Random Thoughts At 3 AM
1) Occasionally I am reminded why I am a teacher. Today when looking at a sponge under the microscope one of my students yelled out "Come here! This is just so cool!" Moments like these make me proud of my students and very happy I decided on the teaching profession 29 years ago.
2) On TV now the PBS station is showing speeches of many of our political experts talking about the Iraq war in 2003. Their statements were, in hindsight, about 95 percent wrong. It amazes me just how totally wrong a large group of our (supposedly) most intelligent people in Washington and in the military could be so blatantly wrong. What is more amazing is that they could not only apparently not learn from their mistakes but have spent the intervening years trying to spin their positions to justify their actions and make themselves look reasonably competent. It is eerily similar to the decisions made by the top levels of education. As Yogi Berra said, "It's deja vu all over again".
3) The acupuncture treatments had minimal effect upon my "pinched" nerve. That's why I am up now. I have an appointment Monday afternoon with a chiropractor and will let you all know how it goes over the next few treatments.
4) I finished my 4th song on my new CD "More Cowbell". I think they are my best instrumentals ever and are very proud of my amateur efforts at composing. The songs along with my earlier ones are at http://www.mp3.com/artist/the-unexcused/songs/
I would appreciate those with a few moments to listen to some of my songs and even give a review or rating. It is a neverending source of pleasure to be able to take a computer, some software, an amplifier, microphone, and a few guitars to make compositions like these that could only have been produced in a studio a few years ago.
That's all for now. I'm going to go back to bed in a few minutes, shove the cats aside, and try to get some rest when the feeling in my arm eases up.
Labels: education, music, nerve, pain, politics, school, students, teaching
5 Comments:
Nice story about the microscope! I had a student Friday, the penultimate week of the semester, finally look up from her bored stupor, smile, and participate in class discussion. I'm not sure what took 13 weeks to click, but nice when they connect for whatever reason :-)
I just can't stand to think about the war at this point. One of my friends just returned from his third tour, and his stories are enough.
Love your songs! That is a cool site that you found to host them, as well.
I took electronic music back in the day. The first time I took the class, I used an eight track. Crazy, huh?
I miss teaching - treasured moments when the class is really with you. I taught problem teenagers so the moments were rare indeed. I'll go and have a listen. The first time I recorded a voice over for a CDrom years ago I was so disappointed - just a man with a computer. The second time I was in a real recording studio!
Love the story about the kid being excited about learning. My 8 y/o is very inquisitive and asks questions about everything. I love it when he brings it up in later conversation, relating it to something else, showing that he really understood. Those moments rock!
Speaking of rock, More Cowbell was pretty cool. Did Bruce Dickinson help you produce it? ;)
Thanks, Chris. Yep, Bruce helped to produce it and Spinal Tap assisted with backup. ;) Glad you liked it. I'm keeping my day job but these songs are a lot of fun to make and a great stress reliever.
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