I've been sleeping in this week, and accomplishing very little. I'll get back up to speed in a week or two, I'm sure, but for the time being I've been enjoying the absence of the ringing of alarm clocks.

I posted the obligatory "best cds of 2007" list over at my rarely updated music blog. Go look at it and disagree with me.

December Frost Prints

December Frost Prints, originally uploaded by Corbie.

Happy Solstice! Let the light return!

I went down to "the main office" this morning to keep an appointment to "get processed" for my new permanent position at work. This means that I keep doing the same job, but now actually get benefits (health, dental, vision, etc.). I now make more per hour too (although it is a salaried position), but due to the vagueries of bureaucracy, union dues, and spreading my ten month per year salary out over twelve months, many of my monthly checks will be less than I've been getting. That said, I can elect to not "work" during the summer and still get paychecks for those months. Hmmm.

This whole process has gotten me thinking (again) about how I'm not a practical planner, but more of an optimistic hoper. Things generally work out okay for me, but I've come to the realization that this is because Jen does all the real planning. I'm often mostly talk and little action. It's a problem I'm working on. I think that working my way through the teacher credentialing program will help me with this. Perhaps it already has.

Currently listening to : Stone Breath "Songs of Moonlight and Rain (expanded edition)" It's good to revisit this one.

It's 45 degrees outside, and raining, with gusts of wind up to 30 mph. I'm pleasantly surprised that the power hasn't gone out up here at camp. I love this weather. This marks the start of the last week of camp for 2007. Then I get some time off from work... so I can work harder at home. At least I'll get more sleep during the upcoming weeks. I'm looking forward to that.

Right now I'm going to go outside and enjoy the cold, darkness, and rain. It's nice.

Orange Morning, originally uploaded by Corbie.

I know everybody with a camera takes this kind of picture, but I couldn't help it. This was the view from camp the other morning. A lot of the kids had their cameras out too. You know it's gotta be beautiful when 10 year olds start taking pictures too. I think this was taken the morning of the day I saw a coyote on the driveway up to camp. Beautiful things happen in groups. I love it when wildlife appears unexpectedly, unless of course the wildlife in question is on top of the cd player, knocking cds to the floor, like the raccoon from a few weeks back. Those raccoons have got to get a life and stop raiding camp for trashcan treats.

This coming week is the last week of work for me this year. It also marks the last week of school for the kids - at least until we all get back to business as usual on January 8th. That's not really that far away, but it seems like it with the holidays in between.

I found out this week that I'm going to be a so-called "permanent" employee soon. It has taken so long to get to that point. There are only a handful of permanent slots, with the rest of the staff filling "substitute" slots, despite the fact that we all work full time - the only difference being that the subs don't get quite as much work as the permanents. Lucky for me, over the last three years there has always been a permanent employee or two who actually needs somebody to sub for them during the times I would otherwise not have work. Those days are behind me now though. I'm the new permanent "evening program specialist," aka "night host." Now I get benefits. I'll probably need them with the reduced amount of sleep I've been getting.

The stress of the holidays is upon us with the realization that, despite the increased cash influx brought about by our family having two employed adults, we still don't seem to have enough money. Oh well.

Oh, I got an "A" for the first term of my teacher credentialing program. That's gotta be worth something.

Also, Jen and I went out together on Thursday night - without any children in tow. I got one of the new "substitute" employees from work to watch the kids. Thankfully, the kids all thought he was great, and he had a similar opinion of them. Jen and I went to the Blogher holiday party in San Francisco, where I finally got to meet a lot of her coworkers. Check out unflattering photos here and here. I'm always bad at going to parties where I don't really know anybody - it brings out my introvert tendencies - but I had fun after awhile, helped by the fact that I did know a couple of other attendees and that the husband of one of Jen's coworkers is also going through a credentialing program. Oh, and there was lots of cheese and chocolate to be had. And good coffee. This brought out my "snack table hovering" tendencies.

Currently listening to: Hrsta "Ghosts Will Come and Kiss Our Eyes"

I turned 40 today. The sky is a uniform gray. I'm listening to the new Pantaleimon cd, and the music matches the sky, at least for me. It's a peaceful sort of feeling.

I'm done with my first term (half-term, actually) of school work for CalstateTeach - the program I'm working my way through to get my teaching credentials. I passed the CSET too. I was pretty sure I would, but it's nice to get outside confirmation.

Still lots to do, of course. The holidays don't happen by themselves.

Nothing truly illustrates the true spirit of Thanksgiving as it is celebrated in the 21st century like the turducken - a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey. Can't choose which one you like best? This is Amuuricuh dammit!! Eat 'em all!

A little excessive, don't you think? Of course, so is every other popular holiday in this country.

I'm waiting for the day when other examples of overconsumptive indecision start flooding the market. What about a mosedummer? For the uninitiated, that's a motorcycle stuffed inside a sedan stuffed inside a hummer. Maybe you'd like to live in a mohousion (a mobile home stuffed inside a house stuffed inside a mansion)?

Actually, come to think about it. I do own a cd stuffed inside a record. A band called Contrastate is responsible. Funny thing though- they're not even from the U.S. The sickness is spreading!

Happy Thanksgiving to those out there who are thankful for something real.

I finally saw a Sharp-tailed snake in the wild. It happened while visiting friends up the peninsula. Unfortunately, some other animal had seen it first, eaten it, and regurgitated it. There was no head or tail in what remained of the little critter, but my friend who'd discovered it had seen a more complete specimen (also dead) recently, and after looking at pictures, confirmed that it was indeed a Sharp-tailed snake.

Maybe next time I'll actually see a whole one. Perhaps it will even be alive.

Apparently, comet Holmes now has a diameter larger than the sun. Of course, most of it is just an expanding cloud of dust - all size and no substance. I could make a joke or two here, but won't. I watched this faintly luminescent dust through a telescope again this week, while ensuring that nearly two hundred private school kids got to do the same. This reduces the telescope experience to a semi-efficient assembly line of, "don't touch the telescope - yeah, that's what you're supposed to be looking at - I know it looks like fog - please sit over there - I said 'quietly'." Everybody got to see it though. This was at the start of an epic 17 hour shift, which culminated in me once again getting observed by my professor (they actually refer to the teachers in this particular credential program by some sort of acronym that has long since slipped my mind - I think I'm acronym impaired or something...) as I taught a lesson. This time she wanted to see a reading lesson, so I wrote something and made some kids read it. Then, being evil, I made them answer questions about it, formulate a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, and then report on their findings. And yes, I found a snake during the lesson too. It's what I do. My professor liked what she saw, and had some helpful hints to make things even better. Actually, most of the things that she said could be improved were little organizational oversights that I belatedly noticed during the course of the lesson myself. We're on the same page, at least.

Then I took a night off so Jen could attend some work-related meetings. I fell asleep with the girls shortly after 9 PM. Sleep, precious sleep.

The days pile up with no posts, and moments in time fade away unreported. Most of these moments, though, are taken up with the mundane maintenance of life and living, and hence aren't very interesting anyway.

The days are getting colder, but Autumn has thrown a few summer-like days into the mix. Many of the mornings have been foggy, which is bliss. The sweet melancholy of dropping leaves and indistinct greyness matches my mood. I've examined myself and found room for improvement, but as usual, I'm not sure how to proceed. I turn 40 in less than a month, but I don't always feel like an adult.

That said, I am making improvements in some ways. I'm still working towards getting my multi-subject teaching credential. It's not always easy to find the time to do the assignments though. There is always somebody nearby with a pressing need - usually Willow, who has developed a fear of the bathrooms and now acts like a little tyrant with her constant reminders to, "clowse da door and turn off da liiiights!" Poor girl. I hope this fear is short-lived.

Speaking of teaching credentials, I took the CSET last Saturday. The test covers language arts, math, science, social studies/history, physical education, human development, and the arts. It has eleven essay questions and something like 143 multiple choice questions. I actually kind of enjoyed taking it because I didn't get interrupted by anybody for a whole five hours. I'll find out my scores on the 26th. I think I'll pass. I hope.

That same night, I went and saw a couple of concerts in San Francisco. The first was Iva Bittova at the Noe Valley Ministry, which is a nice place to see a show. The show started out with a haunting, elegaic a-cappella song, and continued with a mixture of spirited, gypsy-inflected violin and voice pieces, with a few detours featuring a marimba (beautiful, like a haunted music box), kazoo (silly, but then again that was the point), and various vocal calisthenics. At a couple of points during the show, she stepped down off the dais and wandered barefoot through the audience, singing in people's faces and looking for all the world like an itinerant gypsy musician trying to get a rise out of the townsfolk. She acted out her songs, which helped those of us who didn't understand Czech (did I mention that she sang in Czech?) get a sense of what they were about. She often punctuated the music with floor stomping and tongue clicking, which was quite fitting somehow.

Then, I rushed over to the Hemlock Tavern to catch (coincidentally enough), another Czech act, Uz Jsme Doma (upon discussing this with Greg, who also went to both shows, I realized that this wasn't the first time we'd seen a show at the Noe Valley Ministry and then rushed off to see Uz Jsme Doma in another club). After some difficulty in finding parking, I got to see part of Mute Socialite's set (Moe!'s new band), and found them satisfyingly gritty and manic. Uz Jsme Doma, who lean more towards the punk end of the musical spectrum than Iva Bittova, put on a great show too. Their sax player is no longer on board (and hasn't been for awhile - but it's been around six years since they were last here), but his shoes were nicely filled by a trumpet player. Good fun, and well deserved after taking the CSET, I think.

More recently, I got to show the kids at camp comet Holmes through the telescope this week. It looks like what it is, and expanding ball of gas around a bright core - sort of like fog in space.

That's all for now. I'll try to update this page more regularly - time allowing, of course.

Beware of Swear Bear











www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3x0hpjF2uU

My work week began with the realization that some of our current week's crop of cabin leaders are a bit ineffectual. The sixth grade campers, despite the fact (or maybe because of it) that they're all from catholic schools, wasted no time in taking advantage of their leaders' meekness. I think we have things whipped into shape now though. That said, there also had been some vomiting. Last night, at 1 in the damn morning, I found myself washing bedclothes and bleaching a mattress. At least tonight's puker made it to the bathroom.

Willow was a little bit under the weather on Monday, and now Nate shows signs of having a cold.

Way back on Sunday, I took Willow up to the city to see Om play at Amoeba Records. I had mentioned to her that Al (from Om) had helped us move to our current abode almost six years ago (damn, has it been that long?). This information, despite the fact that the moving had transpired before she was born, made Willow really excited. She was dubious about the actual music at first because, despite that fact that I put earplugs in her ears, it was loud - even though we were at the very far end of an immense store. By the end though, we had inched our way forward and she was nodding her head in time to the music. Afterwards, she got to meet Al, which she thought was really cool.

Okay, since I'm at work right now, maybe I'd better go chase some Raccoons or something.

The coyote came back last night. After the kids had all been sent to bed, one of the cabin leaders came to the camp office and informed me that some boys needed to use the bathroom but were afraid to leave their cabin because a coyote was standing outside. I went over and saw it step out of a pool of light near the hillside amphitheater, and vanish down the hill. One of the teachers went with me as we tried to spot it again, but we didn't find it.

The funny thing about this is that camp code for going pee is "chasing a coyote." So, if you think about it, the boys couldn't chase a coyote because they were afraid that a coyote would chase them.

I thought it was funny anyway.

It rained again overnight too. Nothing like the storm a couple of days ago though.

I saw a coyote out on the field this morning. I heard it before I saw it though, yapping and yipping at something unseen, or maybe just for the sake of doing it. Some of the campers, just waking up and on their way to brush their teeth, stopped and watched it with me for awhile. Eventually, it wandered off into the forest. Fifteen minutes later, it was replaced by a Cooper's hawk. It's a busy field out there in the morning.

Well, it certainly rained last night. After eleven, the wind picked up even more and the rain started. At a few minutes to midnight, the power flickered off and on. A couple of minutes later, the power went out and stayed out until 4 AM. I turned on a flashlight in the camp office to act as a beacon in case any campers woke up, and sat there in the semi-darkness wondering why the back-up generator hadn't kicked in. Later, one of the teachers came in to let me know that the alarm system (which is located in the teachers' room) was beeping. I want in and soon figured out that the beeping stopped if the "alarm silence" button is pushed. Then I got some intermittent sleep, waking up when the power went back on.

In the morning, while talking to our facilities manager, I found out that a malfunction in the alarm system had registered as a "pull" down at the fire station. The fire engines were already on their way up the hill to our site when a call to our facilities manager let them know that it was a malfunction. In other words, my night was almost more interesting than it was.

I finished more homework today. Sophie is currently plowing through a weeks worth of homework in one go. She's starting to lose focus though... Rick has six pennies. He gets 3 more. How many pennies are there in all? I think I'd lose focus too.

Alex turned 11 today. He got a camcorder. We ate cake. Jen took him out for dinner while the rest of us stayed home. It's not often that anybody in this house gets the one-on-one experience. I think everybody would be less grouchy if it happened more often. It is quite hard to schedule such things though.

I'm at work right now. I just did some online work for my class, to the soundtrack of the wind gusting through camp, taking leaves and anything else not nailed down with it. I love this weather. There's even a promise of rain in the forecast. I'll believe it when I see it though.

I think I'll go read awhile. I connected with a homesick kid earlier tonight - he's reading Pullman's The Amber Spyglass at the moment. It's good to be able to discuss literature with fifth graders. We're both looking forward to seeing The Golden Compass (the first part of the trilogy) when it comes out in December.

I hear large things being blown across camp now. I'd better go nail them down.

Three mornings a week, when all four kids are in school, I get a couple of hours by myself. These days, I usually use this time to catch up on much-needed sleep. Today, I'm fashioning yet another "to do" list and listening to music (without anybody yelling at me to turn it down). We spent yesterday over the hill at G's place in the woods. The kids outnumbered the adults 2 to 1, but were generally well-behaved. I say "generally" because Sophie proved to be the exception to that particular rule, but perfection, as always, is an unattainable goal. Of particular interest to the kids was the zip-line. Even Willow managed to hang on as she went zipping down the hill. The Amazing Flying Four-Year-Old. It was good to get away for awhile.

I took another Thursday night off this week; this time to go see Finntroll at Slim's, in San Francisco. This marks the second Thursday in a row for live, Finnish entertainment. Finntroll manage to mix Finnish polka rhythms with death metal, which to most people reading this probably sounds quite unappealing. I had a blast though. Also, I think it's the first time I've heard a band advocate the eating of Christians. Those Scandinavian heathens - what will they think of next? This was the first heavy metal show I've attended in a long time - the last one being Celtic Frost a year or so ago. I definitely still appreciate the energy. Anything that makes an almost-forty-year-old feel like a kid again is a good thing. I even contemplated going into the pit (despite the "no moshing" sign, there were lots of people flying around). I nixed the idea after realizing that I was too encumbered by 21st century gadgetry - cell phone, I-pod, digital camera, etc. Sometimes I long for the primitive days of the 80s and 90s when all I had in my pockets were my wallet and keys. Sometimes. As it was, I placed myself right next to the pit because that's where the best air circulation is. Of course, you've got to keep your arms up to deflect people back into the melee. Greg showed up about half way through, and due to my thermos of coffee, I was able to give him a ride home (actually, I dropped him off at a coffee shop). Without coffee, I find myself just a bit too tired to do much these days.

But now it's Monday. I've got photos to post, but at the moment no way to post them. Our main computer has taken a turn for the worse. Now it won't shut down, and the monitor only displays the little mouse arrow. Not sure what to do about that. Curse my luddite tendencies! Life goes on though. Dishes need cleaning. Laundry needs doing. Class assignments need attention. I've now got less than a month before I take the CSET. Better get moving here.

Currently listening to: Sunburned Circle "The Blaze Game" (on the main stereo too, since the kids are all sitting in little desks in classrooms.

So, in addition to my car not working, our computer has decided not to let us go online. It's a good thing that Jen has two laptops. She's been using her work laptop and leaving her other one at home for me to use. I've been using it mostly to do assignments for school - answering random questions for my CSET preparation class and doing online assignments for my teaching credential class.
The computer problem is also why I haven't uploaded any new photos lately. Of course, working nights doesn't give me as much opportunity to take photos either, so it's really two factors involved in my Flickr page stagnating. Sorry.

In addition to work and school, I did manage to get out and see Circle at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on Thursday night. The opening bands were pretty good, especially Triclops!, who were refreshingly manic. Circle, of course, topped them both with the most varied set I've yet seen them do. They did everything from prog rock and tongue-in-cheek heavy metal to punk, with a silly wresting moment thrown in for good measure. It's good to see such an excellent band with a bizarre sense of humor. I feel like I got the best of both worlds.

Then, on Saturday, I went to my first actual class down in Monterey. I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning, which wasn't fun, but once I got there I was feeling a bit better. We spent the day learning about how to teach students to read.

And finally, yesterday, Willow and I went to the open house at my work. Kids who will be coming up to science camp (and a few who've already been) showed up with their parents for some welcoming fun and festivities. I led a hike, since I don't really get much chance to do that for the time being.

Speaking of Willow, I've got to go pick her up from school now. Bye.

Being the night supervisor at camp is starting to become routine. I don't see Jen very much during the week, and I miss her. I'm also kind of like a stay-at-home dad now, picking the kids up from school every day and hanging out with them in the afternoon. I don't really have time to hang out though, because I'm usually either doing dishes or homework. My class is going pretty well - I'm managing to keep up with the assignments, at least. I have my first teaching observation tomorrow morning while all of our kids are in school - I teach and get observed by my professor. Hopefully she'll have some helpful comments. This weekend I have to go down to CSU Monterey Bay for an all-day Saturday seminar. Busy busy busy.

Willow is currently asleep on the bed. This would be an excellent time for me to take a nap too, but I have to go get the other kids from school right now. That means I have to wake Willow up.

More later, if there's time.

The character of each week of camp is different. So far this week, the kids have been models of good behavior, but when the sun sets, they want their mommies. The hub (camp office) was busy with a steady stream of visitors, some sniffling with eyes downcast, and some talking about all of the reasons they couldn't sleep.

At sunrise, I watched a clumsy bat try multiple times to enter the safety of its home underneath the shingles lining the side of the covered walkway in front of the hub. During this time, sleepy kids walked to and from the bathrooms, not realizing that the shapes darting around their heads were bats.

Later, driving home, I noticed that my car was running rough and threatening to stall while I was waiting for lights to turn green. It's a good thing we have three vehicles now. I'll miss the cd player though.