details

It has been a whirlwind of a weekend, which started off with...

- Took car to dealership, to get it checked for the long drive up and down. Made an appointment, yadda yadda, they took one look at my car and sent me away. REJECTED!! But yeah, it drives fine. :)
- Yearbook was distributed on Friday....FRIDAY!! I'm tired from all the behind-the-scenes work and heavy lifting, but the actual distribution of the book was as calm as ever. They look good this year; the clarity of all the printing went up and my kids immediately noticed it.
- Drove up with An, picked up Jerylin from the airport, arrived at Linh's, and got to work :)
- By work I mean, after Linh fed us, that Jerylin and I were assigned to make sushi rolls. And not just sushi rolls, hana rolls. We took a picture of it with Bryan's camera, so we have to wait for those to arrive first, but yeah. The idea is, with ingredients, we construction a rice roll that has a cross-section image of a flower. Think of it as...instead of having the middle stuff of a California roll, that there was an image of a flower instead. Yeah...we read the directions for a LONG time, trying to figure out what they meant. Made a midnight run to Albertson's, which turned into Lucky's (WHEN did that happen?!), to get eggs, pizza dough, and cucumbers. We managed to make the rice (white, yellow, and pink), and rolled them the next morning.
- At around 6:30 am, the day of the wedding, I realized that I had left my dress in LA. Linh immediately understood why; mental overload from the yearbook distribution. After constructing the pizza and rolling one semi-successful roll (not enough rice on top of the flower o_O), I made the mad rush to Target (washing my car via drive-through and filling up on gas along the way), bought a dress that matched my shoes, luckily grabbed the last can of anti-cling spray for Linh, and continued with the day.
- Wedding, Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen became Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen. :)

Continue reading "Linh and Son's Wedding" »

Posted by jackie at 06:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...motivation.

I'll write more when a little more of the above comes to me.

Posted by jackie at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I bought the transcriptions of Oscar Peterson's music. I tried it out. It doesn't match, which I get. It makes sense. It's jazz, so musicians change it and create variations as they want. It's one of the allure of jazz performances; it's never the same performance twice.

But if you READ the transcriptions, you'd understand why I'd like to HEAR how it actually sounds. A good chunk of it is one measure a line. ONE MEASURE TAKING UP THE WIDTH OF THE PAGE!

Makes me want to buy a keyboard, to practice.

Continue reading "Jazz notes only" »

Posted by jackie at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

And using the power of the extended entry...

Edited the Sunday Morning
Mental note: don't write long entries when very tired and/or after reading really bad writing...

Continue reading "Feeling like a semi-grown-up" »

Posted by jackie at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every day, I something I hate in order to do something I love.

...So YEAH!! I'm gonna grade those papers...

New password to ponderings:
username: description of Bill's nose
password: nation the username was a leader of

Posted by jackie at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A lot, and I mean A LOT, of my students have been asking to go to the nurse, because their stomachs hurt. Wash your hands before eating anything, because something's going around.

Posted by jackie at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Feed the starving, and fight the fight. And when I grow increasingly frustrated, I need to know when to let go...

but RAWR!!!!!!! I'm more than just frustrated right now! I need to have this printed and posted on my wall, for my students and myself.

Continue reading "know thyself" »

Posted by jackie at 06:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...because searching on the web for up-to-the-minute emergency information doesn't really work.

I'm in a pretty safe area (within two blocks of San Marino), but helicopters have been circling the area for nearly an hour. It's loud. I want to know why. Last time something like this happened, there was a domestic dispute gone wrong, with a man holding his woman hostage at gunpoint. Or so I've heard.

Damn, they're coming back around, closer. It's going to be a rather loud night.

Posted by jackie at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first of September...such an ominous date for a teacher.

No, I'm not done with my novel of a journal entry, but I have written something in ponderings, for Linh to read, if she is bored.

Username: the new class I will be teacher next year
Password: the color or name of my lip gloss (wow, that sounds very superficial -_-)

Posted by jackie at 06:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Simplify, simplify, simplify." - Thoreau

It's time to uncomplicate my life by throwing away the useless. *moves the paper shredder into my room*

Posted by jackie at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This entry is not about the Tranformers Movie, though if you think about it...hmmm...

Instead, let us have a lesson. First, the next time you are rudely awakened by what seems to be car sounds (alarm, horn), do not simply curse all of creation. Check out the car because you never know. It might just be on fire. At around 5 am this morning, a car horn went off...and wouldn't go away. One, monotone, long, continuous honk. Then people started shouting things like "Stay away! It's gonna EXPLODE!" The minivan in a neighboring driveway was very much on fire. O_____O Son, Linh and I got dressed and started packing essentials, just in case we were asked to evacuate. The police and fire department came relatively quickly, and everything was taken care of. It just really smelled of burnt rubber.

Lesson two: If your morning starts out with a burning car as your wake-up call, reconsider whether or not you should drive long distances. The car gods have spoken.

Lesson three: If you are in Los Angeles, and perhaps only Los Angeles, if no one driving in one of the lanes, there's probably a good reason why. In short, my front-left wheel was taken out by a tire+rim lying in the freeway. A good Samaritan came to my rescue, helped me by changing my tire, telling me what to do next, and being patient. Thank you, good Samaritan/Big Rig driver! Now I know how to change a tire.

Thankfully, no injuries and the damage was not severe. Since so much of my car is made of plastic, it broke apart neatly. It'll probably be a pain to replace, but it's better than having bits of metal left on the freeway. My car will be out of commission for a while. Thanks for all the phone calls and advice! Looks like I've got lots to do now.

Posted by jackie at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's Teacher Appreciation something or another. And my kids got me CAKE from a local bousie bakery :)

Posted by jackie at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I was surveying the backyard, to see what I might be able to accomplish this summer, I found out that my grandmother had cut down my pussywillow bush. Its branches lay a few feet from its base, perfectly straight and serene. My mother had brought a branch over from the old house, and when we moved, she planted it in the backyard. It was given to me...in kindergarten? First grade? I forget. It has been with me for a very long time.

And now it's dead.

Posted by jackie at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today, I made my first successful brew of coffee from a coffee maker.

....Yeah, I bought a coffee maker because my parents were supe-dupularly smart and bought my grandmother a Costco-sized container of ground coffee...which she does not exactly know what to do with. Last time, she "brewed" coffee by taking a small pot, filling it with water and a few tablespoons of coffee, boiled it to a slight mud-consistency, and strained it. Now, I can teach her how to use the machine, which is much easier, cleaner, and pretty darn fast...once you figure it out. Thus far, the list of normal, middle-class American home appliances that I've learned to operate but was not fortunate enough to have when I was growing up:

Dishwasher (via Jery, Seattle)
Clothes Dryer (via Dorms)
Microwave (Dorms and Berkeley)
Blender/Food Processor (Berkeley)
Coffee Grinder (a few months ago)
Coffee Maker ( just now)

Maybe I should learn how to use an electric can openner next...but that just seems like the lazy-man's device...like the electric toothbrush.

Posted by jackie at 06:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've restarted my blog, in another form.

Ponderings 3.0
username: name of my cat
password: how many hours, on average, I work a week

You can ask me for the information, if you know me, but only if you know me. It's a trip into my very convoluted, very tired mind.

And yes, the only reason why I'm typing this to you right now is because I've found a rather strong wireless connection from where I'm sitting. It's nice...makes me want to stay at school a little longer. o_O!!

Posted by jackie at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight, as I drove home from work, the streets were quiet. It was actually nice driving back, without the traffic. I haven't really had the time or the patience to notice the Christmas lights or decorations out.

But still, coming home at 10 pm makes me wonder, about my work and about my life. I spend so much of it at school. Today was a 14 hour day. How much more can I handle? And, perhaps more importantly, how much more should I handle? There will always be students who blame teachers for the miseducation, their traumatic moments and personal tragedies. I know my occupation makes me an easy scapegoat. And I know that I am doing my job again; I measure it by the "ooooh, that's right!" and the "what? Class is over already?"-s spoken to themselves as I walk around the room. But it still doesn't silence the fact that I should be doing better and that I should be on top of things and I should be up to par. I should.

My BTSA advisor/mentor reminded me that, despite all the things that are going wrong, I am much calmer and more collected than I was last year. That's true. I worked in a blind fury last year, moving in directions I probably could never replicate. Or ever want to repeat.

Continue reading "worth the time, worth of time" »

Posted by jackie at 12:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It has been a long time since I have one of these days. It's a lazy Sunday morning...and I haven't thought much about my work until this very moment ... damn. Well, it was nice up until this very moment. When I land in Los Angeles, there will be a pile of work for me that will keep me stressed and restless for weeks. But for now, I will sit in Jerylin's living room, while everyone else is still asleep, and write.

Murphy's law has had a wonderful time these last two days. My flight up from LA was bumpy. Three hours of bumpy. Trying to read and work during the flight made it all much worse. By the end of the first hour from Oakland to Seattle, I couldn't keep my eyes open. But I thought things would be fine once landing.

Saturday morning, when we were going to set out to see a stationary exhibition (...HEY!! stationary is AWESOME!) and a caviar tasting, my stomach decided that it would turn itself into knots. After two advil (for the headache that went along with it) and an imodium, saltines and water, and several attempts to throw up, I was instructed to go lie down. So that was how I spent the majority of my visit to Jerylin's...being sick and watching a lot of television with her, Brett and Mike. "Cinderella Man" is a pretty good movie. "Nightmare", a Korean horror flick, is...more gruesome than scary. Mythbusters is entertaining. I learned that Bill is to remain NO WHERE NEAR a frozen turkey.

But I was able to eat one meal yesterday. Tutta Bella is good :) I wanna come back for their pizza next time; it looks good.

I go back on a plane in a few hours...with dramamine! >:O Lesson learned.

Successful trips to Seattle : 2 - lucky first flight, October trip 2005
Unsuccessful trips to Seattle : 3 - family horror trip, 13 hour flight, bumpy-bumpy stomach churn

Posted by jackie at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry for the delay. Life caught up with me.

A few days ago, a box showed up in my room.

Inside it, was a bag. It had a message to Linh on it. o_O

And inside the bag...was a poofy?

Thank you for the present, Linh :D When I actually relax enough to sit down and read for pleasure, I'll read the comic.

Posted by jackie at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I need to set up ponderings again. Having a password-protected blog is nice; it lets me write what's on my mind without the worry of editing it to suit the internet.

I need to wait on that, though. I'm thinking of changing to WordPress, because the commenting system for Movabletype is...well, it's bugged. I want comments to be automatically published, from the commenters I know. But in order for that to happen, my commenters need to sign up for a service from another website...which isn't something I people to be forced to do. The junk comments that I sift through (to find the people I know) are disgusting and seemingly never-ending. It's a pain. I need to fix it.

I digress.

/rant warning

Continue reading "what's on my mind..." »

Posted by jackie at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

That is how the word is spelled.

I keep looking it up on dictionary.com, to make sure. It's time I memorized it.

Definitely
cheesy learning method - there is no "aaaaaa?" in definitely
logical learning method - definite+ly

Posted by jackie at 06:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jackie ponders a bit...

...wrote a short novel in teacher diary. Brain's busted, time to sleep. Will figure out flight later...today. 2 am is very early/late.

Posted by jackie at 02:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Time Storm woke up this morning: 12:30 am
Time Storm is writing this: 12:37 pm

Time Storm spent writing the Freshmen Final: about 5 hours (+2 hours to grade papers that went along with test)
Time Storm has spent writing Junior Final, to be given tommorrow: about 30 minutes

Highest grade for mulitple choice portion of Frosh Final: 66%
Lesson learned: First, be damn straight-forward because the students don't bother reading the options. Second, that I need to hammer, and really mean HAMMER these skills into their heads, over and over again, even if they think it's stupid.

Yearbook...won't go there. I have lots of work to do, work that I don't want to do, and in the case of yearbook, work that I'm not supposed to do but I have no one else trained enough to do it. I need to go to stupid BTSA in a few minutes. Another hoop I need to jump through. Where do I get the energy and motivation to jump?

Jery suggests for me to get a blog editor, to fix my grammar mistakes. I don't have enough brain power to proofread. I proofread all day long! T______T Time's up...time to go.

Posted by jackie at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Will write more about this on my teacher blog. This discussion question does NOT work because everyone basically agrees with the same answer. My students latch onto one idea 'cause it's easy, and easy to agree with. I spent the greater portion of yesterday feeling disturbed at how selfish my students were. At around, oh, 12:30 in the morning, from not being able to sleep, it occured to me that their response was stereotypically American. I'm going to try to rephrase the question, show them a variety of materials that would foster (ew, teacher-y educational-ish lingo) opposing views.

Lastly....I DON'T WANNA GO TO SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!! Pout pout pout...gotta leave now >_<

Posted by jackie at 07:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In two days, I will have officially "taught" for a whole month. Twice I've been stopped by campus security, who, for a few seconds, look as though they want me to show them a hall pass. Not bad. It used to be much more frequent.

Interestingly, from the BTSA program that I have been enrolled in, I received the year's cycle of a first-year teacher. There is a time of disillusionment that occurs sometime in November/December. I've never been one to fit the norm. And it's not that I feel disillusionment, as much as I wonder how much my students are getting from what I'm teaching. I'm at the point where I'm trying to figure out whether I'm divulging too much information to them or not, finding the balance between caring about students and letting them rot for their own good, and where to focus my attention, which seems to be, increasingly, on the students who give a shit. I think that's why I look forward to seeing my juniors at the end of the day. They're battling with the reality of mental poverty, while being convinced of their actual potential. I remember back to the advice that my master teachers told me. I can't help them all. The ones on the border, who have the motivation and means to succeed but need help in order to do so, those are the ones I need to work with. That sounds unfair. It's against Federal Law (NCLB). It's a horrible Catch 22...which our students will probably not have the opportunity to understand, since we don't have the funds to buy that book for them to read.

The thing that's bugging me the most at this moment is the notion of caring about students. I remember back to discussions about public and private schools. The students who had come into public schools from private schools noticed how much more the private school teachers "cared" about students. Now, I bitterly laugh at that statement. It makes public school teachers sound like uncaring bastards. But it's pretty easy to care about students who care about doing well, especially when there are only a few dozen of them to watch over each year. Put private school teachers in the same concrete fortress public school teachers work in every day and they'll end up being the same way. Especially in their first month of being in that situation.

I need to get some sleep and grade papers and write essay prompts and check out grammar books and make photocopies during the school's hours of operation, which end before my 7th period does. Jackie just needed to rant a bit about school. Today was a hard day. I take that back, it's just been a harder day than most.

Posted by jackie at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mmmm...paycheck...

(-) Grad school loan payment - check...how I loathe thee.
(-) Credit Card payment - check...come on! Improve my credit record!
(-) misc bills and charities - check
(+) Compensation for buying camera gear for yearbook - to be done

I learned how much of my paycheck goes to the Union and to taxes. The Governator had BETTER give that money he's taking out of my paycheck to give back to the schools.

I'll need to buy a small warehouse of dvds for class, which I don't mind getting. "Band of Brothers" is a good series to have :) And there's my little laptop that needs fixing, the little demon.

Posted by jackie at 07:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A student died yesterday, around the area. Not much information was announced, understandably. It was an accident, and I wonder whether it was one of the many students who were absent today. I'm hoping that most of them were away being counseled about the incident.

This is the third death announced through me, from the school, to students, since working as substitute and teacher.

Posted by jackie at 08:17 PM | Permalink

This goes along with NOT being better adjusted to life with age. I'm working on it! Will get better as I become more integrated into society. Here are some things that need to be said:

• Thanks Stephanie, for the job congrats and suggesting Wordpress. I've thought about it, especially since the crew that came up with the last free version of MT went over to Wordpress. I'll live with what's already installed for now (I'm laaaaaazy XD). If this thing crashes again, I'll install Wordpress :)
• Thank you Gary, for the birthday present :) Going towards a class set of World at War dvds now!
• Thank you, Andrea. I think the Japanese teacher and I have matching clear briefcases now.
• Hi Brett. Does Netflix work in Canada?
• Hi Archie. Thanks for offering to kick my butt. Got a 40+ hour/week job now, though I might need an occassional "teaching is MEANINGLESS!" How would you like me to reciprocate this violent means of motivation?
• Hi Linh. Maybe? OK. But probably not
• Hope you had a nice time at BACCLC, Jery, Sandy, and Henry.

I think my forehead is warm enough to heat up the water in a bottle, to cause condensation. Time to take a nap. If I missed anyone, I'll write it up later :)

Posted by jackie at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

All of the movabletype modules I've installed have collapsed. ALL OF THEM. Did you miss me? :)

Hypothesis:
Ever since I installed 3.2 on for CPAD, none of my 2.166 and 3.14's have worked. It doesn't recognise my login name, any of them. Odd? Very odd. I'm becoming wary of movabletype.

test 2.1

....just curious, did anyone actually get a documents folder with 3.2? Mine didn't. So many question marks on the screen and nothing for them to point to...unless that's what "unsupported" means. Golly gee willakers...

Posted by jackie at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)