So we are falling into the year now. Classes are a good lot, over all, but with new books, that means totally re-doing the Geo material. Being the perfectionist I am on this sort of a thing, that is much work. *girds loins* Not that it's a total hardship, since writing curricula is one of my all favorite things to do.

But hey! Here's where I was Saturday night!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX9vzLP2VWM

It was amazing and the best. John Williams is 84 years old, and I can't even.

So that was the week there was.

First off, the fire. The Blue Cut fire, to be precise, that started in Cajon Pass, the main road from LA to Las Vegas. 80,000 people evacuated, 37,000+ acres burned, including 105 homes. I had no idea that many people lived in those mountains - the largest town, Wrightwood, has a population of a little over 4000.

My school is about 50 miles west of that, and really in no danger since those miles are desert and Joshua trees, but the ash landed on us, and the smoke was hard to breathe. It's terrifying to think that the next rain is at least 4 months off. I live 40 miles further to the west, but in the 28 years we've lived here, we've been evacuated twice. We'll see how this year plays out.

And then the cats. We have 4 (it's a long story) but one started have seizures out of the blue last Saturday. After a traumatic and expensive week, we have him under appropriate medication, I hope. Time will tell.

But under the good news department! One of my students has been in the Olympics! Paul George (one of my homeroom students for two years) is a member of the gold medal basketball team. He was the sweetest kid, and it's amazing to see him do so well. Go Hawks!

First week down, looking like a couple times a week on this journal will be it.

So the first week did its normal thing. Kids registered in and out of classes all week. The first week is typically all about the new kids. We started the year with 3100 kids, and 200 new kids registered the first week, all being stuck wherever there was room.

Now next week, we get to the leveling of classes. Some classes have too many, others not enough. They have about 3 weeks to get this done, and then the overage rules kick in. Two years ago, I had overage out the wazoo and ended up making $3000 extra because of it. (SCORE!) Seriously? As long as the kid doesn't have to sit on the floor, you can put as many kids as you want in my room - the more, the merrier. Other teachers feel quite differently on this issue.

So we shall see.

It's located in Antelope Valley, the northeast corner of Los Angeles County. This is high desert country, and we are literally in the middle of nowhere. Desert and Joshua trees in every direction. (Makes it not too enticing to ditch - score! No McDonald's around the corner.) However, if you take a straight shot down the road through the desert and the onion fields you end up at Edwards Air Force Base, home of the Space Shuttle and a whole lot more. Which is our raison d'etre, so to speak.

We are a college prep high school, one of only two in the valley (the other is where the rich/white kids live. Just sayin'.) Meaning that if you graduate from us, you have met the qualifications to enter any CA state college/university. (OK, well, your grades may be an issue, but that's on you.) In addition, we are the only open AP school. In other words, if you want to take an Advanced Placement class, be it English or History or Physics or Calculus, go you. We don't even care that you flunked Algebra I that time. Needless to say, our AP scores are the highest in the district, because the kids are the ones who chose to be there, not the ones recommended by their teachers. Couple years back we had a kid who was accepted by both Cal Tech and MIT with full scholarships. Decisions, decisions.

So who are these kids? 95% POC (70% Latino, 20% African-American, 5% Asian (and by far and away, Filipino.) Over 80% on free lunch (under official poverty level).

Seriously? Working with these kids is such a treat. They make me LOL at least 5 times a day. Hopefully, I give the same back to them.

Well, the close-to-250 kids seem nice enough - no obvious twerps, and lots of seniors. I love seniors. They and I can generally come to terms. In the ten years I've been teaching at my school, I've only flunked one senior, and it's awfully hard to pass someone who never shows up to class, know what I'm sayin'?

However, my school laptop crashed first thing in the morning. Because of course it did. So much for the Power Points. Had to go OG. Well, it's no fun if the day isn't full of challenges. Let's see what's up for tomorrow.

And Monday we will see what we will see.

So Geometry, not so concerned. Mostly juniors, with a fair number of sophomores and seniors. But they are mostly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and if they look like they want to bag it off, I normally just have to remind them, seriously, dude, do you love this so much you want to spend next summer doing it all over again? and they get back on track.

The Into to engineering class, last year, was about half freshmen boys who got dumped into it because they needed something and that was it. Squirrels, I tell you what.

Every teacher's favorite thing. OK, sometimes you learn some useful stuff? But mostly not. However, it's a way to justify paying you for the day, and in the afternoon you get to work on getting your room set up.

OK, so I teach high school, which means I don't have to do nearly anything compared to elementary as far as getting my room gussied up. But what I have to do is this.

Move furniture. They cleaned carpet over the summer (thank God) but I have to move everything back the way I want it. Desks have to be rearranged in groups and numbers taped on each. Cause when they walk in Mon, I ask them their name and give them a number. That's where they go. (I am absolutely a visual learner. Long as I have a seating chart and can continue to associate a name and a face for a week or two, I will learn 200 kids' names within a couple of weeks. Just don't tell me your name. kid, cause it ain't ever gonna stick.)

Old stuff comes off the wall, new stuff goes up. Fortunately, I came in throughout the summer, so I have all my copies for the first two weeks done, and the next two weeks are set to go. I'll need that, since I'll have no TAs for at least 3 weeks, and the kids enrolled will be changing on a daily basis for at least a month.

There's more tomorrow, and then we have Friday off. And next week it's for realz.

As usual, we have two days to go in before school starts next week. And although we are supposed to be collaborating together, most of us just want to straighten up our rooms/make photocopies, etc.

And although it's always good to catch up with my fellow teachers, I only wish my district was as awesome as this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMlPDlY094

Des Moines has some kick-ass teachers, no lie.

So good to see you again girl!

And we checked out Star Trek 3. Thumbs up, Simon Pegg.

And Checkov. *sob*

1. Do you like blue cheese? Soooooometimes.
2. Have you ever smoked? God no.
3. Do you own a gun? HELL no.
4. What is your favourite flavour? Hey what?
5. Do you get nervous before Doctor visits? Doctors' visits? In what universe do you reside?
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Hebrew National. The bestest.
7. Favourite movie? Grand Prix. Saw it in the theaters 17 times (pre-DVD, etc, y'all) Girlfriend and I went to Europe based on that movie. Talk about life-changing. Yeah, I know you didn't see that one coming.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? OMG coffee
9. Do you do push ups? The hell?
10. What’s your favourite piece of jewellery? $40 wedding ring that ain't never coming off. Knuckles have swollen. Ain't even mad.
11. Favourite hobby? Reading. But how can that be a hobby. Unless breathing is also a hobby.
12. Do you have A.D.D.? No.
13. What’s the one thing you dislike about yourself? Why would I tell you?
14. What is your middle name? Lee, which totally cracks me up because people always connect it with my last name. So no, peeps.
15. Name three thoughts at this moment. Doing the italic thing is annoying, but oh well. Vin Scully is telling me that bases are loaded. Sure hope it's with the Dodgers. And this cat on the side of the screen looks like he wants to make his move. Loooove meeeee!
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, coffee, wine.
17. Current worry? In two weeks, when I start back to work, my back is gonna hurt like a mofo. Always does. And then it all starts settling back into place. Sucks to be old, I tell you what.
18. Current annoyance right now? Life is good. Ain't got no complaints. Except apparently the Dodgers are losing.
19. Favourite place to be? At home. Oh, yeah.
20. How do you ring in the new year? Disney Hall! Pink Martini! My people! Whooo!
21. Where would you like to go? Everywhere.
22. Name three people who will complete this? Heh.
23. Do you own slippers? Yep, but don't use them that much.
24. What colour shirt are you wearing right now? Um, yellow? And this is significant why?
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Never tried them. Seem like they'd be pretty slithery.
26. Can you whistle? Ah, no.
27. What are your favourite colours? Green, blue, yellow, orange.
28. Would you be a pirate? Not my bag.
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Nah, not there. When I'm driving, maybe. True story - I once pulled up to a stop sign whilst singing along with an oldies station that was playing the Alphabet Song (Banana fo fhana, etc.) and realized the lady pulled up next to me was doing the same. We both high-fived each other. Sisterhood!
30. Favourite girls name? Wendy?
31. Favourite boys name? David?
32. What’s in your pocket right now? Nada.
33. Last thing that made you laugh? Donald Trump. Yeah, I said it. *sticks neck out*
34. Best toy as a child? Books
35. Worst injury you ever had? Broke my arm once by tripping over my own feet. As I was walking my kids up to school. And I was PTA president, so I was hardly anonymous. Is still mortified.
36. Where would you love to live? At the beach? In the mountains? By the side of a lake? In a cool city? Soooo many places.
37. How many TV’s do you have? One. It's my husband's. TV is not my thing.
38. Who is your loudest friend? That's a weird question. *gives side-eye*
39. How many dogs do you have? Not with four cats.
40. Does someone trust you? Hell yeah.
41. What book are you reading at the moment? Driving to Greenland
42. What’s your favourite candy? A dark chocolate thing
43. What’s your favourite sports team? Awww, Dodgers. Since I was 6. Thanks, Dad!
44. Favourite month? Whenever fall starts. Could be November. Could be December.

Politics, ya know.

And Trump said what today? *twitches*

But anyway, next week is my last week off before school starts. And I have to go in Weds. and Thurs. Professional development. Happy happy joy joy. The PD part, at least.

I'm jazzed about the school starting bit.

So glad that Tippi Hedron's place managed to make it through.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-animals-displaced-sand-fire-20160725-snap-story.html

Fire up to 30,000 acres now. A lot of the people in this area have larger animals, such as horses, etc. The last time we were evacuated (2008), it started in the same area and jumped the freeway. It was here in no time.

Portland might tempt me. (Powell's Boooooooks) And even Seattle and Vancouver are alluring. But in the end, it will always be California. But this? This is what is scary as shit about California, especially Southern California. Not the earthquakes. Nah, even a 7.0 is over and done in 3 - 5 min,, and then you deal. This is much worse.

This? Is as scary as shit. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-santa-clarita-fire-20160722-snap-story.html

Now this is not near me. It's the other side of the valley, at least a half an hour away. But this is the second within a month (and generally, they are started with over-heated cars on the side of the freeway). It's the time of the year when you go out in the afternoon and ask yourself, is that barbecue I smell? Or . . . . God no.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-powered-6-million-homes-solar-energy-beats-state-record_us_578f94b3e4b07c722ebd24ec?section=

Yeah, we're one of those. So we've been in our first and only house nearly 30 years now, and we don't have any (technically at least) dependents any more, and we are both still working, so we needed a tax write-off. Which adding solar power totally is! Win/win to the max. Since sunshine is something we are definitely not short of these days, we are in a net positive position with the power company. Our electric bill may end up being $10 for the year, and that's probably just billing charges. RUN that AC, baby! (Might I add that it's 105 today?) If only we could figure that water thing out.

Might I add that every single school in our area has put up solar panels over the student and faculty parking lots? It pretty much covers power use for each school. Suck on that, Cal Ed. I love living in a blue state.

My baby is 27. And is 6'4" and on the high side of 200 lbs. He's a big boy, no lie. And a total sweetie. Had issues in school that were never pinned down. He was tested over and over, but nothing. They wanted me to have him repeat 6th grade to which I said hell no. If he needed to repeat, it should have been done before the rest of his classmates went to a different school, because I can not imagine anything worse. Junior high and high school were iffy and he graduated only by the skin of his teeth. And then he grew up. If any of you out there have sons, you may recognize this. But his girlfriend of 6 years and counting went a long way to grounding him, bless her heart.

So he was a skater, until he got too big to land the tricks. And what he loves and always totally has is Vans. So he finally got a job at our local outlet. And as of yesterday, is the assistant manager. To put this in perspective, there are only two full-time employees at a typical retail outlet - the manager and the assistant manager. And he's one of these.

He's so beyond the moon, I can't even tell you.

If you haven't been looking for a job lately, here's something you may not know. Full time jobs are ridiculously hard to come by, especially if it's your first. And if it isn't full-time, you have no benefits, no health coverage, not even any sick or vacation days. Basically, it's nothing to make your living off of.

Back when I entered the job market, a full *cough* half century ago, full-time jobs were the norm. I entered the work force at 20, shiny college diploma in hand, and got a job as a bank teller. OK, I was part-time for a couple of weeks (they were trying me out), but I ended up getting called in every day, and within a month I was full-time. And yeah, the pay was damn low ($180 a month!), but it was enough for me to move to LA, get my own cheap apartment, pay my car loan, student loan, and pay my bills. No frills, for sure (no TV, no phone), but I was on my way. About 5 years later, I was a VP and making bank.

But now? Ain't gonna happen. More tomorrow.

So younger son got his first full-time job today. He's 27 frickin' years old.

Got a rant to write-up tomorrow, but tonight is not that night. Bless his heart, and I love him to bits.

That means upstairs in our bedroom, since he works out of home.

So that's OK, since it gets us back in sinc again. He's happy about it. 3 more weeks and I'm back to work too. Hmmm. Gonna miss the reading time.

Hubby feeling better, starting to get antsy just staying at home. So we went to the movies.

It was fine, not as good as the original, but better than most sequels. Had its delightful moments, and the sea lions and Hank the Octopus were total treats.

And the short before? Piper (as in sandpiper) - a sweet although slight story, but sooooo goddamned gorgeous. NOBODY does water like Pixar.