A few points for Sunday night

I realise that it has been over a month since my last post. Again, I apologise but surely you have all come to expect such things. I'm exhausted so I figure that a list will be the easiest way to do this:

1. The semester/year is wrapping up. I finished going over new material with my AP kids a week ago and should be finishing up with my IGCSE kids this week. The seniors are busy taking APs and internal exams and the grade tens will soon be in and out of class sporadically as their exams start.

2. Three (or four?) weeks ago was JSB (Junior Senior Banquet). Basically, it's Woodstock's version of prom. The 11th grade had to decorate the auditorium according to the theme (Masquerade) so being the good advisor that I am I helped set things up and get it all ready. Also, being an 11th grade advisor meant that I actually got to attend this year (not that I really had much of a choice, I also had to chaperon). Here's a picture of me with some friends:


3. Last weekend was the annual Jazz Jam. Again, the 11th grade was in charge of setting things up and then serving as were the advisors. I can't really complain too much. It DID give me an excuse to wear my bow tie again and really was quite a bit of fun.

4. Next weekend is the annual Mela. The 11th grade is selling ice cream in shifts so at least it will only be for half an hour and there will be the remainder of the time to check out the remainder of things.

5. I'm finally getting into using my Mac. As I use it more and more I find that I like it more and more too. I'm sure that I'll get plenty of time to work with it over the summer as I visit my family of Mac users.

6. Going along with the Mac, I will also (hopefully) be working on my pet projects this summer. I have purchased a comic drawing/publishing programme and am in the midst of putting together some scripts etc. Mayhaps I'll post a page or two if I find them satisfactory. I dropped $150 on books from Amazon and one of them is a book to help with the programme. Hopefully it works. As it is right now, I'm having difficulty even figuring out how to get the colour to change. Zoinks!

7. I really enjoy teaching chemistry. I especially enjoy the introductory classes because I feel I can be far more informal with the kids and make up stories and what not in order to help them visualise the material better. The only problem is that I tend to use sarcasm and a lot of the time I have to stop and explain the jokes to the ESL kids. Recently, I was discussing how substitution reactions work in organic chemistry. I decided that it really is like a soap opera. Someone's always dieing/coming back from the dead, getting brainwashed, or involved in some wicked love triangle. You see, C and H are happily married and have been for years so the writers decide to shake things up. They introduce a new character, the Chlorine Radical. She's gorgeous, sexy, witty, and is properly concave and convex in all the right places. She just happens to work at the same law firm as C and you know the drill. Late nights working on a make or break case. Ordering out, talking, laughing, the peck on the cheek, the full on mouth to mouth kiss. Well, being a substitution, the H gets replaced by Cl. Honestly, it's not as good written out like this. Maybe I should just try taping my lectures and then I can just edit to the good parts and just put them up.

8. Cindy, my step-mother, has officially obtained her doctorate degree. Hard work does pay off eh? Well done and congrats to her.

9. Today is Mother's Day. I found out about it about an hour or so ago. I'm out of touch with that sort of stuff. I made it back to the States on Father's Day last year and didn't even know it until I overheard some guy talking about it on the phone in the airport. Here's to the moms.

10. I'll be back stateside again this summer. I am making pretty much a full west to east tour. First I'll fly in to Tucson and see Mike and his family for about a week. I'm sure it will be full of beef, farts, nieces and comic books. I then will drive back to Illinois, hopefully with a stop in Colorado to see Jon since I was only to make it in two dimensions to his wedding two months ago.

But I'll be dammed if I still wasn't the life of the party. Extremely popular with the ladies in the 35-55 range.

I plan to then spend a few weeks at home in Illinois with friends and family. Don't worry Becky, I will be making a trip up to see you guys. After that I'll be making a trip out to North Carolina to see more family. The big, exciting part though is going to Washington DC area for the National Scout Jamboree. See, it's the 100th anniversary of scouting in the US so it's kind of a big deal. Dad and I are both on staff (he's doing shooting sports stuff and I'm working the international hosting stuff). I'm pretty excited to be doing it.

11. I have decided to let my hair grow out. Not in a crazy manner mind you, but enough that I can at least comb it and put a part in it. The thing is, though, that for some reason when I part it the front tends to flip up a bit. Now, I noticed it and immediately it reminded me of one of my favourite comic book characters. I wasn't going to say anything about it until a student pointed it out to me too. At least it shows I'm not crazy. Right?! Anywho, you decide.

Me, with my most emo look. (Doesn't yellow just scream emo to you?) I had to do it this way so that the flip would be evident.

And the comic book character in question. Tintin. You tell me, do I have my Halloween costume figured out for this year?