Camelot .. poetry

Camelot

They were days we thought would never end

We were filled with all the wisdom

Fifteen or sixteen years could impart

Our kingdom was just a bus ride away

We navigated the obstacles with the ease of familiarity

We made friends with wondrous ease

We fell head over heels in love,

Sometimes more than once a week

Some of us found lifelong loves and partners

Some of us found lifelong callings and careers

We honed the basic life skills we learned in kindergarten

We found allies and rivals

We understood everything completely differently than we do today

We were living in Camelot and never knew

We called it by its dreaded nom de plume, high school

If it were a lifetime as we surmised,

We have lived more than two others since then

We learned who we are by learning who we were in History class

We learned the whys and how’s of the world’s workings in Science class

We learned the beauty and majesty of life

And how to capture it in English class

We learned that, although everything is life does not,

Everything in Math class does add up

We learned about the caste system in the cafeteria

We learned survival of the fittest in the gym

We learned about serenity in music class

Some thirty-five years has passed

And I can still recall the elations of high school

I can still that aloneness that sometimes came with is as well

I can still summon up the feeling of sitting in front of a blank test paper

I can remember the necessary blandness of cafeteria food

That was the reward of being part of the herd

And that is not a negative thing,

For it helped teach me the value of my uniqueness

I was and am collectively part of the class of ’75, WCHS

It is a label I will wear proudly

On the lapel of my individuality

It is part of who I am

But it is not the sum total of all that I am

Knox, Noble, Renfro, Sweet, Tippett, and Grimes

Scott, Richardson, Jones, and Dye

Will always have their hand in my life

As they tried (sometimes in vain, it seemed) to mold me

Every teacher I have had in my life lives through me

I left Camelot much different than the day I arrived

And I took a piece of Camelot with me

Ron Simpson, Jr.

July 18, 2010

Hallowhen ?

We found out today that Mt Sterling is doing the whole Halloween Trick-or-treat tonight !!



They have moved Halloween. Kyle was aghast that they would move such a favored holiday. I told him they would have a hard time moving my favorite holiday (July 4th.)

They threw together some impromptu costumes (as if they wouldn't have done the exact same thing tomorrow night.)

The kids are going trick-or-treating. Tammy (who found out today that she has a torn muscle and a pulled hamstring) is going to pick up the brake pads for her Caddy. She is twitterpated because she got the Camaro started yesterday and it reminded her how much fun it was to drive. She is now back to vacillating between selling it or keeping it.

I am taking a blog break after finishing my college class and in the middle of doing a KTIP lesson plan for my Principal's observation tomorrow morning.

I was looking around and checked Tammy's blog. Two months ago she blogged about how it had been two months since she blogged and promised not to make y'all wait that long again. Ooops.



Anyway ... the book progresses on toward it publication date. Some of the teachers at the High School want copies. One of the counsellors said he wanted a 'signed' copy. It still freaks me out about signing a book. I don't know why.



Time to get back to work ... y'all have a good evening (or morning .. or whenever you read this .. have something good afterwards.)

The usual catching up to do

Here it is mid October. So much has been happening. On the 11th day of the month, Tammy and I celebrated our 4th year wedding anniversary. It was a quiet celebration. We were supposed to go to our bedroom early and not be inundated with knocks on the door to interrupt us. (That would have been nice ... not practical, but nice.) I really do believe the kids tried to keep it to a minimum. ANYWAY ....

Wow, four years with a beautiful sexy loving caring woman. I am totally spoiled. It has been five and a half years counting the delightful dating and engaging period. Tammy has had such a positive influence in my life. She sometimes disagrees with that, citing all the drama that came with her, but overall, she had been wonderful for me. Dontcha think so, Red ?

There has been a lot going on at work.The first nine week grading period is ending this week. There was potential fireworks about Wednesday, the 17th. Allow me to explain:

I have been in the process of getting a book published. I told my principal that I would be taking off a day in October to meet with the design team to go over cover design, back cover design, layout of the book, size, font to be used, and numerous other details before a first printing could take place. She was aware of this for a month or better.

October 1-5 was fall break. We had no students. I took off part of the week as did all of the other teachers. During the week off, the publisher called and scheduled the team meeting for the 17th. When I returned to school and told my principal that I needed to be off on the 17th, she balked. She told me she could not approve leave on that day, as we have students that day. No leave would be allowed except for sick leave. I was not going to lie to get the day off.

I told her I would take the day off without pay. There would be no need to pay me out of any of my three avenues to take time off (Annual leave, Sick leave, and Comp time) and therefore no problem. She informed me that I could not take leave without pay if I had any available leave time. She could only approve sick time.

As much as I hated doing it, I called my doctor's office and moved my November 23rd appointment to Oct 17 early in the morning. I filled out my leave slip as sick leave for a DR appointment.

I went to the DR at 8:45 AM and had my routine blood work done and picked up a DR excuse for work. From there, we went to Mom's house to visit, then to fill up with gas at $2.55 per gallon, then off to get my oil changed. Finally it was time to go to Bloomington, IN. It was a 198 mile drive. The first 115 miles were interstate. The last 83 miles were two laned country roads. Still it was a good drive and we got to the publishers early.

The meeting was fabulous. The team, consisting of Matt and Ryan, was great. We talked about sports teams and family for about 20 minutes before we ever got around to talking about the book. They didn't rush the process at all. There was a free sharing of ideas, and humorous stories about loved one and family. It was obvious that both had read at least part of the book and had a good feel for what we were trying to accomplish. JR, my author rep sat in on part of the meeting, which was not required at all. We chatted about UK sports and the mania in KY about it. Then it was back to book discussion. More often than not, it was me steering the conversation back to the book. It was just a good feel.

Up until now, the published thing was still an off there in the distant, can't really see it thing. Suddenly, we are talking a month.

The drive home was slow and easy. We got home about 8ish.

Back to work today. As always, after missing a day, there were numerous tales of mischief and revelry. All in all, the substitute said they were good kids and would be glad to sub for me anytime.

There ya go, all caught up.

Where to start ?

It has been a roller coaster ride.

So much is going on right now. Students are back. I have a bunch.

We hired a new Automotive teacher and new Information Technology teacher over the summer. The second day of school with actual students, the new auto teacher comes to work and quits. He said he didn't feel like he was cut out for teaching. He told my boss that he watched us during the two days of in-service we had before students arrived and he did not have what we had. I am not sure what we have, but I am sure there is a salve for it.

Karen (my Boss) closed the auto program for the time being and gave all the students the opportunity to transfer into other programs in our school. Many opted to leave and return to the High School for classes. Quite a few, however, chose to join the electricity program. Karen brought about 10 students into my 6th period class to give them an opportunity to check out the class and me. We were going over the driest part of our year (the handbook and paper work.)

To my surprise, when they returned the the principal, every one of them wanted to take my class. My enrollment went up about 15 students. I now have about 60 students in the course of the day. My largest class is the last of the day, with 17 students.

Tammy is off work. She has pinched a nerve in her neck (or so we are led to believe) and her hands are numb and in pain. She has another appt in the morning. The same DR that told her there was nothing wrong three yrs ago when it was a workers comp case, now believes there are bone spurs in one of her wrists from a break about 3 yrs ago. Imagine that. Private insurance is footing the bill now. So, there is now something that needs to be fixed.

Cloe is doing great. She is growing (Tammy thinks it is by the minute.)

Days are too long. Nights are too short.

I start teaching night classes in October. My college class starts on Monday.

Did I mention "BUSY" ?

Back in the swing

This year promises to be busier than ever. Already, before students arrive, I am slated to teach 3 classes to my fellow teachers. The three classes involve "Teaching across Poverty lines," "The power of I," and "PowerPoint Presentations."

The first and second are based on classes I attended in New Orleans. The latter is a request by my principal. It seems I am the only teacher creating his own PowerPoint presentations. She wants me to teach the other teachers how to do it.

We are back full time in the school. Students will be back August 13. We have a new schedule, a new way of working, two new teachers, and a whole new batch of rules (some good, some not so good.)

Today, I was invited to join the Electrical Curriculum Committee for the state. We worked today on revamping the way the state looks at class groupings for certificates. It was a good meeting.

Oh yeah, I finished my summer semester with an "A" and a "B" in the two classes I took. The fall semester starts August 20. I am taking one class this fall. Looks like more fun.

And I will be teaching the adult class for 4 weeks in September or October for the Community Education bunch.

As I said, Busy busy busy.

Finally .. a moment to catch my breath

Well .. it has been a whirlwind since coming home from Nawlin's.

Our flight out of Nawlin's was delayed for about 40 minutes because the flight coming in was delayed. It had to divert about 100 miles out of the way to miss a storm. We got boarded and away we went. We arrived in Atlanta with just enough time to rush to catch the second leg of our flight home. We arrived in Lexington early. We must have caught a good tailwind. That part of the flight was just over an hour going down and under 45 minutes coming back. It was wonderful to be back in KY. Our luggage was not so happy. It was not back in Lexington yet. The 'luggage guy' (for lack of an official name for him) told Tammy and I that he had a note that our luggage was on a flight arriving at 11:30 PM if we wanted to hang around for an hour. Let's think about this ... in one hour we could be getting our luggage or be getting into our water bed. Hmmmmmm. Bed won. They delivered the luggage the following morning.

Sunday was a sleep day, for the most part. We were tired.

Monday was back to work for both Tammy and myself. I was doing staff exchange with Thoroughbred Electric all week. It was a blast to be back in the field. There was a slight catch. I had to keep a daily log, write a 3-page minimum report, and compose 2 lesson plans based on something worked on during that week and a week worked in June. So, it was busy. The work, reports, log, and lesson plans constitute 3 college credits.

While that was going on, I was catching up the other class I am taking. I am taking a Technology in Education class. I had about 10 excel assignments, a dozen access assignments, and a dozen powerpoint assignments to complete. Lots of computer time, Little fun time. I am nearly done. I will finish up tomorrow (they are all do tomorrow) and then take the final in the Technology class on Thursday night on campus.

This will give me 9 credits for the year. I am required to get 6 per year. This will give me 3 to carry over to next year if I decide to only take a fall class. I am sure i will take a fall and spring class, but it is good to have an option.

This week, so far, I have been in a suite at the Galt House in Louisville. It was the OCTE summer conference (attendance mandatory.) Tammy was not able to go with me, which sucked right out loud. The room was great. The bed was great. The conference was great. However, sitting here at my desk, looking into the bedroom and seeing our bed, knowing we will be in it together tonight, tops all of that. I was way bored without Tammy.

I work the rest of the week, then am off until Wednesday. Then it is back to the grindstone. Next day off ... Labor day!

here are some pics of the suite at the Galt. It was 3 rooms and a hallway. Wowser!

returning from out of town

I am back from my Technical Update Training inLouisville, KY. May I say it was a great miserable time. The classes were wonderful. It was great to fellowship with other electricity teachers and pick their brains. It was good to see old friends in Louisville. It was miserable to try to sleep in a bed that is not my waterbed and without my sexy wife for cuddling. I do NOT sleep well the two nights I was in Louisville.

It felt so good to be back home in my bed.

Now, catch up time.

Chas and Chris came by on Sunday to visit for a bit. Ian and Abigail were in great form. Ian was delighted to show us all his new tricks and I was delighted to spray his hair a lovely shade of green (with parents permission, of course.) Here is Ian showing off his muscles:Abigal is getting so big. she is growing muchly. Here she is trying to drink Tammy's Diet Dew:

She is just a darling. she has Tammy wrapped around her fingers already. she is 6 months old.

What a doll !!

Free at last

Just kidding.

Although ... I am without student for two and a half months. This can only be construed as a good thing. We are doing the end of the year process. I have a checklist of all the inane things I need to do to be away for the summer. It has to be done by the 15th of June, which is the last day I am supposed to be working until August 1st. Yeah, RIGHT !

I do have 10 days extended employment for which I will be paid. Then, there is the staff exchange, for which I will be paid. Then, there is the trip to New Orleans, for which the state is paying, and I will be paid. as of right now, it looks like I will be off for two weeks during the entire summer. I planned as best I could and got them to fall at the end of one week pay period and at the start of the next week pay period and still be two consecutive weeks. Looks like I will be off the last week of June and the first week of July. the kids will be in Florida (after June 12 until July 17, I think.) Tammy will be working, but we will still have free nights and weekends (Sounds like a calling plan rather than a 2 week vacation.) Of course, Tammy is going with me on the week trip to N.O. That will be cool. I have a conference with classes and such during the day, but nights will be ours in the Big Easy.

Other than that, things around here are comparatively quiet. There isn't much going on in the way of drama. Sierra is in labor. She is 32 weeks. The DR wants to hold her off as long as he can. He is striving for at least two more weeks. By then, Alivia will be developed enough to have the best chance to not be in an incubator. She is just over 3 pounds now, and her lungs have not fully developed.

Other than that, it is quiet. The kids school ends this week. Chella assures us her grades are now up to par. She is jazzed about getting off punishment, or "lockdown" as she calls it. There has been a restriction in her freedoms, but she is nowhere close to locked down. Maybe I can arrange a visit to a real 'lockdown' to show her the difference. I have a friend/fellow teacher that teaches at a womans facility. I am sure we can work something out sometime.

Kyle is Kyle. he is being all of eleven that he can be. I was talking on the phone to a good friend (Hi, Russ) Tuesday night and told him that during the upcoming baby shower, Kyle and I would be out and about looking to pick up some chicks. Kyle, from the back seat, with all the manliness an eleven year can muster, said, "Hey, I'm committed now." (Yes, Kyle has a girlfriend.) Tammy and I both said, "You need to be committed." It was funny to hear him say that. Like he has any idea what a relationship is. Too funny.

Ah, the summer looms before us.

splotches and other fun things

It has been an interesting week.

There has been a cold, an allergic reaction, a day of sleep, a cancelled cookout, and a Bible Study.

I got up on Monday with a cold (sniffle sniffle), but just a slight one. I still went to work. On Monday night, as the cold threatened to get worse, I decided to take a cold remedy. The cough was trying to keep me up all night, and that wasn't a good thing. So, I took some pills my wife gave me for cough and congestion. In the night, I was not coughing but not sleeping right either. Tuesday, I get up and leave for work after taking one more pill. My hands are itching. My palms are itching. My lips are tingly.

I stop for gas a couple miles from work and see in the mirror that my lips are swollen slightly. I call work, get gas, and head home. On the way, Tammy calls. I tell her what is going on (sorta.) She tells me that she has benadryl in her purse. We meet in the middle and she gives them to me. By this time, my arms have started to splotch. I am breaking out in hives.

I get home, take the benadryl and sleep away the most of the day. By Wednesday I am good to go. I am still slightly itchy, but manageable.

Thursday, I go to a State Committee meeting. We are developing a Career Pathways document for HS Counselors.

Tuesday night, I did the Bible Study thing. It was OK. I was still nervous, but I think I handled it well.

We were to have a cookout on Friday for the Students. One of the other employees picked up the meat for which my club paid. He was supposed to bring it on Friday. I get there and he isn't there yet. He is supposed to be at work an hour before me. I call his house (40 miles away) and he is still in bed. He is sick. His wife will bring the meat, but cant leave home until she takes daughter to school. The meat will not get to our school until second period. So, I postponed the cookout till Monday.

That was the short version of my week. How was yours ?

life goes on

It is just one day past 2 months since Dad passed away. I read an article once about all the euphemisms we use to prevent ourselves from having to use the "D" word. Rest assured, I know Dad died. Saying 'passed away' does nothing to ease the pain of that.

I am amazed at how quickly we fall into the new routine of living without him. For me, it is because I am aware every day that he is gone. I don't find myself seeing something funny and thinking how much I want to share that with him. I know that I can't do that. Perhaps some day, I will forget that he is gone and think, "I can't wait to tell him." It wont happen this week.

In one week (subtle gear shift) I will be doing something I haven't done (formally) in about 10 years. I will be teaching Bible Study at the church. Our Pastor likes to involve the laity in the bible studies by letting everyone have a chance at doing it. Next week is my week. I must admit, I am a bit nervous.

Now, teaching is what I do every day. I teach electricity to my students day in and day out. A friend of 30 years, now the assistant Business Manager of the Union to which I belong, stopped by yesterday while I was talking to a small class of 5th graders. He brought me an absentee ballot for our union elections. He watch me interact with the kids and explain our program to them. He commented that I had found my calling. Teaching is one of my passions.

Still, I am a bit nervous. we will see how it goes.

We have 10 more instructional days left in this school year. Then it is a month of work at the school, a month of work away from the school, and 2 weeks vacation. then the next year starts and we do it all over again.

You are all invited to come to Applebee's Stadium on May 27th, at 2:05 PM, to hear me sing the National Anthem at a Lexington Legends ballgame. It was a blast last year.

More to come .....

Wowser

It has actually been a week since I blogged ???

What has happened in that week that robbed me of my time for blogging ?

Well ......

This week has been CATS testing week window number two. It is the make-up week for those that missed a day the previous week. The students are all still out of whack. Whenever you do something to mess up their routine, it throws them all off. Weekends seem to do that too. One of my students told me once, on a Monday, that they shouldn't have to work because it is Monday. My response? In the real world, work happens on Monday. It happens on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays too. Some folks even work on Saturdays and Sundays. Let's start learning that here.

The dreaded BOX had to be completed on the 1st of May for my self assessment. I turned it into my principal last week for her to check it. She did, and gave me a list of the things I needed to add to it. This week, I did that. Based on the documentation they require, I got 81 points out of a possible 84. That is 4 points possible in 21 categories. My box score, the average of all those, with 4 being perfect, was 3.86. Pretty good I think. One of the other teachers offered me $50 to help him with his.

We are finally released to go to the park to finish our project.

One of my students came to me to ask what he needed to do to pass my class, with 13 days of school left. He has a 34 in my class because he skips and doesn't work. I don't understand those that do that. I understand the goofing off part. I did that, but I did it after I had the first half in with an A and could afford to get lax. I actually graduated 3 months early because I was counting my credits to see what I could flunk and still graduate. To my surprise, I had enough credits to graduate already. Bye-bye High School.

At 17, while most of my same aged friends were juniors in HS, I was a freshman at UK. Here it is 32 years later, I am nearing 50, and I am back in college at Eastern Kentucky University. I am 31 hours toward my Associates degree (64 hours) in Technical Education. I am taking 6 hours over the summer. Oh yeah, that is also what I have been working on this week. I had a 5 page term paper due, a portfolio due, and a final test to take. I don't know about my scores on the term paper or portfolio, but I do know I made an 88 on the final (took it online today.) That is a B and I had a B on the midterm, so I think I am ok.

Tuesday evening was the final night of the night class I was teaching to adults. Wednesday evening was a ribbon cutting ceremony at Bluegrass Community Technical College (Leestown Campus.) Thursday was the final meeting of my CTE261 Foundations of Technical Education class. Yes, it was a busy week.

It has been an inFLUential week

Actually ... Chella has the flu. I am sure I have it as well. I have been doing the sneezy, sniffly, coughy thing most of the week.

It has been a week away from school for the most part. There was no school on Monday because of snow. I was still there (reference-previous post.) Tuesday, there was school, for half the day. The students went home at lunch because of oncoming weather. I was not there at all because I was sick. I was still sick on Wednesday, but there was no school because of the weather again. Today there was school, but, once again, I am still sick. I could have went to work and took it easy. (Funny how my students never seem to mind if I am feeling bad and don't feel up to giving it my all. They are perfectly willing to take it easy.) I just never was one of those people that brought my plague to work to share with everyone else. Since my principal seems to have it as well, I would guess that someone at work did just that. Thanks.

The funniest thing was that one of my students sent me a text message during the time he was in class about how to hook up the cable to the TV. We have cable in the classrooms, but I disconnected mine, because, last year, every time I left the room, MTV was on when I returned. I fixed that by completely taking the cable out of the classroom. It is still available, but only if you know where the 25 ft cord is, that connects it to the TV. Chris (the texting student) is in my class from 10 til 11:27. He sent his message at 10:07. I got the message after lunch. Sorry, Chris, at 10:07, I was sleeping.

As of right now, I am thinking I feel well enough to make it to work tomorrow. However, it is snowing outside again. The 5:30AM SnowGo report will tell whether tomorrow is a school day or not.

Between snow days and sick days, I haven't seen the students for a week. I think I actually miss them. (Slapping myself back to my senses.)

We will see what the morning will bring.

Snow day snow day !

There is no school today. There was no school on Friday. Now, what that means to me is no students, but I still have to be at work at the school. It is a funny kind of twist that makes work fun. When the state wants me to be a teacher (like when it is to their advantage,) I am a teacher. When the state doesn't want me to be a teacher (like when it is to their disadvantage,) I am a state employee.

The county calls off school because of weather and all the 'teachers' get a day off. However, on those occasions, the State has decided that I am a State employee and therefore required to be at work unless the governor closes state offices.

On Friday, I took a personal day off from my annual leave. I think I have 13 or 14 days accrued. I get one annual leave day and one sick day a month. Anyway, here I am at my desk. I did come in one hour late because of the snow and ice, but am allowed to make that up sometime, anytime, in the next 4 weeks. I am thinking I will make up the 7.5 I took Friday as well, since I am always here late anyway.

The rest of my life is slowly grinding back into the routine chaos it normally consists of. The secondary charges against Chris were dropped on Friday. Sierra is still with us, but we did find a house that she may be able to rent. It is about 4 doors down the street from us. It is a little 2 bedroom house. Amazingly, it rents for only $300 a month plus utilities. Even working fast food, she can afford that (if she ever gets a job.) She is still dealing with her jerkwad hubby about taxes and such. I am sure they will reconcile. Neither has the brains to see that they have that destructive kind of love.

There are three Greek words for love. They are: Agape, Phileo, and Eros. Each has a different meaning with different connotations. I believe the best way to describe them comes from two words: Give and Take.

Eros is where we get the term erotic. It is a take/take kind of love. It is a selfish love. It is a love me type of love. It is the destructive type of love. It sucks the life out of the participants and returns nothing to the mix. It does not nourish. It generally leaves a dried lifeless husk of a person when it is finished. It is over when there is nothing left to take. It is that 'on the surface' love. It is easily shaken, rarely long lasting, and sometimes fatal. It is the love borne of lust.

Phileo means brotherly love. It is the basis of Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. It is a give/take kind of love. It is the love me as I love you type of love. We all have loves here. It is the friendship kind of love. It is affection.

Agape is the sacrificial type of love. It is a give/give love. It is the "I will love you no matter what you do" kind of love.

We all are trying to ascribe to the Agape type of love, but will usually settle in on the Phileo type.

Oops, did I suddenly go on a rant/run. Sorry about that.

Anyway, life is going on.