All kinds of gas tanks.

<----Bet you didn't know they did THAT, did you? Turns out there's also a reconstituted White Castle Hamburgers joint that's now called Veggie Castle. They kept all the original decorations. I am THERE. SO. Some things happened. Here's the roster: I went on a road trip! I saw my grandmother's batmitzvah! It was amazing, I'd never heard her sing before, I don't think. Did you know that from my house you have to take a left on Broadway to get to Boca Raton, Fl? The GPS did.

I'm having surgery this weekend (Probably)! Here's a nice, neutral way of presenting you with the facts without being graphic--there's a whole site dedicated to it. Choose your own level of involvement :).

I had my first day of training for the NYCTF today! I'm not quite sure where I'm working, but I'm looking into a region 5 high school assignment. So far my top three choices are William Douglass IVV HS, Teacher's prep HS, and Thomas Jefferson HS. I begin operations tomorrow! Tonight I work like the Dickens. Basically my life has been thrown into high gear, and I'm in that summer mode where every second counts. Training was from 8:30 to 7 today, with a one hour break for lunch. Tomorrow's the same, only I'm going to visit a high school on coney island to do observations for the first half of the day.

Basically I'm taking a graduate class in one week--and I'll get three credits for it. What what whaaaat? I was super sad, since I had to cancel going to a veggie dinner and seeing the Al Gore movie with Mary today in order to stay on top of all this. I have about 10 working hours over the next two days to write ten pages and read a whole lot more. With all these classes going on, too.

The banjo continues to haunt my fantasies of stardom. Whatever that means. My first lesson is on thursday.

Jen from Georgia arrived in NYC with Mary and I after the Road trip, and we did all sortsa great things! We went to go see Rent for starters, and I really enjoyed it.

I went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with my grandparents! It was a great little show.

Harry Antonio, legend of my high school days and one of my best friends who I have not seen for four and a half years and his friend Anna visited me.

I switched banks! HOOOOAAHHHH for Washington Mutual. I'm my own man now.

I wish Katherine would call me.

I saw the movie Zathura. It was pretty cool. Like a cracked out science fiction in space version of Jumanji. I have to say, Arrested Development Season One was better, though. So Mary, get off mah spahne.

OTHER THINGS:

Here are some baby pictures of me! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight (There's an "I" in "blog", did you know that?). The first one's my barmitzvah and my whole family, the last one is my mom's favorite little-kid picture of me. Some of them have my maternal grandmother, Anne Simon, in them. She was a great woman, and seeing these pictures makes me think of happy times. Ask me about her sometime, there are some good stories involving vodka, toy kitchens, and shag carpet. MYSTERY, NO?

Red Stripes cost 2.50 a bottle in Brooklyn! You guys have to come check it out, it's AMAZING. I'd love to have a casual chat over Jamaica's finest with you. Or whatever you drink.

IN CONCLUSION:

There are pictures of many things in a folder on the internet, but I don't have time to do all the nice little linkage today. The kid with the red hair is Harry, Anna is the girl in the pictures with him, there's a picture of my bank, one of Jen trapped in some glass, a bug we saw on the trip, a comic that Jen made while she was here, fantastic art from around my neighborhood, and some other stuff!

Simon, you are a Social Liberal (70% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (30% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test

Just so you know, you can always ask me about anything on the blog. I want to talk about it. For serious.

I'M RUNNING: A bit, and I need more.

I'M READING: The Dummies' guide to being a teacher (not the real name of the book), Alan Moore's The Watchmen, and either the Satanic Verses or Atlas Shrugged. Depends on what the Book Club chooses.

I'M HEARING: Isis, by Bob Dylan.

I'M WRITING: Poems again. Not many comics lately, not much time. I'm going to organize a poetry group, one of these days. Here's the lastest, I fixed it up just for you.

WILD WEST

hey, remember
the low stone walls
at home?

Also

a kitten face
with orange stripes
fueling flowers.

So

an engine at the bottom of the garden.
sticky candy in the gym
hardwood spooning.

Now then

a memory with
missing walls
remote control wrecking balls

the view from the old couch
cat calls from the old couch
I know this arrangement
of furniture.

but

someone special passes
a random event
and the cement



ALSO: The first journal entry for my teaching fellows classes, about my day in class. I wrote it, maybe you want to read it. Eh?


Teaching Fellows Journal: Professor Schweky.

Tuesday, June 20th 2006:

Class today was a little scary. The people down at Teaching Fellows sure want you to know how easy it is to overestimate yourself. I think I must have heard the word “challenge” and wondered if my ego has really “gone too far this time” about every twenty minutes. Despite the constant reminders of the difficulty of this job and what I’ll be undertaking, I found both Asha and Alan to be incredibly inspiring. At NYU none of the education professors were really fantastic teachers themselves, and I think it was because they were so divorced from the high school classroom. Professor Schweky was intentionally being rather intense, I think. I thought that was a really good way to establish himself as a role model teacher, which he certainly is for me. I’d like to see his lesson plans.

Over all, I’m really glad to be involved. Maybe I’m masochistic, but I have this thought that it’s a great thing to endure a challenge, especially when you know you’ll have to get strong enough along the way. The other people in my class are also really anxious, and it feels good to be on the same boat with a lot of impressive people, all of who are interested in making a difference.

I noticed some things about the way I speak in public today—especially in the half hour after I introduced myself to the class. I was nervous when I first stepped up in front of the class, although I was not scared. I’ve never been afraid of public speaking—although I was confident I could speak about myself, I had all this nervous energy that made me fidgety in the way I was handling the questions asked. I don’t feel I really addressed the questions in an organized matter, and I think looking back on the experience now, my need for eccentric metaphors while speaking made it difficult for me to communicate in the most effective manner. I think I have to learn to slow down and focus, but I’m not sure how to do that yet. Probably something that will go away quickly, since it wasn’t an issue when I was in

I continue to worry about what kind of work my placement at a high school in Region five will entail, and after talking to Asha about what I’ve got to do, I feel a lot better. I’m going to visit insideschools.org and get to know a little more about the three schools I’m most interested in.

Can’t wait to go visit the Brooklyn College Academy tomorrow, down on Coney Island. When I was there just last week, I was wondering what it would be like to go to a school in such a touristy, plastic area (or at least that’s the way it seems to me). Grease and carnival rides all over the place. I guess I’m about to find out.

Tonight I cancelled a date to do work for the Teaching Fellows, and I feel good about that—because I want to prove something to myself about dedication. I feel as though I’ve forgotten what it means to achieve a goal and be conscious of how far away it is—usually I just sleep through accomplishing big goals, I think. It gets done, but I’m not always engaged. It’s a useful tactic in some ways, but it also keeps me from valuing what I do in the long run.

Surgery will go down this weekend. I hope I can survive boot camp without any booty.