Milestoned

A week from manana i will have been back in the USA for 6 months. I've lived in 3 countries, and three US states. Odd. 

Good to be home. Things are unstable, but that's life. Life is a contact sport, sure as hell. 

I am listening to a great Rush show form 1980, previewing some Moving Pictures stuff. Lots of Hemispherses stuff, like The Trees.

Good night people!

The Hammer of Thaw

Amazingly, it was 55F today. Mum asked me to cook steaks on the barbecue, so i agreed instantly. They were yummy.

The lakes on the way to UNH were teaming with ice melt and fog. It looked like Loch Ness.
But by the weekend we'll be colder than a witch's hoo-ha again. New England - you fickle bitch. 

At least the NHL is back. It's the one place i don't mind seeing solid ice.

Cheers to all of you who read this. You all must be of a good ilk.

buried in the sand

Well, once again, i am teaching the lowest RW (reading and writing level) at ELS. But i like it. I wish i had more teaching hours beside these, but to quote Rush;

It was it is
...And whatever

The directors are morons.


The students are all Saudi men, three of them, and quite nice. I think it will be a fun class.   It won't be nearly as challenging as the last term, although he was a great guy to work with. It's not his fault he was special needs. 

It's just a shame we can't address it. My academy has swept it under the table. 

Like the sands of the desert....

...The Rael Me

Snowing. Again. Goddamn New England. The snow never ends! It's not even February yet!

Music to hide inside to;

Beyond the Shrouded Horizon (disc 2) - Steve Hackett 
Quadrophenia (Deluxe Edition, disc 3) - The Who
Pack Up The Plantation - Tom Petty
Wembley 1974 - Pink Floyd

More shoveling today. It's a good thing i am home or Mum would be hosed with Bob, our neighbor, recovering from knee surgery. 

Soul Food

Forgive my long absence. I was busy like all hell last week with work and the Psychosis that takes place at school. Morons run the assylum. 

Friday, at graduation, the director called up a 23 year old women to get her certificate for completing all of her levels. 

We had served donuts and bagels and her mouth was still full when she came up to the podium. Into the microphone he says, "We are going to wait for her while she swallows." 

I was horrified for this poor women, although only the native speakers seemed to get it.  Another teacher burst out laughing and said "I can't believe he said that!"

It was lucky none of the students seemed to get it, but hell, they can barely speak English. 

"I wish to thank you because I learn - ed so much." The woman who said this is a sweetheart and I only had her for the Learning Lab, but that is a mistake I would correct on the 1st day of class. All Spanish speakers start out pronouncing -ed verbs that way. But to graduate her when she speaks like that and say she no longer needs to take the TOEFL exam to get into a US University? That is a travesty. I used to teach TOEFL prep in an MBA program. Not a chance any of the three we graduated would pass it.

Earlier, at our monthly meeting, where he and his assistant treat me like soul food at a KKK meeting, he was trying to think of new places for field trips. "How about the World Trade Center? That would be nice."

We all looked in horror until one teacher said "Yeah, lets take a bunch of male Saudis to the WTC site. That won't cause any problems!"

"Oh, I meant the Empire State building."

Moron.

So, what to do? Today is a a day off (for testing) so I will continue to get my CV out there. It's snowing. Guess it's a Pink Floyd kind of day. Listening to;

Paris Theatre, London 1971
Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Wembly 1975

The Capitals FINALLY won a game. HUZAH!

Slow Apocalypse

Weekend! Praise Jah! It was a long week and snow is back on the ground. It never got past 25F today. That's -3.8 C. Fucking cold is what it is.

A world in white gets underway
-U2

We have MLK Day off, but then a full week as I am subbing for someone else.

I'm reading Slow Apocalypse by John Varley. It's about an unknown bacteria that eats all the oil in the world and the ensuing breakdown. It's fairly terrifying. No oil = no goods, no food, no medical supplies, no police, no fireman! It means we're hosed.

Listening to;

I just Wanna Rock: Live in Paris - Joe Satriani
Workshop of the Telescopes - Blue Oyster Cult
Stick Man - Tony Levin
The Risa and Fall of Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
The Devouring - Djam Karet

Yield

Ha! I wish the next big thing were so obvious. I would be more than willing to yield. But I was invited today to a   telephone interview for Teach America, which is awesome. If accepted, I'd start next year teaching HS in a place like New Haven or Bridgeport.

And I was asked to doing some student testing once a month at UNH. So, things are looking up in the work dept. More snow yesterday, so once again, all is white. So strange. Snow NEVER stuck around in Madrid. 

But still, it feels good to be back the USA. Last time i lived in this state, i was in college. 

More snow

And here I stand
chicken scratching at my own immortality
-Joni Mitchell

More snow. I had to shovel but still go to work. I thought i was a teacher. WTF?

Days go by. I am here. 

It seems weird. I'm in the US, and have been for a while. I thought it would seem weird. But it's no weirder than life has been the last 6 years.

I need to get down to DC and see all my friends there. It will happen in time. 

Until then, life goes on.

Everything...

Everything..., in it's right place
in it's right place
-Radiohead


Once in a while everything is in it's right place. These are nice days. Today was one.

We may have snow manana. Figures, as i finally got the ice off of the back patio.

I watched some Big Band Theory and Cougar Town, and now it's time to read. Happy January 15th!

End of the line

The Seahawks lost a heartbreaker. Mistakes and the last stand of the defense cost them the game. But it was a great game and a great effort on the part of both teams. 

There's always next year, and the 'Hawks are young. 

All in all, it was a great season. 

Work manana at 8:30.

thaw freeze repeat

No work today, but i did have an interview to teach the verbal section of SAT that went very well. He is going to check my references. They I shoveled the never ending ice out by the barbecue in the freezing rain. Dee-lightful! 

Big football weekend as Seahawk fever sweeps the nation!

I am reading 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson, a sci-fi novel which is about teraforming new worlds on planets such as Mercury. It kind of dense, but fascination. Robinson is a grade A nerd and a good writer. I think he's a scientist too. It's mind-boggling.

Yeah! Nerd power!

Well, i should take one more whack at the ice before it freezes again. Thaw. Freeze. Repeat. Thaw. Freeze. Repeat.

five months later

“ There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man. ”

— Aristotle

As of Jan. 8th, i've been home five months. I've seen a the worst hurricane in Northeast history, a nasty election year and the shooting at Newtown. 

Busy week of subbing at UNH. It's good to be back in the classroom.

The weather people say CT will finally thaw this week. It will hit 45F today. It's been weeks since we were that warm! And 50's this weekend. I may seriously take the kayak out!

sub

0:53

Doing a lot of subbing at UNH. I taught six hours today and will teach 6 manana, 2 wed and 6 on Thurs. I'm always happy for the work. Just printing out Jess' lesson plan now. 

It;s good to be back in a classroom again. I really enjoy it. It's what I do. Sometmes I feel like it's what i do best.


The Seahawks won a tremendous victory over RGIII and the Redskins on Sunday. It looked like it was going to get out of hand, but Seattle played well and RGIII was really hurt. I was surprised they left him in. 

The Year in Review

• 2012 - I left Madrid and finally came home to CT
• I began my teaching career in the USA
• Spanish unemployment goes over 25%, over 50% for those under 30
• The Romulan lost to Obama and i can breathe easier again
• Hurricane Sandy destroyed NJ
• The Newtown shootings shook us all to our core

Yep. Time for a new year!

a world of white

I now live in a world of white. Snow is everywhere. I have already shoveled many more times than i would have in a VA winter.

But all is well. I am back teaching at UNH. 

The holidays, being back home, were awesome. 

I am listening to Joe Satriani, Satchurated - live in Montreal. Awesome! I saw him for this tour with my friend Paloma and lost my mind.

2013

Forgive me for being so absent in blogging, but i have have been busy as hell, being home for

the holidays for the first time in years. I love you all, and i wish you the best for 2013!