hello hello ©: June 2006

Thursday, June 29, 2006

My Summer is Super, Thanks for asking

Ok, so I am now done with my first week of summer teaching. And what a week it has been. Today was parent visitation day, and for the amount of money they have invested in their children, of course they want to see what goes on.

I, being the slightly spacey lady we all know I am, was not privy to this information. So I sit down with my first class, joined by a certain mother, who immediately pulls up a chair and stairs blankly at me for some time. After clearing that matter up, I do my best to engage the class in a series of meaningful activities, including the Cricket song... Where I get up like an idiot and shake around the room. So that went well...

Class two, my year book class. These kids have it down. I send them off with missions to take pictures around the school, they come back, import their photos, and begin writing articles. Super

My last class. These kids have we around their finger... This is my largest class, kindergarten, and three of them don't speak English, or so they pretend. Yeah, I have a hard time giving demos on technology when a 5th of my class is completely ignoring me and hitting anyone within range. So yeah, that has been a challenge. I really need to lay down some more boundaries for the group so we can make more progress...

So tomorrow I will be chaparoning a field trip and so on...

But now, I must pass out from exhaustion...

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Demolition Party

These are a few of the highlights from last Wednesday's events, which took place near campus, in a house that what scheduled for demolition over the summer. At first glance it was easy to see why this building had to go, but sad at the same time that it had fallen into such disarray and been neglected for so long. The cast and crew was not my usual bunch, and it was interesting to mingle with a new and unusual group... There were the usual festivities, a band, and the more common fire dancers, who have now become a staple in my extracurricular entertainment routine. It seems that the firedancers are as essential to any get together as the food and the people, and I am always left in sheer amazement at their accomplishments, and the absence of law enforcement. I am one of those kind of people who stare at the door waiting for the cast and crew of COPS when ever someone turns their stereo up, so for me to participate in an event where there are fire twirling locals dancing ablaze it is hard for me to relax. At any rate I am getting used to the show and always have a hose ready for the worst...

So here are a few shots of the flames and the show that ensued at 14th and Hilyard on a Wednesday night...

Friday, June 23, 2006

This is Just Sad....

You know what... I actually hurt myself playing Frisbee Golf, you heard me... The one with the little plastic discs that fly through the air... I mean, it doesn't get much more pathetic than that... I used to give my sister a hard time after she ended up in the emergency room from a game of badmitten... (no, that's still good, never letting that go) but now I have my own ridiculous injury story...

Anyways, the 5 of us are showing off our new skills, I am consistently miles off in the wrong direction with every new throw... Other than the apparent lack of skill from the group as a whole, excluding Diana, who is a Frisbee master, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary... So how is it, that I could possibly hurt myself?? You throw the thing and go pick it up, doesn't sound to high impact to me...
So we are almost off the course, I throw the thing... It disappears, and then I can't feel my leg...
I am limping like a wounded dog in a Western film, waving my arm, dragging my leg, and whispering..."Just go on without me, I'll be fine"
All four of them were on the ground crying by the time we got to the next hole... Apparently, this was not a common occurrence.

Now whenever Autumn invites me outside, I say I can't cause I don't want my old golf injury to flare up...

Sad...

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Dorina Lake

So after talking with some friends about great places in the outdoors to explore, Autumn and I decide to check out Dorina Lake... So we get on the Freeway, drive for an hour, and become hopelessly lost, wandering the random streets with only the support of our local Park managers... What follows are the adventures, captured in motion of our less than thrilling response to the wonders of the area... Everywhere we went looked like a post card out of Deliverance and we were sure to lock our doors upon each venture... Not daring to stray far from the car.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

This Lady Screwed Up Bad

So I go into the Bla Bla bank in Florence... I walk up to the counter and say I would like to make a withdrawal of $500. I give her my bank card and ID and patiently wait. She returns moments later with the same face I have seen so many times before, even in reference to a .99 cent sandwich from Subway. The mouse woman slowly looks up from the floor and says, "You've been declined". It seems like a phrase that she must rehearse in front of a mirror for added effect.
She asks if she should run it again, and perhaps for a smaller amount... I agree, out of sheer shock.
For the first time ever, the money is there and I can't understand what the hold up is.

So again, the solemn creature returns to the counter, again saying that I am a worthless human being and that she has the receipt to prove it.. At this, I kindly take my cards and leave... Knowing that I had checked my balance that morning and that there was more than enough to cover me.... So I sit in my car, fumbling over the 10 digits to contact my bank... 15 minutes of irritating elevator music, and just when I was about to hang up, a woman from Georgia comes on line... The usual verification shpeel and we are ready to move on....

I explain the situation, and ask what my balance is... She says, you have a hundred dollars... (deep breath, I started my morning with $1,200.... and made no transactions... So either the underwear gnomes have taken up a new profession, or else this lady better start making sense fast. Grrrr.) So she says that I had made $750 worth of withdrawals that had just gone through...
This woman should have been working at the snack bar... I tell her that those transactions were never completed and she is completely mystified... She says, "I see a withdrawal of $20" , I say, "mam, that was a deposit..." "Oh... It was?" (And I am thinking, how hard up for employees are these people??? A simple screening test too hard to do?) "Ok, and then you took out $250"
"No, I didn't get any money, they didn't go through!".... "Well you better go tell the lady you want your $250 back"

"It was $750 lady, not $250, the lady charged me for $750!!!"

At this point, I am done with this bank, they have screwed me for so much over the years I can't even begin... But damn, lady, know the difference between deposits and withdrawals and nail a calculator to your desk if you have to, but keep up with simple math...

So I finally got some of the charges reversed and got my money, but as of now the balance is way off what it should be...
Grrr... We will see if they get it right or if I have to go make a scene... And I will... I have no shame and no qualms about raising hell if you steal my money... I am more than happy to let gravity and stupidity steal it, but no frivolous transaction fees without warrant...
So done...

Is This a Bad Sign

I saw a police officer bust a lemonade stand... The kids had their illegal operations stationed on the corner of 24th and Friendly. The cop saw the kids, waving their signs and drinks, under their rainbow umbrella and immediately saw through the front. These kids, all of 7-8 must have been operating some illegal drug ring... You would have thought it, at seeing how fast the officer turned his bike around and went after them. I guess the deadlines for quotas are coming up fast, and no one, not even the little ones, will be left out...

In other news, I have finally finished taking down my lab, putting everything thing neatly in it's place... (for those of you who know me, it will come as no shock that I swept everything off my desk, into a box, that will never see the light of day again.) This is my version of cleaning, and it suits me just fine. I used to try, put things into alphabetical order, label things, fold... But then I realized organized clutter, consisting of piles of documents in chronological order was just as effective. Seeing as I would never be able to find anything ever again anyway, why waste the time of organizing it. Point and case: the last time I had a cleaning party at my house, face masks were not optional...

anyways, I begin my Super Summer camp this week, orientation tomorrow, and the classes begin on Monday. I am very excited for the chance to do some hands on activities with the kids. We are really going to go all out... I have some equipment that would rival most CSI teams. We will be using digital microscopes, laptops, cameras and so much more. I hope everything goes well... The first few days will help me gauge the course of the term for my kids... Though there will never be a shortage of activities... Oh no... I only hope we have enough time to get everything done... We will see what we will see....

Laters
KC