Humble Bundle 13

A couple months ago, I found out about a sale of all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels in a digital format. Which is something I had wanted for a while. I jumped at that. 

Ever since, I've been getting the emails from the company, Humble Bundle. Mostly they bundle up video games, but they do digital books and comics, too. You get a bunch of media at a great price, and they donate the proceeds to charity. 

Since it is spring break (so I'm on the summer schedule), this is a Thursday 13. Since this is April, well, Humble starts with H... Here are 13 bundles you can get right now from Humble Bundle:

1. The Collected Peanuts: 43 books of Peanuts comics. Pay at least $25. Sale ends April 15th.
2. Valiant Classic Omnibuses: 7 comic omnibuses for at least $18. Sale ends April 27th.
3. Guitars and More for Dummies: 18 books for at least $25. Sale ends April 21st.
4. The Dark Worlds of James Herbert: 17 books, for at least $18. Sale ends April 13th.
5. The Best of Ellen Datlow's Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror Anthologies: 29 books for at least $18. Sale ends April 28th.
6. Linux the Good Stuff: 17 books for at least $60. Sale ends April 19th.
7. Strategic Minds Collection: 7 battle games for at least $18. Sale ends April 22nd.
8. Avatar 20th Anniversary Physical RPG Bundle: 6 physical items for at least $49. Sale ends April 24th.
9. Humble Heroines: 6 female-fronted games for at least $18. Sale ends April 15th.
10. Spring 2026 15 for 15: 15 games for at least $15. Sale ends April 15th.
11. Dungeon Master's Adventures, 3D Printable Miniatures & Scenery: 91 item software bundle for at least $25. Sale ends April 20th.
12. The 2026 Certification Bundle: 45 item curriculum bundle for at least $25. Sale ends April 12th.
13. Realer than Reality Scanned Material Bundle: 22 items for at least $30. Sale ends April 20th.

Sometimes they have good stuff, sometimes not. Check out the website and sign up for the emails. You might be surprised at what they have on offer.

Have you ever bought from Humble Bundle before? Jealous of my acquisition of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels? See anything you might be tempted to buy?

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Good Blogging Manners

It is spring break. As is my habit for off-times, I go into my "summer schedule" here on the blog. (My subbing stories from last week will appear next week.) Wednesdays are for blogging minutiae. 

Since it is A to Z Challenge time, I thought I'd talk about commenting. Especially commenting as a return visit when someone new visits your blog. It is considered good manners, and most of the bloggers I encounter do engage in the practice. 

But there are times when I fall down on the job. That's when I can't find the blog of the commenter. 

These instructions are for Blogger. At some point I created a reader profile on WordPress, so when I comment there there's also a link. It seems to work... 

If you click on your name after you've commented on a Blogger blog, you'll get your profile page. Under "My Blogs" should be a link to your blog. 

My problems stem from when there is more than one blog listed. And/or that link goes to a blog that hasn't been updated in a long time. Or it goes to a landing page where the blog is not obvious. 

Sure, I could go to the A to Z Master List. Now. But in non-April times, or really now, as I don't have a lot of time to go blog searching, if I can't figure out where the blog is fairly easily, I won't return visit. (And I'll feel guilty for this, but at a certain point it's more trouble than it's worth.) 

If your profile works, there's a big "Edit Profile" button in the upper right hand corner. Making it clear which blog you want return visitors to find makes things so much simpler. 

But what if your profile doesn't work? What if the only way to you can comment is via "Anonymous"? 

(This happens. Sometimes it's a system glitch. Sometimes I can't get the right Google profile to load. And sometimes it's a problem I can't figure out, and who has time to mess with that, especially in April?)

This is where using some HTML in a comment is fine. 

I usually type something like "Liz A. from Laws of Gravity" as a signature. (If you've seen my "Some Basic HTML" post, you know how to do this.) I have this saved on "Notepad" on my Windows desktop so all I have to do is copy/paste if needed. 

And you can do that, too. 

In HTML, my signature looks like:

The highlighted parts are the important HTML that you'll need for your signature. Or:

You can omit the spaces. (I did it that way to make it stand out.) The red is what you'll replace with your information. (Sorry it's an image. I tried to get one of those boxes things that you can copy, but I couldn't make it work. At least, since it's an image, you can click on it to make it bigger.) 

If you add that to the end of all your comments, there's no question where you want return visits to go. 

I've been bad about this, though. I've been trusting that my links work. And they seem to? That's the problem, of course. If the links don't work, that's the blogger who isn't returning the visit. 

So, how about you? Are you getting return visits? Do you put in a blogging signature? Has anyone figured out how to not have to do an anonymous comment? 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Fascist State?

Fascism: a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition. 

Last week I covered a world history class, and the above poster was on the wall in the classroom. 

The term fascism has been bandied about a lot as of late with regards to our government. Have we gone full fascism? According to that dictionary definition, no. But, we are headed that way. Especially if those in charge get their way. 

I mean, if you look, you can see all the awful things that are happening: 

• ICE Violence Is Fueled by Misogyny and White Nationalism
• Holocaust Memorial Museum quietly changed content after Trump returned to office
• Donald Trump and the Deconstruction of America
• Wormy Food, Intimidating Guards, Sick Kids: Inside ICE’s Only Family Detention Center
• Worms in food, poor medical care, lights on 24/7: Families tell of life in Texas detention center
• Trump Admin Confirms 91 Wrongful Deportations of Asylum Seekers
• Fear Is the Goal: Trump’s anti-immigration push is backed by intense propaganda for a reason.
• ICE agents seen 'terrorizing' woman and child at SFO, Calif. senator says
• Hiding out with an immigrant family in ICE-occupied Memphis
• Musk Endorsed White Nationalism And the silence is deafening
• Is empathy a sin? Some conservative Christians argue it can be
• Immigrant truck drivers were supposed to get their licenses back. Why California’s DMV is stalling

Enough. For today. There's more, if you look. 

I'm so tired of living in interesting times.

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Eldest Nephew Models His Sweater

It was July in Ohio. I asked my brother, his wife, and their children what they wanted for Christmas. Eldest nephew (after a reminder from his mom) asked for a heavy winter sweater in forest green. Okay, then. 

The last Thursday of the year I do a recap post, "This year in 13 posts", and every year I link to a post of a major knit/crochet project. But that post rarely is more than a post-of-the-week on the in-the-minute of where the project is. So, since April, I might as well let newer visitors get a better idea of the full picture.

I found a pattern on Knitty: When Harry Met Lucy. Heavy winter sweater means cables to me, and cables are easy enough. Cleared with eldest nephew, I ordered the yarn, and waited. 

For new visitors, my brother has five kids. On the blog their names are niece (who is now 24), eldest nephew (who is 20), middle nephew (15), and the twins (who will be 13 on V-day).

I started the project at the end of July. I had hoped to get the back finished by the end of August, but work... (I started the school year in a vacant art class, so I got kinda busy the last couple weeks of August and into September.) 

While I wanted to have the sweater done in time for Christmas, well, nope. I had the front and back done, but I had just started the first sleeve. 

The family came to visit, so I showed eldest nephew where the sweater was. I'm not sure if he was disappointed it wasn't finished as he spent the first couple days of that trip (the day I saw him was his birthday) with a miserable cold. But I had warned him it might not be done in time. 

In February, with one sleeve done and one in progress, I planned to get the thing done in time to mail it along with my brother's birthday gift. (Brother's birthday was the end of March. Last Monday, to be precise.) 

I just barely made it. 

I mailed the package the Thursday before. It arrived ON my brother's birthday. Phew. 

And the main purpose of this post? Would you like to see the sweater ON eldest nephew? 

All done. And delivered. Just in time for spring. 

Now it's time to start the sweater that sister-in-law requested. For last Christmas. Sigh. 

Have you ever gotten a late Christmas gift? (Not March late, necessarily.) Anyone started for this coming Christmas? (Yes, I know it's eight months away.) 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

The sweater's previous posts:

• Starting the Sweater
• Getting to the Back
• Missed Deadline
• Distractions from Knitting
• A Month Late
• Inching Along
• Tracking the Growth
• Weekly Sweater Update
• Moving Right Along
• Good Progress
• Almost to the Interesting Part
• Plot Twist
• Not Worth the Effort
• Sleeve Progress
• Continuing Sleeve One
• Sleeve Two!
• Continuing Sleeve Two
• Setting a Deadline
• Almost There
• How I Keep Track
• Some Assembly Required
• Missed Winter
• Seamingly On Track
• Just the Collar
• And That's All She Knitted

Duck, Duck, Goose

Duck.

Duck.

GOOSE!

I don't normally post on Saturdays, (and I'm normally not online on Saturdays), but for the A to Z Challenge I check in with a quick picture. So, while planning for D, I thought "duck", because we have dozens of ducks that live in the complex. 

So, I went to take pictures of said ducks last Friday only to find that all the ducks had disappeared. Poof. Gone. 

Considering the timing, I suspect that they're nesting someplace, and in the next week or so, there'll be way more ducks because they'll have ducklings. 

On Sunday while walking the dog, I found a few ducks out and about. Phew. Notice, males. And the pictures aren't great. Usually the fowl creatures are underfoot, but not then. But that's good enough for me. 

Do you see ducks near where you live? Got any critters that are just always underfoot?

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

College Orientation

Wednesday. Twelfth grade English. 

I unlocked the door to the classroom, and I walked in to find the teacher there. She was just getting ready to leave. She'd be on campus reading essays (as they do once a quarter). So, while she said I could call if I needed her, it'd be unlikely as counselors and administrators from the nearby Cerritos College would be in class to help the kiddos register for classes. 

I do love a day where outside presenters are there to take over the class. 

First period. As the kiddos were arriving, an entourage of eleven arrived to present. Cerritos College is one of the local community colleges. I'm not sure of details, but the local high schoolers can get reduced (or free) cost tuition if they meet certain qualifications. (Being a local recent grad is the main one.) 

We are at the point in the year where the seniors are just about done. And so, the community college is ready to welcome them. 

In previous classes, they had gone through the application process, and they had done the FAFSA. This day the counselors and such were there to explain things like getting into a program that would give them priority registration and how to register for classes. They made sure they could access the college's student portal and that they had their new student ID numbers. 

Not all of the kiddos are going to go to that college. There are several community colleges in the area. (Off the top of my head, I know of Long Beach, Goldenwest, Fullerton, and Cypress. I just did a Google search, and found something like seventeen.) Some are going to universities (we also have a few of those in the area). Some may be joining the military. Others might already have jobs or apprenticeships lined up. And others might not have any plans yet. 

But, as it is close, and many will go, they found it worked better to just do an orientation for them in their high school. Very convenient, that. 

I wish I had had something like this when I started college. I don't know if the kiddos realize how nice this is for this transition for them. 

It made for an easy day for me. My biggest challenge was staying awake. 

But it was a little bittersweet. I've had many of these kiddos in various classes over the last several years. They're growing up. And they'll be leaving. 

Did you go to college? If your high school had done something like this, would you have been more likely to (if you did not)? 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Behaved Well, Actually

While I was happy to work, I kind of was dreading the day. 

Friday. Eighth grade science. 

Science is my jam, but eighth graders... My tag for days with the eighth graders (8RE) is code for "eighth graders are evil". Because they can be. 

And then... 

They went and surprised me. 

The day's assignment was an animal adaptations project. They picked an animal. Then they were to find three adaptations that help the critter survive... 

Student: Can I pick a unicorn?

Me: No mythical creatures, please.

They were to draw a picture. Write about three of the critter's adaptations. Illustrate the critter's closest relative. And they had the whole period to do this. 

And you know what? They actually did the work. 

(Well, mostly. I had a couple kiddos who played more than they worked. But that happens everyday. It would have been weird if I didn't have a couple of those kiddos.) 

There was a good selection of animals picked. They went from axolotls to sharks to sloths to horses. Orson had a meltdown until I calmed him by mentioning different animals he could pick. And most of them finished or nearly finished the project in class. 

Now, can all my days with the eighth graders be like that? Please? 

If you could do a project on a mythical creature, which one would you pick? I think I'd go with a dragon. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

African-American Studies

Tuesday. AP African-American Studies. 

Welcome to April and the first day of the A to Z blogging challenge. When I say that the letter of the day sometimes just falls into my lap, this is what I mean. African-American Studies? Really? 

Last week was a light week. I only had Wednesday scheduled. Monday's assignment popped up at 5 in the morning. Tuesday's popped up at about 7 PM the night before. Which was strange. Usually assignments pop up during the school day or in the middle of the night. But hey, I went to bed knowing I'd have a job the next day, so I was fine with it. 

I got to the classroom. After turning on the lights, I headed for the teacher's podium. Nope. Headed back to his desk. Nope. 

There was a knock on the door. 

I made my way through the desks to the door to find a teacher waiting for me. She had a paper in her hand. 

"I was just looking for that," I told her. 

The day's lesson plans. 

Teachers will sometimes email their plans to one of their teacher friends. Who will then print them out and bring them to us subs. We do love having the lesson plans. 

It was going to be a pretty easy day. AP or advanced placement is a class students take to earn college credit. That is, they get the college credit if they pass the AP test at the beginning of May. The class of mostly seniors and some juniors had online work to complete. (It was phrased "independent projects".) 

Okay, then. 

For the second class of the day, I did my usual introduction, stating that maybe the teacher wasn't feeling well. 

A student: "Jury duty". 

Ah. 

Suddenly the timing of the call the night before made sense. 

In Los Angeles County, one must call in after 7 PM every night of the week one is assigned jury duty. One is told either, "call back tomorrow" or "report tomorrow". (I've done this a few times, so I'm familiar.) 

While I never wish a teacher ill (or stuck on jury duty), I do appreciate having work for the day. 

Have you ever served on a jury? Does African-American Studies sound like a class you would have liked to take in high school? 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

How Many?

The other day I had an exchange with someone who actually still supports the regime. (When I expressed my views, she didn't trust my facts because I follow "the fake news". Deep sigh.) I said something about the fact that we now have concentration camps and those in charge are committing atrocities. 

Her response? It's not actually that bad. 

Um... 

And so, a few days later I had this thought. What if there was a website somewhere keeping a tally? Of those who have died as a direct result of this regime? 

How many have died in ICE custody? (Like this guy.) How many have died as a result of the gutting of USAID? How many have died of measles? How many have died in the attacks on other countries? How many have been openly just killed? 

I'm sure this number is way higher than people think. 

I do not know how to even begin to compile such stats. And I do not have the skills to create the website (although that part I could probably figure out). 

But I think it's something we need. A tally. That is updated regularly. Supported by facts. 

Some still won't believe it, but we somehow need to bear witness. Keep track. 

I hope for a reckoning someday. Until then, I want a list of everything. So we don't forget. 

(After I wrote all this, I stumbled upon an article that basically says the killing of people is a feature, not a bug: Our nation is quickly being destroyed by “necropolitics.")

And That's All She Knitted

The sweater is finished! 

And, if the tracking on the package can be believed, it will arrive at my brother's house in Ohio today. Just in time for my brother's birthday. Today. 

(I ordered my brother's birthday gift a while ago with the intention of mailing it along with eldest nephew's Christmas present. I cut that real close.) 

Last week all I had left to do was the collar. It took a while to pick up stitches along the neckline, but once I got done with that, knitting the collar was pretty simple. 

I finished it late Tuesday night. I packaged it all up Wednesday after work, and then Thursday after work I dropped it off at the post office. As I write this Sunday evening, the tracking says the box is in Columbus, Ohio. Which is the closest distribution center to them.

(The closest distribution center to me is Los Angeles. If a package for me is in LA by, like, 3 AM, I will have that package that day. That's why I'm not hedging in saying that my brother is getting this today. Save for some wackadoodle occurrence.) 

Phew. That only took me eight months. Not bad, really. 

April starts in a couple days, and you may have noticed I added the A to Z Challenge image in the sidebar. Yes, I'll be on the A to Z thing. I haven't mentioned this earlier as you won't really notice much of a change around here. I don't do a theme. My game is to fit what I'd normally post to the letter of the day. 

As of this writing, I've got A and D done for this week and I've got a pretty good idea what B and C will be. And yes, I will continue to scream into the void on Tuesdays (read: write about current events). X falls on a Tuesday this year. I don't know how I'm going to make that work, but I will, somehow. That's a problem for me in a couple weeks. 

And somehow, my yarn-y post for next week will begin with the letter E. How? I have no idea yet. You'll have to visit me to find out.

The sweater's previous posts:

• Starting the Sweater
• Getting to the Back
• Missed Deadline
• Distractions from Knitting
• A Month Late
• Inching Along
• Tracking the Growth
• Weekly Sweater Update
• Moving Right Along
• Good Progress
• Almost to the Interesting Part
• Plot Twist
• Not Worth the Effort
• Sleeve Progress
• Continuing Sleeve One
• Sleeve Two!
• Continuing Sleeve Two
• Setting a Deadline
• Almost There
• How I Keep Track
• Some Assembly Required
• Missed Winter
• Seamingly On Track
• Just the Collar

Caught in the Lie

Friday. English language development (read: extra English class for students not fluent in English). Ninth grade. Sixth period.

(If the above picture looks a little familiar, that's because I was subbing for Ms. A, who I've done two long terms for, the last one last April. Now that she has her two children, she's unlikely to need another maternity leave.) 

Ms. A left me a list of her students who were on the escort list. And she had warned me (I ran into her the previous day) that sixth period was her difficult group. 

So, when Aiden asked to use the restroom, I was ready. He did not complain too loudly (although when I mentioned he was on the escort list, he played like he had no idea) when I told him he'd have to wait for security to escort him. Although, he wasn't too happy when security took a while to get to the room. 

(Students get placed on the escort list when they take too long to use the restroom. It's not that far. We tell them five minutes, but if it takes a couple minutes longer, no big deal. But some take significantly longer than ten minutes.) 

While Aiden was waiting, Khloe asked to go. I again called security, and when they finally showed up, I figured they could escort both students. It would save a trip. So, both got up and went towards the security person in her golf cart, and I saw her talk to them both. 

Four minutes later, Aiden returned. Khloe... 

Other students were in and out. Because the assignment for the day was test prep, the teacher had said for the last bit of the period the kiddos could watch a movie. I was getting things going on that when Jordan asked to go. I knew I had a girl who was waiting, so I told him to put his name on the list. That's when whoever was out got back, and Jordan convinced the girl to let him cut in line. 

It was only after the movie was going that I noted the list and realized that Jordan was my third escort list kiddo, and he shouldn't have left on his own. (He timed it for when I wasn't paying attention.) Grrr. 

Jordan was only gone about ten minutes. It was later that I talked to Ms. A. (She was on campus in a meeting.) She caught Jordan out and about. He was on his phone. (They are supposed to leave their phones in a box in the classroom, so he shouldn't have had it on him.) Ms. A confiscated his phone (and turned it into the office). 

So, I feel comfortable that Jordan got his consequence for sneaking past me on the escort thing. 

As for Khloe, she returned after more than a half hour out of class with a story about security telling her to stay in the bathroom because she was feeling sick... I didn't catch half the story, and it didn't pass the smell test. If Khloe was feeling sick, security would have taken her to the health office, and someone would have informed me of this. 

Freshmen... 

Yeah, I took note of all of this, and their teacher knows. And she's not happy about it. 

I mean, seriously, the amount of work it took them to evade security... If they only put that kind of effort into their school work. 

Seventh Grade

Thursday. Seventh grade math. First period. 

It was a co-taught class, and I was subbing for the special ed teacher, so Ms. G ran her class as usual. The topic for the day was percentages. 

Ms. G explained the formula to them, gave examples, gave them a chance to try some problems, went over those problems so the kiddos knew what to do, and then she gave them problems to work on. Typical math class. 

And typical seventh graders. 

One boy just sat there, kind of staring off into space. Ms. G was doing notes, and he wasn't copying down what she was writing. When I tried to get him to do something, he said he didn't know what to do. Well, start with copying the notes she was demonstrating for him. That's a good place to start. 

Seventh graders think they can talk and work. What they end up doing is going off on tangents and getting no work done. So, while they were allowed to "work together", they weren't getting as much done as they could. 

Well, at least I could help them when they needed it. Mostly. And for a seventh grade class, they weren't too horrible. 

Shut Down

Wednesday. Integrated Math 2 (read: math for sophomores, kind of geometry). Sixth period. 

If the above room looks familiar, it's because I was there two years ago in a long term for Mr. J. Ms. L, his co-teacher, was there, and she was going over the topic of the day, special right triangles. 

I was in the back of the room, and I noticed a student hadn't gotten out her notes or anything. She was on her phone, but she was using it for pictures that she was drawing in a sketchbook. While I have no problems with students drawing, it was time for the girl to do math. I gently urged her to get out her notes and follow along with Ms. L. She ignored me.

The girl next to her had her notes. And then it was time for the kiddos to get into IXL which is a math program. They are given a problem to solve. If they get it right, the problems get harder. If they get it wrong, they are given how it should have been solved, and then they get another similar problem. 

This girl had the computer open, the program loaded, but she wasn't starting the assignment. I leaned over and clicked open the assignment. (She was right there. It was one click.) The girl? She immediately backed out of it. Sigh. 

Later, girl one had her head on her desk. Girl 2 was busily writing a paragraph on the back of her math notes. Whining. About having to do math. (I didn't read the whole thing, but I glanced at a couple sentences.)

Ms. L, who also went over and urged them to work, told me that the girls hadn't been doing much in the way of math this school year. Ms. L said she was kind of happy that at least girl one was coming to class, as the last year she had spent more time in the wellness center than in class. So, progress? 

Baby steps, I guess. 

So, I helped the students who were actually trying and who actually asked for help. There were several of them, and they really did seem to catch on. 

This is how some students fail. I can only do so much in a class period, so I'd rather help the students who will take the help. 

Thugs in the Airport

Have you heard about this? ICE officers set to deploy to airports as delays mount, border czar Homan confirms. This is such a bad idea. The largest federal workers union says 'untrained, armed' ICE agents should not replace TSA. 

"ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security. TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints — skills that require specialized instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification," Everett Kelley, president of American Federation of Government Employees, said on Sunday in a statement posted online.

The ACLU is also sounding the alarm: 

President Trump and his allies in Congress refused to fund TSA and manufactured a crisis at airports across the country. Now, the president apparently wants to use ICE as his private security force, reminding all of us that ICE is not retreating from lawlessness but assigned at will by the president for political retribution.

This makes me rethink plans to go away this summer. Probably best to stay home, eh? Some others' thoughts, too: 

Stunned by all the “ICE isn’t gonna do anything more than what TSA already does” rhetoric. 

Untrained white supremacists who’ve been told by bosses they’re not subject to laws will have POC and women lined up in front of them to grope and abuse and they don’t even have to chase them.

I've linked to the Bluesky post (as embed seems to be not working for me today). It's an interesting thread. I urge you to click the link and follow it. And one more thread that says a lot more than I can: 

4) ICE is not trained! And the public in airports is annoying and nasty! And they are going to be having them do sensitive things with sensitive people!

What do you think is going to happen when someone doesn't respect their authority?

Do you have to fly anytime soon? Are you rethinking any travel plans now? 

Just the Collar

I have a sweater.

All that's left is the collar. 

If all goes well, next week at this time, it'll be in the mail. Hopefully it'll be there, actually, because next Monday is my brother's birthday. 

A couple months ago I ordered my brother's birthday gift, and the plan was to have eldest nephew's sweater done in time so I could mail them all together. And... I really would have liked to have mailed this past Saturday. Sigh. I still can mail the birthday gift and just mail this sweater later, but I'm so close. 

So close.

Fingers crossed. 

I mean, it's only three months late for Christmas. That's not bad for me. Really. 

The sweater's previous posts:

• Starting the Sweater
• Getting to the Back
• Missed Deadline
• Distractions from Knitting
• A Month Late
• Inching Along
• Tracking the Growth
• Weekly Sweater Update
• Moving Right Along
• Good Progress
• Almost to the Interesting Part
• Plot Twist
• Not Worth the Effort
• Sleeve Progress
• Continuing Sleeve One
• Sleeve Two!
• Continuing Sleeve Two
• Setting a Deadline
• Almost There
• How I Keep Track
• Some Assembly Required
• Missed Winter
• Seamingly On Track

Observed

Thursday. Eighth grade math, special ed. Third period.

It was a complete-the-online-assignment day, and half the class said they were already done. (On a newly-assigned assignment? Not likely.) I noted who said they were done and left that information for the teacher. 

The phone rang. It was the health office letting me know they were sending over someone to observe the kiddo in the class who already had a one-to-one aide, but they didn't want the student to know. Something about a seizure disorder. 

I don't question when staff shows up in class. We have various observers for various things all the time. One day the new principal showed up while I was doing something with a class. I didn't know who he was or why he was there, but he was with another staff member I did know, so I kept doing what I was doing. Another time, the new district superintendent showed up in class. Again, she was with a staff member I did know. And again, I kept doing what I was doing until we had a moment to talk. 

So, when the staff member, who I did recognize from seeing around campus, showed up, I just kept doing what I was doing. (Read: watching the kiddos play games on their computers rather than do the assignment.) 

But, now there were two other adults watching one kiddo. And they questioned what he was supposed to be doing. So, he dutifully found the actual assignment. And then got stuck. 

Well, that part was my job. 

They were turning word problems into equations. It wasn't too hard, but the kiddos were having trouble deciphering whether they needed to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. 

The kiddo did not have any seizures while in class. (They don't usually.) But at least he got some math done. 

Out to Lunch

As I mentioned yesterday, Monday and Wednesday I was back at the adult transition center. It's been a while since I got to be there, so it was nice to see the school again. The students, however, are ones I met at the high schools now. The ones who were there when I was there for practically a school year have since aged out. 

On Monday we were supposed to go on Community Based Instruction, or CBI. Basically this means we leave school to go out to lunch. But, with the last minute call out of the teacher and with several of the students having not brought money, it had to be cancelled. Which was a disappointment as we were supposed to go out to celebrate the birthdays of two of the instructional assistants. (Yes, both of their birthdays were March 9th.) 

But Ms. J left us stuff to do, so we did that. 

Then I went back on Wednesday. And Ms. J told me they were going to go out to Chili's. So, I headed to the school, expecting us to go out for the day. 

But, of course, things did not go smoothly. 

First, a couple students hadn't brought money (even though this was their usual CBI day). Then, they thought about changing our destination, but we couldn't do that without principal approval (and she wasn't on campus at that moment). 

Eventually, it all got straightened out, and we headed out. To the bus stop. It wasn't a long distance, but we had a student in a wheelchair, and the bus was easier. Then we had a half hour to wait until the Chili's opened. We took over one whole section. 

I sat with two students. Josie had brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She had money, but she didn't want to spend it on lunch. 

After we ate, we headed across the (busy) street to the Dollar Tree. There, Josie spent her money. On nail polish and lip balm. As one of the instructional assistants said she would. 

I mean, that's impressive. I would have wanted lunch. But no, Josie knew she'd rather have something else, so she made sure to bring other food from school so she wouldn't be tempted. 

Then to the bus and back to school. 

It's good practice for the students. And it was fun to get out again during the school day. It's been a while since I got to go out for CBI. 

Booking the Week

Monday morning, sometime after midnight, I finally caught an assignment for Monday. I had tried to grab a couple before this, but both informed me that another sub had taken the assignment when I clicked on the book button. So, I was just happy to be working. 

Monday is the late start day, so I was lazily on my phone as I had a whole half hour before I needed to leave when the sub desk called. Would I be willing to switch to the adult transition center? Well, sure. But that meant I had to leave... right then... and I wasn't dressed yet... 

I managed to make it, but just. 

The adult transition center is where the very special ed kiddos go after they age out of high school. I basically spent the 2021-22 school year there. So, while the students are different, I know the drill. (The teachers I covered at that time retired, hence why I ended up there, so there are new-to-me teachers there now.) 

Tuesday I didn't catch an assignment. Sigh. But Ms. J, from Monday, reached out to say she was going to be out again Wednesday, and I did I want to work? I managed to catch the assignment again. (Whew.) 

Turns out, Ms. J probably shouldn't have worked Tuesday. She's really sick. As is one of the instructional aides. As well as a couple students. What can I say? It's going around. 

Then, Wednesday night, Ms. J again asked if I could cover her again. I was totally willing, but I had an assignment for Thursday. Considering how I can try to book an assignment only to have another sub snatch it out from under me, I had concerns. Ms. J said she'd contact the school (who would then contact the sub desk who can just assign me). 

But Thursday...? Yeah, I ended up working the assignment I had previously booked. Hey, I was working that day. That's the important thing. 

This year it's been harder to book jobs. More subs, I think. Which means the schools have far fewer days where a teacher (or multiple teachers) don't have their very own subs. But it makes it harder for us subs to work every day. 

Housing Bill

This popped up in my feed last week. (If you can't see the video, here's the link.)

Or, if you want written, here's an article about it: Senate approves sweeping bipartisan housing bill, but roadblocks remain in the House. 

And this sounds like a good idea. This might be something to call your congressional reps about, if you're so inclined. 

Seamingly On Track

Well, I made some forward progress. I attached both sleeves:

And I got set up to sew up the side seams:

And that's about it. Sigh. 

Hey, it's something. Although, I really need to get this done. Like now. At least, if I plan to mail it with my brother's birthday gift, and have that, at least, arrive on time. 

I don't like deadlines. 

Anyway... I need your help. Have you heard of Humble Bundle? It's a website that sells digital libraries. Well, it sells video games and computer books, but it also sells other sorts of books. About a month ago they did a bundle of all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and I grabbed that one so fast... 

Right now they're offering digital copies of 26 crochet books/booklets. And... I don't need more crochet patterns. Not really. I mean, the amigurumi book looks interesting. But there are books of afghan patterns and baby layettes. (Neither of which I need. At all.)

Please talk me out of getting this. I am so tempted. The price is great. The money goes to charity. But I have books and magazines and so many patterns. I can resist this. 

The sweater's previous posts:

• Starting the Sweater
• Getting to the Back
• Missed Deadline
• Distractions from Knitting
• A Month Late
• Inching Along
• Tracking the Growth
• Weekly Sweater Update
• Moving Right Along
• Good Progress
• Almost to the Interesting Part
• Plot Twist
• Not Worth the Effort
• Sleeve Progress
• Continuing Sleeve One
• Sleeve Two!
• Continuing Sleeve Two
• Setting a Deadline
• Almost There
• How I Keep Track
• Some Assembly Required
• Missed Winter

Scared of Girls

Friday. Tenth grade world history, special ed. Fifth period. 

Because it was a special ed class, I had an instructional assistant. Ms. M warned me about fifth period. Specifically, about the three boys on the baseball team. They would likely be late. Why? 

The classroom is located on the end of the building. There's an outer door that opens into a kind of foyer. If you head straight ahead, you find the classroom. Right next to the classroom, if you head to the left instead of straight, is the girls' restroom. (And next door to that is a locked faculty restroom. Very convenient.) 

These three boys... don't want to be seen near the girls' restroom. Or be seen by the girls in the restroom? The aversion is unclear. 

So, passing period. I prop open the classroom door to make sure the kiddos will enter (and not hover outside). Angelo and Kyson whooshed into the room, headed for the table next to the TV (if you look at the above photo, there's a standing desk to the right of the TV; that's where they were). They turned towards the whiteboard, and hid their faces. 

They would not be convinced to go to their seats, not until the door was closed. 

Deep sigh. 

The bell rang. I closed the door. And Angelo and Kyson took their seats. Soon thereafter, Noah whooshed into the room. He made sure that door closed behind him.

And... I... Huh? 

Ms. M made the comment, out of their hearing, that it wasn't like they had to go through the girls' restroom to get to the classroom. 

I am very familiar with this classroom. Exactly a year ago, I was doing a long term in this very classroom (for a vacant class). And I could not tell you what the girls' restroom looks like. I've never been in there. 

But for some reason, those boys (and only those boys) do not want to be seen by the girls. 

While the door was closed, Angelo, Kyson, and Noah were fine. Well, not "fine". Noah claimed he had already completed the day's new assignment (it had been posted first thing in the morning, so he could have accessed it in his previous classes), and so he spent the period moving about and getting his lunch (he had a baseball game later that day). 

The three boys were not well-behaved. 

About a half hour before the end of the period, Noah and Kyson had to leave for their game. They stood before the door, waiting for the minute they could go, but they opened the door just a crack. Just to look. 

They begged to leave early. Well, earlier. Nope. 

I guess they were trying to get out while the coast was clear. Of girls. 

The second they could go... whoosh. 

That's... that's a new one on me. Wow.

Sophomore Meltdown

Wednesday. Tenth grade English, special ed. Seventh period.

It's district writing assessment time, and that includes the special ed students. Ms. C gave me very specific instructions on what to do. 

Their routine is to grab a Chromebook, log in, and do a warmup. But we were switching things up so they'd have more time to write. As I got class started, I informed the class they wouldn't need their Chromebooks, so would they please put them back. 

Adrian was not pleased. While the rest of the class put their computers back and I passed out the packets they'd need for their writing, Adrian wailed. He did not want to give up his computer. 

Luckily (or maybe obviously), Adrian had a one-to-one aide. Mr. J went over to Adrian and pointed out that Adrian was disrupting the class. Adrian needed to put his Chromebook back. 

Adrian? Laid on the floor. Wailing. 

One is not often treated to a fifteen-year-old throwing a toddler temper tantrum. At least he wasn't flailing his limbs and screaming. 

While the rest of the class looked on, Mr. J calmly pointed out that Adrian was disrupting the class, and maybe Adrian needed to take a little walk to calm down. Adrian didn't like that idea. He didn't want to be in trouble. And somehow that got Adrian off the floor. He put away his computer. And we continued class. 

Of course Adrian complained about the essay. And the topic. (They had an argumentative essay. Topic: the space program--continued funding, yea or nay.) And he objected to how they spelled "center" in the articles they were to use as their sources. (Apparently Adrian is obsessed with English spelling and said it should be "centre". Well, if he wants English spellings, fine.) 

Did Adrian finish the essay? Nope. But he did actually write something. So, that's a win.