Hip!

This week, my father had his leg cut off and reattached! Now he has a new hip. MADNESS.
It’s just so neat that that that’s even possible.

Speaking of HIP, the people that I’ve surrounded myself with in my life are just so excellent it’s insane.
I’m just feeling particularly lucky to live in the time and space that I currently inhabit. YAY FOR LIFE.

Creativity is best when it uses something mundane to make something awesome..

Barrel Monster

I discovered this while reading reddit this afternoon.  The artist was apparently arrested and charged with larcerny.

 

This sculpture is undeniably awesome. So awesome that I can’t believe that anyone might have a different reaction to it other than “awesome, like a hundred million hotdogs.” 

Perhaps a year ago I may have found it completely ridiculous that the artist would be charged with anything for this level of creativity.

However, in the last year, I’m starting to see the “square” side of things, as they say (or rather, said) . The cost of the barrels, the over-budget stress and the hassle of the workers who have to deal with bosses, budgets, and all sort of brain-squelching miscellaneous bureaucracy.  This artist has apparently done this sort of thing many times before  and has even blogged about stealing the materials. I’m too much of an empath to really take side on this one (as per usual, I guess).

I can really appreciate the creativity here, though, so I still think that perhaps instead of being charged, the artist should be fined. Maybe the sculpture could be sold to pay for the costs of the barrels. 

More of his street art found here.

I can’t tell if he did in fact do this one too, but it is equally as good.

This kind of art is the kinds that makes people smile. I kind of wish that the artist went through the proper channels, perhaps just bought the barrels himself, or got the property owners permission before painting. I don’t know that it would be possible, but It would at least mena the work could stay up longer- I’ve gathered that the barrel monster was taken down the next day, and the vent-thing was painted over.  Too bad. 

This got me thinking: something like this would be an amazing project for an intermediate class.
Each student could write a proposal for some some sort of street/public art, and try to get it approved by whoever it needs to be approved by. If you went though the proper channels, I’m sure you could get businesses to agree to let your class paint a wall, or you could even just keep it local to your school.  You could have your class all submit proposals, and depending which ones are approved and depending on the size, the projects could be worked on in teams. I think it would be sufficiently edgy enough to get the kids exited about art, but at least show them that there are ways of going about it that make everyone happy.

Vote up if…..

you voted.

 

+1

Sitting Apparatus

Scored a love seat type thing off craigslist that actually FIT up the stairs, and through the tiny tiny hallways in our apartment.

Pros:

• Solid wood frame! 
• Nothing living in the cushions!
• Super easy to move!

Also, apart from some cat hair, it was quite clean. Gave me a chance to use the “PETPOWERMATE”  (sic) attachment on my flashy yellow vacuum, anyhow.

Cons:

• Questionable upholstery pattern!

Don’t much care what it looks like, because we now have sitting room! However, there are two options here. One, leave as is….. which is like this:

I'm hoping for the ironic "so-horribly-ugly-it-somehow-works" look. However, I don't think I'm enough of a hipster to pull this off.

 

 

Or, I could cover it with a knit blanket I have kicking around.

It’s a little more subdued, thats for sure.

Reflection

In the past three weeks, I’ve seen how difficult being a teacher can be. The issues that go on behind the surface. Most people believe that they understand what a teacher does, what the job entails, but I think few have a real knowledge of how difficult it is to juggle not only the needs of every student, but the demands and concerns of parents, coworkers, school boards, staff and the community. Harder than most people realize, because there is nothing that people care about more than their kids. You’re expected to be so many things- a police officer, a judge, a surrogate mother, a support worker, a therapist- to so many people.

It’s also extremely difficult to recognize real issues in the constant barrage of student white noise . People in general, and especially kids, are quite self-involved.   They think that their issues should be as apparent to teachers as they are to themselves. But students are also constantly crying out for attention. Having an entire class of students vying for your attention, and then trying to address real problems with only so much time is quite tough. You have to develop a filter, or go quite mad… and no filter is infallible. What if I miss something?

 

Becoming a teacher is a bit of a dehumanizing process. Like any public figure, you cease being seen as a unique individual, and become a figurehead. People see you as a teacher first, and a person second. It feels odd. Students (and parents) expect you to see everything, hear everything, know everything, and dole out “justice” like some sort of god. That expectation is awful, because it’s impossible to meet.

I worry about how these responsibilities and expectations. I hope I can handle it.

S-s-slap chop!

AUTTOOTUNNEEDDD

I want this in MP3 format, I think it would make my workouts better.

Flying. Penguin. Robots.

 I had to post this because it may be the coolest thing I’ve seen all month.

Title self-explanatory.

Link HERE.

Meat Draw

This evening His Nibs, Katy and I went down to the Legion for some froffries, dinner, and the chance to win 50+  bucks worth of animal flesh. Mmm.

Apparently they’re both made of luck because Grandpa  promptly won the first draw, followed by Katy….twice.  

11 pounds of ground beef and 7 pounds of chicken later, we took a break from winning/watching the winning to scarf down some meatballs and pineapple-upside down cake.

 

 

Mmmmmeatballs

I like Bob and Shirley very much, they’re extremely nice people.  Joyce makes me laugh, what with her gossip and talk of “juvenile delinquents.” Despite being told a couple times that the person who broke the mailboxes was some dude from Salmon Arm who was stealing cheques, she still kept bringing it up – probably three of four more times – with exclamations of “those vandals, where are the parents!” Hilarious. 

Despite all this, it’s quite amusing how similar the group dynamics of a group of seniors is to a group of 20 year olds. There’s many people of both ages I like, and many people of both ages who I really just don’t understand!

What I learned today:  apparently old people are much the same as young people, except older.  Who knew?

Boys and Girls: If you make a connection with what we just read, show me by putting a “C” on your forehead!

I confess, despite all the high culture on the internet, I recently ended up on failblog. 

While wasting precious seconds of my life, I stumbled across THIS:

Which made me laugh because I HAVE SEEN THIS SIGN IN REAL LIFE.

 

It was in Thailand, on the Island of Ko Phi Phi, unless my memory fails me.

It was posted on the outside of this second hand bookstore that sold books, pop, and miscellaneous used items like snorkels to tourists.

 

I found it as bizarre then as I do now.

The man who ran the shop was really odd. He had strange little preachy brochures, written in extremely bad english, all about the dangers of certain “sinful” actions lying everywhere in the store. Tracts for a really bizarre interpretation of buddhism? Who knows.

Perhaps this was one such message, lost in translation.

Beeep beep beep

Dear Internet:

 

Meet the Rexall Rainbow Water-Vacuum. It is over 50 years old, and I have recently finished vacuuming my grandparent’s house with it.

It's so shiny!

 

Did you ever see a vacuum cleaner that was as pretty?

 

 

 This is the neatest looking household appliance I’ve ever used. It even has a switch on the back thats metal; the kind that give the most satisfying “clink” when you switch them on:

Technology with aesthetic appeal? : DROOL:

 

and it sucks the dust into a water tank that’s under the shiny chrome. Also it has red and green dots around the top in a semi-circle around the handle that sort of look like control lights of some sort. It’s like a magnificent little robot  built to fit in the 1950′s .

 

 

 

 

I don’t know why this is so excellent, but it is.