Farewell, Dear Friend

Deep in the canyons off of Mulholland, I found a secluded pool to place Otis in. I had a few words to say and I gently laid him in the creek after I said them.

It may sound stupid to some of you, but I'm really going to miss that fish.

It Is A Sad Day On Coldwater Canyon Ave,

You will be missed, Otis. You were the best fish friend a guy could ever have.

Never to be replaced. I love you, Otis.

Saddest face of the year.

Made It Back To LA!

After a rollicking three-day trip across the majority of the United States, Courtney and I made it safely to LA. Of course, I'm now wildly sick, but the trip was a total blast. We drove a lot on Saturday, but we stopped at the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial, and then on Sunday, since we drove so much on Saturday, we were able to take our time and we stopped at the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, and Meteor Crater. Awesome.

Then we spent Sunday with my family, chatting, eating, and I was at that point at the depth of my sickness... but we had a great time.

And today was totally easy. I was feeling kinda crappy, but it was a relatively short drive and we got here easily and in one piece. Huzzah!

And I'm Off!

Road trip across the country..... commence!

The Next Great Purging

Ah yes, to purge! I love it! Last time I did it, I was preparing to move back in Nov. of last year. Now, Courtney will be here in a matter of days, I'm sick of stuff, and I'm just cleaning out tons of crap.

Bag of clothes to Goodwill. Done.

Stack of DVDs to go to Bookman's/Amoeba or Amazon. Done.

Stack of games to Amazon. Done.

Stack of CDs to go to Bookman's/Amoeba. Done.

It feels so damn good. This shelf, for instance, though the picture is murky, you can see that only the top shelp has anything on it... those are only homemade DVDs and games. Prior to last week, it was filled all the way to the bottom with DVDs. No more. Bye!

Feels so good to be a reseller.

Preparation

As days go on and I plan for some big changes and my camera is missing.. it's becoming harder to blog. Harder? More challenging. Yeah.

There's a lot on my mind, though.... school, reviews, thinking about that Canadian guy who was wrongly extradited and tortured for a year by us and it just came out that he has no legal recourse... I'm thinking about Courtney coming out, my own health and working out, I'm wondering why Curtis keeps pushing her bedding into her water and I'm worried she won't have enough to drink while I'm gone.

Today, however, this funny thing happened: I got up and ready early so I decided I was going to ride my bike to school. I got there and almost immediately was reminded that I needed my car to drive students to CSUN. So, at first break, I jumped on my bike and hauled ass home, ran inside, picked up some stuff, and hauled ass back to school. Then I ran around at CSUN, we ended up running late, and I had to haul ass back to school again to teach my last block.

It was a very crazy day today.

Best Compliment Of The Day

Today, one of my students told me I teach math better than the regular, Harvard-educated math teacher.

That felt pretty good.

And sorry for the dumb picture... my camera is currently out of commish... and I don't feel like using the old one.

This Weird Mouse I Live With

... did this tonight.

... after she dumped a ton of bedding into her water twice.

She's crazy, I tell ya.... crazy.

Now It's November

It's November and, like Dana said earlier today, it sure doesn't feel like it. Damn hot outside.

Halloween was a lovely time.. saw so many of my favorite people, stayed out late, danced, took pictures, it was so great. Some really fun costumes out there, too.

In other news, not is the kitchen sink still a little jacked, but now my bathtub is backing up when the upstairs neighbor runs their shower. Hooray.

Also, I spent the last half an hour looking through the Instant Watch options on Netflix - which I watch on my TV via my 360 - and I've begun seriously debating selling the majority of my DVDs. Not only are many of the movies I own on there, but there's so many other things I've never seen. Hmm.... and talking to Nic yesterday, I was beginning to be seduced by the idea of less stuff.

Stuff stuff stuff... just weighs you down, you know?

Happy Halloween!

As per the usual, I will be going to the Boys' house to hang out with old friends, catch up, spin fire, and imbibe. I may head over to Adam's afterward... but as always, I expect tonight to be a good time.

While this is not my Halloween costume... it's actually a photoshopped version of the picture from Anne Marie's zombie dance party over the summer, I dig what I've been doing to this. Enjoy!

My actual costume = a Rear Admiral.

Aaaaand I just came home to a backed up kitchen sink. Ah well, to be worried about tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

Catalina '09

Back from another rollicking three days on Catalina island with a batch of 8th graders. Yet again, I amazed at the tenacity of our students - good and bad - I am impressed with those students who try and try and try to behave appropriately and get the most out of this incredible opportunity that they can and I'm impressed with the ability of some of my students to switch from awesome examples to terrors... and to stay that way.

There was great stuff and some not so great stuff... but all of it makes for fantastic memories.

Kid stuff aside, I got to do a whole bunch of amazing stuff again, too... like snorkeling and night snorkeling, kayaking, oh man, the list goes on.... such a great opportunity for us and the students.

Have I mentioned that I have the best job ever?

Packing Up AGAIN

Getting ready to leave for the third time in less than a month. This time, I'm heading to Catalina with my 8th graders for three days. It's an awesome trip - we hit it last year and it kind of blew my mind: snorkeling, night snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, composting, soooo great. The kids learn so much and it's such a wonderful experience for them. I am stoked.

But yeah, the traveling is getting a little out of hand. Next weekend, I'll be leaving for Kansas City to meet up with Courtney and get her out here.

After that, I guess I've got some time off before the holidays - unless I decide to go somewhere over Thanksgiving. Eh, who knows. I'm crazy like that.

The Universe Conspires Against Me

I've been taking all these steps to work on getting trim and toned. Going on hikes, watching what I eat, cutting down on drinking.

Tonight was educators eat free night at El Cholo... I drove down there after work and wanted to check it out. They had a special menu for us moochers, but it was still full of delicious stuff. I'm munching on chips, but I decide against a margarita. I get the chile con carne burrito, but mostly because I wwanted to try that and a couple other dishes that aren't so messy meaty. I'm saving those options for when I take Courtney.

I'm pleased with how I'm doing when a waiter comes by and delivers a plate of nachos. I tell him he's mistaken, but then my waiter comes by and points out the above sign. It reads, "El Cholo Famous Nacho Table." If you sit there, I guess, you get free nachos.

So not fair.

Then I decide I'm going to ride my bike to Steve's later on tonight to watch the original Battlestar Galactica miniseries. I didn't realize that it was three hours long, I'd be super sleepy, and it would be cold outside by the time it was done.

Steve gave me a lift home. BUT, tomorrow is hiking day!

Me Day, Part 2

All right, so I was supposed to be at Dockweiler right now, spinning my double staffs on fire for the first time... but as the day wore on... man, I just wasn't feeling it. I went to go see a friend's gallery showing in the West Hills and while I was there, I began to dread packing up all my gear and driving down to the beach... weird, I know... but it was how I was feeling.

I called up Nic, who I was supposed to bring down with me and told her I wasn't feeling it, that was fine by her.

I came home (got some Taco Bell for the first time in a couple months on the way home), Skyped Courtney for a while and then I just felt the need to be alone and create. I was telling her how I was feeling a little creatively constipated lately... the last thing I wrote was "End of the Road," and I wasn't totally happy with how that turned out. I've started five short stories, I did write one over the summer, but that was way before summer camp and all that. I've been feeling the need to write sketches again... I miss DK, I miss putting up my own stuff that I'm proud of and I was damn proud of what we did way back when.

So I popped off of Skype, watched some music videos on YouTube (love those Basement Jaxx fellas), and then I started working on a new story... I wrote a page and a half... looked at one or two other stories I had started, then I pulled out the in-home studio and started painting a couple pieces. You see them here. One seems to be some weird Frank Miller-esque portrait of sperm, and I'm not sure I dislike it... waiting for the paint to dry... and I painted another mini-canvas black to prep it for some fire-type painting. That's the plan anyway.... and my plans normally change when I paint.

Now that I'm focusing on my health, I need to shift part of my focus back on my art. I feel a little dry. Gotta fix that.

It Was A Good Day, It Was A Me Day

Man, today was great.... got the couches cleaned, watched the last five episodes of season 5 of The Office and the first seven of season 6. Did some Halloween shopping, ate well, and watched Final Destination 3. So great.

And to top it off, I hit the annual Halloween Roller Disco and that was wonderful. Above, you see the Gingerbread Man, Pee-Wee Herman, Mr. Fantastic, Robot Guy, and Pigeon Lady. I went as a Rear Admiral.

I gotta say, though, my legs are killing me from the hike yesterday... maybe everyday is a bit audacious. Let's see.