Too Bad My Therapist Doesn't Read This Anymore

If you figure out that you deserve better, but don't expect it to happen...

Does that constitute progress?

A question...

Could someone please tell me why every time I go to some kind of movie or live performance of a quiet nature that I'm really not interested in going to, I end up becoming the most gaseous person alive? I really think that it's my body saying, "Hey Dave, take a hike! Get a buttsteak or something!"

Or I'm just old and gassy. But I think it's the former.

I think I was just insulted

In an e-mail exchange between me and the Campaign Guru, I was told that I was thinking like an "intelligent mainlander". I haven't been here a year yet...I'm still taking that as a compliment.

In other campaign news: I had a phone conversation with Nancy, the...uh...strange person who I've been in a room with maybe 5 times and has so far, felt me up and told me that she loved me...uh...twice. Anyway, she's in Colorado and it seems as if that's where she's going to be for a while, so she won't be a factor. It's bad for the campaign, but good for my sanity.

I like where we are with our strategy and plan, but I'm worried about the money. We should be wiping our asses with twenties (sorry for the graphic), but I can't get the family to be more assertive.

I have some cool pictures from my door to door stuff, I keep forgetting to post them. I'll do it later tonight.

In other...uh...other news: Summer school is NOT what it was advertised. It was supposed to be - oh, just teach what the book says in that order, use the worksheets and you'll be fine. Don't take anything from the kids, it's summer school. Any problems and they're out.

Yeah...that was Peggy's description before she left town to see her new grandchild. The problem is, I basically have a special ed class. So, I have a HORRIBLE book, that has so many typos, grammatical mistakes and outright errors in the answer key that it was if a social studies teacher wrote it. So my "easy" gig is a special ed job where I'm doing lesson plans every night.

I don't think he reads this blog, so I guess technically I'm talking about someone behind his back, but I just got off the phone with the man, the myth, the legend, Rome Celli. Dude's now President of the Monroe County School Boards Association. I remember him when he was just little Romolo, Treasurer of the struggling local Green Party. Do you think he could hook a brutha up with a job? No.

Seriously. I miss the political gossip sessions we used to have. It's pretty apparent that nothing much has really changed politically since I've been gone from Rochester.

But Rome did have a couple of interesting things to say about the podcast. One is that he's been digging some of the music on it to the point that he's bought some of it. That's the point of playing the real independent stuff. We play it so listeners can dig it and buy it and support the indie musicians. I'm pretty psyched about the music we've been playing and I've got the new Abi Tapia CD in the mail yesterday and I'm working on new Stanley Jordan and some other cool stuff.

He also had another comment, that I'm going to save for the show. You'll just have to listen to next week's show to find out what it was. But it was sho nuff interesting.

I don't think she reads this blog either, so I guess I'm really a gossipy kinda guy today, but I have another visitor coming next week. The lovely and talented Zuza Szewczyk will be stopping by the rock for a week. Damn, now I have to actually clean. I'm sure there will be pictures with the usual updates.

Wow, I only meant this to be a short campaign thing...Well, hope you enjoyed the update...

Cut me...Cut me, Mick

Aw Man! I can't get a break. You may or may not have remembered, that I've been relatively following this program where I'm doing specific workouts and trying to eat high protein, low-carbs. I'm not a fanatic, but it's done me well so far. The biggest problem I've been having with it is chocolate. I know, not too manly, but it's just the truth. It would have been beer, but I'm sorry, that ain't going. So I finally found something that took care of that.



It's not the sweetest-tasting pudding in the world, and it has more chemicals than a car battery, but it does the job. But then I just discovered the hitch:

It's made by Sylvester Stallone. I must quote the black guy's only line in every Rocky movie when he said (6 times):

"Nnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!"

Great...there better not be any steroids in this.

What's next? Will I be Sweating to the Oldies?

Anonymous Mocking

I honestly have no idea what to make of this. I received an e-mail from Sara inviting me to look at pictures of Joe's 30th surprise birthday party. The problem is I don't know who the hell Sara is and I've never met Joe. I think it's gotten to the point where anonymous people now mock me for not having a life. I now get pictures of parties for people I don't even know so I couldn't have even turned down an invitation because of work or campaign stuff. And they're from Haiku so I know they're on Maui.

Well, I guess if Sara's going to share them with me, the least I can do is share them with you.

Uh...enjoy them as much as I did...I guess.

We're Really Not That Old

I wasn't really sure where to put this...either here or on the other blog. I decided to put it here, just because I don't know when I'll be posting again. (places to go, things to do)

You know, as a society, we're really not that old. Think about it. We were just slowly chugging along for however many thousands of years; the population wasn't getting that much larger, technology got better incrementally, but nothing crazy...fire, wheel, spear, catapult, gun. We've...uh...I don't think I can use the word "evolved"...our technology has evolved (better) exponentially in the past 100 years, and with it, our population. But we've never had to deal with the things we do now; or if we do, it's on such a larger scale or with other aspects thrown in, that it's just a different ballgame entirely.

So it kills me when people talk about "tradition". That's the way we've always taught kids. Huh? Since when? 1950? In the grand scheme of things that's not a long time. That's the way we've always fought our enemies. Uh, not with the killing capabilities and communication options we have now. Driving gasoline-powered cars has only been around for a short time, relatively. We can certainly do other things to get around. It's only ingrained in us because we're so myopic that only our lives, our experiences are what we see as being valid.

I admit, I catch myself doing it on occassion. Kids should always learn how to read and love books, etc. But the world IS changing, whether we like it or not. And yes, I do think it's not always fortunate. I think our lives are poorer when we replace things like reading instead of adding to ways we communicate. Old school and new school - in everything - need to be combined to just make school.

OK...that's pretty much my dip into anything remotely deep for a while.

Homee Don't Play 'Dat

If I had a nickel for every time a woman complained to me about how she couldn't find a good man...then proceeded to tell me the characteristics of this "good man"...and by some crazy coincidence I happened to fit these characteristics...but of course I wasn't considered a "good man"...

I'd be able to knock you upside the head with a sock full of hot nickels!

[Note to You-Know-Who: Even though you're not going to read this until 6 months from now, I just wanted to let you know that I'm really not mad about our conversation today. I just decided to use the irony as a good excuse to blog.]

Oh, and my 24 hours also consisted of a different person whom I...uh...let's just say had ties to...tell me about how great her new boyfriend is and how they're moving in together...and oh, by the way...are coming to f-ing Maui in January!

Jesus Christ...I have to move to somewhere no one wants to go...like Des Moines or Terra Haute.

Well, I've got six months to get my sock filled...anyone have change for a twenty?

Dave the Jamaican

Yes, it seems that I am really Jamaican. I know...if you know my alleged parents you'd probably have a good argument against this theory, but I sure can't think of any thing else to explain this.

I got another job. Yep, a third one. Of course that goes with the campaign I'm (kind of) running and summer school.

I was just offered a position to teach social studies online through Penn Foster. It's a job that I can take with me where ever I go. So when I leave here, I'll still have something that's ongoing.

Oh...and one of the Village People at the YMCA gave his notice. So I was asked if I wanted to pick up one of his shifts. So I'll be working Monday evenings as well.

So, to sum up...I'll be working my ass off over the next year. The primary election is in September and that should be relatively it for the campaigning. I won't be doing much activism stuff for a while after that. I'm going to get rid of as much debt as possible and start looking for a job somewhere I'd like to live. For right now Rochester's my first choice, but if I can find something cool close to some of y'all I'll explore NYC & Washington DC. There are some good Coalition of Essential Schools...uh...schools in those cities.

Then there's summer school. Ah...supposed to be laid back, take to guff from kids, etc. Well, I'm teaching 7th grade math to kids who have already had it. They can't add. One of them doesn't speak English. I'm in a portable classroom with more dust than on my desert window sills. I have a dry erase board that doesn't erase. I was given the book to use then told that it's easy and that I'd figure it out.

Today was the first day and we're already behind...by a lot. This place is slow.

How slow? Well, last week we "celebrated" the expansion of the Molukele Highway. They turned a 2 lane highway into a 4 lane highway. A fairly straight 7 miles of road. It took SIX years to finish. Yep...six freakin years. In New York, they bang out stuff like that in a month.

So, Yah, Man. Me no like the natty dread locals. Goin bang outta he-ah.

Once Again, My Lesson Plan Was Shit

Literally.

Today, we went to the water treatment plant. Don't believe me?





Good Times.

Actually, I tied the science of it in with the politics of water and we did some writing for language arts, so it was a pretty full day. And it was the shit. Steve, our doody guide showed us this really good video that was a cartoon about the physics and engineering of waste treatment. Our kids really dug it.

The kids did the expected "ewwwww"ing, but they were pretty good. The one I had the biggest problem was Renee - she almost puked. Literally. And she was kind of hiding behind me and I heard her actually wretch a little. She would have puked all over my ass. I mean, Renee's pretty hot and all, but I just ain't into that.

So this week's been a real tough one, school-wise. We're in the last week and all the kids' projects are due for me (see http://atias.org if you're curious). It's been the technology aspect of everything that's been so tough. The last two days has just been me going from one computer to the next trying to fix all this stuff. And 3 kids did their videos on analog cameras, and digitizing it has been a major pain. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, after a day and a half, the video turned out upside down! How the hell???? I've been getting out of school anywhere from 6 - 8:30 at night. Anyway, I think I have it all done, but one. Now I just have to grade all the things.

I think this is good news...during some of the activities this week, we've done a lot of reflection. The kids were asked to think about what we've done and comment on the year in various ways. Peggy asked the kids to break things down by subject...comment on science, engineering, etc. The kids couldn't tell what was social studies and what was language arts. Many of them actually had to ask me. It was relatively designed that way as the software we use to do our grades (which is an entirely different issue) won't let me combine subjects. So there were times I had to just pick at random, what to put an assignment under. Amnesty Urgent Action Letters were put under LA and SS and various times of the year...just because I could.

Next year will be really chaotic. But more on that later.

Another Good Podcast

We had a special guest today...outgoing Editor of the Maui Weekly Times, Anthony Pignataro. It was pretty funny.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/bedasso/TSBS_June_1_2008.mp3