"Our Songs Are Sing-Along Songs"

Only a little over a week to go in summer school. Lord knows I'm ready for the break now (and I have to spend my weekend writing progress notes. AND I have to attend a wedding. Mine is truly a charmed life).

Michelle and I have been sucked into a few new things over the past week:

(1) Twitter. It's like instant messaging with lots of people, which is groovy.

(2) Eureka, the quirky, whimsical show on the Sci-Fi Channel. Reminds me a lot of Gail Simone's Welcome to Tranquility comic, and anything reminiscent of Gail Simone's work is okay by me.

Tried getting into Burn Notice because of the Bruce Campbell involvement, but the couple of episodes I've seen of that did not impress. The main character (who isn't Bruce. How can he be in a TV show and NOT be the main character? It's a travesty) is too generic and cookie-cutter, the dialog has no real life to it (and most people's delivery in the show is nothing short of atrocious), and Bruce just isn't in the show enough. I think if the show were more focused on him, it'd be worth watching, but I'm just a big Bruce Campbell fan (there's always re-watching Jack of All Trades and The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., which I for some reason don't own).

In other news, my parents keep sending me politically-conservative email forwards. I kinda want to call them up and scream, "I'm a liberal! I don't think taxes are bad! I don't think war is good! And you can take your hillbilly interpretation of the 2nd Amendment and blow it out your ass!" But I can't do that, because I am a polite and well-mannered son.

Oh, and the new Hold Steady album is pretty awesome. I've seen reviews comparing it to Bruce Springsteen's The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (my least-favorite Bruce album, and the one that I never listen to except for "Rosalita"). I guess you could say it's like E Street Shuffle...if that album had kicked off with "Rosalita," and then played more songs like that for the rest of the album. So yeah, nothing like E Street Shuffle, really.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: The Hold Steady, "Constructive Summer"

"I Used To Be Disgusted"

I find myself becoming increasingly frustrated with some of my students in summer school. Their lack of effort or motivation, their willful disregard of rules and instructions, their tendency to just do...well, nothing. It's all getting to me. I'd say I need a break, but I know there's only two weeks left and that I can make it that long.

Still, it's difficult some days during summer school to remind myself why I enjoy teaching. I don't have that problem during the regular school year, but that's probably because I'm teaching history then and I feel more in my element.

Finally got my updated GMU transcript this morning and delivered it to the Powers That Be (PTB) at the other school so we can get my full teaching license. For those who don't know the story, one of my classes wasn't showing up on my transcript. I called about it, and they said they had to file something called retro-enrollment papers to get it added back, and that it was all on their end and I just had to sit back and wait a couple of weeks for it to appear on my unofficial transcript. Well, a month passed, and no word. I called back and discovered that, since the class was more than a year old, the Dean's Office had to send a memo to the Vice Provost's Office to get it approved, then it had to be sent back to the Dean's Office, who would then send it on to the Registrar, who would finally put the class on my transcript. That took another month. It should've taken a week, tops, even with the inherent lack of communication between departments that you find at universities. I mean, I'd've walked the damn paperwork back and forth across campus if it'd have got the stuff done faster.

But now it's taken care of, and I should have my official license from the PTB in a few weeks (give or take). Hurray!

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Elvis Costello, "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes"

"All By Myself"

Michelle's out of town for the week up in New York City, visiting her family. I'm thus left here to my own devices. The house is rather dark and quiet, just me and the cats. I've only got one light, my computer, and the TV/DVD on.

Next week I head out to Oklahoma for a few days. I really need to play the guitar quite a bit before I head out, because otherwise my fingers are not going to make it when we do the big family singalong at my uncle's birthday party. Even if I play for an hour or two every night, though, I'm pretty sure this is gonna be rough on 'em.

Summer school continues well. Kinda wish I could just laze about all day, doing nothing, but that ain't gonna happen.

The cats are getting into the crazy period of the evening where they run circles around the living room and claw at things (the furniture, the walls, me). My only hope is that they'll calm down by the time I go to bed.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Rancid, "Time Bomb"

"Why does everything I whip leave me?"

Michelle and I embarked upon a great and noble quest to find a Wii tonight.

It didn't go so hot.

Discouraged and distraught, we drowned our sorrows in The Simpsons Movie. I definitely recommend it. It manages to recall the glory days of seasons 4 and 5 without seeming too nostalgic for those early halcyon days. Good times.


Only four more days of summer school left to teach, then I get a two week break. Michelle and I are bound for Oklahoma on the 17th to visit family members and eat way more food than we probably should (that's what you do when you visit family, after all).

The Quest for the Wii will continue next week when I am done with school. I have a cunning, brilliant plan that will no doubt work quite well if only I remember to wake up early enough to implement it.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: The White Stripes, "Ball and Biscuit"

"Poor Man Wanna Be Rich, Rich Man Wanna Be King"

Today is my six month-iversary. That's right, Michelle and I have made it six whole months without her killing me! This is truly a cause for celebration.

And we are, kinda. Next week, she's got the week off and I'm taking a few days off myself. We're looking on going on a little mini-vacation to just get the heck out of town and relax for a couple of days. God knows we could use the break.

Summer school is going well, but I don't remember it wearing me out this much last summer. Maybe I'm doing more work this summer? It's possible. Lord knows I'm working the kids pretty hard.

I've been listening to the band Spoon a lot lately. This is not a bad thing, I feel, and it's definitely something I could get used to.

In other news, I probably could use a haircut, but it ain't gonna happen. This hair shall get long enough for a ponytail, I swear it!

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Bruce Springsteen, "Adam Raised a Cain"

"I Think It Was The Fourth of July"

Happy Independence Day, folks. We here at Casa de Branco-Cottrell spent it grilling burgers and watching Moonstruck and Seinfeld. Good times, good times.

Summer school's started up, and the students are not particularly happy about it. I can't say that I blame them: summer school isn't the most fun possible for a bunch of kids who really just want to relax and forget everything they've spent the previous 9 1/2 months learning. There's also the stigma that's always been attached to attending summer school; i.e., that you are dumb or stupid if you have to go to summer school and you must've flunked a bunch of stuff during the regular school year.

That's not really the reality for summer school at Accotink. We call it ESY--Extended School Year--and the idea isn't so much remedial "damn you're stupid kids" as it is "these children would benefit from extra educational services during the summer so they maintain and further develop necessary academic skills and don't forget everything over the course of two and a half months away from books, blackboards, and teachers." A lot of people might say I'm splitting hairs there, but there's a very different tone and approach between the two.

I rather like teaching summer school. The atmosphere is much more laid back and relaxed, I can wear jeans or shorts to work (I always wear sandals during the summer; once the school year ends, the shoes get put away and I'm barefoot as often as possible. This is what comes of being raised in Oklahoma, I think), and we take the students on field trips each day. Some of the field trips are pretty cool--we go see movies, play laser tag, visit nifty museums--and I think the teachers have at least as much fun (probably more, in some cases) as the students. I also get to tackle a different subject--writing--that offers a unique set of challenges I don't encounter in history. In terms of writing ability, our students really run the gamut, so you have to be able to ratchet your thinking up and down in terms of expectations of ability and such. But it's pretty groovy overall.

I bought Michelle's birthday presents tonight. Well, ordered it, anyway. Should arrive by the end of next week, I think, and then it's just a matter of keeping the presents hidden until her birthday actually rolls around on the 25th. I think she'll dig what I found for her.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: The Decemberists, "Yankee Bayonet"

"These Hippies Sound Like You Guys"

It's been a crazy week and some. Lots of interesting things to share:

1) Michelle is totally alive still. She's still a little weak and gets worn out easily, but she's on the mend and went back to work today.

2) I found out I'm teaching summer school, so that's groovy. Extra income, hurray!

3) I caught a mouse at the school Saturday night while Shirley and I were working on a project for class. I felt very manly.

4) My tablet arrived in the mail today. Chuck is a happy monkey.

That really sums up the cool stuff. I'm totally gonna have some comics drawn this week.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Rufus Wainwright, "Chelsea Hotel #2"