Why Oh Why...?

Have I not written for so long? Self, I am sorry. I have been tweeting and studying and...doing artwork! But not journaling, not writing. I did read a book though. That was good. That felt very good. Last week at this time it was snowing. Two weeks ago at this time, a lone gunman (boy) was planning his trip the next day to a high school in Florida to murder and injure other youths. Peace.

Wait, What? Oh, yeah...

We had time off...Monday for President's Day, Tuesday early release because of impending weather, and Wednesday for bad weather. and today two-hour delay to start, so a short day, though it felt like a long day. I finally emailed someone at HR to ask about thee two mystery deductions on my paycheck that I noticed a couple months ago. They equal a few hundred dollars so I probably should find out what they are for. (edit: turns out they are for taxes.) I need to go back to doing exercise, I am feeling lethargic and emotionally low. To be a good teacher, or a good teaching assistant (my job), you need to have interesting material and to be able to present it in engaging and energetic ways. When a student is tired and the subject doesn't interest them it's the instructor's job to try and make it interesting, or people will tune out and fall asleep...which happens a lot in a couple of our classes, and with a couple of students in particular. I think we should at least play a board game if there's no lesson plan to do, instead of letting kids zone out into their phones, then they could have the experience of engaging with a group and practice some strategy, creative thinking, and counting/reading, etc.

In computer animation today we were supposed to finish our Greek building or castle, and follow along as the teacher built a basic tree form. I had to restart mine four times; I kept messing up but wasn't sure how to fix it or what I did. The teacher was going really slowly at first and then too fast to keep up with. I also am not sure if I know how to save my work properly, but I'm more concerned that the student I am there with saves his...It's awkward to try to listen to the teacher and then try to convey that to the student (saying it out loud and pointing to where he needs to put his curser/click or dbl.click, or click and hold) while the teacher is already moved on to the next part, and I just wanted to holler: slow down please! Back up please! Show that part again! Which he really should have done bc I walked around the class and very few people were at the point where he was...He says he was recording it for a tutorial that he would post, so hopefully, I can watch that and it will help. I mean, ideally I would know the material and then I could just teach it to the student, but I am learning it at the same time. I just need to put more effort into practicing, even if it's frustrating to work on by myself.

Because of the snow day, we missed clay class so I need to remember to bring my little pyramids in tomorrow so that they can be fired. I'm hoping to put some effort into glazing them and that they will be something I can be proud of instead of some of the things I made in my own ceramics class years ago that I didn't really work too hard on, despite enjoying working with clay and sculpting. The student in that class is pretty disassociated with the projects so far, so I made 90% of his first thing and it came out well I think. I am hoping that he will enjoy the glazing/painting process and will be willing to do that part by himself. I'm glad I get the opportunity to make things as well (the teacher said I could try the wheel too, which I am excited about, even though I remember it as being challenging and difficult (frustrating) experience in the past. We will see, we will see. Stay safe. Peace.

Revolt

I am glad to say that I read about news of students announcing an organized plan to walk out/boycott attending public schools all around the nation on certain days to protest the absurd accessibility of guns and automatic weapons in this country. It's an exciting revolution to bring the lawmakers who accept money from the NRA lobbyists and ease gun legislation to have accountability for their greedy political actions that have enabled gun violence and mass murder. I hope that I am able to participate and that all goes safely. I hope that laws are changed to protect innocent people. I hope for Peace.

In the meantime, I am going to figure out what politicians are the proper influential lawmakers to write to about changing these laws for our safety. I never did before because I thought it pointless, seeing how powerful the people who want to keep the guns easily attainable...Ideally, I wish we were more like the UK and Canada, where gun laws prevent the kinds of repeat local terrorism we have here. Mental illness diagnosis and care and social services are more prevalent and affordable (free) there too. That makes a world of difference when it comes to unstable people having access to guns.

Watching Thor:Ragnarok now. Peace.

A Few Days

Wednesday was Valentine's Day, today is Chinese Lunar New Year. Wednesday there was another devastating murder rampage (shooting) at a school in Florida, USA. Today information came out that the FBI knew about him but didn't take action to follow through on the tips they got because of various unknown reasons.


That makes talking about anything that happened lately that was cool or interesting or funny in my life or at school very gray and unnecessary right now.  Peace.

Update I guess

Saturday we met up with four of my former co-workers from the high school last year. We are all at different locations this year and it was great to catch up on what students we all still know and where they are, though I don't really feel like we talked about ourselves much and I can't say what anyone is up to now! One of the friends, Stella, asked Steve and I to attend a dance with her that evening and we actually went! We didn't dress up or anything but ended up having a really nice time. There were dance classes to learn a few steps and then people started dancing around the really big ballroom. Then later there was a fantastic performance by teenagers all dressed up in costumes and they performed the Charleston and Viennese Waltz. It was fabulous fun to watch, they were all so good. There was also tasty punch and lasagna and fun Valentine's cookies. So nice. Thank you, Steven, for taking us there!

Sunday was a homestay day and Steve ordered us a heart-shaped pizza, so sweet. We also finished watching all of Steven Universe. What a great show. Monday was busy at school with assignments and classes and after work, I attended a lecture at school about childhood trauma and psychology. Interesting and personally relevant too. Today was computer class and I am so glad to say that I was able to help the kid complete the project, and now we need to move on to the next one immediately. It's a lot of information to learn in only a few hours a week. Tomorrow is ceramics and art which would be fun except I am not sure how to instruct the students, they are very different learners so they all need to absorb the information in their own time and in different ways. I just want to see them all want to try...

Tomorrow I need to remember to go to a Black History lecture series at a different school. It's an author/teacher showing a film about the subject of Black youth and absent fathers and how they grow up and want to break the cycle. I am excited to go. PEACE

Friyay!

Blah blah blah school blah blah blah computers blah blah blah books blah blah blah pizza! Peace.

Brrrrr! It's cold in here!

It's been about fifty degrees Fahrenheit during the day but nighttime is chill chill chilly as soon as the sun sets. Brrrrrrrr!!!

School was fine, I'm trying to get that software for the animation class at home somehow because I really need to work on it outside of class and the past two days I've tried to go to the computer lab after school and haven't been able to get in to do it.

I had ceramics again and wish it was my class, not to teach but to be a student in. The person I am helping in there really doesn't want to do much, he's fickle and can be quite stubborn, so I made the piece for him and hopefully he will do the decorating. But it's frustrating because he is totally capable of doing it, he just doesn't want to make any effort. At least he seems to be enjoying playing around with bits of clay. I really should take my own class but I don't feel like doing it either, the expense and the travel...if the class was right there at the school I would do it in a heartbeat. I guess I'm lazy too! I really do need to take a life drawing class soon before I stagnate completely which would be so depressing.

I need to do my taxes even though the school loan place will garnish the whole refund like they did last year. Talk about depressing! I also need to get my vehicle checked out and clean it and get the tires rotated. And clean the house (apartment) and gather more stuff to sell at the place, etc. etc. etc.

I read about a new TV show I wanted to check out but forget what it was called...I only read about it early this morning online but now I can only vaguely remember that I even saw something that sounded interesting to me. Need some Gingko, amirite? Peace.

Toozdee??

Ack! I didn't write yesterday and I don't even feel like it today. It's the Winter Blues. I got 'em real bad. Like every year. It's reliable and predictable yet I still live in one of the grayest places where one can live. I know if we went skiing I would feel so much better about it and feel lucky even to live so near a skiable area. At least that's how I felt years ago when I went snowboarding a couple of times...

It might be different now. But maybe not! Worth a try, but I really need to feel positive that my car is totally reliable. Because I don't want to go through more breakdowns than necessary. None are necessary.

It's a new semester in school and I have new classes with students like Health and Computer Animation and Ceramics. It's going to take more effort and homework on my part to understand the computer class and I really want to which helps, but it's also going to be more challenging than acting class was to transfer the information to the student.

I watched some of the relevant tutorials today but it's going to take hands-on step-by-step practice to learn it and be able to explain it to someone else. I wish the class were smaller...it's very crowded and many of the other kids are much more advanced in the processes already.

Steven is at the gym, I'm really proud of him. Meanwhile, I just came home and made some cake and took a medium long nap. I hope everything will be okay. Just do your best and if you think you won't remember something then put a note or set an alarm on your phone. you'll be okay. Peace.

Fryday

I did not a lot today. I didn't go to school to paint, I just slept off the wine I had last night and diarrhea I had from drinking expired coffee drink. I watched a few episodes of my latest favorite show Burn Notice and there was one with the actor who plays Riggs on Lethal Weapon which was really cool, he's a good actor and pretty cute too.

About two my neighbor knocked on the door to borrow a phone because she locked herself out. I gave her my phone and sent her upstairs to Deb because I knew she had the manager's number.  I didn't open the door all the way because I didn't have pants on.

About five I decided to finish what I was doing yesterday and walked to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a light up magnifying mirror so I can get out my blackheads and apply makeup more easily. There was one I had enough money for but I looked around and found one I liked even more that had a really great daylight feature. So I just bought some chapstick and saved my 20% off coupon for tomorrow.

Then I walked to the Habitat for Humanity Restore again and got the little rug I saw there yesterday and a two dollar comfortable wooden stool and a glass lampshade for the lamp I brought to try it on.
I also almost got an old mini tape recorder but even though they put a new battery into it I wasn't sure if it worked or not...I also got some spray paint. Then Steven showed up (yay!) and I put the stuff in his car while he went along to the gym and I went to New Seasons for beer and burritos and also to the best burrito cart to get more burritos.

Now we're watching some more Steven Universe! Happy Black History Month! Peace.

THANK GOD IT'S THURSDAY

Today Thursday is Friday. So that's good. Uhm, what else? The teacher said he liked the board decorations I put up and thanked me, so that was really nice to hear. A different teacher had a laser tag mini party so we got pizza which wasn't gross, and I didn't totally suck at the game despite not having played it before. So that was nice too. A student had asked me to print a picture for her but I didn't do it yet and she seemed so disappointed that I went home and did it at lunch and found her bus at the last minute by guessing so I got to give it to her before the weekend, so that was very nice. Finals week were fine. I'm just glad it's over. The schedule was as confusing for me as for the freshmen students who hadn't experienced it before.

Lots to do this weekend, but I hope I get most of my list done early so I can just clean the apartment and relax. I hope Steven is doing alright today too. He is my rock and I love him for his comfort and humor and support and motivation and generosity. Thanks Steven, for being you! Have a great weekend, and remember to thank the ones you love. Peace.