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California Trip Antics
3 min read
So as you may have surmised from my most recent photo updates, I just got back from a vacation to California.
I went out with my parents with two main goals in mind: to visit family that lives out there (my Mom was born and raised in San Diego and her siblings are still out there) and to drive down Pacific Coast Highway. All in all, it was a pretty fantastic trip; lasting a grand total of 2 weeks.
We flew into San Francisco first. I usually like big cities (New York, Tokyo...) but, honestly, can't say that San Francisco appealed very much to me. It was just crammed full of so many people, it seemed like you couldn't ever get anywhere easily. I suspect if I had more time (and perhaps a younger crowd than my parents with me... love them, but we don't exactly share many of the same interests) to explore, I would like it more.
I did really like the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco though. It was absolutely gorgeous and I loved photographing it. The delicious sencha and mochi didn't hurt it any either
From San Francisco, we began our trek down the coast. The fog was hanging low and over the coast for some of the trip, but it cleared up enough to let my father and me get some decent pictures of the ocean. Dad may have been a bit overzealous in his picture taking, as he pulled off at nearly every stop along the highway to get out and photograph the view. This meant stopping, literally, at an average of every two minutes and made an 80 mile trip take about 5 hours. I enjoyed seeing the view, and was able to shoot some good photos myself, but by the end of the day Mom and I were threatening to leave him if he pulled over one more time!
We stopped in Monterey and Santa Barbara as we went and got to see both Hearst Castle and Getty's Villa...which were basically old houses that used to be owned by extravagantly wealthy gentlemen with a penchant for collecting extravagantly expensive things. It was rather amazing to see the sorts of things they had. Lots of photos of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian statuary will probably be trickling in to my account here
It was in one of those buildings that I realized my camera, with the flash off, can still take a photo indoors in which objects that weren't easily viewable to my eye because of the gloom show up perfectly fine in the photograph. I confess to a certain amount of bafflement regarding this.
Finally, we got to San Diego. I've visited that city so many times now that it feels like a second home. Two highlights of the trip: visiting the ship the Star of India- which I took a strange and intense liking to the first time I visited it- and seeing my Aunt Janet. All told, I took about 50 pictures of the Star despite the overcast foggy sky. And I managed to spend a few hours alone with my Aunt in a coffee shop dubbed Lestat's. It made for a very successful trip
And now I'm home, sorting through hundreds of pictures and trying to both console my cat and convince her that it's too hot to console her while she's sitting on my lap. Huzzah.
I went out with my parents with two main goals in mind: to visit family that lives out there (my Mom was born and raised in San Diego and her siblings are still out there) and to drive down Pacific Coast Highway. All in all, it was a pretty fantastic trip; lasting a grand total of 2 weeks.
We flew into San Francisco first. I usually like big cities (New York, Tokyo...) but, honestly, can't say that San Francisco appealed very much to me. It was just crammed full of so many people, it seemed like you couldn't ever get anywhere easily. I suspect if I had more time (and perhaps a younger crowd than my parents with me... love them, but we don't exactly share many of the same interests) to explore, I would like it more.
I did really like the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco though. It was absolutely gorgeous and I loved photographing it. The delicious sencha and mochi didn't hurt it any either
From San Francisco, we began our trek down the coast. The fog was hanging low and over the coast for some of the trip, but it cleared up enough to let my father and me get some decent pictures of the ocean. Dad may have been a bit overzealous in his picture taking, as he pulled off at nearly every stop along the highway to get out and photograph the view. This meant stopping, literally, at an average of every two minutes and made an 80 mile trip take about 5 hours. I enjoyed seeing the view, and was able to shoot some good photos myself, but by the end of the day Mom and I were threatening to leave him if he pulled over one more time!
We stopped in Monterey and Santa Barbara as we went and got to see both Hearst Castle and Getty's Villa...which were basically old houses that used to be owned by extravagantly wealthy gentlemen with a penchant for collecting extravagantly expensive things. It was rather amazing to see the sorts of things they had. Lots of photos of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian statuary will probably be trickling in to my account here
It was in one of those buildings that I realized my camera, with the flash off, can still take a photo indoors in which objects that weren't easily viewable to my eye because of the gloom show up perfectly fine in the photograph. I confess to a certain amount of bafflement regarding this.
Finally, we got to San Diego. I've visited that city so many times now that it feels like a second home. Two highlights of the trip: visiting the ship the Star of India- which I took a strange and intense liking to the first time I visited it- and seeing my Aunt Janet. All told, I took about 50 pictures of the Star despite the overcast foggy sky. And I managed to spend a few hours alone with my Aunt in a coffee shop dubbed Lestat's. It made for a very successful trip
And now I'm home, sorting through hundreds of pictures and trying to both console my cat and convince her that it's too hot to console her while she's sitting on my lap. Huzzah.
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End of School
3 min read
Well, the school year is finally coming to a close. Students are finishing up their exams this week; 8th graders graduate on Wednesday and we throw the Seniors out (with much love and fond wishes, of course) on Friday. As I teach both, I get the non-coveted "opportunity" to attend both. Huzzah.
My first year teaching sure has been interesting though. Hired to teach Latin, I got thrown into teaching 8th grade Reading and 7th grade Religion as well. There were some interesting moments. For the Religion class, I was 100% using another teacher's lesson plans. She was teaching the same class, and had taught it before so it rather made sense to do this. Word of advice for aspiring teachers: NEVER do this. There is nothing quite like getting the lesson plans for a certain day's classes five minutes before you need to teach it. But the kids in that class were absolutely fantastic, so it worked out alright.
Less than fantastic were a few of my 8th graders. Don't get me wrong, I still really liked the kids...they just drove me up the wall. And a couple of them had the ability to just be out-and-out jerks. Just today, during exams, one of them got in serious trouble with me for turning around, completely out of the blue, and calling another student a very offensive name. Seriously? I work at a Catholic school- this just doesn't happen in the classroom.
On the other hand, they were a very bright group when they wanted to be. And ALWAYS engaged, both asking and answering questions.
Finally, my beloved Latin classes. I will really miss some of the students in these classes, as some are graduating and others are just jumping ship over to Spanish. I really believe I had both some of the brightest and some of the hardest working students in the school in those classes. And they were always incredibly forgiving as I struggled to figure out the best way to teach them.
So. In short, it's been a good first year. I've learned a lot- about how to relate to my students and how just to teach in general.
Next year, I'll be teaching 7th grade English and more Latin. It's exciting
This summer will consist of planning for next year, a soon-to-happen Epic family trip to California (more on this later), and hopefully many photo-taking opportunities.
It will be a much needed break
As for now, check out the new lioness photo I've posted. I wouldn't say it's my best ever, but I think it's fairly good. I've gotten to really like the few photos I'm able to get of animals looking straight at the camera...
And hopefully I'll be able to catch up with everyone here on DA!
My first year teaching sure has been interesting though. Hired to teach Latin, I got thrown into teaching 8th grade Reading and 7th grade Religion as well. There were some interesting moments. For the Religion class, I was 100% using another teacher's lesson plans. She was teaching the same class, and had taught it before so it rather made sense to do this. Word of advice for aspiring teachers: NEVER do this. There is nothing quite like getting the lesson plans for a certain day's classes five minutes before you need to teach it. But the kids in that class were absolutely fantastic, so it worked out alright.
Less than fantastic were a few of my 8th graders. Don't get me wrong, I still really liked the kids...they just drove me up the wall. And a couple of them had the ability to just be out-and-out jerks. Just today, during exams, one of them got in serious trouble with me for turning around, completely out of the blue, and calling another student a very offensive name. Seriously? I work at a Catholic school- this just doesn't happen in the classroom.
On the other hand, they were a very bright group when they wanted to be. And ALWAYS engaged, both asking and answering questions.
Finally, my beloved Latin classes. I will really miss some of the students in these classes, as some are graduating and others are just jumping ship over to Spanish. I really believe I had both some of the brightest and some of the hardest working students in the school in those classes. And they were always incredibly forgiving as I struggled to figure out the best way to teach them.
So. In short, it's been a good first year. I've learned a lot- about how to relate to my students and how just to teach in general.
Next year, I'll be teaching 7th grade English and more Latin. It's exciting
This summer will consist of planning for next year, a soon-to-happen Epic family trip to California (more on this later), and hopefully many photo-taking opportunities.
It will be a much needed break
As for now, check out the new lioness photo I've posted. I wouldn't say it's my best ever, but I think it's fairly good. I've gotten to really like the few photos I'm able to get of animals looking straight at the camera...
And hopefully I'll be able to catch up with everyone here on DA!
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Llamas and Team Jacob
1 min read
Words cannot properly describe how horribly amused I am right now 
Today is also the first day of Spring Break for the high school I teach at... Over a week off! No getting up at 5:30 or staying out until 10 for play practice! Yay!!!
New photos are pending
For now though, I believe it is time to just relax.
...
~runs off to pin llama badges everywhere~
Today is also the first day of Spring Break for the high school I teach at... Over a week off! No getting up at 5:30 or staying out until 10 for play practice! Yay!!!
New photos are pending
For now though, I believe it is time to just relax.
...
~runs off to pin llama badges everywhere~
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Gone Since Forever
1 min read
I feel like I've been horribly MIA...
...actually, I know this to be true. As I just signed on and found -to be precise- 9,117 deviations and -less precise- hundreds of backlogged messages.
9,117.
...~pulls out my deviantart-viewing glasses~
So yeah. Have been busy. Students keep doing their homework, taking their tests, and expecting me to grade them and get it all back to them in a timely manner. It's totally cutting into my DevArt time.
But next week is Spring Break! I'm hoping to get to visit some zoos and go on some walks (now that all the snow is melted and gone) so expect some pictures soon!
And for now, I'm going to go try and catch up on all of yours
...actually, I know this to be true. As I just signed on and found -to be precise- 9,117 deviations and -less precise- hundreds of backlogged messages.
9,117.
...~pulls out my deviantart-viewing glasses~
So yeah. Have been busy. Students keep doing their homework, taking their tests, and expecting me to grade them and get it all back to them in a timely manner. It's totally cutting into my DevArt time.
But next week is Spring Break! I'm hoping to get to visit some zoos and go on some walks (now that all the snow is melted and gone) so expect some pictures soon!
And for now, I'm going to go try and catch up on all of yours
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We're Off to See the Wizard!
2 min read
So. After helping out with my school's production of "Willy Wonka" last semester and discovering that co-directing a play was the equivalent of a black-hole sucking in and devouring every bit of my spare time, I decided I wouldn't help out with any more plays. At least not during my first year teaching.
Then on Monday I found myself in the drama room, volunteering to help with the high school production of "The Wizard of Oz".
Oops?
So I spent Tuesday afternoon and evening at auditions, then at Panera with the director as we hashed out who would play which part. Didn't get home until 7:30.
The chaos has begun.
All in all, I'm rather excited though. "Willy Wonka" was -when it wasn't exhausting - a lot of fun. And we seem to have an amazing cast for Oz. We actually have guys playing all of the male rolls...a rare feat for our school. In the last couple of years, there seems to have been a ban set on guys joining theater... We're rather excited to see that might be changing
Oh! And the most exciting part... we're hiring people to set up some sort of system thing (I don't pretend to understand the specifics >.> ) so that our actors can actually fly! Glinda will fly in, the Wicked Witch will fly around on her broomstick, Dorothy will get carried off by actually flying monkeys...
It'll be fantastic
Then on Monday I found myself in the drama room, volunteering to help with the high school production of "The Wizard of Oz".
Oops?
So I spent Tuesday afternoon and evening at auditions, then at Panera with the director as we hashed out who would play which part. Didn't get home until 7:30.
The chaos has begun.
All in all, I'm rather excited though. "Willy Wonka" was -when it wasn't exhausting - a lot of fun. And we seem to have an amazing cast for Oz. We actually have guys playing all of the male rolls...a rare feat for our school. In the last couple of years, there seems to have been a ban set on guys joining theater... We're rather excited to see that might be changing
Oh! And the most exciting part... we're hiring people to set up some sort of system thing (I don't pretend to understand the specifics >.> ) so that our actors can actually fly! Glinda will fly in, the Wicked Witch will fly around on her broomstick, Dorothy will get carried off by actually flying monkeys...
It'll be fantastic
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