And.....relax.

Hello fellow travelers. 

Today is the first day of my winter break - 3 weeks of blissful, work-free sloth. Going to head off to California on Monday to see my sister and then my mom.  I'm looking forward to stuffing my face with real Mexican food and other western goodies I can't find here in Taiwan.  Then, of course, there is the grocery store/Walmart experience, which is always a highlight.  As many of my expat friends know, there's nothing quite so over-whelming as walking into an American supermarket after being abroad for a few years. Most of the time, I simply wander the aisles slavering over the sheer variety of stuff available.  Favorite places in the store: the deli and the cereal aisle!

Anyway, it'll be a good trip.  I'm planning on renting a car this time and driving from San Francisco to my mom's house in Crescent City.  I haven't done a good road trip in years, and I'm looking forward to the drive.  It's been a long time since I've had a car. I got a small taste of driving when Ian and I were in Guam, and I've been thinking about it a lot since. The only thing I hope for is that the rental car has a way for me to plug in my iPod.  No way do I want to drive that far listening only to the radio - shiver!

The How-low-can-you-go Limbo

Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump. Rumors of a Trump/Palin ticket circulate.  It's the end of the world.

Feelin' The Bern!

I admit it. I am very skeptical of Bernie Sanders' chances at pulling off a victory in the upcoming election, but I am attracted to much of what he has to say. There is a problem with some of the math when it comes to how he is going to fund many of his domestic proposals, especially with a Congress that is guaranteed to be hostile to most everything he wants to do. That said, if all the people who say they want to vote for Sanders actually vote for him, he may have a fighting chance.

New Music

Psychedelic Stoner goodness from Australia:  Hobo Magic

 

Mellowing in the New Year

Partying like I'm Wilford Brimley

The year has come in with a whisper. Rebecca and I spent a pleasant evening soaking in a hot spring. We got home just in time to watch the New Years Eve count down, and then we went to bed.  I didn't mind in the least. It would seem that the Road Warrior years have finally come to an end.

Resolutions have been made.  The perennial favorites - lose weight and get better organized - made the list of course. Getting back in the pool is one that needs to happen.  I was very busy this semester and got behind, which made me feel that I didn't have the time to swim (I can only use the school pool at lunch time, which I used to try and catch up...unsuccessfully I might add).  I actually miss it quite a bit, so that is, of the three, the most likely to happen. I may try to get some yoga or something done in the evening with Rebecca, but it's hard.  We both have brutal commutes to and from work, so it's really hard to find the energy after two hours on one bus or another.  Half the time it's difficult even to decide what to have for dinner.

The getting organized thing is going to be a struggle as it has been my entire life. I find that I get  distra...SQUIRREL!!

Umm...Where was I? Oh yeah.  Getting organized.  I asked Rebecca to find me a desk calendar, the big kind that lay on the desk.  It may help if I can write things down and have them staring me in the face every day.  The little organizer books are useless to me. I write stuff in them and then leave the damn thing at home or lose it. I think the last time I moved, I threw away five or six datebooks with entries on the first page and then...nothing. Why don't you use your phone or get a tablet, you may ask.  For that, well...Oooh look!  Facebook!

Ahem...Uh...yeah...Getting organized...ahem.  Anyway, you get the picture.  Nuff sed.

Learning that Niceness Never Pays (or the Blind Leading the Stupid) 

One of my 10th grade Lit students learned a tough lesson this past week. Over the course on the 2nd term, all the students have had to write essays on the stories we've been reading.  My student, who I will call Fric, is  a good kid and very diligent.  He always has his assignments done on time and has a generally good attitude in class.  His friend, whom I'll call Frac, asked Fric if he could look at his (Fric's) essays to get an idea of what to write about.  As it turns out, Frac is an idiot. Frac took Fric's essays (three in total) and handed them in to his teacher, Mrs. Wu, as his own work. Now, none of this would have come to light had not Frac, in a moment of pure, unadulterated stupidity, handed in the last essay of the term without changing the names on the essay. In other words, Frac handed in an essay that had Fric's name still on it.  Frac had not changed a single, solitary thing.  To make matters worse, Frac, when confronted with this issue, was unconcerned and attitudinal.

All this happened last Tuesday.  I wasn't going to see Fric again until after the long weekend, so I figured I should talk to him and tell him about the mountain that was about to fall on his head.  I asked one of Fric's classmates that, if he saw Fric, to have him come see me .  Fric shows up in my classroom, and I asked him straight out if he new the trouble he was in. Fric was quite surprised by this, so I explained the situation. As it turns out, not only had Frac told Mrs. WU that Fric had given him the essays, but had not decided to tell his "friend" that he'd been busted. Plagiarism and cheating are taken very seriously at Kang Chiao, and the person who aides and abets the cheater is considered equally guilty.  Poor Fric had been thrown under the bus by his buddy without a second thought. 

I am going to go to bat for Fric, because a) I think he really did think his friend was just going to look over his papers, b) the thought of having his parents called into school and getting a 0 on all his papers practically brought this kid to tears (in my experience in 17 years teaching in Asia, these kids are notoriously bad liars, and I believe Fric's anxiety in this case was not feigned), and c) Fric's a good kid learning a tough lesson. I'm not saying Fric shouldn't be punished, he should be, but i would like to soften the blow at least a little.

New Music

Here is a nice little Psychedelic Blues Rock band from Oklahoma City that I recently discovered: Them Hounds