terms of endearment

"Well, I thought I should've used that approach, and got too far into it before I realized I was f*cked"

I was having a tutor sesh yesterday. The student had recently taken an exam and wanted to go over some of the questions that had tripped her up. 

She was explaining her thought process when she nonchalantly dropped the F-bomb.

Now, I personally speak quite cleanly, but often in my mind, I'm saying all kinds of nasty sh*t. 

I happily welcome the introduction of "the f-word" or its various cousins from tutees, however. It's an indication to me that the tutees are comfortable around me. Yesterday was this particulary student's first F-bomb. It was followed by a couple of others later on, while she maintained her typically cheerful demeanor. It made me happy inside.

In other totally unrelated thoughts, I'm considering getting an Instant Pot. Is it worth it? Would I use it that much?

I certainly don't cook as much as I used to since the nest emptied, but I've heard good things about the ease and versatility of Instant Pots. 

Plus Best Buy is teasing me by sending me random $5 coupons - spit in the ocean for an Instant Pot, but still...

moms

Happy Mother's Day😊 I'm not a "Hallmark Holiday" person, so I don't like or want a big to-do on the day. BUT, I do definitely appreciate my own loving mom.

I have this photo from the ancient times that, presumably, my dad or older brother took on the spur of the moment.

Me in the coziness of Mom's lap, my brother "Guano" (appropriately attired in a batman cape), the three of us sitting way too close and engrossed in something on the black-and-white Motorola TV. Loooong before google, so there are printed materials strewn about.

Nothing scripted, no prepping. I imagine Guano having food stains on his face... So happy good moms appreciation day!

Speaking of appreciation, I showed up to meet with a tutee one day last week, and she appeared, saying, "I want to give you something". She reached into her tote bag and pulled out this lovely pot o' succulents!

Is that so sweet or what?

She found out earlier in the week that she's been awarded a transfer scholarship to the university's engineering program.

This is "the mom" I've mentioned here before - juggling strenuous coursework while raising two young daughters.

She says she wants to get her degree before she turns 40. I think she just might make it.

I brought the plants home and put them on a shelf in Magnum's work-from-home office which happens to be of the most sunshiney rooms in the house. There are shelves in there that are the home of the only houseplants we have, because anywhere else is not safe from attack from the cat.

The cat doesn't necessarily want to eat the plants, he's just a jerk.

...but I bet his mom was nice.

on track

It was good to be back to the "normal" schedule this week, with students back after spring break. Catching up with tutees, many stuck around and just enjoyed the break, while others took advantage and went somewhere fun. 

• I've been wondering about Thor this week. He is not one of my tutor students as I am just his designated scribe, but I typically see him every day in the tutoring center. I haven't seen him at all this week, nor have I heard anything about scheduling his next math test.

• Another of my students is currently battling cancer. She's one of the nicest people you'd meet, intelligent and hard working too. Always has a smile and positive temperment. Makes my minor gripes seem silly.

• Another student has a neurological "condition". I'm curious to know more, and he'd probably tell me if I asked, but it feels wrong to ask. He often reports to me about recent seizures - "about one every coupla weeks" - and yesterday, he showed me his new watch. It's meant to alert him, and others around him, when he's about to have a seizure.

I've considered what I'd do if a seizure comes on during tutoring, and I think I'll be able to react appropriately. So far, so good. I will say that his math skills are sharp as a tack. I think his parents chose to sign him up for tutoring mainly to keep him on track with his assignments, but once we get passed the chit chat, our sessions are mostly me just watching him do everything correctly. 

Speaking of smart watches, I'm liking my new toy purchase from last weekend.  It's a little too "Mother Hen", though, a la:

What is this "harder training up ahead"? What does it know that I don't??

And speaking of coaching, there's a shakeup at the nearby high school. Ten of the twelve track and field coaches (why were there so many to begin with?) were abruptly fired earlier this week.

The only explanation so far is that they "violated district policy". And the official statement also included "no students were involved". 

Piecing together from the rumor mill, it sounds to me that all ten were drinking, most likely during a track event/meet. If so, then yeah, I can see the abrupt canning of the bunch. Student safety is the coach's responsibility during an out-of-school activity.

I feel bad for the track kids, though. Their season JUST started. C'mon, adults, actions have consequences. I wonder how they were found out?

I'm sure more details will come out eventually. 

weekend mash up

From the time we start going to school, I think we become conditioned to school days vs. summer days. Once we've gone past July 4th, I feel like we've passed the halfway point of summer, and I start looking ahead to the next thing. But I'm trying to just enjoy the summer "daze".

Our California vacation helped. It really is good to get away from the same old same old and get a change of place. Now that we've been back, I'm feeling a bit restless, like summer's running out.

• Work at the testing center has been slow, as it tends to be in summer. During spring and fall semesters, we have a pretty steady stream of roughly 50% student tests, 50% professional tests. Summertime brings hardly any student tests - averaging about 1 per day. Unlike last summer, we are now fully staffed, and it feels like we comically step all over each other when something needs to be done. Someone often goes home early.
  
  
• On that note, the college DEI department introduced a "summer reading program" at the end of the spring semester. They provided a list of about 5 books for interested people to rank in order of interest. The survey was to determine 1 or 2 books to be read and discussed. 

I completed the survey, then heard a whole lot of nothing afterward. THIS week, we finally get the word that two books have been chosen, and looks like it will be a fall reading discussion. Oh great, just when things get busy :P .

But oh well, a free book's a free book, so I picked up my copy of [Different not Less]. Seems useful so far. 

The book should be useful for tutoring too. I'd say my most challenging tutees are the ones with unchecked ADHD *give me patience*

• And on that note, I've ended up with 3 college tutees and 1 high school tutee this summer, all very pleasant. A couple of them are REALLY lacking and should probably retake the prerequisite course, but God love 'em, they try.
  
  
• I've almost got my running back to where I was before being befallen with a bum foot followed by a foray into physical therapy. Back to where I was was still trying to get my stamina back after covid two years ago, but it's not awful. I'm glad to be chugging along. 

I also acknowledge that I've aged two more years since then, so I'll take what I can get.

I'm typing this at the downtown library. Just had to get outta the house - that restlessness. Strange mix of cute kids and unhoused adults at the downtown library... 

looking from a window above

Happy Saturday, it's been a busy week. Let's see, I...

• was installed as chapter Prez at PEO
• met with all the tutees
• worked an extra shift to fill in for a coworker
• had another dry needling sesh with the PT

All in all, a good week, and I'm ready for the weekend - only to lose an hour of it.

One of my tutees is a high school kid who is the spitting image of Alison Moyet from her Yaz days - complete with eye makeup and hairstyle. 

Seriously, it's uncanny, to the point I almost asked them (preferred pronoun) if they purposely modeled themselves after her. Good times, those '80s!

But I haven't asked. "Alison" is quite intelligent. Wants to go to Yale. We shall see.

I've got one more PT session scheduled in a couple of weeks, and that's meant to be the end of it. It's been a good experience, and it's up to me to keep up with the exercises. The dry needling's been interesting, and I'm glad I decided to give it a try.

In other health news, a couple of articles crossed my radar this week. One article touting several benefits of beer almost has me jumping off the wagon I decided to jump on last year. The article mentions that some of the benefits come from studies of non-alcoholic beer, but I never really understood the point of such a thing.

Another piece of info was from a youtuber saying that menopausal women should get a good amount of calories from fat. From that, I did dig a bit deeper and found that

"...fats can help your body absorb nutrients it needs and may reduce the frequency and severity of menopause symptoms"

Something to do with estrogen. And there's the qualifier "healthy fats" like avocados (which I can't stand 🤢) . So... no cheesecake then?

Anyway, eat, drink, and be merry. For tonight, we lose an hour.

life gets warmer

The high school near us serves as the school district stadium. There is a raucous track meet happening there currently. I can hear the announcer calling athletes to their events, bringing back memories of my track olden days in high school. Butterflies in the starting blocks. Better them than me.

It's a beautiful day for a track meet, actually. I'm liking this spring weather. Each day lately, when I emerge from the front door, this guy is hanging out.

He knows he's gorgeous and happily poses for photos, but has yet to let me pet him. He belongs to a family across the street, so I'm not feeding him. I think he just comes over here to taunt our cat, Napolion, whom we no longer let outside. 

Technically, it's against the law to let cats roam about willy nilly, but plenty of cat owners do it. We decided we'd abide the law, much to Napolion's disgust.

Yesterday was my last tutor session of the semester, so I've got downtime on the schedule that I'll try to use wisely. Monday will be busy busy with testing for the last day of finals. Then onto the quiet lull of summer semester.

I caught a bit of King Charles III coronation through news networks this morning. Not the long, drawn out pomp, but a 2-minute "cliff notes" version. So much royal regalia. Plenty of comments on Harry's absence on the balcony, since it's just for "working royals". Funny, no mention of Andrew *ahem*

The nice weather and royal pomp reminds me to reserve my spot for the annual Tour de Corgi.

It'll be here before we know it!

tan lines and pelicans, nope

Happy Easter, or Ostara for the pagans, or Sunday for all. We are enjoying pleasant springtime weather to coincide with the holiday.

I enjoyed a happy morning run along the creek where I met up with tan lines and pelicans. Two firsts for the year.

The pelicans seem to be happily cohabitating with the ducks and geese of the neighborhood. But they typically don't hang around for very long

It does feel like spring fever is kicking in for many. Tutees are dragging their way, just wanting to make it to the end of the semester. That one student who had covid about a month ago is still dealing with the aftermath - secondary infections - as the semester marches on.

We watched Nope last night. Seen it? Jordan Peele movie about aliens? Or rather, more specifically, Jordan Peele movie about UAPs  or unidentified aerial phenomena. 

I guess UAP has replaced UFO as the term of choice because people connote UFO with big-eyed aliens.

Anyway, I liked the movie well enough. It was entertaining, not mind blowing, but entertaining. Likeable characters except for the... well... y'know.

a trip to anywhere

I've spun the mattress, changed the toothbrush heads, rummaged and found some shorts and short sleeves.  Spring is here for a welcome change!  And this year, it brings a COVID vaccine available to about all who want it (and can get an appointment!).

Change is often a good thing and gives us things to look forward to.  Thought I'd make a small-scale list for near future things.

Warmer, Longer Days
With spring's arrival, I'm ready for stashing the snow shovels and partaking of some warm weather fun.

New Tooth
As I mentioned a while ago, our dog, Penny, mangled my fake tooth - not while it was in my mouth, thankfully.  I take full blame for leaving it laying around.  

I've been living with the void and was fitted for a new one nearly two weeks ago.  I expect the replacement in the upcoming week.  I will take better care of this one!

New Job

I told the Audreys I'd be the new assistant boss.  I'm looking forward to the change, probably because I don't know all that I'm in for.

It's just nice to make a decision now and then.  Once I decided and signed the papers, I felt more centered.  I offloaded my current tutor students - I was down to just two at this point - without hassle.  That feels a bit weird, seems I've been a tutor forEVER.

Home Upgrades
With the pandemic restrictions beginning to lift, I'm looking forward to a few needed updates on our house.  It was a rental for several years before we purchased it.  The appliances are very basic and showing their age, same for the windows and exterior paint.  Time for some TLC.

I'm not necessarily looking for the "journey" to get there in this case, but rather the destination.

So, how boring am I, right?

What's something you're looking forward to?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

4. Write about something you are looking forward to.

the ass in assistant?

I stepped into my boss's office, she looked up with a look that said, 

"WhoTF are you and why are you in my office?"

I mentioned a while back that my boss at the old folks' home put in her resignation after accepting a bigger position at another senior living place.  This is her final week with us.  There's been some speculation about who would replace her, and the most logical choice seemed to be the current assistant boss.

The present hierarchy in our department is as such:  Boss --> Assistant Boss --> Me --> the rest of the cubs in the den.  To make speculation gossip all the more confusing, Boss and Assistant Boss both have the same name, let's say they're "Audrey".

So conversations have gone something like, "Is Audrey gonna replace Audrey?  How does Audrey feel about it?  If Audrey replaces Audrey, who will replace Audrey?"

Follow?

There was a time when I thought I would want to be Assistant Boss if the opportunity arose, but lately, that feeling has waned.  Not sure why, maybe it's just spring fever.  Anyway, amid the speculation, I knew I would not apply for Assistant Boss should Audrey2 replace Audrey1.

Then...

yesterday, Boss started texting me, inquiring if I was interested in being Assistant Boss.  I said I was open to chatting about it.  We arranged to do that this morning.

I'm not working today, so I went in at our agreed meeting time when I was greeted with the aforementioned "WhoTF...?" look.  Apparently, I look quite different in my everyday than I do when I'm at work?  

After a moment, she finally recognized me and we had a bit of a laugh, her saying I look so different.  It leaves me wondering if the "different" is good or bad, but anyway...

It turns out the Assistant Boss has, in fact, secured the Boss position.  They want me to be the new Assistant Boss, so I now have a decision to make.  Honestly, I've been seriously thinking about cutting my hours at the facility and picking up more tutoring jobs, as the facility work has started to feel quite mundane. But if I take the Assistant job, I will stop the tuting altogether.

I told them I'd think about it and get back to them, so that's what I'm doing.  I did a little decision matrix just now and Assistant Boss won out over reduced hours + more tuting (57 points vs. 47 points).  It won out mainly because the Assistant Boss work would have more substance than what I'm doing now, has more potential for growth and learning, and pays better unless I take on a LOT of tutees.  

Tuting won out only for free time - which dwindles if I take on enough tutees to match the pay of the Assistant Boss - and it has a teeny tiny better commute, since I tutor online.  Even a 1.5-mile commute can be a factor when there's two feet of snow.

So I think I'm gonna say yes?  I mean, at least my name isn't Audrey.

And more importantly, do I look so different at work vs. not at work?  I took a car selfie (something I never do because I just don't "get" car selfies) after my chat with the Audreys to juxtipose with my work look (post COVID vaccine selfie)

Okay, so I'm wearing different glasses, and I don't have on the hair thing and work polo.  But I swear they're both me.  In these days of mask wearing, don't we all pretty much look alike?  

Must be the glasses.

because the world is slow and fractions are frowned upon

2020 is a leap year, so this coming Saturday is February 29th.  With March come thoughts of springtime - longer, warmer, more sunshiny days.  I know I can use a break from snow and cold, which we have had our fair share of this winter.  I'm looking forward to spring, although I keep with the local mantra of, "Welp, we need the moisture", because most people in these parts know that somewhere in Colorado will be on fire this summer.

So we have an extra day this year before we can welcome March in order to let the earth's rotation catch up to the Gregorian calendar.  Who else is aware that there are leap seconds?  About every 3 to 4 years?  They are to synch the world's highly consistent atomic clocks to the earth's inconsistency.  How rude of the earth that we must do this.

I mentioned I took a semi-retirement part-time job at a hospital culinary operation.   I enjoy it.  Great company, great bosses, great coworkers, satisfying and productive work.  Plus, there's a 401k plan.  Contract tutors don't get a 401k plan.

The job is a nice balance with the tuting, which can burn me out if I schedule too many students.  I felt the need for a break from that too. It still somewhat surprises me that there seems to never be a lack of students looking to hire tutors despite free and cheap resources online.  But I guess some people just like someone to be there when they say, "but... I still don't get it 😕".  I don't want to chuck tutoring altogether, just cut back a bit, and this fills the empty space nicely.  I suck as a "housewife".

And it turns out, I actually enjoy cooking.  Who knew?  I mean, I'm no Gordon Ramsey, but... well... thank God for that.

Yesterday, I happened to look down and notice one of the expiration date stickers had landed on my shoe.

Is it an omen? Use me before March? After that, I'm trash?

What are you doing with your extra day this year?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. Write about something you need a break from.

oopsies

I somehow managed to have zero tutees today, so AAAaaaaah.  Not that I'm not grateful for the tutor students, but it's been a busy week, and I have neglected a few things, so I'm happy to have the clear schedule.  First SAT of the school year tomorrow.  Whoopee doo!

I did have some administrative things to do on the tutor site this morning, and when I checked in over there, I noticed an ugly 1-star review.  What? 

Like most online services, we tutors are subjected to starred reviews.  I've never gotten a 1-star.  I've never gotten less than a 4-star (knock on wood), so I was befuddled.  I'd met with the student on Wednesday, and all was good.

I went over the lesson in my mind.  Did I do something offensive?  Say something racist/ sexist/ ableist/ there-are-so-many-ists?

So I messaged her asking about her concerns and what I could do to make it right.  Thankfully, she responded right away, saying "Oh no!...".  Somehow her 5-star flipped to 1-star.  She was able to switch it back.  Still don't know what happened.  Hackers??

In other mistakes... My faithful yet underappreciated commuter bike is in Urgent Care.  Yup, I managed to wear her rear brake down to nuthin'.  I knew it was getting time to change the pads, but kept putting it off even though I ride Ariel nearly every day. 

It got so bad by yesterday, I put Ariel in the car and drove her to the shop that is usually a nice bike ride away, since I didn't want to ride her another foot without fixing the brake.  Too late, she needed new pads AND a new rotor. 

The service techs at this shop are great.  It's my favorite bike shop for many reasons, and this is one of them.  Jon assessed the damaged and promised her back to me by this morning.  I just need to go pick her up.  Here's the work order:

Yup.  "Status:  Urgent Care".  I'm a bad bike mom. 

hair we go

Meego made an impromptu visit this last weekend.  There is a bus route that runs specifically from his school to here with a changeover in Denver.  We'd been meaning to check it out, and he texted that he'd give it a go.

While here, he asked for a haircut. He'd let his hair get quite long - I can't remember the last haircut he had.  It didn't look too bad, but I guess he decided he was done with that for now, and asked to "go back to the old ways".  Less maintenance.

That dark fur blob on the floor?  No, it's not a new pet.  It's the volume of hair I removed from his head.

I see that Prince Harry now has a baby son.  Well, we had a hairy son...









Students are in the final weeks of school/ fall semester, and I feel ready for a lull.  Right now, it's a rush of prepping for final exams, EOC assessments, and the June SAT.  I know my tutees are ready for a break too.  Hang in there!

The range of students' motivation and work ethics interests me.  Some are super motivated and want lots of practice. Others take more prodding and parental pushing.  Then there are those who, I think, just want me to do their homework for them.

Speaking of cheating... Anyone catch the Kentucky Derby on Saturday?  Honestly, I don't generally follow sports, but I enjoy horse racing - because it's over and done with in so little time, and I think horses are just beautiful to watch when they're running full out.

The original winner, Maximum Security, was DQ'd for straying from his lane and impeding some horses behind him.   His win was overturned and the second place horse, Country House, was declared the official winner.

Racehorses have such unique names.  Maybe in a timely fashion, Maximum Security should have a name more like "College Admission" or "Crew Team"?

appreciation Friday randomness

As I sat down at my desk, the garbage truck came by to do its thing.  As a clutterphobe, I count trash days as happy days.  Our service uses those trucks with the arms that reach out, grab the trash bin, lift the bin up, and dump the trash into the truck bed.

I noticed that it was moving quite slowly and a bit awkwardly this morning.  So I took a look and realized that there was a new guy in training with a vet showing him the ropes.  Shout out to the garbage collectors and garbage truck tutors of the world.

Speaking of tutors, I'm thankful for my current gaggle of students.  I put in a light week or so after we got Merlin to help him get used to his new home, but things are back in the swing.  It seems that whenever one student finishes up, another one magically appears, and my schedule is full again.

Speaking of students finishing up, that strange girl finished up this week.  The one who would often summon me and then have nothing to work on?  She's taking her final exam today.  She wasn't all bad, but I can't say I'm sad to see her go.  She hinted about a summer class, but I'll burn that bridge when we get there.

And speaking of Merlin, he continues to be a fabulous addition.  He and Penny get along great, and the cat doesn't hate him (anymore) either.  He's super loving and playful and also knows how to relax.  Oh, the peer pressure is strong with that one.

I'm also thankful that the sun decided to come back today.  It's been gloomy and cold and wet all week, and we just aren't used to that out here.  I resorted to playing mind games  to delude myself into thinking I was on an exotic vacation in the rain forest.  I don't think the rain forest occasionally blows snow in your face, but the delusion did work, somewhat.

getting caught up and stuff

It felt like this week flew by, but looking back, I think it was productive.

On Monday, we got some new windows.

The guys arrived just a couple of  hours into our record breaking low-temperature morning.  Not the best time to have a good portion of windows gone from the house.  But the sun was shining - on the other side of the house, of course - and the temperatures crept up out of the teens eventually.

In the end, we're happy with the new windows:

In fact, we're so happy with the new windows, we couldn't bring ourselves to rehang the old tired blinds that covered our old tired windows.  Guess we're going shopping for new window treatments  now.  Any suggestions?

17. Swollen

The week continued with a mix of tutees, P.E.O., and time wasters other enriching activities.  I'm behind on Inktober, but still breathing.  At least I got some playtime to play with my new pens!

I checked in with Wolfgang and he's behinder than I am.  Yes, I know "behinder" isn't a word, but my blog.




Speaking of writing skillz, I came across this and needed to steal it for some tutees who claim to have never actually seen a semicolon "irl" :

Happy Friday, y'all!  ;)

Sunday speaking of

Happy Sunday, blogworld.  I'm currently enjoying a cup o' tea, getting ready for a pleasant tutee and thought I'd do a Silver Lining Sunday post.

Speaking of tutees, my schedule is full of 'em, and for that I'm grateful - all nice kids/young adults.  I'll give a shout out again to high speed internet finally finding our neighborhood.  And I do have a handful of local students because it's nice to get outta the house too.

Speaking of getting outta the house,  I went for a bike ride this morning, and fall is definitely here.  Two words for this morning:  FOG GEE.  It was noticeably chilly too - I had to break out gloves and stuff.  I snapped this pic after a good portion of the fog had cleared out and I could actually see across the street.  I'm grateful for my bike lights!

Speaking of recreation, I'm having fun riding the Inktober bandwagon.  I've managed to keep up for this first week.  I'm finding it nicely therapeutic, but I'm not sure just what the therapy is for?  I'm following a few others on Instagram in addition to seeing what Wolfgang's got to offer.  Here are my days one thru six:

Speaking of social media, my P.E.O. chapter is having a fundraiser coming up next weekend.  Wine and Cheese and silent auction social - actual face-to-face socializing and nice way to bring in some cash.  I'm also glad I'm not Prez this year 😊.

Onward to the tuting, and then exhaustion!  (That's today's Inktober prompt: exhausted)

Thanks for stopping by!  

good-bye, summer

Happy fall!  I'm not sad to see summer in the rear view mirror, but a little pensive about winter up ahead.  It's been unseasonably hot here lately, we broke a few high temp records.  But it's all relative, as many of us reminded ourselves, "at least it's not a hurricane".

Living in Colorado for most of my life, I have no direct experience with hurricanes.  Sounds awful - not just the storm itself, but all that mess of aftermath and ripple effects on the economy.  My mom grew up in the Philippines and used to tell me that my room "looks like a typhoon hit!".  Sorry, Mom.

We dogsat the grandpooch - Chaco's dog, Ella - for a short time this weekend.  She is just too cute and fun.  We're still working on getting her and the cat to be buddies, but we've made good progress.  I still don't trust the two of them alone together, so there's a bit of pet juggling whenever she's here.

And Wolfgang was home for a bit last weekend.  He has some mountain biking friends who live here, so he graces us with his presence once in a while when he's done with them.  Nice thing is, he also took most of his remaining crap that was still stored at our house.

He reminded me that Inktober 2018 is about to start.  I plan to do 'em all again this year!  That exclamation point was to psyche myself up.  I managed to get it done last year, but not without spilling into November.

I have not been doing much art play, however.  I've noticed that it can sometimes be difficult for me to switch brain hemispheres.  Since much of my tuting is left-brain stuff, that's where I've been mostly hanging out recently.  Inktober will be a good challenge and put some balance back into my brain.  I hope.

Speaking of the tuting, a good chunk of my students come to me for help with college entrance exams:  SAT, ACT, and GRE.  Test prep was how I got into tutoring in the first place.  Sometimes I hear back from students when they get their score reports - hopefully happy news.

In all this time, I've had a handful of kids who've gotten close to perfect scores - a very rare thing - but never the golden 36 ACT or 1600 SAT or 170 GRE.  Earlier this week, I got this message from "Joe Kool":

Never mind that his "I got 36 ACT this time!" is grammatically incomplete.

He gets a pass.

gamer appreciation

I don't game.  Despite having various gaming platforms living in my household at various times, I wouldn't know the first thing to do if I ever found myself in the middle of a modern video game.  In fact, I vaguely remember, many years ago, picking up one of the controllers as my then elementary-school-aged kids were playing some PS2 game.  I was dead within seconds and never picked up a controller again.  I still don't even know how I died.

But I've got a new appreciation for the gaming community.

Y'all know I tutor online.  Most of my tutees are in high school or college.  I now admittedly smile inwardly whenever I go into the online classroom and see something similar to this at the other end:

SOURCE

Okay, he'd have to lose the VR headset, but otherwise, I'm a happy tutor.  It's because gamers got game!

Well... obviously.  But I mean, they've got all the best gear!

Sometimes the student is at the kitchen table or such, with no earbuds or headphones, so I'm catching all the echo.  And/or Mom or Dad is in the background loading up the dishwasher or something, and I'm getting all the clanging and banging. And/or they're on an old decrepit laptop with blurry, laggy audio and video, sounding like they're speaking from an aluminum can...

But not the gamers.  Oh no.  They're in some dedicated lair.  Their video is clear and smooth.  Their audio... OMG, their audio!  Words can't describe.

I still have no desire to become a gamer myself, but I want to give a shout out to those who take such care of their online streaming lives.

In other entertainment news, we've watched three movies recently, of which I will give a short synopsis.

The Little Hours:  I'm not gonna lie.  I thought this was pretty funny.  It's silly and raunchy, but that's what I expected, so I wasn''t disappointed.  It actually did have a bit of a plot, which I hadn't expected, so - win.

Hello, My Name is Doris:  This one had its moments.  I was expecting mostly comedy, which was present.  But it was also rather serious and sad and downright uncomfortable to watch at times.  Plus the main character is a hoarder, among other things, and the clutterphobe in me had to look away.

Zoe:  I could NOT get into this movie at all, despite the decent cast.  I found it slow and boring and containing too many plot holes for me.  I did nod off a few times only to awaken and see that the darn thing was still going.  Maybe it's got some good scenes that I slept through.

Anything entertaining to share?

hi, don't mind me :)

I bought a new webcam last week.  My webcam is working fine, but I like to have a backup.  Meego uses my old webcam/backup, mainly for the microphone, when he's online gaming with his friends.  He needed to take an online test last week in order to test out of a certain math class for college.  That's when we discovered that the video on his/my backup webcam was on the fritz.

Take an online test to place out of a math class, and someone is watching. If your webcam doesn't work, you can't take the test.

Well, we just swapped out the fritzed webcam with my working one, and all was good.  Meego passed his test, and we wondered what it's like to be a proctor for an online test.  Do they really watch the whole time?  Are they looking at multiple screens/test takers?  What would they do if they see someone cheating?

I only connect my webcam when I need it for online tutoring.  For those with built-in webcams, do you cover it up to prevent the government from spying on you?

I have a student I've been helping with a college math class he's taking online this summer.  We were at the library yesterday, and he'd brought his laptop so we could work on his homework assignment.

As he was airing his frustrations with me, I was communicating my empathy:

"Yes, they could have explained that better"
"You're right, that's not a very accurate graph"
"blah, blah, blah"

At several points, we noticed the cursor on his laptop screen was spinning.

"They're checking on me", he says.

"Oh, they monitor when your logged in?", I says

"Yeah, we had to sign something that says we know and don't care when we enrolled in the class", he says.

I noticed the band-aid he had covering his webcam.

"Is that why you have a band-aid over your webcam?", I says.

"Yep, but they can still hear us", he says.

We continued to work through his homework and came across another poorly represented graph.  I made robotic note of it.

"Ugh, you'd think they would do these better, otherwise it's confusing", he expressed.

"I'm just your tutor.  I have no opinion".

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
5. Write about the last lie you told.

from where I sit, pictures because I'm lazy

It's been a busy week and it's already Friday eve.

I was going to blog something worthwhile here, but I got this new standing desk, and now I'm tired even though I'm currently sitting...

In the process of getting the new desk - it's adjustable:  hydraulics! - I also booted Meego from the prime window spot and took it over.  Why didn't I do that sooner?

Don't feel bad for him, I turn to my right, and there he is, not doing the math tutorial he's supposed to be doing, but playing some online shoot-'em-up with a friend.  

Our high speed internet seems to be holding.  I've had a couple of online tutee sessions and everything's worked like a well oiled machine. *knock on wood*

Turn to my left, and here we have the temporary routing method for the high speed cable.  I just happened to have a swim noodle lying around - handy things, those swim noodles.  Unless your cat likes to work out his frustrations by ripping it to little bits. I think he's mad because I rearranged "his" room. 

I think he just likes to rip it up, but now I have to worry about him ingesting the shards in a moment of stupidity.  

peaks and troughs

Ultradian rhythm.  That's a term I learned recently.  Because of it, your brain can only focus for 90 to 120 minutes before it needs a break.

I'd noticed that from observation. It's why I never have tutoring sessions that go longer than 2  hours.   You can almost see it.  Stuff just no longer goes "in", which is just as well, because the stuff I try to put in at that point is mostly garbage anyway.

One day last week, I had 3 tutees in a row, and one session was with the two kids I refer to as "the triplet twins" as they are 2/3 of a set of triplets.  So four students altogether, all for math.  I did have a decent break between the second and 3rd tutes, but still, by the end of the day, I was all

So feel free to use this information for a variety of situations:

"I was gonna ___________________ but my ultradian rhythm was in a trough"

I offer this as explanation for my neglectful blogging recently, as in, "I was gonna blog more last week, but my ultradian rhythm was in a trough"

It was a good week, though.  Yesterday, Meego and the gang had their winter percussion state chamionship competition.  It was cut throat, I tellya, and in the end, our group got...

First Place!  WOOOOOT!!  State Cham-PEENS!

Quite exciting, I'm very happy for those kids.  Last year, they didn't even make the finals.

I've got some short video of highlights from their championship performance.  I'll maybe post it later for those going, "what the hell's 'winter percussion'?"

...if I'm not in a trough.

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Linking up (late) with Mama Kat for the prompt:
1. Something you learned in March.