Thought of the Day

Came up with this the other day lecturing to my class (it's a keeper).

Cynicism is easy to fall into, but hard to get out of.

Quote of the Day (X3)

Triple the amount of quotes, for the same great price.

Last week, we were on our way somewhere and we started to smell some BBQ smoke wafting into our car. Our girls thought it smelled bad for some reason, and my oldest C asked, "Did any one toot?" After everyone denied it, our 2 and a half year old, H, proclaimed, "It was my poop everyone!" Of course, he hadn't pooped, he was just being a silly boy.

Some time after that, we were once again in the car together when my oldest, C,  spotted a man picking his nose in the car next to us, "Eww...look he's picking his nose!" E, our lovely middle child replies proudly, "He's on my team."  When I turned around she had a deviously beautiful smile on her face.

Today, C forgot to bring home her spelling words for the night to study. She ran over to the couch and as she threw herself down onto it, she said, "I'm doomed!".

I'm thinking getting her into comic books has paid off.

Peru Fragments: Part I: False Starts, Detours and Other Adventures - Days 1-2

In the summer of 2014, I taught a short-term summer abroad class in Peru. Here are the fragments.

My colleague C and I worked for over a year on this project. This included (but is not limited to): brainstorming, hoping, planning, applying, paperwork, promotion, fundraising, more planning, more fundraising, hoping and praying, more promotion, jumping through hoops for our district overlords, and informational sessions in classes, for parents and countless one-on-one sessions. Then we faced the arduous task of prepping the curriculum!

There was a very sweet moment, when C and I were gazing upon the Andes mountains when C said, "Every headache, every disappointment, every inconvience....it was all worth it." And he was absolutely right.




This is the kinda of thing that is typical in the Sacred Valley. You look to your left and see a beautiful sight then you turn to your right and the new sight just blows away what you just saw. Although it was "typical" - it never felt that way. I was in a constant state of awe.

 

We started with 13 students in January, we ended up going with 5 as we were a "pilot program". I had already drafted the cancellation email in early March, but the stars aligned right and it happened. I didn't think it was going to happen until we were on the plane, and as we came to find out, it still almost didn't happen!

The five students were about as ideal as you could get - a few personality issues but nothing that was unexpected or something that even rose above an annoyance.

We all arrived at the SAT airport on time and walked through the gate together - it felt like it was really happening - and then we found out our flight was cancelled due to bad weather in the Midwest.

There was a drunk guy that sat down near us and pissed himself. The tip-off was the sound of trickling liquid pouring down the seat onto the ground. A sad sight to see as the police took him away. He was so drunk he didn't know where his wallet was. Of course, one of my students was taking pictures and posting them on facebook.

We worked with the agent at the desk (who was actually pretty awesome) for what seemed like an hour -  we hatched a plan. We would fly to Houston, stay over night, fly on to Panama City (with 6 hour layover), and then to Lima (arriving around midnight). This meant we just lost one whole day in Peru. At first we were all a little bummed but we made the most of it. One of our students had a friend in Houston, who picked us up and took us to some great Cajun food. We were in high spirits and we chatted in the hallway of the hotel until well past midnight making plans for an adventure in our six hour layover in Panama.

We knew we couldn't just sit in the Panama City airport doing nothing - we would have regretted it forever. Besides, the group was just itching for adventure, especially being that we missed our first day in Peru. We arranged for a visit downtown with one of the local guides - I thought we would see some ruins but somehow that got miscommunicated.  Anyway, we weren't even  5 minutes from the airport when our driver got into a fight with another driver. Our van was cut off to the toll booth by the other vehicle. The exchange was (of course) all in Spanish so I kinda zoned out and was mainly entertained by the whole heated escapade.

The only concern about this dispute was that as we were stuck in traffic the whole time - and both our van and the van that cut us off were next to each other. There was no time or space to "cool off". I didn't know at the time but it turns out our driver threatened the other driver by asking, "Do you want me to take out my gun?" In fact, after the bottleneck loosened, we were stuck again, and our driver got out of the car. Thankfully the situation did not resort to physical violence. Our driver called the cops as the driver was only 14 (although riding with an older male). Another van was called to take us to our destination. We dubbed it our "Panamanian Stand Off". What a start to the trip!

Downtown Panama was beautiful. I am sure there are other not-so-wonderful sides to the city we were not seeing, but what we did see was nice. We stopped at a local tourist market (decided against buying anything this early in the trip) and stopped at lunch at a very interesting restaurant called Diablicos.

There was a reason devil faces were all around but I really don't feel like typing it out, except to say the art in this place was pretty special. As was the food and service. We dined like royalty. Royalty surrounded by evil demons, but royalty all the same.

 

We got a huge appetizer plate and a few more plates (ceviche, soups, cow stomach, ya know the normal stuff). Maybe it was the fact it was 2:00 PM and we had only eaten a quick bite at the hotel at 6:00 AM in Houston, but I have to say the food was amazing. It was a great feast and like the best of meals, it was all shared with good company.  It was definitely fun sharing and exploring new foods together as a group. The ceviche here (served in a half of a coconut) might have been my favorite all trip long!  

We had really taken our time shopping and eating and it was time to head back to the airport. Our flight was at 6:00ish and it was about 4:30 so I was anxious to get back, being that we heard traffic was crazy from some Panamanian on the plane. It turns out he was right to warn us.  We headed right back into stopped traffic. At first, I tried to take it easy, and tell myself it was no big deal, but then it dawned on me (and soon C) that we could very possibly miss our flight to Peru.

Sitting in traffic is always a powerless feeling. However, this time around, my thoughts weighed heavily on me. I was in charge of this whole shin-dig.  Our driver did his best but the line stretched for miles and miles. Suddenly our adventure into Panama City seemed less and less like a good idea. My brain replayed all the things that took up time:  the "Stand Off", the fact that someone ordered an extra plate after we had received our food, how lenient and silly we were to let two of the students go to a market stand right before we got on the bus. I was starting to feel stressed.

If we missed our flight, we would most likely miss our next flight in Peru from Lima to Cuzco. If we missed that flight, it would throw our whole itinerary in the trash and who knows what we could miss....maybe even Machu Picchu?? If we miss this flight, our district overlords would be really pissed and I would feel stupid for even entertaining the idea of leaving the airport. I wasn't having a panic attack but I think I understand the concept more clearly now.

One of our students, F, played his music on the van's stereo system, including, Bob Marley's "Everything's' Gonna Be Alright" and "Don't Worry, Be Happy". I liked his spirit but hated hearing the songs in that situation. It's like being told to calm down when you're not calm - you know the feeling....right?

Luckily, our driver drove like an old pro. He was cutting, weaving and occasionally driving on the side of the road. He got us to the airport with about 35 minutes before our flight. It was clear looking at the security gate, we would be just fine. It turns out the Panama City airport is pretty small - something I didn't really notice when we got there. I sighed a sigh of relief. We were finally on our way to Peru!

We knew we would arrive late but C talked us into doing something a little crazy - going out in Lima when we arrived. C called his cousin as he had suggested we check out some penas (small pubs that play an African-influenced type of music) but all the penas nearby were closing, so we settled on a Cuban place with an obscenely loud band.

It was great and while I am pretty sure they were Peruvians playing Cuban music, the atmosphere was great. We had a drink but because it was so loud, it prohibited talking a great deal - we just watched the band play and locals dance. All this is to say we got back to our hotel room well after 3:00 in the morning with our wake up call coming in about two hours. We had to board our next flight to Cuzco. Travel worn already, we were finally ready to experience Peru at long last and we would not be disappointed.

On the way to Cuzco over the Andes. Quite a pleasant flight.

Part 2 Coming Soon.....

Pic Dump

Avoiding work, so it's time to share the best of my web browsing. From my browser to your heart.

 

 

 

Yeah, Baby.

 

 

After "we" won, this gif sums up how I felt.

 

 

 

That's it friends. Keep your room clean, your aim true and go ahead and eat something sweet tonight, you have my permission.

Old Photos 2005-2007

I began tonight inspired to write about something. First, I tried writing about something really sad. That didn't work out too good. Then I tried writing about something positive and I didn't feel it. So, this idea has been floating in my head for some time.....posts about Peru are coming....some day....some time....maybe....

We changed our desktop to rotate our photos every 5 seconds. It brings back memories and I forgot how much fun I used to have taking pics. Here's some selections from 2005-2007.  I will (at some point in time) dig though the next few years of pics and pick out my faves. Enjoy, party people.

Yeah, a heart. Go ahead and make fun me you pretentious jerk. I didn't say this was gonna win awards did I?

 

Only slightly brightened up with Photoshop. This was my birthday morning in 2005, I was going to work and went back inside to grab the camera because it was so beautiful.

San Antonio Museum of Art

Frost in SA - a rarity.

This guy was crawling up our house in the backyard.

 ICE STORM of 2007 - the whole city shut down and I was loving it.

I used to take pics of old farms and buildings. Everything seems so incredibly fragile and delicate around these buildings. I always felt like I could be the last visitor before these sites would be swallowed up by nature. I found going to the sites actually very touching, as if I was walking around a graveyard. Inevitably, it got me thinking about the story of who lived in the house and how it came to be in disrepair.  I would get up at the crack of dawn and jump fences to get to these forgotten relics. One time I completely torn my jacket as it got caught on some barb wire.

 

 

Downtown SA, 2007

Layers and layers



I dunno, filters man.

Thought of the Day

Today I told my class without irony that, "I only curse when it's appropriate."

  

Pop Culture Queries

I've noticed many of the Sesame Street characters have more clothes on at the beach than when they are not at the beach. They're naked 99% of the time, except they put a swimsuit on to go the beach. WHY?

Look at this trash, everyone puts on clothes....even Big Bird puts on a tie. (Wait...what?) Everyone but Cookie. He probably ate his swimsuit on the way to the beach. 

Who made this decision? Like,"this looks great, just get some clothes on these naked puppets!" Why go to the trouble? There's no need to differentiate from their regular appearance because, all we have to do is look in the background and we know, we're at the beach. WHY??

The 3 rules of taking care of mogwais from the movie, Gremlins were pretty stupid. Let's review:

1. Never expose them to bright light.

Fair enough, lots of animals avoid light.

2. Never get them wet.

Stupid, but sure, you don't want to transform them into that crazy, evil monster gremlin form. So, we can deduct from this rule that their natural state is the evil, crazy gremlin form, and not the cute mogwai, as animals cannot avoid getting wet. How did humans capture a baby gremlin? What are the advantages from an evolutionary vantage point? What did they evolve from? How did they not wipe out the human race in ancient China and spread outwards like the evil spawn that they are.....

3. Never, ever feed them after midnight.

This one takes the cake and has always confused me. Isn't every minute in the day, except for 12:00:00-12:00:59 - AFTER MIDNIGHT??? I mean, if you want to get technical, even one second after the clock strikes midnight, is after midnight. Do they have to feed in under one second or under one minute? If it mogwai's internal body clock resets to "not after midnight" then when is it NOT after midnight? Sunrise? Noon? When?!!?  Also, is the mogwai internal body set to GMT? How does it even know?  Why couldn't the writers just say, "never feed them at night"? That would make for clear boundaries and ya know, make sense. Why do they have to torture us this way?

What a strange movie to market to kids. That movie scared the poop out of me. Other inappropriate movies I watched as child under the age of 10: Jaws, Psycho (really!), Red Dawn and I think Sixteen Candles. Holy Smokes that's nuts. I'm like a Puritan compared to my parents in regard to movies I would let my 8-year old watch.

 

I was driving on Sunday and saw one of those family stickers, showing a husband, wife and male child. If you've noticed, they've gotten cute the last few years, they have Star Wars characters, Zombies, you name it. This particular car had a He-Man, She-Ra and a child He-Man (the head had obviously been cut and transplanted onto the child's body). It didn't hit me right away but it sunk in later that afternoon (confirmed with my daughter, then Wikipedia)....He-Man and She-Ra were brother and sister!! Does the geek couple know this? Are they hoping the general public is largely unaware of the incestuous undertones of their "cute" family stickers? Wait....maybe they actually are brother and sister raising a child on their own? WHAT A TWIST.  Really though, what are they teaching the child and how should I contact CPS?

Which leads me to another query? Why does She-Ra dress like a stripper? That skirt can NOT get any shorter. Her alter-ego, Adora, literally WEARS NO PANTS. Why do we objectify women like this?