Blog Archives - The Land of the Weird

The Land of the Weird

Hay Tunnel

10/17/2017

The boys' Cub Scout pack went to the Hay Tunnel at Solid Rock (a nearby camp) this evening. Hay bales were stacked to form a three dimensional, multi-level labyrinth, complete with slides (one that led to the exit, one that looped back to the beginning, and a secret one--or so I was told), bridges, loops, and plenty of hiding places. Connor and Rowen had a blast.

Initially, I was worried about Rowen considering how fearful he can be (e.g. not wanting to get dressed unless someone else is present), but not only did he not freak out, he intentionally ditched some of his groups (including his brother) to further explore the tunnel-maze. As I was unwilling to go in (it looked uncomfortable even if my back wasn't still giving me problems), I spent some uncomfortable minutes at the exit wondering what happened to him as I saw his group members exit without him. When he did make it out, he told me that I didn't need to wait for him.

Add in a campfire with hot dogs and S'mores, and it was an enjoyable evening for the boys. I enjoyed watching them enjoy themselves. Still, I was ready to come home by the time they closed the hay tunnel so my toes could thaw.

Stereotypes

10/16/2017

In today's homeroom, we talked about stereotypes (actually, we've been talking about them for the past few weeks as I've really had to break up the lesson considering homeroom is only about 20 functional minutes long). For today's lesson, we were asked to share a video that talked about the phrase "like a girl." It generated some good conversation as well as some interesting questions regarding stereotypes. I've linked the video below (an Always ad).

The truth is that we use stereotypes as a type of protection. Our brains are largely tasked with the job of keeping us alive, and part of doing so requires recognizing threats. The problem is that the world is an amazingly large place and our brains, although amazing, can only process so much. To help with this, our brains take shortcuts, grouping people, places, and objects based off the limited clues that the brain has.

The problem is that the brain does so even when it is not a matter of survival. The trick is to not allow ourselves to take the lazy way out by simply accepting the stereotype that our brain hands to us, especially when the situation is non-threatening. We need to allow ourselves to look past our prejudices and look deeper at the people around us.

This is not an easy task, but it is necessary if we are going to stop the rhetoric of hate and judgement that plagues the human condition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs

The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

10/15/2017

Today's Gospel tells of a king who invites many people to his wedding feast. The people he originally invites refuse him. He then sends his servants to pick up anyone they can find, even the ditches, to come to his wedding feast. However, when there, the king notices that one of these new guests is not wearing wedding vestments and has him physically removed. "Many are invited, but few are chosen."

Today's homily says that the wedding vestment that the unfortunate guest refused to wear is the attitude and actions of Jesus Himself. God does not limit His reward of eternal life. We have all been invited to the feast. There are some who choose to outright ignore the call for one reason or another. However, this parable seems to warn against those who claim to answer the call, but do so without actually following the path that Jesus laid out us. This seems to address those of us who follow the rituals of our religions without living by the message that God again and again tries to tell us.

God wants us to love one another. Not just some of the time. Not just on Sundays. He wants us to live a life of love in every moment of our lives. That is the wedding vestment that is required of us.

Road Construction

10/14/2017

It turns out that the construction on the highway near our house is due to a two year project whose purpose is to put a left turn lane at our intersection. This fall, they are flattening the areas next to the highway with the intent to actually widen the road next year. In short, we need to put an fifteen flex minutes into any plans if we want to be sure to arrive there in time.

This should help traffic move more smoothly, and will eliminate some of the confusion and congestion that comes when people try to turn left at our intersection. Hopefully, this also reduces the chances for accidents. However, I've already seen two fender benders due to the construction. People need to pay better attention.

The dogs don't like the construction equipment. Even though we are a road (and forest) removed from the highway, some of these construction vehicles rumble at a frequency that can be heard in our house. Our dogs have diligently warned us each time this has happened.

I'll be happy when the construction is over.

Movie Night

10/13/2017

This week, we picked up the fifth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series as well as the movie Baby Driver. As Janelle had tonight off, but not tomorrow, we watched Pirates with dinner (and after), and Baby Driver after the boys went to bed. I enjoyed both of them.

Pirates was not the best of the series, the largest disappointment being the direction they took Jack Sparrow, but it did deal with a plot line that had bothered me in the previous movies. Maybe it was because of all the negative reviews, but despite its faults, I had fun watching the film (much like the fifth Transformers movie that I saw earlier this week). I'm pretty certain that they will make another in the near future.

Baby Driver was amazingly well filmed with a story and characters that hooked me all the way through. As over-the-top the entire movie was, it also felt real and believable. The twists and turns to the story felt like natural extensions of the characters and their journeys. It certainly earned it R rating, but not in a tasteless fashion. However, it is the soundtrack and how interwoven the music is with the movie that truly makes this movie a must see.

Overall, I would recommend seeing both films.

Video Game Trance

10/12/2017

When really involved in an interesting video game, I almost enter a meditative state. Like getting immersed in a good book, this state is partly about finding myself lost in the world that has been presented to me. However, this state goes beyond that, to the point that even the needs and aches of my physical body seem to fall to the background, not to show themselves until I emerge from the trance.

This obviously has negative repercussions. Many an argument between Janelle and me has started because I was given vital information while playing a game, vital information that I, of course, have no memory of. It can also push one's bladder to near bursting, or even make one unaware that a dog has decided to pee on one's leg.

However, there are some benefits. The biggest one, and the one most on my mind at the moment, is that it can help me ignore pain or discomfort. I've read a few articles that have talked about hospitals that use video games for this specific purpose. In my experience, the main problem is coming out of the trance to find that the pain is still there.

Sourdough

10/11/2017

As a part of our journey to eat healthier, Janelle has acquired sourdough starter and has been baking a wide variety of sourdough foods. While I did not think that I was much of a sourdough fan, I have been enjoying this experimental phase so far. These baked goods are still carbs, so I have to enjoy in moderation--which I sometimes succeed at doing.

There is something about have freshly made breads, biscuits, muffins, tortillas, etc. that simply raises my spirits. The baking seems particularly appropriate with the colder weather coming in. I'm also glad that the boys have these to snack on rather than the prepackaged stuff that they (and I) tend to reach for when we get home from school.

I just have to keep myself from overindulging.

On the Go

10/10/2017

I left school a little before 3:30 because there has been construction that holds traffic down to one lane on the way there. As normal, I was stopped twice, putting my total one-way idle time to around twenty minutes. I had last week's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me playing to keep my temper in check, and I only arrived a few minutes before the boys' bus did (around 4:05). We then got stuck again on the way back--not once, but twice ... again.

As the construction goes by the road that leads to my house, I did not detour home, but went right through it even though Trevor wasn't done with practice until 5pm. I took the extra time and stopped by Freddy's so the boys could see Janelle and I could pick up Baby Driver, the new Pirates of the Caribbean, and a new set of headphones for Rowen. We then went to the school to pick up Trevor a minute or two early as his rehearsal ended a bit sooner than normal.

We drove home and were again stopped by the construction ... twice. The second time was particularly maddening as we were the second car from the stop sign and thus had an unobstructed view of the hundred or so yards that went to our road and were completely empty for the ten to fifteen minutes that we had to contemplate them. Worse, my podcast had come to an end at the very beginning of the first stop.

We arrived at home a little before 5:30, and I immediately put the dinner that Janelle prepared for us into the oven. We changed, ate, and left by 6:15. This time the construction crews were gone. We dropped off Trevor for his fall concert and I took the boys to their Cub Scout meeting. Connor's Webelos group had cleanup duty, so we didn't leave the meeting until about 8 pm. We arrived to Trevor's concert just in time to hear the final song.

We then drove home, got the boys' lunches ready, and put them to bed. At that point, I turned on my computer and started writing this post.

It's been a full day.

Looking Forward

10/9/2017

I'm not one for wishing away time. As is, the hours, days, and months fly by much too fast for my liking. That said, I am rather excited about several events that are just over the near horizon.

Some of them are upcoming movies. Spider-man and Baby Driver are both out on DVD very soon--the first I know that I love, having seen it twice in the theater, the second I am pretty sure I will enjoy. Meanwhile Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League are both arriving in theaters in November. Again, I'm fairly certain I will like the first; however, the second has been looking better ever since Joss Whedon came on as director. Most importantly, Star Wars: The Last Jedi comes to theaters on Trevor's birthday. It has a new trailer out today that the director warns not to watch if you want to go into the movie fresh, so of course I watched it...twice...in the past few minutes.

We also have Katrina and Peter coming up around New Years. Janelle is trying to figure out if she can get all of those days off of work. I'm hoping that our winter will neither disappoint nor scare them.

Yesterday, we purchased our tickets for heading down to Michigan for Katrina and Peter's wedding. The boys have already been telling me what restaurants they want us to go to while we are down there. I just hope that things are not too crazy and we get a chance to enjoy the time with family and friends.

There is plenty to look forward to.

The Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

10/8/2017

Today's readings bring us to vineyards that have fallen into ruin despite the care and investment of the vineyard's owner. In the Gospel version of the story, Jesus foretells His own death when He tells how the tenants murder the vineyard owner's son when he comes to negotiate with them. These readings are rather bleak and serve as dire warnings of the times.

Each time I read these verses, I think about the state of the Earth which God put into our stewardship. I tell my own students in class that simply picking up their own messes is no longer enough in this world. We need to make the world a better place for our presence.

Yet, somehow, this has become a political issue, with people staring at the mess we have made and either saying that it is not our fault or, worse, that there is no mess to begin with. We are to be better tenants than this. While the readings from today are also allegorical for the followers of God and the state of their souls, we should not ignore the responsibility placed upon us.

We need to clean up our mess, lest the vineyard be taken away from us.

Transformers: The Last Knight

10/7/2017

The Michael Bay Transformer movies have continually fallen short of their potential. After five live action movies, none have been as good as the cartoon Transformers movie. That said, I still enjoy watching them for the spectacle, both the effects onscreen and the obvious enjoyment that my sons show while watching them.

For me, this movie brought in some interesting connections to the old cartoon series, including one major reveal that would only get old-school nerds such an myself excited: Unicron. Aside from that, I enjoyed the movie for its main draw: watching robots transform and fight. Some of the scenes were breathtakingly created. One could pause the screen at almost any point and have a shot worthy of being put on a poster.

This movie also brought in Arthurian legend (albeit corrupted) which is yet another series of stories that has yet to reach their theatrical potential (sorry, Excalibur fans, but the first two seasons of the BBC Merlin were really the closest to capture the true spirit of the legend). Of course, this Transformers movie retconned its origin story (yet again) to fit the Arthur story in and then did not fully develop it as it bumbled its way through the web of plots that it tried to develop. Trying to follow the twists and turns of this series is like trying to make sense of the Pirates of Caribbean sequels. Like those movies, I keep hoping for something better in the next film.

Despite Michael Bay's protestations that this is his last Transformers movie (a claim he's made after every sequel), this movie clearly sets up the next in the series. While it will no doubt fall short of expectations, the boys and I will probably watch, and enjoy watching, that one as well. However, I doubt I will ever run a marathon viewing of the series. There is only so much that I take in a single sitting.

Moon Rainbow

10/6/2017

No, this isn't the name of a new My Little Pony ... or, at least, I don't think it is. Rather, it is the phenomenon that Trevor and I witnessed this morning on our drive into school.

The full harvest moon was directly in our line of sight on the road that leads from our house. A group of light clouds were covering, but not obscuring it. Now, I am used to seeing a halo (and sometimes a double or even triple halo) around the moon in such a situation, but this time the halo was quite clearly showing the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and even violet of a rainbow. As the cloud formation was incomplete, the rainbow only formed about three fourths of a circle.

The rainbow coloring only lasted for a little while on our drive as our angle changed and the clouds moved. As we got closer to town, we passed through an area of rain that probably accounted for the phenomenon. I've only seen such moon rainbows a few times in my life, so seeing it today felt like a good omen.

The wonders of our universe continue to astonish me.

PFD

10/5/2017

Our first Permanent Fund Dividend deposit in over two decades just hit our bank accounts. The Permanent Fund is a group of long term investments funded by revenue that comes to Alaska due to oil revenue. A portion of the return on those investments is divided among citizens of Alaska who have lived in residency for the current and previous years. This year, the amount is $1,100 per person (there is some frustration about how that amount was determined).

Like many people, we are putting a large portion of our children's PFDs into savings towards college. Most of what is left over will be going towards airline tickets for Katrina's upcoming wedding. Meanwhile, most area businesses are putting out specials to get people to spend this sudden windfall.

Its interesting to see the beginning of October become such a joyous time. My students were talking about their plans for the amounts that their parents were letting them spend. Janelle said Freddy's prepared itself in advance for today's onslaught of spenders. It's given today a festive atmosphere.

I hope that political forces do not destroy this good thing that Alaska has going for it. It seems like every year they try to pass some amendment or legislation to dismantle it in some way. Meanwhile, I'm just glad that I can once again say that I was "paid to be an Alaskan."

Changes

10/4/2017

As I have been working out the kinks in my classes this quarter, I have gotten a better and better understanding of changes that I will need to make to the courses next year. I am still in the process of figuring out my point system for grades. Currently, I am erring on the side of giving out too many points rather than too few (however, I still have those students who are just determined to not do anything). I need to figure out the right balance that both challenges and encourages students while still giving them an accurate idea of their understanding and skills.

I certainly need to work on my pacing. As I am split between departments, I am only part of half of each of their department meetings. I am continually surprised to find where I am content-wise in my courses compared to the other instructors. When I feel like I'm behind, I later discover that I have shot ahead. When I feel like I'm ahead, I suddenly find out that I am lagging behind. At least with this year as a basis, I will have a better idea of how to pace my classes next year.

I have yet to implement the digital badges portion of the class, and I have left some omissions in my recording-keeping that will make awarding badges more of a challenge that it should have been. I still plan on going forward with them, but there are a few kinks that I still need to work out (like how to create and access the actual badges).

They say that a sign of a good teacher is the willingness to embrace new ideas and make changes as needed. Right now, the need for changes makes me feel more like a frazzled, frantic teacher.