"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - Prof. Dumbledore
Link courtesy of Clarity Amidst Chaos.
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The end of the school year is quickly approaching. It has been a tradition of our building to assign a letter to each of the last 26 days of school. As teachers come and go durning the day, they will add words to the large sheet of papers that begin with that letter.
Today was brought to you be the letter D, I added the words:
-defile
-dangerous
-delicous
-delerious
-delightful
-delovely
-dangle
-dinky
-dude
-dingy
-deadly
-dump
-dumb
Today we were doing an activity in which students made a butterfly out of construction paper. I was assessing how well they followed verbal directions, an important skill that many third graders have not mastered. If they constructed the butterfly correctly, they remembered and followed the directions or at the very least they were savy enough to find another student who knew the directions, if they didn't something very likely they didn't follow or remember the directions. A student who is well know for not following directions came up to show me his mutant butterfly. "How's this?" he asked me. This question was quickly followed by me Stare of Death (patent pending). And then out of no where, one of my quitest boys came up and in his best announcer voice proclaimed, "Mission failure!!!" It was so unexpected that it made me laugh twice as long than if had come from a more outspoken student.
Class dismissed!
...are greatly exaggerated.
To bad the rumors are being spread in a local (local in this case being Sullivan, not Rolla) paper, the Sullivan Independent News. Here is the scan of the article:
No, I'm not in jail. No, I did not sell meth. I better hurry up and finish this entry. Bubba wants to use the Internet, glad he's not my cell room mate.
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Holes
PG
I dragged some folks to see Holes. I was very excited to see another of my favorite children's books make its way to the big screen and I was especially excited because I recently finished reading the book to my class and they were excited about it. To top it all off, I learned that the author of the book, Louis Sachar wrote the screenplay, adapting his own book. The result? Absolutely fabulous! I loved it. The film makers realized that people going to see this movie were going to want to see the book, not something loosely based on the book. The adaptation is spot on, only a few changes were made to the story, and those changes were minor changes that would only be seen by someone who has read the book two or three times.
The directing complemented the source material. Acting was strong from all actors, you could definately tell that Jon Voight was having fun with the part of Mr. Sir. ("We ain't kindergarteners in a sandbox!")
Now my review of this movie is, admittedly biased. I love the book. Increasing my enjoyment of the movie were the memories of reading and sharing the book with my students. I was reminded of an interesting discussion that I had with my students about racism that sprang from the events of the book. Ah, good times. I give it an A! Go read the book and watch the movie.
Class dismissed!
which smilie are you?
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To complement my Top 20 favorite movies of all time, I give you the beginnings of my Worst Movies of all time.
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Question of the Week:
Conversations with one of my students after he read "What the hell?" in one of his independent reading books:
Student: There is a bad word in my book.
Me: Have you talked to your Mom and Dad about reading books with bad language in it?
S: Yes. They told me to ignore it.
M: Can you do that?
S: Yup.
M: Good.
S: One question, why do they put words like that in books? They don't need them.
M: Good question! If you figure it out, come back and tell me.
Class dismissed.
Testing begins today and I am a nervous wreck.
Last weekend was quite interesting.
I promised that I would be a problem captian for the state Odssey of the Mind. Basically it is a problem solving tournement for students from elementary school to high school. As problem captain, I was in charge of one of the problems. I was responsible for knowing all the rules for the problem backwards and forwards, training a team of judges to evaluate teams, make decisions durning the tournement, and deal with angry coaches and parents.
My specific problem was Fooled Ya!: (from the OM website)
The team is to create and present a performance that includes two characters who perform at least five “illusions” that entertain other characters in the performance. One of the illusions will turn out to be not an illusion at all -- it will actually happen! The team will also include a special effect in its performance.
The job of PC wouldn't have been that bad except I was also assigned to be the head judge. The head judge, basically runs the event, making sure everything is on time, making sure the judges are well taken care of, giving scores to coaches and going over the results with them. Actually, doing those two jobs would have been fine but I was also assigned to be scorekeeper who basically crunches numbers from the judges. I was basically running around like a chicken with his head cut off. It was a bit too much. After the over twelve hour day I was ready to fall asleep Saturday night. And I did, till my alarm went off at 7:30 am so I could get to church on time. My presence at church was required on Sunday because ALL the sound guys were gone, I was the only one left. When I finally got up, I took a shower and then got dressed. I headed into the living room and I noticed the time on the digital cable box, 9:45!!!!! What!!!! Sunday School started at 9:30 and I had a 45 minute drive, I realized that I wasn't going to make it to Sunday School. Then I started thinking... I didn't really spend an hour and a half in the shower (though I would if I could). I went back into the bedroom to check out the time, 8:46... wait a second! What in tarnation!!!!! We jumped forward an hour! No one told me! I got finished dressing and jumped in my car and raced like a mad man to church. The cell phone call from the pastor was classic. Long story short, I got there in time barely.
I ate lunch with my parents (chicken and dumplings at Du Kum Inn, yum) and went back to their house to relax, I was still pretty tired. Until, my father said, "Chris, it's 6:00 aren't you supposed to be a church to run sound."
"WHAT! NO!" I run out of the house and recieve another, classic phone call from my pastor. Long story, short, I was a couple of minutes late but they waited.
Not sure why this time change effected me so much but it really messed me up, I'm not quite back to normal.
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Good news! The Palms for my classroom came in today! I got the teacher model, but technology still needs to inventory the student Palms.
Wow it is after 7:00 pm and it is still light outside, not sure how I like this. Told you that the time change really messed me up.
Class dismissed!
Look who was on the front page of the Rolla Daily News. None other than Andrew Careaga of bloggedy blog.
Or is that Sir Andrew?
Class dismissed.
When you read the title of this entry, you need to imaging an echoy voice like on the commercials for a monster truck rally.
My week of craziness isn't quite over yet. I made it through 92% of my parent/teacher confrences and have two rescheduled for Monday. The third one will never happen, I am guessing.
I always get worked up when it is P/TC time. I have this image of parents getting angry at me for the grades the their children earned. That has happened, but it is not the norm and it didn't happen this time around.
Many parents bring the kids along for the confrence. It is always interesting to see students interacting with their parents. One of three things always goes through my head:
1) Well that explains his or her problems.
2) Gee, I'm glad that he or she doesn't act that way when they are around me.
3) What an awesome family.
I don't always think number 3 with the perfect family with well behaved children. Sometimes cool families have children that have some kind of trouble whether it be educational, behavoiral, or educational, but the the family is always there, always supportive, and always expects the best, no excuses. That is awesome.
The name of this entry is MEGABlog because I have quite a few little things that I have been collecting to blog about, so the rest of the entry will be scattered.
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I really enjoy the Homestar website. It is a collection of small, extremely funny flash movies about Homestar and his friends (my favorite is Strongbad) I took this quiz to see which Homestar character I was.
Link found via Heal Your Church Website.
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A fun quote that I found...
"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had forty people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some who didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job."
--Donald D. Quinn
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I have some really cool news to share with you in an entry tomorrow!
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AND NOW FOR THE UNVEILING OF THE NEW ENDING STATEMENT THINGY THAT WILL END ALL OF MY ENTRIES (sorry, I'll stop yelling) courtesy of Bene Diction...
Class Dismissed!
We (like there is more than one of me, hehe) get many questions here at WIT?!?!? and it is high time that we start answering some of them. Really that is what education is all about, right? So here are some of those frequently asked questions with a few answers.
1. Mr. Wright, what is your occupation?
Well I am glad you asked. I am a nuclear scientist at the University of Missouri, Rolla. That, of course, is why I am always posting about teaching third grade. Makes sense?
2. Where do you live?
I split my time between Rolla, MO and Sullivan, MO.
3. What is your favorite color?
Green. More specifically (you will have to excuse me, I don't have my Crayon box her for the exact name) dark green.
4. How old are you? When is your birthday?
Wait, that is two questions, so technically this should be 4./5. To answer your question, I will tell you the same thing that I tell my students: 385 years old. (To which they reply, "NOOOOOOOO! You would be all wrinkly and stuff.) Birthday is a secret between me and the fishies, the rainbow kind that is.
6. Why don't you blog about current events?
Two reasons: 1) This is not a pundit blog. I will occasionally blog about current events that are related to education and that is about it. 2) I used to be a news freak. I could be found watching CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and, gasp, even CNBC during any spare time, until one day, I realized that the news was depressing me and I went cold turkey. Now I very rarely know what is going on 10 feet out of my personal space. Besides the Gone Ape Network already has a great pundit type blog.
7. Is there an afterlife, Mr. Wright?
Yes there is, and there are two options for it. I would recomend this one.
8. How do you feel about the Harry Potter Books?
My feelings are very well documented here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
9. What do you look like?
Like this, this, and this.
10. Why don't you have those cool clickable smilies like Joy Unspeakable?
I do now. Pressed will be jealous. Pressed made me put them on his blog.
Got any other questions for the FAQ Files? Leave them in the comments.
Mr. Wright, out!
I'm going to be out of the classroom for awhile. Won't be any new stuff for a couple of days. Actually I had planned on writing a couple of entries and then have Pressed publish them on the correct days but I had a real sub to plan for. And I was wanting to get through all of February. Oh well.
While I'm gone please refrain from spit balls. Thanks.
Mr. Wright, out!
Yeah... whatever.
Looking for true love? Got some right here for ya.
Mr. Wright, out!
Please remember and pray for Pressed from Avoiding Evil. Sunday, Craig's grandmother passed away. We can be thankful that she is at home with her Heavenly Father.
And so, Arthur and Bedevere and Sir Robin set out on their search to find the enchanter of whom the old man had spoken in scene twenty-four. Beyond the forest, they met Launcelot and Galahad, and there was much rejoicing. In the frozen land of Nador, they were forced to eat Robin's minstrels. And there was much rejoicing. A year passed. Winter changed into Spring. Spring changed into Summer. Summer changed back into Winter and Winter gave Spring and Summer a miss and went straight on into Autumn. Until one day...
Mr. Wright got his TV back from the repair shop. It went sometime after October 2, 2002, according to my blog. Everytime I called the shop they would just say that they were waiting on a part. I had become convienced that there was a group of Tibetian Monks were assembling my TV part with handmade toothpicks. I finally got it back.
To celebrate let us all partake in the ceramonial Oreo Coffee and Creme. Mmm.
Mr. Wright, out!
I am! So what's for dessert? My new discovery. From the good people who brought us the Oreo, Nabisco brings us this wonderful new creation...
Now admittedly, this is not a taste for everyone, but anyone who enjoys coffee will enjoy the Oreo Coffee and Creme Double Stuff. Last night I took a couple of scoops of ice cream, added some milk and about four of these wonderful creation, mixed with a hand blender and had one tasty milk shake. You could definately taste the coffee flavor.
I have noticed that recently, all my new favorite desserts have had a coffee flavor to them. At the Olive Garden, the perfect Tiramisu which is a classic Italian dessert. A frothy layer of creamy custard set atop espresso-soaked ladyfingers. Mmmm. And a coffee shop in Sullivan has a confection called a Paris Breast (yes that is the real name, sometimes I accidently say something else) that is a puff pastry that is stuffed with a cream that has a coffee flavor. So I offically declare 2003, as the year of the coffee flavored dessert. Sorry to all those folk who don't like coffee.
Mr. Wright, (Mmmm this is a good cookie) out!
I am getting ready for the new year. Yes this is a little premature but I don't know how much time I will have tomorrow. The youth at chruch are having a... well... it's not really a lock in but that would be the closest thing that I can think of to describe it. Everyone will arrive at noon tomorrow and we all will go bowling. After bowling a bunch of other stuff will happen (real descriptive, I know.) The other stuff includes a digital camera scavernger hunt, games of all kinds (large group, board games, video games, etc.), movies, pizza, normal New Year's stuff and bible study. It should be fun if I survive.
Some fun Christmas miracle stories:
While I was in Springfield the Wright side of the family had gathered together to exchange gifts. My youngest cousin, Weston (I don't think he is in school yet), was assigned the very important task of delivering my Grandfather's Christmas gift to him. He took the gift over to my Grandfather and proundly proclaimed, "Happy birthday Grandpa!!!!!!" He concluded by singing the Happy Birthday song. Funny, I just wish I was there when it happened.
Well that was just one story. Maybe I will remember some more later.
Share your own Christmas miracle stories in the comments.
Mr. Wright, out!
P.S. People who know more about MovableType than I do, after rebuilding, during pinging, MT will display this at the bottom of the page, what does it mean? MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x827fe84) Use of uninitialized value in subroutine entry at lib/MT/FileMgr/Local.pm line 130.
MT::App::CMS=HASH(0x827fe84) Use of uninitialized value in subroutine entry at lib/MT/FileMgr/Local.pm line 130.
This is the first time in 24 years that I have actually been in my home town on Christmas. Normally I go to Springfield, MO. Due to the over abundance of frozen water and illness (not my own) I stayed around Sullivan. I will actually be going to Springfield tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with the extended family.
Christmas on other fronts:
School
Wow Friday was crazy! The kids and teachers were wound tight. Every five minutes I would be asked "when are we going to open our Christmas bags?" I heard that approximately 500 gazillion times.
Like last year I decided, against the suggestion of my fellow third grade teachers, to do stocking stuffers. Each child would bring 25 small "stocking stuffers" to share with all the other students in the class. We had everything from stickers to 16 packs of crayons. Durning the week of our party we decorated some craft bags to store our stocking stuffers and then on the day we got to see all the cool stuff. I did this last year and had parents thanking me for for the tear free party. Everyone got the same thing and if a child could not afford to bring something no one is the wiser. This year I got a last minute (the day of the party) e-mail from a parent who did not like this method:
Mr. Wright,
I don't want to be a sour apple, but I have to tell you that I don't like the stocking stuffer idea where we buy the same thing for the whole class. It is a lot more expensive and each child winds up with a stocking full of "stuff" that tends to be immediately discarded.
Grant it, a $2.00 or so gift for a gift exchange may not be very much, but at least each child has something to show for it. The stocking stuffer idea costs more than $2.00. Even at the Dollar Store with each item costing $1.00, that's $25.00 and you still have a very inexpensive " something".
For parents with more than one child, this season is especially taxing anyway. I just think we can celebrate, let our children party,and still get the most for our dollar.
Now never mind that I sent out THREE notes concerning this that listed ideas for keeping the cost down. My suggestions included shopping at dollar stores (which she mentioned) and then I went onto suggest to find things that had more than one item in it. For example, one child brought playdough from the dollar store. Each package was a $1.00 and there were 7 containers in a package. I also suggested things like stickers, but my suggestions I guess were ignored. I wanted to write back and point out that I was buying $50.00 of pizza for our party, $15.00 of other party materials, about $50.00 on gifts (I gave them stuffed animals) but that would have served no good purpose. Instead I thanked her for her thoughts. I was later vindicated that day when my principal came in and commented that this was her favorite Christmas party idea. You can tell me what you think in the comments.
Home
I actually had all of my Christmas presents before Christmas. They were those kind of presents that include not only include Christmas but birthday, Boxing Day, Ides of March, April Fool's Day, National Pig Day, the opening of Trout season and any other holiday that might come along. And that was just fine with me! One of those gifts was from my parents and it was new tires. One of the best gifts this year!
Normally mom cooks something whenever we are celebrating our Christmas and we all eat and then we open gifts. This year it was Lasagna. One problem, not cottage cheese so my mother said she was going to cook up the ham. I didn't want ham, I wanted lasagna. So I set out on my Christmas quest: finding cottage cheese on a day when all stores are closed. First, just in case, I checked Walmart and all the local supermarkets. They, of course were closed. It was at the point that I went into MacGyver mode. I remembered that one of the gas markets in town had a cooler with a neon sign over it that says Milk. If that didn't work, my next idea, was to head to the Bobber, a truck stop in town and buy the buffet to go and fill my container with cottage cheese off the buffet. Fortunately it didn't come to that, they actually had it at the gas mart, for a price. Mission accomplished. It was a good time.
Church
Due to the snow, the church had to cancel one of its two Christmas Eve cantatas. Despite the very trecherous conditions (on my way to church I had the pleasure of witnessing a propane truck sliding sideways down one of the main streets in Sullivan coming right at me) we had a very good turn out. I helped Michael run sound. Everything sounded good.
Mr. Wright, out!
Please remember your prayers... Michael and Stuart as they are heading to India on a mission trip. They have already run into some trouble and Michael was able to get some updates on his blog at Time To Believe. I'll let you go there to get the details.
You are not supposed to do this, but...
It is still not as bad as some houses.
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Imagine if you will, playing out in the snow, skiing, building a snowman, snowboarding... Life is good! Until there is a earthquake that tosses you about. I'm glad I don't live in a snow globe.
Mr. Wright, out!
Merry Christmas to everyone out in the blogosphere!
I'm not a big card writer but I thought I would send out some holiday greeting with the first blogcard.
From: Mr. Wright
To:
Pressed. You may have everyone fooled, but not me! Can't fool the partner in crime. Continue to "avoid evil."
Andrew Careaga. A visit to bloggedy blog always has the most interesting links and topics. He gets all the cools links. I don't thinkk I have gone through all the blogs in his blogroll. And he works across town from me.
Dean Mckenzie is a new addition to my daily reads so I am still getting to know him. His help on my aggrigator was greatly appriciated!
Jonathan Fox is also a new read. Thanks for the links to WIT?!?!?
Erin is one of those rare people who are natural encouragers. It not unusual to feel a little bit better after reading Future Hope or being around her. Not only that you can tell how couragous she is. Thanks Erin!
MeanDean is on a crusade to heal those ailing church websites. I always learn something from visiting Heal Your Church Website, that is as long as I understand it!
David King and the gang at IdeaJoy always have something interesting to say. I always love David's thoughts on popular culture.
Cheryl, the doctor's wife, is a real encourager for me, even though she may not know it. As a teacher, I see kids from all kinds of backgrounds, a great deal of them break my heart, between the times that they are annoying me. A lot of what a child can do in school can be attributed to their parents and how much love they recieve at home. This year I have had child that was kidknapped by biological mom and another who is basically being harrassed by his father who is seperated from his mother, they wake up and expect to see the house vandelized in some way. It is good to read about a parent/wife who cares and loves at all cost. Caleb is a lucky boy!
Ganns Deen, my friend across the ocean has a refreshingly honest blog. I always enjoy hearing about his walk with God and I will be looking forward to his comments on married life. Again congrat!!!
Brandon and Wendy Wason always seem to make me laugh everytime I stop by Mosaic Life and that is not something to laugh at.
Michael of Time to Believe and Stuart of Out of My Mind are two of the most mission minded people I know and I admire that bunches. They will both be going to India at the end of December and into the beginning of the year. I will be praying for them and the whole mission team. I'm sure that God will bless your willingness to serve.
Ms. Thelwell blog first caught my attention because she is a first year teacher and thought that we would have a few things in common and we do, we are both just trying to make it sometimes. Thank you for your honesty.
Kevin Hartwig of the Sakamuyo Log always make me think, whether I want to or not.
Tim Butler made his own journaling software, or at least modified one to make one pretty cool blog. I wish I could do that. Sometime he talks in techo-gibberish that I struggle to understand. I wish I could understand what he is saying. Have a great Christmas anyway, Tim. :)
Finally a hearty Merry Christmas to all the readers who don't have blogs (especially Anna) or blogs that I haven't discovered yet. I am truely greatful to all of you. You make WIT?!?!? a great place for me to spend a little spare time in.
Take a momment, during this busy season, to remember what it is all about...
Wow, it has been a busy weekend. I need a weekend to recover!!!
Friday I rushed to Sullivan to watch the Sullivan High School's Madrigal Dinners. If you haven't had the opportunity to go to a Madrigal Dinner it can be quite an experience. Of course, the night includes dinner, quality varies. The setting of the evening is in a Medieval castle during the Christmas season. The night's entertainment includes a concert, including music that would be typical of the era, jokes and fun with the audience with the Jesters, and a skit of some type. All in all, a fun evening. I wasn't there just to enjoy the evening, I was to take over sound for Saturday and Sunday night. The set-up included about 9 condenser mikes and three wireless lapel mikes. The combination is of course is feedback friendly. Always have to be on your toes. Overall, a little over 1,000 people saw the performances. The whole event takes the participation from from what seems like half the student population and their parents. It is quite a large undertaking and I had to manage the sound without any practice.
Saturday, I woke up early to make the trip to teacher's Mecca with my mother. We went to the teacher's sale at the the Scholastic Warehouse. All books were 50% off and there is a section where you can buy books by the pound. This event is a teacher magnet. The books by the pound section is quite surreal. They have these huge boxes in which they have just thrown in a ton of books. When you walk into the area, you see hundreds of teachers trying to bend over in these boxes digging through books to find the one jewel, the one bargin to make the trip worth it. These boxes are a little over 3 feet high, so you need to be pretty tall to really dig down to the bottom to where the Holy Grail supposedly resides. Not many teachers are the ideal hight. I however can, and my hight makes me somewhat of a star, and I actually had teachers that would follow me from box to box (thought they tried to diguise it: "Oh, you again!") Well I got Christmas presents for my kids in the books by the pound area, I spent less than I had planned! I got home in time to head off to the Madrigal Dinners.
Sunday, was of course church. It was not the best Sunday I have ever had. I got out of Sunday School to run sound for our 10:45 service, when our interm music guy and hyper-anal sound guy, berates me and the guy that was going to run the media telling us that we needed to get out of Sunday School early, so he could run over the service with us, never mind that everything was written down. I said that I wasn't going to leave Sunday School for several reasons: 1) I think that Sunday School is an important part of my personal discipleship, 2) It is the one of the only times that I get to spend time with people anywhere close to my age, and 3) It is just disruptive to the rest of the class. He said that that was fine just as long as I didn't blame him when I screwed up. (I didn't screw up, by the way.) After the service, he said that we needed to talk, there was a problem. He said that he felt that the sound ministry is just as important as any other ministry in the church (I love doing sound, but I don't agree with that) and that I just needed to bend to his more will or feel his wrath (well he didn't say that exactly.) I explained that I was not going to change my priorities. He said that he would have to take me off the schedule. Honestly, whatever! I don't need that headache right now, and the ministry certainly doesn't need me stirring up anything, there are other ministries that I can get involved in. However, there are others that are upset about the whole incident. So I don't know what is going to happen.
Well that effectively ruined the day for me, I don't like conflict and most times, I try to avoid it. Then I go outside and discover that I locked my keys in my car. Thank goodness for AAA.
Then it was off to the final night of Madrigal Dinners. After the show I had to help put up all the sound equipment. After all was said and done, I got home around midnight, WAY after my bedtime. It was tough to get up this morning.
Today my back is killing me. It must have been a combination of bending over into boxes and lifting sound equipment. Oh it hurts. Oh well.
So... How was your weekend?
Mr. Wright, out!
I am ready for Christmas. I have been secretly ready for Christmas since mid-November. Normally I am on of those that say save Christmas until after Thanksgiving and gets annoyed when something Christmas-y shows up before Thanksgiving. Not this year! I was thrilled to see the commercials featuring Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Now that it is after Thanksgiving I can get out all the Christmas CDs. On the last day of November I even went to my closet and pulled out my little two foot tree, took the garbage bag that the tree is kept in and plugged that sucker in! Yup already decorated. Out of the bag and instant Christmas. This year I think I would like to find a small and simple Nativity Scene to put up as a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of the Truth (many people are frightened by that word, I find it comforting.)
I think that the reason I am ready for Christmas so early this year, is because I was never really in the mood for Christmas last year, at least not until the first week of January and by that time it was too late. I think I am playing catch up.
My memories are associated to music. When I think of mission trips that I have been on I remember a song. The same holds true for Christmas. Play some Christmas music, be it secular or sacred, it can conjure (can I use that word or does it sound too much like magic?) these warm and cozy feelings. I love Christmas music, I love singing it. So I thought we could share some lists of our favorite Christmas songs. I'll start and you can share yours in the comment section below.
Sacred Music (It reminds me of the true reason for the season):
Secular Music (It's just good stuff):
Now it is your turn.
Mr. Wright, out!
So how emotional are you?
How Emotional Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
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Michael is asking what ten US cities would like to visit. I will add visit or revisit.
1. Washington D.C.
2. Savannah, GA
3. Dever, CO
4. New York, NY
5. Boston, MA
6. Durango, CO
7. Seatle, WA
8. Philadelphia, PA
9. Chicago, IL
10. LA, CA
Tell me what cities you would like to visit in the comments.
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Evette sent me this interesting picture:
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Several have asked how things are going. A little better, but not like normal. I had an opportunity to talk to some folk who know a bit about my new student. She has had a difficult past and right now she is living with Grandma who is evidently very supportive, that is a good thing. It is going to take longer than most new students for her transtion to our class. I need to patient with her.
On a whole, however, I am feeling better. Thanks for your prayers. Only two days this week. I am excited about that.
Mr. Wright, out!
The Surgeon General reports that excessive whining can lead to the annoyance of other people. If you don't want to read any whining then click here or here to go to something more amusing.
AND NOW FOR THE BRUTALLY HONEST PART OF THE ENTRY
Right now I am emotionally spent. It is all gone. None left. Please do not ask me to care because I don't. I haven't been in this place in awhile and I don't particularly like being here. I got here pretty fast too. It took only three days. So how did I get there?
AND NOW FOR THE WHINING PART OF THE ENTRY
AND NOW FOR THE RELIGIOUS CONTENT OF THE ENTRY
On the way home tonight, I was listening to Delirious?'s album Glo. Well I wasn't really listening to it, I was writing this entry in my head and dwelling on all this stuff. In the quiet transitional music between the songs What Would I Have Done? and My Glorious the band improvises with the lyrics from both songs, so quiet it is almost a whisper. But one phrase jumped out at me very loudly: "God is bigger than..." I love it when truthes just jump out at you and say stop moping around!
AND WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN
Right now, honestly, I am content to sit here and play around in my mess, though that shouldn't last for long. What is really in order is an attitude adjustment. I will be working on that.
AND NOW MY PRAYER:
It's a beautiful day and the world is bright
'Cos you took me away from the longest night
What can I do but give all I have to you
It's a beautiful day and the page has turned
Deep in my soul now your fire burns
What can I do, I'll give it all up for you
You give me everything
Give me hope within
You're the song I sing
You give me everything
Give me hope to win
You're the song I sing
It's a beautiful day and we're running proud
And we'll run to the line
Hear the witness cloud
I know it's true
We're gonna fly
We're gonna dance
On that glorious day with you
You are the light that shines - hey hey
Everything by Martin Smith/Stuart Garrard
Copyright 2000 Curious? Music UK
Mr. Wright, out!
I saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on Saturday. I hope to have a review up at the Screening Room soon, so I will leave my comments about the movie for that blog. There is a quote from the movie that is great and would be a wonderful opportunity to talk about Christ with people who have seen the movie. Now I doubt that this is exact but it is close (I have only seen the movie once). Dumbeldoore tells Harry that people are not defined by our abilities but by our choices. Who and what we are is not defined by the good things that we do or don't do but it can be found in one decision that we make, the decision about Christ. I practically jumped out of my seat when he said that. One good thing came from the movie.
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What is the secret to being a good third or second grade teacher? Dedication? Empathy? A huge heart? Naw! It's the appriciation of good fart and/or poop joke. If kids see you joking about farting you have their attention for the rest of the year. I, my friends, love fart jokes! They make me laugh every time. I guess that is why I like the Captian Underpants series. Well here is a good fart joke. Make sure the sound is on.
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Andrew Careaga sent me this super article written by David Hopkins, a high school teacher (check out David's blog while you are at it). The article is wonderful discussing one of the few movies that I have to watch by myself for fear of making an emotional fool out of myself. I would recommend it to any teachers who are Christians. Good stuff! Thanks Andrew.
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Once a teacher, always a teacher...
Thanks Michael. Oh, no time out in Mr. Wright's Room, you better start runnin' those laps.
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Mr. Wright, out!
Well I have veiwed one of the best nights in television in quite some time. The night started off with another kick butt episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This episode, (one in a series of wonderful episodes this season) was truely unique and will have a great effect on the season. One plotline included the apparent return of Buffy's dead mother to haunt Dawn making this episode the second creepiest in the history of the series.
Next up was 24 which basically should be canonized (that's a joke). 24 is the most nerve racking hour of TV every week. This week was particularly an edge of your seat episode. A bomb planted in CTU, Kim running to CTU with the abusesd girl, the terrorist groom, Jack undercover, and political in-fighting in the President's advisors. I find it very difficult to not yell during an episode of 24. Oh, and you should be watching it if you are not.
Finally, Smallville rounded out the night with a episode that brought back the mind reading boy from earlier this season with a very X-Fileish brain tumor. Speaking of X-Files, William B. Davis (Cancer Man) makes his debut as the evil mayor of Smallville. Lex Luther continues to be one of the most interesting characters on network TV and tonight's episode had some really cool fore shadowing of Lex's fate.
Top all that off with a really cool Experiencing God study today... I can go to sleep tonight with a smile on my face, that is after I check under the bed for any bombs.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A-
24: A
Smallville: A-
Must See Tuesday: A
Read the USA Today review of Tuesday's Buffy.
Mr. Wright, out!
Graphic stolen from Heal Your Church Website.
Voting was interesting today. I was standing at the end of a rather long line when one lady at the front of the line proudly proclaimed that she was only voting on items because "the worst voter is the misinformed voter." The gentleman front of me disagreed. He suggested that the worst voter, is the one who doesn't vote. (I guess in that case, that person really isn't a voter at all, but I wasn't about to agrue with the rather large man.) They debated (read: argued) about this for a couple of minutes until the lady gave up. Funny thing is, that when the lady was ready to vote she found out that she was in the wrong polling place. As she left, rather unhappily, she announced "Like it matters where I vote." Maybe this gal shouldn't be voting.
The story doesn't end there. Then the guy in front of me (the one argueing with the lady) got to the front of the line, the election judges couldn't find his name listed. The man got upset and started saying that the list was invalid. The election judges started scurring about looking in other lists all the while the man is declaring the list invalid. One of the election judges ran to get the supervising election judge. As the elderly supervising judge was coming down the stairs, the man started yelling at her, "You got yourself an invalid list here! I am a registered voter and I am not on this list. It's invalid!" Thankfully the invalid list had my name and I got to vote. The man was still waiting when I left.
I will be looking forward to the result of the election, specifically the race for the Missouri Senate seat. I will let you guess who I want to win. This race has been closely watched by the national media because the seat looks like it will go to the Republican candidate, Jim Talent, but the race is very close. Also on the ballot here in Missouri were tax increase on tabacco products, Firemen's bill of rights, and looking at revising the Missouri constitution.
In other news, I would like to ask for prayer for one of my students. This student hasn't been in school for the past week and a half. When I asked the office if they knew anything about it they said they she has been snatched by her biological mom and is probably in Florida somewhere. Mom has no records for this girl so she can't enroll her in school and our school has not recieved any request for information from other schools. This student was not in a good situation to begin with but this one is definately worse. I just wish we knew where she is.
Mr. Wright, out!
UPDATE: 9:33 pm - The race for Senator is REALLY close. KSDK (NewsChannel 5) is reporting Talent (R) 51%, Carnahan (D) 48% with 27% of the precincts reporting.
Thanks to Michael, I think the Missouri State site is a little more accurate.
11/6/02, 5:55 am Well that was a close race. With 99% (who's holding out?!?!?) of precincts reporting:
-Talent (R) 931,059 - 49.9%
-Carnahan (D) 907,658 - 48.6%
Life at this momment sucks. Instead of linking you to all kinds of blog entries, let me sum up the background for this story. My big TV is having problems. I send it in to be worked on. That leaves my small TV that takes a while for the picture to actually come on. I didn't realize how long it is actually takes for the picture to come on, right now I am at two hours and 15 minutes of a black screen.
Why is this important?
Well, more background. Pressed is out of town for a convention in Springfield and I was charged with recording all the important TV shows while he was gone, including 24 and Smallville tonight at 8:00 pm, not to mention the fact that I REALLY want to see both. I went to program the VCR for these shows and the VCR remote control was set to control the TV. I pushed the power button. *BLINK* There goes the TV. That was over two hours ago. So now I can't program the VCR because the TV is blank and I certainly can't watch the shows myself.
So I am at a crossroads (that's a social studies vocabulary word, Mr. Wright!) What do I need to do? Too late to go to Sullivan. Right now I know that I will manually press the record buttons on the VCRs to tape the shows, so I will not miss them, they will just be delayed. However, I can head over to school to watch 24. I just wonder if I would be in the evening custodians way, their job is hard enough with a teacher there trying to watch TV. I don't know but I need to decide soon!!!!
Harry Potter News from Time Magazine: Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets: "I would strongly caution parents, anyone who has a seven-year-old or younger, to make sure they know what they're getting into" says Director Chris Columbus in an interview for Time Magazine about the second feature. This film promises a lot darker material and the article points out a lot of it: "A presumably dead cat is hung in a Hogwarts hallway; Hogwarts students are frozen stiff ("petrified") by a monster; Harry and his sidekick Ron Weasley are attacked with surprising violence by a giant Whomping Willow after they crash-land a flying car in its gnarled branches. Later, they are chased through the Forbidden Forest by an army of giant spiders. The Mandrake plants - whose deadly screams require Herbology students to wear earmuffs - have roots resembling ugly, sharp-toothed fetuses. It's a disturbing image, but one that creature designer Nick Dudman calls necessary: "They mustn't have any element of sympathy about them," he says, "because they get chopped up". The article also vaguely reviews the film and whilst describing it as a "much better" than the first it also hints at the downsides: "Although Chamber of Secrets' pacing is more lively than the first film's, it still drags at times...the movie inevitably creaks under the weight of Rowling's imagination. Columbus, in fact, was accused of being too slavishly faithful to Rowling's first book. This time, he also lets his own imagination run riot from time to time". Link from Dark Horizons. Parents, always be aware!!!!
Mr. Wright, out!
Why is it that I always get in the Walmart check out lane with the slowest Walmart Associate? It never fails, either they are brand new at the job or they took one too many tablespoons of Nyquil (or the generic Equate brand.) Today, my Associate was one of the older members of the Walmart team. I think she would be better suited being a greeter. All the other check out lanes who had associates that went somethings like: Boop boop boop... boop boop boop boop while checking out. My check out lane sounded something like: boop... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... boop... ... ... ... ... ... boop... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... boop... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... boop... ... boop (that happened once)... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... boop.
Ugh. I wanted to grab the item and scan them myself. It never fails. What is more interesting is why was I so impatient? I wasn't really in a hurry. Sure I had just gotten off of work but that really is no excuse. I wasn't snotty or anything like that, but I was certainly not thinking nice things in my head. Bad me.
Funny story: Seth, one of my students from last year that asked about the panties, was standing out in hall during recess just staring at the door to his room. I, of course being curious, asked what he was doing. He turned around and said, "I have an eye lash growing into my eyeball and it hurts." Well I know I shouldn't have, but I immediately started laughing, I couldn't help it. Oh that was good times!
Umm this is weird. I was looking through the logs for Gone Ape and found this site that evidently linked to WIT?!?!? I visited the site, if you look at the bottom of the page which hasn't been updated in a while you will find part of my sidebar. Why is my sidebar on this site about tummy problems? *Puzzled look.*
Mr. Wright, out!
So did anyone see Boomtown last night on NBC? If the rest of the season is like last night's episode then I would have to say Boomtown is the season's best new show and has out ranked many of my old favorites like The Practice, Angel, and Buffy (but not 24). Watching Boomtown last night was refreshing. The story telling is non-linear, meaning an episode will jump around inside of a story, possibly showing the same event several times throughout an episode. The story is not shown from beginning to end, instead an episode might start at the end, jump to the middle, revisit the end, show the beginning, so on and so forth. Not only that, the writers manage to show the story from many different point of views (I lost count last night). Watching all these elements wrap up into one cohesive narrative is very satisfying.
You can read some more reviews of new shows over at the Screening Room, I just added a post. While you are there, sign-up to be notified when it is updated. Sure you don't want to write your own review? You can e-mail it to me at wit@goneapeweb.com.
Mr. Wright, out!
First off... Go Cards! (If I hear one more thing about them being the team of destiny one more time... I will roll my eyes.)
Today I went into St. Louis to get a copy of the receipt for my TV. I went along with Pressed and Le Renard Subtil (to be referred to as LRS). I bought the TV on October 27, 2001. Cutting it a little close to the one year warranty, but I am thankful that it happened now instead of next month. Anywho, the trip back was interesting, especially the part where LRS decided to drive down the off ramp the wrong way. I just started laughing and couldn't say anything, thankfully, Pressed was able to get his attention before too much damage was done. Also amusing was LRS's purchase of the board game Risk, the game of world domination, in St. Louis, only to find it about $8.00 cheaper at Wal-Mart.
Tonight we celebrated LRS's birthday with BBQ! Pressed and I (Pressed more so than I) took a crash course in playing Risk, the game of world domination, and played one game, well part of one game. Poor Pressed had no clue how to play and started placing his armies willy nilly over the map. I was able to create a stronghold in Asia and Australia in which I would headquarter my campaign to wield supreme control over the world. Fortune, however, was kinder to LRS (he ALWAYS rolled sixes) and seeing that LRS had sold his soul to the devil, I banded together with Pressed. We had one thing on our agenda... total destruction of the gray army (LRS). To make what seemed like a really long story shorter, I swept through and killed most of gray while I allowed Pressed to take out the final gray army. Pressed pledged support to the green armies (me) and I showed grace and the game ended there, much to the chagrin of LRS who was upset because his alliance with Pressed did not work out. So I guess both Pressed and I were the winners and the sole loser was LRS. A good time was had by all! (Well by me at least.)
Mr. Wright, out!
Well I am not a happy camper right now and I need to vent.
Lately, my 27" TV, that is not yet a year old, has been having a distorted picture with blue and green tint on either side of the screen. I can't stand this. So I took it to a local repair shop to have them look at it. There was a $25 diagnostic fee. I wasn't too happy about that, but I paid it. Today I got my estimate. If I can find the receipts (that's funny!), it will cost $100, if I can't find them, it will cost $400. The TV didn't cost that to begin with! Wow this is irritating. They said it looked like the TV was dropped at some point, it hasn't been since I have owned it, so they must of dropped it at Best Buy, I guess that is why the Best Buy associate was pushing the service plan (which I didn't get) so hard because he knew that they had just dropped the stupid thing in the back.
So now I need to make a decision. Do I just buy and new one, I am supposed to be getting a $100 Best Buy gift card in the mail? Or do I just live with the little TV that take 5 minutes for the picture to come on. Maybe I can find the silly receipt.
Thanks for reading my rant, I feel a little better now.
Mr. Wright, out!
The rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated. It has been awhile. Here are the cliff notes on the past couple of days.
Now I shall disappear again.
Mr. Wright, out.
I am beginning to feel like a normal human being today, but not totally back to normal. I spent most of the day Friday sleeping. Today, I have been grading papers and I met my family in St. James to eat at the Douglas Food Company to celebrate my mother's birthday. By the time we were finished eating, I was wiped out. I had to get my Tollhouse Pie to go. Not sure if I will make it back to Sullivan for church on Sunday, but I hope to.
I also went to school today. The kids did get to go on their field trip, and no one fell into the spring and no one was devoured by baby trout. The sub (on of my favorites at Wyman, but we have several excellent subs at Wyman) even took pictures with my camera. It looks like they had a good time.
Thank you for your prayers. Like always, they worked! While you are at it, I would ask that you would pray for Erin at Future Hope. Find details at her site.
Thanks again. In the immortal words of Tony the Tiger, "You're grrrrrrrrreat!!!!"
Mr. Wright, (almost) out (of the woods)!
Whew, what a day... from the pit! First the kids were acting a little odd today. The room was hot, yet the kids kept complaining about how cold it is. Absolutely nuts!!!! I couldn't fathom what was happening. After lunch I became extremely tired, more than normal. By the end of the day, I had developed a headache and a throat that was feeling a little odd. Then it hit me. The kids aren't insane, I am! I headed down to the nurse after school to check my throat: red and irritated. Temperature: 99.2, which is high for me. Off to see Doctor After Hours. He thought it was a respitory viral infection. I said, I don't think so. I knew what it was, I always do. I insisted that he do a throat culture. Turns out, I know more than the doc does. Strep throat. I KNEW it. So I go back to school to plan for a sub, I am infectious for 24 hours, no school tomorrow. Grrrr. A teacher, well at least this teacher, grows attatched to ones class. I become much like a mother, leaving her baby with the babysitter for the first time. Yuckers, I hate that feeling.
The story does not end there. Don't miss the punch line. On Friday the 13th, my class was supposed to go on a field trip. Super. I think a sub is going to take them, or the principal. On top of being sick, I won't be able to relax.
It has been interestesting, because I caught onto the symptoms early. I have been able to feel the sickness creep across my body. As Spock might say: "It has been fascinating." About an hour ago, my feet burst into flames, and my hands became ice cold, causing one of them to brake off while I was typing. The battle of the temperature. Random body parts have taken to short shooting pains. Never know where the next one will pop up. First my calf and then the toe next to the big toe. OUCH! That time it was the middle finger.
I would appriciate it if you would pray for me and most especially for my class as they venture out to Maramec Springs. Pray that none of them will fall into the hatchery and being devoured by baby trout.
Please forgive any little errors in this, I have also watch my mental health crash and burn.
Thanks.
Mr. Wright, out!
I am a TV freak. I really enjoy TV. In fact I enjoy TV too much, I know that. Well one of the best times of the year for a TV freak is just around the corner. Last Saturday I recieved my favorite issue of Entertainment Weekly Magazine, the fall TV preview. So of course, it is time to start planning for this new season. Here are some new shows that I am looking forward to taking a look at and a few returning shows that I can't wait to catch up with, arranged by the days of the week. Starting date.
Monday
7:00 Boston Public Oct. 21
8:00 girls club Oct. 21
9:00 CSI: Maimi Sept. 23
Tuesday
7:00 Buffy the Vampire Slayer (though I won't get it) Sept. 24
8:00 Smallville Sept. 24
8:00 24 Oct. 29
Wednesday
7:00 Ed Sept. 25
7:00 Enterprise (though I won't get it) Sept. 18
8:00 The West Wing Sept. 25
8:00 Birds of Prey Oct. 9
Thursday
7:00 Friends Sept. 26
7:00 Survivor Sept. 19
7:30 Scrubs Sept. 26
8:00 CSI Sept. 26
9:00 ER Sept. 26
9:00 Without A Trace Sept. 26
Friday
7:00 Firefly Sept. 20
8:00 John Doe Sept. 20
Saturday
9:00 The Agency Sept. 28
Sunday
8:00 Alias Sept. 29
8:00 Angel Oct. 6
9:00 The Practice Sept. 29
9:00 Boomtown Sept. 29
Of course some of these shows will be cut from my schedule as the season goes on. Here are some returning show that are in danger of being cut from my weekly habit are ER, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Agency, and Scrubs.
I hope that I will have a chance to put up some reviews of the new shows over at The Screening Room.
Let me know what show you are looking forward to and which shows you may drop. (Unless one of the show you are going to watch is Touched By An Angel.)
Mr. Wright, out!
Hey everyone. Welcome to my 100th blog entry. Take a momment to sit in awe of this accomplishment. Okay, that's enough. Thanks for stickin' around.
Tip for Teachers:
Preview your movies before you show them. Luckly I did before I showed the Animal Life Cycle video. The video started out good, paralleling our text exactly. Same vocab words and everything. It even had a section on trout hatcheries (we will be visiting one next week!) It was wonderful, but then things turned sour. The video went one step further than our book: fertilization, complete with a nice little animated graphic of a sperm ramming his head into the side of the egg. My initial instincts screamed no!!! I decided to get a second opinion. Off to find my wise mentor. She was also excited about the almost perfect match to our curriculum, however, was unsure about our friends Mr. Sperm and Ms. Egg. Off to the principal. She was in a meeting at the time. So I have decided not to open that can of worms. I'll let the fifth grade health teacher deal with that. I've already had to deal with panties, mounting, and mating penguins, I think I will forgo this discussion. This entry should play havoc with google searches on this site.
In cool new product news: Have you been to a restaraunt that had that awesome foam soap in the bathroom? Well now the good people at SoftSoap have brought this wonderful product home in the form of Foam Works. Whoohoo!
IdeaJoy has found The Screening Room. Now if Pressed and I knew if we are going to keep it or what we are going to do with it. Any suggestions?
Mr. Wright, out!
My entry and questions about this discussion of free will/predesination through three songs. The first, answers nothing, just raises some fears that many believers who study such things must deal with. This is one of my favorite songs because it is very honest.
Prove Me Wrong
by Aaron Tate
Sometime I fear maybe I'm not chosen
You've hardened my heart like Pharaoh
That would explain why life is so hard for me
And I am sad Esau hated
Crying against what's fated
Saying father please, is there any left for me
Chorus
Cast out my doubts, please prove me wrong
'Cause these demons can be so headstrong
Make my walls fall, please prove me wrong
'Cause this resentment's been building
Burn them up with your fire so strong
if you can before I Baal, please prove me wrong
I fear maybe this is all just a game
Our friends and our families all play too
Harness the young and give some comfort to the old
Don't let my doubts prove true
Draw me close and hold me near to you
Keep me still until the day you
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From the Author: "As our understanding of spiritual things increases, so can our doubts become more complex and worrisome. This song is a prayer for God to destroy those frightening doubts that keep me from him."
"You've hardened my heart like Pharoah"...refers to Romans 9:17,18.
"And I am sad Esau hated..."...refers to Romans 9:13.
If you can before I Baal"...is a play on words. He means, "before I bail", but he uses the homonym 'Baal', because it relates to the previous line, "Burn them up with your fire so strong" when God showed he was more powerful than Baal and burned up Elijah's soaked altar in 1 Kings 18.
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Apart from God, can we do any good? No. So in order to do good, we must do it through the grace of God. A concept that is brought out in this song:
Thankful
by Derek Webb
You know I ran across
An old box of letters
When I was bagging up some clothes for goodwill
But you know I had to laugh
At the same old struggles
That plagued me then are plaguing me still
'Cause I know the road is long
From the ground to glory
But a boy can hope he's getting some place
But you see I'm running from
The very clothes I'm wearing
And dressed like this I'm fit for the chase
You know there is none righteous
Not one who understands
There is none who seeks God no not one
No not one
So I am thankful that I'm incapable of doing any good on my own yeah
Said I'm so thankful that I'm incapable of doing any good on my own yeah
'Cause we're all still-born
Dead in our transgressions
Shackled up to the sin we hold so dear
What part can I play
In the work of redemption
'Cause I can't refuse and I cannot add a thing
'Cause I am just like Lazarus
And I can hear your voice
And I stand and rub my eyes and walk to you
Because I have no choice
'Cause it's by grace I have been saved
And through faith it's not my own
It is a gift of God and not by works
Lest anyone should boast
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The basic idea is that nothing good we will ever do in this life, including our own salvation, is of our own accord. God works all good in and through us, and we are "incapable of doing any good" on our own.
"But you see I'm running from the very clothes I'm wearing and dressed like this I'm fit for the chase"...here, Derek uses the analogy that sin is the 'clothes he's wearing'. he's trying to run from something (sin) that he will never get away from on his own because he's wearing it, and therefore he is 'fit for the chase'.
"Cause I am just like Lazarus...as if I have no choice"...Derek is drawing a parallel between Lazarus being rasied from the dead (John 11) and his own salvation. Lazarus could not have made himself rise, and became alive again only through Jesus, and in the same way, our salvation does not come on our own doing, but only through Christ's calling.
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I think that Table for Two speaks for itself on this issue through the situation of singleness.
Table for Two
by Derek Webb
Danny and I spent another late night over pancakes
We talked about soccer and how every man's just the same
And made speculation on the 'who's and the 'when's of our futures
And how everyone's lonely but still we just couldn't complain
And how we just hate being alone
Could I have left my only chance
And now I'm just wasting my time
Looking around
But you know I know better I'm not gonna worry 'bout nothing
'Cause if the birds and the flowers survive then I'll make it okay
If given a chance and a rock see which one breaks a window
And see which one keeps me up all night and into the day
Because I'm so scared of being alone
That I forgot what house I live in
But it's not my job to wait by the phone
For her to call
Well this day's been crazy but everything's happened on schedule
From the rain and the cold to the drink that I spilled on my shirt
'Cause You knew how You'd save me before I fell dead in the garden
And You knew this day long before You made me out of dirt
And You know the plan You have for me
And You can't plan the ends and not plan the means
And so I suppose I just need some peace
To get me to sleep
-----
So there, I've said alot without really saying much.
Mr. Wright, out!
Common sense is an important thing. Not all people are blessed with common sense, no matter how hard they try, they don't seem to have it. I don't really have a lack of common sense except at particular times or in certain situations. The sun roof on my car seems to be one of those areas in which I lack common sense. I mean none. Here are some examples:
Mr. Wright, out!
Last night I went to the Muny to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (that is not the stupid part).
When I got back to Sullivan, I got into my car and began the trip to Rolla. On the highway I realized that it was darker than normal. My lights, which are supposed to come by themselves, were not on, just the fog lights; the high beams even worked. I tried to manually turn them on to no avail. I stopped at Bourbon to check things out (fearing that there was a cop over the hill). Pressed, who was driving home as well, stopped by to see if he could help. No luck. I decided to drive back to Sullivan on the outer road with my high beams on to get my Dad's car (he is on vacation) for the drive back. As I pulled into Sullivan I decided to try the lights again and they worked! I was not very happy. I finally got back to Rolla at about 2:00 in the morning.
There is good news. I called a mechanic and they have ordered the parts they think they need and all the costs will be covered by the warranty.
The show was good and I enjoyed the time with the TBC Youth Group. So life is not stupid all the time!
Mr. Wright, out!
I created these caricatures of myself at this page. Vote for your fav in the comment section.
Mr. Wright, out!
I will be out of town again until late Wednesday. This time it is to Brason, MO. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, Christopher, you really don't seem like the Branson type and you would be right, I'm not. The college group from TBC is taking a trip down to Branson and I am going as well even though I am not technically a "college student." Wait a second, I guess I am! Of course I am looking forward to Lamberts!
Mr. Wright, out (of town again)!
Ugh. It is past 2:30 in the morning and I am still up trying to get this video done. Every year I learn more and more about making the video/PowerPoint and I think that this year will be better than last. At least there have been no power outages like last time, and at least I don't keep getting errors. Oh I take that back. I did just start getting errors about 30 min. ago so I restarted the computer in hopes of clearing that up. I am in the process of finalizing the video which take quite awhile because everytime I correct something, I have to re-render the video which take about a twice as long as the acutal video. So, for example, the middle section which I am rendering now is actually about 15 min long, so it takes about 30 min. to render. Right now I am at 42%. I hope that I don't get an error! I don't know what I will do if that happens. This will be the last late night in awhile, or at least that is what I am promising my body.
Mr. Wright, out!
Thursday I went to Six Flags with several teachers from Wyman. We had a good time even though it was hot and I got wet on the log flume. While we were there we were trying to decide which show we should see. The only prerequisite was that the theater should have A/C. We narrowed it down to Miss Kitty's Saloon (I have seen it many times) and a show in the main theater called The State of Rhythm. The part of the description that I heard was a travel through time with Broadway music... I didn't hear the rest. Well that sounded interesting to me so I said that I wouldn't mind seeing that. Then I heard the rest of description when it was too late: ...ending with a patriotic salute. I hate patriotic salutes for reasons listed in my short essay on neopatriotism below. (By the way the show had nothing to do with Broadway and it was awful. They slaughtered EVERY SINGLE SONG. They even sang Fame and I could hardly recognize it.)
Since September 11 our country has changed dramatically. The way that people think about the world has changed. As a result of the events of 9/11 a new type of patriotism has arisen, one that I personally despise.
This new type of patriotism has been commercialized, and not in a tasteful way. Mere weeks after the collapse of the World Trade Center Buildings, you could buy your very own American flag to plop on your car to show those terrorists that you can't keep America down. Whose idea was this? It has always been my opinion that the American flag should be treated with respect and it should always look nice. However, when you put a flag on your car and drive 70 mph down the highway, you quickly get a flag that looks like it has been bludgeoned to death. So much for respecting the flag. If that didn't float you boat you could put one on the side of your car. I'm not sure if people realize that there are rules to displaying the flag, but there are. Half the flags that I see on the sides of cars are facing the incorrect way. This commercialism of the flag has just heaped on more disrespect.
The biggest reason that I hate this neopatriotism is because it has become this country's new religion. America has become fixated on 9/11 as if it was the day the messiah came back. (I'm not kidding, if I see the footage of the plane ramming into the WTC one more time, I just might become desensitized to it.) At every gathering we have to have a patriotic showing of some kind, even at Six Flags. Many times these shows are manipulating people into getting worked up into an emotional frenzy for nothing and somehow it all seems forced or even fake. During the performance at Six Flags, they did butcher, I mean sing "God Bless America," which was a relief, especially when we have two judges telling the nation that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of the phrase "under God."
Maybe we should become less fixated on the event and start to press on to the future, one with God.
So am I off the mark, out of line? Would you like to write your own short essay? Tell me what you think, you can do so below.
This entry should go on the Screening Room, but since I am not finished with that site yet I will do it here. Matt and I went to see Minority Report on Friday. And let me just say that I really enjoyed. I could have done without the spoiled milk though, that was the scariest part!!!! The story is engaging, though is does have one wicked time paradox that is hard to get around, but if you look past that, good times! All the actors were very good. I enjoyed seeing Steve Harris, from the Practice, in a movie role. Steven Speilburg also did a wonderful job. There were some elements that were very similiar to his extremely depressing AI (did they use some of the same props?)
I would recommend seeing it. However, please note, there is some course language (not as much as Sum of All Fears) and some sexually related scenes. Screen it here first, before you go see it.
After you see it, tell me what you thought of the film below.
Mr. Wright, out!
Well I am going to be away for awhile. Bright and early I will be heading off to Nashville, TN to scout for the mission trip. Take a look around and see what is there and how to get there and all that detail stuff. Then I might be heading for Springfield/Bolivar after that to visit some folks. Before I started my classes online I had nothing to do. Now that they have started I can't stay home to work on them. I guess I got tired of sitting around. What are you planning for the next week? Are you getting the heck out of dodge?
Mr. Wright, out.
It has been some time since I have had a chance to post here. There have been many things that have been going on. Since Sunday, I have been in St. Louis at the Southern Baptist Convention. It has been quite exciting and an eye opening experience. Let me start off by saying that I am extremely proud to be a Southern Baptist. The leaders of the convention are outspoken about our faith. Speaking of outspoken, I am sure that many people have heard the statement made about Muhammad. It made a nice sound bite for the news, but media neglected to finish the quote which explained that Muhammad’s last wife was 9 years old. I think that would put him among the ranks of a pedophile. Here is the full comment from pastor Jerry Vines: (Order a tape of the sermon)
"They would have us to believe that Islam is just as good as Christianity, but I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that Islam is not just as good as Christianity," Vines told several thousand delegates gathered at the Edward Jones Dome.
"Christianity was founded by the virgin-born son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives - and his last one was a 9-year-old girl. And I will tell you, Allah is not Jehovah, either. Jehovah's not going to turn you into a terrorist that'll try to bomb people and take the lives of thousands and thousands of people."
Click here to read a cool encounter on the MetroLink going back from the convention.
The protestors were interesting as well!
In other news: I have gone further into debt today. Click here to see on what. There is more to the story but that will be for a later date! This picture does not EXACTLY represent what I got but it does give you an idea.
Below, tell me what you think about Rev. Jerry Vine’s comment and what you think of my purchase.
Mr. Wright, out!
Update: Read a very interesting article on Rev. Vine's comments here.
Normally a mild mannered teacher but in the darkest part of the night, he turns into... Captain Destructor!!!!
That is going to be name of my unauthorized autobiography. I decided that after last night. Here's why: A friend of mine had recently gotten a GameCube. I went over to his house and I brought some of my GC controllers and I brought my Memory Stick so he could copy it to his own disk. While playing the most excellent game Super Smash Brothers Melee, I can get quite worked up. I like to win and I really don't like to loose. On one occasion, I don't remember whether it was a win or a defeat, I jumped up. In doing so, I evidently yanked on the controller cord resulting in the plummeting of the GameCube to the hard wood floors! After the GameCube finished its three hundred foot suicide jump and crash on the floor, the room fell silent and I turned three shades of red. Crud! Let me Reader's Digest the rest of the story for you... we drove to Walmart and exchanged it (even though it still worked. Sssssssshhhhhhhhhh). Thankfully the good people at Walmart took it without question. Whew! Sad part is, that is not the first time that I have dropped a GameCube. Nor the second. Crud!
Mr. Wright, out!
XCVI
MY life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
by Emily Dickinson
Best of luck Kim!
Mr. Wright, out!
My quiz has been out for awhile. Lets take a look at the results. Envelope please...
Admittedly, these questions were tricky, quite intentionally.
Give your excuses for poor performance below!
Mr. Wright, out!
My friend Craig (he is working on a new site) was complaining about a scratchy voice, headache, and many other maladies. I told him that he was getting sick and that he needed to see a doctor. Now I am not one to tell others to go to the doctor because I will be the person that will wait until the illness has run its course and then go to the doctor. Any way I told him to go to the doctor. He dismissed me saying that he wasn't getting sick just a little sore throat that would go away.
I got a call Thursday. It was Craig, he called me a punk. He was feeling very ill. I said, "I told you so." Gee, I hope he wasn't calling me for sympathy.
So lesson learned. If I tell you that you are sick go see a doctor, or start heavily self medicating!
Mr. Wright, out!
One of my bestest friends commented on my entry about going to Meramec Caverns. Like me, Anna has the most wonderful stories and she is a wonderful writer. (I keep telling her that she needs to write a book about her experiences.) Anna once work at the Caverns so she has special insight into to goings on. Here, with her permission, is her comment, this is great:
Well, as a former employee of Meramec Caverns who has given many tours to second graders, I must say that your student wouldn't have been the first one to use the "grab the handrail and scream" technique. I once turned out the lights on an elderly woman from a Senior Citizens bus group--mainly because she was purposely lagging behind and I wanted to teach her to stick with the group and stop trying to steal stalactites. Good thing I told them to hold on and yell about 5 minutes before this happened, because she might've still been there when the next tour came through. It's also a good thing I didn't share my ghost stories with your class. I had one too many paranormal encounters in Meramec Caverns. I could have told them about my second-day experience when the Amish family came in and the mother blew chunks while I was telling about the Honeymoon Room...
Since I too just took my class on a field trip (only mine was chaperoning my 15 special education preschoolers at the Shriners Circus), I can feel your pain regarding panic attacks, permission slips, and mixed-up information.
Posted by Anna Emily at April 26, 2002 05:49 PM
Oh image an Amish woman blowing chunks! Hehe. Maybe I should talk Anna into blogging with me! What a wonderful idea, I will ask.
Mr. Wright, out.
So you think you know Mr. Wright? See if you really do here. E-mail me with your results if you go through the website bacause I won't work properly after the first person goes through.
Mr. Wright, out!
UPDATE: (10/23/02) This link has expired.
Well it has happened again!! I have another ear infection. Last time was in the summer before the mission trip. I hadn't had one since I was a baby so I had no clue what that peircing pain in my ear was. I let it go until it got so bad that I was unable to do anything including sleep, then the fun started when I got on the plane to California. Anywho, I knew what it was this time and got to a doctor, stat! It doesn't hurt anything like it did last time.
This week in school, we are in the middle of achievement testing, ugh! It is worse for the teachers than the kids. It would be easier if I could only perfect my "Direction Follower" serum that makes all second graders follow directions! "No, I'm sorry you can't draw in the test booklet, for the TENTH TIME!"
I am working on getting a new domain name for this site. Soon (I hope) the address for this website will be http://www.whatintarnation.net, however, right now it points to Gone Ape Web Design. I will let you know.
I have also been working on my friend Michael's site. He has purchased a new domain name as well, www.timetobelieve.net. I also designed him a new logo. Check out his site and the new look here. I almost didn't show him the logo because I liked it so much and wanted to keep it!
I added a few links associated to The ScreenSavers. They are all blogs as well.
Mr. Wright, out!
Well I have been pretty lazy today. I did go see Panic Room. A very good movie. I love it when people scream in the theater. The music and the whole look of the movie reminded me of one of may favorite movies, The Game. Be warned, there is a lot of profanity in the movie.
Thursday, I drove to Bolivar and Springfield. I had a chance to see Anna and we went to Kathy's Pasta where my Garlic Chicken Capalini, had approximately 80 cloves of garlic in it. The trip made me miss SBU. In Springfield, I visited my Aunt and Uncle and their two puppies that I have not had a chance to see. It was quite fun. The dogs are very energetic but they don't bark a lot, which I like. Of course I ate at Lucy's for some yummy Springfield style Cashew Chicken.
Mr. Wright, out!
This is the first entry into my new blog. Now some people may ask, "Well Mr. Wright, what is a blog?" and that would be a good question. Good thing Mr. Wright is here to tell you huh? A blog can best be described as an online journal. However, it can be more than that.
Right now, I'm not sure how often I will post, but when I do I plan to post things that have happend at school, things that have happened at church, and other weird and strange occurances. I hope you like it.
One of the nice features about blogs is that they are interactive. Visitors can drop by and comment on what I have written. I love to hear comments.
Mr. Wright, out!
