Dark

Welcome back! so good to hear that things are going well. Rooting for you and wishing your family all the best!

The only months I really don't like are January and February, because they're the coldest ones with typically the worst weather. The darkness doesn't bother me and I love the winter sports. Plus, all the allergens are dead. And the mosquitoes! The kids were brainstorming for their projects today and there are some really awesome ideas. i can't wait to see the end products. Yeah, I'm gonna miss my current school, but one of the things I like about teaching is the new crop of kids you get every year. I know my fellow teachers are going to miss me and the new stuff I'm doing. Still, we got some grant money and will be buying a bunch of new equipment -- and Ipads! -- for next year, so I'm a little (a lot) jealous. LOL

So, one day left until Spring Break begins! I'm excited about it and yet not at the same time, because it's not going to be much of a vacation. First, there's all the grading I have to do, then there's my beginning teacher portfolio to put together, plus all the moving stuff, and then getting ready for my trip to the job fair in 2 weeks. So, updates! I got my resume updated, but still waiting on the majority of my letters of rec -- and oh shit! Just at this moment, I realized I never asked my department chair for one. Crap, let me put that on my list of things to do in the morning. (he teaches a "zero" period before the regular school day begins, so I'll have to catch him then.) I have several boxes of items to be taken to goodwill from the house, and I have to go fetch the stuff out of my storage unit that's going out for the big garage sale, which of course is the weekend after I get back from Alaska, so no real time there to get ready. Why am I not surprised? My new chemistry unit went well, I think. The kids are really starting to grasp the math, which is excellent. Today they started their spring project (it's due May 1st) and they seem excited about it. They're making board games based on chemistry topics that they're going to use later to study for the state tests. I started this project last year with my physics students with some really awesome results, so, here's to hoping it works as well for the chemistry kids. The job fair is April 12-13th. Got an alert last week that my departure time was moved up. Now I have to run from school (gets out at 3ish pm) to the airport (30-45 min away) to catch a plane that leaves at 5 pm. O_O At least I'm heading out via Long Beach airport and not LAX! I have bags to check, and me being myself hates to be late, period, so ... yeah. I'm trying not to psych myself out, but that's a lot to do in a short amount of time and I can feel myself getting stressed just thinking about it. I still arrive in Alaska at something like 2 am, so my layover time in Seattle has increased -- this is a good thing, because it never fails that the plane from LA to Seattle is in a completely different terminal than the one from Seattle to Anchorage and with only 45-60 minutes between the scheduled landing and departure times, I always end up running. Annoying as hell, because planes from LA rarely run on time, which turns that 45 minutes into 30 ... if I'm lucky. I swear to God I'm getting a non-stop for my final flight out of here!

These devices haven't made it into schools sooner because they're still ridiculously expensive. You may not realize it, but education funds in most states has been drastically cut over the past 10 years. You can't purchase new technology if you're struggling just to make sure your school doesn't fall down around your ears. Then, there's the problem of accessibility. Many schools don't have wireless, so how are you going to use the ipad effectively? Those schools that do have wireless don't have the capacity for 2000 students (in just one school!) to suddenly be online all day. You also have to consider that adults and teachers in particular, don't adapt to new tech as easily or quickly as children. You also have to factor in the ridiculous wages most teachers receive. Hm, do I feed my family this month or buy an ipad? Tough choice. E-textbooks have been around for years and are fairly widely used where the school districts can afford the licensing fees. With smart phones, students can now access these anywhere. I should also state here that California hasn't bought new textbooks in 5+ years and the most recent news on when we'd be getting new ones, the adoption committee was pushed back another 3-5 years. According to state law, schools are required to provide each and every student a textbook -- want to stop paying for obsolete books? Talk to your state rep and change the law! It's likely that by the time the funds are in place to purchase ipads/tablets for the classroom, the technology will be obsolete, just like the computers in our classrooms today.

I did that, too, Sara. Unfortunately for me, my parents showed up on my doorstep (of the apartment my sister and I were sharing at the time) and said, "Here, you forgot this." Consequently, a lot of that stuff went into storage, in a kind of, "We'll deal with this later," attitude. Oh, well. I suppose a lot of the attachment to it has worn off, now allowing me to get rid of the stuff.

Back in 2003, the Air Force said, "Hey, guess what? We're sending you to Los Angeles Air Force Base to be a space-geek and engineer." I said, "Awesome." Now it's time to go home. In addition to the 10 hours a day I spend at school, I'm trying to get ready for the big move. The tentative date is early July and there's still so much to do! As of today, I have sorted through my storage unit and gotten rid of quite a few boxes, with some more to go out soon. Today, I sorted through the boxes my sister brought me all the way from Ohio (she had some stuff at her house). Of the 7 boxes (18 cubic inches), I got rid of one entire box as paper trash. Two more, one mostly full of children's books and one with old childhood toys will be donated along with the garbage bag of clothes from my closet. There's a big community garage sale type of event in April, so that's what the stuff in my storage unit is waiting for. I'm sure by then I'll have more stuff from the house to add. Now that the sorting is mostly done, at the top of my to-do list is updating my resume and getting new letters of recommendation. I signed up for the job fair already and have my plane tickets. Hard to believe it's only a month away! This month is going to be so busy! In chemistry, I'm almost a month ahead of where I was this time last year (cuz I re-organized what I taught at the beginning of the year), so now I have to put together a new unit. I taught it from another teacher's materials two years ago when I taught Honors Chemistry, but I know there's a lot of things I want to change for the regular classes this year. And just when I thought I'd have a little more time! LOL. It never ends. 4 more months until Alaska!

Please let it be true! It would be incredible.

I was happy to see Argo win. And I found Seth Macfarlane offensive, pointless, and boring in turn. I guess you have to be a fan of his show to enjoy him as host.

I loved my PS2, but couldn't afford the PS3 when it came out and I put all my games in storage when I went back to school.... What's the news on the PS4? I don't know much except it's due out this Christmas.

Thanks for the notes. It's good to hear that the story resonates with you. I hope that your story also has a happy ending!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! :Vic2: :Vic2: :Vic2: Happy Birthday... :Vic2: :Vic2: :Vic2: :wub: :wub: Happy Birthday.... Happy Birthday to you!!!

There's no prediction of crazy. Asperger's is not a reason for why this guy shot children. There are still multiple definitions of Asperger's. It is even less understood than Autism and there is quite a lot of debate over whether or not Asperger's is on the Autism spectrum or completely separate. People with Asperger's are typically easy-going and non-violent. It's like living in a country where you don't speak the language; you nod and smile a lot and hope understanding will come eventually. They can sometimes tell that they've made a social blunder (usually minutes or days after the event) but they have a hard time figuring out why and even if they figure it out, they still don't understand why the other person was upset. Right now, people are grasping at straws. There's no connection with Asperger's or Autism regarding violence. It is wrong on so many levels to make wild generalizations like that.

The big 21! Party like a rock star!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

louis :wizard: Happy Birthday! :wizard: ... Now, how many smacks is that?

Happy Birthday, Nephy! Hope life finds you well!

I think it's pretty egotistical to say that you'll only write more if people comment. When authors say that, it pretty much turns me off and I stop reading whatever it was. Do you think that published authors get all this feedback? of course not! Give me a break. This hasn't changed much even with the advent of the e-book and internet sales. Real-life art/literary critics who write reviews generally get paid to do so! That's how they make their living Complaining that people don't review on this site isn't going to help, especially when people consistently say they only want positive feedback along the lines of "your story is awesome and so are you keep writing moar forever! *heart* *heart*" I don't review much because people on this site don't want real opinions. Makes me wonder if that's because way too much of our content here is poorly written. Just go back to the last blog post about reviewing and you'll see. A lot of people on that post said they don't leave comments for stories they don't like -- that's feedback, too. Maybe our authors just don't want to accept/believe it. But IMHO "praise in public, critique in private" is BS. If you're scared of a little constructive feedback (that will actually help you write better), then why do you have the title "author"? Real life isn't sunshine and roses. Just look at movie reviews and think about how the screenwriter or the director or producer feels when the critics trash their movie. It's like everybody here wants to play in a competitive sport and still have all competitors win. That's not how life works. Grow up.

No kidding. Can you believe they made a new version of Red Dawn?

I heard this news on the radio this morning. Still can't believe lucas sold out! Disney ruins everything.

Happy Birthday!

Thank you.

From New Author Help: How to Post a Story Chapter 3: Just where did you see anything about Rich Text? Oh, and by the way, it was Updated: 31 May 2012 - 08:11

Welcome, Hayden. If you look up at the title bar, just below are a handful of links, including Forums, GA Stories, Links, and the all-important one: site help. That will tell you all you need to know about how to post a story. Check it out, as our admins have put a lot of time into compiling all that good stuff. If you'd looked there first, you'd have had no need to post that question. Yes, non-fiction is allowed. There's even a category just for that. Although this site was built first around teen fiction, there's tons more here of various genres. As for signatures, why don't you PM the folks with the signatures you like and ask if they'll tell you who did theirs? Cailen did mine, but you'll have to ask him nicely - and he generally doesn't make someone a signature unless they've been on the site for awhile. Good luck, and I'll be looking to see what you post first!

This is one of the stories I nominated as Best of ... 2011. I really enjoyed it!

Thanks! I would definitely say that Morpheus is awake now.

This kid certainly knows how to have a good time. I hope he weathers the publicity well and goes far.