As anticipated, this was a packed month that brought about a major change in my life as Katrina, Peter, and their family moved out of their house in Michigan and into our house in Alaska. This meant that I once again spent a significant amount of August outside of Alaska (or just Outside). In fact this month started with Janelle and I having some extremely long layovers as we dealt with a cancellation and multiple changed flights on our way to Michigan. Here are some of the main events that followed that first day:

-My friend, Nathan Erfurth, finally received some good news as the judge dismissed six of the charges against him. It's not the end of his legal troubles, but it's a sign that even the judge can see the prosecution's case to the grand jury was presented in a misleading way. Despite letting the other charges go forward, the judge noted that the "evidence" was against him is quite flimsy, relying mostly on a poorly recorded conversation whose transcript is in serious doubt.
-Soon after arriving in Michigan, we discovered that we had to change our plans for heading back to Alaska. Peter ended up flying up with Janelle and the kids. Katrina had to drive their minivan up, and I suddenly found myself driving the largest truck (although it did still steer like a van) I have ever driven.
-As much as I want the U.S. to switch to the metric system for sound, logical reasons, I have to say that I prefer our speed limits to Canada's.
-I caught a cold (thankfully, a mild one) just as Katrina and I headed up.
-We both listened to The Lord of the Rings on audio book with Andy Serkis performing the reading. He's absolutely amazing, but his rendition of Treebeard reading Entish poetry was definitely not the best thing to listen to while driving through the flat lands of Saskatchewan.  
-My teaching nightmares came back in full force.
-My feeds have been flooded with friends of mine sharing dubious memes that play on their sympathies or fears. 
-My district is talking about a cell phone ban for students--which I am strongly against. 
-I actually felt comfortable with my plans at the start of this year. It helped that this was one of the first years that I've worked here that I wasn't having to teach a class that I hadn't taught the year before.
-I voted in Alaska's open primary.
-I've had to start "snoozing" friends on Facebook due to their increasingly vile political posts.
-Katrina and Peter moved in enough that we are able to park in the garage--if Peter isn't working on a project.
-A number of my family and friends had to deal with deaths, injury, or cancer these past couple of weeks. My prayers are with them and their families during these difficult times. 
-I took part in my first union executive board meeting--let's just say that it was everything that I thought it would be, but there were a couple of pleasant surprises.
-I held two after-school recruitment meetings that went fairly well: one for my schools' drama, debate, and forensics (DDF) program, and one for my Spring Break Japan Trip.
-I've mostly managed to successfully transition my daily exercise routine from the summer to the school (and meetings) schedule.
-I've been enjoying the Hogwarts Legacy video game more than I expected.

It was certainly a busy month. September looks to be pretty full as well.. It seems that this school year will be going at a rapid pace throughout. 
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I've long held the goal to exercise for a little bit nearly every day of the week. Last year, I made it part of my New Year's resolution point sheet that I would earn a point every week that I exercised for at least fifteen minutes on at least four different days. I have been frequently unsuccessful. In fact, I don't know if I made that goal for a single week last year.

This year, I kept the resolution on the sheet and promised that I would do significantly better. For the first half of the year, I did not. By summer break, I decided that I had to force the issue and that I would try to exercise for at least 15 minutes six days out of the week. My exercises are relatively mundane, and I started small with the plan to slowly ramp my way up through the summer. I alternated exercises to help with muscle fatigue and boredom.

One day, I would do rotating sets of push ups, sit ups, and squats. On the second day, I would do lunges, kettlebell swings, and reverse sit ups. I chose exercises that I knew how to do, had the equipment (if necessary) to do, and could do without getting dizzy or light headed (for the most part). I started at 50 of each exercise a day in sets of 10 (i.e. 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, and 10 squats five times), and it took over 30 minutes and exhausted me. However, my plan was to add 5 more to the total each week until I got to 100 (five sets of 20). 

There were times that this did not work, such as when I was in Missouri and when I was in Michigan. However, I managed to get to my five sets of 20 the week before school started. I have held it there and plan to do so for the foreseeable future as fitting in exercise time during the school year has been a significant challenge. The routines are taking me about 20 to 25 minutes (the lunges take more time as I'm trying to be extra cautious with my knees). 

It's making a difference. I don't have to drag myself off the floor after doing sit ups or reverse sit up like I had to even a month ago. I'm making it up and down stairs without getting winded. Most importantly, my resting heart rate is coming back down. Sure, there's probably a more fine-tuned program that I could use, but I'm keeping it simple so that I have a better chance of staying with it.

I'm going to Japan!

I just finished sending out another batch of emails and am quite tired, so I'm going to keep this short (for me).

Today, I gave my final recruitment presentation for my upcoming Japan trip which will take place this coming spring break. My excitement has been building ever since I made the decision that Japan would be my next destination almost two years ago. It has significantly increased since I started refreshing what little Japanese I knew and learning even more on Duolingo at the beginning of this year. However, getting to go through that presentation again with its details about our itinerary took me to entirely new heights.

191 days left!

I seem to be away from home a lot of evenings these first few weeks of school. I knew that I would be gone more often as I now have meetings every other Tuesday (or so) due to my new position in my union as a member of the executive board. I also knew that I would have more evenings taken with the resumption of DDF and in the preparation for the Japan trip during spring break. Still, it's one thing to know how busy a week can get, and another to experience it. 

For example, yesterday I had a union meeting (technically two) that went from 5 PM until 8:30. Today I had a meeting for the parents of DDF members. I was back at the school at 5:45 and left for home at about 7:15. I expect a similar schedule tomorrow for my final recruitment meeting for my Japan trip. 

Next week, we have Monday off, but there's a union BBQ after school on Friday which I will leave early to attend some of the Homecoming football game before heading to the school for the tailgate party (where DDF might have some sort of concessions going). I've also signed up to chaperone the Homecoming dance on Saturday evening. 

Each of these activities are worth doing and are often rewarding in their own right. I just need to pace myself and make certain to schedule in some down time--which I have managed to do here and there. As is, I feel like I've been on the run since the end of July.

Some bad things have happened to good people in my life. Last week, a friend of mine lost her husband, and a cousin of mine lost a brother. Today, one of my friend's sons was diagnosed with leukemia, and mother mother-in-law fell and broke her other hip. Other friends and family of mine are still dealing with other issues (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, financial, legal, etc.) from further back. All of them are in my prayers, and I hope that they will be in yours as well.

Thus, I feel a little guilty that my life is going so well at the moment. I have wonderful friends whom I get to see with relative frequency. My daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren are now living with us and are frequently filling my life with joy. My children all seem to be doing well. I have an amazingly gorgeous and intelligent wife who's willing to put up with me. This school year has started really strong and filled me with energy. I love where I live and what I do.

I don't deserve this kind of blessed life. There are people who are better than me who have not been as fortunate. On occasion, I worry that a "bill" might come due for this level of imbalance. However, I'm usually able to drop the worry as I know that it will not help anything but will instead just deprive me of enjoying the current moment. 

When the time comes, I hope that I will have the strength to face the future challenges thrown my way with at least half of the grace that I have seen my friends and family handle their difficulties.

We've not fully settled into our full day-to-day routines despite having been in them for almost a week, but having nine people (three of them under five years old) in the same house has been reaching a level of normalcy. For me, one of my favorite parts is having the grandchildren welcome me when I come home as they yell out "Baba, Baba, where have you been?!" or something similar. The largest downside has been that the youngest is a little too enthusiastic and rough with the pets which has led Starbuck to become a bit defensive around him (which has led to us locking her in the kennel on at least one occasion). 

I was, however, astonished on Sunday when Peter informed me that Katrina was in the process of parking Janelle's and my vehicles in the garage. Sure, there are more boxes in the house, but they made a herculean effort to have enough space for the vehicles and still some walking paths to move around the garage. I had thought that I would be scraping frost off the windshield before I would be able to park in there again.

I have to say that this makes me even more delighted about our living situation. 

Today's second reading contained the nefarious verses from Paul's letter to the Ephesians where he states that "wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything." As our pastor indicated in his homily, this is not about power, but about the relationship that we should have with one another and with God. Paul deliberately ties this conversation about husbands and wives with Christ and us. Husbands and wives are to be willing to give up everything for their spouses, just as Christ was willing to sacrifice everything for us. 

It is not a coincidence that today's Liturgy of the Word ties this reading, which talks about husbands and wives being of one flesh, with the Gospel of John that concludes the Bread of Life Sermon where Jesus explicitly states that we must eat His flesh to be fully joined with Him. As a result, many of His disciples at the time leave Him and return to their former lives--the ideas are too difficult for them to follow--yet His apostles remain. 

Many people turn away from Jesus' teachings because they are so difficult. Sadly, many of them still claim to be Christians even though they openly abandon the teachings of Christ. Many politicians talk about loving Christianity and evoke God's name while advocating policies that turn away the stranger, abuse the poor, and refuse to clothe or feed the naked and hungry. They refuse to be subservient to Christ and thus turn away from the complete love that He offers them.

I say "they" and "them," but I struggle with Christ's teachings as well. In my case, it's not so much in believing the ideas behind them, but rather in turn those beliefs into action. This is yet another area of mine that requires work. Perhaps if we pray for one another in these matters, we can overcome our weaknesses, become subservient to Christ, and accept Christ's complete love.

The only accounts I block on social media are those that are clearly not operating legitimately. Similarly, I have not "unfriended" anyone on Facebook. I have, however, "snoozed" friends from time to time when they start posting large amounts of content that tempt me to respond. This is particularly common as we approach national elections. 

It seems that Kamala Harris' candidacy has really triggered Trump supporters whom I otherwise believe to be good at heart. The insults, the lies, the malicious AI generated pictures, and the abject cruelty is more than I want to deal with right now--especially since they just try to crudely justify their open bigotry when I confront them about it. Thus, I've elected to "snooze" several people who have been especially prolific in their posting of extremist content. 

My hope is that, when I start to see posts from them again after 30 days, they will have managed to clam down ... or at least have less time on their hands. Otherwise, I will likely have to snooze them again a couple more times. That will probably be the safer option.

Connor had a desire to watch this classic retelling of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." Supposedly, it had something to do with scenes from it that he's been seeing on Tik-Tok. I had been planning on going to bed early, but the movie quickly sucked me in. Certainly, there are scenes and jokes in it that do not hold up so well, but it's still a genuinely funny movie. 

I will say that it's a little strange to see late (and great) Heath Ledger considering his role as the Joker. This was especially true every time that he smiled. Despite the wild differences between the characters played and the time between them, I kept wondering if it was portions of this movie that made Nolan want to cast his in the iconic role that he played so convincingly.

I clearly stayed up too late watching the movie as I feel like there is more that I want to say about it, but nothing is coming to mind. I was glad that Connor said he enjoyed watching it. Despite now being tired, I'm glad that I stayed up to see it again.

I need to get to bed, and I don't have a solid topic to focus on for today's post. As I have been staring at my screen for more than fifteen minutes, I'm just going to list some of the possible topics that I've been mulling.  There are in no particular order.

-As energized as I'm feeling about this school year, I am still very much opposed to the 7-period a day schedule. It's too many classes during the day for students, and it significantly cuts prep time for teachers (which is the opposite of what has proven to be an effective recipe). Unfortunately, with the way the budget works, we don't have a better option while still trying to keep teachers employed and class sizes down.
-One good thing about Trump's popularity is that it has brought many of our country's issues with racism, misogyny, and other types of bigotry back into the national consciousness rather than pretending that they no longer exist or have been solved. Sadly, the support for him has clearly demonstrated that people I know hold and support those views.
-I'm disappointed that the Acolyte's second season has been cancelled. It was not the strongest Star Wars show, but it had some amazing moments. It would have been nice to see them build on their strengths. As is, it makes it feel like the haters win ... wait! Wasn't that supposed to be a main theme of the show?! How meta!
-Hogwarts Legacy has its weak points as a game, but it is an amazingly immersive story and chance for exploration in the world of the Harry Potter books. I'm only in the (long) early section of the game, but I'm enjoying it much more than I expected.

Yep. That's what I've got right now.

I had a great day today! I feel like I've had better and better starts to each school year nearly every year that I have taught (with the exceptions of 2019 when we were dealing with the possibility of a strike and 2020 when we were dealing with the ramifications of COVID-19 and the inconsistent policies that followed). Today, the students and staff seemed energized and ready to start a new school year. Even the more jaded students that I saw today managed to crack a smile before class was over. 

Here are some stats from my educational experience:
-Today marks my 27th year as a salaried educator (it does not count my student teacher or substitute teaching experiences).
-I have now served under 14 or 15 principals depending on whether I count Sarge Truesdell once or twice (since he was my principal at two different schools).
-This is the beginning of my 8th year at SoHi and 10th year teaching in Alaska.
-This year is only the 6th time (out of those 27 years) that I am only teaching courses that I've taught the previous school year--which might explain why I feel so prepared this time around.
-I'm still in the same classroom for a sixth year. Last year, I had made the personal record of being in the same classroom for five years as I had never been in the same classroom for more than four before then. Granted, I'm also teaching in my fourth school (not counting the college classes, substituting, or student teaching that I've done).

I'm not saying that this school year will be without its problems, but I would like to think that this first day is early showing of the positive direction that this year will go.

Yes. Yes, I am. There are still a few things that I'm going to work on tomorrow. There are still a few things that I'd like to get done by Friday, but I'm in good shape for tomorrow. I've even started getting my Drama, Debate, and Forensics (DDF) stuff organized for my earliest start yet to the season. 

We had our Open House at the high school tonight, and it only stoked my enthusiasm for tomorrow. While I tend not to sleep the best during the nights leading up to the start of school (last night, I dreamt that I had to perform in a play version of Downton Abbey as Thomas, and I didn't know any of my lines, nor was the Internet cooperating in helping me find the script), the fact is that I have come to look forward to the beginning of the school year more and more each year. Speaking with parents and students tonight was great as I saw a great deal of my own enthusiasm reflected in their eyes.

It's going to be a great day tomorrow, leading into a fantastic school year!

My plan for making plans is largely turning out as planned. Despite allowing myself to get distracted on more than one occasion, I'm making solid progress for all of my classes and am nearly set for at least this week--and even beyond in one case. I am having a little bit of difficulty in dealing with timing for my units as this school year's schedule is significantly different from last year's.

This is particularly true for both of my AP history classes. Not only are we starting a week later (thank heavens for that), but both of these classes' exams were moved from the second testing week to the first testing week. Basically, I'm losing out on two weeks of instruction and preparation for my students. It's not a deal-breaker, but it will certainly make our schedule tighter than I would like.

I have one class whose syllabus I need to finish so that I can have copies ready for day one. I would also like to get the first unit of each class up on Canvas (our learning management system). However, I feel as though I'm largely ready to tackle tomorrow's open house and at least the first day of school.

On an unrelated note, I hope that everyone in the local area remembers to vote in tomorrow's open primary if they have not already done so.

We have a new priest in our parish. In his first homily for us, he said that one of the most important words from today's Gospel according to John is the word "How?" In today's reading, Jesus tells the crowds that the bread that He will give is His flesh for the life of the world. The Jews use the word "How" as we so often do any time that God gives us His promise.

Jesus' answer is a repetition of what he He said in the beginning, just as it is so often when we ask, "How?" We ask it often too. When we are told that God can turn our lives around, we ask, "How?" When we are promised God can even work tragedy towards glorious ends, we ask, "How?" Even when we are promised that the world will become a better place, we display our disbelief rather than our trust that God will make all things new. 

The truth is that the answer to our disbelief is both simple and beyond our comprehension. Jesus gives us His flesh and blood as the bread and wine life. By trusting in Him, taking Him into our own selves, and remaining true to Him, all things are possible.