November 2005 Archives

Well, my volleyball team has been practicing on Sundays and playing games on Monday nights. We've done fairly well this season and have made it into the playoffs. We've been playing a 6-2 rotation with me setting half of the time. I feel a lot of the time like our team takes a full game to figure out what's going on before we actually start to play well. Not a lot of cohesiveness. But, I get good exercise and every now and then get to put in a good hit.

As a kid I grew up with my dad as my coach a lot of the time. I think he tried to be a sort of padding between kids and their controlling parents. He'd always say that the sport was a learning opportunity and that it was for fun. He emphasized the fun. I remember one time he put this girl that no one liked in as pitcher for a softball game. She walked every single person. We were so frustrated by my dad because we weren't having fun when we weren't winning.

Well, I've since learned my lesson. And now my team's starting to argue and step on toes because we made it to the playoffs and now let's start pointing out everyone's flaws so we all feel terrible about each other because then maybe we can win. It's kind of making me sick. Kind of behind-the-back sort of stuff.

They're pulling me from setting "not because you're bad, we're just...um...trying a new strategy." That sucks to hear. Especially because I honestly think I've been setting well. I could go off and play a blame game about how I get bad passes, but that would only make things worse. So, now I'm supposed to set the first ball after a serve when I'm in the back row and then play the post position for defense. But, that I can hit and block when I'm in the front row. That doesn't make any freaking sense. But... whatever. I'm tired of arguing with people everywhere I go. If they want to do things that don't make sense... whatever.

Well, one more game tomorrow night. I was tempted to tell them I couldn't play because I feel so jerked around, but that would be bad sportsmanship. So, I'll show up, play my best, be polite. I wish that people wouldn't get so caught up in the stupid game so that people get smashed in the process.

Yes! This weekend has ruled! On Tuesday, we had lots of fun events at school including the student vs. staff volleyball game and the turkey trot (kids race the 880). Those are loads of fun and it's fun to send the students off for a good long break. Not to mention sending MYSELF off to a good long break!

So, on Wednesday Josh & I did some serious sleeping in, we went to Hyde for a bit, picked up the house and did some small repairs here and there, and I worked on a bit of homework. Then Josh took me to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I loved it. I love all Harry Potter movies. I wish that they would never end and that I could see a new one EVERY year from now until I die. That would be so sweet. Instead of having a trilogy or a whatever-ilogy they are making it could be a googlilogy. I would love a Harry Potter googlilogy. Sweet.

Thursday, we slept in again (yay!) then went over to Brian & Melanie's house for some good Thanksgiving festivities with their family. I got to meet the parents and all that so it was cool. They had GREAT food and, as usual, good friendship. We watched Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King extended edition. It was cool with the extra scenes and what-not. It was the first time Melanie had seen it so it was fun watching her reactions, especially to the spider! Ha! Later that night, we watched 50 First Dates with Brian & Mel. It was sweet. Then, to top the night off, Josh and I watched a Netflix at home we've been holding on to for too long: Sleeper. That movie is HILARIOUS. Man, Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are a great pair. That movie is like the three stooges meets early-70's beatnik community meets clown car meets the future meets... well... Woody Allen. Good stuff.

Today we slept in. Again. YES! Then we went to Home Depot to look for some solutions to our little problem. After doing a bit of work around the house and ripping up one of the flower beds in my garden area, I took a nice nap. I invented a new recipe which is decent for dinner, then have been doing computer/homework/website related tasks ever since!

All that and I have TWO DAYS LEFT!!! I love a good break.

One of the joys of teaching is that sometimes the responses students give you for things are down right hilarious. This one was great:

Question: If someone said to you, "I can't draw, I wasn't born with that talent," what advice would you give them?

Student Response: It doesn't matter how well you draw, it's inside every one of us. Even homeless people.

!?!

Oh my gosh. I've been sick all week because I knew that my National Board Scores were supposed to be posted online today. The weight has lifted, and ladies and gentlemen, I PASSED! I didn't think I would since only 15% of people pass the first time around. But... BRAG BRAG BRAG! Oh my gosh, I'm so ecstatic I don't know what to do. I think I'll go to work. Yes. Gotta go to work now.

YES!!!

I was playing Ella Fitzgerald in my class at Hyde the other day. The students were all working on a still life drawing and listening to some of her classic hits for about a half hour when one kid exclaims, "This lady SUCKS!!!"

I was like, "Ummm... Sorry, what did you just say?"

And then he mumbled something about her voice just not being good, or being annoying or something like that.

Don't worry. I made him sit outside for terrible taste in music. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

I'm thinking of putting together a playlist of songs to play in class later and I can write on the board, "Today we're listening to...Songs That Don't Suck!" Heh heh heh.

I have a paper due tomorrow. I'm still trying to decide which of two topics to do. The first one has less information available, but being that it's only a 3 page paper it may do me good to do the simpler one. The other topic has an insane amount of information available, meaning I'd have to wade through a lot more, but the paper would probably be richer. *Sigh* Decisions, decisions...

And I have a drawing due. Gotta squeeze that one in. Oh, and I have stuff to do at work. Oh, and the whole pick up the house, laundry, groceries, errand stuff. And of course, the sadness that I have nothing better to post on my blog than the fact that I'm strapped for time and blah blah blah. Depressing.

Oh, on Thursday I experienced my first public school "let's all hate Christians because they are the cause of everything bad in the world" rhetoric at SJSU. The whole class was all heated over it and I was pretty sure that they had all been raised on Disney movies. They basically came to the conclusion that, we could all live in a happy world if we all would just have peace and love in our hearts with the occasional fireside kum-by-yah song. I interjected a point that they were making their argument based on the premises that the point of living was to avoid pain, which many people would not agree with. There are many other contenders such as searching for meaning, for truth, for a connection with the divine or a creator, or a myriad of other possibilities. They were also ignoring the fact that any society will always have individuals who will choose to do harm. Then, they attacked me with the whole, "What else is there besides avoiding pain and seeking pleasure?" argument along with the "Do you go around causing pain to others?" accusation. Sheesh. I held my ground, but pretty much pulled out of the whole debate because it was obvious that this particular group of students was lacking in debate skills & got emotional against Christians really easy.

It's difficult to defend the Christian perspective when you're learning about so-called Christians who killed off large groups of people "for the sake of Christ" and did all kinds of other dirty under-handed things. Or, even things that weren't dirty, but to an unbeliever seem horrible because they don't recognize the significance of God. Anyway, it's pretty interesting and frustrating all at the same time.