to the bathrooms. It was kind of funny.

Tonight I didn't have a lot going on. I clicked around the internet and watched YouTube videos. As per usual. I am thinking of maybe seeing if the Nuketown 2025 playlist is still up. I probably will. TV doesn't sound too appealing and I am waiting for the stranger to access my computer for the LGP thing. If he shows up tonight.  

April 21, 2013

Today was kind of a crappy day. Not in terms of things happening but because nothing happened. I have the constant urge to be productive and an equally powerful lack of motivation. I hate the feeling of wasting my life. Which I am currently doing. And have been doing for years now. Like, at least five years. Which is a long time when I'm only practically twenty-eight. It is perpetually frustrating.

I continued to mess with the Live Gamer Portable and I'm chalking that up to just being a piece of crap. At least for me. Being an early adopter has come back to bite me in this particular instance. No matter what I try, nothing works. And it hasn't been around long enough for there to be a lot of videos or help out there on the internet. I'm still waiting for the forums to come through but I'm only going to give that a few more days and then I'm going to send it back. The workaround I found for the Elgato to capture PC gameplay tends to be hit-and-miss but with the LGP, which is supposed to capture PC gameplay out of the box, has been all miss.

I kind of caught up on my DVR but I am finding it hard to feign interest in television. I still like Psych but that has been kind of dark the last couple of episodes and I'm not a fan of conflict. Doctor Who may be good but again, I can't find the interest. When I am in a downer mood, I just don't care about TV or movies. I watch them and dislike myself for sitting there and watching them, rather than doing something productive. I've been watching YouTube videos but they are going the way of TV in terms of my interest level. It was announced yesterday that Mr. Sark is leaving Machinima, which is a bummer because I have been a big fan of his humor for the last few years and looked forward to all the weekly videos in that time. It kind of sucked when Seananners and Hutch left but Sark was the real reason I watched. And Hutch and Seananners have gotten back into making videos so I don't really have to worry about that. He says he will still be around doing Inbox and Radio but we'll see how long that lasts.

I have also been in the mood lately to throw money at my unhappiness. Try to buy a little. The Live Gamer Portable was kind of that but I was really looking for something to do this summer. A little motivation to play through all the PC games I have finally. Recording and editing videos would give me something to do and let me feel a little productive maybe. But that is falling through slightly. I also plan on getting a small tablet, most likely the Nexus 7, so I can write while I'm at the theater over the summer. But I haven't gotten around to doing that yet. Mainly because summer is still several weeks away and I think there are still rumors out there that it is going to drop in price. I want to spend money but I don't want to waste my money. A new TV is also on my list, one that could do double-duty as a large third monitor for my computer, but as I have mentioned, watching TV is not really my thing at the moment, and I don't really need a third monitor. Understanding the difference between want and need can be annoying. What I should really do is just put my money into my retirement account. And I plan on putting a significant about into that because I new year has started and I am able to contribute again, but I don't think I will be putting in all of my money. Some unnecessary spending will be taking place.

I have had the urge to exercise but I am more afraid of the potential kidney stone lurking in the wings. I don't want to aggravate it until after testing is over with. But exercising makes me feel better about myself. It improves my mood and self-image. Both good things. Which I can't really count on when my kidney's are currently waging a fear campaign against me. I can still do some pushups and squats, slowly, but I am staying away from situps. And any fast movements.

Tonight I got a response on the LGP forums and the Avermedia people want to remotely access my computer to see if they can figure out what's going on. Sounds potentially fishy but maybe they can make things work. Or decide it is the unit itself and send me a new one. I would feel better if it was the unit so I would at least have that excuse and not feel completely inept. We'll see what happens.

Now I am going to continue doing laundry, watching YouTube videos, and maybe record my day before a stranger logs into my computer and starts messing with stuff.

April 20, 2013

I had a somewhat productive day. I reinstalled Windows 7 on my computer. That took a bit of work because when I tried to run the installation CD via autoplay, I kept getting a message saying files were missing. The same happened when I tried doing it through the Advanced Recovery option. Eventually I think I had to boot from the CD or something. I can't remember. But I got it to work. Then I spent awhile getting things back to normal. Downloading programs, updating drivers, figuring out my settings. I eventually got it back to how I like it.

Then I tried setting up Avermedia's Live Gamer Portable. That was a complete failure. It took forever to get the driver. I kept getting errors, even though it said everything installed fine. The blue circle on the LGP just kept spinning, indicating it was still lacking a driver. Eventually that was solved but I still can't record PC gameplay with it. The software didn't seem to want to notice the LGP and whenever I tried the record option the software would freeze. I got the LGP because it is supposed to capture PC gameplay and I figured it would be easier than the workaround I used for the Elgato (which isn't supposed to record PC gameplay. It is frustrating. I've started a thread on the forums and I'll give that a few days but if I can't get it worked out I'll just send it back. The Elgato works fine for console gameplay and I can kind of get it to work for PC gameplay.

At work I came within a few pages of finishing The Book Of The Dead. I would have finished it but I ended up getting to go home at eleven o'clock, rather than one o'clock. And I was starting to get a headache from reading for five hours. The only eventful thing from the night was having to cancel the first show of Jurassic Park 3D because the projector wasn't working. When I walked by the touch screen on the projector, used to select aspect ratio and turn the bulb on and off, wasn't on. I restarted the projector and that didn't help. The managers tried unplugging and re-plugging the power cord but that didn't work. I asked about the other end of the power cord, inside the projector, but no one made an attempt to open the projector up to look. The manager called the tech guys and they had him open the projector up and check the power cord. Which ended up being a tad loose. Had I taken the initiative to open up the projector we probably could have had the first showing, but the managers could have also made an attempt to take a look.

When I got home I continued working on the LGP thing but made absolutely no progress. There is always tomorrow.

April 19, 2013

Today was another good day. I slept in an extra twenty minutes or so because I went to bed way past my bedtime last night due to picking up popcorn. I don't think the twenty minutes helped but it was still nice.

The catalyst behind the popcorn was for the kindergarteners to eat for snack, so my mom took two small trash bags of it. It was easier to divide it that way than to try to get it out of the big bag at school. I left the big bag in the lounge and sent out an email telling everyone that if they smelled popcorn, there wasn't anything wrong with them, but I hadn't brought burnt toast so if the smelled that they shouldn't be a hero, they should tell someone.

I also sent an email to the principal, responding to her email that asked if anyone wanted to be on an interview panel. I said that I did so I could ask potential new teachers about their attitude toward iPads. And what their favorite color is.

We had a character trait assembly this morning and as usual my para friend and I put away the majority of the chairs, with some help from the principal and one of the kindergarten teachers. The custodian showed up and directed the placement of maybe the last four chairs.

I read with kindergarteners this morning, helped out in one literacy center, and had my second grade reading group. They were still pretty obnoxious. In thirty minutes we looked up the definitions for five words, read three pages in the book, and one kid managed to write more than his name, date, and title of the book on his reflection sheet. Not a lot of progress.

I only had a few couple classes in the lab today so I spent a lot of time on my Mario thing. I managed to finish all of World 1-1, except for a few clouds. I think I might add in some of the birds from Duck Hunt. Then I want to start on Galaga above the Mario sky and Dig Dug below the bricks. Or maybe something entirely different. Or nothing at all.

I also went and hung out in the kindergarten room for awhile and got to see an old episode of Reading Rainbow. That was a great show. My sister and I used to watch it over at my paternal grandparent's house. And Laurel And Hardy at my maternal grandparent's house. Both very educational.

It was an interesting day in terms of school politics today. The principal emailed out earlier this week that she would be hiring new fifth and sixth grade teachers. The one sixth grade teacher got a new job next year so she needs to be replaced. I also think one of the fifth grade teachers plans on moving up to sixth grade (so we will have two sixth grade teachers next year instead of one) and his fifth grade position will need to be filled. Today, the other fifth grade teacher announced that he would be retiring, which means now there is a need for two fifth grade teachers. The librarian, who used to be a teacher, expressed interest earlier in the year of going back to teacher fifth grade. Which would cover one of those positions but leave the librarian position open. And apparently the elementary librarian position is going to be phased out after next near and become a media specialist or something. Several teachers were talking about this at lunch and apparently at least a few of them think that would be perfect for me. It would be more responsibility and more money, which would be nice, and it would be closer to what I actually want to do. That is all speculation right now though and I don't think I could even be considered for that job, but it is fun to think about it all. Also, there has been talk for months about my para friend becoming a fifth grade teacher because a lot of people though the one fifth grade teacher would be retiring (which he is). And if the librarian went back to teaching fifth grade, she would be a good mentor for my para friend. But yeah, all speculation.

After work I wanted to take a nap and I think I may have gotten a tiny one. It kind of felt like I was just laying there but I think I dozed of at least a little bit. At the theater tonight I continued reading The Book Of The Dead and started reading Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt, which is the next book club book. I also watched Oblivion, the new Tom Cruise movie. I liked it but I wasn't surprised by that because I tend to like Tom Cruise movies. At least the ones I have seen. Oblivion was a proper sci-fi movie. It was a combination of The Matrix, The Island, and Independence Day. And I liked the ending. And the two lead actresses were attractive (I think I would pick Victoria, though).

Tomorrow morning there is an employee meeting but I don't think I will be going. In twelve years I have missed three meetings. One when I was in Europe, one when I was in Colorado, and one that I didn't know about. Might as well add a fourth to that.

April 18, 2013

Today was a good day. State Assessments are finished for the week, it will be nice to have tomorrow off. Next week we have two classes taking their three Math assessments, two classes taking two Science assessments, and at least a few classes starting the MAP test. I'm sick of testing.

I continued working on recreating World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros., the NES version. Now I think I am going to have that on the bottom and then have the sky turn to night and have Space Invaders or Galaga up there. Or maybe just have the sky black to begin with. I don't know, I have a ways to go before I get there. On a slightly different note I've been watching a playthrough of Evoland on YouTube and it really wakes me want to play Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. I can't decide if I want to plug my N64 in or if I should try to find an emulator. I'll probably do neither.

I had a fifth grader stop me in the hall today with the statement “Question: Were you a nerd when you were a kid?” I said I like reading, video games, and computers, so I was a nerd and a geek and I still was. He responded that he didn't like any of that stuff but he liked Star Trek and writing stories. I said that sounded pretty nerdy and welcomed him to the club but then he said he had been a nerd longer than I had. I told him I was born a long time ago and he said he had used the teleporter from the original Star Trek. So I guess he wins? It was an interesting conversation.

At one point during the day the librarian peeked her head in the lab to see who was around and then came in wearing a mask and carrying a lighter, and asked if she had missed the bonfire. Hilarious.

There was an assembly today for the kindergarteners who had a performance tonight. They sang songs and recited the lines from a book. It was pretty great. I learned during the second grade assembly that I love little kids trying to do choreographed dances. The kindergarteners did not change my opinion on this. At one point they do there wiggle worm dance and some of the kids really got into it. They kind of looked like the inflatable dudes they have on car lots. At least on car lots on TV. I mentioned this to the principal afterward and she made an It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia reference. She just got cooler.

As always, my para friend and I put the chairs away after the assembly. Along with some help from a few other people, but mostly the principal. The kids had been helping recently but they all abandoned us today. My para friend brought up the letter I wrote to the President about needed a pay raise for putting the chairs away, to the principal, who wanted to see it. So I printed it off for her and she laughed the whole way through. Along with the email I sent out yesterday, she wants to know why I'm not a published writer. We ended up talking a little while about my interest in going to graduate school to become a librarian, how I spent most of my fourth grade year sitting in the back of the class facing the back wall, and how I stopped talking in seventh grade and then was voted Most Quiet senior year. It was actually a really good conversation.

After school we had a meeting in the library about the school district switching to Windows 7 and Office 2010 over the summer. They talked briefly about that and showed us how to archive email and backup important stuff to the server. My main purpose for being there was to make sure I could help people with inevitable questions in the near future. I learned that the librarian had an email in her inbox from 2005 and that the principal had 10,000 emails in her inbox (which she had recently trimmed down from 12,000). That is insane.

The meeting lasted about an hour and when it was over, I came home to eat dinner before going to the kindergarten performance. I went with my mom and sister and it was just as good the second time. I still love the wiggle worm dance. There were several parents filming and if it ends up on YouTube I might have it on repeat for awhile.

Right after getting home from that I called the new volunteer kid and then was accidentally hung up on. The foster dad handed the phone to the kid and said talk, and he immediately hit the End button, thinking he hit the Talk button because he also thought the foster dad meant for him to call me. He was confused. So I called him back and then headed over there. We went to Sonic as per usual and talked about Chemistry and Math for about forty-five minutes. The stuff he is learned all sounds vaguely familiar but I'm glad I don't have to deal with it anymore. I showed him something I figured out today, which may be common knowledge but I had never seen it before and it just sort of came to me while I was lost in my head during assessments today.

The thing I realized involved multiplying numbers by themselves, and how to figure out the next answer if you are doing it in your head and only know the previous answer. For an example I'll take 3x3, which equals 9. But lets say you don't know 4x4. If you add 3+4, and then add that to the product of 3x3, you get the answer to 4x4, which is 16. So, 3+4 = 7, 9 + 7 = 16. To go up higher you have 11x11 = 121. 11 + 12 = 23, 121 + 23 = 144, which is the answer to 12 x 12. I did it up to 18 (and just checked 24 and 25) and it was still working so I don't know if it always works or if there is a point where it doesn't. I found this pretty interesting.

Now I am waiting for the theater to close so I can go get a bag of popcorn for tomorrow. The kindergarten classes are having a free day because they have been working so hard to get ready for the performance. I also think the fourth grade classes might be having a movie day. I'm not sure if they were doing it after they finished the Math assessment (which they both have) or if they were waiting for the Science assessment, which is next week. Either way, I should have enough popcorn for the entire school.

April 17, 2013

Another day. There wasn't too much eventful about the beginning. I read with kindergarteners and then came back to the lab to await the first State Assessment. After getting everything ready I passed the time starting a pixel drawing of Super Mario Bros. Considering that is an 8-bit game, I am doing a straight, pixel-for-pixel copy. I found a picture, zoomed way in using Gimp, and started counting pixels. Rather than copying everything I plan on adding things in. I'm not sure what yet but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

During the first assessment of the day, several fifth graders came racing into the computer lab to get iPads. The teacher, who's class was taking the test, and myself were a little taken aback by this and let the first several get iPads but then turned the other ones away. The whole thing really annoyed me because I sent out an email awhile ago telling teachers not to send their kids to get iPads during testing because it is distracting. But it is still happening. So after the test I sat down and wrote another email. And sent it to the entire school. It was really only for the sixth grade class and one of the fifth grade classes but I have refrained from calling them out by name. The ironic thing is that those are the two teachers who would be the most pissed if someone interrupted their class while they were testing. Yet they have no regard for anyone else.

During lunch the same group of fifth graders came down and got iPads, again unsupervised (which I mentioned in the email, because they are supposed to be supervised). I am giving them a pass because they had a sub today but it shouldn't happen again. Mostly because right after that the Boys & Girls Club lady sent an email directly to that teacher calling his kids out and asking him to talk to them about respecting Boys & Girls Club property and students taking tests in the lab. Hopefully there were enough emails today to get the point across. I had several teachers and other staff members thank me for send the email and one asked me if I could send one out about kids wearing hats in the building. And when I was talking to the receptionist about it she mentioned how she wasn't going to miss the sixth grade teacher when she leaves next year. I also learned from her that our school now has a dress code for the staff because of the sixth grade teacher, who used to wear even more inappropriate clothing than she does now. Anyway, here is the email I sent:

–

Test times have been posted outside the computer lab for weeks now. During a test there are four separate signs on the doors to the lab, whose sole purpose is to convey the fact that there is a test in progress and that people should be respectful of that fact.

Today we had several kids race into the lab, during a test, to get iPads. This is unacceptable behavior when we're not testing, even more so when we are. When kids are sent unattended to get iPads, regardless of their age, they always race. The exceptions to this are rare enough to be insignificant. Ashley has previously sent an email regarding the fact that kids need to be accompanied by a teacher or adult when they come to get iPads or return them. This has also been a rare occurrence but I am specifically talking about testing.

If there is a class in the lab taking a test, the only kids coming into the lab should be coming to take a test. If you have signed up for iPads, come get them before the test or wait until it is over. The times are posted outside the lab and should provide plenty of time to make arrangements. Coming to get or return iPads during a test is unacceptable, yet it has happened throughout the testing process. It needs to stop.

Next week we will be finishing up State Assessments as well as starting MAP testing, which will continue through the week of May 6th.

This is the second email I have had to send about this topic and the next will be to belatedly invite you all to an iPad bonfire. Bring a mask because electronic fumes are toxic.

–

Between the last two tests today the sixth grade class came to get iPads, accompanied by their teacher, for the first time since we first got iPads I think. They still ended up inconveniencing the last test by a few minutes because they took awhile to get the iPads but it was better than them trying to get them during the test, I guess.

During that last test I had a good conversation with the teacher about random high school and college stories, as well as stories from when she was a new teacher and was having to take assessments for the first time. In North Carolina they apparently took things incredibly seriously with training and ethics waivers and multiple proctors. When she came to a town nearby they were way more laid back about things. Because it had been drilled into her in North Carolina, she insisted on having a proctor in the room with her during testing. The first day it was the computer guy, who fell asleep in a chair in the back of the room. The second day it was the principal, who also fell asleep in a chair in the back of the room. She also said one of the other teachers, rather than walk around the room, would just stand in the back and read the Bible. I'm not sure if she was trying to put the fear of God into her students or if she was just asking Him for a little bit of help. Kind of sounds like cheating to me.

It was Chipotle night so after work I went to pick that up. Right after I left Chipotle it started to pour and then the hail came. I started saying “shit” a lot in my head because my car is still new, and headed to my sister's. The drainage on that side of town is awful and I was a little afraid I was going to kill my engine in the deeper water. On numerous occasions I had water shooting out well above my car when I drove through it. It stopped hailing by the time I got to my sister's but I wasn't going to take anymore chances so I left it in the garage for the night. Better safe than sorry.

My mom went out to dinner with some girls from work and my sister couldn't come over because her dogs were freaking out due to the storm. So it was a solo Chipotle night. I sat in my room, watched YouTube videos, and ate half of a Chipotle burrito. With a three dog audience because my dogs were also mildly disturbed by the storm. Dogs.

Right now I am listening to the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, which I looked up on Spotify after seeing a Coachella video of them on YouTube. They are good times. Soon I will be recording my day with my microphone. That is still going well. I am getting more comfortable with it.

April 16, 2013

 No news on the potential kidney stone front. I guess that is a good thing but it also means I am back to living in fear. I am always kind of on alert because I know that at any time a stone can decide to start the journey out but I am getting better at pushing that to the back of my mind. When stuff like yesterday happens, however, I kind of have to go on full alert. I took my heating pad to work today just in case but didn't have to use it. I really want to exercise but I'm afraid to move around or exert myself too much because as mentioned yesterday, it is an inconvenient time for a kidney stone.

Today was fairly uneventful. At least from what I can remember. There were three state assessments and those were a joy as always. The first class was supposed to come in at 10:15 but I don't think they get out of gym until 10:15 so they didn't actually make it to the lab until after 10:30. That was kind of annoying. I sat in the lab and read my book to pass the time but it just seems like a lack of respect for me and my time. Life goes on.

The second assessment was originally bumped up to 1:00 because the teacher was supposed to be leaving for something at 2:00. The kindergarten classes switched their regular times from the afternoon (which was during a test) to 12:15 and 12:45, but I had to move them up to 12:00 and 12:30. And then the teacher ended up not having to leave but she decided to come at 1:00 anyway because she had already switched her schedule. I can understand that but I dislike testing. It throws off my whole schedule.

When I was walking to the lab this afternoon my para friend was sitting in the hall with one of the second graders from my old reading group. My para friend referred to me as Mr. [insert name], which confused the second grader because she was surprised I wasn't married. She was hung up on the 'Mr.' part, apparently thinking that changes when a guy gets married, like it does for a girl. She asked me why I was a Mr. and I told her I was feeling masculine today and then mentioned something about maybe changing it in the future when I meet the right person. She can be a pretty amusing kid but she is also one I wouldn't want in class because she can be a bit of a pain. There are so many kids that amuse the crap out of me but I wouldn't want in a class environment.

Tonight I made spaghetti for dinner and then planned on reinstalling Windows 7 on my computer because I need to clean things up. But I quickly lost the motivation for that because that is kind of what I do. I'm putting it off until this weekend when I can take a day to get everything properly backed-up and then have the time to get everything back the way I like it after reinstalling. I don't have a lot to back up considering Windows is currently installed on my small solid-state drive and I don't really keep anything else on that drive. I just want to double check everything in case I have missed something along the way. And then I'll get a fresh start.

Here's some stuff from The Book Of The Dead:

“If a man only writes well when drunk, I would tell him: Get drunk. And if he said to me that his liver suffers because of that, I would answer: What is your liver? It's a dead thing that lives as long as you do, while the poems you write live forever.” - Fernando Pessoa

“I am more and more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life, than on the nature of those events themselves.” - Wilhelm von Humboldt

“[Dawn “Gordon” Langley Simmons] once threw a coming-out party for her/his two dogs, where the pooches were displayed on velvet cushions, dressed in chenille, long gloves, and pearls.”

Oliver Cromwell was briefly abducted by his grandparent's pet monkey when he was a baby. The baby snatched him and took him up to the roof. People in the house laid out mattresses in case the monkey decided to throw him off the roof but they were eventually able to get Cromwell safely back from the monkey.

April 15, 2013

The weekend went by way too fast and today didn't really feel like a Monday. At one point I mentioned the fact that it was Monday to a teacher and I caught myself for a second because it just didn't sound right that it could only be Monday. There was one state assessment at the end of the day so the rest of the day was fairly normal. I continued making pixel art in Excel and today I made a companion cube from Portal. I think there may be a deeper meaning to me spending so much time alone in a computer lab and making companion cube pixel art.

I had my second grade reading group and they were pretty awful. We were in the hallway outside the computer lab and a couple of them kept hitting the glass and bothering the kids inside the computer lab. The math enrichment teacher came out at one point and told them to stop or they would have to go back to class. That was appreciated because they don't listen to me. Well, they do, but it only lasts for a minute or two and then they are back to screwing around. Two of them are on a stick system now, so every time they mess up they have to pull a stick (they have five sticks) and then they get in trouble after that fifth stick. I'm not sure what happens to them but something happens. I know the kindergarteners pull cards and the fourth graders pull sticks, I'm not sure about the other grades, but it seems to work. I forgot about these two having sticks to pull until almost the end of the group so I told them that today they had a pass but from here on out I would be sending them back to the room to pull sticks. The third boy is as big of distraction as the other two but doesn't have stick to pull so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him. I might just send him to the room to and apologize to the teacher for wasting her time and mine.

At the very end of the day I went to the bathroom and there is a good chance I'm on the verge of another kidney stone. Or maybe peeing blood is normal now? Hopefully not. For at least the past month I have felt twinges every now and then in my right kidney so I wouldn't be surprised if it is coming from that one. I haven't had any outright pain but the proof that something is going on inside of me that I'm not into kind of threw me off the rest of the day. I drank a bunch of water, moved slower, and spent the night with my heating pad in my hoodie. No time is opportune for a kidney stone but we've got two more weeks of state assessments and then MAP testing at school so I can't really miss work. More so during MAP testing because I play more of an active roll by logging into servers and setting up the test for each student and then writing down scores. If a kidney stone does need to happen I'd prefer a quick one over a weekend where I don't miss anything but maybe work at the theater. I'm really sick of kidney stones but they are here to stay.

There is a chance that the Nuketown 2025 playlist is now a permanent thing in Black Ops 2. The double XP weekend ended this morning but the Nuketown 2025 playlist is still around. And I know this because I played a few games tonight. I am three Bloodthirsty medals away from gold camo on my KSG shotgun. This despite lag. I had one good game and all the rest were plagued with frustrating lag. I actually quit out of two games where I chased dudes around, shooting them point-blank in the back multiple times with no hit markers. I suck enough without lag. Black Ops 2 has always had lag issues but they seem to be worse than they used to be. It's annoying.

Now I am going to record my day and then go to bed. My left kidney is now feeling a bit twingy and I can't help but think a lot of it is in my head. Doesn't change the fact that my breathing is a little faster due to the anxiety of potential nausea-inducing pain.

April 14, 2013

Last night I used my webcam to record myself sleeping. That sounds kind of creepy but I have always wondered what I do in my sleep. One of the main reasons I bought a webcam, along with recording guitar riffs, was to record myself sleeping. It was very underwhelming. I changed positions several times but I didn't snore or talk in my sleep. At one point I put both of my arms in the air and then slowly itched each one. That was the most interesting thing. I'm disappointed. I might try it again tonight. Or several more times just to get a wider sample. Or never again. I haven't decided yet.

Today was an uneventful day. Like all of my Sundays. I played a lot of Black Ops 2 and spent most of that time feeling frustrated because the lag was ridiculous. I played a lot of games and I had maybe two or three where the lag wasn't awful. It is even more evident when you're using a shotgun and you aim point-blank at a dude and nothing happens. It's hard enough using a shotgun to begin with, lag can make it miserable. Despite all that, I came “close” to getting the gold camo on the KSG. I still have a few Revenge medals to get which shouldn't be too hard, but I have to get six more Bloodthirsty medals. Those are a pain in the butt. In a game today I managed to get two in a row, which turns out to be a Merciless medal (ten kills in a row). That will never happen again.

Here is some stuff from The Book Of The Dead.

To get back at Marianne Charpillon for not sleeping with him and then stealing all of his money, Casanova trained a parrot to say Miss Charpillon is more of a whore than her mother. Charpillon wanted to sue the parrot for libel.

John Harvey Kellogg was a trained gynecologist and he was still a virgin when he died at 91.

In 1942, Henry Ford and George Washington Carver had the idea to make a plastic car body from soybeans that weighed 30% less than a steel body and ran on grain alcohol. WWII sidetracked these plans.

“I'm not a paranoid deranged millionaire. Goddamit, I'm a billionaire.” - Howard Hughes

“If a chap can't compose an epic poem while he is weaving a tapestry, he had better shut up.” - William Morris.

“You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird.” - Richard Feynman

“As for fame, what is it? A gilded butt for ever pierced with the arrows of malignancy.” - Edward Jenner

Vaccination is short for vaccine inoculation. It comes from the Latin vacca, “cow”, because cowpox was used to inoculate people against smallpox.

From 1822 to 1855, the presidency of Mexico changed hands thirty six times. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna became president eleven different times during this period. Even after he gave half of Mexico to the United States. Along with other horrible things.

“The late 1860s found [Santa Anna] living in exile on Staten Island in New York. Here, inadvertently, he made his most significant and lasting contribution to world history. He had become friendly with an American inventor, Thomas Adams. Adams was intrigued by the general's habit of chewing chicle, the gum from the evergreen Manilkara tree, something Mexicans had been doing since the times of the Mayan empire. Adams hoped to make it into a cheap rubber substitute and bought a tone of chicle from Santa Anna, just in case. He failed to make rubber, but discovered that, by adding sugar, he had a terrific new confectionery product: chewing gum. In 1871, he launched it as Adams New York No. 1. His company later merged with Wrigley's. In 2006 the chewing-gum giant had a turnover of $4.6 billion and a 63 percent global market share.”

April 13, 2013

A fairly short entry because I didn't have a lot going on today. I played more Black Ops 2 today. I had some good games and some bad games. The bad ones were mostly caused by lag. There were a couple games where I would chase people around with my shotgun, shooting them several times at point-blank range, in the back, without getting any hit markers. And instances where I would seemingly get the first shot on a guy, which should have been a kill shot, but he would kill me instantly, and the kill cam would show that he had been firing at me long before I even saw him. Lag sucks some balls.

One of my hard drives briefly disappeared today. The one where I save movies, game capture stuff, my daily recordings, and back everything up. I was more upset about the idea that I would lose my daily recordings because I hadn't backed those up anywhere yet. Not counting the first introductory recording I made, I have been doing it for sixteen days now. That isn't a very long time but it still would have sucked to lose all that. Thankfully the hard drive returned after I restarted my computer but just in case I copied my recordings to one of my other hard drives. And I might start emailing them to myself. I do that with these entries every so often, just in case the two hard drives they are currently saved to decide to crap out.

Tonight at work I continued reading The Book Of The Dead and I watched most of 42. The Book Of The Dead was as interesting as always but I am going to put off writing about it because it is late once again and I am tired. Fascinating stuff though. I like learning interesting tidbits about famous people from the past. It's like reality TV but actual reality. And not awful. 42 is a really good movie. The main actor looks a lot like Jackie Robinson, which is a bit odd but also very cool. The movie itself does a good job of covering the drama and seriousness of the situation but there is also a lot of humor thrown in which makes the movie more uplifting than potentially dry and depressing. It is a movie I would definitely watch again.

April 12, 2013

I have nine pillows on my bed. I'm obviously a fan of pillows. Even with my tiny bed. Early this morning, around five o'clock, a group of these pillows decided to lead a minor revolt. Second only to accidentally suffocating someone, the best way for pillows to revolt is to fall off a bed. This is what happened to me, and it has happened before without incident but this morning they decided to take a very noisy metal ruler, that was located next to my bed, on their journey to the floor. It was very disorienting in my groggy state.

It was an early release day so school got out at 1:30PM instead of 3:50PM. There also weren't any assessments today so that made the day go by even faster. I read with kindergarteners in the morning, helped out with literacy centers in both kindergarten classes, and had my second grade reading group. The reading group actually went pretty good until the end. I think because I had them distracted with Math for the majority of the time. Today was our last day with Freckle Juice and next week we are moving onto Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. I came close to buying those books back around the time the movie came out but I never did. True story. It is a much bigger book than we have previously worked with so I'm not entirely sure how that is going to work out. Mainly, how long we are supposed to take with it. We'll find out soon enough. I think in the coming weeks I might miss a few days due to testing but I'm not sure about that either. Just an observation.

After work I stopped by Target to pick a few things up and actually used a basket for the first time ever. I usually just pile everything up in my arms and stop buying stuff when I can't carry anything else. Today I decided that if I got to the back of the store and they had baskets available, I would continue shopping. This allowed me to get the chips and undershirts that were the last two items on my list that I would have not been able to carry.

When I got home I played maybe an hour of Black Ops 2 because they are having a double XP weekend in anticipation of the new DLC coming out next week. I haven't gotten any of the DLC because the only map I like is Nuketown 2025. Which is why I played today because on double XP weekends they also have Nuketown 2025 24/7. My wrist and forearm were starting to feel a bit twingy so I cut myself off before I normally would have but it was for the best. We'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow and Sunday. I am a bit worried because I heard they got rid of the Chaos Moshpit playlist, which consisted of “small” maps, and was the only playlist that had Nuketown 2025. Now that the map is available for free, they got rid of the playlist because they added the map into all the other playlists. I guess that is good because now I can pick a specific gametype and be forced to play all the other maps (which I don't really like) but I would still prefer a dedicated Nuketown 2025 playlist. Battlefield 3 lets you pick individual maps so it can obviously be done on consoles.

Anyway, after I played Black Ops 2 I took a nap, then had dinner, and got ready for work. At work I read Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and felt like a badass for reading an entire book in a matter of a few hours. I am ignoring the fact that it was under 200 pages, had giant font, and is written for small children. I also continued reading The Book Of The Dead and have some cool stuff to write about but I'm not going to because it is after 2:00AM and I want to sleep. So once again I am going to that off for a later date. Or until I forget.

April 11, 2013

The old guy at book club last night was telling us how his parents had the only ballet bookstore in New York way back in the day. I am assuming it was a bookstore specializing in books about ballet. His mother was apparently very small and everyone assumed she used to be a ballet dancer, which she hadn't, but she didn't mention that fact and played it up for the customers. Also, because it was the only bookstore of its kind, when kids would come to New York to do ballet stuff they would eventually end up at this bookstore. And when their parents hadn't heard from them in awhile, they would end up writing this bookstore asking about their kids, and the old guys parents would basically be the go between, telling the kids they needed to check in with their parents.

Yesterday the first assessment of the day took forever for some kids to log in, today it was the second assessment. At least half the class had to try and log in more than once, some kids more than five times and on multiple computers. It seemed like maybe every other school in the state was trying to take the assessment at exactly the same time. Eventually everyone was able to take the assessment, even if some of them had to start half an hour late.

I have to collect the scratch paper after the assessments and “destroy” it for security reasons and during the second assessment the teacher came up and handed me a piece of scratch paper and said “Here are all the answers.” I mentioned that I would go sell them on the black market and she replied “Probably not from that one.” Later she handed me another piece and said “Now this one you can sell, it has a lot of right answers on it. You need to cut me in for half.”

We had another assembly today, this one was the second grade classes singing and doing little skits. I think the whole thing was called School Days, I didn't get a program, but it was pretty good. The first song sounded very old-timey to me and it just seemed like it would be a musical interlude in a movie from the 1930s. I couldn't get Laurel And Hardy out of my head. Then there were the occasional hip-hop songs which involved attempts at choreographed dancing. It was so epic. Not a single kid was in time to the music or to anyone else. They were all definitely dancing to the beat of their own drummer. And several kids were really getting into it. I loved it. After the first dance number I turned to my para friend and told her that second graders dancing was my new favorite thing. After the assembly my para friend and I put away chairs but we actually got a lot of help with it today. We decided that maybe we have just been setting such a good example that other people are wanting to join in the fun.

My sister recently bought a Cross Canadian Ragweed USB-bracelet that was supposed to come loaded with a bunch of music. Instead it came broken. Whenever she plugged it in, it would ask her to reformat it, which would delete anything that was on there, if there actually was anything on it. So she asked me to check it out. I downloaded a file recovery program and was able to get a bunch of stuff off of it, including 30 songs. The strange thing was that after I got everything off and reformatted the bracelet, I couldn't get all the stuff back onto the bracelet. There wasn't enough room. It was like that triangle that when you cut it up into pieces and rearrange them you end up with a triangle that has the same dimensions on the outside but there is a hole in the middle. Except kind of the opposite of that because I took a bunch of stuff out but couldn't get it all back in. So maybe like when you take something apart and end up with an extra screw? Yeah, that analogy makes more sense. Anyway, the point is I was able to get the music off of it. I'm not sure what all the other stuff was but hopefully it wasn't important. But if it is I still have it backed-up on my computer.

Tonight I had the visit with the new volunteer kid. It was a pretty good forty-five minute visit. I was a little worried it wouldn't happen because when I called the foster dad he was over here but said a visit would be fine. So I crossed my fingers and headed out on my thirty minute trip in the hopes that the kid would get the message and have the time or interest to hang out. But he did so it was all good.

When we got in the car I asked him how he was doing and he said “excellente”. I then asked him how school was going and he said he had just gotten a 'C' on his English test. I said maybe it was because he was speaking in Spanish. Classic me. Another zinger. For the rest of the visit we continued talking about school stuff. His English test had been over To Kill A Mockingbird which is a book I didn't read until late in college or maybe even after, but it is one of my favorite books. I really related to Atticus Finch. I actually need to read that book again. I could definitely see it as a once-a-year kind of book.

On the topic of the kid. I got on the Jostens website today so I could recreate his class ring. My supervisor got the money for it but the order form he gave me seemed like the ring was a lot more expensive than I remembered. So I got on and entered everything just how he had it until I got to the type of metal. I was thinking White Lustrium because that is what I got and it is the cheapest. It looks good and I think it is more than enough for a ring most people don't wear for too long. So I left that option on White Lustrium, which was the default, but when I tried to move onto the next question, a window popped up asking if I wanted to upgrade the metal type to Silver Elite for only $144. Only. By default that option was picked so if you clicked to go on, the metal type would be switched to Silver Elite. So kind of a tricky way to get people to spend more money, even unintentionally. With the Silver Elite the ring came out to just over $400 before tax. With White Lustrium it came out to under $265 before tax. I emailed my supervisor about all this and my recommendation was White Lustrium but we'll see what she thinks.

And on that note, I'm going to almost go to bed. I need to edit my recording of my day and then go to bed. I am tired. So I think I will edit my recording tomorrow.

April 10, 2013

I parked in the garage over at my sister's again last night and once again there was no hail. I know correlation does not equal causation but I am thinking that maybe by parking in a garage I am preventing the hail from coming. That could totally be a thing.

There were two assessments today. The first one started out a little iffy because several kids had to try and log in several times before they could connect to the server. Luckily everyone eventually got in but I was beginning to question it for awhile. Other than that, the assessments went fine, other than being boring as hell because I'm just watching kids take a test. Part of me really wants to take the test so I can feel like a badass and ace a third grade assessment. I don't like the idea of standardized tests but I kind of like taking them. I might be a little weird.

This morning I sent out an email to the school reminding them that there was a folder on the server where they could put pictures for the yearbook. It has been there for at least a few weeks and there was only one picture in the folder. Which I put there. I warned everyone that if they didn't put pictures in there I was just going to put that one picture in the yearbook many many times. Or possibly come around and take pictures but let my finger partially cover the lens. I ended up getting several pictures from one of the second grade teachers so I could scan them, and maybe two other teachers had added pictures by the end of the day. Not an incredible turnout but better than just the one picture I started with.

We had a brief assembly today and my para friend and I put away the chairs. At the end of the assembly all the kids were cheering for the lady who was talking about the upcoming walk-a-thon. My para friend was saying something to my mom about how we never get any recognition for putting the chairs away while the cheering was still going on so I mentioned that the kids were actually cheering for us in anticipation of how great a job we were about to do at putting the chairs away. Several other people ended up helping with the chairs today and my para friend and I think that word of my letter must have gotten out and people think there might actually be some money in going outside your job description and putting chairs away after assemblies. It was good times as always though. There is supposed to be another assembly tomorrow morning so more chairs. The whole thing is ridiculous fun, which is the best part of a job. I used to have a lot of that at the theater but now I just sit upstairs and read books. I need more ridiculous fun in my life.

In my brief bits of downtime today when I wasn't scanning/editing pictures, making copies, submitting a trouble ticket, watching kids take tests, or putting chairs away, I read a little bit in my book. I am really tempted to write about what I read but I am equally tempted not to. I keep saying I am going to write about the stuff I'm reading but then not doing so. Maybe this weekend I'll sit down and type it all up. Maybe. I have been mentioning stuff in my daily recordings. So there's that. Not really that helpful here but whatever.

Tonight I had my book club and it went pretty well. I was the first person to say something about the book and chimed in at least a few more times during the discussion. I always read the book but I feel like if I don't talk that maybe they won't think I actually read it. And I would like to be a part of the discussion just so there is a discussion. It's boring if only one person talks the whole time. The old lawyer was there tonight which was great. He always has good stories about growing up in New York or just random events in his life. The book we read was The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande and he told us a story about getting an illegal alien nanny to testify in a custody hearing. He asked the judge to explain the Fifth Amendment to her so that the other lawyers couldn't fluster her by asking about her citizenship or lack of citizenship. He said the judge went beyond that and basically forbade the lawyers from cross examining her or even hinting at whether or not she was in the country illegally. He also told us about the history of his parents coming to this country. Old people are fascinating. They are living history books and I love history books.

April 9, 2013

I forgot to mentioned something that happened yesterday when I was talking with my favorite substitute in the computer lab. A group of adults comes in to read with some of the kids at the end of the day. I don't know how often this happens but they come in at least every Monday because that is when the second grade class comes to the lab and shortly after that the adults show up to go read with them. I think it's called the School Of Hope or something. Anyway, it turns out one of the guys is a local politician. I didn't know this but when he came in the substitute teacher started talking to him saying that she voted for him in the recent elections and asking him different questions. Then, immediately after he walked out, she turned to me and in a lowered voice said “I didn't vote for him. I voted for all the women.” I lowered my voice and replied “Me too.”

The toilets at school all have sensors. The sensor in the faculty bathroom has been awful since the beginning of the year and I would always have to hold my hand over the sensor for what felt like forever, even though it was probably less than ten seconds, just to get the toilet to flush. Recently however, someone tweaked it and the sensor has become an oversensitive sensor. Today it flushed three times and I was just standing there.

During the third grade state assessment today the teacher and I were standing in the back of the lab and watched two kids in a row make a simple Math mistake and neither of them even attempted to use the provided calculator. (Even though the teacher and I aren't supposed to be looking at the computer screens. Shhh). So the teacher looked at me and whispered “Do you think I can remind the class to use the calculator?” I started to say something but then she raised her voice and said “Hey, do you think I can remind the kids to use their calculators?” She really emphasized all of her words and it was hilarious. One of the kids went back and used the calculator but the other kid is stubborn and apparently has a history of not doing something when he knows it is right, if the teacher tells him to do it. So he got the wrong answer.

Today there really wasn't a lot going on. Kind of the same old day. My second grade reading group was all present so they were awful and we didn't get a lot done. Kind of frustrating.

Shortly after work I took my car over to park in my sister's garage again because there was a chance for a severe thunderstorm and hail. An hour or so later there was a bit of torrential rain that lasted for a few minutes but that has been about it. It better start hailing in the middle of the night. I'm fairly certain the one time I don't take it over to park in the garage it is going to hail.

Tonight I have just kind of been feeling out of it. Once again I really want to do something. I want to be creative and do something purposeful with my free time but I just can't bring myself to do anything. I want to find a passion and dive headfirst into it but I have no idea what that passion would be and I can't bring myself to start anything. A thought will come to mind and then my over-thinking mind will think all the way through the thought, with all the various outcomes, and I don't see the point in starting. I have that problem a lot in my life. I apparently don't like surprises because I always feel the need to come up with every possible outcome for any given situation. This has been the case in past relationships as well as school and work and possible future endeavors. It can be exhausting and is in no way productive. I kind of use a variation on this when trying to pick a movie to watch. If I really want to watch it but can remember almost the entire thing for the last time I watched it, I won't watch it because I feel like it would be a waste of time. Especially after I just kind of re-watched the whole thing in super fast forward in my head. But the same thing happens when it comes to possible relationships or just possible things to do with my time or life. If my mind can run through the whole thing and all the different outcomes, I don't see the point in even starting. I don't like this but I can't seem to turn it off.

I just want to be productive and do something meaningful with my life. The majority of my days just seem wasted. I am fully aware of the finite life I am living but even that can't seem to give me the kick in the pants I need to stop wasting my time.

I need to get out of my head.