wiggolation

Hamilton takes Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Awesome! He deserves this win. In the process he beat out old teammate and compatriot Armstrong:

Saw City of Ghosts, which had potential to be a very good film. But it got in the way of itself. Too much cheesy plot. Dillion does a respectable job but he compromises whatever credibilty he gains for an Indian Jones role seemingly. The best parts of the film are the score and the location (Cambodia). 2.5/5.

Pretty cool site on the origins of writing.

And a handy etymology dictionary; check out 'I shouldn't do this' at the bottom of the page.

Me fail English?

And what's the deal with teachers not being allowed to show Dracula or 'R'-rated movies to young adults? Hello! What do these people think young adults are watching outside school? Elmo?

This do-nothing-all-the-time break is something I could get used to. It's so strange not to have to do anything or be anywhere. Except of course for the College stuff, but that seems easy when I'm not teaching every day.

Actually last night's class (Second Language Acquisition) was the best yet. The deaf students presented on Natural, Traditional, and Communicative approaches to teaching a second language, and they used American Sign Language (ASL) as the target language. Normally it can be difficult to separate two spoken languages in the process of teaching and acquiring a second language because, for one, they're both spoken and, two, it's hard to identify how the one language affects the other. But when you use ASL it's much easier to see the difference (literally) between the one language and the other. In acquiring ASL you're dependent on visuals and gestures as opposed to sounds. It was neat to go most of the class in silence too. (Although that was broken very poignantly when one of the presenters screamed 'O my god!' in the middle of asking a question after noticing a huge cockroach between her feet.)

Otherwise T and I went to the Bronx Zoo today. It was my first trip deep into the boro. It certainly isn't the nicest of the five. It makes Queens seem rather nice. I won't be rushing back there. The zoo itself is pretty cool and very large. The highlight was witnessing an adult male baboon play with itself in front of a huge crowd of onlookers. Needless to say the kids were screaming their heads off at the exhibition. It was actually very funny because the baboon seemed human the way he stared at the crowd and performed. It was all a little twisted so I thought it better not to snap photos of him in his moment of pleasure.

A bit of color is added to the scenery:


More color:


Planet of the Apes in da Bronx:

I calculated how much I am going to owe the govt. in student aid loans by the time I graduate next summer. It's the equivalent of a very, very nice sports car, and a couple very, very nice trips abroad. So, am I glad I chose the life of the scholar (or pseudo-scholar) and teacher? Well, so far, I have to say, eh, I guess so....

In other nonevents I finished Vico's autobiography, which was interesting reading. Certainly different in that I don't think I've read an autobio by anyone earlier than the 20th century. Vico talks a great deal about math, go figure, but also a lot about his own studies and teaching career and overall trials and tribulations in academe in 18th century Italy. Most of the book leads the reader up to the New Science, which I have not read yet. So I'll be rereading this autobio in after that I suppose. Otherwise, there are many pithy sayings and bits of personality that come through this rather formal style of his. He tells how he always read any work he considered important three times: once for the ideas, once for the logic, and once for the author's style and 'turn of phrase'. He also discusses his theory of cyclical history. More later on this. I have to run. But a very interesting book for anyone interested in Vico or philosphy of history.

Break (from teaching) started on Wed. afternoon. I don't return to the madness till April 28. How sweet is that. Been hanging out then, showing T the city and watching DVDs. Am reading some rhetoric theory (for some reason I find it fun reading at times like these--how wrong is that?!). I guess it's just a nice break from reading ESL stuff all the time. Anyway, it's so relaxing just to be able to stay in bed late and do whatever I feel like every day. Well, more or less. I still have classes to attend at the College and work to do there. A lot of the PC Fellows took off for exotic destinations (Brazil, Costa Rica, Paris) and I feel like I'm one of the few still around, though I know there are a few hearty souls still loitering around Columbia, drinking coffee and reading genre novels. Total junk fest. And why not. Besides, T and I are in Chicago in May and again in June, so we'll be taking some trips of our own. Not to mention the tentative road trip planned for late June/early July down the East Coast. Uvideme.

Otherwise I was out for a ride in the Park this morning and what fun it was to be spinning the legs and pumping the heart after a long spell off the bike. Too bad I'm totally lacking any fitness whatever and almost had a grabber in front of the kiddies as they hunted Easter eggs.

As for the real bikers over in Euroland, Vino took Amstel Gold in a fine, late attack, leaving Armstrong, Bartoli, Boogerd and the rest watching nonplussed. Nice one Vino! A nice tribute to Kivi no doubt. One of these days I'll be at the finish line with my digital....

Vacation time is here, and it feels good. Full stop.

North Mississippi All Stars rocked! Lots of old faves as well as new stuff. (Being in the front row helped yours truly get some up-close photos!) Irving Plaza's a great venue, too.







T mixing it up with the All Stars:

North Mississippi All Stars at Iriving Plaza tonight!!

These days I just forget about blogging I'm so busy. I feel bad just cos it's something I want to keep up. Going from school to school, from book to book, from lesson plan to lesson plan, I just don't want to come home and read and write! And that reminds me of something a friend told me about teaching. That is, if you want to be a writer, you should work as a janitor--that way when you get home you won't be tired of reading and writing. Hmmmm....

OK. Reasons to continue teaching high school:

--Relatively good pay every two weeks.
--Occasional intellectual stimulation.
--Frequent run in with a dozen languages.

Why not to:

--Relatively long days (not enough time to do personal interests things, i.e., read and write and bike and travel and learn other languages etc. etc.).
--Lame administration.
--Lame colleagues (a.k.a. teachers). Many, not all.
--Super commute (3 hrs. round trip).

Well, for now things are OK and I am too busy to do any more thinking about the matter!!