the new quarter starts next week, and this week has been spent prepping syllabi and sitting through training and all sorts of other work things. of my 4 classes, the two with the largest work load are also the two with the largest number of students registered. awesome.
as i prep for this new quarter, it only reinforces the notion that i'm not really wild about doing this. my sister called the other day (while i was at work) and since she wouldnt take the hint that i couldnt talk, i was left trying to explain my frustration in grunts and single work answers, so nobody could hear me. my mom called the other day at 11.30pm and wanted talk about how i was doing, how i felt, etc - we dont have that type of relationship, and i have to work in the morning, and i dont even want to discuss this we people i do share with, so leave me alone about it.
i'm not saying that i dont have feelings about it (cause clearly i do) but i try not to dwell as much as i can, because it doesnt make anything easier, and can actually ruin an otherwise decent afternoon, night or evening. and for some reason, any time i give the crap side of this adventure too much thought, i get really tired, and then i take a nap and it throws off my whole schedule. next thing you know, i'm still up at 3am and then i barely make it to school in time for my 1pm class.
this quarter i will have some heavy loads, but i also only have one day with back to back classes, so i wont be super exhausted by the end of the week. which is good, cause i will have a ton of grading to do for those two big classes, and grading is much harder to do when you just want to collapse and die.
this week (but officially today) marks the return of the "no fast food" rule. i also went ahead and threw in no chocolate candy and no ice cream. so for the first few weeks of April I'm gonna be a bear. i want to work in some actual exercise, but 1.)lets get real, and b.) i can only change so much at a time. of course, making all these changes is for the best, but they are more difficult when I'm dealing with no news/bad news situations on potential jobs. we'll just call that my extra challenge.
when we started this adventure we said we'd give it 6 months and then reassess. well, that's about now, and we're going to have to reassess. at first i thought 6 months would be a breeze, and about 2 months in i thought i would never make it, then after christmas (3 months) i thought i could push through, and now here we are. i dont relish the though of any more months - 1, 3 or 6 - but right now i have to steel myself for at least 3 more. when we started this adventure, i never really gave any thought to being here past the 6 month mark, and now that i will be, i realize that i'll be here for our 3 year anniversary. i'll be here for kto's birthday, and i'll be here for my birthday. not to mention mother's day and father's day, and the in-law's anniversary as well. so this quarter may very well break me - all those missed holidays and events, plus the largest senior class enrollment that they've ever had, all for me to deal with. awesome.
i promise to try to update regularly, and with things that are more positive, or at least humorous to read - though i do warn you I'll have some complaints. i'm also going to introduce a new segment where i talk about other jobs i've held, and the funny/horrible things that happened during them. thanks for reading (all 5 of you) and stay tuned, it'll get better.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Living in Your Letters [Dashboard Confessional]
re: this post about words with friends.
it's a strange thing, when you think about it. unlike chess, scrabble doesn't seem like it would itself to correspondence play. i know the board is slightly different, and the tile distribution is slightly off, but basically, we're playing scrabble. It's amazing how much of a hit this game has become, really. I'd wager that of all the people playing the game right now, if you took a poll, at least 60% of them would never agree to play an actual game of scrabble.
As a kid, My mom and dad used to play scrabble a lot, i seem to remember. We even have a copy of the game in german, though i doubt anyone could play it anymore. My grandpa loved crosswords, but i don't know if he ever scrabbled. i imagine a game between he and my mom would have been epic.
honestly, i don't know that i would even really sign up for a game of scrabble, because i never thought i was good at it. after playing WWF, though, i feel like i could be up for a real-time game. not that I'm calling myself a master or anything, but i've laid down a few good plays that I'm proud of. i've also played a few sets and then kicked myself for not seeing a better word or a better placement.
Of the games i'm playing currently (6, if you're counting), even if distance or lifestyle were removed from the equation i think that i would have never thought about playing with at least 3 of my current opponents. In general, my immediate group of friends don't really play a lot of boardgames - or at least not as much as when we were in college. and whenever we do/did play, scrabble was never one that came up as an option. i don't think any word-based games were ever in rotation at our gatherings. but here we are, playing scrabble on our phones.
if you're not on the bandwagon already, you really ought to give it a try. and if you, you know how to find me.
it's a strange thing, when you think about it. unlike chess, scrabble doesn't seem like it would itself to correspondence play. i know the board is slightly different, and the tile distribution is slightly off, but basically, we're playing scrabble. It's amazing how much of a hit this game has become, really. I'd wager that of all the people playing the game right now, if you took a poll, at least 60% of them would never agree to play an actual game of scrabble.
As a kid, My mom and dad used to play scrabble a lot, i seem to remember. We even have a copy of the game in german, though i doubt anyone could play it anymore. My grandpa loved crosswords, but i don't know if he ever scrabbled. i imagine a game between he and my mom would have been epic.
honestly, i don't know that i would even really sign up for a game of scrabble, because i never thought i was good at it. after playing WWF, though, i feel like i could be up for a real-time game. not that I'm calling myself a master or anything, but i've laid down a few good plays that I'm proud of. i've also played a few sets and then kicked myself for not seeing a better word or a better placement.
Of the games i'm playing currently (6, if you're counting), even if distance or lifestyle were removed from the equation i think that i would have never thought about playing with at least 3 of my current opponents. In general, my immediate group of friends don't really play a lot of boardgames - or at least not as much as when we were in college. and whenever we do/did play, scrabble was never one that came up as an option. i don't think any word-based games were ever in rotation at our gatherings. but here we are, playing scrabble on our phones.
if you're not on the bandwagon already, you really ought to give it a try. and if you, you know how to find me.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Neighbors [Gnarls Barkley]
it's weird, living in an apartment again. the noise of people living above/below/beside me. the noise of people coming and going at all hours - apartment doors, car doors, drunken stumbling back home. the smells in the hallways - body odor, food, smoking, pot.
it's also odd not really knowing your neighbors. sure, i guess i could introduce myself, but i'm not really here to make friends. i recognize some people because we keep the same hours, but i dont know names. there's the chinese smoking lady, the duck lady, the hard rock smoker, the taxi drivers, and the 80 year old lady with pigtails. about 3 weeks ago i came back to the apartment mid-day, and there was a guy on the balcony of the apartment next door to mine. now, he didnt know i was his neighbor, but after tonight i'm not so sure he was my neigbor. i just took trash to the garbage chute, and passed a guy and girl going into the apartment next door. the same stuff has been on the patio since i moved in, so either:
1.) it's a 2 bedroom apt, which i'm not sure it is.
2.) she lives there and this guy is a new boyfriend.
3.) he lives there and the guy i saw before was his friend.
whatever the case may be, it makes me want to know more about who is next door.
---------------------------
also, when taking the trash out - there was a vase full of not-yet-dead flowers in the trash, and flower petals all over the place. makes me wonder what happened.
it's also odd not really knowing your neighbors. sure, i guess i could introduce myself, but i'm not really here to make friends. i recognize some people because we keep the same hours, but i dont know names. there's the chinese smoking lady, the duck lady, the hard rock smoker, the taxi drivers, and the 80 year old lady with pigtails. about 3 weeks ago i came back to the apartment mid-day, and there was a guy on the balcony of the apartment next door to mine. now, he didnt know i was his neighbor, but after tonight i'm not so sure he was my neigbor. i just took trash to the garbage chute, and passed a guy and girl going into the apartment next door. the same stuff has been on the patio since i moved in, so either:
1.) it's a 2 bedroom apt, which i'm not sure it is.
2.) she lives there and this guy is a new boyfriend.
3.) he lives there and the guy i saw before was his friend.
whatever the case may be, it makes me want to know more about who is next door.
also, when taking the trash out - there was a vase full of not-yet-dead flowers in the trash, and flower petals all over the place. makes me wonder what happened.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Mountain Music [Alabama]
so these fellas are all over the place right now. they're from north carolina, and they've got a pretty unique sound. they're doing some producing and guest spotting, and they were maybe on the Grammy's this year (i didn't watch)
not sure if i like everything they do, but i like this song, and they play it with some passion.
our second offering today is a little different. i first heard these guys a few years ago on tv - they were on The Next Great American Band or whatever that show was. these guys won, but at the time they were called the Clark Brothers. They were also background members of The Clark Family Experience, who had an album and some hit singles back in 2000. Here is one of their songs under their new name, Sons of Sylvia. i've also included their audition for NGAB, so you can get an idea of their speed and skill (the music starts around 55 seconds in). if you're not fed up with them, check out their version of Gimmie Shelter by The Rolling Stones from the show - it was really good.
not sure if i like everything they do, but i like this song, and they play it with some passion.
our second offering today is a little different. i first heard these guys a few years ago on tv - they were on The Next Great American Band or whatever that show was. these guys won, but at the time they were called the Clark Brothers. They were also background members of The Clark Family Experience, who had an album and some hit singles back in 2000. Here is one of their songs under their new name, Sons of Sylvia. i've also included their audition for NGAB, so you can get an idea of their speed and skill (the music starts around 55 seconds in). if you're not fed up with them, check out their version of Gimmie Shelter by The Rolling Stones from the show - it was really good.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
More Than Words [Extreme]
Anyone out there with an iphone/pad/pod or an android phone, download Words With Friends (free version or paid version) and play games with me. it's basically scrabble, but it fits in your pocket. unless you have an ipad, then it doesn't.
my id is j.m.l.o. and I'm totally hooked, so help feed that addiction.
my id is j.m.l.o. and I'm totally hooked, so help feed that addiction.
Monday, March 21, 2011
What Shall We Do Now [Pink Floyd]
Let's discuss this job a bit, shall we. The quarter is ending (still not used to the quarter system) and I can say that while teaching has gotten easier and more comfortable, being a teacher is getting worse and worse. A large part of it comes from the attitudes of these students, but also the fact that the school is for-profit, which means we end up catering to these students way more 1.) than we should, and b.)in a way that perpetuates their spoiled ideals.
Recently, we got an email stating that we had to call/email/contact any student who missed more than 2 classes and find out what the deal was, get them back into the classroom, etc. We, the teachers, have to get in touch with the students and make them come to school. Because step one of starting an adult life is having people tell you when/where to be. i want to know if i should be going to their apartments and tucking them in at night, buying their groceries and wiping their butts, too.
Also, apparently there is no real enforcement or regularity of the grading process. this is evident in the students who have been in the senior capstone class. if it were up to me, most of them would have been booted from the class after the first 2 weeks - they werent ready for it, and they didnt have the proper work ethic to get through it. of the 14 students that started the class, 7 failed. that's a 50% success rate. also, the highest grade was a C+. how is this even possible? They get weekly, that's right - weekly, updates on their grades. this is because there are items due every week - about 1.5 hours worth of grading per student, just to make sure they stay on top of things, and to reduce the amount of grading at the end. so for this quarter, that's 21 hours of grading each week, on top of the 8 hours of classtime (2 four hour class periods) meaning almost 30 hours of work each week, for this one class. beyond the disappointment in the projects, and the questioning of the curriculum, this math just makes me angry. to think of all the time i gave to this class, and only 50% made it through?! When discussing the failing students, several of the other teachers made comments like "i'm not surprised" and "that's what i expect out of ____________" Well, then how did these students make it past your classes? It is amazing how much they'll overlook or forgive just to get these students on to the next class, only to share their lack of shock at the pass/fail rate.
Some (most) of it has to due with the teachers and the way grades are assessed and assigned. however, i keep coming back to the for-profit side of things, and how much i disagree with the philosophy. Of course, while i'm here i have to pretend to like it, support it and follow along with the rules, however ridiculous they may be. I'm sure other types of schools have their own problems, and i might not like those any better, but i know this current situation isn't a good fit for me. It's a shame, because teaching is not that bad, really. I just think that the venue needs to change for me, and i feel that i would benefit from more experience. more immediately, though, is the fact that the new quarter starts in 2 weeks, and i'm currently schedule to teach 3 regular classes plus the senior capstone - alone this time (with a class load of 19). Keep your fingers crossed that something happens for me soon, or else you might have to visit me in the loonie bin. and that's a whole other sort of blog....
Recently, we got an email stating that we had to call/email/contact any student who missed more than 2 classes and find out what the deal was, get them back into the classroom, etc. We, the teachers, have to get in touch with the students and make them come to school. Because step one of starting an adult life is having people tell you when/where to be. i want to know if i should be going to their apartments and tucking them in at night, buying their groceries and wiping their butts, too.
Also, apparently there is no real enforcement or regularity of the grading process. this is evident in the students who have been in the senior capstone class. if it were up to me, most of them would have been booted from the class after the first 2 weeks - they werent ready for it, and they didnt have the proper work ethic to get through it. of the 14 students that started the class, 7 failed. that's a 50% success rate. also, the highest grade was a C+. how is this even possible? They get weekly, that's right - weekly, updates on their grades. this is because there are items due every week - about 1.5 hours worth of grading per student, just to make sure they stay on top of things, and to reduce the amount of grading at the end. so for this quarter, that's 21 hours of grading each week, on top of the 8 hours of classtime (2 four hour class periods) meaning almost 30 hours of work each week, for this one class. beyond the disappointment in the projects, and the questioning of the curriculum, this math just makes me angry. to think of all the time i gave to this class, and only 50% made it through?! When discussing the failing students, several of the other teachers made comments like "i'm not surprised" and "that's what i expect out of ____________" Well, then how did these students make it past your classes? It is amazing how much they'll overlook or forgive just to get these students on to the next class, only to share their lack of shock at the pass/fail rate.
Some (most) of it has to due with the teachers and the way grades are assessed and assigned. however, i keep coming back to the for-profit side of things, and how much i disagree with the philosophy. Of course, while i'm here i have to pretend to like it, support it and follow along with the rules, however ridiculous they may be. I'm sure other types of schools have their own problems, and i might not like those any better, but i know this current situation isn't a good fit for me. It's a shame, because teaching is not that bad, really. I just think that the venue needs to change for me, and i feel that i would benefit from more experience. more immediately, though, is the fact that the new quarter starts in 2 weeks, and i'm currently schedule to teach 3 regular classes plus the senior capstone - alone this time (with a class load of 19). Keep your fingers crossed that something happens for me soon, or else you might have to visit me in the loonie bin. and that's a whole other sort of blog....
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Spill the Wine [Eric Burdon and War]
when i was unemployed, i had a lot of time on my hands. early in the game, this happened, and i think we should relive it, cause it's awesome, and also it gives me another post for this month (for those of you keeping track)
so unemployment frees up a lot of your time. it also frees up a lot of your incoming monies. being aware of this, when a former colleague called me up and asked if i was interested in a "business opportunity", i said yes.
the problem is, i said yes before i knew what the proposal actually was. silly me, i figured it would be something along the lines of my chosen career. it was not. having already said i was interested, i heard him out. our phone conversation was about 2 minutes long, and i left it with an agreement to attend a meeting regarding a "sales position" for a "new" energy/fruit drink. At this point i was extremely skeptical, but since this guy was still in the biz, i thought it best not to burn that bridge just yet - besides, it wasnt like i was strapped for time.
so i go to this meeting, which is in some room at a banquet hall. we walk in, and there are a ton of chairs, and a stage which has a white board on it, as well as a few small tables featuring what look like wine bottles. I ask the guy where the energy drink is, and his response should have sent me packing right away - he tells me "well, it's not really an energy drink, but it's this natural fruit juice that will make you feel better, and give you more energy in the long run . . ." but i didnt leave, which is good for the story. this meeting was actually a very well organized sales pitch for a juice called Monavie. And, more info here. The whole thing was amazing. they way they had these chumps going, i wanted the meeting to go on forever, just to give me more to tell later. . . .
They try very hard to get you amped up. they try very hard to lure you in with promises of money. they try very hard to convince you that it's not a pyramid scheme. the sad thing is, i think they've really duped a lot of people. they kept referring to it as a system. that led me to the tagline:
It's not a scheme, it's a SYSTEM!
in reality, it is a form of a pyramid scheme. they have fancy names for it, like "business system" and Multi-Level Marketing plan, but it's really just a hoax. their whole angle is that you're not selling the juice to people, you're selling them on the system. because of all the super-powers of this juice, it really just sells itself. anyone who gets introduced to this stuff should want to drink it, and share it, with everyone they know. then all those people will drink it and share it, and then the people they've shared it with will drink and share it. . . Sound familiar? yep, it's that classic pyramid scheme logic. So you're not selling this juice, which is good, because it costs at least $40 a bottle (depending on which variety you go for). and one bottle will get one person through one week. So you're dropping $160-$200 a month to drink this stuff. Oh, right. in order to make money with the system, you have to drink it, too. Cause why would you promote something you didnt use, right? The greatest thing is is that it is essentially a wine bottle full of multi-berry concentrate. it tastes like sour sludge, leaves a gritty film in anything your pour it into, and you're only supposed to drink 2oz. in the morning and 2oz. at night. Because it's so good for you, so powerful, that any more would be a waste. Also, the high percentage of prune juice might have something to do with that, too. you can't sell it if you can't stop going to the bathroom long enough to make sales calls.
Like any good pyramid scheme, this one focuses on getting you educated so you can get out there and sell, sell, sell. they have "audios" for you to learn from, as well as "texts" What they really mean is that you'll pay a fee to receive CDs and 80pg books that reinforce the brainwashing. They encourage you to attend "tuesdays" and the monthly "Saturday Seminar" These are meetings where they reinforce the brainwashing. Tuesday is their clever name for the weekly session (it normally happens on tuesday, get it) Tuesdays cost the members $5 a pop. Saturday Seminars cost $30. so you sign up for this BS, and off the bat you're shelling out at least $50 a month to attend meetings. And, you dont get the audios and texts for free. no sir. you're paying $16 or $24 every 2 weeks to get these things mailed to you. the difference in price levels is your level of devotion. they don't label them as such in the meeting, but as the guy said while point to the dry-erase board - you're either dedicated ($16) or you're devoted ($24). I like how they list the price as bi-monthly - like you won't add it up and realize you're dropping another $30 or $50 to reinforce the brainwashing.
so right now, we're looking at $80 or $100 a month from the business end. add to that the $200 or so a month in juice, and you've got a nasty habit going. And i didnt even mention the $100 fee that gains you access to the EBC - the electronic business center. This gets you a website of your very own that you can send people to so they can learn about the juice, and the system. it gets you a subscription to some magazine nobody's heard of, specifically dedicated to "enhancing your navigation through the system" it gets you access to a special blog by the founders of this "system" and it gets you access to a special message board to share success stories with others in the "system"
After the meeting, i was encourage to take home the starter pack of audio and text and give it a thorough review. if i was free, i could attend an "introduction" on wednesday, a house call on thursday, and i "really should get to the seminar on saturday. how many tickets do you want?" I told them i was going out of town, and of course, the place i was going to had a meeting i could join there. If i couldnt do wednesday or thursday, my old co-worker would "be in touch" early the next week to get me going on the next step. At one point, i though they were going to "next step" me right there in the parking lot. These guys were intense.
When i came home and told KTO about it, i invented a good summary phrase. this group has the 3 essential P's that any pyramid scheme needs:
they've got a
Product
they've got
Propaganda
and they've got
Pressure
if you can avoid getting suckered in, i would suggest you go to a first meeting if you ever have the chance - it is one evening you'll never forget.
so unemployment frees up a lot of your time. it also frees up a lot of your incoming monies. being aware of this, when a former colleague called me up and asked if i was interested in a "business opportunity", i said yes.
the problem is, i said yes before i knew what the proposal actually was. silly me, i figured it would be something along the lines of my chosen career. it was not. having already said i was interested, i heard him out. our phone conversation was about 2 minutes long, and i left it with an agreement to attend a meeting regarding a "sales position" for a "new" energy/fruit drink. At this point i was extremely skeptical, but since this guy was still in the biz, i thought it best not to burn that bridge just yet - besides, it wasnt like i was strapped for time.
so i go to this meeting, which is in some room at a banquet hall. we walk in, and there are a ton of chairs, and a stage which has a white board on it, as well as a few small tables featuring what look like wine bottles. I ask the guy where the energy drink is, and his response should have sent me packing right away - he tells me "well, it's not really an energy drink, but it's this natural fruit juice that will make you feel better, and give you more energy in the long run . . ." but i didnt leave, which is good for the story. this meeting was actually a very well organized sales pitch for a juice called Monavie. And, more info here. The whole thing was amazing. they way they had these chumps going, i wanted the meeting to go on forever, just to give me more to tell later. . . .
They try very hard to get you amped up. they try very hard to lure you in with promises of money. they try very hard to convince you that it's not a pyramid scheme. the sad thing is, i think they've really duped a lot of people. they kept referring to it as a system. that led me to the tagline:
It's not a scheme, it's a SYSTEM!
in reality, it is a form of a pyramid scheme. they have fancy names for it, like "business system" and Multi-Level Marketing plan, but it's really just a hoax. their whole angle is that you're not selling the juice to people, you're selling them on the system. because of all the super-powers of this juice, it really just sells itself. anyone who gets introduced to this stuff should want to drink it, and share it, with everyone they know. then all those people will drink it and share it, and then the people they've shared it with will drink and share it. . . Sound familiar? yep, it's that classic pyramid scheme logic. So you're not selling this juice, which is good, because it costs at least $40 a bottle (depending on which variety you go for). and one bottle will get one person through one week. So you're dropping $160-$200 a month to drink this stuff. Oh, right. in order to make money with the system, you have to drink it, too. Cause why would you promote something you didnt use, right? The greatest thing is is that it is essentially a wine bottle full of multi-berry concentrate. it tastes like sour sludge, leaves a gritty film in anything your pour it into, and you're only supposed to drink 2oz. in the morning and 2oz. at night. Because it's so good for you, so powerful, that any more would be a waste. Also, the high percentage of prune juice might have something to do with that, too. you can't sell it if you can't stop going to the bathroom long enough to make sales calls.
Like any good pyramid scheme, this one focuses on getting you educated so you can get out there and sell, sell, sell. they have "audios" for you to learn from, as well as "texts" What they really mean is that you'll pay a fee to receive CDs and 80pg books that reinforce the brainwashing. They encourage you to attend "tuesdays" and the monthly "Saturday Seminar" These are meetings where they reinforce the brainwashing. Tuesday is their clever name for the weekly session (it normally happens on tuesday, get it) Tuesdays cost the members $5 a pop. Saturday Seminars cost $30. so you sign up for this BS, and off the bat you're shelling out at least $50 a month to attend meetings. And, you dont get the audios and texts for free. no sir. you're paying $16 or $24 every 2 weeks to get these things mailed to you. the difference in price levels is your level of devotion. they don't label them as such in the meeting, but as the guy said while point to the dry-erase board - you're either dedicated ($16) or you're devoted ($24). I like how they list the price as bi-monthly - like you won't add it up and realize you're dropping another $30 or $50 to reinforce the brainwashing.
so right now, we're looking at $80 or $100 a month from the business end. add to that the $200 or so a month in juice, and you've got a nasty habit going. And i didnt even mention the $100 fee that gains you access to the EBC - the electronic business center. This gets you a website of your very own that you can send people to so they can learn about the juice, and the system. it gets you a subscription to some magazine nobody's heard of, specifically dedicated to "enhancing your navigation through the system" it gets you access to a special blog by the founders of this "system" and it gets you access to a special message board to share success stories with others in the "system"
After the meeting, i was encourage to take home the starter pack of audio and text and give it a thorough review. if i was free, i could attend an "introduction" on wednesday, a house call on thursday, and i "really should get to the seminar on saturday. how many tickets do you want?" I told them i was going out of town, and of course, the place i was going to had a meeting i could join there. If i couldnt do wednesday or thursday, my old co-worker would "be in touch" early the next week to get me going on the next step. At one point, i though they were going to "next step" me right there in the parking lot. These guys were intense.
When i came home and told KTO about it, i invented a good summary phrase. this group has the 3 essential P's that any pyramid scheme needs:
they've got a
Product
they've got
Propaganda
and they've got
Pressure
if you can avoid getting suckered in, i would suggest you go to a first meeting if you ever have the chance - it is one evening you'll never forget.
Head Games [Foreigner]
i was talking to my brother, wishing him a happy birthday - 'cause it's his birthday - and we got on the topic of games (video and otherwise). normally, when we talk, we end up at movies and music and games. this time we were discussing fun time eating games you find online - flash based games and the like. he pointed me to a few, and i remembered this site, where you can spend hours trying to get things right - so i'll link it here for anyone who wants to give it a go:
www.eyemaze.com - grow games
this might be the easiest one to start with - they can get really complicated. the premise is this: click on icons to make things happen. after you click something, anything and everything in the level will "grow" your goal is to "grow" each item to the max level. in this first example, you are sick. you need to get better. do you start with fire? with the medicine? with the lady? you decide. after you chose your first item, things happen. after each subsequent choice, things happen. can you grow everything to the max?
if you look on the left side of the screen, the games go in order. above the mini grow games are the regular one - the shovel one is first, the block guy is second, and so on. i really like grow tower (second from top in the grow list) and galves adventure (the one with the baby in the Jobs category)
have fun, and good luck.
www.eyemaze.com - grow games
this might be the easiest one to start with - they can get really complicated. the premise is this: click on icons to make things happen. after you click something, anything and everything in the level will "grow" your goal is to "grow" each item to the max level. in this first example, you are sick. you need to get better. do you start with fire? with the medicine? with the lady? you decide. after you chose your first item, things happen. after each subsequent choice, things happen. can you grow everything to the max?
if you look on the left side of the screen, the games go in order. above the mini grow games are the regular one - the shovel one is first, the block guy is second, and so on. i really like grow tower (second from top in the grow list) and galves adventure (the one with the baby in the Jobs category)
have fun, and good luck.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Dont Look [Far East Movement]
so there's this group, which i just found recently (thanks to amazon's $5 music downloads) not entirely sure about their whole album, but i'm pretty sure i like this song.
it makes me think of this song for some reason:
what ties these two together is that i think both bands are better heard than seen. the videos are visually cluttered (and sorta disturbing) Plus the band members look weird. I think MGMT just tries too hard to be different - their music isn't some amazing groundbreaking stuff - but i get the feeling they think it is. I dont know enough about Jukebox the Ghost, but they've toured with Ben Folds and with The Barenaked Ladies, and after listening to the album, i can see why. Listen to "Half Crazy" if you dont believe me.
it makes me think of this song for some reason:
what ties these two together is that i think both bands are better heard than seen. the videos are visually cluttered (and sorta disturbing) Plus the band members look weird. I think MGMT just tries too hard to be different - their music isn't some amazing groundbreaking stuff - but i get the feeling they think it is. I dont know enough about Jukebox the Ghost, but they've toured with Ben Folds and with The Barenaked Ladies, and after listening to the album, i can see why. Listen to "Half Crazy" if you dont believe me.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Make Em Laugh [Donald O'Connor]
my dear wife found this, and it makes me laugh. it also makes me think i need to move to britain. or at least watch the BBC more.
it's a collection of nature videos/clips that have been voiced over by english comedians, resulting in hilarity. sorta like nat geo being given the mst3k treatment by a bunch of brits.
enjoy - if you need me, i'll be here in dallas playing nighttime, daytime.
it's a collection of nature videos/clips that have been voiced over by english comedians, resulting in hilarity. sorta like nat geo being given the mst3k treatment by a bunch of brits.
enjoy - if you need me, i'll be here in dallas playing nighttime, daytime.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Around The World [Red Hot Chili Peppers]
So remember how these kids are super spoiled? Saturday I was substituting for one of our teachers (who was actually in St. Louis for a Haunted House Operator's Convention - story for another day) So during this class, I overhear one student talking to another about general things - boys, clothes, etc. Student 1 went on a date with a guy who lives/works in Houston, so he flew her down there to go on this date, cause he couldn't make it up here for the weekend. Student 2 thought this was great news, but student 1 didn't see it going anywhere because his shoes had some sort of detailing that she just didn't like. also, the distance puts a damper on the whole thing.
Student 1 then tells student 2 that she's decided that she knows what she's asking for as a graduation gift (keep in mind she's at least 3 quarters away from graduation) She tells student 2 she's going to ask her grandparents for an "around the world" plane ticket, with at least 8 stops. She's then going to ask her mom and dad for spending money to use at each of these stops. She's thinking about stopping somewhere in south america, australia, japan, india, maybe egypt, paris and london for sure. A few other places if she can think of anything cool to do/visit.
I don't know about you, but i know that 1.) i never would have asked for anything for graduation, and b.) never, for any occasion, would i think it was okay to ask for a gift like this. ever.
i cannot believe how spoiled and clueless these kids are. it amazes me every day that i am here.
Student 1 then tells student 2 that she's decided that she knows what she's asking for as a graduation gift (keep in mind she's at least 3 quarters away from graduation) She tells student 2 she's going to ask her grandparents for an "around the world" plane ticket, with at least 8 stops. She's then going to ask her mom and dad for spending money to use at each of these stops. She's thinking about stopping somewhere in south america, australia, japan, india, maybe egypt, paris and london for sure. A few other places if she can think of anything cool to do/visit.
I don't know about you, but i know that 1.) i never would have asked for anything for graduation, and b.) never, for any occasion, would i think it was okay to ask for a gift like this. ever.
i cannot believe how spoiled and clueless these kids are. it amazes me every day that i am here.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Poster [The Monkees]
semi related to music friday:
silkscreen and screenprinting are awesome. I'd like to collect some more stuff by aspiring artists. this site i found has several posters i really dig. there are two artists/collectives i seem to be drawn to - vahalla studios and bee things.
here is a valhalla studios print for a jack johnson show, and another one for feist (i really like the look of this one) coincidentally, since valhalla studios is from KC, both of these posters were for venues in KC - go figure....
i think that in the interest of authenticity, i will reserve my screen print concert poster purchases for bands i've seen/shows i've been to - but that wont stop my from picking up some of the other posters from this site.
silkscreen and screenprinting are awesome. I'd like to collect some more stuff by aspiring artists. this site i found has several posters i really dig. there are two artists/collectives i seem to be drawn to - vahalla studios and bee things.
here is a valhalla studios print for a jack johnson show, and another one for feist (i really like the look of this one) coincidentally, since valhalla studios is from KC, both of these posters were for venues in KC - go figure....
i think that in the interest of authenticity, i will reserve my screen print concert poster purchases for bands i've seen/shows i've been to - but that wont stop my from picking up some of the other posters from this site.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Two entries for this week's Music Friday. Fair warning - one has an obvious bad word, and if you're familiar with Jay-Z's 99 problems you know what it is. The other maybe has a bad word, but it's more subtle.
Hugo is a guy - he's got an album coming out soon. This song is very blues flavored - similar to the black keys. This sound is becoming quite popular.
Holy Hail apparently have some ep's and stuff. maybe a full album. not sure about all their songs, but i like this one. it reminds me of home, by edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros (which my friend V introduced to me, right here....)
Hugo is a guy - he's got an album coming out soon. This song is very blues flavored - similar to the black keys. This sound is becoming quite popular.
Holy Hail apparently have some ep's and stuff. maybe a full album. not sure about all their songs, but i like this one. it reminds me of home, by edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros (which my friend V introduced to me, right here....)
Friday, March 04, 2011
i love music - all sorts. sometimes it's the lyrics, sometimes it's the tune. sometimes it's the memories that i associate with a particular song or artist. this week's music friday includes two songs that were picked for their instruments. I particularly love 'plunky' piano riffs, and for some reason i have a soft soft spot for horns.
Today's first song is an obscure Pink Floyd song that is totally not prog rock, has a fun piano bit at the end, and also has the bonus of having a flute in it. The second song is The Flobots - its their first single from a few years ago. While i may not agree with their overt political stance, i cant help but like the catchy lyrical delivery, and the horns seal the deal for me.
Today's first song is an obscure Pink Floyd song that is totally not prog rock, has a fun piano bit at the end, and also has the bonus of having a flute in it. The second song is The Flobots - its their first single from a few years ago. While i may not agree with their overt political stance, i cant help but like the catchy lyrical delivery, and the horns seal the deal for me.
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