Monthly Archives: May 2015

One Slowly Fading Slowly

Leave a reply

I have a student who’s bored with my class. In his defense, he’s the only student in the class.

I written before about how I’m apparently too good at scaring students away from high school third year classes and how I ended up with only one student in my class and what problems that was going to cause.

Unfortunately, the predicted problems have already come true and it’s only the fourth class. It doesn’t help that the student isn’t doing his homework. Basically, the deal I offered was that I would provide material for the first hour and, if there was a writing assignment, the second hour. (Note: the classes meet once a week for two hours.) His job was to bring something to do for the second. It could be a conversation topic or an article, but he had to bring something.

I kept up my part, but he’s been slacking on his. Last week I kept him busy most of the second hour and then he wanted to talk about Los Angeles because he wants to move there. (He doesn’t seem to know it’s built on an earthquake fault line and run by morons.) This week he just stared at me as if he was surprised I expected him to do something. I reminded him he was supposed to bring something to do or talk about and he gave me the teenager shrug.

I cut his points 50%. I’ll give him one more chance to do his homework and then I’ll start giving him work to do: Essays about his favorite actors. Essays about his favorite movies. Homework to research different acting schools and write about them. Or my personal favorite: Essays about why it’s more fun to bring things you want to do than write about why you didn’t bring something to do.

I suspect once the class finds its feet and I figure out how to teach it to only one student he’ll be fine. Until then, he’d better have a pen and some paper.

Once More Into the Seat

Leave a reply

I really should be disgusted with myself, but that would take too much energy.

Today was another in a long line of lazy days that occur more often than they should and also tend to occur when the weather is changing. (The weather’s been bouncing between warm, hot and cool the last couple weeks which has stolen energy away from everyone I know.)

The day started off strong with me actually getting up on time despite having gone to bed late. (This entry is being written on three hours sleep plus one 15 minute nap.) I made an omelet with ham, Mozzarella cheese and chopped fresh Japanese mustard spinach. (It was awesome, if I do say so myself.)

After that, I didn’t do much else that was productive. In my defense, I did proofread and rewrite a company brochure as a favor to one of my former karate colleagues. They make equipment for veterinary clinics so I learned a lot about their new animal ICU systems (link in Japanese) while trying to figure out, based on the English that was used, if I’d actually learned anything or simply misunderstood.

I also finished an online course that was interesting but nothing special and did the next module in another online course that I’m afraid will suddenly start seeming like work. (It’s a fiction course; long story.)

That took the better part of the morning and I couldn’t be bothered to do much of anything once that was finished. I played some games, watched an episode of A Touch of Frost, (which is, well, another post) and wrote random bits of stuff but nothing particularly coherent. I then cycled through all that again, leaving out the tv show the second time.

Besides the weather, I also know that June is coming and feel compelled to save my energy for the big push. Well, at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

There was Neither Justice nor Fairness

Leave a reply

I don’t remember how old I was when I had to do dishes on my birthday. I do, however, remember  the blood.

We lived in Hayden, Colorado and we still lived in a trailer in Meadow Village (more on that in another post) and my sister and I were expected to alternate dish washing nights. In this particular year, it turned out that November 16th was my dishes night and November 17th was my sister’s night.

Now, to my teenaged logic, having my sister’s dishes day fall on my birthday offered me no bonus whatsoever (not having to do dishes on my birthday was nothing special if I wasn’t scheduled to do dishes on my birthday). It was no different than her having to do dishes on Tuesday after I did them on Monday. This, again to my teenager logic, hardly seemed fair. I therefore failed to do dishes on the 16th fully expecting to not have to do them on my birthday.

However, there is no justice in the world.

Rather than be granted clemency and a “Happy Birthday, Son” I was told I had to do dishes on my birthday because I hadn’t done them the night before. This is roughly the equivalent of having someone spit on the Baby Jesus at Christmas (not really, but I was a teenager so this logic made sense).

As a counter, I offered the logical argument of “Yeah, but it’s my birthday.” and was countered with “Yeah, how ’bout that” and then did dishes.

Karma then ensued. Although I’m not sure who’s karma it was.

I was cleaning a McDonald’s (or maybe a Pepsi’s) Collector’s glass (I vaguely remember it being Superman). As I washed the inside, the glass broke apart and I cut my hand.

My mom offered parental logic along the lines of “If you bleed to death, you’re not getting any birthday cake” and then offered me first aid.

To this day I feel justice was not served. The physical scars healed eventually though.

 

Magic Blue and Magic Gray

1 Reply

I have a pair of magic pencils. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

This started a few years back when I called for volunteers to do a classroom assignment and was met by crickets and groups of boys who averted their eyes in the hope it would make them invisible. I held up my pencil and said that that if there were no volunteers I’d let the magic blue pencil decide. I dropped it on my class roll sheet and announced the name of the person the magic blue pencil had chosen.

That would have been all of it except, a couple weeks later, I once again called for volunteers and my students instead requested that the magic blue pencil decide. After that, the transparent blue Pilot S3 mechanical pencil (similar to this black one) became a regular character in my class. The magic blue pencil always chose the person who secretly wanted to go next. When students protested I told them that the magic blue pencil was never wrong.

On a couple occasions I pretended to receive phone calls via the magic blue pencil. The phone call explained the students were about to do a large project. I pretended to protest and when students protested the assigment, I said they should blame the magic blue pencil. I had tried to defend them.

The Pilot S3 (top) and the UNI Kurutoga Roulette. That Kurutoga looks scary.

The Pilot S3 (top) and the UNI Kurutoga Roulette. That Kurutoga looks scary.

However, over time, the magic blue pencil got replace by a UNI Kurutoga Roulette in Gun Metal gray. The magic gray pencil looks scarier and more weapon like but is no less wise than the magic blue pencil. It always chooses the person who was supposed to go next. It’s also partly made of metal and makes a satisfying thump when it hits the roll sheet.

I recently, through a sale, acquired a Karas Kustom’s Bolt. It’s made of brass and feels heavy enough to be a weapon. It may, someday, replace the magic gray pencil.

Bolt-1

Until then, I’ll keep relying on the wisdom of the magic gray pencil. (Something like that.)

This is the Day You Knew Was Coming With a Vengeance

Leave a reply

In every class there’s a moment where your students find out you’re serious. In the case of first year high school students at the school where I work, after mocking any attempts to discipline or threats to fail them, they suddenly discover they are not in junior high school anymore.

Today was that day in two of my classes.

In all fairness, the classes went well right up until the moment they didn’t. When they didn’t go well the students were supposed to be rewriting and memorizing a conversation from the book. Instead, most of them chatted. In the first class when I asked for volunteers no one raised their hands so I chose a pair. One partner didn’t know what page they were on and the other hadn’t changed the conversation. This continued through a few more pairs, with one doing a passable job, until I gave them all a homework assignment. I can tell they didn’t take me seriously so I told them that anyone who hadn’t finished the homework would have to meet me after school or at lunch the day after the homework was due.

That was the first class of the day.

When I got to the last class, I warned them that their fellow students had earned homework and I’d be more than happy to give them homework. One student had failed to bring a textbook or a notebook and assured me his textbook and notebook were in his head. I told him to prove it by tearing out a sheet and giving it to me. (He didn’t, but it would have been really cool if he had.)

Once again, things went well right up until the final project. In the second class, guys were talking to people other than their partners forcing me to invoke Rule 13:

If you are talking to someone other than your partner, that means you are ready and must do your performance right away.

Four pairs ended up violating Rule 13, including the kid with no textbook. Once again, the first pairs weren’t ready and they got defiant and started reading from the text (neither had changed it as they were supposed to). I told them every time they looked at their book they lost a point. They ended up with 1 point out of 10 for the day.

The no textbook guy did badly, then he and his partner surprised me by asking for “revenge” or a chance to go again. They did much better the second time. A pair I chose at random didn’t know which parts they were reading. One of the partners got mad and didn’t understand why I was calling on him. (I told him it wasn’t me, it was the magic brown pencil. Long story.)

After he argued some more, I told him 1) he should go to an easier school or 2) he should save his textbook because he might need it again next year. He made a rude comment and I said I’d be happy to introduce him to the guys held back from previous year. They did badly.

In the end, though, enough did well to save the class and only three pairs got homework.

I can tell the guy who was rude doesn’t think I’ll actually keep him late or that he can actually fail. Poor fella. He doesn’t know me very well yet.

Let’s Go to the Mall, Today

Leave a reply

When I was growing up in Colorado, one of our favorite places to hang out, despite us not having much money, was a mall. Now that I’m older, malls are great places to distract the girls and pretend we actually did something when we didn’t.

Because it’s Golden Week and because She Who Must Be Obeyed worked Monday and Tuesday and because our oldest had club, we didn’t get a chance to go out until today. (I was babysitting our youngest/writing/playing World of Tanks.) Unfortunately, our oldest had her own plans to spend money so we sent her to the big city by herself whilst the rest of us went to the mall. More specifically, we went to a new mall called LaLaPort Fujimi, built just a short drive/train ride away.

The only problem with this was, because it’s Golden Week and because the mall is new, about 12 billion people (plus or minus a few hundred thousand) were going to be there. The mall actually has “heavy traffic expected” warnings on its website and the signs were not good.

We decided to take the train and then take a bus but as soon as we got to our station, there were people standing around and signs saying “Hell if we know when the next train leaves” at the front of the station after an apparent suicide somewhere down the tracks. Luckily we only had to wait 20 minutes and also luckily, the trains weren’t that crowded.

After we got to Tsuruse Station, it was such a nice day we decided to walk the 20 minutes to the mall. After we got there, there then ensued the “where should we eat/hell if I know because I’ve never been here before” discussion that usually occurs around lunch time when we’re out. (We ended up at J.S. Pancake Cafe, which turned out to be an excellent choice.)

Oddly, we ended up not buying anything other than lunch and a few things our youngest paid for with her allowance. She had fun but She Who Must Be Obeyed and I were underwhelmed. The LaLaPorts are a chain of malls around the Tokyo metro area and all the ones I’ve been to suffer from a certain sameness. They all have circular layouts designed to improve traffic flow and they all are well arranged through a complex scientific process involving a committee. (Not a joke, the committee was featured on local news/native advertising last week.)

The also have all the same stores.

We don’t have plans to go back, although it’s not that far away, even if we walk. There’s just nothing special about it.

Note: Fans of “How I Met Your Mother” will recognize the title of this post as a lyric from Canadian pop-tart Robin Sparkles epic “Let’s Go to the Mall” (Which manages to make fun of both Tiffany and Debbie Gibson.)

 

 

MY DIY Notebooks–Long Term Review

Leave a reply

It seemed to be a good idea at the time. And it was. Until it wasn’t.

A decade ago or so the school where I work asked us to hand out surveys to our students assessing our and their performance in class. (Many marked low scores without realizing they were marking themselves low.) Part of my game was to give out the survey at test passback classes and then, once I was safe, pass back the exams.

Unfortunately, not only did we get the results of the surveys, we also got all the surveys back to go through if we wanted. I had about 280 students or so and we did the surveys twice a year. This meant we had stacks of paper. Well, at least it meant I did. I have generally saved old worksheets as scratch paper in order to use the backsides before I throw them out. With the surveys, I had a stack of paper that got bigger twice a year.

I then downloaded a freeware program that let me make lines and set about making my own writing tablets. I printed the surveys and bunches of random worksheets I still hand on my bubblejet printer. (Keep in mind, given the price of printer ink, it would have been cheaper to pour Dom Perignon champagne on the floor.) I bound the pages with staples, covered the staples in black gaffer’s tape and, in a few cases, used an Exacto knife to create ghetto perforations to make pages easier to tear out.

The original stack of 50.

The original stack of 50.

I ended up with 50 tablets and set about using them to write novels. Each tablet had 65 pages and about 35 lines or so from top to bottom. With my handwriting it worked out to about 11,000 words per tablet and I used several of them for novels one and two.

There were, however, several problems.:

Not only could I see my shame (any poor surveys) so could anyone else who saw the tablet. Some pages had heavy ghosting from being printed with bubblejet printers. This made them hard to use.

Ghosting and, if you look real closely, you can see the results.

Ghosting and, if you look real closely, you can see the results.

My handwriting is terrible and 65 pages of my handwriting is madness. Before the school stopped asking us to do surveys, I acquired more paper, and therefore more tablets before I could finish the ones I had. The longer the tablets sat, the more they turned brown and the more the staples rusted.

Also, not only was there the ink expense, but printing them was frequently a pain in the ass that took more time than taking the train to Tokyo to buy expensive notebooks would have. Because I was using different types of paper, I couldn’t just start printing and walk away. I had to be there to undo jams and sort printed sheets from those that got fed through in clumps.

Lately I’ve been moving away from those tablets toward higher quality, more fountain pen friendly paper. I threw away a stack that had begun to turn brown and mildew. I also started tossing spare handouts in the recycle box rather than my desk. I still have a stack of tablets and several others I bound but never printed. I’ll use them to write morning pages, or to sketch out rough drafts of school assignments, but I’ll never print anymore.

A more modern stack. Now side-bound but still with staples and gaffer's tape.

A more modern stack. Now side-bound but still with staples and gaffer’s tape.

Note: The first two pictures above were first published in an article for Notebookism.

 

cKc Victorious–When a Lock is Not a Lock

Leave a reply

I’ve mentioned Kyley Harris of cKc Knives before and how he seems to enjoy solving problems that aren’t actually problems. Today I’d like to talk about his non-locking folder that comes with a lock.

One of the things Harris set out to solve is the problem of friction folders. For those who have interests other than pointy stabby things, a friction folder is a knife that doesn’t lock into place when the blade is open. Instead it relies on friction and/or the hand of the user to keep it open.

The problem with friction folders is that over time they lose friction and don’t stay open. Users have to be careful when using them, lest the blade close on their fingers. The other problem is that they traditionally have an extended tang that sticks out when they’re closed allowing the blade to be opened more easily.

A Japanese Higonokami friction folder. You can see the extended tang off to the left.

A Japanese Higonokami friction folder. You can see the extended tang off to the left.

Harris spent a few months experimenting with designs and consulting with fellow knife makers in order to create an updated friction folder that had a lock that didn’t count as a lock. At one point he even tried magnets and rods on lanyards that could be inserted and removed as necessary.

In the end he came up with the cKc Victorious. It has a small sliding bar built in the blade that can be slid into place. Because it holds the blade in place but doesn’t actually lock it, I prefer to call it a “restraint.” It adds a level of safety if, for example, the blade gets stuck during a cut. As you pull back, a regular friction folder will try to close on your fingers, but the “restraint” prevents that.

cKc Victorious. You can see the sliding restraint and the slot for it at the top left.

cKc Victorious. You can see the sliding restraint and the slot for it at the top left.

The design itself is terrific. The blade is nine centimeters (3.5 inches) long and made from AEB-L Stainless. Open the knife is 20 centimeters (7.87 inches). The handles are anodized titanium.  The blade shape is almost a wharrencliffe but has a rounded edge (perhaps making it more of a sheepsfoot). Fully open and restrained, it looks great. Harris has rounded the handles and off set them from the blade so users can slice without dragging their knuckles across the cutting board.

 

My full cKc collection. The Victorious is third from the top. You can see the great handle shape and the closed restraint.

My cKc collection. The Victorious is third from the top. Note the great handle shape and the restraint. (knives list below)

The other safety feature is the choil where the index finger rests. If the blade tries to close, the index finger will act as a blade stop. This is good because, as always, Harris has sharpened the blade into a scary sharp convex. Although the handle is metal, and Harris prefers a rough, unfinished look to his knives so that people won’t be afraid to start using them, there are no sharp corners to play havoc with your hands. The knife is a lot of fun to hold and cut with with.

I only have two minor complaints about the knife. First, it’s heavy. It weighs 124 grams (or 4.37 ounces) which makes it too heavy to carry in the pocket. Also, the look is slightly ruined by the random hole at the top. This is a legacy from the early days of experimentation.

As I’ve said before, Harris is leaving knife making for more secure work. He will fulfill the last of his orders and then make a few personal knives and then retire from knife making. Those of us who admire his knife making skills and his sense of design will miss his work and we all hope he changes his mind.

Note
Here is a complete list of the knives in the picture, top to bottom:
–3″ Utility
–Slipjoint
–Victorious
–Streamline 2.0
–EDC
–Bait Utility

 

Revisiting Silly Newsletters with Spots of Bitterness and Anger

Leave a reply

Today I’m going to cheat a bit and recycle some very old material.

I’ve mentioned before how a large part of my life and writing career revolves around silly newsletters. During my closet cleaning, I stumbled across a copy of one of the newsletters I made when I was in Albania. Even I’m shocked at how angry it is.

The newsletter is called Gremlin II and features the motto “Fighting the Good Fight Against Bad People”. Being a fool I didn’t put a date on it, but I suspect that was for plausible deniability (Hey, this thing was written on the day Dwayne was in town using the Peace Corps computer. What a colossal coincidence!) However, a reference to trainees means it had to have been written at the start of our second year.

It starts with an angry farewell message from a volunteer who’d had enough and headed home. “The express purpose of the Peace Corps is to act as a glorified welfare system for third world countries and to keep inefficient middle-management Americans employed outside of the continental United States so as not to damage the American economy or capitalistic thought.”

Yep, definitely proof it’s the toughest job you’ll ever love. This person also summed up the Albanians as “They’re ANIMALS! They’re animals without teeth!” You can tell this person was ready to go home. That I ran that quote in the newsletter meant I probably had a lot of sympathy with this person at times and had been rejected by at least three Albanian women.

The rest of the newsletter was an attack on the administration of the Peace Corps. It reminded everyone that they were “not allowed to get married, divorced, drink American beer, accept candy from strangers, have sex, ride a moped, eat, breathe or shit unless a proper memo has been issued in triplicate…”

Since I wrote that, I’m sensing a lot of bitterness from me as well.

I tried to start a Money Matters column in the newsletter as a cynical way to celebrate our 450 lek (US $4.50) monthly stipend raise, but I’m pretty sure I never did.

The rest of the newsletter was dedicated to cruel insults about a member of the Peace Corps staff. These were solicited from other volunteers. I’ve included some of the clean ones:

–She’s a zombie . . . but that does imply she was once alive.”
–She’s an android. I swear I saw her scalp move.
–She’s an alien, but that does assume higher intelligence.
–She’s a victim of the body snatchers.
–She’s the world’s greatest genius undercover as the world’s most incompetent idiot.
–She’s a ridiculous petty tyrant wannabee hypocrite with a squeaky Minnie Mouse voice.
–She’s an aging starlet whose plastic surgery went horribly, horribly wrong.
–She’s a coma victim: that implies she has life, but no brain function.

Again, I think I sense a spot of bitterness there.

This, of course, was produced on government computers, printed on government paper with government ink. It was childish and cruel, but surprisingly well received even by people who actually got along with the staff member in question.

Somewhere during the two years, some of us also sketched out a Peace Corps movie and cast all the parts. I think I still have that around somewhere, but I’ll have to clean more of the closet to find it.

 

Kurotani Washi Notebook–Lost and Found Overview

Leave a reply

I apparently bought a notebook in the 1990’s that I forgot I had. Since I’ve been cleaning out the storage closet, I discovered it in a box.

Me being me, I immediately began testing fountain pens on it.

The notebook is a handmade washi notebook from Kurotani Washi. Kurotani Washi has been making paper by hand for around 800 years. The notebook is just larger than B5 sized and has 25 folded sheets and a handmade cover bound in Japanese stitching.

The signature at the "back." It says (top to bottom) Tan Ba Kuro Tani Wa Shi.

The signature at the “back.” It says (top to bottom) 丹波 TanBa 黒谷　KuroTani 和紙　WaShi.

The cover. Notice it opens from the left.

The cover. Notice it opens from the left.

I don’t remember buying it but I suspect I got it on a trip to Kyoto during the late 90’s. On one trip in particular, I visited several traditional shops and artisans that had been in business for hundreds of years. I used Diane Durston’s terrific Old Kyoto as my guide book and highly recommend it as an alternate way to tour Kyoto.

One of the shops I visited was Kyukyodo which was founded in 1663 and sold incense, paper and calligraphy supplies.

Because at the time I was studying Japanese calligraphy, I stocked up on brushes, ink sticks and random paraphernalia. I suspect I got the notebook at the same time. I almost certainly had some grand plan to write calligraphy and or poetry in it but it ended up in a box.

However, because I bought it, and because it was blank, I couldn’t just throw it out. Instead I broke out several fountain pens to see what would happen.

The inside cover and a few writing samples.

The inside cover and a few writing samples.

I was surprised at how smooth some of the pens felt and that the nibs didn’t become clogged with threads from the paper. It was a bit like writing on watercolor paper but most of the results looked pretty good.

A sloppy close up of the Aurora Blue. Note the feathering and bleed.

A sloppy close up of the Aurora Blue. Note the feathering and bleed but it doesn’t look too bad.

Washi typically has a smooth side and a rough side. As such, each page consists of a large sheet that’s been folded and bound. The folding prevents the brush ink from bleeding through to the next page. During my tests, I found that only a Noodler’s Konrad with a flex nib and Noodler’s Apache Sunset bled through both pages.

My Edison Glenmont separating the fold.

My Edison Glenmont separating the fold.

Now that the notebook’s been written in, I suspect I’ll use it for morning pages just to use it up. It works well with my TWSBI 580 and my new Nexus Minimal.

After that, I suspect I’ll just throw it out.