All the Things

So many things.

Our ultimate frisbee team qualified for the upcoming Nationals tournament in October. We had already bought plane tickets, knowing we would probably go and there were limited flights at good times. It was a relief that we didn't waste our money, not to mention we had fun playing the tournament with our friends. It was unusually played at a showground field, and on the Sunday we were privileged to share the grounds with a guinea pig show. It was like a dog or a cat show, where different breeds are judged on their coats and such. The people were preening their guinea pigs by literally plucking their stray buttocks hairs and carefully brushing their faces with human toothbrushes. During the judgment they were placed on little velvet-covered pedestals, and a man in a lab coat inspected them and instructed the owners about perfect breeding practices. This was all immensely entertaining to me, but probably not at all for the poor guinea pigs. 

Sunday was also a big day because we finally saw Matilda: the Musical. I bought tickets to this show forever ago, and it was a lot of fun. There were lots of clever visuals and choreography that helped us appreciate the music we already liked even more. It was a high-energy show that I'd recommend to any age - lots of kids were at the show, but it's more than a kids' play. 

Tonight, for the first time since we have been going to the trivia down the street, we came in FIRST PLACE. This is quite an achievement, and mostly thanks to the fact that in the last two weeks a frisbee friend has come and brought his other two friends. They knew our trivia host from a previous location, but had to stop coming for various grown-up reasons. They've "gotten the band back together" as a hybrid with our team, and it has proven a success. We'll see how long it can last (we are not assuming it will become a regular thing), but are happy while the ride lasts. 

Consider yourself sufficiently updated. Goodnight.

Jump Rope for Narrowly Avoiding Disaster

Ahh... Jump Rope for Heart, the annual fundraiser and awareness campaign for heart health, when children are encouraged to jump rope as much as they can for as long as they can on a special day. I remember taking part in the fun when I was in elementary school, and the kids still do it today, even in Australia. 

When I was at a school on Wednesday, though, I had different thoughts. There are way too any kids in a small space whipping ropes around carelessly; whatever happens, avoid getting hit in the face. Secondly, try to make all the kids more aware that they aren't near anybody when they start trying to skip rope, so they can avoid hitting anyone else in the face. 

I was astonished nobody got hurt. I suppose that's the true win today.

No Rest for the Weekend

It's a been a full weekend. We got up bright and early Saturday to go explore a new park: Wianamatta. It's kind of like some land that they haven't turned into a park yet, but you can walk and bike around it and look for wild animals. There are a few old abandoned buildings on the property and some old paved roads that have not been maintained. No benches or ranger station, or anything that makes the land look nice and not abandoned. It kind of felt like walking around somewhere post-apocalyptic that nature is reclaiming. We saw quite a few kangaroos, but unfortunately did not get to see the elusive emu we were trying to track. We did find some footprints though, which look exactly like dinosaur footprints. 

We spent the rest of Saturday at a going away/engagement/beach party at Bronte. This morning we ran in the Color Run 5K at Centennial Park with a friend and some of his friends/acquaintances. The afternoon was reserved for ultimate frisbee training, and then most of the team went to the nearby pub to grab dinner together. 

And just like that, the weekend is almost gone. 

Yeah, Science! Update

Supposedly, we did it. Although this info conflicts with what I found about the previous record holder. They say the previous record holder was 640, but the number I found (2,753) was higher than what we got (1,869 people). This is unsatisfying. Did we make it or did we not? Who has the wrong info? Alas, there was no fancy special guest either. It was still a nice Friday evening, but I'm labelling it inconclusive until further notice.

Bruce

Michael and I are getting psyched to see Matilda the Musical in a few weeks. We listened to the music on Spotify and decided we both love this song. For those unfamiliar for the story, the song is from a part in the story where the mean headmistress is forcing a child to eat an entire chocolate cake, and the other kids are rallying be behind him. The lyrics are pretty genius, for example, "fantastically enthusiastic gastric juice". And we just love the escalation of the mood of the song. It's a tough scene to watch in the movie (as tough as a kids' movie scene could be, anyway), so I can't imagine how they're going to pull it off on stage. I hope they don't really make a child actor eat a whole chocolate cake on stage every night. I don't think they'd do that because it would be horrible. Hopefully he's not a method actor. 

As someone who works with kids, part of the reason I want to see this play is that it boggles my mind how talented the young actors must be to pull it off. I barely think I could memorize a play and perform it well at my age, much less at the age of 10. 

Yeah, Science!

I was very productive this evening, making more upcoming travel reservations. It's nice to check three things off the list. 

It's been a pretty regular work week. We had trivia on Monday and won our frisbee game on Wednesday night. 

Tomorrow we are going to the World Record Stargazing Event at Centennial Parklands. The thing I find funny is that the event is sold out. Why would you have a finite number of people who can attend an event when you're trying to get as many people to attend as you can possibly get?! This particular event will have special science-y guests (supposedly one by the initials of NdGT, but that is yet to be confirmed) and we will apparently walk away with little telescopes. So, that's why. But, maybe they could have the first X number of people sign up get that stuff, and then let other people sign up to still stargaze in the park so they can be counted as part of the tally? All the US has to do is try to have one night where they do the same thing and they can just blast Australia out of the water for most star-gazers in different locations in the same country at one time (simply bested on the fact that the US population is higher). Hint, hint. 

Wouldn't it be disappointing if Australia didn't beat Mexico's Record (Also, why is that article on AOL Real Estate? That's a thing?)? That would be pretty funny, actually. "Thanks for coming out guys; sorry, we failed. Here's a telescope to remind you of your failure". 

I'll let you know how it goes.

Be an Informed Consumer

Three different people on my facebook feed have been posting more stuff about Shakeology and Beachbody than I care to see, so I decided to look up other info about it online to see why they they are pushing it so hard on social media. They also really seem to play up this "I love my life!" idea all of a sudden, which is why I'm so skeptical. I love my life too, but I don't need to tell everyone about it all the time. These are people who seemed like normal people before they found this company - they had their ups and their downs. Now they've found a product that makes them happy all the time? What a red flag. It's classic bandwagon advertising I learned about in elementary school . There is nothing wrong with wanting to coach and inspire other people, but there are lots of ways to do that that don't have to be attached to a brand. 

I think it's great people want to make good healthy life choices concerning exercise and nutrition. From reading this and this, it sounds like there's no question that the Beachbody and Shakeology products can help somewhat get fit. There's just obviously something fishy going on with pricing and making people buy into the idea that they are earning a discount by recruiting or pushing the product, though.

In any case, I haven't used their products and don't intend to. To be clear, I am not saying anything negative about the company either, as I have had no experience with them whatsoever other than seeing their advertisements disguised as my friends' status updates. I just hope that everyone is making informed decisions. 

Ace and Holly

This guy trains his dogs in the park where we play frisbee, and they are always distracting us with their awesomeness.

Micro-update

We spent most of our weekend outdoors and with friends. We have also been eating a lot of French toast lately. I can't complain. 

Inspiration

This is a completely random thing, but I was recently listening to a podcast where Ben Folds talks about how the movie About Time (which is fantastic, by the way) was based on his song (one of my favorites of all time), "The Luckiest". I love when two things I find out two things I love are somehow related! It just makes sense, since great minds think alike, and inspire each other. 

Assembly Critique

Some days, like the first three days this week, subbing elementary school is chaotic and I just feel like I just get out alive. Other days, like today, I feel like a master of puppets. 

I've seen enough mediocre school assemblies, especially ones where kids get accolades for doing things they should just be doing anyway without receiving buckets of praise, or they just basically stand and wag their fingers and shake their heads while a song plays in the background for three minutes. Now more than ever, I really appreciate when a school can put on a good show. Today, I got to see a synchronized dance assembly where these kids wore beautiful homemade bird costumes, each dance with a group of kids dressed like a different bird. To transition at the end of each segment, the children would run into a circle and then the next group of different colored birds would join the circle as the previous group exited seamlessly and took a different spot on stage. It ended with all of the kids doing something similar to the hora, in that they were set up in large two counter-rotating circles, dancing to Ben Lee's "We're All in This Together". It was pretty awesome, and I think even a group of adults could not pull it off any better than these kids did. 

I always have a better feeling at the end of the day leaving a school that clearly cares about fostering the arts in their students. It seems like a no-brainer to me that the students' behavior is more positively affected at all times throughout the day, compared to schools that have more of a focus on discipline (positive and negative) or academics.

It's probably no coincidence that I have had such a positive experience with the kids at this school the two times I've been there. Some places just have their stuff together, and a good environment produces happy and smart kids, without having to pressure them too much.

Pour one for my homie

Today would have been my Grandma's birthday. She would been 99 today, had she not passed away a few years ago. She was funny and kind, but didn't take crap from anyone. My family likes to have a nice little birthday meal in her memory, which I can only attend in spirit right now. Happy Birthday, Grandma! Hope you're enjoying a "Crab O'Donnell". 

Underdogs

We have started sometimes going to a different trivia on Tuesday nights, since it's a more accessible location for our friends. After a year and a half of going to our Monday night trivia and never getting first place, the fourth time going to this new trivia, we won. The level of difficulty and competition are obviously different, but a win is a win!

End of Another Era

We got the sad, but expected news this morning that Michael's grandfather passed away in Florida. He went peacefully in his sleep, which is probably about as good as one can imagine. Grandpa Bill was officially the last living one in his generation in the family, so he takes with him knowledge and memories that cannot be replaced. The last time we saw him he had a smile on his face and he was still witty and sweet; that is how we will remember him.

End of an Era

I just watched the last episode of Jon Stewart hosting The Daily Show. It's the end of an era.  I think it was the right choice for him to move on, similarly to how Seinfeld decided to take his show off the air while it was still on top, rather than waiting for it to get old and stale. It'll be interesting to see what Stewart moves onto next, and how the Daily Show will change. 

Tiny Human, 1: Cats: 0.

Last night I babysat our friends' baby at our apartment. He slept for most of the time, except two times when he woke up crying to be fed. The baby's behavior was predictable as far as I was concerned. 

The cats, however, having never seen a tiny human before, were completely confused. First, Ninja wanted to sleep in the bassinet. He tried more than once despite getting evicted. Then when the baby was in it, Ninja and Eve just came over to stare wide-eyed. Later when he was crying, they both hurried over, again, wide-eyed horrified looking back and forth between me and the baby in almost an accusatory fashion, like, "STOP MAKING HIM CRY!". When I was trying to feed him he still cried on and off a little between bottle sips because he isn't used to drinking from a bottle. When he stopped crying, Eve would nuzzle my feet, but when he would start up crying again Eve would lightly nip at my feet. After that yielded no response she jumped up and tried to be involved, but didn't know how. She tried to sit on both of us but that didn't work either. 

Anyway, everything settled down in the end. Babysitting ended up being more entertaining than I'd thought it would be because of my confused little kitties.

Old School

Technology is different in schools now compared to when I was the age of the kids that I teach. When I was in early elementary school, we would each sit down at a computer in the lab, insert a floppy disk, and play an educational game for a half hour. That was literally it. 

In one of the schools where I teach, first graders are learning how to make their own Word documents and second graders are learning how to use Power Point. Theoretically, this is a good thing. In actuality, it's a nightmare to teach. Half the kids, halfway through the year, still don't know how to even log in to their own computers. Either they don't know how to type or use a mouse properly, they don't know their password, or they have limited English comprehension. Even though you instruct them to stay at their computer and raise their hand if they're having problems, and this is always how all the teachers instruct them to ask for help, they come up to you or shout across the room for you nonstop. If you're lucky, a few bright ones in the group get it and then help a few others that don't. If more than half accomplish the task, I consider it a success. Clearly the young ones really need to master the basics before these more complex tasks are thrown at them. 

Over the years, the kids become incredibly proficient with technology. The sixth graders have mastered several complex programs and can edit their own video projects independently. Another school where I work allows the year five and six students to BYOD (bring your own device) to do their research work. 

Sometimes the reliance on technology becomes a crutch. I had to tell one class during Art that they had to put their tablets away because they kept trying to look up pictures to draw instead of coming up with their own ideas. I also can't remember how many times I've caught children playing games or looking up things they shouldn't have been when they had work to do. Even the teachers - they sometimes make these elaborate plans on the interactive notebook, but then neglect to leave me their password so I can't access anything and have to come up with my own plan. 

With all of this focus on technology, I it was refreshing to spend a recent day at a school where the focus was more on age-appropriate activities for the young kids. All the kindergarten classes came together while the assistant principal played piano and just sang silly songs and played music games with them. For forty-five minutes there were about 80 children involved and and there was not one child that misbehaved. At the end of the day, there was a free period where the children had their choice of where and what they wanted to play. They could wander between the classroom and a larger room with lots of choices like puppets, blocks, dress up clothes, legos, drawing, etc. The rules for teachers were relaxed too - I could float in and out of the room just generally keeping an eye on my kids, and the other teachers on the floor did the same and we had no problems. When the kids are given opportunities to act like kids, they're generally more relaxed and better behaved, and so the teachers! I wish more schools had this attitude. 

Recouperation

It was a pretty quiet weekend as Michael and I are still slowly getting over being sick. We're both still coughing some, but the show goes on. 

We watched the new Wet Hot American Summer season on Netflix, which was average but entertaining. We just couldn't get enough of Paul Rudd, so then we went to see Antman, which we enjoyed. 

In other news, we found a friend to cat-sit when we go back to the states in September. This might not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but it's always a huge relief to me when we find someone who can check in on our fur babies while we are away. It's one less thing to worry about. 

Time to start the week!

Hold Your Applause

Michael and I have a friend who works for SBS, an Australian TV network that I would liken to a cross between the Discovery Channel and PBS. This week they showed a three-part "documentary", I use quotes because it's half documentary, half reality TV called Go Back to Where You Came From (all three episodes can currently be viewed on the website). The show discusses the issues surrounding refugees coming to Australia, and the different opinions Australians have on the matter. It is not light subject material. Anyway, Michael and I were invited to a live taping of The Feed Forum, which was kind of the reunion/wrap-up for the show cast. 

It was interesting to have watched the show beforehand and then sit in the same room with the people. I sat next to Amar's son (they were one of the refugee families featured in the show) and was briefly able to talk to him. Basically, he said it was weird having these people and a camera crew in his house. 

There were a few people in the audience shouting out comments that can't be heard in the recording, but it definitely got a little tense. The young man I was sitting next to was starting to get into a heated argument with one of the women who was loudly saying deflamatory comments about Muslims, but the show host had to intervene and stop them because the commercial break was about to end. I felt kind of bad for the guy, considering his family had been through a lot and these nearby strangers were just outright rude bigots. It probably took all his self-control not to act out. I just basically told him to not worry about them because they were the ones making themselves look stupid, and I wished him and his family luck; he said thanks.

Now we are probably more educated about Australia's refugee/immigration issues than the US's. It was definitely an interesting experience. It wasn't as jovial as going to see Late Night with Conan O'Brien being taped about seven years ago, but it was a pretty entertaining Thursday.