Report cards went home today, and surprisingly, kids seemed pretty happy about them. Not that they were great report cards ~ my students this year just don't seem to realize what they don't know, and don't seem to care. And nothing I say or do or show them seems to change their minds. Oh, well.
I was too busy last week to get any knitting done, although I have started a small, summer sweater using Plymouth Yarns Bella. Got it at DiscountedYarns, which I learned about on Betsy's blog (You Can't Read My Mind...). I like the yarn, and the pattern (rather mindless ribbing, which is soothing), so hopefully I can get back to working on it. I've only got about the first 5 inches of the front (or back) done so far, but it's going to be either sleeveless or very short sleeved, with minimal finishing, so it should go quickly.
Of course, now that I'm knitting a summer sweater, it's gotten cold and rainy. Not encouraging. But this is SoCal, so it should be warmer soon. And too warm, just after that.
My students and I are travelling to DC/Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown in just one month. We spend a week there, exploring America's past, and all the monuments and buildings in DC. It's a wonderful trip, and I wish all my students, and all my teaching partner's students, could go. But it's also an expensive trip ~ $1,475 this year ~ so I do understand that not every student can go. And often parents who can afford to let their child go, won't let them go because it's too "scary" to do so. For most kids, it's their first plane trip, first hotel stay, first overnight away from parents. And it's a full week away. They do get homesick (although most of them don't notice that til they call home ~ then it's 'lump in the throat' time!) But the trip enriches the kids understanding of our history so much, I want them all to go. My partner and I fundraise constantly, to help kids raise the money to go. We've already started the fundraising for next year's trip ~ several kids have raised a couple of hundred dollars already, with more fundraisers planned before summer. Never a dull moment, at my school!
Between report cards, a landlord error that nearly got *me* evicted, the tragic news out of VA, and the ongoing fight with the IRS, this hasn't been a good month for me. But, it's almost over (yay!) and I am just positive that May will be much better. Maybe, at long last, some pictures of actual knitting!
Friday, April 20, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut died.
I miss him, already. Oh, I know he wasn't actively writing novels any more. I know he wasn't making public appearances lately. But, still, I miss him. His wit, his insight, his black humor. He's gone, and the world is a little less for its loss.
I know that he was the rage in college dorms in the late 60s and early 70s, but I was too young for college then, so I first encountered Vonnegut in junior high. I don't even remember which of his novels was the first one I read. I read them all. Repeatedly. I'll probably read them all, again. Not today, though. It would be too hard.
The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. Kilgore Trout. Billy Pilgrim. Bokonism (sp). Breakfast of Champions. There was a piece he did, nonfiction, on the genocide of the Ibo tribe, in Nigeria, in the 70s. Heartbreaking and funny. Left me gasping in pain over the evil that people do, the evil that indifference lets thrive. Gave me a new definition for "sorry", one that I've taken to heart and used ever sense.
I don't get starstruck. Actors and actresses don't move me, generally speaking. A performance might, but I don't really care much about the person performing. Writers, though, and singers, seem to resonate within me. Maybe it's because they, unlike actors, give themselves in their work. Vonnegut's books are windows into his past and present. You knew him in reading his books. He made himself vulnerable to share his stories with the world. And now he's gone. A part of me was hoping, until the news came, that we might all get to share another of his stories, infused with his insight into the war and the political mess we're in today. I would have enjoyed reading his story about that.
I miss him, already. Oh, I know he wasn't actively writing novels any more. I know he wasn't making public appearances lately. But, still, I miss him. His wit, his insight, his black humor. He's gone, and the world is a little less for its loss.
I know that he was the rage in college dorms in the late 60s and early 70s, but I was too young for college then, so I first encountered Vonnegut in junior high. I don't even remember which of his novels was the first one I read. I read them all. Repeatedly. I'll probably read them all, again. Not today, though. It would be too hard.
The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. Kilgore Trout. Billy Pilgrim. Bokonism (sp). Breakfast of Champions. There was a piece he did, nonfiction, on the genocide of the Ibo tribe, in Nigeria, in the 70s. Heartbreaking and funny. Left me gasping in pain over the evil that people do, the evil that indifference lets thrive. Gave me a new definition for "sorry", one that I've taken to heart and used ever sense.
I don't get starstruck. Actors and actresses don't move me, generally speaking. A performance might, but I don't really care much about the person performing. Writers, though, and singers, seem to resonate within me. Maybe it's because they, unlike actors, give themselves in their work. Vonnegut's books are windows into his past and present. You knew him in reading his books. He made himself vulnerable to share his stories with the world. And now he's gone. A part of me was hoping, until the news came, that we might all get to share another of his stories, infused with his insight into the war and the political mess we're in today. I would have enjoyed reading his story about that.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Life, Computers, and Insanity
My life has been much harder than it has to be, lately. Blogger "disappeared" me for a month, my boss asked for 6 impossible things in 2 days, the IRS has decided that I owe them $1,200+ in back taxes (I'm a school teacher, dammit. How can I owe them so much for as little as I earn??), my computer's power supply died (never had that happen before!), and once it was replaced, we (computer tech and I) discovered that it had screwed up my Window's installation, as well. Seems everything was still there, but from Turn On to Open Program could take ~ well, I don't know, exactly, because I gave up after 45 minutes. No problem, I thought to myself. I have that big, wonderful 160 gig hard drive, just waiting to be installed (to replace the old C drive that just died, back in October (no reason, no saving it, just dead, and most of my documents, pics, etc with it). So, I install it. Install a new copy of XP. Slave my old D drive to it. Works great, I say to myself. Faster than ever, even.
One problem. Can't even look at my old D drive. Says it's blank. (It isn't. It has my life on it, the one I painstakingly rebuilt after my C drive died.) Okay, I say. I saved a bunch of stuff on CDs, so I'll just copy that to the new drive. Except that Windows goes nuts when I try to read the CD. Doesn't reject it. Just goes into NeverNeverLand. Welcome to reboot city. I check to see that I really did install the CD burner program that created the CDs. It's there. It works. I can burn CDs. I just can't read the CD with my edited life on it. (There is one miracle here, though. I burned a CD with all my report cards on it, and it will read that one. Hallelujah! Oh, wait. My gradebook is on the now defunct D drive. Sigh)
I'm going to try a couple of other techy things with my old drive, to see if I can't salvage some of it. If/when that fails, I guess I'll be wandering off to CompUSA, where they say they can save info on any harddisk(for $$$, no doubt). We'll see. Wish me luck?
One problem. Can't even look at my old D drive. Says it's blank. (It isn't. It has my life on it, the one I painstakingly rebuilt after my C drive died.) Okay, I say. I saved a bunch of stuff on CDs, so I'll just copy that to the new drive. Except that Windows goes nuts when I try to read the CD. Doesn't reject it. Just goes into NeverNeverLand. Welcome to reboot city. I check to see that I really did install the CD burner program that created the CDs. It's there. It works. I can burn CDs. I just can't read the CD with my edited life on it. (There is one miracle here, though. I burned a CD with all my report cards on it, and it will read that one. Hallelujah! Oh, wait. My gradebook is on the now defunct D drive. Sigh)
I'm going to try a couple of other techy things with my old drive, to see if I can't salvage some of it. If/when that fails, I guess I'll be wandering off to CompUSA, where they say they can save info on any harddisk(for $$$, no doubt). We'll see. Wish me luck?
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