The more things change

The more they stay the same. After working with a kid all week trying to prep him for state, he still needed to take breaks. Not truly expressing the determination that you really need during that last week before state. I could not watch his first match but it didn't go well. His second match was only a little better. But he was hemorrhaging points which at that level you cannot do if you expect to be successful.

As I walked around looking for my team I ran into half of the guys that I wrestled with in college. For the most part they are all wrestling coaches at some high school or another. Almost all of them are teaching PE at that school as well. That right there is one of the big reasons why I wanted to go into math. It was almost a stereotype for anyone on the wrestling team to either be in construction management or physical education/training. It seemed like the only other one that stayed out of that field was Kenny. Kenny was majoring in Electrical Engineering. He was also my weight. And two years older. And he had some serous funk. Meaning in a scramble situation he could just roll around and all of the sudden he is in control. Basically for the first two years of college I got pounded every day for three hours by this guy. He essentially was my Tyler Durden. He did almost everything like I wanted to do it. I idolized him, I still remember him telling me that it was alright for him to forget my name in the beginning of my freshman year because freshmen come and go and he didn't want to waste his time learning their names. A year after college he had a skiing accident. He is a quadriplegic. He is writing now, when I heard this I could not believe it. I could not go to the hospital because this was the real superman to me. I could not see him like that. Recently I had been looking for him. Trying to get in contact with him. Imagine this, he was at the state tournament. He might not be able to move below his shoulders but he still has the same glow. Still infected people with his good humor. It was good to see him. He really influenced me during college. He might even be the reason why it is that I am chasing this Vegas dream. Or it could be Brooke, that old sibling rivalry.

I guess though the more things change the more they stay the same.

Man Day

Ahh, man day was awesome. To start the morning my dad and I worked on my truck (plus 20 man points), then we went to the hardware store (plus 5) to buy tools (+10) that have a blade (+15) that is called a machete (+10), to do yard work (-4), by chopping stuff down (+5), didn't wear gloves (+1 toughness), got blisters (-3 for not tough enough hands), didn't complain about blisters (+2 toughness), arrived late to super bowl party (-30), missed first touchdown (-10), ate entire grinder before halftime (+20), kept eating during halftime (+5), ate homemade chili with large chunks of beef in it (+12), saying it was not spicy (+5), finding out that it was not supposed to be spicy (-10), my team won (+20), DA Bears lost (-10), drove home sober (-10), worked all night (0), not on women's work (+100), actually saying that last statement (+3), not in the presence of a female (-2).

All in all one hundred and fifty four man points accumulated. It was a good day.

Drug deals and bullet holes

Alright, so teaching is going pretty well. Living with my folks is going fine, it would be nice to get out on my own but for now it is fine. One day during fourth period I am up in front facilitating learning, when I see a dog that looks a lot like Tasha, only bigger, younger, and male. The head of security walks over to my door and says that the open door distracts the dog, he closes it. All of the sudden two of my students have to go to the bathroom. The door had not closed yet and they already had their hands in the air. I told them that they needed to hold it because that was an attack dog out there, and I would rather keep them whole while they are my charges.

What was happening is the police had arrested some people and they sang like a canary about their suppliers of drugs and guns. The police came to the school and asked permission to arrest them there. The athletic director or the head of security would walk into class and ask to see someone; they would then walk out of the class and the cuffs would be put on. All told there were 7 arrests from my school.

The next week in my early morning haze I walked by the front door and they were putting paper and boards up. It looked like the glass was broken. Huh that is weird, oh well. I get up to my classroom, start getting ready for the day when I walk over to my white board and I see glass on one of the desks. I look over at the window and there is a fist sized hole in it. I was thinking wow that kid must have had a cannon for an arm to get a rock that big up to the third floor. Oh wait, the hole on the other side of the window is not quite that big. In fact it is about bullet sized; sure enough I follow a path up to the ceiling and there is another hole. Oh someone shot my classroom.

Let me repeat that for emphasis. Someone shot my classroom.

I go down to tell them that my classroom was hit as well as the front doors. I get shuffled off to a different classroom for first period while they fix it. Well by fix it they meant replace the cover on the light that got shot out, and put a piece of paper over the bullet hole in the window.

More than likely this was just a random shot in the night (it happened at about 2:30 in the morning) and not a commentary on my teaching. But still it makes you think.

The Principal thinks that it was in retaliation to the drug bust. (some of the kids are already back at school) But I guess it could have been anything.

And now that finals week is over I have a mountain of exams to grade and a weekend to do it in.