Saturday, June 16, 2012

Summer 2012

I can't exactly start a summer without my summer blog, can I? The funny thing to do would be to put, "Yes. Yes I can." Then end it there.

But this isn't just for shits and giggles. It's for shits, giggles, and grandstanding. In the past, I have used my summer blog to write about my goals for the summer. Considering that I rarely ever meet any of my goals, I think this year I'm going to call them predictions. If I don't meet any of the goals, then I'll just be a poor psychic.  Or just a psychic.  Or a unicorn. What's the difference?

But anyway, here's a disclaimer that I add on every year, I think. This post is more for me than for you. I can't imagine any interest or excitement in reading this for anyone other than me. You've been warned. Still, I'll be happy if you do and I appreciate the comments.

My first prediction/goal is one that I have to meet. Last week was my last at El Dorado Middle School. This fall I will start at Northgate High School. That means I have a totally new curriculum. I need to spend some good quality time this summer developing a new curriculum. Or possibly two, depending on which schedule I'm offered. I've been told I'll either be teaching five periods of US History (juniors) or four of World History (sophomores) and a period of a geography elective. Since it's my job, that goal isn't a choice. So I'll be actively working on that all summer. I might blog about leaving El Dorado at some point, but I don't really want to say some things too publicly at this point. I'm leaving happily and comfortably with bridges intact behind me. I mean, it's not like my leaving wasn't acknowledged or anything like that...

Last summer, I got quite a bit done on the interior remodel of my house. There are a few details that I still haven't finished on the crown molding, so that needs to be done. I have early plans to take down the beautiful wallpaper in the kitchen and give it a coat of paint. And I have a couple rooms that are still filled with stuff that needs to be organized and taken to the garbage or garage.

Outside, we have a different story. I  have a backyard filled with plants and stuff that I don't like. I'm tearing out a lot of it. If we have too many days like today (the thermometer in my car said 107 about an hour ago), I won't get a lot done there.  There are some plants in the front yard I want to tear out as well. It's possible I might get around to painting the house as well. The problem is that the paint on the house now is lead based. That means the removal of that coat is not cheap. It might just get painted over. And then there's the roof, which I should have gotten to a couple years ago.

So that covers the work I need to do. What about the fun stuff?  I've "collected" a whole lot of movies on my computer from Netflix over the past year, so I want to watch a bunch of those. I hope to continue with the Oscar Project. In fact, I'm going to watch The Great Ziegfeld later today. And there are a few movies coming out in theaters that I'm looking forward to. I also have The Wire ready to go. I watched the first season last year, but it felt like work every time I turned on an episode. I've heard the later seasons are much better. We'll see.

I played around on my piano for a bit this morning, and I want to start playing again regularly this summer, even if only for a few minutes a day. And who knows? I might pull out my guitar or any other instruments laying around and play with those a bit.

Some might remember my reader's block blog from a few years past. I've definitely gotten past that. With my Nook, I've been as much of an avid reader as I ever was. I've been reading through the Alex Cross series. They are dumb "beach reading" type thrillers, but fun. They have been getting progressively worse, however, so I don't know if I'll get through them all. I'm reading the second Game of Thrones book. I figure I'll alternate reading those and watching the seasons of the show, though I hear they won't line up as nicely in the next few seasons.

I got my new camera a couple months ago. I'm hoping to spend some quality time learning how to do a few new techniques as well as really learning post production.

I hope to host a BBQ or two over here this summer, so let me know if you want to come over and hang out, as well as maybe another games night or just sitting around night.

It should be a pretty relaxed summer. Next summer, I'm traveling again, so this summer I'm saving money for that (as well as the possibility of furlough days if the kind voters of California continue to decide that education isn't worth it). I'll be in Las Vegas for a few days next week, and I hope to be in San Diego for a few days at the end of the summer, but that's it. The rest will be in the Bay Area. I'll probably spend too much time online looking at travel sites.

2 comments:

Andrew Nolan said...

You watched the ENTIRE first season of The Wire, and it always felt like work? The first five or six episodes are dense, but once you get to know the characters, I really thought it started to fly by. The Barksdale/Bell dynamic is fantastic. And Omar?

Most regard the second season as one of the weakest, so I'm not sure it will improve for you. Personally, I loved it. Amy Ryan, ftw.

Kaboom32 said...

WIth every episode, I ended it thinking that it was good, but wondering what I would watch next instead of rushing to play the next episode. However, it's in good company. I did the same with the first seasons of Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, and Battlestar Galactica. I easily flew though later seasons, and those are some of my favorite shows.