Beth

She caught my eye just as I walked briskly down the hallway. It was as I passed another hallway perpendicular to the hall I was traveling when I saw her. I had already passed by the hallway before it had struck me. My god, who was that? I had worked in the school for a few years so I knew everyone and everyone knew me. Mostly for the way I conducted my class, crazy to say the least. No one believed that I had control but I did. I guess you could call it, controlled chaos. That is one thing I have always felt strongly about and that is making education exciting while still having the students learn. In fact, the students definitely learned more with my methods than the old “here are the notes, memorize them, and now, you’re going to have a test” routine. You have to entice the students. Grab a hold of them with knowledge and give it to them. You have to make sure they have it and then let them go. They will hold onto it for the rest of their lives…that is if you do it correctly. I’d like to think that within my few years of teaching that I have mastered it and even perfected it.

I was walking to the faculty room right after helping one of my most challenged students. Most challenged yet so eager to learn, so motivated. She had to work so much harder than the rest of the students. And I worked all of them pretty hard. She was always after school, in my room for lunch, before school. She took up a lot of my free time but I didn’t care one bit. I am all about the student. Willing to go the extra mile to help that one student. That is what education should be about. Most teachers whine and cry about after school meetings, and lunch duty, blah, blah, blah. They quickly forget why they are in the building in the first place, to teach the youth of America. They also forget how to effectively use all the time off we have. Yeah, sure, we get a lot of time off, but during the school year we spend hours preparing, modifying, partaking in professional development, helping students with extra help, and correcting papers. Any bad teacher could take the easy way out, give notes, give test, correct test, done in five minutes. That is not a good teacher. Good teachers care about the students, care about them grabbing a hold of that knowledge and taking it with them through life. Where would this world be without teachers? There would be no lawyers, doctors, or any other profession. Everyone needs school, everyone needs knowledge; otherwise you will fail. That is a problem with today’s society; the emphasis is taken away from teaching because they say we are getting paid too much. I think we should get paid more. Where would this world be without education…well we wouldn’t have doctors!

You know that natural tendency to look when someone walks into a room, or in my case when you walk down a hallway to look down the other hallways. It’s only human nature. We are curious, curious about what, who knows. So that’s exactly what I did as I walked past the other hallway on my way to my usually quick five minute lunch. I saw her. Who you might ask? Haha, I know what your thinking. WHO!??!?!?!?! Was that? This is called building suspense. Hopefully, I am doing a good job. If I am doing a good job at his point you are either skipping ahead to find out who it was, or you’re reading feverishly trying to get to the part were I tell you. Relax, man. Just enjoy the ride. Although if I am doing a bad job at building suspense, you’re just sitting there fine and dandy, hell maybe you even put the story down. Ouch, that would be bad. Maybe it’s time to cut to the chase. I was already past the hallway before it hit me and I guess my face showed it because I almost bumped right into a fellow faculty member coming out of the faculty lounge. She looked at me with those women eyes that knew I did something wrong. I knew those eyes from a woman and that grin that said, “You are up to something devilish.” I looked at her puzzlingly. She knew what I had seen even before I had realized. I gave the look “oh no it’s not what you think.” She smiled and continued on. All I kept thinking was “oh shit!” I turned my head back just as I entered the faculty room and I saw Sandra looking down the same hallway that I had just looked down seeing the very same thing that I had seen. I was about to be called out.

After I had walked into the faculty room, Sandra stopped in the middle of the hallway to greet the women. “Hi, Beth. Welcome to Gagnon High. I’m Sandra.”

“Hi. Sandra. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Her sweet feminine voice flowed like wind I would later find out.

“So how do you like Gagnon so far?”

“Well, today’s only my first day but its has been going very well.”

“Well that is great to hear. Are you on lunch right now?

“Yep. Just started”

“Ohh, great. I’ve actually got a few more minutes. Let me introduce you to some people.”

“Sounds great. I haven’t gotten to meet many people starting mid year.”

“Well, we all appreciate you coming on such short notice. Carol had to leave sooner than expected. Baby decided to come a month premature. She thought she was going to make it until the end of the year. With only a few weeks to go, we were lucky to get you.”

“Well I was lucky to get the job. I just finished school a week ago. Tell you the truth, I’m not exactly certified yet.”

“ Ohh, who cares? It’s only a few weeks.”

Beth chuckled that cute young girl laugh. You couldn’t quite tell if she was a woman or a girl; that just in-between stage. But by no means does it have anything to do with age. It has to do with experience. No, not sexual experience. I know what you’re thinking, filthy mind. Experience as in life experience. In my own experiences, I definitely didn’t become an adult until I got out of college. College kids are so inexperienced. When you get out there in the real world there’s a transition phase. You know exactly how to act professional but it doesn’t come quite so natural. She was definitely in this phase.

“Come on in. Let me introduce you.” She placed her hand on Beth’s shoulder blade guiding her to the faculty room.

Inside I had just taken my food out of the fridge, popped it into the microwave for one minute and forty-five seconds. It is sad that only a few years in the profession I already have a routine of exactly how many seconds my lunch needs to be heated. The microwave beeped three times and there it was, stuffed flounder with crabmeat, fresh cheesy mashed potatoes mixed with sour cream and a touch of garlic and herb seasoning. On the other side of the flounder was simply whole kernel corn. I enjoyed lunch, what little time I had to enjoy it. I loved to cook and in the middle of a stressful day of teaching it was a wonderful joy eating a well-prepared meal. I had quickly forgotten about the woman or girl that I had just seen and was completely enthralled with my lunch. The smell alone would put a smile on my face. Some people in the school didn’t like the smell of fish, but I didn’t care. It was just one more thing they had on me, “Look at him. Going against the main stream and that fish ehuhgh.” I can’t even spell the sound that they made when they thought of my fish. You can only imagine the sound. Just picture someone’s face and their lip curling up on one side, jaw down and pressed inward, eyes squinting, and a sound coming out. But hell I didn’t care. The test scores of my student were way up, people could say whatever they wanted to. I was either loved or hated. I hoped I was mostly loved.

I sat with some fellow chums of the science department: Mr. Physics we liked to call him because that’s all he spoke about, Larry, the bio teacher, Rachael the Chem. teacher, and for kicks, Sandra would sit with us even though she was an art teacher. Don’t ask me why, she just did. I placed my food down onto the table and said hello to my science chums. I marveled at the masterpiece that lay in front of me. I picked up the shiny metal fork from home and broke off a piece of flounder with a little crabmeat and slowly brought the fork to my mouth. I placed the fork in my mouth, sweet heaven. The door opened, Sandra and the woman who I had just seen in the hallway walked in.

“Hi. Boys.” Sandra announced with a smile on her face.

I almost choked on my fish. With my fork still in my mouth I began coughing feverishly. Still trying to chew the fish and yes with the fork still in mouth, I was a bumbling idiot.

Everyone stared, “You alright Cal?”

I gave that ‘head nodding hand up to stop them from helping me’ motion. By this point my mind had begin to work again: fork out of mouth, chew food, still coughing feverishly, and face bright red.

“Beth, this is Cal the Earth Science teacher.”

I still could not speak. I did the whole ‘hand wave head nod’ thing.

“Larry is Bio, Rachael Chem., and Bob Physics. Guys this is Beth.” They all nodded and said hello.

“Hi everyone. Are you Okay Cal? Sounds like something went down the wrong pipe,” Beth said with a beautiful sweet tone.

Well if I wasn’t red before I was red now. I managed to get up enough courage to speak. I grunted first hoping to clear any last remains of fish from my throat. I opened my mouth to say hi but the bell rang. Everyone including Sandra quickly grabbed their stuff and exited, hurrying to class. Beth stood there saying goodbye to everyone as they left. I sat there disheveled. I have got to get to class I thought quickly. I grabbed my stuff and made my way to the door.

“Bye Cal.” She said with the biggest smile I had ever seen.

I just smiled and waved unsure if I was able to speak.

October Photo - Water Leaves

Water Leaves

October Photo - Fenced In

Fenced In

October Photo - Earth

Earth

Plate of Sunshine

The other day a friend of mine said to me sarcastically, “Ain’t that a plate of sunshine,” in response to my description of a horrible day. I began to think, what the hell is a plate of sunshine anyway? After ponding the statement on my way home from work, I placed a white plate with water in it out on the deck railing behind my house. Standing back a few feet from the plate, I begin to move around the deck until I saw the reflection of the sun on the plate of water. The blinding, painful sun forced my eyes to close and I thought to myself, now, that is a plate of sunshine! Maybe my friend shouldn’t have been so sarcastic.

A Cold

The best way to get rid of a cold is to give it to someone else.

Friday

I have pity for the man that wishes for everyday to be Friday and gets his wish.

Pineapple

Why eat a grape when you can eat a pineapple?

September Photo - Potala and Incense

Potala and Incense

September Photo - Everest

Everest

September Photo - Base Camp

Base Camp

The Last 24 hours in China (Part 3)

We passed teenage girl sitting on the sidewalk. What she was doing there I have no idea. We just kept walking. We walked underneath a dark underpass with a man sleeping in his van. We made a point to walk near traffic so we could be seen. We walked past cars parked on the entrance ramp to the airport. Drivers standing next to there parked cars stared at us. We kept walking. A man in a bright orange suit with a broom stared us with a baffled look upon his face as we walked up the entrance ramp to the airport. I said, “Ne how (hello in Chinese),” and he responded something in Chinese but we continued to walk right past him. We passed more parked cars and drivers sleeping or talking on their cell phones. We were almost there. We finally reached the door to the terminal with a sigh of relief but we soon realized the door wouldn’t open. The sign said to go to door 6 so our marched continued.

When we reached door six it quickly opened and for the first time in about an hour we felt safe. We found the first seats that we could and sat down. We began to regroup and reassess our situation. Just sit down and rest was our only task.

For the next few hours I mostly tried to sleep. Holly found snacks and water, she sought out information about our flight, and she complained about the taxi service in a letter to the airport.

When 5 o’clock came Holly went to get freshened up and changed her clothes. Upon her return we took the airport shuttle to Terminal 2. From there we went through the tiring process of getting checked in, going through customs and security, finding our gate, and grabbing a bit to eat, and waiting for our flight to board. First, we would fly to Tokyo where we would have a short layover.

As you can imagine it was a long flight, 12 hours back to the U.S. from Tokyo. Holly and I had separate seats so I visited her whenever the person next to me got up. She had a large screen television in front of her that didn’t work so she pretty much stared at a blank screen for the entire flight. We had made it a point to discuss that we would fill out one customs form and go through together at JFK. One thing we were both happy about was abundance of American food on the flight. Sure it was airline food but we ate every bite because we hadn’t had food like it in 20 days.

One thing I noticed on our flight was that one of the American flight attendants that we had was not very understanding of people that couldn’t speak English. This was different from what we experienced when flying in Asia. Flight attendants would look at us and automatically do their best to speak English. The American flight attendant did her best to talk English slowly and clearly to anyone who couldn’t speak English. Now, if some one approached you and starting talking very slowly and clearly in Chinese would you understand? I think not. I guess you could say that we English speakers are very lucky that the rest of the world basically caters to our lack of speaking multiple languages.

Our plane touched down at JFK just around 3 o’clock in the afternoon on August 11th. The most interesting aspect was that we left Tokyo at the same time and day that we arrived in New York. It was like traveling through time.

The plane began to disembark. Finally, when it was my turn I exited the plane, I turned right at the end of the jet bridge, all the meanwhile wondering when I would see Holly. She was seated in front of me so I knew she got off the plane first. I continued walking amidst the herd of people heading for customs. I was shocked that I hadn’t seen Holly by this point. I began winding through the many lanes of the customs carousel just following the people in front of me when finally I said to myself, ‘stop!’

‘Where the hell was Holly?’ I thought. I began peering through the crowd. I couldn’t see her anywhere. ‘How could I have missed her?’ I saw a woman who worked for the airport and I waved her over. I explained that I couldn’t find my wife. She looked at me like I lost my right arm. I explained that we didn’t sit together and that she got off the plane before me. The woman asked for her name and went on the other side of customs to see if Holly was there. She returned without any news of Holly and handed me a blank customs form and recommended that I go through customs. It was then that I finally saw Holly walking toward the customs line. I was baffled. How did she get behind me and so far behind me? We came to the conclusion that there must have been multiple exits or jet bridges from the plane and somehow we missed each other. Thankfully, we were finally back in the U.S. What a relief after the last 48 hours.

The Last 24 hours in China (Part 2)

We made no hesitation about grabbing our belongings and leaving. In the lobby Bimba was checking us out and Nimalah was taking our bags and loading them into the back of the vehicle. Bimba approached and said that we owed 8 Yuan for the water we drank in the room. Holly and I felt that after the fiasco that we just went through with the door the hotel should be willing to waive the fee and we told Bimba that. I mean think about it. The hotel management wasn’t able to get our bags back. Without Bimba’s brave shenanigans our bags would still be locked inside the room. Why should we pay for water when they couldn’t even unlock our door?

We walked with Bimba to the front desk and he explained, we hoped, in Tibetan, what we had just conveyed to him. After a spitter-spatter of words that we couldn’t understand from Bimba there was a slight pause and following was a line of staff all saying ‘sorry.’

Our faces lit up. Apparently, it was that easy. No arguing. No second-guessing. The hotel staff apologized and we were on our way to the airport. Another guide joined us on the journey to the airport. Nimalah was picking up another group at the airport so the guide that he would be working with came along.

At the airport Bimba and Nimalah helped us with our baggage and got us checked in. Then we said our goodbyes and passed over our tip money for them, 500 Yuan (about $75) for Nimalah and 600 for Bimba. Bimba got a little extra because he dangled on the side of the hotel four floors above the ground.

We spent some uneventful time at the airport and then flew to Chengdu where we had an hour layover before flying to Beijing. By the time we reached Beijing it was after 11:00 at night. We were hoping to see some indication that a shuttle was waiting to take us to our hotel but no such luck. Holly had emailed our Beijing hotel while in Tibet and asked them if they would pick us up but we didn’t receive a response in time. Regretfully, we would take a taxi and furthermore, we would be waiting in line for awhile before getting one.

When it was finally our turn we hopped into a taxi and showed him the address. He looked confused, he called the number on the paper, he showed the paper to another man, he called again, he put his flashers on, got out of the car, and showed the paper to someone else. Putting these events together we concluded that our driver had no idea where our hotel was. Another taxi cab driver approached our vehicle that could speak English. He told us that he would bring us because he knew where the hotel was. We were a little nervous about this. Something just didn’t feel right about it. We realized that the drivers wanted to switch patrons and we reluctantly switched. We heaved our bags out of one trunk and into another. When we sat down in the back of the next cab we checked the meter and it said 11.00. Wondering why it already said 11.00 Yuan, we asked him to reset it. After unsuccessfully trying to explain to us why the meter already said 11.00 he refused to reset it. That was enough grounds for us to leave to taxi. We told him to open the trunk. He became very agitated and an argument ensued. After some harsh words he reluctantly opened the trunk and we heaved our bags out of the trunk and walked away. The driver being very upset followed us. We walked right up to one of the airport attendants. The driver shouted and yelled at the attendant and when he was finished she looked at us very calmly and asked us in English what had happened. We explained and she said that we could get another taxi. Our former driver went on to take another patron and we heaved our bags into yet another trunk.

We gave our hotel booking slip to the driver. He looked at the address, he looked at the phone number, he called, he hung up, he called again, and he shrugged his shoulders. Based upon his body language we could tell he had no idea where to take us. So out of the taxi we went and heaved our luggage out of yet another trunk. We were very angry at this point. It was almost midnight and we had an early morning flight back to the states. All we wanted was for this night to end.

Another taxi driver saw our agitation and he said questioningly in English, “Taxi?” We rambled on about how he would be the fourth taxi and did he think he could really bring us to our hotel. After three other taxi’s we had our doubts. He assured us that he could so in our bags went into the trunk and into the back seat we went. Now, we were finally leaving the airport. We were amazed. We thought for a second we might actually make it to our hotel. Quickly, our hopes and dreams of a good night sleep came crashing down. The meter on the dashboard said 0.00. I asked him to turn on the meter and he refused. I told him to turn on the meter and he said, “No meter, 70 Yuan.” I knew that was too much so I told him we didn’t have that money and to put the meter on. What he was trying to do was make us pay more than what the ride would really cost. An argument ensued and I yelled for him to pull over and let us out. Thankfully he pulled over and now we yelled for him to open the trunk. He yelled, “You pay me!” We yelled back, “No! The meter says zero.” He angrily got out of the car and we did as well. He opened the trunk and we quickly grabbed our things. After some more harsh words, the taxi cab sped away and we were left standing on the side of the road in Beijing at midnight.

There wasn’t much we could do not to panic. There were some buses pulled over on the side of the road so we went for them. The drivers inside were trying to sleep and we tried to ask one for help but he waved his head and hands in a manner that said, ‘no.’ It was then we stopped and looked at each other. I said, “Alright let’s think about this for a moment. What are our options?” Holly had a plan. “Let’s walk back to the airport. Stay there tonight and catch our flight tomorrow morning.” I thought it was a great idea. I pretty much had no clue as to how to handle the situation. We began the walk back to the airport. We realized that a five minute drive turns out to be a long walk especially when carrying forty pounds on your back. Walking the streets of a far away country at midnight didn’t help our nerves either.

To Be Continued Next Week

The Last 24 Hours in China

It was the morning of August 10th. Holly and I had slept like rocks the night before. We had nothing planned in the morning and ended up sleeping in and simply relaxing. For fear of missing breakfast we got out of bed and headed downstairs to the dinning hall. Breakfast was pretty uneventful. After 19 days of almost the same thing for breakfast we were ready for a change.

Upon return to our room, we took showers, repacked our suitcases to insure our souvenirs were protected. We made an attempt at heading out to the markets but the moment we stepped out from the lobby we realized it was raining. With no interest in getting wet, we headed back to our room. We saw Bimba and Nimalah in the lobby. We were surprised to see them so early. It was 11o’clock and we weren’t due to see them until 12:30. When we reached our room and inserted the card into our door, the light on the doorknob turned red. After many attempts we were unsuccessful in entering our room. I know what you’re thinking we probably just weren’t using the card properly. I mean they are so finicky. We did, however, use the card to get into our room the night before multiple times without a problem and we had been at this hotel before for several nights and used the card without a problem.

The first thing that Holly thought was that the hotel discontinued access since we were checking out in an hour. We went to the lobby, inquired and they told us that the card was working. We took the elevator back up to the 4th floor and attempted our card again without any results. Getting angry at this point we marched back down to the lobby, using the elevator of course and explained to them once again that the card did not work. They told us they would send someone up.

Now, after multiple people and multiple cards and keys were attempted the door still remained locked with all of our luggage inside. I went downstairs and out to the street to go to an ATM so that I could tip our guide and driver, on my way out I saw Bimba again and I told him about the unopened door.

When I arrived back at the hotel a few minutes later Bimba and I went upstairs to check on the situation; still no progress. A man with a toolbox arrived and a locksmith was also called but Bimba decided to take matters into his own hands. There were a group of people all talking in Tibetan so we had no idea really what was going on. The management keyed into the rooms next to ours and they began to scope things out. Based on body language and a rope we realized that Bimba was going to try and exit out a window, remember now we’re on the 4th floor, and climb onto the windowsill and cross over to our room. We tried endlessly to deter Bimba from doing this but he moved fast and before we knew it he had popped in one room and out another; only he popped out the wrong room. Yes, that’s right he had gone out on to the windowsill four floors high and came back in the wrong room. Without skipping a beat he was back out on the windowsill and I watched backwards through the peephole of our room that he was entering our window from the outside. The door opened and there Bimba stood with a big grin on his face.

To Be Continued Next Week.

Europe – Munchen, Germany

I decided I needed to chill out for a day so I went to a cigar shop and found out that they sold Cubans. I picked one up and headed for The English Gardens. At one of the entrances to the park there was a tunnel underneath the road. Water was gushing into the park from the tunnel and created a river that flowed through the park. Rapids formed right near the tunnel and people were surfing them. I sat down, smoked my cigar and watched for about an hour. Then I walked around the gardens. People were sunbathing, swimming in the river, walking, and cycling. Some people were even sunbathing in the nude. They were mostly old fat men though.

I headed back to the hostel after picking up some more Cuban cigars to bring back home. Back at the hostel I dosed off for a bit and then smoked another cigar. In the evening, my roommates and I headed out for the beer garden. Afterwards we went in search of a bar. After awhile of not finding one and getting poured on we finally found a bar which was having a Latino night. Latino night in Germany; never thought I would partake in something like that. We enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

August Photo - Eagle Lake

Eagle Lake

August Photo - Hand in Hand

Hand in Hand

August Photo - Green Hills

Green Hills

Day 1 – New Zealand

We arrived in Auckland between 5 and 6 in the morning. Since it was early and Escape camper van rentals didn’t open until 8, we decided to hang around the airport until 7. Then we took the Airbus into the city center.

It’s hard to imagine losing an entire day traveling. We left one location on July 1st and arrived at another on July 3rd. People have tried to explain how you actually lose a day but I don’t think you fully understand it until you are a part of it.

We left San Francisco around 9 P.M. on the 1st so it was just getting dark. I thought we would follow the rotation of the Earth and it would be light out while flying but I was wrong. The plane never actually catches up with the Sun. In fact the rotation happens much faster than the plane travels. As the plane travels in the shadow of darkness, the rotation of the Earth is causing the Sun to move around the Earth. Eventually, the Sun comes up behind you. We stayed in perpetual darkness while flying. When we landed it was morning and the Sun caught up to us a few hours later. It was now the morning of July 3rd. What happened to the 2nd? It was lost forever.

We arrived in Auckland center around 8. I checked a map on the bus and realized that Escape van rentals was up the road a few blocks. We found that the gate was locked and there was a sign on the side of the building. It said if the building was unoccupied to call a number. We did and apparently they didn’t open until 8:30. After waiting for a few minutes someone arrived. We placed our bags in the office and the man told us it would be “a little while” before the owner was there to finalize the paperwork. After we inquired what “a little while” was we went for breakfast up the street and came back about 45 minutes later.

The owner gave us the “insurance-extra-charge” spiel and we declined. We would take a gamble and it would be a big scary gamble since we would have to train ourselves to drive on the left hand side of the road.

We inspected the vehicle and Andrew, the owner, explained everything about the vehicle. Soon we were on our way but not without taking the emergency brake off. Oops.

It was difficult to get used to driving, first of all, because I was on the right side of the vehicle. I turned the windshield wipers on at least five times instead of the blinker. The goal was to drive straight and follow the car in front of me. It was easy to get to the highway: two lefts and straight. Then I had to get used to being in the correct part of the lane because I was positioned on the right side of the vehicle. I now had to look to my left to see in my rearview mirror and realized I had a large blind spot on the left side of the vehicle. It was definitely difficult to get used to. I developed a phrase to help me making proper turns: little left, big right. When turning left it is a small radius turn and when turning right it is a large radius turn.

We stopped for gas and that was an event in itself. We could not figure out how to use the gas pump. Some nice Kiwi asked us if we needed help and gave us some. The gas was $2.12 a liter, which basically meant $8 a gallon. $95 later our tank was full and we were back on the highway.

Our destination was only about a half hour from Auckland; a half hour of driving up hill, downhill, through neighborhoods, overlooking beaches, and a combination of windy and straight roads, all while thinking that oncoming traffic is on my right and the vehicles behind me were just to close. After a half hour of driving my head was spinning. It was way too much stimulation for whatever day it was. We parked our camper van at a camping site right in front of the beach. We couldn’t have asked for a better spot, except for the ground being wet. It was quite slippery.

We hung out for a bit, Holly took a shower and afterwards mentioned how frighteningly cold the water was. I decided then that I would not be taking a shower. We decided to venture out in search of a supermarket. Apparently, I hadn’t had enough driving yet.

We thought we would be adventurous and get some chicken to cook up. We battled wind and rain while cooking on our propane burner. We wound up having fully cooked teriyaki chicken yet lukewarm and covered in dirt because Escape rentals never cleaned the pan. Mmmm. With rain sporadic for the rest of the evening we hung around inside of our van playing cards and making up games. We went to bed at a nice round hour of 8.

Setting Free Your Mind

Once you realize that what you really want is what you already have, you will be able set your mind at ease.

Breaking and Entering (excerpt 3)

I leaned my head back, turned my body to go back down the hallway and carefully began making my steps toward the stairwell. As I walked I thought to myself, what will I take… as a memento of this occasion? Something that will be missed but not to noticeable. I reached the top of the stairs and looked into the living room. I went to the lamp stand with the picture on it. There was one coaster on the table as well. I looked for the matching set of coasters and clear across the room there they were all stacked up nice and neatly on the other lamp stand. I bent over and picked up the single coaster and placed it in my back pocket. Perfect. Surely she would notice that a coaster was missing but she simple could get another one from the other side of the room. She might ponder about that for a moment.

Back at the top of the stairs, I slipped my way down to the basement. I was much darker down there so I had to carefully take my path from before so as to bump over one of the boxes. I approached the back door, carefully opened it without the slightest sound. I turned the knob to lock the door, passed through the door way, turned to face the door and gently closed the door shut. I checked that the door was locked. I turned and walked toward the shed. I opened the door, stepped inside, and closed the door behind me. I smoothly placed the key back exactly where it was, slipped out the doorway and latched the door shut. I walked straight out the driveway and turned left when I hit the road. Again, not a soul around, not a light, or car, no one knew what I had just done.

Now, what I believed to be my most difficult task, getting back into my bedroom window. I just needed a boost or something to stand on. But I couldn’t leave something at the bottom of my window until morning, surely someone, probably my Dad, would notice it. I stood in the backyard staring at my bedroom. I couldn’t help but think, shit, I really should have thought about this before I jumped out of the window. All I needed was a foot maybe two to get back into my bedroom. I thought of plenty of things to use, a patio chair, my sisters plastic slide, my Mom’s gardening bucket but I couldn’t keep any of it right outside by bedroom window. Then I saw it, the garden hose. My Mom had watered the flowers yesterday afternoon and was moving the reel all around the house. No one would probably notice if the garden hose was moved so picked up the reel and moved it a few feet closer to my window. I stood on top, put my hands on the window sill and jumped up. It was just enough height to get in. I would have to come up with a better plan in the future. Once inside I closed the window partially, took off my shoes, placed them in the closet, took the coaster out of my back pocket, placed it in my desk drawer, stripped off my tight jeans and t-shirt, removed my bracelets, and moved slowly into bed. I laid atop the sheets face up with my hands behind my head. I smiled and thought to myself, what a spectacular night.

Breaking and Entering (excerpt 2)

This was awesome! The lights from the street provided a hint of glow throughout the house. I could make out some of the tiniest details. I could see magazines laid out on the coffee table and a remote for the television as well. I saw a picture frame standing up on the lamp stand, and a snow globe on the T.V. stand. Candles sat atop another lamp stand. I smile came over my face. This was awesome!

I continued to sit perfectly content. The couch was soft and moderately worn from years of use. I leaned back, put my hands behind my head and gently put my feet up onto the wooden coffee table. I twitched; the thought to lean forward and pick up a magazine popped into mind but the thought vanished more quickly than it had arrived. I was certain that first, the magazine wouldn’t be worth reading and second, that the dim light would not be enough to read comfortably. The sound of silence was amazing. I thrived in it. I could have stayed there all night but I felt the urge to explore more.

I slowly lifted my feet off the coffee table. Leaned forward and stood up straight. I turned and walked right toward the T.V., I turned again and walked straight for the dinning room. A tea set lay atop the table and placemats were set in front of the four seats. There was a hutch in the corner with plates neatly displayed behind glass doors.

I turned to my left and peered into the kitchen. There was a small round table with a red checker board table cloth pushed to one side of the room. There was a candle and a long thin lighter on the table. I thought about lighting the candle, not so the house would burn down. I didn’t want that to happen. What I wanted was Ann to wake up in the morning and be startled by the lit candle. I could hear her thoughts; did I leave the candle burning last night? Then she would quickly blow out the candle as to try and erase the event. But, I didn’t want to take the chance of something bad happening so I turned around to peer at the rest of the kitchen.

The curtains in the window above the sink matched the table cloth. I could see wooden cut outs of chickens nailed to the wall underneath the cabinets. The dishtowels hanging over the railing on the stove had the same matching chickens. I walked through the doorway to the kitchen and now faced the stairs. I turned right and looked straight down the hallway. The hallway seemed a mile long. I took one step, and another, and another. I continued making my quiet steps down the hallway. I passed the bathroom on the right, a bedroom on the left and suddenly there was a creak in the floor board. I stopped quickly, waited, and listened. I sensed no other disruption within the house. I noted the position of the creaky board so as to not step there again on my return. I continued and shortly approached the end of the hallway. There were two bedrooms at the end of the hall. The one on the right would be Ann’s bedroom. I stopped for a moment and listened. I could her heavy breathing indicating sleep. I leaned my head forward and eyed into her bedroom. I could barely see her amidst the sheets and blankets but I could tell that her face was turned in my direction. I smiled. All she had to do was open her eyes and she would have seen me. My smile grew larger.

Breaking and Entering (excerpt 1)

I was sixteen years old when I broke into my first house. I don’t know where the desire came from. I come from a good home, loving parents, a good neighborhood but for some reason I was driven to break into a house. It wasn’t even about what I could possibly steal. It was the thrill of being in a house, when someone was home.

It was a small ranch just a few houses down from my own home. The woman, Ann, who lived there was a 74 year old widow. I know, I know, what a coward for breaking into an old lady’s house. Well, because I had so little experience in breaking and entering I thought it would be best to start out on an easier target. Call me a jerk, I guess.

I waited until 2 A.M. I was still dressed in the clothes that I had worn to school that day. I wore skinny jeans and a black Led Zeppelin t-shirt. I had six or so wrist bands on my right arm: various strings ranging in colors, black leather with metal knobs, and various colored stretchy bands. My jet black hair was neatly spiked into a short Mohawk. I slipped on my black etnies shoes, slide open my bedroom window, swung my legs out the window, and hopped out. Getting out was the easy part, getting back in usually required a boost from a friend but that wouldn’t be happening tonight. I’d figure out a way back in later.

I casually walked down the dimly lit street. There wasn’t a single light on in any of the houses I passed. Not a single car drove by. I was confident not a soul knew where I was or what I was about to do. I turned down the driveway of 16 Birch Street and calmly walked to the back of the house. The property sloped downward so the ranch had a walk out basement. I used to mow the lawn for Ann and knew there was a hidden key in the shed near the gas can. It was pitch dark so I hoped that everything in the shed was still in the same place as when I mowed the lawn for her. I quietly twisted the knob and swung the latch open. I slowly opened the shed door, stepped inside and closed the door behind me. I then crouched down so that I wouldn’t bump into anything. I moved with my hands first and moved left to the front corner of the shed. My hands felt plastic, the gas can! I slide my hand to the shed’s wood frame and…jackpot, the key. I slithered backwards to the door entrance and slipped out. I would be putting the key back later so I left the latch open after I closed the door.

I walked over to the back door, slipped the key into the hole, and quietly turned the knob. I was in, so easy. I pushed the door to close it but left it just slightly ajar. The house was dark and I had to go from my memory on how to get around the house. I walked slowly and allowed my eyes to pick out the faintest shapes within the room. The room was mostly boxes. I made out an old ironing board standing up against the wall. I made my way through the basement being careful not to bump into anything. I stepped gently over to the stairs and took each carpeted stair with care. Once on the landing I turned and looked up and could see the main floor of the house. I continued my ascension. At the top of the stairs the kitchen was straight ahead, to my left was the hallway to the three bedrooms and my right was the living room. I turned right taking each step with care. I stepped over to the couch and slowly, carefully sat down. I stopped, sat for a moment and took in my surroundings.

July Photo - Big Sky

Big Sky

July Photo - Off Duty

Off Duty

July Photo - Stillwater

Stillwater

An excerpt from Modern Genocide

The Second Civil War of the United States had just ended. As one might imagine tensions were still extremely high. The country was divided in two and the line was not easy to draw. The now separate countries would be called East and West America. The West was dramatically larger than the East. The line separated Georgia from Alabama, Tennessee from Arkansas, followed the Mississippi river and ultimately divided Minnesota to the West and Wisconsin to the East. The East would have control over the Great Lakes and the East Coast. The West would have the West Coast, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. The last remaining piece, Florida, was still under harsh debate, both sides wanting to have complete control over their coast line.

Texas had long been seceded from the U.S. before the Second Civil War broke out. Texas supported the West mostly due to its proximity and not necessarily due to Western viewpoints. Texas merely didn’t want to form enemies with neighboring states. Since its departure from the U.S., Texas had grown to be a military powerhouse. Never large enough to challenge the United States by itself, Texas quickly took the opportunity to form allies with the West and fight against the “Old U.S.” as the West called them. In the end, Texas power was what ultimately caused the East to stand down.

Due to their locations, Hawaii and Alaska became part of the West. Puerto Rico, which had become a state after Texas seceded, would also become part of the West, despite its extremely vulnerable location in the East.

Families were divided, some favoring the “Old U.S.” mentality, a complacent viewpoint of the nation’s position in the world, held by the East and the belief of Westerners that drastic change was necessary to become a dominating influential country within the world. The majority of Montana residents favored Eastern view points but were unfortunately completely surrounded by Western states and in no way would be able to survive within the West; without fight many Montana residents fled to the East. Proud Western citizens gladly commandeered the land of Montana. A number of California residents were forced to leave, unwilling to speak the officially Western language, Spanish. Of course there were many people living within either side that did not share the same viewpoint of their newly formed country. They either moved or kept their mouth shut.

After the lines had been drawn and migrations had commenced the ultimate decision came through to the West’s dismay, the East would take hold of Florida. Outrage poured over the West. They had won the war but now lost the crucial piece to their coast line. Some residents were even angrier now than before the war began. They gathered up their arms and were prepared to travel to the panhandle to take Florida as the entrance way to the West. However, despite the anger not much could be done at that point. Under orders of the newly established government the military would not attack and Western rebels alone would not be enough to take Florida. The residents would have to sit back and take the bitter loss of Florida. Even though the war was over, the West would not rest until Florida was theirs.

The Best Day of the Year

The best day of the year is not the last day of school; it’s the first day of summer.

June Marathon

For teachers, June is the last mile of a marathon.

Vacation

Live like you're on vacation.

June Photo - Photo Phinish

Photo Phinish

June Photo - Peterson Park

Peterson Park

June Photo - Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse