Tuesday, September 16, 2008

School School School...

Somehow blogger is not blocked at school. I thought it was, but maybe it's from getting here through links instead of going straight to it. Either way, that's a good thing.

I am in office systems right now. I'm about a week and a half to two weeks ahead of most of the class. Which means free time for me.

I finished reading Dumbing Us Down on Sunday. It was as amazing as I thought it would be. I ended up not highlighting much, maybe a dozen or so points. It is definitely a book I will read a couple more times.

I started reading Lolita. I have no idea why it's taken me so long to read this book. I have seen both versions of the movie already but I'm anxious to read the book.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Current thoughts

Brian starting a new blog made me want to start updating this thing more often. Here are the things I've been thinking of lately:

  • Seeing people outside makes me happy. One day this week while canoeing during PE I saw a mom and her young son at the beach. The kid wasn't at daycare or preschool and the mom wasn't at work; they were just enjoying a quiet day at the beach together. As we were leaving I also saw a man come to the park, sit on the pier, and start eating his lunch. No ipod, no phone, just eating and looking at the lake.
  • I've been in school about a month now and I think the most practical thing I've learned is how to rescue people who have capsized in their canoe.
  • I've been reading Dumbing Us Down (John Taylor Gatto) and it's great. I do get annoyed though by how many people ask if I'm reading it for school when they see it, even though "The Hidden Curriculum of Complusory Schooling" sounds mighty anti-school to me. They ask a lot when I hilight stuff too. I just like hilighting in my books. I marked stuff all over in The Art of War.
  • I'm ready for all this rain to end. It's meant a lot of canceled canoeing days (the one fun thing in school) and bad internet connections. Rainy weather makes me want to curl up with a book and lots of blankets, but of course school doesn't allow for that.
  • This is a busy weekend for me. I spent five straight hours at the dojo today. Tomorrow I'll spend five hours at the tambura club.
  • At karate the dad of one of the kids I teach a lot thanked me for always helping his son. That made my day. =)