The Ultimate Christmas Trivia Quiz

Since it's Black Friday, it's time to start thinking seriously about Christmas, hence: 

The Ultimate Christmas Trivia Quiz

If you recall the Halloween quiz, this was done by the same website. Which means, some of these questions are easy, some are more challenging, and once you submit at the end, you scroll back up to see which questions you got right (answers in green) and which ones you got wrong (your answers in red). 

I got 17 out of 20. I did not know the ones I got wrong, so I'm happy with that result. Let me know how you did in the comments.

Scenes from Turkey Day

Last Thursday was kind of a sad day for me. So many things have been cancelled this year due to the pandemic, but this one hit me hard. Turkey day. No students attending the continuation high school in person, so of course, no turkey day. 

So, I'm reposting last year's turkey day post that I posted on Thanksgiving of last year. Enjoy. 

Last Thursday was the continuation high school's annual Turkey Day. It's the day they serve a turkey dinner lunch brunch to the students and the school district community. I make sure that I have a gig there that day.

(I've written about Turkey Day before: 2008, 2013, 2015. Or just click on the tag "turkey day".)

The day is always rather catawampus. I've worked at the continuation high school long enough to know to go with the flow. Some of the crazy:

• Period 1: Jordan (no, not that Jordan--there happen to be three of them) came into class with a classroom exchange pass. Only, the pass was to go to PE. (I was in the woodshop.) Apparently I was the preferred sub (PE had a sub, too). I told him to get a pass to woodshop. He left instead. (The office was not pleased he was not where he said he'd be.) 


• They don't get to use the machinery with a sub, but I allowed painting. Elijah had painted his name plate blue. He went looking for red paint. While the blue was still wet, he painted over it with the red. (Me and another student warned him.) It came out a streaky purple. Which he tried to say was something he liked the look of. Sigh. 


• I had snack duty, so I didn't get my bathroom break until after the bell. Of course, another teacher darted in front of me. So, I was late getting to third period. I felt bad about this until the teacher next door arrived at the same time. Whew! Not that late, then.
• Oh, by the way, he's an author (the teacher next door). You can find his website here, and his books on Amazon are here. He writes fantasy.


• Bob arrived with a tardy slip half way into fourth period. He asked me to mark him present for third period. He claimed he had been in the office. When I called the office "to check", I was told he had only just arrived. I mean, nice try at fixing his attendance record, but perhaps actually attending would work better. 


• We adults didn't get to eat until after school. (We got out at noon that day, so not a hardship.) Another sub didn't want to go. (I mean, I get it. It was hard for me to join in when I was a newbie.) Me and Mr. G (he was the teacher for the class I covered in August last year when he got stuck on jury duty) did convince her to peek in. She was eventually convinced to take a to-go plate.

I guess it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a little drama. 

Cold

I live in southern California. We have a Mediterranean climate which means that we have very mild winters. If you've ever tuned in to the Rose Parade on New Year's Day (sadly, 2021's has been cancelled) and noticed the sunny day, yeah, that's pretty standard winter weather for us.

November isn't necessarily all that cold. On November 1st, I was still wearing my Capri-length pants and sandals to work. But the weekend before last, the weather took a turn towards winter.

The weekend was cold and rainy. Friday and Sunday we had gusting winds. It rained Saturday. 

The forecast for Monday the 16th was for a high of 85ish degrees (30ish degrees C). (My home city was more of an 82°, but the city the school is in was at 86°. I live closer to the ocean. Where I work is more inland. There's a temperature differential.) Spoiler: we actually got up to a high of 91°F (33°C).

Expecting warmer temperatures, I dressed for work in cooler clothes: Capri-length pants and sandals. Since we're doing school virtually, the kiddos don't notice. 

I arrived at school. The classroom temp was 61°F (16°C). I wasn't feeling cold, and I knew the outside temp would go up quickly, so I did not turn on the heat. 

Normally, I might have some temperature complaints, but I'd ignore them as the students would warm the room quickly enough. But as the students are at home, they weren't going to notice. 

A funny thing happened as the day progressed. The classroom didn't get any warmer. When I left to use the restroom, I was surprised at how much warmer it was outside. Upon returning to the room, I found the temp to be 63°F (17°C). 

By the time I left for the day, it was 9°1F (33°C) outside. Inside, it hadn't reached 70°F (21°C). 

I've complained in the past at how uninsulated the classrooms are. Turns out, I was wrong. The rooms can hold the temp pretty well. It's the mass of student bodies that heats things up.

Fix It?

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. 😉

What if it turned out you were doing "it" wrong all along? (I'm not going to specify what "it" is. Let your imagination go wild.)

Entrelac Scarf Progress, Part 6

I did not make a whole lot of progress with the entrelac scarf last week. I finished about another row of rectangles: 

It was just that kind of week.

As for the videos I tried to upload last week, no go. But, I did manage to post it to Instagram: 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Liz A. (@zizirho)

This may or may not work for you. As for viewing the videos at my Etsy shop, the video thing is being rolled out slowly, so it's not available for everyone to see. 

I do intend to spend some more time on this, making videos and figuring out how to upload them so I can use them on the blog. I would have done some of it last week, but I was a bit busy at the day job, so that took priority. 

This week we have off, however, as it is Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. Once I figure out how to make green bean casserole (my contribution to our non-traditional Thanksgiving meal at home with the roommates), my week is wide open.

Bird Watching

Back in the spring, I mentioned that I've started regularly walking. Sometimes, those walks take me to local parks. 

There have been some interesting birds about. Alas, I only had my cell phone with me, so I didn't get great pictures. 

Two weeks ago I was at a local wetlands. (It's off of Pacific Coast Highway. On the other side of the road is the beach and the actual ocean.) The winds were gusting, but I managed to capture a couple interesting sights. 

I have no idea what kind of bird that is. Nor do I know what kind of bird this other one is. . .

But there were a few of them there. . . 

Then a few days later, I was walking in a park a bit closer to home when I walked past this bird. . .

I did not attempt to photograph the flying birds, though. There were many in the area, especially at the wetlands, but I did not think my cell phone camera was up to the task. I saw quite a few people with their fancy cameras with their long lenses. I'm sure they got some great shots. 

Are you still getting out for walks? (Or has it gotten too cold?) 

Key Issues

Before the school year began, we subs were informed that for our assignments we'd be given "a socially distanced work location on site". Translation: we'd be working out of the teachers' classrooms. 

When I went to check in last week, half the staff was missing from the front office. (Two of the four were gone.) Why? Because their children had been exposed to the virus at their daycare (via the district), so they were isolating. One of them was the person I check in with. 

So, I got to check in with the sub for the sub desk. 

And everything was in disarray because the power had been knocked out (due to high winds). 

The sub for the sub desk went in search of keys for me. Usually when we check in, we get a key to the classroom and a key to the restroom. The adult restrooms remain locked. The students have a tendency to trash theirs. 

For reasons (which I know, but are way too complicated for the length of this post), the "sub keys" are configured so that each classroom key is already attached to a restroom key. However, the sub for the sub desk could only find me a key to the classroom. 

The way the campus is configured, not having a restroom key was going to be a problem for me. But not to worry, she wasn't considering not giving me a restroom key. 

So, I suggested she give me the key to another classroom. It wasn't like another sub would need it, and I was just going to use the restroom key on that chain, anyway.

Solution found, and I was on my way. 

As happens, later that day I needed to use the restroom. So, I pulled out the proper key. Fit it into the lock. But, nothing. 

I double checked the key. It was the right key. I played with things a bit.

Then I realized the problem. The restroom was unlocked. 

I mean, it's not like there are kiddos on campus to mess with the restrooms now.

So, all that, and I didn't need the key at all. Sigh.

(To be fair, the prior day, that restroom had been locked. And all the other staff bathrooms have been consistently locked. So, this was a new development.)