Choices

I've got $5 free for Amazon Video, figured I could get one of these classics. Which would you prefer?

Naked Gun



Hot Shots Part Deux



Robin Hood Men in Tights

The Gift of Giving

I've never really understood how it feels to really give a gift before this year because before I got my teaching job, many of the gifts I bought were with my parent's money. The gifts had no real significance to me because it didn't really "cost" me anything. Now that I am now able to officially get things of my own accord, the gifts somehow have a greater value.

I now consider how much the person will like the gift. Will he/she understand how the gift is a representation of my appreciation for them? Gifts that I would not have given a second thought in the past, I now carefully consider and contemplate for days before pulling the trigger.

When I give the gift now, I feel like I am personally invested in the act and the gift itself. Obviously there is the money cost and the time spent brainstorming and figuring out what to get. But through the act of giving itself, it is kinda humbling experience because you don't really know how the other person is going to react. Will it be a shout of joy or a forced smile- a giant hug of gratitude or mumbled "aww thanks"?

All I know is that seeing a face light up after getting something they really love and appreciate is money, straight up money.

Getting the Christmas/ Bday Shaft

Saw this comic today from Doghouse. Thought about my sister who has a birthday on New Years Day. hahaha Although I'm pretty positive I don't do anything that lame. I typically just get one big gift that combines Christmas and bday.

Reminder to wish Christine a happy birthday in a couple days!

Redemption

Yay for vacay! Haha I rhymed!

Anyways, I'll probably write a more substantive entry on break thus far, but I wanted this post to focus on my teaching observations... moreso for my own professional development and learning benefit.

So after the debacle that was my first observation, I realized a couple things. One, teaching is not just finding the most creative projects/ activities for kids to do. Two, students need to understand the concept first before said activity will have any meaning. Third, I need to do better at asking for help.

My first observed lesson was teaching about the events leading to the American Revolution: Paul Revere's Midnight Ride to the Battles of Lexington and Concord. I had made notes, maps, and army men for the students to act out each event together with me as I taught about it. Pretty cool right? I thought so, and the kids thought so as well.

Unfortunately, this was my introductory lesson to the events, so although some students were able to pay attention and learn it, the majority of the students didn't grasp the important concepts because they were distracted by the manipulatives. This isn't to say that manipulatives can't be used to help teach, but I just had too many things going on at once, and at this age, they couldn't get all of it. My post assessment showed how poorly the kids were able to retain the information too. Out of a 20 student class, a good 5-7 were able to tell me the important points.

My second lesson was teaching "drawing conclusions with text support". First, I took the class over to the carpet area and read aloud "Flight of the Zephyr" by Chris Van Allsburg with the kids. I modeled, and walked them through how to draw a conclusion, then use specific events in the book to prove my argument.

They then went back to their seats in order to work in pairs on drawing conclusions from three fables with support as I walked around to see which students needed more reteaching. One thing I didn't do in the morning that I made sure to include in the afternoon was modeling what I wanted with one of the fables. (One of the positive notes my principal told me later in our post-observation meeting)

All in all, in the assessment I gave them a couple days later, over 70% of the class had improved from their previous scores, with a a good handful jumping up from failing that skill to getting 100% on it.

Have the students learn the important concepts first, then use the creativity projects as a demonstration of grasped knowledge.

At my post- meeting with my principal, she pretty much told me that my 2nd lesson blew my first one out of the water. Following the lesson plan, asking good questions, modeling, and being able to make modifications when things need changes were all things that she noted I was doing. We kinda talked about what good teachers need to have as teachers in general, and she told me the best skill any teacher needs is the ability to reflect and modify, which is what she's noticed from me thus far. I guess that's something I naturally tend to do because I hate not doing well or letting people down, but she kept encouraging me with that and saying how she was really glad she hired me. (I didn't know how to respond so I think I just mumbled a quiet thank you and looked down in embarrassment)

In the end, I got straight "proficient"s (which is good for any teacher) and left with a gigantic weight lifted off my shoulders. I can't wait to spend this break catching up on reading and learning how to get better, as well as workin ahead on lesson planning. =)

Book Fairs make teachers happy

It's funny what makes me happy nowadays. I was at work last night and one of my co-workers stopped by and we started chatting about what we were planning for our kids for Christmas. I mentioned I was scrambling to try finding a cheap place to buy books for my kids and she mentioned the most amazing thing: Scholastic Book Fairs for teachers.

Today after school, I jetted it to pretty close to San Antonio and was greeted with a glorious sight of a gigantic warehouse full of aisles of books for CHEAP. You could pretty much get any book for 50-80% off, meaning most books would cost around $2-6. I ended up getting 68 books for $140 (after getting $35 off by sweet talking the cashier)!!!

Definitely worth the hour and a half drive.

Bitter Pill

I am yet again reminded of all my inadequacies and failures. Good thing God's grace covers over me.

Nevertheless, still a real tough pill to swallow.

If you have time, please pray for me Monday @ 8am-8:40am. I have my followup teacher's observation (since I didn't do too hot on my first one). In contrast to the first one, I'm actually pretty excited to do it, since I know what to expect now.

Good Reads Needed!

Urgent!

I wanted to get some books for the kids for Christmas, but other than the books that I liked (which are all predominantly masculine), I need some suggestions for your favorite children's books for grades 4-5. Some examples of books that are age appropriate are below. Thanks for your recommendations!

List of Things I've Learned this Semester

- No first year teacher will ever be good enough to escape that "Holy Crap, I'm drowning" feeling. I am no exception.

- I am not the perfectly patient, loving person that I thought I was. My homeroom class revealed that to me after 2 weeks.

- Downloading the Bible Ap that reads passages out loud has helped me stay awake on the long commute back from work.

- I offer a heart-felt and sincere apology to the people I accused of being bad friends when they didn't make the effort to keep up with our friendships. I now understand. Sorry.

- My body can no longer run as the high-efficiency machine that it has been in the past. I need to maintain and take care of it.

- Case in point: eating McDonalds 4 nights out of the week will result in labored breathing when walking up 1 flight of stairs.

- I need to be better organized in order to keep track of all the things going on in life.

- My coworkers inspire me in the way they keep track of each kid's strengths and weaknesses based on assessment data (they are Excel spreadsheet prodigies) and use that to formulate lessons.

- After only half a year of teaching, I already see so many holes in our education system. The over-dependence on standardized testing in schools, pushing students on to the next level when they aren't ready, and debatable educational practices are just a few of the hot-button topics that I'm begun noticing.

- I like vests, but have been too chicken to wear them anywhere other than at work.

- God uses tough times to bring me back to depend on Him. Yet I still end up forgetting.

- Being a Detroit Lions fan is bad for my emotional well-being.

In the midst of a bad streak...

Wow, my posts have been pretty downer recently. I finally have a little bit of non-stress time right now (I'm taking a break from lesson planning for the NEXT week... crazy right?) and I'm feeling really at peace. I'm studying w/ one of the guys in the TX Union (which really sucks as a study place b/c of the lack of quiet nooks/rooms) and I just felt like writing.

Last Sunday we had a Halloween Party at our apartment. First of all, having it after service was CRAYZEE because we had to rush back asap and start cooking and decorating. That left absolutely no time to put together my costume (which admittedly was my 3rd option) because my first two were unavailable.

Now, I normally pride myself on my creativity, and I'd like to think I left AA on a pretty high note for best costume/ presentations at all the Focus (single adult) Halloween parties.

Exhibit A: Chinese Migrant Worker

Exhibit B: The Immortal Jabbawokkiez

Exhibit C: Jacob (from Twilight)

Unfortunately since I've been to Austin, my costume ideas have never panned out. Last year I wanted to be Tuxedo Mask (but was too cheap to buy it) so I tried making a mask out of paper mache. Total fail. Since I had a costume party that night, I ended up being a Lance Armstrong biker complete w/ the most uncomfortable biker shorts ever. Apparently biking shorts have built in butt pads since professional racing bikes don't have padding. Who knew?

This year, my first couple ideas didn't work out (although next year I'm just going to buy my primary costume idea). At the last second, I decided to be a "head on a platter" but only had an hour to get stuff, so I rushed to Walmart and got a turkey tray and assorted candy. Of course, I totally didn't think about the possibility of getting my throat slit by the metal tray that I would have to cut, so I didn't get to find any protection for my neck until I started making the costume. I ended up wrapping my neck in a thick scarf which helped, but caused me to be incredibly hot and sweaty. After only 45 minutes I ended up just taking it off because I didn't want to be an unblessing. *sigh*

There's always next year to break the cycle.

Been awhile...

Life's been busy. Although, I'm sure it's been like that for everyone else too. Whenever I do have down time, I do think about blogging, but the time commitment to sit down and process my thoughts just seems too time intensive so I end up just sleeping or vegging out in front of the TV. Instead of updating about events, I'm going to just focus on something that has really been encouraging me lately.

As I become more "seasoned" in my faith (to be more exact, as I get older), it gets harder to be excited or passionate all the time. If I'm really honest with myself, it gets freakin hard with the increase in stress and responsibilities. All this is without any girlfriend or wife worries either! Because my life sometimes feels so "blah", whenever I see someone really seeking to grow, it just gets me so happy.

This year, the crop of new students has really given me an excitement for them. It's just so refreshing to see them wanting to learn more, and when they go ahead and live out their faith WITHOUT BEING TOLD, it just puts a huge smile on my face. Part of me is slightly jealous at their fresh faith, but a bigger part of me is just so proud of them and happy for them.

I really feel like this will be the group that will start something great on this campus, so please keep our church in prayer.

Little Encouragements

I'm such a loser. Not in the typical "I can't win" sense, (which is obviously not true, ;) ) but when it comes to needing validation in what I'm doing. Even now as I'm doing a quick update, I'm looking at my wall and I have pictures of friends and family, encouraging notes and mementos (yes I keep all of them), and general paraphernalia that keep me optimistic.

As work has been a constant struggle with the endless meetings and lesson planning and modifications, I've been quickly becoming drained and discouraged at my students' lack of retention and my lack of improvement at teaching. As all the veteran teachers have been telling me, "You'll suck your first 3 years of teaching", I still hate to be the status quo. Anyways, I've been getting lots of visits from interventionists giving suggestions on changing my schedule (always constructive, but still criticism), visits from my Assistant principal doing informal evaluations, and mandatory meetings to learn about different teaching techniques.

I might rant in a later post about all those meetings/trainings later on, but that's not the point of this post. After a mediocre 1st 6 weeks, I was looking forward to a fresh start in my 2nd 6 week semester. Too bad the past week SUCKED. My afternoon class is "difficult"... to put it mildly. After each day, I feel like I've fought a 3 hour battle with them and want to do nothing else but eat junk food and sleep (which I do).

Yesterday though, I got an email from my AP (assistant principal) that honestly brightened up my day. I wish I could be less reliant on people pleasing, but it gave me renewed hope for the year.

Tim,

Just wanted to let you know that I think you are doing a great job so far! You are extremely reflective about your teaching practices, open to suggestions and take proactive steps to do what is best to support kids in any way you can. You will have your ups and downs on a daily basis in your first year, as you already have I'm sure, but you are off to a great start. I wanted you to know that your efforts do not go unnoticed.

Have a great weekend!

Light Up the Sky

It's amazing how God uses different things to encourage us. Teaching has been an incredibly draining experience thus far... I'm not even going to lie at how stressful and stretching it has been for me. Long hours, long commute, seemingly overwhelming piles of paperwork and grading... it just eats away at your resolve.

A couple mornings ago as I was really struggling to keep my eyes open, and I couldn't even stay awake as I was praying, this song began playing softly.

Light Light Light up the Sky

to Show me that you are with me

That line kinda perked my interest because the worst part of my drive is the insanely dark roads that I have to maneuver. As I turned up the radio and listened to the lyrics, I couldn't help but feel like God was really encouraging me to just be patient and trust in Him in all things until the right time that He's gonna unveil something glorious.

All of my worries with work, struggles with finding a balance in my life, and discouragement with ministry all melted into the background as I just realized how faithful God has always been, and will always be in my life. As the song was closing out, the beginning glimmer of sunlight coming over the horizon revealed how circumstantial my faith had become. God is always with me; sometimes it's our own distractions that end up covering Him.

Makes me Happy

So I was feeling really tired during a teacher's training seminar today (yes, on a saturday) and was kinda leaning on my arm when I was startled by a hand shaking my forearm. When I looked up, this middle-aged teacher who I had been talking with during the seminar leaned in and asked, "Tim, are you married?"

Whoah. Any cobwebs I had got swept aside as different thoughts flooded my mind. "Shoot, was she hitting on me? No, that's impossible, she told me she was married and had kids. Do I seem really mature and sensitive that it makes sense that I would be married? Not likely, we've only been talking about school stuff." A split second later, I cleared my throat and leaned in to whisper, "Umm, I'm actually not. why do you ask?"

She smiled and laughed, apologizing for startling me. "Oh, I was just wondering because you're such a cute young man."

I managed an uncomfortable smile and thank you, and pretended to pay attention to the speaker. However, I'm not going to lie, that comment really made me happy. =)

Pain of Failure

I think after 26 years of living with myself, I'm finally starting to understand certain things about my psyche. One of those things is my intense fear of failure. Whether it's failing people, or failing to accomplish a goal, not living up to my built-up expectations really crushes me.

So yesterday I really wanted to bless the church during our early Labor Day BBQ. Long story short, it didn't turn out that well. Things were just so crazy and I had to end the night spending an extra hour on the road to take care of something that I had a lot of time to really analyze WHY the failure really affected me so much. (I get into a quiet funk)

Self Analysis:

1) The Good Intention: I have been so overwhelmed with God's grace in my life in the past couple weeks that I really wanted to share some of that with the BBQ. When I wasn't able to accomplish that, I felt like it was such a missed opportunity for the newcomers and I felt like I let down the church.

2) Need for Validation: Everyone has this part in them. Some people just have a greater need for it in their lives. For me? Unfortunately it is something I struggle with at times. Which is funny, because I always feel uncomfortable giving and receiving validation/ affirmation to people. I have to consciously make an effort to do it. =P

3) Embarrassment: Man, I really hate this feeling. The glaring indication that I still operate with this fear is when I was too scared to announce when the food was finally finished cooking. If I still wanted people to be blessed, I would have just sucked it up and let people know there was more.

Ugh. Much to work on.

My Classroom

Shoot, I had meant to post pictures of my classroom, but then my life turned crazy and I forgot. Anyways, here is my room before.

I love the brightness of the room.

After 2 days of organizing, rearranging, and decorating (not to mention getting tons of free posters and stuff from coworkers), here's my incredibly sparse room.

Word wall and shared reading area

student cubbies with genres posters (borrowed from 4th grade teacher)

4 table groups... which I'm kinda regretting at this point. headaches.

I love that window.

I think I mentioned how some of the other teacher's classrooms looked amazing. I'll try to take pictures of some of them. They are freakin legit.

1st week of hell

Wow. What can I say? I survived. Survived is pretty fitting since I'm pretty positive I was sucktastic my first day. Even though I told my students I taught middle school last year and taught in Michigan, they smelled my noobness and I think I came close to losing my homeroom. Thankfully I'm team teaching this year, so my afternoon class was a lot better because I was able to learn from all my mistakes in the morning and they at least are afraid of not following my instructions.

Teaching Rule of Thumb: Always, always, always start the year off tough and incredibly strict on expectations. Under no situation do you give the kids new freedoms than what you clearly stated unless you are a teaching guru.

I made that classic mistake again when after an amazing first morning, I loosened up and started smiling and being friendlier with the students. Mistake. They immediately sensed that shift in my demeanor and took the tiny inch I gave them, and ran with it. The rest of the week was spent doing damage control. Today I blew up the seating chart and laid the smackdown in taking away all groupwork privileges and implementing a silent independent work probation period of 2 weeks before trying to integrate groupwork again.

No lie, teaching is tough. Many times, I really want to strangle some of the kids, especially the ones that are blatantly disrespectful. But that all comes with the territory, and as many teachers share with me, those end up being the ones you care about the most. Probably the hardest thing right now is the enormity of responsibility that is on my shoulders; based on how well I prepare these kids for the next level (whether the TAKS standardised test or even for middle school), it will play a huge role in defining them. This is what I always say I'm in teaching for... but actually being in that position is terrifying. There's so many things I need to keep in mind, meetings up the wazoo, and continuing to learn better teaching techniques, I am finally realizing that education is so similar to how our faith should be. The moment we think we've learned all we need to know is the moment we've lost that spark.

On one hand, I'm really encouraged to be working with a mentor teacher (and frankly the entire staff) that are so passionate about teaching that I really wonder how I got chosen to teach at this school. There's so many things I want to write about but I should catch up on sleep.

Don't worry about me though... each day is getting a little bit better. I am no longer running around like a headless chicken, although I'm still ripping out my hair trying to figure out how to work with this autistic kid who I have absolutely no authority with... ughhhhhh.

AHHH!!

Ha. I'm noticing my coping mechanism for stress. Conscious obliviousness. All during training the past 2 weeks, I was so surprised at how calm and unworried I was at school starting. Even during Open House, where I met most of the students for the first time with their parents, I was pretty chill. However, the moment the weekend started, I started getting the nerves. Saturday was a full day of OCR, and trust me, I really wanted to be out there meeting new students, but my lesson plans for the week were still incomplete, many of my structures and guidelines: unmade. Pretty much, I needed to spend a good half day working.

It's funny how God always tests our resolves with things that are never a clear "Good decision/ Bad decision". On one hand, I could be justified with taking the day to work, but my main commitment for coming down to Austin was to serve the church. In the end, I believe that trumps my work responsibilities. It is now 11pm and I just got back and I am so scared of crashing and burning tomorrow. If you read this, I really covet your prayers. I'm planning on waking up at 5, drive over to work and try to finalize the final details of the day.

Why am I blogging if I need to work? Because my mind is roiling and I couldn't sleep. This is actually incredibly cathartic for me. =P

On a side note, I'm really excited for the new year for our church... please pray that the froshies that are getting connected end up experiencing Christ's love tangibly and commit to stay. This batch has something special about them... or maybe it's just my delirium. Anyways, good night.

Check Yourself

It sucks when you need to rebuke yourself. A week into 10 hour work days, constant adjustments with apartment moving, and different worries, I found myself succumbing to reacting to irritations and complaining mentally. Although I'm sure I let my annoyance show with some of the snippy comments I made....

How easy it is to forget the blessings and our purpose, huh?

I love my school and teachers!

Wow. I am so thankful for getting the job at my school. I think if I dreamed of the ideal school filled with ideal teachers and administration, this school would be pretty close to it. Every day starts at 7:10am, which is harddddddd, but I get so excited by the people that work there that I get over my tiredness.

I'll start with the administrators. Our principal is so energetic and excited to be there it's impossible to be lethargic around her. It's like she exudes positive energy vibes that charges your battery. Granted, as teachers, she sometimes makes us do really cheesy team building activities, but the gesture is appreciated. But I get so inspired to love my students the way she does.

Today after training, she had all the teachers break up into teams to walk the neighborhood to visit students and their families to inform them of parent night on thursday night. I was personally feeling really self conscious and pretty chicken (since I pretty much forgot all my spanish) but she went right up to all the families and struck up conversations. I'll never forget how the students and parents reacted to seeing their principal visit them in their houses. Most kids' faces literally lit up when they saw their principal walk up the driveway and the parents were so grateful that she cared enough to visit them in person. So inspiring to witness.

As for my coworkers, they are so friendly! I don't know if all teachers are just innately friendly, but I started the week with nothing to decorate my room, and by the end of today, I have a complete library of books and enough decorations and filler stuff to get me past the first month. I felt like I was a freshman again in college, and the upperclassmen were going out of their way to bless me. Maybe this is what it feels like when people first enter our church and experience our community.

So yeah, despite spending over 9 hours at my school every day this week... I'm excited. Hopefully I'll post pictures of my class when I finish setting up.

Good food places in Chicago

So while I was in Chicago, I was able to eat at some amazing food places. Pictures do a much better job of describing than words, so without further ado, the goods...

Hot Doug's

3324 North California Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618-5848

This place was featured on Food Network, and Stuey claimed the place was amazing even though he had never been there before. I figured, "When in Rome..." and we ended up driving 30 minutes to get there. almost 45 minutes later waiting in a line in some pretty muggy weather, I ended up ordering the Chipotle and Cilantro Smoked Chicken Sausage. I was contemplating the Foie Gras Hotdog, but chickened out. Overall, even despite the distance, long wait, and expensive price, the uniqueness and quality of the dogs more than made up for it all. Probably not a place I would eat at regularly, but definitely good for multiple visits.

From Chicago Food

chipotle and cilantro smoked chicken sausage. freakin simple but juicy, crisp, and packed with flavor.

From Chicago Food

Just look at that gooey goodness!

From Chicago Food

Such an amazing array of unique hotdogs. if I lived in Chicago, I would make it a goal to try all of them.

Molly's Cupcakes

2536 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60614-1712

I walked into this store with my sister after she raved about how amazing the cupcakes were. When I entered, I immediately loved how the store was set up. The music playing was very playful and upbeat, and there was a great mix of young and old people, all enjoying the desserts. On the far left counter was the coolest idea for seating; they set up 4-5 swings (although limited by chains so people don't fall) for people to dangle from... How awesome is that!?

I wish I took pictures of the cupcakes, because the ones they post on their website don't give it justice. Imagine the moistest cupcake injected with frosting, and light frothy frosting on top with your choice of flavored goodness. They had styles ranging from apple pie cupcake to mint chocolate cupcakes and everything in between. Definitely a legit place recommended by my sis.

Am I Getting More Judgemental With Age?

Today we went to an international BBQ to meet incoming students and just get to know them. I got placed at a table with both guys and girls, so it seemed like it would be a cool table. The group we went with had one "conversation leader" at each table, and ours seemed like a pretty animated guy, so I was content with just making side conversations with people near me.

Throughout the entire night, I kept getting uncomfortable vibes from him by a lot of the comments he would make (either to me, or to the girls he was talking to). I just got the impression he was there for more than just "ministry". Because I was really tired, I told myself I was just being paranoid, and he was just unaware of how some of his comments could be perceived.

It wasn't until a bunch of people went to eat froyo that red flags were going off all over. I got my yogurt first, so I grabbed a ton of tables and chairs together so everyone could sit together. He saw me, then went to the corner of the place and tried bringing some girls with him. I was sitting with this guy, and I didn't want to embarrass the creepy guy publicly so I waved at them and told them they could join us. The girls pointed over and said they wanted to join us, and the guy reluctantly got up and grabbed another table next to us and sat there.

OK, whatever. What really got me upset was when we were leaving. We were milling around outside the shop (in typical Asian American fashion) and there was a group of what looked like sorority girls near us. He nudged the Japanese student (only 18!) and said:

you should go over there and get some of that. I'm sure you'll be a hit... you just need to get a haircut to get that hair out of your eyes, and get rid of that long hair in the back. I recommend going to a gay hairstylist, maybe a Mexican one. Wait until I take you to party down in 6th Street. It's crazy down there!

At that point, we steered the conversation to events that were coming up as we were trying to figure out rides. When we all turned to leave, he ends up shouting, "Don't forget to go to church!"

Wow. Seriously? I had never been so turned off or annoyed in my life. My mind was castrating him for making Christians look so freakin FAKE. It really got me thinking about how even so-called Christians need Jesus: sometimes more than the "heathens".

1st week of Training

So I've had 2 days of educational training thus far, and they were like night and day. My first day was actually the final day of First Year Teachers training. Right when I entered, they were blasting Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" and other hyper pop hits of the early 2000s with a crazy Hawaiian Luau decoration theme. I couldn't help but laugh at how over the top things were. The next thing I noticed was just how many "newbies" there were; I estimate about 50 new hires for the entire district. Everyone was so young, the majority of people in their mid-late twenties. It was really cool meeting people in my table. There was one guy who was from Holland (the country), who met and married his wife who was from Holland, MI. He's starting as a spanish teacher in 4th grade. Crazy right?

Anyways, I won't bore you with details, but I LOVED all the info being presented, and actually took a ton of notes. It was really inspiring to see teachers so willing to welcome and impart their hard-earned lessons so freely.

Contrast that session with today's complete waste of time. Other than learning about how awesome Smartboards are (imagine whiteboards that kinda do what Tom Cruise's computer did in Minority Report), the day was a complete wash. Most of the programs and seminars I attended taught me nothing but how technologically illiterate old people are. Today was predominately the seasoned veterans (with a handful of new hires who missed previous training days like me) who needed professional development hours.

I think a large part of the turn off for today was the fact that I couldn't really participate b/c I still hadn't received login information, but even still, I felt like I knew more than many of the instructors and I was merely rotting away 7 hours of my life.

I think the highlight of the day was eating lunch at Chik- Fil-A. Spicy Chicken combo... soooo gooooood.

FREE BOWLING??? YES PLZ

Free games of bowling.

(Seattle) Salmon + Shin Ramen= Sin?

I just got this package of smoked salmon from Touf from Seattle b/c he felt bad for leaving early while I cleaned and moved out the apt. After waking up from an amazing nap on Jorgy's couch at 7ish... I was feeling famished. Unfortunately all I had were shrimp chips, ramen, and the package of salmon. I put 2 and 2 together... and decided to make me some baller ramen. After eating some shrimp chips.

As I was eating, I started wondering if I was wasting such good salmon, but I shoved those feelings aside and finished eating me dinner.

It's only after I finished that I started really wondering... shoot... did I just waste a perfectly great piece of salmon on msg and waxy noodles? I'm actually feeling guilty enough to blog about it. blahhhh.

Awesome Worship

I meant to blog about this sooner, but the past 3 days have been devoted entirely to cleaning and moving out of my apartment. I am officially moved out of The Quarters, and am in a state of transit until move-in on Aug. 10th to The Venue. I can't freakin wait to move in. A side note: for those of you who are living with roommates, make sure to start the move out clean up as soon as possible, preferably with as many of the roomates as possible since there is inevitably more to clean than there appears. Just a little heads up so whoever is left doesn't get shafted with all the cleaning.

Anyways, on to the reason for the post. The AA CMP team came down this past week and it was really great getting to meet a lot of the young'uns. One of the biggest blessings actually came as a surprise. I'm not gonna lie, worship in our church (Ann Arbor) is amazing. There's something powerful about worshiping with hundreds of other ppl that you can't seem to replicate even with an intimate congregation.

When the missions team joined us on sunday, there was a world of difference. It was so great being able to experience the unity of spirit and fervency of praise of similarly passionate Christians. Of course, worship is not meant to be pigeon-holed into certain characteristics, but when you are part of powerful worship, you just know: and that Sunday was awesome.

Thanks AA missions team.

Now we celebrate!

Just wanted to let you all know that I got a call like 30 min ago that I got the elementary teaching position!!! Starting this 2010-2011 school year, I am an official, legit teacher. I'm really excited to start, but I really want to thank God for providing this opportunity. Seriously, I've never gotten a job by my own interviewing merit (ever), so this is such a big blessing.

Thank you for all your prayers and support, I wish I could take you all out to eat somewhere but I can't, so this will have to suffice. WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Now I wait

Hey all,

Just wanted to thank all of yous who lifted up a prayer for my interview. I'm not gonna lie, I got really nervous this morning, but after making sure to drink 2 bottles of water (I get cotton-mouthed when I'm nervous) and bringing another bottle for the interview, I made the 40 minute drive to the school.

First impression? The school is HUGE. First of all, it's located in the boonies of hicktown, but it is easily bigger than my high school in Troy. It's only 2 years old, and the place looks really nice. When I entered, the thing that struck me was how bright and colorfully painted the school was. It just made you happy to be in there and can see how kids would love coming in too.

When I met the principal and two teachers, I couldn't help but notice how young they were. The principal seemed to be around mid-late 30s and the teachers seemed to be my age or a bit older.

How'd the interview go? Surprisingly well! Well, I was incredibly scared during the first two questions (Tell us a little bit about yourself and your education background) and I think I came off really nervous and insecure (which I was). But I think people started praying cuz I began loosening up after that and the rest of the interview went really well. I was even able to make a couple jokes and tell some stories from working at the middle school and it seemed like they liked me.

Anyways, we'll see by the end of the week which is when I'll hear back. Until then, all I can do is wait and see. But Thanks THANKS THANKS again for all your prayers, it was much appreciated. =)

PLEASE PRAY FOR ME!

My first call for interview teaching 4th Grade at Camino Real Elementary! please please please please pray for me! I'm excited but nervous too!

Do You See What I See?

A couple take-aways from an AMAZING world cup.

1. You either love soccer or you don't. There's no possible way for someone to be a casual fan of it. I can see how people don't enjoy long stretches of "no action" and low scoring games, but for me, I love watching how the teams kinda test and probe each other's defenses, as well as seeing individual stars dominate weaker players. There's an amazing ebb and flow to the game that is rare in other sports.

2. Soccer fans are crazy/emotional. I love all the crowd shots after something amazing happens (missed PKs, last second goals, etc). They ALWAYS find the fans who start sobbing uncontrollably and I love it.

3. Trading jerseys at the end of the game is probably the coolest sport tradition I can think of. Period. If I had money, I would do that in pick up games. Not only are you keeping memories, but it's such a great sign of sportsmanship. Hey, sorry man, I may have cleated you during the game, but here's my jersey. We're still buddies. Well, I guess it might suck if your opponent has ugly jerseys, like the Dutch.

4. People will ALWAYS see what they want to see. I am starting to dislike watching sports with people who root against my team. Unfortunately, soccer is a very subjective sport where, yes, players had a propensity to dive and put on theatrics, but I don't see that ever get completely wiped out of the game. It's amazing what casual watchers will simply overlook when their team commits a penalty, but woe to the opponent who commits a similar penalty. Please. It just makes me not want to ever comment on games with them. I get it, you're a fan of X-Nation, but you can still be reasonable in your complaints. I know I'm the same way when I cheer for my teams. I know I get obnoxious, but I try to temper what I complain about to things that are major. It's like sportsmanship for watching games with people.


With that being said, I was so happy that Spain won. Did they dominate? No. Did they look weak? For sure (especially first half of the finals). Did they deserve to win? Heck yeah. Even with a Dutch team that was playing amazing defense in the first half, the Spanish were creating opportunities to score. I'll overlook all the nasty fouls committed by the Dutch in the first quarter of the game and say the Dutch were looking like they were going to win. They had the quicker first step, their creativity was better, and Robben was a blur. Every time he touched it I held my breath cuz I was scared.

Second half, different story. Netherlands finally opened it up a bit instead of playing defensive and holes started to open up for Spain. That's when Spain rammed their control-style game down the Dutch throats. From the beginning of the second half, you could see the momentum shift. Other than some scary counters by Robben, Spain dominated and finally capped off with Iniesta's great goal. Espana!


PS. I loved Torres' contribution to the finals. He got onto the field at +106 minutes, a couple minutes afterwards he ran into a defender and fell. In the final minutes of the game, ran for a long overhead pass and pulled up injured. He sucks.

OMG... DOUBLE RAINBOW!!

Had to share this. Saw this when Touf found it and couldn't stop watching. The guy is clearly a rainbow fanatic.

1 to go

YES Puyol!!

I love how people said Spain would get crushed and didn't give them a shot at winning. Maybe if Germany didn't play with everyone on defense they might have had a chance.

Netherlands is a solid team though... I'm excited for the final!!

Everybody likes Fireworks

A bunch of us went to the riverfront to watch the July 4th fireworks on Sunday. Initially, I was hoping it would rain so we could just go somewhere and chill instead of sitting out in the humidity and get bitten by mosquitoes. Unfortunately, the rain stayed away the entire day, so we ended up goin to the park after grabbing dinner for Grace's bday.

All in all, playing cards, tossing frisbee a bit, and watching the fireworks with friends was a pretty enjoyable experience: more than I had anticipated. One thing that really stood out to me while I was watching the fireworks was the look on one of the guy's face as he was watching the lights. I kid you not, his mouth was open, eyes glued to the sky and there was such an intense gaze and sense of awe that even after I laughed a bit at the sight, I couldn't help but feel a bit jealous that he was enjoying the fireworks that much.

I want to have that child-like wonder again in my life where all of life's distractions and worries simply don't matter.

Losing Touch

Originally I had looked forward to the summer because I thought it would mean I had more time to write and blog, but I had failed to take into account my laziness. I had read an article months ago about how the internet was causing us (society) to become stupid. My first impression was disdain; how could the internet be considered stupid when there are so many advantages to having it?

However, as I started noticing my own deficiencies in memory and attention span, I think the article starting ringing true for me. Case in point, I had started a blog about why guys are so attracted to war movies in December, but the moment it required planning, I immediately got distracted and just saved it in my "Drafts" to rot.

I'm not blaming the internet for my own personal jump in ADD, but I do notice a loosening in my own resolve to never lose touch with those people I really value in my life. You know the feeling of "I-don't-know-what-to-talk-about" with an old friend you hadn't seen in years? It's not because you guys don't have any interesting things, it's just hard to bring up things that you think they would be able to appreciate/care about. If you haven't, then maybe I just suck and it's just me. But whatever.

For me, I could care less about how many friends I make. Instead, I really believe in having those trusted few: the inner circle, if you will. I've always envisioned that when I was an "adult" and working, we would live in the same city and after work we would hang out like on Friends, doing stupid things together. Life definitely does not work out like that. People move. People change. Sometimes, people just plain forget.

I think I'm at the point I was at a couple years ago, when I was really struggling with figuring how what true "friendship" was. Emo and stupid? Yeah, maybe, but I think it's something everyone needs to wrestle through. It's funny to think back at how upset I was at people back then, and seeing how I'm starting to do some of the same things as them.

I think this line from Mat Kearney's "On & On" sums it up perfectly.

"Nothing worth anything ever goes down easy."

Sweat Drops off My... face

The past week, one of the guys we've been spending time with wanted to do the Insanity workout with me. Insanity is pretty much a spin-off of P90x that everyone did last summer in AA, except that it's only 60 days, versus the 90. Anyways, the first day we did it was the "Fitness Test" and I have to say, I got my world rocked. I honestly have never sweat as much or felt as much pain as I did after the workout. Literally, sweat was dripping off my chin and pooling onto my shorts whenever I bent down to rest.

As of now, I'm only on day 2 of the program, but I'm already feeling some progress in my cardio. My legs are definitely still weaksauce, but I'm pretty positive by the end, it'll be all good.



How's the job hunt going? Well... it feels like I'm just sending out resumes and applying for positions with no response back. It's so frustrating to not even get formally rejected because at least then I know that they considered me. But I'm still plugging away, trusting that God will provide.

On the plus side, not having to work during the day means I get to spend more time with people and playing basketball every saturday means I'm actually halfway decent now. hahaha. Think of me like a poor man's Amare Stoudamire. Low post threat with a mediocre jump shot.

Car Problems

1 week after failing the emissions test, my car is still getting repairs. One new resonator and special order for an emissions valve later, I'm down almost 1G. I was supposed to have it installed today, but because the wrong part got ordered, I get to drive back to the repair shop for the 5th time in a week.

On the bright side, I got to meet Jose, the guy who dropped me off @ home and picked me up today. He's a pretty cool guy and gave me some recommendations for places to eat around South Austin.

Hostest(s) with the Mostest(s)

Just wanted to say that Grohan are amazing hosts. Beautiful home, friendly atmosphere, great cooks, lotta fun, all in all, great all around. We're really blessed to have them join our rag-tag team down in Tejas.

I'm really excited for this upcoming year in Austin... I feel like God is gonna be doing something that blows our mind. Just not sure what. We'll see!!!

Why the Long Hair?

Yes. For those of you who think I'm a moron for having long hair, yes, I know I can't pull it off well. Yes, I realize my hair is not like white people hair. And yes, my head gets freakin hot in the 90+ degree weather in Austin.

I am keeping my hair long for 2 simple reasons:

1. I get more authority/ respect from the students when I have it longer and more "traditionally styled"
2. I am bored of all the short hair styles.

So I'm sorry if my hair doesn't look good, it's done out of necessity now. *shrug*

Downing them jaded pills

One school year down (well, technically 4/5 of a year). It seems like an eternity since I started working as a teaching assistant at the middle school. I came in bright-eyed and bushy tailed, eager to tackle the challenges of meeting the needs of pubescent kids. For almost half a year, I was able to keep a positive attitude and earnestly believe that they could change for the better.
Unfortunately a person can only give so much of himself with little to no positive reinforcement before he seriously questions his idealism. I hit that will after Christmas break, which is when the kids start ramping up into "I don't care about anything" mode. It's really sad when you learn about their home situations, as 90% of them come from broken homes and burdened with its baggage. Many times it's painfully obvious where much of their mentality and personalities come from when we end up talking to their guardians. Like they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Long story short, I went through a really tough last couple months at work. Many days I would flirt with the idea of quitting, but kept reminding myself that this was a job that God provided for me, and I needed to stick it out. I'm definitely really thankful for my experiences. Seriously. I think I am so much more equipped for dealing with classroom management now after working with all those punks. =) Even outside of the things I picked up firsthand teaching, I got to rub shoulders with some teachers who really inspire me to want to be like them. You hear in the news all the bad educators who sleep with their students or are incompetent, but you never hear anything about the inspirational ones that give you hope for our future. Trust me, there are some great ones out there who give 100% and daily give everything they have to see each child succeed. Props to them for the unrecognized work they do.

Below is the only picture I was able to take on my last day (it was filled with assemblies and packing/cleaning). If you're wondering, yes, that is, indeed, the famous Round Rock Donut. I had been raving about it to them the entire year, and as a reward/ celebration for surviving, I got each class one. Hahaha, their reactions were amazing, I wish I could have video recorded it. But yeah, I'm definitely going to remember this past year, and hope I continue to grow a greater heart for my future students.

KFC Double Down Review

When news that this monster of a sandwich was coming out 2 months ago, I was ecstatic. What's not to love about a sandwich that forgoes the buns in order to focus on the deliciousness that is meat?
Customers get the choice of grilled chicken or original recipe fillets that hold in two pieces of bacon, two slices of Montery Jack and Pepper Jack cheese, with a healthy dollop of Colonel's sauce.

So Matt and I had planned to sample the Double Down as soon as possible, but busyness took over and we kept postponing it... until this past week.

Unfortunately for me, the hype for the sandwich prompted many people to write their own reviews for the sandwich, and the initial verdict didn't look promising. Complaints of the saltiness, small sandwich size, and greasiness made me start doubting whether the sandwich would be worth it. Compounding this was the ungodly nutritional value of one sandwich: 1420 mg of sodium!! Undaunted, Matt and I still vowed to try it for ourselves and we drove ~15 min to the closest KFC.

First impressions
The packaging is simple. I chose to go with the value meal (suggestions on various blogs and articles highly recommended getting drinks to counter the saltiness) which came with the sandwich, drink, and one side (I got mac and cheese). When we opened the box, it was piping hot, and I could see the cheese already starting to melt which got me pumped. After taking a preemptive swig of Raspbery Iced Tea, I took the first bite. Yup, the sandwich definitely had a saltiness that punches you right in the face. If I wasn't bracing myself for it, I can see how it would be unpleasant, but because I was expecting it, I quickly got used to it.
The original chicken's crisp combined with the gooey cheese was amazing. I really enjoyed the duality of textures, although I'm sure if the bacon was more crispy, it would have been heavenly. As it was, the bacon pieces were a bit in between, part limp and part firm, but it didn't affect the enjoyment too much.

Overall Verdict
If you were to judge each individual component separately, I would say the sandwich would be mediocre at best.

original chicken fillets: great
bacon: below average
cheese: average
sauce: average

What makes it great is the idea that you're eating a sandwich with no bread, and the fact that all those ingredients somehow work together to form this power combination of crispy/gooyness that punches your tastebuds and says, "take it, and like it!"

Unfortunately, after finishing my meal, I was left feeling hungry, but it was a good thing I got a free coupon for a free box meal, so the entire dining experience ended on a super high point. (Nothing beats free food!)

KFC Double Down: 3 out of 4 stars

Yay God

So the Teaching Exam I took last week turned out well! I didn't just pass it, but pretty much crushed it. Thank God! 1 more next weekend and then I'm officially TX certified! Now I just need to hear back from schools....

A tiny glimpse of Hell

I've always heard teachers complain about how much the last couple weeks of school suck because normally good kids develop ADD, and kids who already have ADD go buck wild. Well, I would say that is definitely true.

In my 3 classes, we've had 3 kids suspended in the past 3 days: and one kid even got suspended the day he returned from a previous suspension! It's simply mind-boggling how the whiff of summer vacation will whip up all kinds of rebelliousness and devilishness in kids.

What compounds the problem is the fact that teachers take this time to get "sick". No joke, we've had an average of 6-10 teachers call in sick every day now which breaks the structure many of my students need to stay on task. (Students in my program don't take well with subs) When students get sent down to our punishment room, they naturally feed off each other's craziness and as more kids join the mix, the results are often headache inducing and stress-filled.

Needless to say, I've gone through many daydreams where I'm yelling at a kid or even punching them (usually in the face). In return, I've been cussed out every day, ran into and lightly punched and elbowed (as I'm preventing students from running out of the room), and inadvertently headbutted on the nose.

Last day of school can't come soon enough...

What've I been doing the past 2 weeks?

This.

This guy is SICK

This is what Sarah Lim could be if she listened to pop music. check out his website for some free mp3 downloads.

Paul Dateh= talented.

TX Certification

Hey all, sorry for being MIA for the past month or so, I've been hit w/ a bad case of writer's block. I've got 3 drafts saved that I just haven't been able to finish cuz life's been pretty busy. But if you could could pray for my certification exam this saturday that would be appreciated.

When school ends end of the month, I will be doing some hardcore writing so stay tuned...

Heading out to CA!

Goin to Anaheim, CA for Rose and Daniel's wedding! First wedding for 2010... Excited!

Flatulence is Funny

Fridays are called "Fun Friday" in our classroom. For my first period class, they wanted to go outside so we brought a basketball and decided to play a game of 21. I was just messing around, keeping it close, then let one of the kids win. That was a mistake because he started gloating and talking trash like crazy. I got a bit annoyed and when he asked to play again I said "sure", inwardly vowing to crush his spirits.

The game starts off and it's back and forth cuz the kid is actually pretty good. 6-6, then I start tipping him, which drops him back to 0 each time. I know I am jacked up, but as he got more frustrated, I got more amused because he kept talking more trash. By the time the score was 19-4, he was literally hustling after every play and kept mumbling, "Oh hail no..."

He pulled up for a mid range jumper and as it clanged off the rim, he sprinted past me and skyed up in the air. With a primal growl, he grabbed the ball and immediately protected it with both arms as he landed. As he landed though, I think he was straining so hard that this loud booooop escaped into the air. I immediately pulled up half in surprise and amusement. Part of me had to make sure it didn't come from me, but when I realized the student had farted, I almost couldn't stifle my laughter.

I played it off like I didn't hear what happened, though, and promptly ended his misery with my next shot. Student's lesson for the day: Don't mess with Mr. Lee.

What Once was Great...

As a kid, I would always look forward to our class field trips. Didn't matter where we went: a science museum, a historic farm land, even the local park was great. Field trips meant that we didn't have to stay cooped up in classes all day and we got to hang out with our friends in a fresh new environment.

Now that I'm a teacher, I can totally understand why they always end up looking like crap after our trips. Field trips sap the energy right out of you! Today I had to help take the entire 7th grade class to the local park for 5 hours (since the 8th graders were taking standardized tests). Imagine being one of 10 chaperones in charge of 200+ kids making sure they don't hurt themselves, get lost, break anything, or any of hundreds of possible worst-case scenarios.

Unfortunately, I was shafted into taking the 7th grade field trip instead of the 6th graders cuz my coworker didn't want to deal with some of our kids who were in 7th grade so I said it'd be OK if we switched(I know, nice guy syndrome). So instead of getting to chill w/ teachers and students I was tight with, I was w/ teachers I had no real interaction with and 3 of the more troublesome kids.

In my head I kept telling myself that I should just use this as an opportunity to meet some of the rest of the staff and kids, but in the end I wussed out. I was cold and wet (it was misting and windy) and my allergies were making me miserable so I just wandered around by myself watching the kids.

It was pretty sad how easily I end up psyching myself out of new opportunities to meet people. Something I need to really look into...

Drugged Up

Wow, I seriously have not been in a blogging mood for the past week and a half. I had read some really interesting articles on the use of gesturing as a form of learning as well as various inspirational pieces that I originally planned on writing about, but when it came time to type, I just didn't feel the desire.

It could be that we had a massive influx of visitors come to Austin the past month that took up a lot of time and energy or even the severe allergies that finally hit me (Austin is known to be allergy central). Either way, I've actually been thinking a lot about things but just don't want to share them at this point.

With that massive sidebar aside, today was actually a really interesting day. Not interesting in the fact that I got to do awesome stuff (in fact it was quite slow), but interesting as in I will never ever do what I did again for the rest of my life.
As I mentioned earlier, allergies have been owning me, and last night I pretty much woke up every hour and a half because my nose became blocked up or my throat was worn bloody from breathing through my mouth. Going into work, my nose went into overdrive to make up for the lack of snot production by dripping non-stop for the first period.

One of my co-workers noticed me constantly blowing my nose and asked if I got sick over Easter. I informed her of my severe allergies to all living plant-life and she instantly sympathized. When she asked if I took any benadryll, I told her that that stuff usually never works. She immediately pushed me to try the pills that she uses, and mentions that taking four of them always does the trick for her.

Now, I've taken all kinds of over the counter allergy medication before, and I knew that the typical dose was 1-2 pills, and they usually had severe drowsiness as a side effect. But she was incredibly adamant about it, citing her friend as a source, and before I could say anything, she ran out to her car to get some for me. I guess I was just really blessed that she cared that much, or I was too tired to think clearly, but I just ended up downing all four pills w/ some swigs of water.

As you can imagine, the next 6 hours were a hazy blur. It was a good thing there wasn't much going on that day (most of the kids were under control) cuz I had no mental facility going on at all. I was also pretty sure I was slurring my speech. I remember trying desperately to stay awake by reading articles on Google Reader, and scouring google news for interesting things to keep my focus, but my body felt like it was tingling. Every now and then I would rest my head on my arm for a couple seconds and then I would jerk awake to find that 5 minutes had passed.

It wasn't until the beginning of 7th period (around 3pm) that the drowsiness finally started to wear off and I could walk with some semblance of control.

Next time anyone claims to know better than the instructions on the box, ignore them and follow the directions.

Plug

Vote for Abbie here!

If she wins she gets to sing w/ Ingrid Michaelson, who is really good. Feel free to spread the news to your friends!

Another Reason to Love TX

4 day weekend!!!!

don't be jealous

Road Ratings

So we were able to make the 23 hour drive from Austin to Ann Arbor safely a couple days ago. As we were traveling, there were some stark differences in the road quality and setup of each state.

• Roads in Ohio and Michigan are truly the worst. In Ohio alone we probably wasted an extra 45 minutes crawling through construction zones and watching out for cops (I counted ~9 cop cars). I-94 is also a pile of a road.
• Memphis was surprisingly scenic.
• Semis who like driving on the fast lane and then don't pass slower cars SHOULD GET OFF THE ROAD.
• Kentucky has a lot of deer that chill near the side of the road. By near, I mean 5 feet away from the concrete. Scary at night.
• Arkansas is a fast drive.
• Tennessee and Memphis are cool because they have three lane highways. Sooo smoooth too!
  

Lookin' Good

These are some movies and tv shows that I'm really looking forward to.

The Pacific
Sundays @ 9pm

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' mini-series focusing on WWII's neglected Pacific campaign. On par with Band of Brothers, the series will focus on the lives of three marines as they enlist, fight, and try to cope with their experiences post-war. Judging from reviews online, critics are raving about the emotional pull and rawness of the series. Just a warning, there is a lot more gore in this series (along the lines of the severed limbs in the Saving Private Ryan opening scene). But if you're looking for a real glimpse of the harsh realities of war and the toll it takes on the participants, look no further.

Kick Ass
Out in theatres!

Synopsis taken from trailer.
Kick-Ass tells the story of average teenager Dave lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new name, Kick-Ass, assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. Theres only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers.

Random Note: Dave Shin was walking on the streets in Austin when he walked by a row of black Escalades. It wasn't until he looked at the huge crowd snapping pictures did he realize that they were doing a premiere in our very own Austin!

Defendor
Out on DVD

Pretty similar to Kick Ass, it's the story of a guy (Woody Harrelson) who tries to make something of his life by becoming a superhero. He seeks revenge on "Captain Industry" who he believes killed his mother, and the movie follows his bumbling foray into the criminal underworld. From the previews, Defendor looks to be a dark comedy of a lovable loser who makes up for his lack of real skill with sheer determination and heart.

Healing

Another example of how sports can bring people together.

Favorite shots

Some of my favorite shots from the past couple weeks. Still learning the intricacies of the camera.

Focus. The guys of our church grabbed dinner together one Sunday evening and ended up playing "Things" for hours. Aaron is scary good at figuring out people's tendencies.








Waiting. We were waiting to surprise JVick on her b-day for ~45 min. I feel like this picture portrays the tension between trying to figure out when she was gonna arrive, and wondering how much longer we had to wait.








Convoy. At the Austin Skate Park. We were definitely the oldest people other than parents at this place. Loved trying to practice capturing motion blur here, but wish there weren't so many people (they kept getting in the way of a lot of good shots).






Hey You. Austin Skate Park. I told people to do cool poses or interesting motions as they came around my corner but most of them were too embarrassed. One of the few good ones. Tou Fue wants you.








Reflection. On the car ride back from the Skate Park. Sometimes when things in life are knocking you down, you just need to pause, look back at your life, and see just how beautiful things actually are.







Technicalities. At Mozart's. Dr. Matt's last night, we just talked and shared some desserts. He claimed to be able to draw a map of the world in 1 minute which we all demanded him to prove. Technically he failed because it actually took him 1 minute 15 seconds.






Shadows. At Mozart's. Right when I walked down the stairs, I knew I had to take a picture of this. There was a guy leaning against the tree and the play of the shadows was so amazing.













Practice Needed. At Mozart's. My attempt at capturing the shadows. I made them sit there for a couple minutes as I tried getting the shot. Unfortunately this was the best I could do.

Great Day!

Wow! Today was such a great day at work that I had to document it. The head teacher was gone again to sign paperwork for his new house so I was steeling myself for a rough day.

My coworker and I talked through strategy on how we wanted to split up the students and what we would do if different situations happened and then split up to take care of various responsibilities until the day started. When 1st period came around, it pretty much started as I expected. One of the kids came in with attitude not wanting to listen to us and had a good 10 minute battle before he gave in and was willing to stay in the room.

From there, the day was magical. Maybe it was a combination of it being "Fun Friday" (a day where the kids in our class are able to just chill and play games) and the kids realizing that I wasn't a pushover anymore, but the kids actually did what they were told.

I got to play ball w/ kids in one class, connect 4 in another, and Kemp and Killer in another, and helped students avoid emotional meltdowns in various other classes. Even the students who were under lockdown for the day were working hard or staying quiet whereas in previous days they were going crazy since they'd been in our room for the past 2 weeks.

It was such a welcome change of pace that all throughout I kept lifting up sincere praises to God for the great day so far. The day was so nice that I was even able to catch up and read a couple chapters of Luke!

Another great part of the day was that one student in particular who had started being incredibly abrasive to staff and unwilling to work in class actually listened to my advice on staying in class... and stayed out of trouble the entire day! For those of you who think this isn't that big a deal do not know this kid... he is the poster child of ADHD and near the end of the day he specifically came to tell me he got a "Recognized" score on his TAKS Science test. Man, I remember feeling so proud of him and I could tell he was proud of it too from the way he was beaming.

God, I wish I could just capture the day and bottle it up for the times when I want to quit.