Phew

Billy Donovan backed out of his contract and is heading back to UF. Thank God. It’ll be interesting to see how he does with five brand new starters.

Noooooooooooooo

I just read that the University of Florida Basketball coach, Billy Donovan, is going to announce later this morning that he is going to be the new head coach of the NBA’s Orlando Magic. I’m sad! He’s been at UF for eleven years and has won two national championships. I hope that he does well and now I guess that I’ll have to be a Magic fan. Billy Donovan is a great coach. I hope that he does well. It’s a sad day for Gators basketball though.

Happenings

Today was one of the most useless days I’ve had in a long time. I prepped for my summer school class for a while in the morning and met some friends for lunch. After that, off to home depot to have them fix my mower I just got from them. Then, from about 1800 on…nothing. I listened to music alllllll night. It was fantastic! Michael Buble, Tamyra Gray, various soundtracks, Paul Simon, Pearl Jam, Shinedown, Counting Crows, and Dave Matthews…..ahhhhhh. Nothing better. Well, okay…if it were outside with a great sound system, no mosquitos, clear and cool night…yeah, that would be better. However, Houston does not afford the cool nights right now and the mosquito part…yeah, not happening.

I’m thinking tomorrow I should really get some more work done for summer school, but in all reality, I’m probably done until Monday when it starts. I’m going to relax all weekend so I can get down to it on Monday. I’ll go to the gym a couple of times this weekend too.

Oh, Virginia Beach and DC in July!!!! I might even go to VB twice because I’m going to go see my parents for a while and might have to sneak back up there. We’ll see. Oh well, back to the music. If you like a bluesy/folk sound…check out Amos Lee’s album, Supply and Demand! Fantastic!!! Nice and mellow.

Mini vacations are nice. I have a week off between the end of the school year and the beginning of summer school. I have to say that I totally enjoy this time off. I’ve been able to stay up later, wake up later, and not worry about a million emails. I haven’t done much all week. In fact, I plan on doing even less and playing more Xbox 360. I just got Xbox live, so that’ll take me away from work even more…just what I need.

Last night, dinner was at PF Changs. For some reason, I thought that it was at Cheesecake Factory and was craving cheesecake allllll day long. So when I go to open the door at Cheesecake Factory, Marty and Jimmie looked at me as if I were stupid. They had to have been thinking that I had lost it. No cheesecake, but good Mu Shu. So my quest today is to get some freakin’ cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory…which will be a successful mission. I am craving the peanut-butter and chocolate cheesecake…mmmmm.

Color Parties

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to a white party at South Beach in Houston (a bar…it is neither South nor is there anything beach-related about it). So there I am with my buddy Marty trying to find white clothes that aren’t overly expensive. I found some socks, a shirt, a pair of pants, and shoes. The next day I went back to take a shirt back and noticed the pants that were already 50 percent off were cut another 50% off. So Dillard’s apparently has this policy where if you buy something and they mark it down, you can’t just return the item and get it at the cheaper price, like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. So I had to go find my size at the newer price, which I did thank God.

Well, I get dressed…and mind you, trying to stay white with a black and a multi-colored cat is not easy. I was standing around in my boxers (yes, they were white) and t-shirt until the last possible moment before I ran out the door. Mission accomplished by the way…no cat hair.

So we all get to the bar and there aren’t a lot of people wearing all white, like our entire group was. I have to say as a side-bar, our friend Jason was looking like a pimp!! The guy had white pants, white shoes, white button-down shirt with a white tie and white suspenders and a white hat. The guy was stylin’. I didn’t even want to walk in with him…his get-up was incredible.

So anyway, the night was great! We stayed until about 0400, yes, that’s 4 in the morning and then went to Pie-something or something-pie and had breakfast/dinner. The highlight of that was noticing that half the people in there were people from South Beach…ugh. The music was incredible. I have to say, dancing in all white around people that had multi-colored drinks and then way too many drinks scared me. I didn’t think that my clothes could stay white…but they did! 6 – 7 hours in a bar and my clothes still stayed white…a miracle.

So highlights of the night: Random guys that were trainwrecks coming up and trying to dance with two girls that were with us and then trying to pick them up, lesbians trying to dance with the girls in our group and then trying to pick them up (note: the girls with us were all straight), the DJ…the music was incredible, the drinks (mixed very well…better than usual), dancing to “Dance Dance.” and watching one of the girls we were with recognize half of the people in this rather large bar (everywhere we turned, there she was saying hi to people…literally….everywhere).

Lesson of the night: When a bar has a color party, not even a tenth of the people will dress accordingly…but still loads of fun.

Moving Forward

Tomorrow is the graduation for the eighth graders. It marks a monumentous change that most everyone experiences. It’s the changing of the guard if you will…the top dog becomes the pup once again…the eighth graders leave middle school and move into the high school realm. It’s hard to move from the top of the food chain to the bottom-feeders. Most of the gang is really excited about the change. It’s probably excitement about finishing one chapter in their lives as opposed to beginning another, but who cares as long as that excitement is able to be maintained as they move to their next stage of education and life lessons.

So as they move forward, it got me thinking about leaders and how one day one of my former students could hold a position of power or fame. I hope that they are all successful, but you know which ones everyone says will do exceptionally well and those students that teachers will write off for one reason or another. It’s odd because I can’t honestly think of one year that I haven’t had someone come up to me and bash a student. This year there were a couple of them, but those students are probably two of the best that I’ve had. While they may not think academically, they think globally, ethically, and morally. So which is better? Considering what is going on in the world today, I’d go for the global, ethical, and moral thinkers.

As they move forward, I wish them all the best. I think that one day they will make great leaders in whatever field they choose. Hopefully they’ll come back and say hello.

Cooking and Drugs

The other day, some students of mine were smashing small bags of flour that they had used to simulate a baby for another class. Needless to say, if any of them are parents right now, they’d be in a heap of trouble. Every time I have to pick something up that belongs to them that they leave in my room, I charge them at least a quarter to get it back. Well, imagine their surprise when I found seven and told them that they are having to buy their babies back from social services…aka me.

Well, two students of mine smashed flour on the ground and then put it under their nose, like cocaine. I told them that it wasn’t funny and to go wash it off. A couple of minutes later, the same two idiots…errr, I mean students….are using a plastic Regal Cinemas Crown Club card (similar to a credit card with regards to texture) and making lines with the flour as if they were going to snort it like cocaine. There was a dollar passed so there was some kind of idiodic bet. God knows why one would want to snort flour, much less cocaine.

So after talking with both parents, one understands the severity while the other is oblivious. So if the one wants to snort flour, I’m hoping he does and I hope he’s miserable afterwards. I told them if they wanted to know about drugs that bad that I could get someone from prison to show them what it does and they can hang out in the cell with him. Neither was fond of that and now all of the sudden they want nothing to do with flour, cocaine, or making lines.

Parents…please expose your kids to drugs via medical journals, talks, etc. That way your kid won’t try to sniff flour and think it’s cool. Ugh…middle school.

Paths

Many people say that life is a journey. It’s a journey down a path with many forks in the road. My life has been a journey full of forks and obstacles, yet it always seems that I’ve been able to move around them and come out okay. Sometimes I come out bruised, sometimes battered, but always determined and proud of conquering whatever stood in my way.

One journey that continues as a sub-journey I guess you could say is my own personal faith. Now that I’m teaching in a private school, I get the opportunity to go to chapel once a week, I wish it was more. Though I don’t go to church, there are certain things that I believe in. I believe in God. I believe that He touches our lives daily through ways that we may not always understand or see, but He’s there. Many people ask how anyone can believe in a god that would allow war, murder, and other negative things to happen. My belief is that while God exists, He is here to guide us, not live our lives and make it easier for us. I believe that we all have our own personal decisions to make and we make them and suffer the consequences for those actions, whether it be good or bad.

While I was sitting chapel the other day, I had to get up and pull one of my students back to sit near me because he couldn’t stop talking during a short and interactive sermon. The rector of the church, Lisa, is fantastic! She really is able to connect with the entire school body and really gives a very real and solid message every time she speaks. I look forward to hearing her. As I was looking around after I had to get up, I noticed that there were many students that seemed to care less about what was being said. I remember being that age and being in the same position. I could have cared less about God or anything that was told to me.

Now, years later, I find myself still continuing my journey of faith in a way that I never thought I would have. I have chosen a path making less money, but possibly having a bigger impact. I don’t teach strictly by the book or by what is in print; I also teach about morals, ethics, being polite, keeping an open mind, considering all viewpoints and respecting those that are different, amongst many other things. I enjoy being able to do this because too many times there have been things that have crossed my path that I am either disgusted with or have felt pity upon because of ignorance. I don’t want the kids that go through my room to be part of the population that just goes through life to go through the steps. I want them to be able to realize how walking their own paths can effect the paths of others. It’s my belief that being a good Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, Jew, Hindu, etc., one must apply the kindness, humility, thoughtfulness, charity, and morals that are talked about in each of the respective religions.

So by walking my own path, I hope that I start others walking their own. I know that as I speak to them, there is nothing like hearing a very fresh and different thought that I hear from my students. It gives me hope that the future generations won’t be so focused on physical things that they forget the things relating to the mind, body, and soul. So as I walk my path, I walk with a little bit more conviction hoping to watch others walk theirs and feel the same feelings of determination and being proud of conquering whatever stood in their way.

Afterthoughts…

While I try to think about why my friend decided to end his own life, there are several other questions that have come along with that. One of the major ones is, “Why?” The “Why?” question has come in various forms, such as “Why did he kill himself, Why didn’t he call out for help, Why did he move away, Why did he not respond to my reply email before he closed out his account, and Why did he think that he wasn’t strong enough to deal with things when he is one of the most solid people I have known…steady; strong; a rock.”

While I think about all of this, my emotions have been all over the place. They have ranged from confused to angered. I think that of all of them, the most prominent one is sadness. I still haven’t managed to remove him from my buddy list or delete his emails. I still log on hoping that there was some kind of mistake and that I will see his name appear on an email that he sent to me telling me that I’m a nut or something to that affect.

So naturally, with all of the questions, comes no answers. I have searched and searched for reasons and none of them have done Pete any justice. He’s still one of the best guys I’ve known and that will never change. He always thought of others instead of himself. He loved his kids (aka 3 rottwilers) and his job of being a state trooper. He was so proud when he was telling me that he got to drive an unmarked Durango that lit up like a Christmas tree. I asked why he needed an SUV in Rhode Island and he couldn’t answer it. I told him that he slacks off too much and the reply I get from him is that well then I’m really going to be mad at him because he was writing that email from a wireless connection that he had in his patrol car/SUV.

Pete always thought of others first and never put himself before his friends, even when his own personal concerns were greater. He never really wanted to hurt anyone by doing what he did. He loved his friends and never once asked for it to be returned. He enjoyed being sarcastic and funny, and that’s why people loved him. He was so easy to talk to, yet never once asked for anyone to listen to him. When I would ask how he was, it was always a very short answer and then back to whatever else was going on…always deflected questions about him away.

So now that he’s gone, we’re expected to keep living our own lives. We are expected to be just as strong as he was when he was with us. He wouldn’t want anyone to have to change anything because of something he did. I had a test today and wasn’t really in the mood to take it, but I knew if I didn’t, he’d be yelling at me from wherever he is. He always believed in his friends. He believed that they could be strong individuals that have a lot to offer. So now we have to live up to that lofty expectation, if nothing else to prove to ourselves that he was right.

Pete, I don’t know how you expect us to go on like nothing has happened. I know that you’re somewhere around here yelling at us for not doing our best at what we do, but it’s hard. You have left a hole in all of our hearts. I want you to know that I don’t think any less of you for what you did. I still love you and while I don’t understand why you did it, I still think you’re one of the best guys out there. I know that you’ll be up there watching over us and waiting for us when we get up there. Until then, be our guardian angel and watch over us. I know that I don’t even have to ask you to do that because I know you already are doing so. Pete, you’re still the man!

That 70’s Show

Eric (hung over on the couch): “My head hurts.”
Red: “That’s just your brain trying to comprehend your stupidity.”