Imaging and Mental Flash

I love listening to my grandpa because he tells me about when they used to read text on computer screens or even used to read books that they had to hold in their hands. He pulled one out of the attic for me to read for fun. It was called Watership Down. I did enjoy doing it for a while, but it was pretty heavy. My biceps were hurting within only a few minutes. I guess I haven't exercised much lately. Plus, even though it was interesting, I got rather impatient after a while. At the rate I was reading, it could'a took me like 6 or 7 hours to finish the thing. I downloaded it from Pandora and imaged it via mental flash in only 7 minutes. Although I admire them for taking so much time to absorb the old stories, I'm glad we have imaging and mental flash, to be honest.

Back in the Days of the Shuttle Craft

Feeling a little nostalgic today. Remember when we had to use shuttle crafts before there was transporter technology? I mean, we had to take at least 10 or 15 minutes to get from Phoenix to LA. Now, we just beam over in less than 5 seconds. I don't know. I guess I just miss the slower pace of life.

Life Before A.I.

What life was like before A.I.? I heard that a long time ago, they had this thing called Google. You used your fingers to push buttons and they wrote your question. It was called a search engine. Unfortunately, you couldn't have a conversation with it to narrow your search to the item you needed. It was inanimate. It gave you like billions of possibilities. How tedious.

/ph/ Revolution

Who ever came up with the "ph" spelling for Steven? I know it's Greek, but I just don't get it. I'm talkin' a whole "ph" revolution: Steven, fone, ferimone, elefant, feasant, foto, filosophy, microfone, grafic, Ralf (both name and verb). Maybe I'm just going through a fase. That's all.

Nerf Football

My friend received a Nerf Football at his 10th birthday party. I was there. We formed teams and took snaps. Five front yards became a football field. Someone had the sprinkler system on. It didn't matter. Play continued. By the end of our game, we'd torn the football in half.

Antique Legs

Hiked Syphon Draw this weekend in the Superstitions to the top of Flat Iron. Really sore today. Talking to a friend of mine I said, and I'll say again, "If these legs of mine were a car, I'd have turned 'em in by now for some new ones. In fact, they'd be antiques. I'd get a fancy license plate for them and all that."

Childhood Dairy Queen

My childhood Dairy Queen decided to shut down. I don't think it's allowed to do that.

International Electric Slide

Just finished a graduation ceremony at Rustler's Rooste in Phoenix for our Advanced ESL students. I don't really know what to say about it, but I just watched a couple hundred international students do the Electric Slide. That is a sight to behold.

More Peter Pan

I'm reading Peter Pan right now. The (non-Disney) original version is rather rough-around-the-edges. Tinker Bell tricks one of the Lost Boys into shooting Wendy down from the sky with an arrow out of her jealousy. The Lost Boys think they've killed her on accident. After a few moments, they realize a locket she's wearing deflected the arrow and everyone is relieved. Tinker Bell. Vicious little fairy.

Maybe American's aren't so Bad Afterall

I am surprised at the number of comments I receive from my students about how nice and helpful Americans are when they arrive to the U.S. They often write essays about how they were surprised at such friendliness. I have been previously inundated by this belief that Americans are rude and foreign cultures are friendly and nice. My students tell me otherwise.

Undercover

My students don't realize that my combinations of red and blue on the overhead are a subtle attempt to embed Wildcat aesthetics into Sun Devil territory.

Nephew

Time at the park with my nephew. Football. Soccer. Chinese food. Quietly watching golfers at the driving range. Duck feeding. Rock hopping over the water. Nice.

Homework

I keep forgetting that if I give them a lot of homework, then I have to grade a lot of homework.

The Original Peter Pan

I'm reading the original Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, written in 1911. I think he might have been on something. I mean, come on... Wendy's mother shuts the window on Peter's shadow and cuts it off? They roll it up and put it in a drawer. Peter comes back to get it and Wendy sews it on him? Holy smokes. I wish I could'a been there to have seen it.

Technological Advances in Communication

I'm not so sure what I think about the impersonal nature of the advances we've seen in technological communication lately. I mean we don't even have to go over to someone's house any more. All we need to do is "call" them.

Texting While Walking

I don't know how many people I've had near collisions with on campus who are "texting-while-talking". If we weren't only walking like 3 miles per hour, it'd be a serious problem.

Skate Traffic

I forgot they cruise around on skateboards so much on college campuses. I guess I'll have to break out the old cruiser, if I can find it. Where's my skate shoes at anyway?

Point of Reference

In some cultures, the North East corner is actually the South West corner. Depends on your point of reference. Are you standing in the intersection or in the center of the block? Which way are you pointing?

Frenzy

My mind has been in such a frenzy right that I tried to unlock my desk drawer earlier with my USB flash drive. Sort of like putting the milk in the cupboard or the cereal in the fridge. Nevertheless, I really like this new teaching gig I've got goin' on here. Just fast.