Tag: weekends

On having owned an Apple Watch for around seventeen hours

On By Luther M. SilerIn Geek9 Comments

xNope.jpg.pagespeed.ic.xecQlXJhisMy watch, just now, upon having determined via vile sorcery that I was awake but not yet out of bed, just vibrated on my wrist to suggest that I get out of bed and move around for one (1) minute.  This is related to my health somehow.  I note, looking at it now, that apparently getting up at 3:30 in the morning to take a piss apparently also counted as exercise.  It was certainly difficult, I’ll agree to that.

And here’s the real bullshit:  I did it.  I have left my warm, cozy bed, a bed that had an attractive woman in it, and now I’m up.  Because my watch decided to tell me to.

I don’t mind when my watch wakes me up with an alarm; that’s part of what it’s for and I set those on purpose.  I’m not sure how I feel about the idea that it basically just told me to get my lazy ass out of bed on a day when I’m not supposed to go to work and don’t have to take the boy to school.  Part of me thinks that’s neat and the rest of me feels like it’s probably the first five minutes of a Black Mirror episode about a dystopia.

The only thing…

On By Luther M. SilerIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

…preventing this from being a perfect Saturday is the fact that it’s Thursday.  That said, lounging about all day in jeans and a hoodie, reading two and a half entire books, and finishing the day with salmon and mashed potatoes for dinner is basically nothing but win.

A fine way to spend a Saturday night

On By Luther M. SilerIn Photography1 Comment

…so, yeah, forgive me if there’s no blogging.

#WeekendCoffeeShare: Ignorance Edition

On By Luther M. SilerIn Stories9 Comments

weekend-coffee-share

If we were having coffee, we’d… I dunno, talk about Brexit?  It seems to be what all the cool kids are doing lately.  Trouble is, I don’t really know a damn thing about it, other than that I’m sort of tribally on the Remain side.  Every person whose opinion I respect who has been paying attention (mostly actual British people)– and I’m not joking, it’s unanimous— has been on the Remain side, and the one vocal person on the Leave side stole five minutes of my life the day after the vote to rant about immigration.  Generally, at this point in my life, “vote against what people who rant about immigration want” has become a useful guideline, as has “vote against what old white people want.”  Both appear to be on the same side here, so I guess I’m at least nominally on the other one, though for no better reason than a vague hand-wave and “those people are usually wrong.”  I can’t present, like, an actual useful argument.

I would be willing to bet an inconsequential amount of money that it never actually happens, by the way, if that’s something that you’d find entertaining.  Remember, the referendum’s not binding.  The UK hasn’t actually left the EU yet.

We’d talk about my new job, which is basically all I’ve been doing with my week on the blog, so I won’t spend much time on it here.  Needless to say, I’m halfway through the “training” period, and as of Friday was starting to feel like I was learning genuinely useful stuff rather than absorbing corporate policies that are either obvious (Don’t steal!  Don’t grab butts!) or bear little relevance to what I’ll actually be doing on a day-to-day basis.  I remain super excited about this and look forward to seeing how good I can get at it.  I’m just looking forward to having something new to talk about.

It’s a beautiful day outside, so naturally I’m planning on spending most of it inside cleaning.  I work at OtherJob tonight, but once we’re done with our coffee date I have at least vague plans to spend the rest of the day cleaning and getting some minor tasks accomplished around the house.  Tomorrow is an actual Day Off, and I’m hugely excited about the fact that I’ve worked for six days straight and that “day off” is a viable concept for my no-longer-unemployed ass again.  I’m planning on cooking dinner.  There will be corn on the cob, as late June seems like a good time for corn on the cob.  I’m not sure what else we’re having, but that’s a start.

How’re you?

Wait what

On By Luther M. SilerIn Cooking4 Comments

I am– wait for it– leaving the house tonight, in order to socialize with other adults.

By myself.  Without my wife.

I don’t even remember how this works any longer.  I have created an offering; hopefully they will accept it and ignore the crippling social anxiety.  IMG_3346.JPG

Whassupwitchu this Saturday night?

#Weekendcoffeeshare: not really edition

On By Luther M. SilerIn Stories7 Comments

weekend-coffee-shareIf we were having coffee… that would be really odd, actually, because what I’m supposed to be doing right now is getting ready to head up to Michigan for– wait for it– a baptism.  The religious ritual is secondary to finally meeting my new baby semicousin, but y’know.  I’ll take what I can get.

We’re doing the back-and-forth in one day and with a four-year-old, so, uh, I probably won’t be around much today.  Benevolence Archives is still free, though!

In which that went better than I hoped

On By Luther M. SilerIn Teaching4 Comments

I won’t be in my classroom tomorrow.  I’m assisting (where “assisting” means “taking primary responsibility for,” because if I do it it’s going to be done right) on a major project in the office, and they’re putting a sub in my room so that I can get everything done.  I have told the boss he is providing me with doughnuts and orange juice and lunch.  He did not argue.

True fact: after spending all summer trying my damnedest to stay out of the classroom, I’m now officially pissed that I’m getting pulled out of the classroom.  Because clearly I am never happy.  Three days in, I’m still over the moon with my homeroom girls, and my afternoon class ain’t half bad either, although there are a few of ’em in there that I know I’m going to end up tangling with and there are a lot of special ed kids who are going to end up challenging in an entirely different way.  Some of them are the same kids.  I like my para, too.  I’ve always had good luck with my paraprofessionals; that streak is apparently continuing this year.

My main goal this weekend needs to be to find some way to get at least a little ahead on next week.  Given that I’m working Saturday night and we’re hosting a birthday party for our son on Sunday, that seems a trifle unlikely.  But I remain optimistic.  I’d also like to– God forbid– get some writing done that isn’t blog-related.

How’s your week going, y’all?

Let’s see

On By Luther M. SilerIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

SATURDAY: Wake up, go visit wife’s family, a number of whom are in town for the day.  Go from there directly to the high school graduation of the first group of fifth graders I had in South Bend, wearing the same clothes I wore at their 8th grade graduation, a fact that entertains only me as there is no chance any of them will notice.  Go from there directly to OtherJob.  Proceed to have one of the busiest nights of the year.  Don’t get home until after midnight.

SUNDAY: Wake up early.  Go to brother’s, who is liquidating his home in preparation to move to Illinois  and live with his fiancée.  Spend three hours moving furniture, including an antique oak armoire and three old-ass tube televisions that weigh so much that I can’t believe TV was ever even a thing before flat-screen TVs.  Go home.  I don’t remember the rest of Sunday; it involved a nap and a lot of moaning.

12:30 AM SUNDAY NIGHT: I am jolted out of a sound sleep by what sounds like glass breaking.  I stagger around my bedroom with a baseball bat for a moment, thinking rather unreasonably that someone has thrown a brick through our bedroom window.  It turns out that the cat has jumped up to a shelf of photographs and knocked the shelf over.  Not the pictures on the shelf.  The entire fucking shelf.  

I never really get back to sleep.

MONDAY: There are three days of school left, and I have ordered tens of thousands of dollars of supplies for next year.  I arrive to 25 large, heavy boxes that need to be opened, unpacked, checked in and sorted.  Miraculously, no one bothers me all day and I spend the day doing this, including taking care of the extra boxes that arrived today.  I send repeated emails to teachers saying things like “I know I emailed you earlier that you had stuff and you should come get it.  This is not a reminder.  This means that you have more stuff and now you should come get that.”

I don’t speak to students all day.  No one even asks me to.  There have been two days so far this year where I have felt like the invisible man in the office, and I’m not complaining about that– I need to figure out how I tapped into that power so I can use it more often.

There are two days of school left.  8th grade graduation is tomorrow and after that they go away and aren’t supposed to come back.  This ought to lead to an easier day than usual with 25% of the students occupied during the morning and gone after that but who the hell knows; after how easy today was I’m not making any predictions.

It is hot.  I want fall back.

The end.  Have a music video.