Reflections on Student Teaching: Week 1

I can get to the school in 8 minutes.I eat a Cinnamon Pop Tart and drink a 5 Hour Energy Drink and a Glaceau Vitamin Water "Focus" drink each morning.
They have a parking structure for the staff.
All the kids are in uniforms. Blue pants. White shirts.
Some people break this rule, but not many.
One of the teachers told me they don't allow the kids to dress up for Halloween.
The children in the special education class are the most well behaved I've observed so far.
The first master teacher I work with is strict. The kids respect her. Learning a lot from her.
Was in her class all this week and did a Read-Aloud for the entire class and led some small group activities in math and language arts.
Today I was at IEP meetings all day with my second master teacher. She's running a new program called IDEC. Her assistant translated all the kids needs beautifully to the parents and guardians. These people are on it.
All the kids have their own personal laptop/tablets. The class has it's own smart board and printer.
Only 6 kids in the entire class.
Don't feel too exhausted at the end of the day.
So far so good.

Thoughts

Now all we have to figure out is how to transform stuff into neutrinos and back again and we can teleport anywhere in time.

Thoughts

Are they using laser beams to kill people yet?

Thoughts

If I opened a donut shop it would be called Blue Donuts and do for donuts what all those fancy cupcake places did for cupcakes. It wouldn't look like Krispy Kreme. It would be all fancy and appeal to hipsters and the idle rich instead of being a 50's diner throwback. The donuts would be of all shapes, sizes and colors and the usual glazed, sprinkled, and jelly-filling confections would make way for blueberry raspberry chocolate bearclaws and other original amalgamations. Purples, blues, greens, and other colors not usually used in donuts would be used with great enthusiasm to make new specialties... The Birthday Cake Donut. The Red Velvet Vanilla Pudding. The Donut Cupcake. The Blue Ice Special. Small glasses of milk would be 50 cents apiece.

More Awesome Toys For Sale!

A rare blue light cycle and The One Ring to rule them all!

Neca 20th Anniversary Blue Light Cycle with Flynn action figure

Lord of The Rings "One Ring" prop replica with light up stand

Thoughts

If photons are particles of light, what are particles of darkness called? Antiphotons? Melanons? (From the Greek, 'melas', which means black)

Awesome Toys For Sale!

A MIB Neuralizer prop replica, a Micronaut, a cool Spidey figure and more!

MIB Neuralizer Prop Toy

Laser Challenge 3 Box Set

David Bowie Jareth (Labyrinth) figure

Mace Windu Sneak Preview figure

Micronauts Time Traveler figure

Spider-Man Classics 2001 Toybiz Figure

Giant Robot Toys For Sale!

Selling some 24" vintage giant robot toys, including some of the original Mattel Shogun Warriors, a rare plastic Voltron, and a vinyl Giant Robot! These are the toys that were showcased at the legendary Nova Express Cafe. Check 'em out!

Raydeen 24" Shogun Warrior

Dragun 24" Shogun Warrior

Mazinga 24" Shogun Warrior

Voltron 24" plastic figure

Giant Robot 21" vinyl figure

Ernie Cline!

That's me on the left meeting "Ready Player One" author Ernest Cline on September 10. Got my book signed as well!

 

MTFBWYA = May The Force Be With You Always.

9-11-01 Memories

• My girlfriend at the time waking me up with the words "Turn on the television."
• People on TV, covered in ash.
• Thinking about the ending of The Lone Gunmen pilot (which I had watched a few months before the event) that had an airplane which was piloted by remote control from the ground barely missing the Twin Towers...
• Realizing my dad, who died that past July, would never see all the tragedy and fear that spread all over the globe as a result of this event.
• Thinking about the tarot card "The Tower".
• My cousin, who was in town from Canada, being worried about flying home.
• The W speech on the big TV.
• My brother getting survival supplies at the Surplus Store.
• Freaking out at the abandoned moving van parked on our street.
• Thinking this was just the first of a bunch of horrible attacks to come on American soil. Glad this wasn't the case. Very glad.

New words

The new word of the day today is Yottabyte.

Lenticular of the day

This is a 3D lens based on Ernest Cline's book "Ready Player One" (I blogged about it yesterday. It's awesome!)

If you click HERE or on the image below, you'll see an animated simulation of what the piece looks like in 3D:

 

This is a tribute to the cover of DC Comics Swordquest #1, which came with the Atari 2600 cartridge of the same name:

Audiobook Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Wow. A fantastic and entertaining read. Destined to be a classic science fiction book.

The Oasis, The Easter Egg hunt, the main characters in this story (Parzival, H, Art3mis, Halladay, etc.) ... all of them kick such ass that this is the only audiobook I started listening to again immediately after I was finished the first time through. So many geekgasm moments it would be a crime to reveal them here.

I'm not as much of a fan of the band Rush as Ernest Cline is, but I completely understand why they were chosen in the context of this novel. Also, Will Wheaton, who did an excellent job reading this audiobook, mispronounced the word "poseur". It should be pronounced "Po-zer", like someone posing as something they're not, not with a French inflection like "monsieur". These are tiny little insignificant gripes at what is by far my favorite book of the year.

It will be interesting to see how they deal with the licensed characters from video games, music, books, TV, movies and other forms of media cited in the book when it's made into the inevitable Hollywood blockbuster... and if they remain true to the main characters' body types in their casting. We shall see.

As for now, if you don't immediately read or listen to this book, you are missing out. Get it now!

Blog about The Picture of Everything and get listed on the site!

I want YOU to blog about my artwork The Picture of Everything!

If you like my work and want to help me promote it, link to it on your blog!

Any blog entry I find or you send to me will be added to this page on my website!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT #1: THE PICTURE OF EVERYTHING WEBSITE: RELOADED!

Zoom in and out of The Picture of Everything! The website has been completely rebooted and now has a Flash zoom in feature that allows you to do live magnification JUST LIKE GOOGLE MAPS!

CLICK HERE OR BELOW TO CHECK IT OUT (REQUIRES FLASH)

A big debt of gratitude goes out to Zack Dougherty at Panoview Imaging for creating this Flash engine especially for my artwork. Thanks Zack!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT #2: HALLIS.BIZ

This is the first official announcement for Hallis.biz, my official web store. It's kind of like eBay, since you can pay with Paypal, but I'm offering downloadable content along with stuff you can buy in the real world.

The logo is modeled after the Hallis' Ladies Wear logo, which was my Grandparent's clothing store in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. 

On the first day of online business, I'm offering high resolution images of The Picture of Everything, my Alien Man comic book (as both a real comic you can order and a PDF), and the Don Knotts Overdrive 7" vinyl single from the early 90's.

In the weeks to come, my original novella "Dotty and The Murderer" will be available for download, along with a whole bunch of rare collectible toys, art, and memorabilia.

If anyone out there is interested in how I set up this store, I used Prestashop, but couldn't have done it without the programming expertise of Robert Bain.

Big announcement coming...

Check back here on Monday (9/5/11). Some neat things are making their debut on the internet!