School has been underway for over a month now, and I am certainly feeling the lack of time. Year 2 is always better than Year 1, and that has held true. My planning has been effective, my labs work, and creating/grading assignments has gone well. Unfortunately I still don't have as much time as I'd like due to the Ultimate season and the fact that my Dad is crazy. Yes, my Dad is more crazy than before, or at least has decided to drink his way out of crazy, which never works. There have been multiple days that I have gotten calls in the middle of the night. The most recent one was to tell me the weather was bad (@ 5:30 am) which came after a call to tell me he found his cane (@ 2:00 am). This has been pretty stressful for me, as well as Chowning. Things seem to be getting "better" but that has happened before only to see things crash in front of me. I find myself nervous that the phone will ring during the night (which is often the score of the Braves game) and struggling with the idea that my Dad can't really take care of himself (apparently) but I can't really force him to do anything either.
I managed to weather the monsoon of '09 (we'll place that right next to the Electrical Storm and the Blizzard). I did learn that the exterior of my car apparently has a sealant leak . . . at least when it is confronted with that much rain. Seeing all of the news about roads being completely wiped away has been scary and riveting at the same time. These events, juxtaposed with the UN Assembly to talk about climate issues have led to me think that we're all fucked at some point. I'll do what I can until then (I guess I can cut down on my driving even more? . . . and I'll stop burning leaves in the backyard with gasoline), but the world is going to keep on changing in drastic ways. But these are the moments that we are supposed to rise up as people and resolve some fucking issues, right? If that is the case then problem number 1 in my mind is population control. 6.5 Billion people is a lot, and I'm not blaming any of you for causing this mess (except Jeff and Daron?), but we're all dealing with the 8 mouths Jon and Kate have brought into the world.
Video games have been great. I had one of the best birthdays I can remember this year. We got people together for a great dinner at Two Urban Licks, and Chowning gave me a number of presents that I really enjoy. Amongst them is a DSi, which will be better down the road when the DSiWare gets better, and a joystick so I can finally buy and play Street Fighter 4 (although I hear a Championship Edition is coming out soon). It was great to see everyone, and it is nice that similar events have been happening more. Jeremy has championed trivia again, and has been leading a rotating cast to occasional victory at Vortex on Mondays. Also with Chowning out of town I managed to have a game night, which hadn't happened in a while. All of these events leave me really happy that we find a way to spend time together, even if it is separated by months at times.
In one day I will be involved in the Junior Class Lock-in here at Paideia. It is a bad idea for me because I have an important Ultimate game the next day, but they give me a day ahead of schedule to sleep, and an event of that length is long enough to play a full game of Axis. It's been a while, but that game is awesome. I'll let you know how that goes, or if I get these kids to play some other games. I may just try to find a corner and sleep, but I imagine the administration would frown on that.
I managed to weather the monsoon of '09 (we'll place that right next to the Electrical Storm and the Blizzard). I did learn that the exterior of my car apparently has a sealant leak . . . at least when it is confronted with that much rain. Seeing all of the news about roads being completely wiped away has been scary and riveting at the same time. These events, juxtaposed with the UN Assembly to talk about climate issues have led to me think that we're all fucked at some point. I'll do what I can until then (I guess I can cut down on my driving even more? . . . and I'll stop burning leaves in the backyard with gasoline), but the world is going to keep on changing in drastic ways. But these are the moments that we are supposed to rise up as people and resolve some fucking issues, right? If that is the case then problem number 1 in my mind is population control. 6.5 Billion people is a lot, and I'm not blaming any of you for causing this mess (except Jeff and Daron?), but we're all dealing with the 8 mouths Jon and Kate have brought into the world.
Video games have been great. I had one of the best birthdays I can remember this year. We got people together for a great dinner at Two Urban Licks, and Chowning gave me a number of presents that I really enjoy. Amongst them is a DSi, which will be better down the road when the DSiWare gets better, and a joystick so I can finally buy and play Street Fighter 4 (although I hear a Championship Edition is coming out soon). It was great to see everyone, and it is nice that similar events have been happening more. Jeremy has championed trivia again, and has been leading a rotating cast to occasional victory at Vortex on Mondays. Also with Chowning out of town I managed to have a game night, which hadn't happened in a while. All of these events leave me really happy that we find a way to spend time together, even if it is separated by months at times.
In one day I will be involved in the Junior Class Lock-in here at Paideia. It is a bad idea for me because I have an important Ultimate game the next day, but they give me a day ahead of schedule to sleep, and an event of that length is long enough to play a full game of Axis. It's been a while, but that game is awesome. I'll let you know how that goes, or if I get these kids to play some other games. I may just try to find a corner and sleep, but I imagine the administration would frown on that.
