The dust in here is thick

Gross. Cobwebs and worse dominate this abandoned attic of my thoughts, and it will take time, effort, and some serious willpower to clean it out.

Although I have been absent in the blogosphere (at least this neighborhood of it) I haven't been completely out of touch, and I doubt the following will be news to anybody, but I feel compelled to write it anyway.

It has been nine months, give or take, since the last time I posted to this blog. I suppose I just needed some hibernation, or insulation, or maybe it was just good ol' fashioned laziness. Some things have changed in my life, many have remained steady, and new surprises do seem in store a little down the river. At the time of my last post, I was just discovering a surprising love of mathematics. The following semester I convinced my calculus professor to teach me and some other ambitious students some real mathematics. It was a modern algebra class, and I was blown away. I was considering getting a second bachelor's degree in mathematics, because it would have been possible to do it in three (albeit maddening) semesters. After getting a grasp of what serious high level mathematics does to one's psyche, however, I thought better of that idea. Something about spending so much concentration on concepts completely removed from anything remotely tangible gives you some sort of neurological tendonitis; this is why so many mathematicians go mad. So anyway, an epiphany materialized. If I became a very talented research biologist, I would bash my head against walls trying to convince reticent policymakers to enact some meaningful standards based on all of this wonderful data I discovered. So it looks like it's law school, folks. Environmentally flavored law school. Maybe with a dash of a master's degree in environmental policy or management. That, however, is a good distance in the future. There a few more classes I would like to take to make myself a little more competitive, and Brandyn and I would really like to do a stint in the Peace Corps.

So here we are. 1:31pm on 9/27/06. Less than two months until the midterm elections. I am at work, at my meaningless, soulless, well-paying corporate job. Brandyn works her meaningless, soulless, well-paying corporate job across the street, which is a pretty excellent situation (the proximity, not the soullessness). After work today I will go to chemistry and be lectured to by an old former soviet chemist whose command of the English language is less than comprehensive, while Brandyn may or may not attempt to work on some pottery (she hurt her hand on the trapeze last weekend). Then I'll get up early and come back here, to the job, then to the gym, and then go to economics and be lectured at by a very aggressive African man. Then I'll get up early and come back to work. Rinse and repeat.

Keep your fingers crossed, maybe I'll post again.

And so I may return...

Please forgive my lengthy respite. I have no excuse.

Today ended my first ten-day run as a high school english teacher. Visualize, if you will, the scenario I have landed myself in. Do you remember what happened when there was a sub? Bad things. I remember in the ninth grade, in French class to be specific, a sub put on a movie for us to watch. Several resourceful students stole the remote and wreaked havoc on the next 45 minutes of that poor sub's life. Every time that she would walk away the movie would pause or rewind, all controlled by a inconspicuous contraband remote.

Such is my life these days. Through this experience I have reached several conclusions that may prove benefitial to society if implemented.

Firstly, not every high school student should be forced to learn to read complex literature critically, or perform intricate algebraic manipulation. Students should have the option of learning trades. While no willing student should be excluded, all defiant students must be removed. Every single defiant and distruptive student ruins the education of dozens of quiet, hardworking peers with distracting shenanigans. If they don't want to think they should be learning to fix cars.

Second, there should be a public high school admissions process. An eighth grade exit exam, followed my careful placement would help alleviate the above problems. Not everyone should go to college, contrary to popular belief. There is nothing disrespectful in working hard, and many suffering trades do not require higher education.

Thirdly, kids need to unplug their darn selves and read. Students have all sorts of electronic communication and media devices on their person at school. They constantly ask to listen to music. They 'text' rampantly, but cannot focus enough to get through twenty pages of a well written story. Many have no ability to concentrate because of total media and commercial saturation. America needs to wake up to the fact that pandering to the teenage market is simply unethical.

End of rant.

On to the topic of further edumacation for myself, I have no idea what I am doing. I have given a lot of thought to the PhD recently, and my brain slowly curdles at the idea of devoting my entire life to something specific. While I remain magnetized by life's little mysteries (like why do ants always hi-five each other) devoting myself to the rather dry and impotent world of the biological ivory tower may prove to drive me insane. The price of teaching, perhaps, is that insanity.

Stay tuned. I am pretty into mathematics these days.

California is on fire again...

Stepping outside my house this morning was remarkably bizarre. Aside from the tangible absence of one darling Miss DeCecco, the weather was all wrong. Every morning for the past month or so has been cold and wet. (Let it be known that from now on when I refer to cold it is California cold, i.e. middle 40s) Heavy dew perches on countless green leaves, and while the decidous trees have been stealthily changing color, and occasionally and in poignant fashion falling, there is no indication that it is Autumn.

Well, that all changed this morning.

The air was bone dry. No humidity at all. And while the wind here is usually cool and from the southwest, from over the ocean, this wind was hot and from the east. Blowing as if it were a storm, too, hard wind. I softly hoped that there would be no fire, as the southern third of this state is little more than several million square miles of kindling, but to no avail. As lunchtime approached, northern Moorpark had caught fire. Soon after one in Chatsworth followed, and a third caught in Simi Valley. The highways were closed, housing developments evacuated, college classes cancelled. The last I heard it was 5% contained.

My calculus exam, however, will just have to wait for another day.

Brandyn has left me all alone so she can go volunteer for the Red Cross, helping people who lost everything in Katrina, forcing me to wake myself up in the morning, make all my own meals, and even sleep alone. Can you believe the nerve and selfishness of some people. Sheesh.

Last I heard, the shock-haired beauty was en route from Montgomery, AL to Monticello, MS where she will be doing something to be helpful. She has met some nice people, one of whom has ferns tatooed on her feet as well! She will be doing stuff, and that stuff will help. Sorry folks, that's all I got. It was a pretty quick phone call.

Dan, I heard about your meeting for people who want to make beautiful things. How I wish I could attend. Best of luck.

Today was a great day to be an American. May Tom Delay rot in prison.