"Geezus Chrise"

"He started a fire with some chunks of pine he got with the ax from a stump.   Over the fire he stuck a wire grill, pushing the four legs down into the ground with his boot. Nick put the frying pan on the grill over the flames. He was hungrier. The beans and spaghetti warmed. Nick stirred them and mixed them together. They began to bubble, making little bubbles that rose with difficulty to the surface. There was a good smell. Nick got out a bottle of tomato catchup and cut four slices of bread. The little bubbles were coming faster now. Nick sat down beside the fire and lifted the frying pan off. He poured about half the contents out into the tin plate. It spread slowly on the plate. Nick knew it was too hot. He poured on some tomato catchup. He knew the beans and spaghetti were still too hot. He looked at the fire, then at the tent, he was not going to spoil it all by burning his tongue. For years he had never enjoyed fried bananas because he had never been able to wait for them to cool. His tongue was very sensitive. He was very hungry. Across the river in the swamp, in the almost dark, he saw a mist rising. He looked at the tent once more.  All right. He took a full spoonful from the plate.

'Chrise,' Nick said, 'Geezus Chrise,' he said happily."

-- Ernest Hemingway, "Big Two-Hearted River"

Good Stuff

 

Chingu is stoked for some European free jazz that just arrived.  RIP, Peter Brotzmann.

Vietnamese

 

Chicken curry noodles at Pho An Loi in Frederick, Maryland. Spice level was perfect for me!

Frederick!

One thing I really like about substitute teaching so far is how it gets me travelling all around the county.  This week I'm off to some pretty remote places, as the majority of my teaching has been close to or inside Frederick city proper.  (I live on the west side of town.)

I need to take more pictures.

Ah, 50

Put my MP3 player in the washer tonight and bricked it.

My short-term memory is crumbling to dust.

At least I didn't lose a cat during the dryer phase, but I did have to double-check.

Super Toys

 

Frederick, Maryland.

Wonderbooks is always a good time.

The Kids Are Alright

 

Frederick, Maryland.

Sub!

Substitute teaching is going really well, much better than I expected.  Basically, you're teaching but not having to prep or assess, i.e., grade, which are the two biggest time-sucks in education.

Am I a great big target for student harassment?  Yes!  But as long as the teacher has left behind a reasonably coherent lesson plan I feel confident and have thick enough skin to make it through.

I've worked with a severely autistic kid for entire days.  One day I was basically a glorified study hall monitor.  At the end of last week I taught biology.  In one week I got two different offers to go "long term" with the schools -- this would mean a slight pay-bump, and honestly I think it's a trap.  If you really like the position, that's great.  But that's not nearly enough pay to get back into lesson planning and grading.

The variety is great.  Not forming relationships with students is a downside but honestly not something I'm too worried about.  Right now, it's a paycheck among other things and not a bad one.  I finish the day somewhere between two and four p.m. and take nothing home.