"I is a lucky dog beacause family take care of I."
The title of this entry is a sentence from a paragraph written by one of my students, typed exactly as it appeared on paper. I'm not sure if said student was trying to cleverly employ a figure of speech or has chronic self-esteem issues, but I prefer to believe the former over the latter. In any event, it was one of the more memorable sentences from the latest batch of writing samples...and just in case anyone needs further proof that my brain is wired strangely, I thought of Poshul from Chrono Cross as I read it.
After a lengthy break that didn't feel quite long enough, the new semester has started. HCC once again offered more teaching hours than I was told I should ever expect to receive, and I once again found myself fighting to make the computer cooperate on my first day of class. Thankfully, getting a key from the tech guru and a tutorial on logging on to and saving my information on the laptop solved all of my technology-related problems, so I'm free to enjoy working with my students. Most of them started off shy, but they're becoming more willing to ask questions and speak in class without being coerced. Some of the more memorable ones include an Iraqi gentleman who told the class how his father and brother both died in an explosion, a well-spoken Hispanic lady who's traveled to Vietnam and Australia and often makes guest appearances on a cooking show, and a Honduran student who asked me if I was single on our third day of class. (When I asked her if she knew someone who was interested, she tried to foist me off on her married friend. Way to stay classy.)
Unfortunately, I have another problem that is not likely to be solved by anything short of a flying car, teleportation magic, or learning how to bend the space-time continuum at will. While two of my classes meet from 8:30-1:15 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, my other two classes are night classes: one meets from 6:30-8:30 Monday and Wednesday, the other from 6:30-9:00 Tuesday and Thursday. The split shifts are a mild annoyance, but I'd have fewer problems coping if my night classes were held at the Northline campus, which is 5 minutes away from my house. Instead, they are held at at the Gulfton campus, which is 20 minutes away from my house under optimal circumstances.
Rush hour traffic in Houston, dear readers, does not qualify as "optimal circumstances" by any stretch of the imagination. Thanks to this traffic and the location of the Gulfton campus, I have to choose between oozing along the highway at speeds that rival the Indianapolis 500 if it were being run by glaciers, or trying to negotiate the gridlock and stoplights on the city streets. I've never managed to make the trip in less than 45 minutes, and my car is about as pleased about this as I am. The money, however, is worth it, and I'm hoping that teaching additional classes keeps me in the eye of my supervisors (one of whom presides over both the Northline and Gulfton campuses) and reflects well on my work ethic when the next full-time faculty position opens up.
In other interesting news, I got to take one final road trip before the semester started. I made my way to Bryan last weekend to meet up with a friend, with whom I ordered some quail at a nice restaurant, explored various pubs and clubs downtown, and watched a one-(wo)man drag show. It's a pretty nice city and one that I'd be willing to visit again, and factors other than my frustration with how long it takes to get anywhere in Houston factor into that decision. Time and finances (i.e., my progress in the hunt for a full-time job) permitting, I may take a few other trips come summer - with friends living on the west coast, the east coast, and the heartland, I have plenty of potential destinations.
With my exams graded and all professional and personal communiqués completed, it is now my intention to play video games until I fall asleep.
After a lengthy break that didn't feel quite long enough, the new semester has started. HCC once again offered more teaching hours than I was told I should ever expect to receive, and I once again found myself fighting to make the computer cooperate on my first day of class. Thankfully, getting a key from the tech guru and a tutorial on logging on to and saving my information on the laptop solved all of my technology-related problems, so I'm free to enjoy working with my students. Most of them started off shy, but they're becoming more willing to ask questions and speak in class without being coerced. Some of the more memorable ones include an Iraqi gentleman who told the class how his father and brother both died in an explosion, a well-spoken Hispanic lady who's traveled to Vietnam and Australia and often makes guest appearances on a cooking show, and a Honduran student who asked me if I was single on our third day of class. (When I asked her if she knew someone who was interested, she tried to foist me off on her married friend. Way to stay classy.)
Unfortunately, I have another problem that is not likely to be solved by anything short of a flying car, teleportation magic, or learning how to bend the space-time continuum at will. While two of my classes meet from 8:30-1:15 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, my other two classes are night classes: one meets from 6:30-8:30 Monday and Wednesday, the other from 6:30-9:00 Tuesday and Thursday. The split shifts are a mild annoyance, but I'd have fewer problems coping if my night classes were held at the Northline campus, which is 5 minutes away from my house. Instead, they are held at at the Gulfton campus, which is 20 minutes away from my house under optimal circumstances.
Rush hour traffic in Houston, dear readers, does not qualify as "optimal circumstances" by any stretch of the imagination. Thanks to this traffic and the location of the Gulfton campus, I have to choose between oozing along the highway at speeds that rival the Indianapolis 500 if it were being run by glaciers, or trying to negotiate the gridlock and stoplights on the city streets. I've never managed to make the trip in less than 45 minutes, and my car is about as pleased about this as I am. The money, however, is worth it, and I'm hoping that teaching additional classes keeps me in the eye of my supervisors (one of whom presides over both the Northline and Gulfton campuses) and reflects well on my work ethic when the next full-time faculty position opens up.
In other interesting news, I got to take one final road trip before the semester started. I made my way to Bryan last weekend to meet up with a friend, with whom I ordered some quail at a nice restaurant, explored various pubs and clubs downtown, and watched a one-(wo)man drag show. It's a pretty nice city and one that I'd be willing to visit again, and factors other than my frustration with how long it takes to get anywhere in Houston factor into that decision. Time and finances (i.e., my progress in the hunt for a full-time job) permitting, I may take a few other trips come summer - with friends living on the west coast, the east coast, and the heartland, I have plenty of potential destinations.
With my exams graded and all professional and personal communiqués completed, it is now my intention to play video games until I fall asleep.