New Infinity Scarf

Last week I mentioned my newest knit project. That I had just ripped out. I went down one needle size, cast on again, and I've made a little progress...

It's only about an inch in length (well, width), but that's over 324 stitches in a round. I'm happy with that. For now.

I'm looking ahead to the next infinity scarf. I had one stitch pattern I thought would work, but alas, I don't like how it works up. Maybe I'll have to crochet it...

I also found a couple patterns that I really like. There's this beanie made with short rows. I love how that looks. And then there's this crocheted mini flip-flop keychain. I'm definitely going to make one (or more) of those. (Due to copyright concerns, I'm only sharing links. Please do take a look. The pictures will tell you why I need to make these.)

Of course, there may be more jellyfish in my future...

The Pinata Project

Eighth grade math. It's the end of the year, so they were working on a final project. They were making pinatas.

It's a volume exercise. They were to use at least three different shapes, put them together in such a way as to suggest some sort of critter, and then calculate how much volume (for candy) was in the thing.

As you can imagine, they made quite a bit of a mess. This was the last day they could work on the project (it was due Monday), so mostly they had the main body complete, and most were doing some detail work.

(That may be a bit simplistic. We are talking about eighth graders. Some of them had barely started the project.)

The teacher had left all sorts of materials for the kiddos to use. (I imagine many of them were paid for out of her own pocket, such is the state of school funding these days.) They had rulers and scissors. There was construction paper and tissue paper. They had glue sticks and markers. And there were two hot glue guns the students could use.

I bet you can see what's coming...

"Ouch! That glue is hot."

Well, yeah. When you plug the hot glue gun into the wall, melt the glue, and then touch that melted glue, I'd imagine it's hot.

I didn't say this, however. I feigned concern.

"Are you okay?"

I offered to let the student go to the health office. I'm not a monster. I even suggested using the restroom and running cold water over any burns. But the girl didn't get burned. She had just not been as careful as she could have been.

Then it happened again. And again. Throughout the day, various students yelped in pain at the hot glue. (The glue guns weren't thrust upon them. They had to choose them and then use them. I imagine the teacher spent some time going over the proper use of them on a previous work day.)

I found this quite entertaining. Does that make me a terrible person?

Spelling it Out

The class was intro to health careers. I have discussed the specifics of this class before. It's the end of the year, and they were working on an end-of-the-year calender project.

Three girls approached me. They asked to go to the library to print out items for their project.

I grabbed a pass, filled out the bits I knew (date, room number, where they were going, period, time), signed my name at the bottom, and then I asked for their names.

The first girl said her name. Then, without missing a beat, she began spelling it. The second girl did exactly the same. As did the third.

I appreciated the consideration. All three had the kind of names I highlight on my sidebar under "Student Name of the Week". (One of their names may--or may not--be there right now.)

"Used to having to spell your names out?" I asked.

I recognize the habit. It is my own. Not my first name. I figure most people can handle that. But my last name is one that most people have never heard before. I often say it and then spell it out (when in a situation in which someone is writing it down).

I wonder at parents who give their children such "interesting" names. Don't they know the lifetime of hassle these names bring?

Ah well. I guess they get used to it at some point. Either that, or when they're old enough they change it to something easier to spell.

A Likely Story

Eighth grade English. At this time of year they have their Anne Frank unit which includes studying the Holocaust.

I try to avoid these classes at this time of year for this very reason. I do consider the Holocaust to be a very important topic, and I'm glad that it's part of the curriculum. However, I have a very low threshold for other people's pain. Being exposed to the horrors makes me physically ill. Usually it's just a migraine, but that migraine will be with me all day. 

This is why I will never again watch another Holocaust movie (if I can help it). I don't read the books. Whenever the topic comes up, I exit the situation. If you've ever wondered why trigger warnings exist, this is why. 

I may try to avoid, but I can't always do it. This day was one of those situations. Luckily, I was able to avoid the worst of it and I came out of this day unscathed.

For their final project they're researching one topic related to the Holocaust (they got to choose from a list), and the following week (as you're reading this) they'll be doing a two minute presentation.

They got to use the computers (you can see them on the desks in the picture). So, my main job was to police computer use. (Fortnite is the game of choice at the moment.) Surprisingly, I had very few issues with the kiddos doing things they weren't supposed to be doing. Most were diligently researching their assigned topic.

Gavin asked to use the restroom. This is not an unusual occurrence, nor is my permission. While he was gone, however, Connor, the boy seated behind him, got out of his desk and sat at Gavin's. Then he started doing something with the keyboard...

Um, no.

I made my way over there very quickly. What was Conner doing on Gavin's computer?

Conner claimed innocence. "I was just making sure his name was on it."

Sure he was.

The Google document appeared unmolested. I shooed Conner back to his seat.

When Gavin returned, I waited. Was something amiss with his document? No, it appeared that he didn't notice anything wrong.

Whew. That means I caught Conner in time.

But, still. What was Conner doing? What did he hope to accomplish? It's not like they had the same topic (the teacher had specified that each student had a different topic), so there was nothing to copy. The only thing he could have been doing was sabotage.

I guess it'll remain a mystery to me. Whatever it was, I hope I did catch him in time.

Less of Us

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. 😉

Last week I saw a thread on Twitter concerning a report that "...America is no longer making enough babies to keep pace with deaths." ("Millennials say no to kids, population 'replacement level' turns negative", Washington Examiner, November 15, 2017) Which is to say, if things keep going at this rate, the population is going to decline.

I know I've hit this topic before, so I'll keep this simple... 

What if the world's population declines (rather than expands)? What will that mean for us?

Four More Jellyfish

Last week I promised finished jellyfish. This week, I have finished jellyfish...

I did, in fact, have them finished by last Monday.

That's when I took these pictures. I even used this one to replace my header photo on a couple of my social media pages...

They were mailed on Thursday, and according to the online tracker, they arrived on Saturday. Hopefully the nephews are enjoying them.

Now, it's back to infinity scarves. I started one on Tuesday. It took me over an hour to cast on. I worked on it for the next couple days. On Saturday night, I ripped it all out.

The stitches were too loose. I decided to go with a smaller needle. And once I'd pulled it off the needles, I saw that it was waaaay too big. So, good call, that. (No one needs an infinity scarf that's 70 inches around.)

I'll post pictures when I have some progress to report.

Senior Ditch Day

It was Friday, day two of a two-day assignment. The teacher had been out all week. (Another sub got Monday through Wednesday. I only covered Thursday and Friday.)

There were three periods of AP geography, one period of AP psychology, and one period of AP government. (If you aren't familiar with the terminology, here's a link to what an AP class is.)

The fact that the whole schedule is AP is significant. See, the AP tests were from May 7-18. The students work hard to prepare for that test. Once they've taken the test, they're done for the year.

Yup, a whole day of students who were done for the year.

But I wasn't stressing. The teacher had left movies for them to watch.

Second period was the government class. Seniors.

Passing period. One student walked in.

"I'll be the only student here today. It's senior ditch day."

I laughed. I told the boy that there would be other students, but now my expectations for attendance went way down.

In case you're not familiar, senior ditch day is an unofficial tradition where the senior class decides to not attend school one day. It's usually in the spring, near to the end of the year. And it's usually a surprise as they don't inform administration. (The administration tries to discourage it.)

I rarely hit senior ditch day. The one day I did (years ago now) where I had senior classes, about half the students attended. If the teachers know about it, they're not going to miss that day. It's like a mini vacation for them.

In the end, I was right. Shortly after the boy, three other students arrived. That's four total students in a class that has 37 enrolled.

Alas, that was my only senior class of the day. The psychology class had only four seniors total (the rest were juniors), and the geography classes were all freshmen.