Dragon Strike

Quick entry (I hope). I just finished reading E.E. Knight's Dragon Strike (Book Four [of five] of the Age of Fire). It was nice. I'm looking forward to reading the final book. The only problem I had with the book was my poor memory of the other three books. Names were being thrown around that I barely remembered. Luckily, the book was fairly easy to follow for those who have not read the other books in the series. For the Paolini book "Brisinger", I will probably have to reread the previous two before I read the third. I also don't remember much about those books as well. Or at the very least, I should read an online synopsis to refresh my memory.

So, on the home front, is there any changes worth blogging about. No. Not really. I slept Saturday away. Today I decided to get up and out a bit early (for me) before the rain. I visited my foster father and made a quick stop at Staples store. I wanted to make copies of a mini test I want to give my students. I could have done the copies in school, but (as I will mention in more details below) I wanted to get out of the building early (for me). When I returned home on the express train, I met one of the school aids from my school on the train. It turns out she won some kind of lottery and was able to get an apartment (subsidized by the government) in one of the new luxury loft-style near the waterfront apartment. It is a very nice place with a 24 hour gym and concierge. Wow, she is lucky. And would you believe she wants to move back to NYC. I'm getting sidetracked.

Back to blogging about nothing new. There is one thing I'm really proud of (that probably wouldn't make much sense to most of my reading audience). This past week, I believe for the first time ever -- again, with my memory, I can't be sure. I think last week was the first time I've ever managed to leave the school building for the entire week before 5PM. The whole week! By Friday, it started to sink in the strangeness of being in the building so late (again with nothing much to show for it). There were three or four things I thought about doing, but I told myself that if I didn't get out of the building, I would be in there until 8 or even 9PM. So, I threw what I could into my granny cart and was out of the building before 5PM. Fridays have for a very long time been my late day to set up for the next week, but last Friday, I just said the heck with it.

The real test will be the coming week. I think I will need to keep the "early (for me) departure" routine for a couple more weeks before it can truly sink in. Besides, I want to rejoin the gym next week. What's different this time?

The month of April starts in the middle of the week as oppose to starting on Monday. The last two months with the Monday start, I also had to deal with the monthly faculty meeting which occurs on the first Monday of the month after 3PM. The last couple of "new starts" were ended before they started with the exhaustion and the faculty meetings. Now, I'm hoping that I will be able to start on the first of the month with the first being in the middle of the week. I hope. So how did I deal with arrive home about 5:30PM every day last week. It was so strange that I only continued the odd sleep pattern I've recently developed. I get home with Chinese takeout for dinner. And soon after eating, I would be sleep on the couch only to wake up 1 or 2AM, to begin thinking about planning or emails to parents about their child.

I better go. I just went back and added another 23 minutes to this "short" blog entry. Hopefully, this coming week will be the beginning of a new me.


Post Date - Sunday, March 29, 2009 6:33PM

Day two of the screw over...I think. I am feeling a little better about my "encounter" with the AP. Today I decided that I would speak to the other AP just to see if my "vibe" was different. I also talked to a couple of other teachers. Basically, I was told (from the other teachers) that this is the time of (school) year when principals play the chess game of maneuverability. Who can they move and why? I was told that the class assignments would be given out June 15th (Friday). So I am not going to stress myself until then.

Just for the heck of it, I went to speak to the other AP. Again, I wanted the vibe check. Yes, I am Mr. Stress. First she asked me what kind of vibe I got from the encounter with the other AP. Then she said that she had no idea about next year's placements. She even gave the example of how "someone might be listed as second grade teacher one day, but then the principal has the habit of changing her mind at the last minute". Hmmm...should I be reading something between the lines.

So, what vibe did I get? I suspect this morning, when I met this AP in the stairwell, and told her of my "strange conversation" with the other AP -- we did not have time to talk. I suspect she went down to the main office to speak with the other AP. I think the use of term "strange conversation" gave the right impression that I probably would not be happy being pulled out of the classroom. I'm sure Admin. wouldn't lose a day's sleep if I left. However, I do believe that they are very happy with my work ethic, and professionalism.

That drama's over for the moment. Oh, and today, I had a visit from the new Math Coach (the other Math Coach got fed up and left...I was told). The Math Coach came to look at the students' portfolio. Basically, the same ol same ol nonsense. The left hand seeming to not know what the right hand is doing. Each hand operating at different points on the spectrum. He gave me a list of things that needed to be included in the "math section", any questions I had about the other sections, I received the usual response, "I am not responsible for that section". Oh, and the things that needed to be included...he only had three out of the ten things that were needed. I'm working in a kingdom of fiefdoms. How were the kids? Hyper! I tried to leave the building close to 4 like yesterday, but I fell into old habits. I left today at 4:50. I ended up missing the 5:16 train to Yonkers, so I had to take the 6:03. If I had left school a minute earlier, I would have gotten the train that was at 125th street station when I arrived at the turnstile, but I could not (would not) run up the stairs with my shopping cart.

Since I had about 30 minutes to kill, I decided to eat dinner at Subway's. I had the 6in. hot pastrami sandwich. and a cranberry/raspberry juice. I then when shopping for some oatmeal cookies. I had a taste for hot oatmeal cookies dipped in apple sauce. I also stopped at the 99 cents store to buy some rolls of paper towels.

Oh, before I go, I forgot to mention a couple of things. My weekend was the same as previous weekends. Lots of sleep. It is even a bit of a blur, because I slept most of it away. One bright spot of my weekend was an e-mail exchange I had with the author of the book Dragon Champion. On an impulse, I sent an e-mail to the author. I was surprised when the author responded to my e-mail. I finished reading the book on Sunday. I enjoyed the book. I thought there was only one book out at this time, but it turns out there are two other books in the series, "Dragon Avenger" and "Dragon Outcast". I am looking forward to reading each book. After I finish reading Red Lightening and The Sword of Shannara, I will get both dragon books. I also want to read the final part of the Inkspell trilogy. And of course...Harry Potter!!!! The book that started me reading for enjoyment.

Oh, I almost forgot. The author of Dragon Champion (E. E. Knight) has a web site. His web site is vampjac.com.

Well, it is getting late. Until next time...

Post Date - Wednesday, May 23, 2007 3:18am.