Winding down a bit... yay!
I think all the chaos and activity kind of hit this week, especially Thursday. Kind of dragged this week. Glad I can unwind; if I can make it to Wednesday I'll be good; May, so far, isn't looking quite as insane. Also got some interesting news- more with the next post. If things work out I'll have huge and exciting news.
Weather looks like it is stabilizing. Supposed to be mid-60s and low 70s for the foreseeable future. Lots of rain, but that's not unusual.
Forgot to add something to my experiences last time (I had a feeling I was missing one!)
5. Tried a new video editing technique. Stumbled across a feature where, when I do a cutaway, I can make it so both videos can be seen (a sort of a transparency). I've tried it a couple times with good result.
Also, finished two more books- both for the Book Riot challenge.
The Book Mouse's Book Report:
14. Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson. This one fits the middle school novel requirement for the Book Riot challenge. This is essentially Woodson's autobiography, told in free verse. It's beautifully written. Woodson (After Tupac and D Foster, and many other books) covers her life from a toddler in Ohio and a young child growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, and later in her years split between Greenville and Brooklyn, the latter city which would eventually become her home. She captures a childlike innocence with a story set in the middle of the Civil Rights movement. She shows the difficulties growing up in two areas, both of which present difficulties, but she doesn't dwell on the hardships. Instead, you see the closeness of her family, especially to her grandparents. You see her relationship with her mother, two older siblings and her younger brother. You see her curiosity as she seeks to find her way and find where she fits, and her thrill as her ability to tell stories and, later, write them come to fruition. This is an excellent book for preteen and younger teens- or any age.
15. Trashed, by Derf Backderf. This fulfills the graphic novel requirement for the Book Riot challenge. Backderf, best known for his graphic novel My Friend Dahmer. Here, Backderf tells a fictionalized story of his time serving as a garbageman. As expected, this story has a generous serving of Backderf's irreverent humor. However, there's also a good deal of compassion, such as when the garbage crew comes to a house that has obviously been foreclosed on. Throughout the story, Trashed gives information on how much garbage is generated in the United States, how it is stored, the anatomy of a landfill and even some history on garbage trucks. While the story is listed as a fictionalized story of Backderf's life behind a sanitation truck, I suspect there's more truth than fiction in many of the stories, which not only go over the perils and hardship of picking up garbage, but exposes the garbage in politics and even within people. There are a few four-letter words, but teachers in the higher grades shouldn't feel they need to hesitate to use this book as a teaching tool, and not just for ecology, either.
Currently reading: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John le Carre.
Weather looks like it is stabilizing. Supposed to be mid-60s and low 70s for the foreseeable future. Lots of rain, but that's not unusual.
Forgot to add something to my experiences last time (I had a feeling I was missing one!)
5. Tried a new video editing technique. Stumbled across a feature where, when I do a cutaway, I can make it so both videos can be seen (a sort of a transparency). I've tried it a couple times with good result.
Also, finished two more books- both for the Book Riot challenge.
The Book Mouse's Book Report:
14. Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson. This one fits the middle school novel requirement for the Book Riot challenge. This is essentially Woodson's autobiography, told in free verse. It's beautifully written. Woodson (After Tupac and D Foster, and many other books) covers her life from a toddler in Ohio and a young child growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, and later in her years split between Greenville and Brooklyn, the latter city which would eventually become her home. She captures a childlike innocence with a story set in the middle of the Civil Rights movement. She shows the difficulties growing up in two areas, both of which present difficulties, but she doesn't dwell on the hardships. Instead, you see the closeness of her family, especially to her grandparents. You see her relationship with her mother, two older siblings and her younger brother. You see her curiosity as she seeks to find her way and find where she fits, and her thrill as her ability to tell stories and, later, write them come to fruition. This is an excellent book for preteen and younger teens- or any age.
15. Trashed, by Derf Backderf. This fulfills the graphic novel requirement for the Book Riot challenge. Backderf, best known for his graphic novel My Friend Dahmer. Here, Backderf tells a fictionalized story of his time serving as a garbageman. As expected, this story has a generous serving of Backderf's irreverent humor. However, there's also a good deal of compassion, such as when the garbage crew comes to a house that has obviously been foreclosed on. Throughout the story, Trashed gives information on how much garbage is generated in the United States, how it is stored, the anatomy of a landfill and even some history on garbage trucks. While the story is listed as a fictionalized story of Backderf's life behind a sanitation truck, I suspect there's more truth than fiction in many of the stories, which not only go over the perils and hardship of picking up garbage, but exposes the garbage in politics and even within people. There are a few four-letter words, but teachers in the higher grades shouldn't feel they need to hesitate to use this book as a teaching tool, and not just for ecology, either.
Currently reading: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John le Carre.