January 31, 2016

 I slept in this morning a little bit and then ate a donut. Not a bad way to start a Sunday, or any day. The rest of my day was spent watching Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and playing video games because I didn't have anything on the school agenda. I played Shoppe Keep, Geometry Wars, Castaway Paradise, Pixel Piracy, Tera, and This War of Mine. I think that's everything. I was obviously in the mood to play games but couldn't quite figure out what I wanted to play. I think I also felt bad about not doing other things, even though I didn't have anything else to do. For the most part I wanted something mindless because I was watching videos, and I found out that Pixel Piracy is not that. I thought it would be a fairly simple game but I was immediately overwhelmed with menu options, learning that I could upgrade each of my crew members. Then I set sail for my first island and almost immediately my two crew members and myself were killed by a pack of dogs. Game over. So I moved on to other things. I put two hours into Castaway Paradise, which is basically an Animal Crossing clone on PC. I'm a fan of Animal Crossing and it is nice to play a similar game on the computer. I could have easily sunk more time into it but I stopped so I could run on the elliptical before dinner.

My mom and sister went out shopping today and got me some fabric and a pin cushion. One of the fabric bundles consists of strips of fabric and my sister thought I could make bookmarks out of them. I think that is a really cool idea and definitely something I want to try. I should have done it today but maybe I'll have time this week. We are supposed to get a bunch of snow, and after the last failed snow day, maybe we'll get one this time.

Right as I was sitting down to eat my eyes went all weird. It was like I had been blinded by a flash but didn't have the dark spot when I blinked, I just had trouble seeing things. My sister was texting me and it was a real struggle trying to read the words. I had to stare at them and eventually could kind of make them out in my peripheral vision. I think the same thing has happened a couple times before but that was usually white light encroaching from my peripheral vision, not so much a partial blindness in the center of my vision. And it wasn't so much blindness, because I could still “see” everything, I just couldn't really focus on it or tell what it was. It's hard to describe. After quite some time it slowly cleared out of my right eye and eventually seemed to slide over to the peripheral vision in my left eye, and grow in intensity, before it finally went away, leaving me with a headache. It was strange. I wondered if it was maybe like a motion aftereffect from playing video games, although a delayed one. Or maybe it was from running fairly fast on the elliptical and then taking a hot shower. Or from staring at a computer screen all day with the motion of various video games. I just hope it was a fluke thing and not a precursor to something else. My mom said she experienced something similar before being diagnosed with cataracts. So fingers crossed it's not that.

Tonight my professor posted the readings for this week. She was a little delayed because sometime last week her mother was in a car accident and was put in the ICU. During my summer classes one of my professors was hit by a drunk driver on his way to work one morning. Car accidents seem to be a trend, an unsettling one. When I finish this I think I'll find the articles for this week and download them so I don't have that time wasting excuse tomorrow. Then maybe tomorrow night I can get all the articles read. I can't remember how many there are so that might not be a thing that happens. The professor is also supposed to post the chapter tomorrow, so I might read that. Even though I wasn't able to do any reading today I did post a couple times to the discussion threads, so I should be getting full points on those for this week.

My mom and sister went out shopping today and got me some fabric and a pin cushion. One of the fabric bundles consists of strips of fabric and my sister thought I could make bookmarks out of them. I think that is a really cool idea and definitely something I want to try. I should have done it today but maybe I'll have time this week. We are supposed to get a bunch of snow, and after the last failed snow day, maybe we'll get one this time.

January 30, 2016

 Today started off a bit slow but I had goals. Before lunch I accomplished things. I started by making a couple posts on my discussion threads for this week, one for each class. One required a bit of research so that extended things a bit. I also signed up for a few different listservs because that seems to be a thing librarians do. They were mentioned in one of the discussion posts and they sounded interesting. It took me way too long to figure out how to sign up for them but I managed it eventually. When I finished that I moved on to my taxes. It is still mildly depressing to see my gross income. This year the federal and state governments felt particularly bad for me because my returns are nice. Assuming I did everything right and I don't end up getting audited and thrown in jail. I'm sure that's a thing.

This afternoon I checked for new content for the coming week of classes and there wasn't anything so I took the rest of the day off. I downloaded Shoppe Keep, an Early Access game on Steam where you build up a shop in a medieval village. It's kind of like Recettear but not as fun. It is fun but the pacing is off. Nothing really happens in the morning, which lasts five minutes, then there is a big rush for the five minutes during the day, and then the evening is slow again. Also, the progression is really slow. You have to earn points to unlock stuff and I feel like I'm doing something wrong because I only seem to get a few points per day and a lot of the stuff I need to unlock costs a lot of points. I think the game has potential, though.

Tonight my sister came over and made enchiladas. She made the chicken enchiladas that she makes for her and my mom, and she made me fake chicken with peppers and black beans. There was also Spanish rice, which I added into the mix. She also “successfully” made rice and broccoli in her new pressure cooker. I put that in quotes because the final product was good but the pressure cooker wasn't behaving. It worked out, in a roundabout way, so all was good.

After dinner I played more Shoppe Keep and watched many episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee after I finished a few YouTube videos. Now I'm going to watch one more episode and then maybe go to bed and listen to music for awhile. Or maybe just go to bed and sleep. Who knows.

January 29, 2016

 Today when I drove home from work it was 68 degrees outside and I had the windows down and the sun roof open. Next week we are supposed to get a lot of snow. The weather is an interesting thing.

I'm tired and today was fairly boring. Today was the last day for testing and I had two kids finish up this morning. This afternoon I had a sixth grader brought in by the principal to finish even though she normally tests outside the lab. She finished her Math test right as one of the second grade classes came in and even though she still had to take her Reading test I told her to take a break and come back when the second graders left. She never came back. I went and looked for her but couldn't find her so I said screw it. The principal even said it wasn't that much of an issue if she didn't finish the reading test (which she hadn't even started yet). So testing is done.

This morning I also proctored a geography bee test for the math enrichment teacher who was out of the building today. The girl who won the school geography bee had to take a test to see if she could go on to the state bee. The girl who won is also the sixth grader who takes forever on the MAP test and it is a good thing her teacher decided yesterday that she didn't have to finish the Math test because she wouldn't have had time to take the geography bee test today. I was a little worried because it was a timed test and she only had an hour to answer seventy questions. If that was a MAP test she wouldn't have made it to the double digits. But geography must be her thing because she answered all the questions in a half an hour. I was genuinely surprised.

When I wasn't testing and didn't have classes in the lab, I worked on spreadsheets. I made a lot of progress. Next week I should be able to print off all the reports for teachers and maybe finish my spreadsheets. I'm not entirely sure that will happen but we'll see.

Tonight I wrote my discussion post for my technology class. At work today I found a website that has a repository of links to free 3D printer designs, which I thought would be a great resource for libraries with makerspaces and 3D printers. So I went with that and two other resources that I believe were both in the book. Then I commented on a post in that discussion before hopping over to the discussion for my other class, answering a question someone had left on my post, and posting a comment on someone else's post. Post post post. I'll have to post again tomorrow and Sunday to make sure I get all the points for this week.

After that I hooked up my Nintendo 64 and played a race in Beetle Adventure Racing. The graphics look like crap, which I think is partially (or mostly) due to the TV but it was still fun. I had to stop after one race, though, because my left wrist and forearm started hurting. I really can't play games for too long with a controller anymore. It sucks.

The rest of my night was spent catching up on YouTube videos. And now I'm going to go to bed.

January 28, 2016

 I got a new Old Spice soap called Timber and I was hoping for more of a cedar vibe. Instead it reminds me of pina colada. Apparently the timber to which they were referring is a coconut tree.

I think I may have had some stuff to write about but I can guarantee I have forgotten about most of it by now. Anyway, moving on.

Throughout the day I had kids in the lab finishing MAP tests. There are only two kids left to finish, at least of those who test in the lab. Technically there are three if you include the sixth grader who takes a really long time to finish, but after speaking with her, her teacher made the decision not to make her finish her Math test. Yesterday she took an hour to answer six questions and today, after finishing her Reading test, she spent about half an hour to forty-five minutes answering six more Math questions. At that rate it would have taken her at least another five hours to finish, and that would have to happen tomorrow. She gets good scores on the tests but it doesn't really see worth it if it takes so long to get them. And when she gets up to the really important tests, like the ACT or SAT, she's not going to have six hours to take them. I hope she can get things figured out by high school.

When I wasn't watching kids test, I worked on spreadsheets and figured out how to make a scatter plot in Excel for one of the sixth grader's science fair project. Always a good skill to have.

One of the more annoying second graders came into the lab to work on Compass Learning and unfortunately we weren't testing at the time so I had to let him come in. He's always trying to avoid work and today's method involved writing me notes. It started with “You are nice form [his name]”. He never quite got the hang of “from”. Later on he asked me something about being sarcastic. I replied that I didn't know what sarcasm was, which seemed to fully confuse him. Then I tried to explain that I was being sarcastic when I said I didn't know what sarcasm was. This confused him even more because I'm not entirely sure he knew was sarcasm meant. My response also led to another note, “that is not nice can you be nice??? pleseeeeeus”. By the time he left he gave me a third note, just like the first, including a 'form' instead of a 'from'. At least we're still friends.

When I got home from work I watched the class meeting video from last night. I will say I didn't really miss much because at the moment I can't really remember what was in the video. Probably not a good sign. After I finished the video I tried to find a third technology resource for my discussion post for that class. Two can come from the list in the book but the third has to be one we find on our own. I found a couple I really liked but when I checked back with the book they were in the list. Good grief. From a learning perspective I appreciate how thorough the list is but when it comes to finding my own resource I kind of feel like the author is an asshole for being so thorough.

After dinner I worked on my discussion post for my other class, which involved researching and writing about NewsBank. I am thoroughly impressed with their service offerings. At least their descriptions of those services. The university has a subscription to some of them and I got lost for awhile reading random articles. I would be interested in trying out some of their other offerings. Particularly their sites for kids that are supposed to align with the curriculum and state standards while presenting an appealing site that keeps kids interested. I'm intrigued. In my post I ended up adding a lot of links throughout instead of doing regular APA in-text citations. I got on a roll with this and ended up linking to the Wikipedia article for sliced bread (because I said it seemed like the best thing since sliced bread) and I linked to a K-Pop music video (because I referenced the fact that I hadn't heard of NewsBank before and it seemed like a music video with millions of views for a band you have never heard of before). I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Or at least the fact that I could include some very random links.

Thanks to the K-Pop tangent I have been watching K-Pop music videos for the past forty-five minutes. I can't complain because they are endlessly entertaining and the music is incredibly catchy. But we're coming up on midnight and I need to go to bed. Tomorrow is Friday and I am looking forward to the weekend.

January 27, 2016

 Today happened. It wasn't a very eventful day. This morning one of the office ladies asked if I could make a report for her showing the attendance of the preschool kids for a specific period of time for an audit or something. At first I thought she only wanted some of the kids, which was causing me a bit of grief, but once I figured out she needed all of the kids it was a piece of cake. The report for attendance already existed I just had to create a filter for the grade so that it picked up all of the preschoolers.

We had a character assembly this morning and after that I had a class in the lab and had some kids finish up MAP tests. This afternoon I had one scheduled test and one class that had some kids finishing tests. In my free time and during the tests I tried to figure out an iPad that was showing up when plugged into a computer but the internal storage folder was empty. The preschool wanted pictures off of it but that wasn't happening. Normally there is a DCIM folder in there with the pictures but even that folder was missing. The closest mention of it that I could find online was an empty DCIM folder and all the solutions for resolving that failed to solve my issue. I finally installed iTunes and tried looking for the iPad in there but it wouldn't connect because the iPad had been set up with a different computer. That's when I admitted defeat.

Sometime after lunch the fifth grade teacher popped in to tell me that I one of the laptops in her room started smoking when a kid plugged in the power cord. She wanted to tell me in person because she was worried if a kid told me it might turn into a blazing inferno. I've seen a lot of things at work but never a smoking laptop. I had one of the kids bring it down later and I was hoping to get a look at where the adapter port connects to the motherboard but when I opened up the laptop I saw that I needed hex drivers and I would have had to take apart the entire laptop. I'm already not supposed to do a lot of the things I do with computers at work and taking a laptop completely apart would certainly be frowned upon. I went up to check the cart just in case there was something obviously wrong there but there wasn't so I had the teacher put in a trouble ticket. It seems like best case scenario it is a faulty adapter or the battery is dying. Worst case scenario is the port broke loose from the motherboard, which would require a bit of work to fix. Or maybe it is something else entirely. Either way, I unplugged the adapter from the back of the laptop cart so students don't accidentally plug it in again.

After work I picked up Chipotle and remembered to get a burrito bowl. I should have asked for extra rice and beans, though, because half of the bowl was pretty weak. Normally the bowls are overflowing so I didn't think it was necessary. I ended up having a little bit of my quinoa enchiladas with my chips so it was all good. They also didn't have lemons, which are the perfect compliment to the bowl, but thankfully we had lemon juice at home.

After dinner I played a lot of videos. Mostly motivated by my desire not to do homework. That was successful because I ended up not doing any homework the rest of the night. It's not good that my lack of motivation is so strong this early in the semester. I also forgot all about the class meeting tonight. Those aren't required, which is probably one of the reasons it wasn't prominent on my radar, and they are recorded so I can watch it tomorrow. I had the same professor over the summer for Web Design and very few people attended the video meetings so hopefully that is the case here so I don't feel so bad. It also seemed like the teacher lost interest with the concept as the semester went on because they became less frequent. I'm saying all this so I don't feel bad about forgetting the one tonight.

Later tonight the librarian at school texted me and said the principal mentioned me at the board meeting tonight and talked about all the stuff I did in the lab and outside of it. I don't know the context of it but that is pretty cool. My sister found an archive of the meetings so hopefully tonight's was recorded and I can watch it tomorrow.

It is now almost 11:30PM, I have accomplished nothing academically, and I am tired, so I am going to go to bed. I really want to wake up in the morning and exercise. I was perfectly awake this morning when my alarm went off at six o'clock but I stayed in bed until seven o'clock and I think I ended up being more tired. I need to start exercising. And being productive.

January 26, 2016

 Going back to yesterday's discussion of Beetle Adventure Racing, I emailed the fifth grade teacher to find out if it was a coincidence that she owned a real-life Beetle after enjoying Beetle Adventure Racing as a youth. Turns out, not a coincidence. She was a little bit obsessed with the VW Beetle. She said every year she would get a Beetle poster at the book fair and hang it in her closet. Then when she was sixteen she said she went five hours away to find her green Beetle. That is dedication. Or obsession. Impressive either way.

Today there was more testing. One scheduled test in the morning and one in the afternoon, with a few other ones sprinkled in. At some point one of the SPED teachers came to ask me if there was anyway to recover a terminated test. I said I didn't think so but said she should contact that lady who is in charge of MAP testing for the district. That lady confirmed that terminated tests were gone forever. Apparently, the SPED teacher accidentally terminated a test that she had been working on with a kid for a week. He was up to question 34, which is either almost done (if it was the Reading test) or over halfway done (if it was the Math test). Either way, kinda sucks. To be fair to her, the 'terminate' and 'suspend' buttons are right next to each other and the window that pops up after clicking them probably looks very similar. She said when it first happened that she told the kid they might be able to get the test back but if not she would buy him lunch. So at least the kid is getting a free lunch out of the deal.

When I wasn't testing I worked on my spreadsheets and I also started typing up testing accommodations for the state assessments. One of the kindergarten teachers took pictures of all the kindergarteners and made them old with an app for the 100^th day of school. He sent them to me so I could put them in a file and print them out for him. Kudos to the app because most of the kids looked like tiny old people. It was kind of crazy. And I think that was pretty much my day. Most of it was spent on my feet watch kids test but I got a little work done.

After work I went and got my Powerball ticket before heading home so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow when I get Chipotle. Speaking of, I think I'm going to get a bowl instead of a burrito. Change things up a little. We'll see if I remember tomorrow.

I got my W-2 today. It's always sad seeing how little money I make. I am a hard worker and go above and beyond my job description, and my paychecks looks nice most of the time. I still get paid crap, however, and having the summers off certainly doesn't help. I really need to find a new job for after graduation. I enjoy my job now, most of it anyway, but I would also like to make a living wage. Hopefully I can find both with my next job.

Before dinner I read a textbook chapter. After dinner I researched stuff for my two discussion posts this week. For one I have to pick two tech resources from the book and find one on my own that I think are good resources for libraries. I managed to pick the two from the book so I just need to find a third one and then write up my post. For the other post I need to research NewsBank. I found a couple resources and I need to start writing to so I can see how much more information I need to find.

In my search for resources I found a couple good free image websites and a website for free education resources. I got lost in those rabbit holes for awhile but I found my way back out. Too many websites and not enough time. Tomorrow I would like to have at least one of those discussion posts written. Both would be nice but we'll see how things go.

Now I'm going to do nothing for a bit and then go to bed.

January 25, 2016

 I'm getting worse at waking up in the morning. My alarm goes off at six o'clock and I immediately reset it to seven o'clock. I need to start waking up and exercising. I think that will do wonders for not only my physical health but also my mental health.

Today there weren't any tests scheduled but there are still a lot of random kids that need to test so I had a couple in the morning and several in the afternoon. Thankfully this is the last week. And then in a few more weeks or so the first bit of state assessments start. Second semester is awesome.

This morning I helped with literacy centers in both kindergarten classes. In both I ran groups I usually don't so that made things interesting. I learned that some kindergarteners get the concept of a word search and some do not even kind of get it. One kid was circling all over the place but never an actual word. Another kid was circling individual letters to make a word, even though these letters weren't anywhere close to each other. It was interesting.

This afternoon I had a conversation with the fifth grade teacher about sleep schedules and sleep aides, as well as a long conversation about Nintendo 64 games and old computer games. I learned that she used to play everyday after school when she was a kid. That is pretty cool. It is rare that I get to talk to people about video games and have them actually know what I'm talking about. She was a big fan of Beetle Adventure Racing and I forgot to ask if it was a coincidence that later in life she drove a Beetle. She also never knew about paintball mode and big head mode in GoldenEye 007. Big head mode alone was worth the price of admission. Now all I want to do is plug my Nintendo 64 in and play all the games. Maybe someday when I catch up on school stuff.

I finally started updating my spreadsheets today. That's going to be fun.

After work I went and got my haircut before going home. And the rest of the night was kind of a pointless. I watched a video for class and claimed a company that I have to evaluate for my other class. So there's that, but I could have done more. I've just been out of it most of the night. I blame lack of sleep last night. I'm hoping it's just being tired. Tomorrow I'll read a chapter and maybe do one of the discussion posts for this week. That sounds a bit lofty but we'll see.

January 24, 2016

 Today I slept in and then read four textbook chapters before lunch. That sounds pretty impressive but it was less than fifty pages because the chapters are short. I'm a fan of short chapters. Throughout the afternoon I worked on my reflective essay and I finished it up after dinner. I also downloaded articles for the coming week. And replied to a few discussion posts. So the majority of the day, despite all that, was spent avoiding work, but I still managed to get a lot done.

This afternoon I put all the ingredients for the quinoa enchiladas into the crock-pot and let it do its thing for the next four hours. It was ready for dinner and it didn't look very presentable but it tasted pretty good. I didn't put in the second can of enchilada sauce because it seemed like way too much liquid but I think in the future I might add it in. I also think I might cut back on the cream cheese because it was almost too rich. But maybe it would be better with the second can of enchilada sauce. Who knows. It was good, though and I would make it again. And I have enough ingredients to do that because my sister bought extra. I've got enough leftovers for at least a couple days but tomorrow I'm going to finish my pizza because the enchilada stuff will last longer.

After I finished stuff up tonight I played Bridge Constructor for a little bit and built some bridges. Then I played a bit of Tera and farmed some mobs for weekly quests. Today while avoiding work I watched some videos for a game called Slime Rancher. It is early access on Steam and it looks like one of those simple, mindless kind of games where you can just tune out the world for a bit and collect slimes. I might end up getting it but my classes will probably pick up before I get around to it.

Due to sleeping in the morning, and briefly falling asleep in my chair this afternoon, I am not tired at the moment. That is unfortunate. It's almost eleven o'clock now so hopefully by midnight something will hit me. If not I'll go read a book and hope for the best.

January 23, 2016

 Today was filled with thrill and spills... minus the thrills. And the spills. Which is to say, it was a very average day. I spent a lot of my morning and afternoon watching videos and avoiding schoolwork. Despite that avoidance, I was productive. I posted both of my introductions, responded to a couple posts, read a textbook chapter, signed up for a listserv, emailed one of my professors proof that I pre-ordered her book (which she needed for the publisher), and took the syllabus quiz for one of my classes.

The quiz was tricky only because the wording on some of the questions wasn't great and on others I just had to make assumptions. After taking it the first time I missed one question out of twenty, which were worth half a point each so I got a 9.5 out of 10. You could take the quiz as many times as you wanted and only the highest score would count. So I took it again. One of the questions had four choices and you were allowed to pick more than one. The last option was “all of the above”. Originally I thought I should just check that one, but after I missed half a point I thought maybe it was a multiple-select question rather than a multiple-choice question because I needed to pick all of them. That ended up not being the case but it was slightly confusing. On my third try I changed another answer that I thought may have been the culprit but that didn't work either. The fourth time was the charm after I changed the answer to the question about when the first assignment after the quiz was due. I assumed that was the next discussion post (because it is listed as Discussion #1) which is due next Friday. Turns out she was referring to the introduction discussion post. I thought that might be the case when I originally took the quiz but it didn't make much sense because I figured the introductions came first, then the quiz, and then next week's discussion. Apparently not. In the end I got all ten points though, so I'm happy. No sense starting the semester half a point down if you don't have to.

So that productivity was pretty much my day. Tonight I had leftover pizza for dinner and I did laundry. This afternoon my sister brought over the ingredients so I can make the quinoa enchilada recipe. Even though I still have pizza left I think I'm going to make it tomorrow because if I don't I'd have to wait until next weekend. I want to get it over with (in a good way) and see how it comes out.

Tomorrow I need to read four chapters and write a reflective essay that I completely forgot about until earlier today. Or maybe not so much forgot about but was reminded of today. That sounds better. And it isn't due until midnight tomorrow so I've got more than enough time. And I'll probably take the whole day putting it off. But the dream would be to finish it before lunch, which would leave the afternoon to read my textbook. We'll see if I can make that happen. I kind of think the reverse will be true. It would be much easier to wake up and read my textbook in bed, then have lunch, and spend the afternoon writing. But again, we'll see.

January 22, 2016

 Today was a day. MAP testing was hectic this morning. Also confusing. We started the day with one of the first grade classes. Then the other first grade teacher sent some of her kids, enough to fill up the rest of the lab, to finish their tests. They all just came in and sat down so it took me awhile to figure out where they were and who they were because they so easily blended together. And to add to that, as soon as one finished from the second class and I sent them back, another one would come to the lab, something I didn't initially pick on because I was focused on the kids testing and I assumed when a kid came in they were just coming back from the bathroom.

I handled it fairly well but learned later in the afternoon that I completely missed one of the kids. In the morning he was one of the kids who came after the first wave and he sat down at a computer where the kid before him had closed out of the test. I didn't notice him at first and when I did I just assumed he had finished his test. And I was so caught up with the other tests that I incorrectly assumed that he was with the main class testing in the lab, so I gave him a piece of paper and pencil so he could draw like the other kids who had finished. Subconsciously I knew he was in the other class but I didn't give it a second thought. Another clue was that when the whole class left, he was still laying in the front of the lab drawing. I thought maybe he missed the memo that the class was leaving. Nope, it's because he wasn't in that class.

All of this didn't come to light until he came back later in the afternoon to take his other test. I sat down with him and asked what test he needed to take. He was confused so I asked him what test he had taken in the morning. And that's when he said “I didn't take a test this morning. You gave me a piece of paper so I could draw.” Whoops. So I gave him a choice of which test he wanted to take and I'll have him take the other one next week.

When I wasn't testing I edited photos, wrote one of my introductions for class, answered some computer questions, fixed a laptop, and had a few classes in the lab. It was a decently productive day.

Tonight was pizza night again and I was glad to find out that pizza is still delicious. In the near future, thanks to my sister, I will be making a quinoa enchilada slow cooker recipe. I planned on going to the store to get all the ingredients but in reality I knew that probably wasn't going to happen. My sister, however, goes to the store all the time because she actually cooks real food, so she offered to pick the stuff up the next time she goes. It takes four hours to cook so it will have to be a weekend dinner but I'm looking forward to it.

Tonight I watched YouTube videos. I was going to knock out my school stuff for this week but I'm tired after this week and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The semester is only a few days old and I'm already over it. Not really, though. I'm just not into it yet. It's been so long that I've had such a long break from school that it's going to take me a bit to get back into the swing of things. I'll get there. I would like to get into a better routine this semester so things don't get stressful. That hasn't happened yet but I've got time.

Soon I will be going to bed. Tomorrow I will be sleeping in. And then eventually working on school stuff. And some time after that, probably eating pizza.

January 21, 2016

 Well, today should have been a snow day. We've had several snow days over the past few years and none of them came close to today. A text message was sent out at 5:16AM saying that we would have school. We not only got several inches of snow, the base of it was icy stuff so it was slick. If the streets had been plowed it was late last night so the roads were already covered up again. We only got out of our steep cul-de-sac because my mom has an all-wheel-drive vehicle. Unfortunately. We also picked up one of the paras who lives nearby, who was unable to get out of her cul-de-sac. She ended up having to walk up the hill to the end of the street so we could get her. On the way we passed kids standing out in the freezing cold, and the still falling snow, waiting for the school bus. The buses at our school were late and some of the kids said they had waited for an hour to get picked up. One of the office ladies who lives out in the country had to drive on the rumble strip on the side of the road most of the way into town just so she knew she was still on the road. Big miscall on the snow day.

Before lunch the superintendent sent out explaining his reasoning for not having a snow day. I like the guy but the email was basically bullshit. He said that the call had to be made by 5:45AM and at that time the roads were drivable and the updated forecast hadn't come out yet (which showed the snow was going to keep coming). That was pretty much a lie because at that point the roads already sucked. Maybe the streets he checked had been plowed already. None of the side streets, or the roads outside town where most of the teachers live, had been plowed. Also, I think every other school district around us had a snow day. We could have followed what some of them did by calling a two-hour delay to buy some time (to get around the 5:45AM deadline), and then call a snow day. Mistakes were made and instead of accepting that and apologizing, the email tried to validate the decision to an audience already annoyed because none of us were expecting to be at work.

To add to that news, I didn't sleep very well last night. I didn't sleep much and when I did I had super weird dreams that were not very restful. So I was really hoping for the snow day just so I could have a chance to get some actual sleep. But no.

And on top of that, I had four tests today, so I spent the whole day standing in the back of the lab watching kids test. It made the day go fast but it also seemed to drag on forever. During the fifth grade test this morning I helped the teacher get the pull string back in her hoodie. She asked me if I had any ideas and I asked if she had a coat hanger or stiff piece of wire. She did not. I thought about it for a minute and dug out an ethernet cord because it was the only thing I could think of that was stiff enough to be pushed through the hood. The main problem is that the hoodie didn't have grommets over the holes, just cuts in the fabric, and the pull string didn't have knots at the ends. The lack of grommets worked out in our favor because the cuts in the fabric were big enough to get the ethernet cord through. After she got it out the other side I gave her a piece of yarn so she could tie the pull string to the ethernet cord and pull the whole thing back through. And it worked. She may be the only person in the history of the world to fix a hoodie with an ethernet cord.

Other things probably happened but I'm tired and nothing is coming to mind. On the way home, it appeared that the main streets and some of the side streets had been plowed. Our cul-de-sac had not been, they just dropped a bunch of sand. I might be carpooling again tomorrow because if it freezes again overnight my car probably won't be making it to the top.

Tonight I was going to write my introductions for class but I nearly fell asleep before dinner and since dinner I just been kind of out of it. My main goal was not to go to bed at 7:00PM. It is now 9:00PM so I have accomplished that goal but I think I'll be going to bed after I finish this. I can write my introductions tomorrow.

It would be nice if we had a consolation snow day tomorrow. I think it is supposed to snow. Or maybe it's not, but after today no one would complain about a long weekend. Regardless, I'm going to go to bed now.

January 20, 2016

Life Is Strange spoilers. After finishing last night's entry I watched the other ending for Life Is Strange. In my game I chose to save Chloe because I spent the entire game reversing time to save Chloe. The other option was to let Chloe die in order to save the town. After watching that ending, I feel it is safe to say that was the true ending. When you save Chloe the ending is basically you just driving out of town. Saving the town is much more involved, and I may have cried a little. Not full on tears but it was beyond misty eyes. In that ending you have to go back to the bathroom and let Chloe get shot, then there is the montage of pictures of the bad people getting in trouble and people affected by Chloe's death, followed by her funeral. It is definitely one of those experiences, whether from a book or movie or video game, that impacts you. I've seen a quote online about how there are those books where you finish them and are left emotionally drained, but it's strange because you look around and everyone else is just walking around, carrying on like nothing is wrong, even though you have just gone through this major event. The quote is obviously more succinct and to the point but you get the idea. Letting Chloe die was mildly traumatic and it is weird because I look up from the computer screen and the real world is exactly how I left it but I still feel this sense of loss. I spent eighteen hours diving deep into the story, getting to know these characters and their world. And even though it is kind of draining, I like that something can make me feel those things. Especially something safe like a video game. At some point in my life I would be able to create something that has even a fraction of the impact as some of the books and movies and video games I have experienced in my life. The power of words. And to make this paragraph just a little bit longer, I was trying to go back and I think the last game that had an impact on me was Gone Home. And before that it was To The Moon. I can't remember if that one made me cry but I remember being affected by it, and that was purely story based because graphically it was just an old school looking, isometric 8-bit RPG. I like video games.

Today there was one test scheduled first thing in the morning. Immediately on the tail of that test I had a regular second grade class, which was annoyance-inducing because the internet was super slow (probably due to all the testing in the district) and I spent the whole time going from kid to kid as they raised their hand, trying to explain that the internet was slow and that was why their computers weren't loading. And they didn't get it because the next time something didn't load their hand was in the air.

Right after they left I had a group of unscheduled fifth graders wanting to make up their tests. I finally got a break when they left and I was able to sit down and eat my lunch. After lunch I had one of the sixth grade classes come down to make their graphs for the science fair. I haven't really messed with Excel graphs since last year's science fair so I was just winging it. I could remember the main data stuff but couldn't remember how to add labels. Turns out I was really over thinking it because there was a tab for it when you clicked on the graph. I figured that out right after they left because I sat down and had a chance to actually think about it for a second. While the kids were in the lab I was mostly just going around and finding out what the kids' projects were and what they were trying to show in their graphs. It will go better next time, now that I've had time to wrap my brain around graphs again.

When the sixth graders left, it was a piece of cake because there was a spelling bee, which interfered with testing and regular lab classes for the rest of the day. I didn't go to the spelling bee because it is really boring and takes forever. I want to support the kids but I'm not a fan of seeing them miss a word and start crying.

Instead, I took apart the color printer in the lab and replaced all the parts from the maintenance kit I got last year, I think, when the warning message popped up on the printer. It still printed just fine so I figured I'd see how long I could milk it and save the school some money. I decided to replace stuff today because for a little while now there has been a thin black line on everything that is printed. I thought maybe it was related so I read the manual and followed the steps to take the printer apart and replace stuff. Then I printed something. And it still had the black line. Fantastic. Some printers have a cleaning option but this one does not. At some point I will probably have to put in a trouble ticket.

When I was finished with that the art teacher had some time so I showed her how I made the high contrast pictures. From downloading Gimp to exporting the final image. She wrote down all the steps and said she'll give it a try, so fingers crossed for her. It probably sounded really confusing but I got pretty quick at it so I have faith.

After work I went and got Chipotle and then got almost all the way home before I remembered I had forgotten to get my Powerball ticket. I joked on Monday with the fifth grade teacher about frequently forgetting my gambling vice, and then I went and forgot it. But I ended up going back and getting it, so I can sleep easy tonight.

I changed it up a little tonight and got both the green salsa and corn. It wasn't life changing but it was still a good burrito. Not too long after we finished watching videos it started to snow. And it is the small, icy kind that immediately makes the ground slippery. According to the news we're supposed to get two to four inches and I'm really hoping to wake up tomorrow to an all-district text saying that school has been canceled. It's supposed to keep snowing throughout the day tomorrow so fingers crossed.

Classes officially started today. I paid my tuition, looked through the syllabi, and read through the few introductions that had already been posted. At this point I've had almost everyone in my classes and we've probably all introduced ourselves to each other several times. But that's what we do. I think I'll write mine tomorrow. I'm just glad we don't have to make a video introduction. That was stressful last semester. I am feeling better about this semester than last semester, mainly because I'm taking two classes instead of three. And it is only the first day. And I've had a month off which is apparently long enough for the stress of the past year to be a distant memory. But hopefully the semester goes well.

Now I'm going to go to bed. Even though I am hoping for a snow day, it would still be smart to go to bed at a decent time because if Powerball has proven anything, it is that my luck isn't that great. So I'm not going to bet on a snow day and end up having to wake up tired as hell so I can go to work and watch kids take tests. I'll bet on sleep.

January 19, 2016

 Last night I was watching Vern play Gears of War with GoldGlove and Steph. There was a guy on the opposing team who was talking shit in-game every single game, even though his team was getting destroyed almost every single game. And the shit-talker was the worst player on the team. He kept going back to wanting to 1v1 people, which was a big thing way back in the day with CoD and probably Gears of War. In one round Vern got completely surrounded by all four opposing players and managed to kill all four of them. Afterward he dug out his console headset for the in-game mic, and in a funny accent said “Does that count as a 1v1?” That was hilarious enough, but then the shit-talker replied in a very surprised voice “You can talk!?!” It was perfect.

This morning I woke up and didn't feel great but a couple hours later when it was time to go to work I was thankfully feeling better. At work there was more MAP testing, one test in the morning and one in the afternoon. During the morning test I spoke with the fifth grade teacher about her weekend because she had gone to a bridal show and had a couple fittings at different stores. She said the bridal show was stressful because it was just a bunch of vendors yelling at you trying to get you over to their booth. The first dress fitting was also a little stressful/annoying because the lady at the store didn't think an hour was going to be enough time. And she kept bringing that fact up every five minutes. But then they were done in forty minutes.

During the afternoon test one of the kids had awful luck. After every one to three questions the test screen would go completely white and the only way to get out of it was to log off the computer and then back on. The actual process involved me logging off the computer and logging back onto the computer, while that was happening I suspended the kids test on my laptop and then chose to test him again (which was necessary for his name to show up again in the list of names to pick from), the kid or I would then log back into the test, select the name, confirm the name, then I would confirm it on my laptop, and the kid could start the test again. And we had to go through that process every single time. I lost track of how many times this happened but it was at least ten, probably more. I even had him try three different computers but it happened on all three. It was frustrating for me but it was especially frustrating for the kid. Thankfully he eventually hit a streak during the second half of the test and was able to finish it. Hopefully that doesn't happen during his next test.

Along with testing I had classes in the lab, and all of that pretty much filled up my day. The only time I really got to sit at my desk was for my lunch break. That made for a long yet short day.

It started snowing in the afternoon which distracted all the kids. I had a third grader in the lab testing and halfway through the test I sent her to go to the bathroom and get a drink because I could tell she was losing the little focus she had to begin with. That break ended up being her downfall because on the way to bathroom she saw the snow and that was the only thing on her mind when she got back to the lab. She answered a couple more questions before I finally stopped her for the day because she would probably still be there trying to finish the test.

At the end of the day I went across the hall to cut scratch paper and saw one of the second grade teachers on her phone. I ask if she was staying up to date on her social media accounts. She said she was, in fact, checking the weather. I glanced out the window and told her it was snowing, in the most sarcastic way possible. She replied that she could have told me exactly when it started because her class erupted with excitement. She said that she didn't even think any of them looked outside, they just sensed it. It was the worst possible time for the distraction, however, because she was in the middle of trying to introduce the concept of multiplication. She's probably going to have to go over that again.

My drive home was fine but when I went to turn around in the cul-de-sac so I could back into the garage, I continued sliding forward rather than turn. Thankfully my tires found traction before I ran into the gutter. My front bumper is low enough and my angle was steep enough that I probably would have needed to replace my bumper. I got lucky.

That luck was not with me with Life Is Strange. I started playing the fifth and final episode when I got home and stopped to eat dinner. After dinner when I tried to open the game back up it said it had a 4.1GB update. What the hell. To go along with that, everyone in the neighborhood was apparently watching Netflix and streaming and downloading because the internet speed was terrible. The initial estimate for my download was over five hours. I also couldn't get a YouTube video to stream at a higher quality than 360p, and even that took awhile to load. I was annoyed.

The internet finally picked up and I able to play about two hours later. Better than five hours but still frustrating. The game didn't back down on the intensity and I may or may not have had another misty-eyed moment. Spoilers here, in the end I did not make the utilitarian choice. Throughout the game I was constantly doing all this stuff to save Chloe and it didn't make any sense to let her die at the end. Especially when all the time travel, messing with destiny stuff leading to the tornado was only a theory. There was a chance going back and letting Chloe die wouldn't have changed the tornado. And then I would have been out a best friend and a town. My one main annoyance with this was that we went up to the lighthouse to get out of the path of the tornado but we didn't go back and get my other friend or Chloe's mom. We just left them in the diner. Which, looked exactly the same after the tornado as it did before, damaged but intact. But we didn't stop there after the tornado, we just drove out of town. I would have liked a little more resolution. In theory, the only other two people that survived the tornado were David and Mr. Jefferson because they were down in the super fancy storm shelter. Rather than play through the game again I'm just going to watch a video to see the outcome of not saving Chloe. It also seems that there were really only two endings to the game, save Chloe or save the town. All the other choices throughout the game affect whether or not certain characters stay alive but don't appear to have any real impact on the outcome of the game. Especially considering the game just kind of ends without any sort of recap or resolution. I could be wrong though. Maybe someday I will play it again.

Oh, and the update. It just proved my terrible timing. I guess the game came out about a year ago and today was the release of the limited edition, which didn't matter to me, but they also released a director's commentary, which is what triggered the download. Great timing. And to add insult to injury, even though I had to wait two hours for the commentary to download, and it now shows up on the main menu, every time I click on it I am directed to Steam. And Steam directs me to the game. It's a Catch-22.

I take that back. The 4.1GB download was just patch stuff like game tweaks and different language subtitles. The director's commentary is an additional download of 2.9GB. Fantastic. I didn't plan on listening to or watching the commentary tonight but good grief.

Anyway, I'm going to watch the other ending to the game now, and then go to bed. I'm tired.

January 18, 2016

 I did things today. When I woke up I read a couple more chapters in a couple different books. If I wanted to be a proactive student I would have started reading the one textbook I have, but I'll get enough of that over the next few months, so I'm going to enjoy my last little bit of free reading.

Before lunch I made two more coasters and I'm getting better. My new technique of sewing just enough at the beginning and end on the forth side to cover the corner makes the coaster look a lot better. I originally had a problem when I was turning them inside out that the beginning stitch would pull out a little bit. I was starting my stitch by going forward, going back a little bit, and then going forward again. I found that if I go back farther than my original start point before going forward again, it did a better job of protecting the beginning of the stitch. I also accidentally sewed a little closer to the edge when sewing the border on my last coaster and it did a much better job of hiding the forth side where I had to sew the pieces again. I need to try and go that close to the edge all the time. My only real problem left is the batting not staying in place, which screws up my ability to make a square coaster. They're all slightly skewed because of this. I tried putting a bunch of pins in it while sewing but it didn't help that much. I solution to the problem I think would be adjusting the tension of the presser foot. Currently there is too much pressure. I don't know that my sewing machine has the option to adjust the tension of the presser foot, though. I've briefly looked on the machine and the book but it doesn't appear to be an option.

This afternoon I did laundry and continued playing Life Is Strange. It is such an intense game. I can't remember the last game I thought was really good and should be added to my favorites list but this one is the most recent. I haven't ever really thought of a list but Life Is Strange is probably in the top five. During part episode four (I think) I nearly cried. Definite misty eyes but I started thinking about other things so it didn't progress further. I finished episode four tonight and good grief. I had my suspicions but they didn't go as far as reality. I was completely caught off guard by the ending and if I didn't have to wake up for work tomorrow I would probably be neck deep in the final episode right now. That will definitely be my tomorrow night. I am really hoping for a happy ending, and with the supernatural nature of the game, it is possible, but at the moment it doesn't really seem like it will happen. A true happy ending anyway. I need some resolution, though, regardless.

I always liked the idea of choose-your-own-adventure books and Life Is Strange is basically a light version of that in video game form. I have thought that the same type of format would make TV shows or movies much more interesting. It would obviously take more work to write and produce but I think it would easily increase people's engagement to the show or movie, making them feel like they were in control. It would be harder to do on TV but fairly easy on a DVD where a prompt could come up and you could jump to a different chapter. And it is probably just as easy for streaming media. We'll get there eventually. Or maybe not. Video games are doing a pretty good job of filling the void for now.

Speaking of a similar thing, I started watching a playthrough of Beyond: Two Souls today. I started watching a playthrough way back when it originally came out but eventually lost track of it before getting to the end. And then I saw someone streaming it last night and it made me want to get back into it. The main character is modeled after Ellen Page and looks pretty much exactly like her. The graphics are crazy. On top of that, it is also supposed to have several different endings depending on your actions. I think the playthrough I picked includes at least a few of the different endings, if not all of them, so hopefully I can make it that far.

Now I'm going to work on getting tired because it is 11:30PM and I have to wake up in the morning. And I am currently not tired. Tomorrow might be a little rough.

January 17, 2016

This entry will definitely be short because it is late and I didn't really do much today. I woke up this morning and read a few chapters for a couple different books. I would like to start every morning like that. And have the option to go back to sleep afterward.

I didn't get around to sewing today but I did play video games. I played Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) which is an “atmospheric puzzle platformer” made with the help of, and based on the stories from, the Inupiat culture, which is a native group of Alaskans. Even without all the factual basis to the game, the art style is just beautiful. It's just really nice to look at. As a bonus, as you progress through the game you unlock “insights”, which are short documentary-style clips of Inupiat people talking about their culture. It is a really cool concept for a video game. The game itself, in terms of gameplay, is very reminiscent of Limbo, which is another game I really enjoyed. The main characters in this game are a little girl and an arctic fox, which you can switch back and forth between because they each have their own special abilities, which kind of reminds me of Trine. The game can be played with two people, each controlling one of the characters, or singleplayer by switching back and forth. I ended up calling it good today after I got to a puzzle involving an angry polar bear that I couldn't figure out.

I also continued playing Life Is Strange, making it into the third chapter. Spoilers, I saved Kate. As the game progresses I am getting more and more curious to see how my choices alter future events. Having to wait is killing me. This is why I like marathoning shows, so I don't have to wait a week for a new episode or months for storylines to be resolved. I'm making progress though. I'm not sure how long the game is altogether but I'm about nine and a half hours in. And my playthrough will probably be on the longer side because I am walking around, looking at and reading all the things, and talking to all the people. I would like to 100% the game but I've already managed to miss stuff so that won't be happening, at least on this playthrough.

Tonight I played more of Life Is Strange but I also played more HuniePop. Oh my goodness. I didn't realize how graphic the game actually gets. Wow. It's too much. So ridiculous. The girls will randomly send me pictures and they are so ridiculous. They genuinely make me laugh out loud because of how crazy they are. I know there are people out there that are into that sort of thing but thankfully I'm not. I find it hilarious, though, which makes me want to keep playing. Sadly, the funnest part of the game is when you get the girls back to your room because the goal for the match-three game doesn't have a move limit and you try to make matches as fast as possible. Throughout the rest of the game it feels like the match-three puzzles are stacked against you and are only meant to be won if you're at a specific level, which is annoying. It feels like there really isn't much skill involved because even if I played a perfect game I still couldn't win if I wasn't supposed to yet. The other annoying thing is trying to keep track of all the girls' information because when talking with them they may randomly ask you a fact about themselves and you have to remember it. It all starts blending together. I don't know how people who date multiple people at the same time in real life keep it all straight.

Tomorrow is the last day of the long weekend. I plan on doing much of the same. Get the most out of my last weekend before school starts again. I imagine the semester will probably start pretty slow, like they normally do, but that doesn't mean the stress isn't there from the beginning. Hooray.

January 16, 2016

This morning I woke up and finished reading The Westing Game. I thought it was a fun book and I appreciated the ending. Often times with a book you are given a happy ending but left wondering what happens to the characters after the story ends. In The Westing Game the main story ends but then it jumps into the future twice to let you know what happens to all the characters. I liked that.

This afternoon I started playing Life Is Strange. I got the first episode of the game in a Humble Bundle. I think it was the Yogscast one in December. I have been interested in the game since it came out because it looked liked something I would get into but that was during school and I knew I didn't have the time. Now that school is starting again on Wednesday, my time is running out. So I jumped into it today and I am really liking it. I'm clicking on and looking at everything. I made it through the first episode and had a coupon for the rest of the episodes so I ended up buying them. Tonight I started the second episode and probably got close to finishing it. At least I think I did because it felt like I had been playing it for awhile. I'm not sure how many different endings there are but it is definitely a game with replayability because there are several instances where you make a choice and are told it has an impact on future events. It would be nice to have the time to play through it a few more times, but if that doesn't end up happening I'll just have to look up the different outcomes. With this playthrough I'm trying to make choices based on what I would do in real life. It would be fun to go through again and pick the opposite.

I also started playing HuniePop tonight because I was in the mood for a match-three game. I had heard it was a bit over the top and that was a fair assessment. The fact that it is completely voice acted, and that the voice acting isn't that bad, is impressive. My main complaint with the game at the moment is that it is more of a dating sim than a match-three game. I didn't realize how much work it would take just to get the the match-three game. So maybe not the best choice to sate that mood, but it is kind of fun and some of the dialogue is pretty amusing.

Before playing games tonight I sewed two more coasters. I tried a different method for the open edge and I think it looks better. Before I just sewed the three sides before turning it right side out. That created weird corners on that side. Tonight I tried sewing a few stitches on either side of that fourth side in order to created corners like the other ones. It worked pretty well but the thread is visible on one side. I think I just need to sew a little bit more on that fourth side. I'm also having trouble with the batting stretching out when I'm initially sewing all the pieces together. That seems to be caused my the sewing foot putting too much pressure on the fabric and batting. I'm not sure if there is a way to adjust that or maybe I need a different foot. I need to look into it.

It is just after one o'clock in the morning and I need to go to bed. I've been tired for well over an hour and I would like it if I didn't sleep through all of tomorrow. I want to sew more and there are a couple more games I want to try out. One of my textbooks arrived today, as a nice little reminder that my life is about to be sucked back into the academic world. I'm not ready.

January 15, 2016

I don't think there is much to write about today. There was more testing today and no tears were shed so I think it was a success. When I wasn't testing I scanned a few pictures, started editing baby pictures, and made a worksheet for a teacher. I also downloaded and briefly messed with the LEGO software for the robot thing I went to a meeting for a week or two ago. I have an activation code but it wouldn't let me put it in so I'll need to figure that out at some point. Using the software is also going to require some reading because it isn't entirely intuitive. The drag and drop thing is but knowing what everything is and how to tweak it will take some work.

Tonight I saved my mom's car from being backed into. She pulled up to Little Caesar's and dropped me off because there wasn't a parking spot. This was behind a row of parked cars and as I walked between them to go in and order my pizza one of the cars started backing up, obviously unaware of my mom, who hadn't pulled away yet. I tapped on the driver's window, which probably freaked her out, but it got her to stop backing up and distracted her long enough for my mom to move out of the way.

While waiting for my pizza to be made I watched an interesting interaction between two other patrons. One was dressed like a mechanic and the other was in a suit. Literal blue collar and white collar individuals. And they interacted like old friends. My guess is that they go to the same church because they obviously knew a lot about each other and it seems that church is the most likely place for that knowledge to be gained, while also remaining on an even level. It was just interesting to witness.

The big brawl thing in Tera was today while I was at work. It also wasn't that big. It included six guilds, three against three, and even though each guild probably has three hundred members, the brawl was in Corsair's Stronghold and was only twenty against twenty. So even if I wasn't at work I probably couldn't have gotten in the game. I watched the replay tonight and it was entertaining. The group my guild was in completely dominated the other group. Our guilds obviously had people who knew what they were doing, not necessarily the leaders, and the other group was not as stacked. It seemed like a lot of them hadn't even played Corsair's before because they sounded a lot like I did the first several times I played and was completely lost. Anyway, my guild was on the winning team so we all got a gold crown for our characters. I logged in tonight to run a quest or two and had already received my crown, which I am now wearing. It's pretty cool.

Now I'm going to go to bed. Or at least I will be soon. Tomorrow I want to do things. Maybe sew, possibly read, and watch some things. After I stay in bed for as long as I want.

January 14, 2016

Well, once again playing the lottery has failed to make me a millionaire. No real surprise there. It would actually be more surprising if it had. I'll continue playing once a week to keep the vice going.

Today there was more testing. So it was an exciting day. A second grade class tested this afternoon and that was my first look at the new primary test. Previously each subject, Language Arts and Math, was broken into two parts, each thirty-five questions long. Now there is only one part for each subject. The older grades have had between 40 and 43 questions for Language arts and I was hoping that would be the case with the new primary test. Unfortunately it had 55 questions, which is a lot for second graders. It's going to be even worse for first graders. I'm not looking forward to it. I also think I might log in to the test for the first graders because getting the second graders in today was about a pain and a half. It is going to take a lot of time to log everyone in, however, so we'll have to see how I'm feeling. And how much time I have.

I gently pushed an irate second grader out of the lab today. One of the spelling kids came down, the only one of the two who has shown up regularly, even when she wasn't supposed to. She had been working for maybe five minutes when the other one showed up. The one that is most likely bipolar but I'm not sure how young they diagnose that. Anyway, she showed up and almost immediately started getting upset when she saw that the other girl had different words than she did. She started whining and getting louder and louder, distracting the sixth graders in the lab. I eventually got her to go back to her room to talk to the teacher. Not too long after that she returned, still upset, and told the other girl she needed to take the folder back to the room. This girl got annoyed because she always has to take the folder, so she told the upset girl to take the folder back. This made the upset girl even more upset and she started crying and almost yelling at the other girl that she needed to take the folder back. I managed to get a few words in and as I did so I slowly directed/pushed the upset girl out of the lab and kind of shut the door in her face as I told her to go back to her room. A short time after that I got a call from the teacher asking for the other girl to also come back. It was a fun time.

I struggled through making DVDs of the football slideshow for the librarian today. I numbered everything correctly but still seemed to be missing a picture or something. I ended up not so much figuring it out as I did just fudging a few things and got it to work. Then I had to make the DVD menu, which took longer than it probably should have. But I got it and made two DVDs. While I was working on it the new sixth grade teacher wanted to see it because she used to teach at that school and new the kids. She ended up almost crying. Later in the day the librarian brought me another blank DVD because she needed another copy. The slideshow saved but the DVD menu didn't, so I had to remake that. I think I got pretty close but I forgot what font I used for the text.

Tonight I remembered to eat the second half of my Chipotle burrito for dinner. I often forget to do that. Alan Rickman died today, which really sucks. To celebrate his life and work, after dinner I watched Galaxy Quest, which is still such a good movie. I can't remember how it was received upon release but I feel safe saying it should have done a lot better. Galaxy Quest 2 is something that should have happened. Following Galaxy Quest, I started Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Another really good movie. So many good actors, including Alan Rickman. It will be over shortly and then I will go to bed because I am tired and recently, would prefer nothing more than to spend all day in bed. Maybe this weekend.

Tomorrow, more testing. And probably some other things. I got an urge for pizza today so I think I might get pizza for dinner tomorrow. Nothing fancy, probably just cheese, but maybe I'll go the fancy route. We'll have to see.

January 13, 2016

Last night I did in fact end up sleeping in my bed again. And this morning it was very hard getting out of it. Thanks to the recent cold I have slipped back into staying in bed until seven o'clock instead of getting up at six o'clock. I enjoy the extra time in bed but it also makes me feel a little lazy. Life is a struggle.

Today there was more testing. In between tests I took a picture of the newest sixth grader so I could make a high contrast picture of him. I still need to double-check that all of the sixth graders were present on picture day. If not I'll need to get a picture of whoever missed so I can make a high contrast picture of them as well. Maybe tomorrow if I remember.

The librarian asked if I could make a DVD of the football slideshow I put together for her. This request was easy in theory but not so much in practice. I still had the project saved but deleted the reference files so everything came up blank. I found a folder with pictures on the librarian's computer but they weren't named correctly. This was the project where another parent had already put the pictures in the order they wanted and in order for me to recreate that in a different program I had to go through and rename 120+ pictures. It was just as tedious the second time as the first. And I had to do half of them again because I skipped a number so the pictures were off. I redid that tonight so tomorrow I should be able to burn the DVDs. I have a saved copy of the slideshow video but that would have just been a file on the DVD and I wanted it to actually play like a DVD. Which involves a lot of work apparently.

It was an early release day but I didn't really do anything to take advantage of it. I played a little Tera and watched YouTube videos. Then I went and picked up Chipotle. My burrito was alright. I'm going with brown rice again which I haven't really developed a taste for. I guess I just want it to be something it's not, and that never works out well. I feel like it is the healthier choice, though, so I'm going to keep trying it.

Tonight I jumped into GTA5 for a bit. I made a lap around the map and stole two cars to add to my garage. I think I have filled up three garages now and I think I only had to pay for one of my motorcycles. At most I paid for one other vehicle but I'm pretty sure all but the motorcycle were stolen. There are a few vehicles I would like to buy but I don't play enough to justify spending the money, even if it is fake in-game money.

Tomorrow there are four tests. That means I will probably be spending the entire day, minus lunch, on my feet, because the tests are going to overlap each other. Yay. I'm tired now but I think I'm going to stay up a little longer until the Powerball numbers are drawn. Might as well end the dream now. Although if I wait, I'll have something to think about tomorrow while I watch kids test. I'll probably check tonight though, just to avoid the spoilers.

January 12, 2016

It's nine o'clock and I want to go to bed. I slept on the couch last night and it was nice but tonight I think I'm going to move back to the bed, just to see how things go. My level of congestion keeps fluctuating and I am hoping that I will be able to breathe by the time I lay down.

This morning I wished that the teacher for the first test had forgotten again to give me more time. One of the SPED teachers needed help setting up a test so I was scrambling to get all of the tests ready and started in the lab so I could go up and help her get started. I was already slightly behind schedule because I had to spend several minutes scrubbing three different computer desks because they were covered in crayon marks. Thank you Boy And Girls Club. They were other working on abstract expressionism or didn't care if kids stayed inside the lines.

That test overlapped with the second test and I learned that the overlap is now a pain. I can only have one testing session running at a time so in order to start the second test I have to pause the kids from the first test, move them into the second testing session, and then have them log back in using the new testing session in formation. It will be nice for the SPED teachers who can start one session in the morning and just add a kid here and there throughout the day rather than have to start and stop sessions all day. I can really do that because I would end up with giant sessions by the end of the day. So I'm stuck with the stopping and starting thing.

Right after lunch I had a class, then a test, which overlapped with my next class, which preceded another class, and a few minutes later a third class which went until the end of the day. This afternoon disappeared. I had a little time before I left to do a favor for one of the office ladies but that was about it. Oh, and I scanned some baby pictures. So I managed to accomplish a few things today.

On my way home I paid a bill and bought my Powerball tickets. Tonight I played a little Tera, watched YouTube videos, and right now I am watching John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid. I'm a fan of his comedy and this special does not disappoint. When it is over, I'm going to attempt sleep. Fingers crossed all goes well.

January 11, 2016

I slept on the couch again last night and it went pretty well. I got lucky and was able to breathe through one nostril so I didn't have to be a mouth breather, which meant my throat wasn't unnecessarily sore in the morning. I even had to turn my heater off in the middle of the night because I got too hot, which is crazy because the basement is freezing. Maybe the couch needs to be my new nap spot.

This morning we had the first MAP test using the new online system. It started over half an hour late because the teacher forgot she was testing, but that gave me time to get everything ready and fold the sheets that go over the computers over the weekend. So it worked out.

As for the test itself, it also worked out. There were a couple times where a question didn't show up but I was able to refresh the browser and that fixed it. I brought in my laptop to use as the main proctor computer so I was able to stand in the back of the lab and run everything. After the kids select their name and confirm it is them, I then have to confirm it before they can start the test, this is nice because it makes it really hard for someone to accidentally or purposefully choose the wrong name and get into the wrong test. I like it. It is also nice being able to see what question all the kids are on without having to walk around and then bend down to see the bottom of their screens. It would be nice if their score would also pop up on the proctor screen when they finish but maybe in the future. Speaking of scores, we were originally told that they would be immediately available, but that isn't the case. It still takes a day for them to show up.

I didn't write any scores down today (even after I realized I wouldn't immediately have the scores) and I think I'm going to continue that. Now I can organize reports by name rather than score, which was one of the big reasons I did write down scores, so I could have them in alphabetical order, making it easier to transfer them to my spreadsheets. It was way too inefficient looking at a report ordered by score and then scrolling up and down on my spreadsheets trying to find the right kid. Also, the first and second graders only have one test per subject now instead of two parts which are then combined. If I wanted the individual scores for those parts it was easier to right them down rather than trying to get on the report site and catch them before they were combined. And it was nice not having to bend over a million times to write down scores.

The test was the only thing happening this morning and this afternoon there was one more test and two non-testing classes. In my free time I was able to finish editing the high contrast sixth grade pictures and scan a few more sixth grade baby pictures. Tomorrow in my free time I might start editing baby pictures.

Tonight I cut fabric squares and watched the last episode of the first season of Jessica Jones. I'm glad it's over but I also want to see more. And by the time the second season comes out I will have probably forgotten how tired I got of the drawn out drama. And maybe the second season one include so many unnecessary close calls just to increase the drama.

I also played a little bit of Tera to meet weekly quest goals. I was at thirteen out of twenty whatever, meaning I needed seven more tokens. I picked the first quest in the list which required me to kill twenty huge monsters that were all max level. I killed three and it took way too long so I skipped to the next quest. That required killing much smaller bad guys. Not too long into that I got a party invite and ended up in a full party of people running around in the same area farming the same bad guys. While in a party you get credit for everyone else's kills, and the quest is repeatable, so it didn't take very long at all to meet the weekly goal. Up until that point I was also getting 45 gold each time I completed the quest and then 300 more for reaching the weekly goal. I'm up to almost 19,000 gold and don't really have anything to spend it on, so I'm not really focused on it, but now that I'm max level and XP doesn't mean anything anymore, maybe gold should be my next focus.

Tomorrow there will be more testing. Hooray. After work I think I'm going to pay a bill and buy some Powerball tickets. Even with the big jackpot over the weekend I didn't encounter a crowd at the gas station but now that it is over a billion dollars I figure it is safer not leaving it until Wednesday. Today while watching kids test I was trying to imagine a billion dollars. You often hear stories of people who blow through their winnings but blowing through a billion dollars would be truly impressive. Over the summer it was a task trying to spend $2600 on books. And then there is Brewster's Millions, where he has to spend $30 million in thirty days. There are a lot of stipulations placed on Brewster but even without that I think it would be pretty hard to spend that much money. And $30 million is only 3% of $1 billion.

I asked my friend tonight if she was going to buy a ticket and she said that she wasn't even interested. I started buying Powerball tickets because I wanted a vice and at this point I'm not particularly interested in buying tickets, either. I obviously have no delusions of actually winning. If I had something better to spend my money on I wouldn't even hesitate. But with the current jackpot it is kind of an historic moment. It is the first time, I think it the world at this point, that a lottery jackpot has hit a billion dollars. I'm not putting it in the same league as seeing a man walk on the moon or learning of the assassination of JFK, but those are the things people always quote when they say I remember where I was or what I was doing with this event happened. When all is said and done, the only people that will probably remember where they were when the billion dollar jackpot was won, are the people who win the jackpot. At the moment though, it is pretty cool to witness. And I have the opportunity to participate, if only in a miniscule way, to this moment in history. At this point I have written a lot about it and it has been a good distraction. A fun mind-bender, trying to wrap my head around a billion. My fingers will still be crossed that no one wins on Wednesday so it will go even higher.

Now I'm going to go to bed. Or maybe to couch. I think I could get away with my bed but the couch has been pretty comfortable and I am still a little congested and coughy. I was leaning toward the bed but now I'm leaning toward the couch. We'll have to see how cold it is when I go out there.

January 10, 2016

Last night was spent on the reclining couch. I brought out my heater and my fan (for the sound), two blankets to hide under, and a few pillows. And I pretty much slept through the night. I had a coughing fit or two but it was much better than Friday night. Waking up kind of sucked because I did have to be a mouth breather all night and that led to a major sore throat (to go along with the sore throat caused by my cold). For the majority of the day my throat and cough seemed worse but I think they have gotten progressively better. That might just be the NyQuil kicking in, though. I've been debating where to sleep tonight but to be safe I'll probably stick with the couch.

I didn't really do much today. I beat 10,000,000, which I have done previously but lost the save when switching hard drives. I'm really tempted to get the sequel, You Must Build A Boat, because it is basically the same match-three game with a couple different mechanics. It is currently five bucks on PC, which isn't bad, but it is two or three bucks on mobile, which happens a lot actually, and it is kind of annoying. Especially when it appears to be exactly the same. I realize more probably goes into PC versions but I'm not looking at the behind-the-scenes stuff or the options menu, just the gameplay. Anyway, maybe the next time the You Must Build A Boat goes on sale I'll think about buying it.

This afternoon I tested out my new iron by ironing all of the fabric that I have. It worked out as expected, just like an iron should, which is great. Hopefully it continues to do so. My problem is with the fabric, which seems to have permanent creases in it, that I don't think any amount of ironing will get out. Maybe there is a way, I haven't actually looked, but they seem to be permanent. Thankfully they are just for coasters, so no big deal.

Right now I'm watching the Golden Globes. I don't really care about the awards but I wanted to see what Ricky Gervais would say. And there have been other funny moments spread throughout. Throughout the day I watched several more episodes of Jessica Jones. I'm almost done with the eleventh episode, which I think leaves me with two more in the first season. I am still liking the show but I have been reminded why I don't like watching TV dramas. They have to drag out the drama for such a long period of time. It's almost resolved, and then it's not, but maybe this time, and no because there are still several episodes to go, so maybe now, but no again. It's exhausting and kind of feels like an Ayn Rand novel. Like it could be done just as well, if not better, in a much shorter period of time, or in the case of a novel or screenplay, fewer words. At this point I get it and I just want it to be over.

No one won the Powerball last night so the new estimated jackpot is over one billion dollars, with an estimated cash value of more than 800 million. I imagine the cash value will be a lot closer to one billion by Wednesday's drawing. That far exceeds the ability to comprehend. A million is fairly easy to quantify but a billion is insane. Even though the lump sum after taxes won't be a billion dollars, that is still a lot of money. I asked my friends what they would get for themselves after doing all the responsible things. One said a speed boat and the other said a sail boat. Makes me think I'm missing something in the boating world. Maybe I would get a canoe so I could fit in.

Now I'm going to finish the twelfth episode of Jessica Jones and go to bed. Hopefully they don't end it on too much of a cliffhanger.

January 9, 2016

Well, sleep last night went horribly. I didn't make it to bed until almost midnight, barely slept, and was up for good at three o'clock in the morning. I laid in bed and tried to fight it until five o'clock but then I gave up. I tried napping throughout the day but that didn't work out either. It seemed like every time I was about to drift off to sleep I would cough or have to get up to go the the bathroom because I had been drinking so much water due to my sore throat. It was frustrating.

I played a lot of video games to try and ignore the fact that I was incredibly tired but couldn't sleep. There was Tera, Hearthstone, Ark, Bejeweled 3, and 10,000,000. I also watched things. I got around to watching Interstellar and I think there was another movie that is completely slipping my mind at the moment. I also started watching Jessica Jones, which is a lot darker than I was expecting. I either completely forgot or never knew that David Tennant was in it and he is really good at playing a villain. I still like him best as the Doctor, though. And I have remembered now, I actually watched two other movies. The first was Chappie. I don't think I knew that Hugh Jackman played the bad guy, with a mullet. I also didn't know that Die Antwoord played such a big roll in the movie. They were surprisingly good. I didn't expect that at all. The other movie I watched was Constantine. I'm a fan of that movie and haven't seen it in a long time. I had completely forgotten that Shia LaBeouf was in it.

My iron arrived today so maybe tomorrow if I'm feeling up to it I'll try it out on the fabric I have. It would be nice to get it all ironed out so I could have it ready when I wanted to sew. It would also be nice to maybe sew tomorrow but again, we'll have to see how I'm feeling. I am going to try and sleep in a recliner or on the couch (which reclines) tonight to see if that is better than trying to prop myself up with pillows in my bed, something that obviously didn't work. My only concern is that the recliner and the couch are in the cold basement. I'm going to see if I can survive without my heater because I think it could run all night and still never warm the place up. I could turn the fireplace on but I also don't want that burning all night, either. We'll see how it goes.

Oh, and I didn't win the massive Powerball tonight. The results are still pending so I don't know if anyone else won, but I kind of hope they didn't just to see a jackpot on Wednesday of over a billion dollars. That would be insane. I really doubt no one wins tonight but my fingers are crossed.