The Sunshine Award

JEFritz at Still Writing... gave me a little award...

...a week ago. It's been one of those weeks. Thanks. I'm so honored.

Well, anyway, I'm supposed to:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them. 
• Write a post about it. 
• Answer the questions below. 
• Pass it on to 10 bloggers who you think really deserve it and let them know.

Points one and two done. Point three:

1. Favorite color: Orange and purple. Yes, two. I like to wear orange. A lot of orange. It's my signature color. So, most people would be surprised to find that my living room is painted purple. 
2. Favorite animal: Depends on the situation. I'm partial to felines (I'm a Leo. It's practically a requirement.) But I am kind of partial to this bear.
3. Favorite number: Just one? I'm kind of obsessed with 11. Then I'm partial to 13 (Friday the 13th is such a good day for me). And, well, 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything.
4. Favorite non-alcoholic drink: A chocolate shake.  
5. Facebook or Twitter: Depends on the situation. I can take either. 
6. My passion: Passion? I don't think I have one of those. I'd best go out and find one...  
7. Getting or giving presents: Giving. I'm a knitter. It's all about the making of it and anticipating how well my hand knit will go over. Although, I don't knit for everyone. It has to be someone who appreciates getting a hand knit item. (Some people don't like knits, and I get that.)
8. Favorite pattern: What kind of pattern? At the moment, I'm knitting everything using the Saxon Braid (see image below).
9. Favorite day of the week: Tuesday.
10. Favorite flower: I've never really been a flower person, so I'll say rose and be done with it.

Saxon Braid on an eReader Cozy

As for point four, I'm going to have to get back to you. I've been in a more keeping up with mode lately, so sometime in the next week or so I'll come up with a list and edit it here.  

I hope you're all having a lovely Saturday.  

A Sci Fi World

I watch a lot of TV. There's something I notice. It's so prevalent that I think we've become inured to its presence. We all have one, and now every show uses them incessantly.

The cell phone.

With the advent of smart phones and tablets, the stuff that characters on contemporary procedurals do rivals some of the gee-whiz geekery on sci fi shows of a different era. What would they make of it all?

Well, since it wasn't that long ago, we can call them up on their cell phones, text them, tweet them, or just post the question on Facebook.

Have you ever thought that we're living in a science fiction world? The things we can do now. The technology that we have access to. Access and information that at one time would have been hard to find is now at our fingertips.

I like to sit back and marvel at what's now possible. Am I the only one?

Wasting Time on the Internet

Have you heard of StumbleUpon? I learned of it a while back, but lately I find I spend a lot of time there.

Basically, you set up a list of what you like. Then the site randomly picks sites in that topic for you. Don't like the site? Click the "stumble" button, and a new site pops up. (I guess you can follow various people, too, but I haven't figured that part out yet.)

I use StumbleUpon a lot more now that I've signed up for Pinterest.

Pinterest (in case you haven't heard) is a place to "pin" images you find on the Internet. There have been a lot of concerns over how the site uses these images, but they are updating their Terms of Service, so maybe that'll allay any fears. I'm not sure if Pinterest is a good idea or not, but I'll continue to play with it until I know there's a reason not to.

During one of my StumbleUpon sessions (looking for good images/links), I found a site called Wanelo. It's like Pinterest except it's specifically for items you can buy. (You can post product images on Pinterest, but you're not necessarily looking to shop when looking at those images.) Also like Pinterest, you can see the stream of recently uploaded images. That's how I happened upon some cool iPhone cases.

The Internet is such a time suck.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I've started adding websites to StumbleUpon for others to find. If you'd like, I'll add yours--your blog, your author site, or anything else you might want to promote. (I can even add stuff to Pinterest or Wanelo.) I just need to know what site and how you'd like me to classify it.

Also, I'd like to follow people who I (virtually) know on any of these sites.

Got a site you want me to add? Ever heard of Wanelo? Or StumbleUpon? Or Pinterest?

A Missing Pencil

Sean brought up his textbook to show me a picture where the man looked like Bruce Willis. I laughed. Sean went back to his seat. 

Then Sean retraced his steps. He patted down his pockets. He looked under a couple desks. He accused another boy of having stolen his pencil. 

Me (without emotion): Did you steal his pencil? 

Student (to me): No. (To Sean): Racist. 

(Note: both boys were white.) 

Sean was starting to get frantic. I knew the pencil had to be somewhere. I asked if it had fallen into his backpack. Sean went to check. He scoured his desk, looked through the textbook and a notebook, and looked under his desk. Nothing.

Someone suggested that it was on the wall. So, Sean turned towards the wall and felt to see if someone had hidden it behind a paper. 

That's when I saw it. When Sean's back was turned, two girls gave each other a knowing smile. One passed something to the other, and both feigned innocence when Sean turned back around. 

I watched and waited. 

When Sean was again distracted, the pencil was passed farther along the back of the class. Sean caught on that the girls had something to do with the pencil's disappearance, but now the girls no longer had the pencil. Sean turned my way. 

I pointed towards where the pencil had been headed. 

The girl who had it at that point threw it across the room. Sean retrieved it, and then he went back to work. 

I suppose I should have been more upset. I would have been, but the class was doing the assignment. They even finished it. It was one of those mellow days where the students weren't that much trouble--at least when they weren't pranking each other. 

Confusing the Cat

The continuation high school stars a half hour later than the other high schools in the district.

This morning I got called at the usual time. I was told to go to the continuation high school, but there was a caveat. There were a lot of teachers out today (really? on a Friday? sorry for the sarcasm...), and the sub caller wasn't sure if she was going to be able to cover them all, so if she couldn't, she was going to have me go somewhere else. Um, okay...

It was way too early for me to get my head around this. Normally, I'd remain in bed for another half hour, but if I got switched, I'd end up being late. So, I got up and got about halfway ready, and then I sat down and checked my email, blogs, Twitter, et cetera. Waiting and wondering.

That's when I heard the cat meowing outside my door.

She greets me every morning when I leave my room. I assume she hears me get up as she doesn't wake me on the mornings I don't get called (most of the time). She likes to dart in front of me as we descend the stairs. One of these days she's going to end up with a glass of water splashed all over her, but that's another story...

The sub caller did call me back, but only to tell me that she thought she had it all covered. I was glad she called, though. I needed to know the name of the teacher I was to cover.

It was a crazy morning for her. I was more curious than concerned.

So, I had another twenty minutes to kill before I had to move. The cat continued to complain. It was too much trouble to get up and open the door.

The Herding Instinct

The continuation high school held their annual career fair today. Over the course of the morning, the students got a chance to hear presentations by various recruiters. Others set up booths where the students could learn more about options for after high school.

The fair itself was pretty much over with a half hour left in the school day. The students were obligated to stay, but it was considered their lunch.

In previous years, the students would stand around complaining about having to wait until the end of the school day. Today, however, the students had something to entertain them. One of the booths was from a local DJ school, and the DJ was playing music in the stage area outside.

A crowd gathered. Various students got up on the stage and busted out their best dance moves. The office staff got out cameras and recorded video of the proceedings. (I so wish they'd post it on YouTube. I think that it will end up on the end-of-year DVD that goes along with the yearbook.)

It was nice to not have the students complaining about having to wait around. They were having a good time.

Then two students headed for the gate. They were followed by a dozen more. And suddenly, the entire stage area emptied as the whole student body went for the gate.

I turned around and checked the clock. They still had three minutes left. That was time for another song!

They all stood there, in front of the locked gate, and waited. As soon as the final bell rang, the gate was opened, and the school grounds emptied as fast as they usually do.

I couldn't stop laughing. Who had decided that it was time to leave? And then they stood there. Waiting. Hilarious.

It's the little things that amuse me.

Gone Missing

Last Friday, I covered a 10th grade world history class. They were to watch the last half hour of a movie.

The teacher clipped an extra note to the lesson plan. Three students did not have permission slips from their parents, so they were not allowed to watch the movie with the rest of the class. They were to be sent to a neighboring class. Then I was to retrieve them once the movie finished.

Rather than deal with the one student who had to leave while leaving the 30+ who didn't with nothing to do, I started the movie each period, and then I went to make sure the student who needed to leave did. (The first scene seen was innocuous, and they'd only see a couple seconds of it, if that, while I got them situated.)

The student in the second group made sure to alert me right away that she needed to go. We found her alternative assignment, and she was gone within a minute or so. The student in the third group was even more vocal. I took roll after the students left, and another student in the third group called me over to make sure I didn't mark that student absent. (I wasn't going to.)

It was completely different with the first group.

I started the movie, and as I was doing so, several students asked George why he was still there. Even though my back was turned (as I made sure the DVD started and the sound was at a reasonable level), I could hear George shushing the class.

Once everything was going, I went over to George. (Accurate seating charts are so wonderful.) George lied and tried to claim that the actual George sat one seat over. I reminded George that he had to leave. After asking how I knew, he acquiesced and left. (However, he did not mention the alternative assignment, and as I had not had the cooperative girls yet, I did not know he had one.)

After the end of the movie, I sent a student to retrieve the alternative assignment students. George was not in the room that he was supposed to be in.

(The third girl was not, either, but she did return at the end of the period with her assignment. She told me she was in a room across the way.)

Somehow, this did not surprise me. I wonder what he got up to for that period.

I suppose I should be more concerned. But this teacher is one of the stricter ones. I'm sure George now regrets whatever it was he was doing.