Jabber

So Sad: Missing Puzzle Piece

Originally uploaded by pepperperkinsarcher

Well I’ve finished the first puzzle and have requested a new piece. I’ll let you know how that goes. This is the 1000 piece Mizrah puzzle from Pomegranate puzzles. The only problem with redoing a puzzle is that I finish them too fast. This one took a day and I didn’t work all day on it.

UPDATE: I received the missing puzzle piece in the mail yesterday (June 29th).  That was fast.  I am impressed with Pomegranate’s customer service, which makes me doubly happy since I love the quality of their puzzles.  I was worried at first because the envelope arrived with a corner ripped, so I was sure it had fallen out but the people at Pomegranate thought of that and put it in another envelope inside with a neat card as well.  Man I like this company!  Too bad they aren’t in Alaska, wouldn’t it be a great job to put together puzzles and get paid.  I’ll keep dreaming.

Midnight 2

Originally uploaded by pepperperkinsarcher

I move back to the United States tomorrow. I have gone through all the paperwork with the Chinese government to export my cat from China to America. I went home today to check out of my house and found that my cat had died. She had lost a lot of weight and I had started to force feed her. I thought it was stress. I had given away the kitten because Midnight seemed upset about it, but she must have been sick and the government vet didn’t catch it. I am very sad. I am however glad it didn’t happen on the plane. What would I have done then? I wonder if that ever happens.

I will miss you Midnight, you were a wonderful cat. Thank you for spending your life with us.

I was looking through some jigsaw puzzles yesterday and came across one I thought looked nice, so I clicked on it to see about ordering one. When I looked at the stock availability though I realized I didn’t want to wait that long to order it. I thought about letting them notify me when it was available but wasn’t sure I would still be interested, let alone alive in 96 years. Although I could order it for my great grandchildren.

No matter which way you look at it, 5000 weeks is a long time to wait.

So, I remember in grade school we moved into a new school. I was in 2nd or 3rd grade when this happened, which was about 26 years ago. On the day of the big move we packed all our stuff from our desks (books included) into a paper bag and walked the 1/4 mile or more to the new campus. I was just thinking about America today and wondered if parents would be upset that their kid had to walk or had to carry their books that far. Are we creating a generation of wimps?

This was written by one of my 10th graders.

Question: What were the problems in the Balkans prior to WWI?

Answer:
They suffered from daily attacks from the El Cukui. El Cukui, a monster that resided in an underground cave in the water of the Balkans, could hear when children were being bad and would abduct them and hide them in his cave. The Balkans’ military was pooled together to search for the petulant Cukui before the start of WWI and they were therefore unprepared for the attacks. The scourge of the rampid purple bunnies was detrimental to their lifestyle, military, and economy. By the time the Balkans’ military found the Cukui, they were teleported to the Planet of the Apes and were lost. The purple bunnies ate crops, caused famine, and attacked the poor defenseless children of the Balkans.

I say:
I guess if you have no idea what the answer is you might as well have fun.

All right, I know that we have all known players and coaches who have whacky superstitions. Last year I had a lucky pair of socks. Deep down I didn’t really think they were lucky but I did win when wearing them. Anyway, this year I haven’t been that superstitious until we went to our year end tournament and then it was full on. We played well and won when I wore my tshirt, so I made sure to wear it in the other game as well, but we didn’t play well. Then I had the stupidest superstition of all time. I went to use the restroom and all day the first day I had used the first stall. Then before our game on the second day I went in to use the bathroom and the first stall was full. I didn’t know what to do. I had a large debate with myself, we didn’t win both games the first day when I had been using the first stall, but what if I used the other one and we didn’t win at all. That’s when i realized that I’d gone over the deep end! So, I …. waited for the first stall, just kidding!

Tomorrow we fly to Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) for a 3 day basketball tournament. I’m a little nervous. We’ve won this tournament as far back as I can remember but this year may be tough. Our divisions were changed last year, but we had a strong team and were able to hold off the other teams even if it was just barely. This year will be tough and may hold surprises. I’m nervous and excited.

Today was the first day back to school for students. I dreaded going to school today, but once I started teaching I was glad to be back. I’m working with a new textbook in Geography so that excited me and I have renewed energy for my students. Hopefully this new enthusiasm will last longer than a couple weeks : ) We also got some new students today and I’m hoping that these new personalities will positively improve the feel of my 10th grade classes. I dreaming of a breath of fresh air. We’ll see. Only 5 months until I move. Yikes.