Much of my weekend was spent relaxing and playing videogames. Ever since I upgraded the computer I’ve been having a great time playing computer games. I started the original Half-Life, hoping to get caught up on the backstory before I begin Half-Life 2. The disappointment though is that 2-3 hours into the game there is still practically ZERO story. There was an experiment, it went bad, now there are alien things everywhere. Also frustrating are that some parts of the game are just painful to try and pass, to the point where it’s not enjoyable. I also started playing Oblivion, an open-ended RPG set in a fantasy world. Not only is the game beautiful, but it’s totally engrossing. You create a character, specialize in certain skils, and can pretty much do whatever you want. While at first it feels almost too open-ended, it slowly becomes very real feeling. Instead of finding the path to turn on the fuel pump like Half-Life, you have complete control over what you want to do next. I think I will either play another couple hours and get bored, or I will be sucked in for countless hours more.

Besides this Stacie and I had dinner with Andrew and Sarah one night. They brought over microwave pizza and we watched a movie. We went to eat with my parents at Marissa’s. Then we went to Disneyland with Stacie’s parents. I even got my first minor sunburn of the year! Ok, off to teach.

I took Denise’s hint to heart and decided to post, and luckily I thought of something worthwhile.

I’m sitting here entering grades in the district’s online grading program (how cool is that?) and I had a disturbing thought: I think I miss my students. When I stop to think about it, I see my students more than I see my friends and family. For 5 out of 7 days for the last four months I see the same kids, and some of them actually grow on you. I’m sure after a week or two back I may not have as fond of memories as I do now, but I think I genuinely miss them, maybe.

My CHRISTMAS break so far has consisted of very little of substance. There has been a lot of sleeping in and staying up late, watching movies, playing with the dog, and spending time with my wife. CHRISTMAS day itself was really nice. We split time between Stacie’s parents and mine, but we got to see everyone. We’ve watched Narnia, King Kong, Broken Flowers, Undertow, and Shall We Dance. In addition I’ve watched The Fantastic Four, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and Red Eye. I got Stacie a z22 palm pilot for Christmas, so we’ve had fun putting software on that and learning how to use it, I mean she has had fun doing those things. Yesterday we returned a bunch of stuff and exchanged things. I really don’t like crowds, at all, and there are still plenty of them.

Today I’ve decided to work on lesson planning and get that out of the way. The first week back I’ll be at a workshop for 2 of the 3 days, and then that weekend we’re heading to Turlock, CA to visit my mom’s family. Stacie has never been to the farm, so I’m looking forward to showing her where many of my childhood memories were made (and they have a bunch of super cool Boston Terriers). I also start winter session at CSULB next week, so I need to have lesson and sub plans ready for the next two weeks.

Not sure what we’re doing on New Years, but we’ve got three invitations I think. Maybe we’ll try and hit all of them! Hope everyone is having a great time off (if you’re lucky enough to have some). Back to regular blarging soon.

Today I took and passed my CSET, but for a few hours prior to that I was sitting at McDonald’s studying. Let me suggest to you, that if you are ever bored, go sit at a McDonald’s. The people and events you will see or both annoying and hilarious at the same time.

Lonely Babies

Most normal and intelligent mothers do NOT leave their babies alone, especially in a public place such as McDonald’s. However, today I witnessed two women leave their THREE babies alone.

While this was slightly annoying, it became quite amusing. Two children had salt shakers, which they were banging on the table and licking and having a great time. The third kid however had a pepper shaker. When he turned red and starting crying from licking the pepper shaker, my annoyance towards the mothers turned to amusement. I have a feeling that kid will be eating paint chips when he’s older.

The Math Whiz

A little while after the babies left, a guy/girl couple came in, roughly 18 years old. They proceeded to order their food and then found a nearby table. The conversation I overheard was quite funny. The girl had the health information sheet for McDonald’s and was reading it. And I quote:

Girl: "Chicken Selects have 1240 calories. That’s like your daily quotient of food. The 10 piece Chicken Selects are death."

While she was funny, her boyfriend was the math whiz. I assume the girl had only partially eaten her hamburger when she turned to him and said:

Girl: What’s 2/3 of 460?
Guy: 90?
Girl: Wow, you can do math in your head?

Hurry, go to McDonald’s, now.