Sep 30, 2011

I was in for the same art teacher that I spoke of yesterday and continued with their self-portrait assignments in some of the classes and had them to a one-point perspective exercise in another class. I was able to actually help some of the students with their work. Some of them just didn't get it, which I understand. The day started to drag toward the end and got very repetitive.

I met Joanna at the course in Vineland and played a round. We played some of the long tees to make it a little more interesting. They changed a few of the holes up and took out the old number 9, where I got my first ace. Those days are over anyway. I had some good shots here and there.

We met Chuck at Wildflower for dinner. I finally tried their seitan cheesesteak. It was pretty good. It tasted more like a hot turkey sandwich with the sauce on it. Chuck got a delicious looking peanut butter cake thing. Oh, and we tried the sweet potato salad which was great.

After I showered I went up to Rowan with Chuck and we got down to business on our editing. We tried our best to recreate the chops we had made the other day. We got done things pretty quickly and into new territory. We made some minor detail cuts to keep the story moving and then got into the interview. It all went fairly smoothly and we dropped some things we really liked, but I think it made it better overall.

Here's the finished product we edited down to. We cut it down from an hour or more of footage to eleven minutes. We were both pretty happy with the final product after watching it through a few times. We exported the video from the program we edited with and then uploaded to YouTube, which took a long time. We sat and listened to a Stuff You Should Know podcast as we waited. As it turned out, the video cut off a few minutes before the end so we had to take it down and start the upload over with a complete video.

Since that happened we went to the Student Center and grabbed some free pasta from After Hours, talked to Joanna for a few minutes and then headed home to upload overnight.

Sep 29, 2011

I covered meeting again at Lakeside this time, having another day of mild work and a lot of sitting around. I was in several periods for the new art teacher, who I spoke with for a while and she offered me her job for tomorrow so that paid off. Not a bad day.

I went to the bank after work with my two giant things of coins, cashing them in for an impressive amount of money. I'd been saving them for a long time for a day just like now when I really need the money.

I met Ryan at the gym for our arms workout. I got a really bad pain when I was doing pull-ups so I'm hoping that goes away or I figure out how to fix it.

Sep 28, 2011

I worked for Erika's music class today and had a pretty easy, if very long, day. The first class watched Phantom of the Opera but didn't really. The other classes had work to do but finished quickly or didn't want to do it. They weren't really a problem, but the day dragged on forever. I met up with Diana after work to talk about the website for the basket business and go over ideas I had.

Chuck and I went to Westby and did some more editing work, which was promptly deleted when I accidentally unplugged the computer. Oops. Well, we had an idea of where we wanted to go with the cuts now. We headed up to the Abbaye for the Blue Point "U Buy the Glass" night. I started with the Blue Point Pumpkin... or was it the Toasted Lager? Either way, they were both quite good.

We got some vegan wings and continued refilling our glasses as we liked. The Left Hand Black Jack Porter was my favorite of the evening. It was added to the roster since Left Hand donated glasses to be sold that night. It was delicious and not too heavy. We had a good time as I took photos for a new blog I'm starting to log and review beers and bars: Beer Me That Blog! Check back soon for updates.

After the two hours went way too quickly, we hung out for a bit and milked the last beers we had filled a little after the buzzer (shhhh!) As always, a wonderful time was had at The Abbaye. Never a hard time getting to sleep after an evening there either.

Sep 27, 2011

I worked in a resource class at Memorial during the day, meaning I had very small classes besides the inclusion class I had, where we watched the Disney Pocahontas. Normally that would be okay, but I was tired and it was making me sleepy. Not a bad day there.

I covered the CST meeting at Alternative school right after my day job, which consisted of me sitting there for three hours waiting until the teacher I was covering had her meeting. It turned out she had only one student all day whom she works with one on one. This was actually a good thing and helped pass the rest of the night quickly. I went home and watched some thing and had good food, trying not to nap so I wouldn't be up all night. I went for a run later listening to the new New Found Glory album. It's great and that got me ready to go to bed.

Sep 26, 2011

I subbed for an English teacher at the Senior High, where I found the most meticulously-detailed plans I've ever encountered. It was all written in a binder and in plastic sleeves with the work for each class in its respective section as well as seating charts, attendance, and an intricate description of the workings of the day. The classes were really good as well. I managed to finish my book. It was very interesting and well-written. It's called "Under the Banner of Heaven." Check it out.

I went to the gym early and did some laps outside on the track until Ryan got there and we went inside to do our leg/dead lift workout. This track is too small and it gets repetitive, seeming like I'm not going anywhere at all.

Alex and I headed up to the Troc, getting inside just before Switchfoot started. The song they opened with was really good, but after that it just became unexceptional. They weren't really bad just not interesting to me. We did meet up with Jess and Jen in the back of the crowd though.

We made our way to the front and then Anberlin came on playing a bunch of great songs. They played a lot from Cities and Never Take Friendship Personal. I was happy to hear "The Resistance" because it's been in my head for some reason.

They slowed it down in the middle of the set and played a few tunes acoustic-style. I think it went on a little too long actually. Some of those songs I'd much rather hear loud. They ended with the usual mix of "Feel Good Drag" then a brief walk off stage, coming back to play the dramatic "fin*."

The crowd was good and a lot more active than I expected considering the last time I saw them at the TLA. I'm glad I ended up going. Lots of water on the way home and then trying to get to sleep.

Sep 25, 2011

Instead of going to the gym in the morning I went for a run along the river and came back home to do exercises. I picked up Joanna and we went to Sedgley to play a round. We play twelve or so holes to avoid people on the course. It was good, but I didn't feel like waiting for big groups to finish.

We went over to The Abbaye where we dropped off Chuck for Pepe's going away party. It was a small-ish gathering of friends and family. He brought the baby with him too. He greeted me by smelling my armpit to see if I smelled bad after playing disc golf. I didn't. We hung out, had a red bean burger after waiting for them to make a new batch. It's still really good.

We had a few drinks and finished our food then bid Pep farewell on his move to Miami. It was a good time after all. When I got home I went for a walk and listened to Jack's Mannequin, getting excited for the new album and trying to get tired enough for bed.

Sep 24, 2011

I had some energy in the morning so I went to the trail for a run. I tried to keep a slow pace so I could run longer, but I have a hard time doing that and ended up going the same distance as usual. Gotta work on it.

I went to Rowan to spend the afternoon working on my video for Sculptors of Philadelphia. I was there for a few hours cutting up video and learning how to transition frames. I was pretty happy with my edit so then I had to render and export it. Glad Josh was there to give me a hand. I shipped it off for review and was happy to be done.

Joanna, Chuck and myself met Jeff up at his place and decided to go to a place nearby called The Green House, a vegetarian Asian restaurant. I got barbecue seitan cuts that were awesome. Everyone's food was really good. We laughed a lot and almost everyone came close to spitting out their water or food at one point.

There was a little street festival thing going on so we went to check out the band playing. I'm pretty sure my philosophy professor was drumming. The band was pretty good until they started doing slow covers of punk songs. That's when we decided to leave.

We got some beers and came back to Jeff's to drink them and play Friends Scene It. We got a Sam Adams Autumn sampler pack so we had some really good beers, like the Pumpkin Ale that I'd never had. The game was fun; Chuck won! Crazy. After that we just talked and Jeff tried to bench press Chuck. He couldn't. Then I tried to bench press Jeff. I couldn't.

We had a really good time hanging out so I'm glad we skipped The Blanks. I was a little drunk when we got back. I was feeling good.

Sep 23, 2011

I substituted a resource math class at Memorial. It was a good class. They did worksheets that took them most of the class time to do. One of the worksheets had this joke on it so I sat there and solved the problems to the get the answer. I wanted the punchline to be "mean." Average man.. mean.. right? No, it was "With his hands." That's just awful. It's not even a math joke!

I had a history class at Alternative school after my day job. The students were a little out of control and I had to send some kids out. They had plenty of work to do but they didn't want to do it. Very frustrating.

When I got home I was beat and ready to just lie down and fall asleep. I stayed up for a while watching shows but passed out quickly after.

Sep 22, 2011

I had a Resource Room class at the Senior High that turned out to be pretty easy. I had some work to do with the students so it made the time pass more quickly. Most of them actually did their work and I think I helped some of them understand the concepts better.

Later in the evening I went for a run at South Vineland with Alex. We just ran in opposite directions and then took a walk around to cool down after. I'm waiting for this tree to be down one day when I get to this part.

I went to the gym with Ryan later and worked on arms and upper body stuff. This TRX thing is bolted into the wall and every time we do rows on it the wall creeks. Not making me feel safe.

I came home and rested my sore body in front of the computer for a few hours watching all of the new episodes of shows that are finally back.

Sep 21, 2011

I covered Child Study Team meetings at Rieck Avenue School and didn't do much at all. I only covered about an hour's worth of classes because the meetings were canceled or the teacher didn't have a class at the time I needed to cover. Working with the couple of kids in the class I did cover was fun though.

After work I went for a run at South Vineland. I took a couple of laps around the pond and then walked a lap with my camera to get some shots.

We went to the quiz later and our DJ wasn't there so Ashley did the questions. We thought the other guy was bad before tonight. We won the game after naming all of the Olympians. The gods, that is. We did really well on that round.

I've gotten to a point where I just get tired early now so I don't have to force myself to go to bed early. Is that good?

Sep 20, 2011

I had the same business class at the Senior High again, and they did mostly the same work from their books again except one class that got to watch a video about World War II technologies. I always like watching History Channel stuff in class.

I napped after work and later went for a drive, listening to all three Saves the Day albums in the Daybreak trilogy since the new album is finally out. I just felt like wandering and thinking. I went to the park and walked around the trail a lot of times listening to music.

I shot some photos of the fog rolling in over the soccer fields. It looked a lot cooler in person than any of my shots.

After doing a lot of talking, I headed home.

Sep 19, 2011

I had an English class at Memorial today. It was three straight blocks of classes. They had to read a story and answer questions about it. Pretty straightforward. They did what they had to and I continued reading my book. It was a nice quick day and I got to leave early.

After having something to eat I went to Diana's to shoot basket for the company her and her mom started called Just For You Baskets. I shot several shots of each basket and some details to put up on the forthcoming website. There are some really cool designs they have.

Diana and I headed up to the Abbaye after I finished shooting so she could check out the place I'm always talking about. I only had a couple beers (one of which was a delicious porter) and got the meatball sandwich of course. She was suitably impressed with the bar. I'd like to be there for happy hour more often.

I met Ryan at the gym later where we got a free lesson from a personal trainer showing us how to improve our stretch for one of the exercises we were working on. She was really friendly without introducing herself at first, which was confusing. But now we have an extra step in one of our circuits.

Sep 18, 2011

Ryan and I got to the gym in the early afternoon for our third day of working out, this time working on pull-ups and related exercises. I can't do pull-ups. Gotta work on that a lot.

After showering and having something to eat I met Chuck to do some editing. We started cutting up the files further and moving them around to make a more coherent story out of our many minutes of video.

After editing for a while I went to Joanna's and we headed up to Philly, drove around for quite a while looking for parking and then went to Blackbird Pizzeria for foods. I got the vegan cheesesteak, which was really good. I always want to get the BBQ thing again. Next time.

We headed over to the TLA for night two of the discography tour for Motion City Soundtrack. They came out and played their third album, Even If It Kills Me. I personally love this album. There are some songs on there that are my favorites of theirs so I have a soft spot. It was great seeing some of those songs live. Especially "The Conversation."

My Dinosaur Life was up next after the little break and that is another killer record that is high energy. All of those songs are fun live and it, and therefore the show, ends with "The Weakends" which is my favorite song on the album and one of my favorite songs of theirs ever. I think this show was the better of the two. Lots of fun and great songs that I love.

The drive home felt long after a long weekend of back and forth to Philly/Camden. I tried to get to bed because I knew I had to be up early.