Cavemen vs. Astronauts
Spanish Word of the Day
revisa - (ray-vee-sah) a review. My ELD classes have been reviewing for their test tomorrow. It's the first time I've used my little miniboards and teams and they got so excited, a teacher came in from next door and asked us to quiet down.
I had total participation... and if you're a teacher, you know exactly how hard that can be to accomplish.
Right. So here's a question for you... If cavemen and astronauts got in a fight, who would win? Angel and Spike were arguing about it last night on Angel.
Hmm... I did go to the bookstore yesterday. I went for 1 and came out with... ummm... 6. I couldn't resist. I bought:
1. girly book called Royally Jacked about a girl who's parents are getting a divorce and she has to choose between moving to an apartment with her mom and her mom's new girlfriend, and moving to a small foreign country to live with her dad in an apartment in the palace. It was cute, and I read it in like two hours so my students could borrow it and read it.
2. I also bought a book about "the real truth about college" - also for my students.
3. A Fottrot anthology - man I love that strip!
4. WOLP US Ed. (The Well of Lost Plots, US Edition) complete with extra chapter.... yeah, I know... it was there and I couldn't resist. I know I'm going to a book signing next week and could have waited. In case you are unfamiliar with Jasper Fforde and his Thursday Next novels... ummm... read them! But only if you like to read classic literature and think that books should be just as popular as T.V.
5. A book called Crazy English. Did you know that the word antidisestablishmentarianism is NOT the longest word in the English language? There's one example in the book of a word that's actually a page long. It's amusing... at least for English teachers.
6. Quirkyalone - Because I've decided that's me.
Anyway, after the bookstore I drove around, looking for that specialty yarn shop Mom mentioned was somewhere in the Los Alamitos Marina. (Didn't find it) I then went over to Farm Boy and bought some fresh fruit, and Pick Up Sticks for dinner.
Got home and camped out with my books and Chinese food. Man... have you ever accidentally bitten and chewed a hot pepper from Kung Pao Chicken? Now I like hot, but this was aaaaaaaaHHHH hot. Crying hot. Really. Tears and everything.... still didn't clear my sinuses though.
Really wish my sinus headaches would go away - dissipate rather than enervate.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Spanish Word of the Day - Pantuflas - slippers (don't ask why... just like the sound of it. Found it here.) It's a subsite of Activities for ESL.
Today's been one of those days that feels like it should be a Friday and not a Wednesday. I woke up this morning with a monster sinus headache that the ibroprofin only pushed to the back of my head for a while.
It didn't help that during Period 1 I lost all but 5 of my students to the nurses and their hearing and vision tests. I also made time for Sra. Coto to come in and give a short presentation on a parent institute. The remarkable thing was that I understood most of the presentation... and she talks quite quickly. I told my students that I understood most of it and they cheered. I guess that's how they feel most of the time when stuff is said quickly in another language.
Didn't get to choir last night. I didn't want to infect any of the "elderly" ladies with my cold, not to mention the fact that every few bars would be followed by coughing.
Tonight I plan to veg in front of the TV and watch Enterprise and Angel.
Today's been one of those days that feels like it should be a Friday and not a Wednesday. I woke up this morning with a monster sinus headache that the ibroprofin only pushed to the back of my head for a while.
It didn't help that during Period 1 I lost all but 5 of my students to the nurses and their hearing and vision tests. I also made time for Sra. Coto to come in and give a short presentation on a parent institute. The remarkable thing was that I understood most of the presentation... and she talks quite quickly. I told my students that I understood most of it and they cheered. I guess that's how they feel most of the time when stuff is said quickly in another language.
Didn't get to choir last night. I didn't want to infect any of the "elderly" ladies with my cold, not to mention the fact that every few bars would be followed by coughing.
Tonight I plan to veg in front of the TV and watch Enterprise and Angel.
Monday, February 23, 2004
Spanish Word of the Day: Enferma (en-fair-mah) - sick. feminine - enfermo for guys, but it doesn't change the hacking cough, the dripping nose, or the lack of ability to read a paragraph out loud without stopping to die halfway though. My students have been pretty good. They must like me.
My weekend was spent either in bed or propped up on the couch watching Netflix. Finally saw On the Waterfront with Bogart (great movie!) and The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Debbie Reynolds. Didn't know it was a Merideth Willson Flick until I watched the trailer. I love the old MGM musicals. The spontaneous combustion of song and dance. If I had my way, the whole world would be a musical.
Except when I'm sick (hack, hack, hack). I think choir's going to be out for tomorrow as well.
My weekend was spent either in bed or propped up on the couch watching Netflix. Finally saw On the Waterfront with Bogart (great movie!) and The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Debbie Reynolds. Didn't know it was a Merideth Willson Flick until I watched the trailer. I love the old MGM musicals. The spontaneous combustion of song and dance. If I had my way, the whole world would be a musical.
Except when I'm sick (hack, hack, hack). I think choir's going to be out for tomorrow as well.
Friday, February 20, 2004
The World is Such a Small Place
Went over to Wil Wheaton's blog, as I do every so often and what do I see? He and his wife have joined Team in Training. They are running a marathon in June (in San Diego) and raising money to support Leukemia research.
Wow. Lizzie is running a marathon in June (in Alaska) and is raising money through TNT to support Leukemia research.
Wil talks about his wife being so excited about checking the amount of money his fans have donated so far. Lizzie does the same. We compared it to getting back RSVP's for a birthday party. Everyone loves to watch growth thermometers fill up. I've got a set of them in my classroom and let me tell you, this new system works like a charm. Tell the kids to be seated when the bell rings ready to work, and they lag about, but give them group points and they sprint, demand and needle their less motivated compadres to get a move on.
The adults are just as motivated to fill up the thermometers as the kids, though we seem to have better intentions. Instead of candy or getting out of class two minutes early, we just get the internal happiness of knowing that our little chunk of change can possibly make a great difference in someone else's life.
So what are you waiting for? Go DONATE.
Went over to Wil Wheaton's blog, as I do every so often and what do I see? He and his wife have joined Team in Training. They are running a marathon in June (in San Diego) and raising money to support Leukemia research.
Wow. Lizzie is running a marathon in June (in Alaska) and is raising money through TNT to support Leukemia research.
Wil talks about his wife being so excited about checking the amount of money his fans have donated so far. Lizzie does the same. We compared it to getting back RSVP's for a birthday party. Everyone loves to watch growth thermometers fill up. I've got a set of them in my classroom and let me tell you, this new system works like a charm. Tell the kids to be seated when the bell rings ready to work, and they lag about, but give them group points and they sprint, demand and needle their less motivated compadres to get a move on.
The adults are just as motivated to fill up the thermometers as the kids, though we seem to have better intentions. Instead of candy or getting out of class two minutes early, we just get the internal happiness of knowing that our little chunk of change can possibly make a great difference in someone else's life.
So what are you waiting for? Go DONATE.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
SWOTD: aburrido - no, not something you eat. Boring Like I have been accused of being.
I'd like to state for the record, I'm busy, not boring. I just wish I could update my blog from school. Then at lunch, rather than emailing myself and forgetting to post it, I could blog away!
So what's up?
Well, last weekend was pretty cool. On Saturday, I met Lizzie and we went to LACMA. We figured it was the least V-Day like thing we could do. The museum's permanant exhibits was eerie quiet... like we weren't supposed to be there. We meandered through and got a lot of philosophizing done. The theater costume exhibit was really cool. So was the guy who only painted numbers and letters over and over again. We walked over to Johnny's and had an early dinner before going back to museum for two films - Midnight Cowboy, a sort of Of Mice and Men story about a rather loveably stupid cowboy hustler (male prostitute), and Billy Liar, a Walter Mitty story about a guy who lives completely inside his imagination. They were quite different from each other, but I enjoyed them both.
On Sunday, I arrived at the rents with In'N'Out (always helps to have an initial peace offering) and did my laundry while crocheting and having my fill cable television. Watched like three episodes of Queer Guy, and was not detered from watching Criminal Intent, even though Tricia said it was the worst of the Law and Order. "Because you already know who did it. They tell you!" I agree somewhat. I like the detectives from SVU and the original series much better.
On Monday, I worked on and submitted Princess Charming to Project Greenlight. Man, it gets expensive.
$20 to register it with the Writer's Guild
$30 to register it with the Library of Congress (Copyright Office)
$30 to register it in Project Greenlight
Total: $80 per screenplay. Not a cheap hobby here.
Choir was Tuesday. David the Director has picked out a solo for me where the choir will be ooozing behind me. It's got a few atonal parts (That's Bernstein for you) and goes up to an F#. I'm glad he's got confidence in me. It's not a sitting down song.
Yesterday I watched True Grit and Wallace and Grommit before watching Enterprise and Angel. Very amusing. Rooster Cogburn, played by John Wayne in True Grit, and the sequel - Rooster Cogburn that I watched last week in my K Hepburne-athon, somehow strangely reminded me of Dad. It was kinda creepy that way.
I'd like to state for the record, I'm busy, not boring. I just wish I could update my blog from school. Then at lunch, rather than emailing myself and forgetting to post it, I could blog away!
So what's up?
Well, last weekend was pretty cool. On Saturday, I met Lizzie and we went to LACMA. We figured it was the least V-Day like thing we could do. The museum's permanant exhibits was eerie quiet... like we weren't supposed to be there. We meandered through and got a lot of philosophizing done. The theater costume exhibit was really cool. So was the guy who only painted numbers and letters over and over again. We walked over to Johnny's and had an early dinner before going back to museum for two films - Midnight Cowboy, a sort of Of Mice and Men story about a rather loveably stupid cowboy hustler (male prostitute), and Billy Liar, a Walter Mitty story about a guy who lives completely inside his imagination. They were quite different from each other, but I enjoyed them both.
On Sunday, I arrived at the rents with In'N'Out (always helps to have an initial peace offering) and did my laundry while crocheting and having my fill cable television. Watched like three episodes of Queer Guy, and was not detered from watching Criminal Intent, even though Tricia said it was the worst of the Law and Order. "Because you already know who did it. They tell you!" I agree somewhat. I like the detectives from SVU and the original series much better.
On Monday, I worked on and submitted Princess Charming to Project Greenlight. Man, it gets expensive.
$20 to register it with the Writer's Guild
$30 to register it with the Library of Congress (Copyright Office)
$30 to register it in Project Greenlight
Total: $80 per screenplay. Not a cheap hobby here.
Choir was Tuesday. David the Director has picked out a solo for me where the choir will be ooozing behind me. It's got a few atonal parts (That's Bernstein for you) and goes up to an F#. I'm glad he's got confidence in me. It's not a sitting down song.
Yesterday I watched True Grit and Wallace and Grommit before watching Enterprise and Angel. Very amusing. Rooster Cogburn, played by John Wayne in True Grit, and the sequel - Rooster Cogburn that I watched last week in my K Hepburne-athon, somehow strangely reminded me of Dad. It was kinda creepy that way.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
SWOTD: Amistad - friendship
I had an interesting weekend.
On Saturday I started off the day by helping do a speech workshop for Mom's Rainbow Girls. It included some hints on how to walk, talk, sit, stand, and how to win the ritual competition coming up in March. Then after lunch I helped Mom try and teach the girls how to crochet. They really seemed to think that after one lesson they should be able to quickly make scarves like nobody's business. They were quite frustrated, even though I kept telling them, "You can't expect to sit down with a guitar and instantly know how to play it." It takes time to learn.
I went back to my parents house to finish the scarf that I managed to make, and watched Freaky Friday, the latest version. Very cute.
On Sunday, I went sailing with Nikki and Michael and they kept asking me about Liz's marathon plans. Michael seemed unimpressed that she WALKS the marathon. Nikki wanted to know why I wasn't walking marathons, and I asked her why she wasn't going with Michael. "I hate running." Checkmate. There was a bit of wind in the harbor, but when we tried to go out to the ocean, the wind died so we headed back.
We went out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, after playing a round of skeeball and picking up Michael's mail.
Monday was a lazy day, I was in my pj's until 4:00 when I had to get ready for a choir board meeting day. I watched The Third Man... great film noir movie. Classic! And some great views of post war Vienna.
Oh, yes, and today's assignment for my writing class was to complete a character sketch for a story they are going to start writing on Thurs. I started giving an example about a character I've been working on for a screenplay idea, and they all started ooohing and aaahhhing. They thought I was describing a real person... my boyfriend.
"Why are you turning RED, Miss Mathis? If he's not really your boyfriend?"
eye roll
btw. According to Claudia - 30 is old.
I had an interesting weekend.
On Saturday I started off the day by helping do a speech workshop for Mom's Rainbow Girls. It included some hints on how to walk, talk, sit, stand, and how to win the ritual competition coming up in March. Then after lunch I helped Mom try and teach the girls how to crochet. They really seemed to think that after one lesson they should be able to quickly make scarves like nobody's business. They were quite frustrated, even though I kept telling them, "You can't expect to sit down with a guitar and instantly know how to play it." It takes time to learn.
I went back to my parents house to finish the scarf that I managed to make, and watched Freaky Friday, the latest version. Very cute.
On Sunday, I went sailing with Nikki and Michael and they kept asking me about Liz's marathon plans. Michael seemed unimpressed that she WALKS the marathon. Nikki wanted to know why I wasn't walking marathons, and I asked her why she wasn't going with Michael. "I hate running." Checkmate. There was a bit of wind in the harbor, but when we tried to go out to the ocean, the wind died so we headed back.
We went out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, after playing a round of skeeball and picking up Michael's mail.
Monday was a lazy day, I was in my pj's until 4:00 when I had to get ready for a choir board meeting day. I watched The Third Man... great film noir movie. Classic! And some great views of post war Vienna.
Oh, yes, and today's assignment for my writing class was to complete a character sketch for a story they are going to start writing on Thurs. I started giving an example about a character I've been working on for a screenplay idea, and they all started ooohing and aaahhhing. They thought I was describing a real person... my boyfriend.
"Why are you turning RED, Miss Mathis? If he's not really your boyfriend?"
eye roll
btw. According to Claudia - 30 is old.
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