I bought a new pillow after four years. Thank you for your extended and dedicated service, old pillow. Ah yes, and some books
Friday, January 19, 2018
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Quality Time With the Folks
I'm upstate, visiting the folks at the farm.
On Saturday it snowed. I started the day in the library, reading poetry prayers from various cultures, sipping tea and discussing the circus of politics with my parents. Then I went outside to play in the snow, by which I mean split wood. The snow really picked up around then, and it was those perfect-sized thick snowflakes accompanying us while my father and I used a wood-splitter to stock up on firewood for the winter. I also got to drive the tractor, which is always fun. The last time he let me do so, I got to pull down the old turkey coop after spending weeks pulling shingles off the roof with a crow bar.
Afterward, I drove through the snow to meet a great friend for dinner. Normally I would have taken the Buskirk Bridge, a beautiful red covered bridge that I would take every time I drove to see my best friend or my girlfriend in high school, but the Hoosick River was so high that it was closed. So I had to figure out how to take King Road to Owl Kill Road to route 22 to meet my friend at Benson's restaurant, where we used to hang out at the dairy bar as teenagers. My friend hopped in, and we drove to North Hoosick to eat at a local brew pub which has become my favorite local spot in the past few years. They have excellent beer and quality meat from local farms, with the perfect musical vibes in the background. If they're playing it over the sound system, it's usually Black Keys, Led Zeppelin, the White Stripes, Johnny Cash, or any bluesy rock music. Pink Floyd's "Money" was playing when we sat down. Other times I've been there and a live swing band was playing. My friend had never been there before, but while we dined and drank he saw three people he knew. We're not from the kind of place where everyone knows your name, but you'll usually see someone familiar.
Today was sunny, but much colder than the day before, with a 9 degree high. So of course my father and I split wood again. I drove the tractor, he loaded up the bed, then I split the wood and we tossed it on the pile. Just for good measure, when we were mostly done, I got to use a maul to split some logs the old-fashioned way.
I don't watch American football games very often anymore, but when I do, it's with my dad. In fact, even though my friend and I caught the end of both games on Saturday, I haven't watched more than 3/4 of a single game all season. So I was delighted to come inside, cook a healthy meal, make some tea, and sit in a warm living room with a fire roaring as we took in the Saints and the Vikings. I couldn't have imagined a better game.
When I played football for Cambridge (two years in middle school), I was #33. A few years ago, I happened to be watching a Vikings game and noticed a jersey with SANFORD and number 33 on the back. He doesn't play for them anymore, but he did spend a few years with the Saints, and the same number.
Sanford wasn't on either arbitrary collection of professional athletes tonight, so we didn't care who won. We just wanted a good game. It appeared the Vikings would dominate, but the Saints put together an impressive comeback, taking the lead 21-20 with just three minutes to go. Then the Vikings came back with a field goal to make it 23-21, and only a couple minutes left. But the Saints marched down the field and kicked their own field goal to make it 24-23. The Vikings had a better record, 13-3, so it looked like an upset was on the way.
Minnesota had a chance to come back with under a minute to go, but it was looking really unlikely after three straight incompletions. Then, on 4th and 10, their quarterback threw up something akin to a Hail Mary, which somehow landed in the hands of Diggs, #14, who raced all the way to the end zone for a 61 yard touchdown, with his teammate, Wright, #17, celebrating behind him.
I kind of want to leave it at that, but I also have a soft spot for the Eagles, so I'd like to see either one in the Super Bowl. Then again, if those cheaters from New England are in the championship, I'd rather be outside in single digits chopping wood! That, or stargazing, which was the perfect cap.
1 degree means clearer stars
On Saturday it snowed. I started the day in the library, reading poetry prayers from various cultures, sipping tea and discussing the circus of politics with my parents. Then I went outside to play in the snow, by which I mean split wood. The snow really picked up around then, and it was those perfect-sized thick snowflakes accompanying us while my father and I used a wood-splitter to stock up on firewood for the winter. I also got to drive the tractor, which is always fun. The last time he let me do so, I got to pull down the old turkey coop after spending weeks pulling shingles off the roof with a crow bar.
Afterward, I drove through the snow to meet a great friend for dinner. Normally I would have taken the Buskirk Bridge, a beautiful red covered bridge that I would take every time I drove to see my best friend or my girlfriend in high school, but the Hoosick River was so high that it was closed. So I had to figure out how to take King Road to Owl Kill Road to route 22 to meet my friend at Benson's restaurant, where we used to hang out at the dairy bar as teenagers. My friend hopped in, and we drove to North Hoosick to eat at a local brew pub which has become my favorite local spot in the past few years. They have excellent beer and quality meat from local farms, with the perfect musical vibes in the background. If they're playing it over the sound system, it's usually Black Keys, Led Zeppelin, the White Stripes, Johnny Cash, or any bluesy rock music. Pink Floyd's "Money" was playing when we sat down. Other times I've been there and a live swing band was playing. My friend had never been there before, but while we dined and drank he saw three people he knew. We're not from the kind of place where everyone knows your name, but you'll usually see someone familiar.
Today was sunny, but much colder than the day before, with a 9 degree high. So of course my father and I split wood again. I drove the tractor, he loaded up the bed, then I split the wood and we tossed it on the pile. Just for good measure, when we were mostly done, I got to use a maul to split some logs the old-fashioned way.
I don't watch American football games very often anymore, but when I do, it's with my dad. In fact, even though my friend and I caught the end of both games on Saturday, I haven't watched more than 3/4 of a single game all season. So I was delighted to come inside, cook a healthy meal, make some tea, and sit in a warm living room with a fire roaring as we took in the Saints and the Vikings. I couldn't have imagined a better game.
When I played football for Cambridge (two years in middle school), I was #33. A few years ago, I happened to be watching a Vikings game and noticed a jersey with SANFORD and number 33 on the back. He doesn't play for them anymore, but he did spend a few years with the Saints, and the same number.
Sanford wasn't on either arbitrary collection of professional athletes tonight, so we didn't care who won. We just wanted a good game. It appeared the Vikings would dominate, but the Saints put together an impressive comeback, taking the lead 21-20 with just three minutes to go. Then the Vikings came back with a field goal to make it 23-21, and only a couple minutes left. But the Saints marched down the field and kicked their own field goal to make it 24-23. The Vikings had a better record, 13-3, so it looked like an upset was on the way.
Minnesota had a chance to come back with under a minute to go, but it was looking really unlikely after three straight incompletions. Then, on 4th and 10, their quarterback threw up something akin to a Hail Mary, which somehow landed in the hands of Diggs, #14, who raced all the way to the end zone for a 61 yard touchdown, with his teammate, Wright, #17, celebrating behind him.
I kind of want to leave it at that, but I also have a soft spot for the Eagles, so I'd like to see either one in the Super Bowl. Then again, if those cheaters from New England are in the championship, I'd rather be outside in single digits chopping wood! That, or stargazing, which was the perfect cap.
1 degree means clearer stars
Thursday, January 11, 2018
After 2 years/24 months teaching Listening & Speaking in the afternoon, we had our final class today. As I mentioned before, I will still be teaching and teaching the above, but the fact that the afternoon class streak is completed marks the end of a unique experience I will never replicate: a group of varied humans who came together from all walks of life and corners of the globe to enhance their communication/understanding skills with completely flexible arrival and departure times, meaning that once it began, it always felt as though it was one large marathon course. I just really want to spend the evening reminiscing, so this post will be concise. I'll just wrap it up by saying that I asked the students if they each had one more thing to say, and the five answers were: be happy, peace, love, love and peace, and be kind. They are truly a smart bunch
Monday, January 8, 2018
Update
I wrote a few months back about schedule changes and so on.
I got very lucky and didn't have to do that. It worked out that enough students were around so we could open up another class and I got to teach advanced listening and speaking the whole day, which ended up being my favorite two months of teaching in my entire career. Then I got assigned business in the morning again, which has been fine, and the past two months have been delightful. I haven't forgotten that I dodged that bullet back in October, which is why I can only be mildly annoyed now that things are finally changing.
I continue to be fortunate enough to have a full time schedule during the day, but due to low winter enrollment, the afternoon speaking and listening class that I've been blessed to teach for exactly two years will come to an end (definitely) in three more days. We had an amazing group this time, but many students had planned to leave before or during the holidays, so we quickly reduced from 14 students to 8 to 6. I guess they don't have many people signed up to join next term, because we have been this low before, but due to larger economic forces, I can understand why they thought it wouldn't be profitable to keep it open. So it could have been worse. I could have been relegated to begging for night classes to be able to maintain my life here, but instead I got a level 3 class. Level 3 in midtown is higher than level 3 at the Upper West Side, and it might even be fun. I suppose it will be as fun as I make it.
Anyway, I was pretty tired today, and feeling in a funk because I'd also been told on Friday that I wouldn't have my morning post-advanced class either. I was under the impression I'd be teaching listening and speaking in the morning again, but I was told I'd go down a level, which actually is an enormous difference. I've had an advanced class of some kind for at least two years, so that was quite a shock to my system, especially when it was mentioned casually (just got a new supervisor, who's my old supervisor from nights on the UWS, but it wasn't really her decision). Then I learned that the afternoon class was being closed, and I could still teach level 3. So I asked to keep the morning advanced class as a (small) concession, and they were merciful enough to grant that.
My funk came from the fact that I was completing one of the most successful listening and speaking groups I've ever had, yet ultimate demotion was the result. In fact, just two weeks before, I'd received the greatest compliment of my career. One student, a retired Brazilian doctor, said in front of the whole class that I was the best teacher he'd ever seen in his life, and he'd been teaching surgery for 30 years. He'd actually told me that privately after only two weeks in my class, but six weeks later, he felt the same way. A Chinese lawyer insisted I continue lessons with her online after she returned home, and an Argentinian woman told me that I taught her so much more than English, and that coming into my classroom was like entering Narnia. But I guess they only see the numbers of students enrolled and judge me based on that. Well, luckily, in this job, even if the praise doesn't reach management, it does come directly from the students, and I feel really blessed to have had these experiences. If I'd quit all those times that I'd wanted to give up and do something else, I wouldn't have reached that peak. That said, it really did feel like a peak, that day before Christmas break, so I guess it makes sense to let that class go now. Things are kind of strange with only five people. I hope level 3 will bring new energy.
Today, I was asked near the end of the day if I would do an emergency substitution on the UWS, from 6-10. I didn't have a 12 hour day in me, and I didn't want to sacrifice my energy for the rest of my final week with these students, so I compromised and filled in for the first class, which is only 2 hours. I think I'm a good employee. After all, the woman at the sandwich shop remarked that I never "call in." I don't go there every day, so she wouldn't really know, but she picked up on the fact that I'm pretty dedicated. Once I called in a day in advance, the weekend before my 33rd birthday. I was at Lake Champlain and had stayed up to see the sun rise. I noticed I was sneezing and blowing my nose a lot, and I didn't want to drive 5 hours the next day. I decided I deserved a birthday present, and since my work stresses how hard it is to find replacements an hour before class, I gave them 24 hours notice that I was sick and wouldn't be able to drive the 5 hours. That's how I found myself in a canoe that night, watching the northern lights for the first time in my life. When I returned to work a day later, on my actual birthday, my supervisor mentioned they didn't have time to get a cake or anything (which they do for just about everyone), but they'd do it the next day. They didn't. They never have actually. I thank them anyway. Whether or not I agree with their decisions in the moment, they get me where I'm supposed to go.
So, because I like students and teaching business has taught me a little something about leverage, I went to the UWS on my way home tonight. I hadn't been back since I left last March. When I arrived, I instantly recognized 2 students, and one of them was in my class. During the break, I recognized a third, from Burkina Faso. He could barely read or write when I met him, even though he spoke 5 languages. He gave me a huge hug, and I was glad I came.
I ate a slice of pizza at the best joint in town after class. The guy remembered me. "Right, you used to have those 2 minute breaks." It was 10, but it felt like 2.
I wrote before that getting a little change can help inspire you to consider larger decisions, so maybe this is just what I needed, because I had quite the weekend of contemplation and planning. Sitting around a fire with friends helps with that.
I'll let you know as I go in this show.
I wrote a few months back about schedule changes and so on.
I got very lucky and didn't have to do that. It worked out that enough students were around so we could open up another class and I got to teach advanced listening and speaking the whole day, which ended up being my favorite two months of teaching in my entire career. Then I got assigned business in the morning again, which has been fine, and the past two months have been delightful. I haven't forgotten that I dodged that bullet back in October, which is why I can only be mildly annoyed now that things are finally changing.
I continue to be fortunate enough to have a full time schedule during the day, but due to low winter enrollment, the afternoon speaking and listening class that I've been blessed to teach for exactly two years will come to an end (definitely) in three more days. We had an amazing group this time, but many students had planned to leave before or during the holidays, so we quickly reduced from 14 students to 8 to 6. I guess they don't have many people signed up to join next term, because we have been this low before, but due to larger economic forces, I can understand why they thought it wouldn't be profitable to keep it open. So it could have been worse. I could have been relegated to begging for night classes to be able to maintain my life here, but instead I got a level 3 class. Level 3 in midtown is higher than level 3 at the Upper West Side, and it might even be fun. I suppose it will be as fun as I make it.
Anyway, I was pretty tired today, and feeling in a funk because I'd also been told on Friday that I wouldn't have my morning post-advanced class either. I was under the impression I'd be teaching listening and speaking in the morning again, but I was told I'd go down a level, which actually is an enormous difference. I've had an advanced class of some kind for at least two years, so that was quite a shock to my system, especially when it was mentioned casually (just got a new supervisor, who's my old supervisor from nights on the UWS, but it wasn't really her decision). Then I learned that the afternoon class was being closed, and I could still teach level 3. So I asked to keep the morning advanced class as a (small) concession, and they were merciful enough to grant that.
My funk came from the fact that I was completing one of the most successful listening and speaking groups I've ever had, yet ultimate demotion was the result. In fact, just two weeks before, I'd received the greatest compliment of my career. One student, a retired Brazilian doctor, said in front of the whole class that I was the best teacher he'd ever seen in his life, and he'd been teaching surgery for 30 years. He'd actually told me that privately after only two weeks in my class, but six weeks later, he felt the same way. A Chinese lawyer insisted I continue lessons with her online after she returned home, and an Argentinian woman told me that I taught her so much more than English, and that coming into my classroom was like entering Narnia. But I guess they only see the numbers of students enrolled and judge me based on that. Well, luckily, in this job, even if the praise doesn't reach management, it does come directly from the students, and I feel really blessed to have had these experiences. If I'd quit all those times that I'd wanted to give up and do something else, I wouldn't have reached that peak. That said, it really did feel like a peak, that day before Christmas break, so I guess it makes sense to let that class go now. Things are kind of strange with only five people. I hope level 3 will bring new energy.
Today, I was asked near the end of the day if I would do an emergency substitution on the UWS, from 6-10. I didn't have a 12 hour day in me, and I didn't want to sacrifice my energy for the rest of my final week with these students, so I compromised and filled in for the first class, which is only 2 hours. I think I'm a good employee. After all, the woman at the sandwich shop remarked that I never "call in." I don't go there every day, so she wouldn't really know, but she picked up on the fact that I'm pretty dedicated. Once I called in a day in advance, the weekend before my 33rd birthday. I was at Lake Champlain and had stayed up to see the sun rise. I noticed I was sneezing and blowing my nose a lot, and I didn't want to drive 5 hours the next day. I decided I deserved a birthday present, and since my work stresses how hard it is to find replacements an hour before class, I gave them 24 hours notice that I was sick and wouldn't be able to drive the 5 hours. That's how I found myself in a canoe that night, watching the northern lights for the first time in my life. When I returned to work a day later, on my actual birthday, my supervisor mentioned they didn't have time to get a cake or anything (which they do for just about everyone), but they'd do it the next day. They didn't. They never have actually. I thank them anyway. Whether or not I agree with their decisions in the moment, they get me where I'm supposed to go.
So, because I like students and teaching business has taught me a little something about leverage, I went to the UWS on my way home tonight. I hadn't been back since I left last March. When I arrived, I instantly recognized 2 students, and one of them was in my class. During the break, I recognized a third, from Burkina Faso. He could barely read or write when I met him, even though he spoke 5 languages. He gave me a huge hug, and I was glad I came.
I ate a slice of pizza at the best joint in town after class. The guy remembered me. "Right, you used to have those 2 minute breaks." It was 10, but it felt like 2.
I wrote before that getting a little change can help inspire you to consider larger decisions, so maybe this is just what I needed, because I had quite the weekend of contemplation and planning. Sitting around a fire with friends helps with that.
I'll let you know as I go in this show.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
I moved into this apartment four years ago
I recall that I spent January 3rd traveling on subways with suitcases and backpacks right after a major winter storm, and finished the trips after midnight.
I spent January 3, 2018 in a way that I think represents my time in this city pretty well.
First, I woke up an hour late, because I couldn't sleep the night before. Some insomnia from staying up late on New Year's Eve and sleeping late on New Year's Day. I'd taken a walk outside to cool down and hopefully make it easier to fall asleep but I left my phone in my coat pocket in my closet, and therefore slept through the alarms. I somehow got to work only ten minutes late, even though the train had stopped and this little kid in a stroller kept kicking my leg on the crowded train car. When I got to work, the front door of the building was locked and two of my confused students were waiting outside, and really freezing. The front door is never locked in the morning, and there was no one at the front desk. So I called our office and told the front desk, and they sent down our new supervisor, who'd been supervising me on the UWS until a few months ago when I became a full-time midtown teacher, but I didn't want to give the impression that I arrive late and was hoping to slip in unnoticed, as most students are more than ten minutes late on any given day anyway. So there went that plan.
I must admit that I wasn't in a good mood the whole way to work. But as soon as I saw my students waiting outside, I was all grinning from ear to ear. First I told them, "Okay, so the story is, we've been down here waiting for someone to open the door for TEN minutes!" They were confused, but I told them to just go with it. Of course, when I got upstairs, one of the students who is routinely 30 minutes late debunked our story by saying she'd arrived just five minutes before us and that the door wasn't locked then, for some reason. That said, we were all smiles and laughs, and the morning class went swimmingly. Even though I have contempt for the infrastructure of this city and the manners of many of its mass transportation users/pedestrians, all my negativity washes away when I see the smiling faces in the morning. I'm a really lucky guy to get to start my day that way.
The only other annoyance during the day was that someone had removed all the white chalk from my afternoon classroom, and I hadn't even noticed when I'd walked in because there's always a bunch of chalk. The only chalk remaining was green, and it was a green board. So when I needed to write something and noticed the situation, I cracked up laughing. Then I proceeded to tell the students the story of the day thus far on my four year anniversary as a resident of New York, New York. A woman from Serbia, who has lived through bombings and having no tap water for a year, smiled and said, "But you're laughing about it!"
After four years of getting on the 1 train at the City College station, I suppose I've learned my lesson.
That said, I reserve the right to swear up a storm whenever I'm alone and the city appears to be doing its utmost to try to get me to leave. After all, one new year's gift was that a vexing roommate appears to have abandoned his room for a multi-month international experience without paying any rent, and he was already several months behind, so the landlord is renting it. That would be good, but the latter just moved all the former's abandoned belongings into our tiny cramped kitchen, perhaps expecting him to pick it up in a few months. So now we cook with the smells of shoes and dirty clothes piled in garbage bags everywhere. I've complained and received no response, which is pretty much how things go with that guy. I wish I would stop discovering special magic places in the neighborhood so I could just leave this place behind. But ya never know what nuisances the next place will bring.
All that said, today is a winter wonderland, so I'm going to go play in the snow, by which I mean shovel out my car.
Happy New Year!
I recall that I spent January 3rd traveling on subways with suitcases and backpacks right after a major winter storm, and finished the trips after midnight.
I spent January 3, 2018 in a way that I think represents my time in this city pretty well.
First, I woke up an hour late, because I couldn't sleep the night before. Some insomnia from staying up late on New Year's Eve and sleeping late on New Year's Day. I'd taken a walk outside to cool down and hopefully make it easier to fall asleep but I left my phone in my coat pocket in my closet, and therefore slept through the alarms. I somehow got to work only ten minutes late, even though the train had stopped and this little kid in a stroller kept kicking my leg on the crowded train car. When I got to work, the front door of the building was locked and two of my confused students were waiting outside, and really freezing. The front door is never locked in the morning, and there was no one at the front desk. So I called our office and told the front desk, and they sent down our new supervisor, who'd been supervising me on the UWS until a few months ago when I became a full-time midtown teacher, but I didn't want to give the impression that I arrive late and was hoping to slip in unnoticed, as most students are more than ten minutes late on any given day anyway. So there went that plan.
I must admit that I wasn't in a good mood the whole way to work. But as soon as I saw my students waiting outside, I was all grinning from ear to ear. First I told them, "Okay, so the story is, we've been down here waiting for someone to open the door for TEN minutes!" They were confused, but I told them to just go with it. Of course, when I got upstairs, one of the students who is routinely 30 minutes late debunked our story by saying she'd arrived just five minutes before us and that the door wasn't locked then, for some reason. That said, we were all smiles and laughs, and the morning class went swimmingly. Even though I have contempt for the infrastructure of this city and the manners of many of its mass transportation users/pedestrians, all my negativity washes away when I see the smiling faces in the morning. I'm a really lucky guy to get to start my day that way.
The only other annoyance during the day was that someone had removed all the white chalk from my afternoon classroom, and I hadn't even noticed when I'd walked in because there's always a bunch of chalk. The only chalk remaining was green, and it was a green board. So when I needed to write something and noticed the situation, I cracked up laughing. Then I proceeded to tell the students the story of the day thus far on my four year anniversary as a resident of New York, New York. A woman from Serbia, who has lived through bombings and having no tap water for a year, smiled and said, "But you're laughing about it!"
After four years of getting on the 1 train at the City College station, I suppose I've learned my lesson.
That said, I reserve the right to swear up a storm whenever I'm alone and the city appears to be doing its utmost to try to get me to leave. After all, one new year's gift was that a vexing roommate appears to have abandoned his room for a multi-month international experience without paying any rent, and he was already several months behind, so the landlord is renting it. That would be good, but the latter just moved all the former's abandoned belongings into our tiny cramped kitchen, perhaps expecting him to pick it up in a few months. So now we cook with the smells of shoes and dirty clothes piled in garbage bags everywhere. I've complained and received no response, which is pretty much how things go with that guy. I wish I would stop discovering special magic places in the neighborhood so I could just leave this place behind. But ya never know what nuisances the next place will bring.
All that said, today is a winter wonderland, so I'm going to go play in the snow, by which I mean shovel out my car.
Happy New Year!
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