Wow, it's been way too long since my last post! 
Sorry everybody - I've had a lot going on the last few weeks, including overtime at work, a very sick uncle in ICU with fluid on his lungs, and I've been trying to purposely trying to avoid my computer at home because I spend so much time sitting in front of one at work and...
Read More
Sorry everybody - I've had a lot going on the last few weeks, including overtime at work, a very sick uncle in ICU with fluid on his lungs, and I've been trying to purposely trying to avoid my computer at home because I spend so much time sitting in front of one at work and... Read More
Fun in the trenches, Volume II:
* The prompt that TAKS is using for the 7th-grade essays I'm grading is (I'm paraphrasing) "Discuss a time that you thought you were right about something." Some of the students have used the prompt in very creative ways. Many, for example, have chosen to discuss high-stakes bets that they made on the Superbowl (or other sporting events). With...
Read More
* The prompt that TAKS is using for the 7th-grade essays I'm grading is (I'm paraphrasing) "Discuss a time that you thought you were right about something." Some of the students have used the prompt in very creative ways. Many, for example, have chosen to discuss high-stakes bets that they made on the Superbowl (or other sporting events). With...
Read More
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
threestares:
i was completely traumatized by 'planet of the apes' the first (and only) time i saw it.
signalnoise:
Wow. When you tell me that, I can't help but wonder if the problem isn't more "professionalization" (broadly speaking) than writing ability. As in, no one has really told these kids how to write an essay, and not so much that they can't.
Fun in the trenches, Volume I:
* Today I graded a paper with large sections written in l33tsp3ak.
* OMG, I LOL every time I see a paper with lots of texting abbreviations in it. I even occasionally ROFLMAO, shortly before saying WTF.
* Most of the essays I've graded thus far read like scripts for really bad episodes of Kids Inc. or Saved by...
Read More
* Today I graded a paper with large sections written in l33tsp3ak.
* OMG, I LOL every time I see a paper with lots of texting abbreviations in it. I even occasionally ROFLMAO, shortly before saying WTF.
* Most of the essays I've graded thus far read like scripts for really bad episodes of Kids Inc. or Saved by...
Read More
hunkpapa:
yeah, I remember that. the things you see these drivers walk away from are staggering sometimes. I liked Formula 1 a lot better in those days. it could just be that I pay it less attention now anyway, and feel less involved because I'm less familiar with the drivers and so on. but I loved that era. do you watch it yourself, or was that just a random clip you've seen?
has Alan Moore seen that first clip? I fear it might make him angry!
t3xtsp3@k winds me up. even in text messages!
has Alan Moore seen that first clip? I fear it might make him angry!
t3xtsp3@k winds me up. even in text messages!
signalnoise:
Thanks for the kind words.
Can I say: this is a terrifying post. "LOL" - fo'reals?
Can I say: this is a terrifying post. "LOL" - fo'reals?
Hello peoples,
I sat down tonight fully intending to go through My SG (it's mine! you can't have it!) and see what you, my dear friends, have been up to. Unfortunately, after a long week of grading papers and extreme sleep deprivation, I have no energy. So I'll just leave you all with a promise to update over the weekend, and one simple, heartfelt request:...
Read More
I sat down tonight fully intending to go through My SG (it's mine! you can't have it!) and see what you, my dear friends, have been up to. Unfortunately, after a long week of grading papers and extreme sleep deprivation, I have no energy. So I'll just leave you all with a promise to update over the weekend, and one simple, heartfelt request:...
Read More
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
signalnoise:
I suffer from *terrible* handwriting as well. 
hunkpapa:
heh... or at least made to change 100 sets of tyres before they could go home.
For my Irish brothers and sisters throughout the world, be they Protestants, Catholics, or nonbelievers...
For peace and co-existence in the Six Counties...
For the memory of William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Maud Gonne, John Millington Synge, Sean O'Casey, Michael Collins, Charles Parnell, Eamon de Valera, Johnathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Hugh & Owen Roe O'Neill...
And for the eternal damnation of Oliver...
Read More
For peace and co-existence in the Six Counties...
For the memory of William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Maud Gonne, John Millington Synge, Sean O'Casey, Michael Collins, Charles Parnell, Eamon de Valera, Johnathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Hugh & Owen Roe O'Neill...
And for the eternal damnation of Oliver...
Read More
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
billiejo:
p.s. go cowboys!
signalnoise:
True that (re: taking what you can get). What's funny is that maybe not everyone out there gets that still. 
Brief update: I passed my test. My prize: 8 glorious weeks of temp work with a mediocre pay rate! Yay, me!
But seriously, after being unemployed for quite a while now, it's reassuring to have a job, even if it's just a low-paying temp gig. I'm feeling a sense of unbridled joy that can only be expressed through the lilting voices of 48 or more...
Read More
My prize: 8 glorious weeks of temp work with a mediocre pay rate! Yay, me!
But seriously, after being unemployed for quite a while now, it's reassuring to have a job, even if it's just a low-paying temp gig. I'm feeling a sense of unbridled joy that can only be expressed through the lilting voices of 48 or more...
Read More
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
threestares:
i spent too many years practicing my own version of 'cartesian skepticism.' basically i might as well have crawled under a rock:: skepticism with regard to other minds. there's an ego trip, and i didn't even have to leave the farm.
i remember some moments with excruciating detail, like photos in an album fortunately i generally recall the good times more than the bad, or perhaps i have fewer bad times these days. another interesting reality for me and my mind is that there are huge swaths of my life where i have no recall at all. nada.
i have worked as a temp. it can be a very good thing to have a light at the end of the tunnel that isn't a train approaching but still represents the end of the line.
i remember some moments with excruciating detail, like photos in an album fortunately i generally recall the good times more than the bad, or perhaps i have fewer bad times these days. another interesting reality for me and my mind is that there are huge swaths of my life where i have no recall at all. nada.
i have worked as a temp. it can be a very good thing to have a light at the end of the tunnel that isn't a train approaching but still represents the end of the line.
signalnoise:
Congrats! I mean, mostly I guess right?
Moderately good news on the job front - yesterday I started a temp position that's supposed to last 8 weeks (if I make it through the training - more on that in a moment). I'll be scoring state-administered assessment tests, specifically the TAKS writing test given to Texas 7th-graders. A few observations:
* Judging by some of the papers I've seen thus far, and the...
Read More
* Judging by some of the papers I've seen thus far, and the...
Read More
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
sockpuppet:
Good luck, sir
signalnoise:
Those are good flicks too. I was actually thinking that "Gandhi" is reasonably accurate too.
Just got through watching a movie called The Children of Huang Shi with my nephew on his last night in town before going back to New England. It was a well-made movie, and very entertaining, but I was disappointed to find out that the movie played a bit fast and loose with the history upon which it was supposed to be based. The movie was...
Read More
The movie was... Read More
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
signalnoise:
Yeah, I'm never sure how I feel about changes to "historical movies." I guess they're a bit like nonficiton novels. It seems like the *necessity* of the change is what really matters .... and in this case, it does sound like the changed were not needed.
signalnoise:
Those seem like legit, if exacting, standards for historical films. It does raise the question: are there any movies that you think *do* meet that standard? Just out of curiosity?
Just got back about an hour or so ago from picking up my nephew at the airport. He's in town for the next week visiting from Maine. It's always fun when he's back down here in the Metromess, because he's flamboyantly gay and he scares the living be-Jeezus out of the rest of the family. Especially my tongue-speaking Pentecostal aunt, who avoids being around him...
Read More
Read More
VIEW 13 of 13 COMMENTS
hunkpapa:
not so much that I didn't care for it... more that I just felt a bit overwhelmed. hey, it was late, and it was more wacky than I could handle. it was better second time around!
sockpuppet:
the defining moment of genius, I agree
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
hunkpapa:
yes, I think you're probably right about understanding things better making you more angry about what's been going on. I can see that.
constantine:
Yeah, the set would show up under my pics with a little banner across it saying something like, "Member Review." It will also be on the front page under the SG's MR sets when it first comes out. It'll be like late April when mine goes up. I can give you the exact date and time if you like. I just need to find it.