He is quite happy with the results. He had felt confident coming out of the test, and I'm happy to see that his confidence was not misplaced. He's certainly come a long way from the kid whose throat and back hurt every time we tried to get him to read.
Trevor just received his results from his ACT, and they were very good. Not surprisingly, he scored the highest in reading and science. Meanwhile, his writing, although still good, was the area that needs the most improvement. Thankfully, he scored more than high enough to qualify for the Alaska Performance Scholarship--which will be quite a help for him as he currently wants to attend UAF (University of Alaska Fairbanks).
He is quite happy with the results. He had felt confident coming out of the test, and I'm happy to see that his confidence was not misplaced. He's certainly come a long way from the kid whose throat and back hurt every time we tried to get him to read.
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It's Katrina's birthday. That my daughters are now the same age I was when I started my career is a little disconcerting to me. It wasn't that long ago that I was reading her stories when she fell asleep on my lap. Or that I heard her and her sister playing games in their ultrasonic pitched voices (I'm not talking their normal, cute voices, but play voices that were pitched a few octaves higher).
What is really getting to me is that it is only one month (exactly one month) away from her changing her name from Marks to Maurer. This wedding has been on the horizon for so long that I didn't notice how close it was getting. While I am certainly excited for her, I can't help but sympathize with the Steve Martin character on Father of the Bride. There's a scene where he sees his daughter as a six-year-old saying, "I met a man... and he's wonderful and brilliant, and we're getting married!" I just hope that I don't get too choked up. Connor’s concert was last Thursday and Trevor had his final concert of the school year tonight. Both concerts were quite entertaining. I am very grateful for the hard work and dedication of the teachers who have brought music into the lives of these students. It is not a job that I envy.
Today was the first day of the final week of school. For most of my students, it was the final Monday that I would have with them this school year. That said, there is still a lot to do before the end, and some of my students seem to think vacation has already started.
Even though I still have more to do in the next seven school days, I'm already thinking about next school year. There were a lot of things that worked well for me this year. Conversely, there were several things that I feel need improvement. However, much of that is going to be on hold as we switch gears from school-oriented to wedding-oriented. It's amazing to think that we will be in Michigan in less than two weeks. I know that there's a lot to do before that happens ... but I'll let Janelle worry about that. Today's homily was full of thought-provoking points, but one really stood out to me. Our pastor referred to the volcanic activity in Hawaii. There is a great deal of video showing the unstoppable flow of lava. These molton surges push through anything in their path.
As powerful as those lava flows are, they pale in comparison to the love of God. His love pushes past all barriers and can reach to any corner of the universe. However, unlike the lava, His love surrounds us, waiting for our acceptance. Once we do, we then become a part of this awesome force. This is what Jesus asked of His disciples before His Ascension. It is also what He asks of us. He wants us to move out into the world and be a force of unstoppable love. The sun is now up when I get up for work in the morning, and it doesn't set until after 10:30. There are a great deal of positives to the increased daylight, but there are certainly some drawbacks as well.
The biggest problem is that this messes with my sleep schedule. In the winter, there's no problem going to bed on time, or even early. However, I'm looking out my windows to a yard full of daylight, but it's past my sons' bedtime. This also makes it easy for me to lose track of time as the daylight no longer matches my internal clock. We also have the issue that our living room--which is fully of windows--can get blazing hot even with the outside temperature in the 40s or 50s. In the summer, we often have to hide out on the much cooler ground floor level. Still, it's nice not to bump into everything in my bedroom when I get up in the morning. The light is also quite a boost to my overall energy (when it's not raining). It's also quite convenient to have such a wider range of time to get things done around outside. It's going to be interesting making the switch to Michigan sunlight for a little while and then coming back just before the Summer Solstice. Talk about messing with my internal clock ... At Connor's request, I opened up my old ZSNES emulator and showed him how to access the games. While the purpose was to demonstrate how he could do so on his own computer, I quickly found myself reabsorbed into some of the classics. In polished off Actraiser in just a couple days, and have since been playing its spiritual successor (as its actual sequel completely missed the mark): Soulblazer.
This game is one of my all-time favorites even if the controls are not that fluid and the action gets a little repetitive. The idea of slowly rebuilding and repopulating a world by dungeon crawling and releasing the spirits of those trapped is an addictive gameplay loop that only a few games have tried (such as the Dark Cloud games). Not only was Soulblazer one of the first (if not the first) game to do this, it did so with good humor and an interesting (if childishly fantastic) tale. Certainly, modern games have come a long way from these older diversions. Still, there's something comforting about going back a game I love and playing through it one more time. Thankfully, this time I have the Internet to remind me of boss patterns and hidden items that I had forgotten. After all, there's no reason to go too "old school." I am a fan of corny jokes as any of my students could tell you. Quite often things that people post on social media end up being repeated on my wall. For example, in honor of Star Wars day I had, "After ten minutes of watching him fumble with chopsticks in the Chinese restaurant, Obi Wan finally said, 'Use the forks, Luke!'"
Connor's elementary concert/performance today was based on the concept of having fun with goofy stories, tongue-twisters, and groan-worthy jokes. Unfortunately, there were quite a number of them that I could not hear as the kids' nerves had them shooting through their lines like little rockets. At least one, however, will make my board: "A: Do you want me to tell you another joke about cattle? B: Nah. If you herd one, you herd them all." Sure, some of them end up a little dark, like this one that one of my cousin's posted: "My wife opened the car door for me. It would have been a nice gesture if we weren't going 70 mph." Or even this Star Wars one: "My wookie steak was cooked fine, but it was still too Chewie." Yet those are the ones that my students seem to like the best. So, for those of you who have been putting up goofy jokes, both my students and I thank you. I noticed a week ago that the tree outside my classroom had started to bud. Yesterday, I noticed that its buds had turned to tiny leaves and that the trees near my home (which is at a higher elevation) have begun to bud now too. These sights fill my heart with a joy akin to my first sighting of a snowflake (and some of you know how much I love snow).
It is a time of rebirth. This is one of the reasons that green is my favorite color (that and I switched from blue to green when Luke's lightsaber made the change). Spring shows us that there is life after even the harshest winter. This brings feelings of hope and joy to my heart. It probably helps that spring signals the coming end of the school year too ... With the final Cub Scout meeting of the school year, one more weekly activity is now set aside for the summer. I don't know if I am ready to go through with it again next year. The past few months have been particularly rough due to the timeframe for my classwork.
Still, the boys seem to mostly enjoy it, and it gets them out of the house and away from electronics for at least a few hours each week. It also gives them the opportunity to be with other children and to try new tasks that they might otherwise not even know about. In short, as long as they are willing to go, I suppose that I am too. The major projects for my classes this quarter are finally completed. While I still have a couple of small assignments left this week, I currently feel as though a massive burden has been lifted. Once this week is over, I have two weeks with no coursework before my next (and nearly final) class begins.
I worry a bit about what working on my dissertation will involve and whether I am truly prepared for such an undertaking. However, for now those concerns are pushed to the future--no matter how rapidly approaching that future might be. At the moment I just need to work on the small assignments for my classes, finishing up the next couple of weeks at the high school, and doing whatever we need to finish before Katrina's wedding. It feels like I'm on vacation already. Today, we had the pleasure of not only having four First Communicants, but also the Archbishop as a presider. In his homily, he talked about the importance of the Eucharist to Catholics. To us, Communion is about physically being in the presence of, and receiving, Christ. As such, we adore Him and the act of receiving Him.
The Archbishop said that if we put that much importance in the Eucharist itself and also in the act of Communion, then we should also revere those who have taken the Eucharist. As God is now physically within each person who has taken part in the sacrament, we should treat each person as being part of God as well. I found this particularly difficult today. There is a person who I have trouble being around who was present at church today. The moment I saw this person, I thought about the ways that the person had wronged me in the past. I found myself replaying those situations in my mind rather than staying focused on the service. When the Archbishop made his statement about needing to treat those around us like we would Christ, I almost felt like I had been slapped. I wish I could say that I immediately amended my behavior, but I did not. However, I became much more aware of my thoughts and made a greater effort to "let it go." By the time Rowen went up for his First Communion, my mind was in the place that it was supposed to be, and I felt as though a burden had been lifted. I hope that I can keep this in mind the next time I find myself in a similar situation. Tomorrow's a big day for Rowen. Not only is he turning eight years old (man, has that time flown by), but he also celebrates his First Eucharist tomorrow. His suit is all ready, and he has practiced how to accept the Eucharist and what he's supposed to say--both when receiving and when introducing himself to the congregation.
I have to say that I'm a little nervous for him. My First Communion was with a relatively large group and it was served by our church priest. Rowen's group has only four kids (including him) and will be served by the Archbishop of Anchorage. That said, it will all go well, and he has gifts and a pretty fancy cake to look forward to. This will be his first birthday party where he was able to invite more than family and friends of the family. He still kept it pretty limited, but he's quite excited. This is the big weekend for the two classes I am taking this quarter. Both of them have culmination papers due on Sunday. Considering that Sunday is also Rowen's First Communion AND his birthday, I am going to try to get at least one of them done tomorrow.
I have to say that this has been my most stressful term in my time at Walden. With over a hundred pages of reading and multiple posts each week--sometimes even on weeks when we have major assignments due (like this week)--while still trying to plan and grade for the classes that I teach, I have been going a little crazy. It's a good thing that the classes end next week, a week which will also see the end of Cub Scouts on Tuesdays for the school year and that no longer has a Faith Formation obligation on Wednesdays. I look forward to taking a deep breath at the end of that week. I just have to get through this weekend first. |
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