Summer Adventure #1

I have never been more thankful that Tarzan is a teacher than this year.
In fact, most years I have been bitter that Tarzan gets 12 weeks off in the summer (plus 1 at Thanksgiving, another 1 in the spring AND the 3 at Christmas)
Not because I think he's not working. He works hard during the school year, including Saturdays, I don't envy him AT ALL his getting up at 5am all year long to go to school and he still manages some substitute time during the summer, just for kicks and because he gets bored on vacation.
But usually, on his vacations, *I* still had to go to work and so I was jealous.
This time around though, we have Cheetah, I have no pressing work to go to, so we have time together.
Which is awesome.
And we decided to start taking advantage of the many, many cultural institutions here in the Jungle.
Despite Cheetah being only seven months old - and unlikely to remember it - we took him to one of the local museums to see the "art" that was recently installed.
Cheetah slept through it:

When he did wake up he was not impressed with the statues:

The historical locale:

Or his parents:

In fact, all he really cared about was watching the wheels on the stroller go around:

And the traffic:

Though he did try and pull up a tuft of his first grass:

Tarzan and I had a blast though and we look forward to many summer adventures this year and in the years to come.

This is me and it's looking good.

He Passed

I guess it's a good thing I was never a cheerleader.
Tarzan has been studying most of the summer to take an English credential test so he can be the teacher of record for even more of the online students at his high school. He already is credentialed for the two types of history (US and World) and German.
(Because the man doesn't do enough for the district as it is...)
Anyway, he took the test almost a month ago and had to wait until last night for the results.
He passed - of course - but when the email finally came he was over the moon, grinning like a fool and doing a little dance in the kitchen.
Apparently he had been really worried about the test and concerned that he might not score high enough for the credential.
I kissed him and said congratulations but I had had no doubts that he would pass. It was like confirmation of a known fact.
I'm more like my parents than I admit to, it would seem. Not as demonstrative as others we know.
So just like when we told people we were expecting a baby, Tarzan had to go to his family for the fireworks and the shrieking.
They did not disappoint.

This is me and I am proud of him, just not hysterical.

It's A Weekend

And here's what I supervised all day:

This has been a tough year academically, new principal at the school, lack of enthusiasm among the kids, late materials, Tarzan having a zillion things to do and it just isn't the same as past years. We're not as focused and the kids aren't as focused and it's all going to stink at the awards ceremony if today's results were any indication. We had one kid score a 1/50 on the math section.
Tarzan doesn't like math so we don't focus on math a lot - there are some schools with freaks that score perfect every year, so we never get close to that medal - but blindfolded I could do better than a 2%. Not to be vain but I really don't think he was trying very hard.
I was pleased with three of the students, not stellar results, but we can work with it and maybe get somewhere.
Of course, a team has nine students...
Oy.

This is me and it's not going to be good come February

Brownies

I got a text message the other day from one of the previous Academic Decathlon team members. He's had a rough life but he's smart and determined and is not afraid to work hard. He got an honorable mention for Economics (a subject we didn't even cover)and a medal for his speech last year, as well as being the highest scoring member of the team.
He graduated in May and is now attending Humbolt State University.
He's not a very compassionate kid though - being male and a teenager doesn't make it more likely - and so I was surprised to hear from him. He was baking for the first time and he said that if he was lucky the brownies would come out with 1% of the awesomeness of my baking. He always was a fan of the cookies I brought.  
He sent me a picture of the finished product:

This is me and I'm so proud.

Veteran's Day 2013

As luck would have it, the theme for Academic Decathlon this year is World War I and so we are learning much about the world and the politics that created the conflict that ended today 102 years ago.
My area of "expertise" is Art and Architecture and we have been discussing war memorials. There are many, of course, that great war having taken lives from more countries and in greater numbers than ever before.
We're studying two particular memorials; The Liberty Memorial in Kansas City and the Theipval Memorial To The Missing Of The Somme in France:

Reading about the cooperation between the French and the English to remember their fallen soldiers really touched me. There is an inscription in the center of the arch, with the Stone of Remembrance, that reads:

"Their name liveth forevermore."

It's an appropriate thought for the day.

This is me remembering.

Yesterday's Explanation

Right. I promised you an explanation for yesterday's late post.
Here goes.
Yesterday, I got up as usual, dressed and headed out to the Home Storage Center, where I volunteer each Thursday. It opens at 9am so I left at 8:30.
Got there, opened and did the usual, except there were a few more customers than normal which meant clean-up took longer than normal which meant I left later than normal which meant I had to rush to get to school on time, because in the afternoons on Thursdays I go to Tarzan's high school and teach Art & Architecture and public speaking to the Academic Decathlon team.
That also went well, but Tarzan and I stayed later than usual after the practice was over, working on our responses and notes for an AP Literature class we were asked to speak in today regarding the opinions of one Mr. Krakauer, in an atrocious book titled, Under The Banner Of Heaven (I am NOT linking to that man or his work), about the LDS Church. (He does a deplorable job of differentiating between LDS, FLDS and RLDS.)
We stayed so late, working on our comments, that I didn't get to go home before I had to run to the store to fetch some items and be back at the Home Storage Center for the evening orientation, geared toward new Bishops and Relief Society Presidents who do not know what goes on or how to instruct people about the services provided there.
The orientation went well and when it was over we had to clean up, close up and then go home. One of the other volunteers there just got a job in North Dakota and he leaves tomorrow so we spent some time lamenting the weather choices in his new state and lapping up the 70 degrees at 9:30pm that we enjoy here in the Jungle. He won't see 70 degrees again until May.
When I finally got home, I rushed to put stuff away, cleaned up dishes, etc, and was in bed before I realized I hadn't posted yet.
You know the rest.
There aren't too many days like that now that I am no longer the Relief Society President but once in a while they still pop up and I wonder how I managed.

This is me and now you know.

The Story Of My Keys

In the midst of all this bishop become-ing we were doing, was one of the craziest days I have ever lived. And there have been a few.
Let me tell you about it.
Last week, the office manager from the last place I worked for real, called to let me know that the architect in the office had passed away. (I had an inkling something was up because the only other time in five years she had called was when he had the heart attack before this one.) She told me they were having a memorial on Tuesday (last Tuesday) and would I like to come. I thought, sure. Time had dulled the wounds and it seemed like a nice thing to do.
So. Tuesday morning I got up, dressed in my funeral attire and headed west to the church. I saw all the guys from the office, got caught up with things, heard the service, which was lovely, and we all headed over to the hotel for a lunch. The hotel was near the beach and had valet - which was paid for - and did I mention that my car was sick and in the shop so I was driving Tarzan's car. (Had had to drop Tarzan off at work early in the morning, do my stuff and at the end of the day pick him up again.)
I left Tarzan's car with the valet and went to lunch, which was lovely, ate with the guys, MC was nice to me and we carried on a conversation of pleasantries - unusual - and went back up to the valet to get my car. Turns out the valet was NOT prepaid and so everyone in front of me was really angry about having to pay $14 for their cars. It irritated me too but what were we to do? The woman's father had just died, who was going to whine about having to pay for their car?
I got in my car, drove almost home, stopping at the store for some refreshments and supplies for the Spa Night we were having that evening.
Did I mention I had a huge combined Relief Society activity that evening? (Relief Society and Young Women for both our ward and the Spanish speaking ward we share our building with.)
I got home close to 4:00 and only when I got to the door of the house did I realize that I did not have my house keys on my key ring. Weird. I called the hotel - the only place I had not had my keys - and sure enough I had "dropped them." (Total lie.) However, there was not enough time to turn around and go all the way across town to the hotel, come all the way back and make it in time to get Tarzan and still get to the activity.
So we left my keys, I went to the school and borrowed Tarzan's keys in order to change and fetch other things for the activity, fetched him and we ate dinner in the car on the way to the church. The activity was a grand success:

 

(In my humble opinion) and Tarzan was very productive in his meetings.
But my keys were still on the other side of town.
I was able to get them the next day, after all the work stuff and the car nonsense - that's another story to tell, my poor car - but the dude at the desk made me wait forever for help and forever to fetch my keys from security and then insisted that I had dropped my house keys - off my key ring - and I was very fortunate that they had found them. I sort of think they wanted a tip at the valet desk but I was not in the mood.

This is me and this sort of stuff happens only to me.

Because 13 Years Isn't Enough

Is anyone else in their car so much that they hear the same segment on NPR more than once in a day? There are days when I hear every edition of Marketplace and they're identical...
In my desire to hear the funny, quirky things, I hear other things repeatedly. And I have noticed that NPR certainly likes to beat the inflammatory topic drum.
Here's my (next) question for you: how do you feel about Pre-Kindergarten being required and why?
All I know is that my parents worked hard when I was growing up, one or both of them, multiple jobs, etc., and yet all nine of us learned to read and count before we went to school. What's the push for pre-K? When do children get to be children?

This is me, looking for another perspective.

Post ApocaDecathlon

And this is what the end of a zillion pages of material, 15 kids, nine months of chiding, scolding, driving, drilling, begging, crying, laughing, cajoling, praising, and commiserating and two days of competition looks like:

This is me and it's all over but the awards.

The Light Dawns

When Tarzan and I were first married I would hear tales of his mother staying up until the wee small hours of the morning working on lessons for school, editing papers, planning Visiting Teaching excursions or sending letters to family.
I will admit to thinking she was nuts.
Why on earth would anyone stay up that late/early? Do it tomorrow or plan it better and then it would all be done in a timely manner.
Ah. The naivete of youth.
I respectfully ask for Gamma's forgiveness for ever thinking she wasn't better organized; when the truth is, she was SO organized she had everything scheduled down to the last minute detail and was going to get it all done or the delicate balance she had made between work, family and church would collapse.
Or at least, that's what I'm thinking as I stay up late to make gingerbread men for Christmas plates that Tarzan is taking on the last day of school - tomorrow - for his fellow teachers.
Sure, I could have done it a different night this week, but all the days are scheduled out the wazoo. With weddings and parties and shopping and weather and family and the business and the car being sick - it's back now and just fine - and all that stuff, I understand the scheduling conflicts, the emergencies that come up, assignments that someone falls through on, or get changed.
And just plain  not having enough hours in the day.
I am reminded of a book we used to read when I was a kid with the Sesame Street characters and Ernie keeps putting "one more thing," and "one more thing" into Bert's bath until there isn't any room for Bert.

This is me and as it is I need a week to get caught up to where I'm only behind a little.

Endeavour

This will no doubt reveal our living location - if you didn't already know where the Jungle actually is - but Tarzan thinks it's worth it:

The space shuttle Endeavour travelled through town today on it's way to the museum up the street and we went to view the maneuver:

I was interested but no one I saw today had the attitude of Tarzan. He was like a kid, he was so excited:

He lectured on the street corner, a la Aristotle, as we were waiting for the shuttle to trundle on down. (This thing was not fast, in any sense of the word.) Tarzan talked about the thrusters versus the engines, the tiles, the nose, the advent of the name, the size, the weight, the journeys, the history, and to anyone who would listen. There were a lot of people to hear him:

As "luck" would have it, the Academic Decathlon theme for this year is the space race, so we offered to take the team with us to see it, though only one was willing to go out in public with his teachers:

I did not catch the fever until the shuttle actually started rolling by. The left wing went right over our heads and it was as totally awesome as it sounds like it would be:

This is me and it was really cool.

High School Revisited

So, all these years I have been using Facebook for games and checking out photos posted by family. Sometimes I comment on thought provoking status-es from friends. I have searched for and found friends from high school, or grade school, always with half excitement of catching up and half trepidation that we won't have anything to talk about.
Inevitably we "friend" each other and maybe a brief message or two pass and then we cease to communicate ever again. They have lives, I have a life, we don't have much in common anymore except the few years at the same school.
It's not like I was an uber-popular thing anyway. There aren't THAT many for me to find.
I never parted from a boyfriend in anger, so there's no angst to meet them online again and most of them are married, I'm married, we're all happy, so no dramas or anything.
Again, not like I had a string to leave behind in any case.
In short, I've seen no need for FB. In fact, I stopped even logging in for about six months this year because there was no reason.
But recently, I received a friend request from a guy I went to high school with. Yes, we dated for a while and he was my first kiss, but neither of those are the reasons we got in touch and apparently can write miles of messages to each other. He is a really nice guy. Still a really nice guy. He had dreams of writing music when we were younger and he's actually gone on to do it - all without getting a big head about it. He loves musicals and get this - 'Wicked' is his favorite Broadway show too! He also likes 'Jekyll & Hyde' which makes him my best friend ever. (Tarzan is a doll and has many good qualities but he thinks musicals are dumb.)
For once I really am able to pick up where we left off, like the intervening 18 years don't matter. It's nice to have friends like that.

This is me and some things really are as good as I remember them.

At Least Until Next Year

As you may recall, Tarzan got the RIF notice from his school district earlier this year. And despite the dour mood on the radio - thank you NPR - and among other departments that have been reduced, Tarzan has been remarkably upbeat. He's right; whatever will be, will be and we're prepared either way.
The good news however, is that the school district has contrived some deal with the unions and the state to allow nearly all of the teachers, librarians, counselors and maintenance staff to come back in the fall.
Which means, for the second year in a row, Tarzan's job has been saved. The school year is getting cut a whole week short but I'll be honest, there are very few to whom five days will make a difference.
Additionally, the Academic Decathlon funds have been "found" somewhere. It was amusing to hear the uproar when the program was threatened. Our state, and for the last 4 years, our district, has won the National Academic Decathlon Championship.
The buzz was, 'why would they cancel the one program in the state that was working?'
Well, they aren't, and that means Tarzan has his other job as well. We'll be back teaching, chauffeuring, cajoling, baking cookies and herding the teenagers again in a few weeks. But it's a good thing and we're happy for that too.

This is me and this is getting silly.

Swinging Good Time

Same Saturday, after we went to the Renaissance Fair...e, we took some of the kids from Tarzan's high school out to a ballroom dance club. They were really excited about learning to swing dance for their high school musical and Tarzan had a really good time teaching them, so this was a huge thing for them all.What amazed me was the difference between these kids who wanted to learn; their attitude - yes, they were teenagers, but they came and they participated, they danced, they didn't say no, no matter who asked, they tried - and some others that didn't. We taught the church kids the same dance style and we had to drag them kicking and screaming the whole way and they ran as soon as they could.I'll take the ones who want to learn every time:
This is me, goin' dancing.

Spring Break - Monday

Tarzan has Spring Break this week. (Lovely concept; Spring Break. I don't think I appreciated it enough when I was in school.) So I took the week off too. Not that I work like he does, but some time together is never a bad thing.And Tarzan had some big plans.First up, the yard.
Our yard has been getting a little overgrown lately - which I suppose speaks well to our ability to grow things though not for our trimming skills:Tarzan talked to one of our neighbors who was willing to help him dig up all the weed blocker - which we learned doesn't really block many weeds - fertilize the fruit trees - it's way late in the season for that, I know - and thin the succulent plants which were threatening the front porch foundation.I was in charge of finding a new ground cover, preferably something that doesn't need much care or water. It couldn't be too tall fully grown either, or too fragile because the cats like to sleep in the sun in the front yard and they inevitably choose the most delicate plant for a bed. These were the ones I decided on:I helped with the planting of the new stuff, but Tarzan and the neighbor did all the heavy lifting:If all goes according to plan, I won't think about the yard for six weeks and when I remember that it's out there, everything will have settled in nicely:
This is me. Here's hoping we didn't kill everything.

Oops I got fired again!

Hi all,
For the 2nd year in row I have been laid off by my school district. As a cost cutting measure they are going to replace all librarians with self service kiosks. I still don't get how the books are supposed to get shelved again. Some of my library regulars said they would give the machine a day before someone broke it. I'm not too worried though I feel sick inside at the general state of affairs in my school district. Acadeca is gone, school busses are gone, adult ed. is gone, not sure what will be left if this budget goes through. I've got my Patriarical blessing, I've been through this before last year (to no long term negative effect, good faith building exercise)and frankly I don't care or even bother thinking about this stuff anymore. I serve until released. Gotteswillen.
Jane and I are teaching students at my school how to swing dance for a musical, Zoot Suit Riot and will be teaching youth from our stake how to dance as well. I thinking of asking some of my students to attend the stake dance. Last night Jane and I went out to a casual sushi place called "how do you roll" that works a lot like subway. They assemble the rolls in front of you assembly line style. Tasted pretty good. We also went out Friday night to a little hole in the wall Chinese restaurant that serves the best beef rolls and dumplings Oh so good! Afterwards we wandered around a nearby Asian supermarket. It was like a field trip to a foreign country. Exotic fruits, more kinds of seafood than an aquarium and whole rows dedicated to the most delectable noodles and sauces you can imagine. Life is busy. No time for worries. Thank goodness.

Busting My Buttons

I know, it's been a while - no apologies, just a huge post that's coming - but in the meantime I would like to share the really good news we are party to.
One of the many things Tarzan and I do is coach the Academic Decathlon team at his school. Well, he's the coach. *I* am the coach's wife, provider of the cookie bribes and chauffeur. I help with speeches, practice interviews, offer support, encouragement, scoldings and make a lot of cookies.
We were a little disappointed after the last day of competition and the team was kind of apathetic about the awards ceremony tonight. We hosted dinner at our house and then went down to the convention center.
It was awesome.
Three medals.
Two perfect scores.
Most improved school in our district:
To put the whole event in perspective; the top five scores in our school district were the top five scores in the entire country. It is a smart group we compete against.

This is me and I am so proud of the team.

Happy Thoughts

A bright spot in the hectic-ness? hectic-icity? hectic-ation? that is the holiday season. A small pat-on-the-back moment for me.
All semester long I've been helping out at Tarzan's school, with the Academic Decathlon team which means for one period a day I am at Tarzan's high school helping the team write speeches, giving them tests, quizzes, urging them to come to class, to read the book and do the work. It's not hard but it is harder than it sounds like it ought to be.
How does one teach motivation?
Yesterday, the teacher I have been helping out came back to hear these speeches. Each student has to have a speech, on a unique subject, originally written, memorized and between three and a half to four minutes long. We have been slogging through these things since before the Thanksgiving break. Some days they don't do any work though they have an entire hour of free work time every day, some days they don't bring their speech or anything to work on, sometimes they pitch fits about how they don't like their speech and want to write a new one. And some days they just don't come.
But yesterday all the stars aligned and though not all twelve of them were there, the ones that were had their speeches and gave them for the teacher to hear. As she left she said she was really impressed with the quality of their work. She had thought they would need more revisions and structure work then they seem to and that she thinks we have a shot at some medals at the competition this year.
I felt so pleased. All the struggling, the prodding, the urging, the threatening, the pleading, actually accomplished the goal.
Now if they will only give the speech they prepared and not go off-book when January comes around.

This is me and I could teach high school, if someone else came up with the lesson plans, I only had twelve kids, for one period a day and they were the highest GPAs in the place. No sweat.

A Definite First

It has been a long time since I was in high school and thus it is quite possible the method of letting a girl know you are interested in her might have changed.
But.
Do I look like a high school girl to you?
I'm touched, really I am, but giving me The Eye while drawling "hey baby, you and me later?" Does that get results?
And to someone who could be a grandmother - the way high school is going nowadays - heaven help me I just used nowadays - it's entirely possible I could be his grandmother - is just not cool.
I'm afraid I wasn't very complementary in return. First, amazed he was talking to me, I crooked an eyebrow, glanced over my shoulder and then - it's true - I laughed. The three girls he was with - also, not cool - proceeded to mock him for getting turned down.
What am I supposed to do with that?

This is me, flattered, disgusted and amused all in one. It's a weird soup today.

Teaching, No Harder Call

I think it's safe to say that teaching is not for me. At least, teaching high school is not for me. Teaching high school in the South Central Jungle is not for me.
I'm not entirely sure how it came about but I have become the assistant Academic Decathlon coach at Tarzan's high school and the whole environment is mind boggling. SO VERY different from what I remember high school to be. I don't know how he does it every day, all those teenagers with the angst and language and disrespect and total lack of understanding of anything. It's amazing that this is what is graduating from high school. I don't see how they can function in real life.
The team is fairly okay; they seem to like me, mostly because I make them treats and take them places. But I might have to pull out the authoritative stuff if they keep goofing off like they were on Wednesday. The 'real' coach goes on maternity leave in a little over a month and I am the continuity between her and the substitute, heaven help me. But that means I will have to help them write and memorize their speeches, grade quizzes and generally keep moral and enthusiasm high for those six weeks.
Oy to the vey.
I went to college for five years and this is not even close to what my degree was for.

This is me and I am exhausted.