Lions, Panthers, and Mustangs "Oh My" - I'm thankful that I finally got my interview over with at Magahay Elementary School. Although it did not go according to what I was expecting, in the end it is God's Will for me to be there for the whole year of 2005. Starting January I will be officially a Magahay Mustangs. Which only means, at the end of this year I will no longer be an Iroquois Panthers :( I am still upset that I am no longer an Edmonson Lions either :( I still miss my Edmonson kids, there has been not a night where I don't go through my pictures of them and think about them as I go to bed. I can only hope Jackie, Carlee, Chris, Brendon, Kayla, Monica, Rob, etc are having a good year.

Which led me to today just taking pics of my Iroquois kids. Because of their age I can't even call them kids, more like young adults to me already. Although I was sadden that I found out that Kylie, Jessica B, Nicole, and Cidney all got into a fight yesterday. Plus Sarah got involved too and she ain't even in my class, aiyah my girls! 2 of them got sent down to the counseling office too. I'm glad that I got a chance to at least talk to Jessica B. and Nicole in private to see what went down because I don't want none of that going on in my room especially those that I love. I got a good shot of Alyssa too today, I believe that she can succeed back in the mainstream! I plan on doing a surprise visit next week on my break between classes because I don't think I could go a whole week plus without seeing them. Carl believes that it is impossible for me to still be there and at Magahay starting in January, well I guess I'll have to prove him wrong.

Which leads me to my first impressions of Magahay. Well it helps that my teacher loves sports, it is just too bad he is like 60 something. I can't wait till I get to decorate my own desk with OU and Michigan stuff because Lambert's desk is full of Sparty love. It will be a challenge for me at this joint with 31 kids. The school is much like Messmore meaning open classrooms. Some of the kids do not like the current student teacher, I am assuming because he is 40 something. They got more excited for me it seemed like because they know my age, I seem more hip-hop, and well love Eminem. I even met a girl today in my class, Jacklyn who reminds me of Jackie from Edmonson. Miss my kids still, my dream would be if they could all be at CBC so that I can at least see them once a week.

My Class

Ghosts of the Past - Mike, Joey, and I all sat in the corner of the Rec Center complaining about all the bad teams in this year's league. The tough part was learning that Joey has decided to pull his team out of the league this year, mainly due to scheduling conflicts. No 4-Play this year, and we sat there reminising our battles the past 4 years, each winning the title 4 times. This is Joey's last semester which probably means the end of his team. This only reminds me again how much I love being at OU and my time is coming to an end too. Yet to not have one last Finals matchup against each other is just not the same. It is wierd to know now that this year, odds are we are going to our 9th straight Finals and facing a new opponent.

What is one last battle with each other though? Joey and I along with Mike and Jeff a new v-ball stud at the Rec decided to go at it in 2's. Our game of 2's for fun, drew more attendance than all the other IM v-ball games going on today. Of course the game ended 15-13, but we all didn't care who won/lost because we knew that it was gonna be the best v-ball game of this semester. We had other people coming up to us afterwards, wanting us to show them the fundamentals. We believe we set the bar at OU and it just upsets us to see this semester's teams look so bad.

At least the Men's League ended today, making our team the champs. With Joey's team done, since I've already collected 1 shirt, if our team wins the Co-ed I've already decided to give my championship shirt to Joey. Kind of a graduation gift, but we also respect each other and I want him to go out of IM as a champ because he does not take a single play off.

Which leads me to the last thing, where I struggle at. So far, every team sees our's and Mike's team as arrogant and cocky. Reason is, if our team has a big lead I usually tell our team to help sideout for them but in a subtle way. Every team views us as insulting the other's team's intelligence. While Mike and Joel making it obvious by either purposely serving to the wall or passing 1 handed. My way at least, I learned from CBC and Howard, ya know just serve it out. So it is tough that Mike and our team has this perception of being arrogant, but is that fair? I mean we play the game the way it is meant to be played. We'll see if our play makes others play at our level, but Finals prediction Mike's BSF (which stands for Bump, Set, Fuck, their motto) vs. 4-Getta Bout it.

Ahahahahahah

Daddy's Here - Today, I was blessed to witness more peeps entering His family. I like today's format better too because of the testimony sharing before getting dunked. Part of the baptism is, public testimony which is better than baptismal dinner. Either way it is still all good, but just for once I would like to try how Highland Park does there baptisms. In the summer, they go out to a beach or some big body of water and have their baptisms there. Sounds pretty cool eh?

Seeing those in YTF/D-Ship wanting to mature in Christ is just so encouraging. One of my boyz came up to me after worship and asked me what it was like when I got baptised. I was sharing with him and he told me that he is really excited bout the next chance to get baptised. I also believe that he knows the purpose as well, and I just ask God to prepare his heart for the next opportunity.

Which leads me to my last thing for tonight, I am excited to see one of my boyz continue his growth at CBC. However, I also got a chance to stick around for Jo, and B-12's family's going away party. I am still bummed that Jo is leaving for Shanghai soon and I am sure her girls feel the same way. I did my best, but His Will will be done, just wish I could see her continue with her faith at CBC. Even cruised around tonight, thinkin back those days when we first met and how we treated each other.

Rookie

Conference Call - Today was my first day of being on the flipside of parent-teacher conferences. Back then, my parents never went to my conferences because I was a good boy :) well it helps working at the restaurant so they never knew some of the things that I did. Anyways, I got a chance to meet a lot of my kids parents, and it was great joy for me too because a lot of my students came. So I got to spend time with them while Ms. Wojie would talk to the parents. However, I do wonder if Kevin's parents are gonna come in. Yesterday I learned that he was suspended for telling another one of my students, Mercedes to "go down there." When Ms. Wojie told me that at first I had no clue what she was talking bout. Then she said that Kevin pointed and told Mercedes that, and he is lucky that this isn't my classroom because boy I would of smacked him around first for saying that.

I looked through J.B.'s portfolio that she prepared for conferences. It is funny because the kids are told that they are suppose to put only bout 5 of their best work in there. She has everything since the beginning of the school year, so it is the fattest one there. But she takes pride in her work and she just wants to do well in Special Ed. I spent time with her at her Bake Sale since she asked me to go to that as well, and I purchased some yummy goodies. I got a chance to talk to Nicole and Sarah, 2 of the 3 now as I call them the Mall Girls, all they were missing was Cidney. Although I always wonder why Sarah always giggles when I walk in, but I had a good chat with Nicole bout scary movies. Then I gotta chance to meet another one of my cuties, Alyssa's mom. Alyssa really catches my attention because she is dealing with domestic probs at home. So sometimes she talks to me bout it, but then she doesn't because of the length. I just really want to help her in and out of the classroom. She is always the first one done with her work and does what she is asked of.

Lastly, I should of asked for permission to go to Bruno's IEP meeting today. He reminds me of me in terms of how he talks back to teachers and sometimes so care-free bout doing his homework. He is also 14 next week and is in the 7th grade, so he is of course older than all the 8th graders too. I feel we really connect, just because he views me as the coolest teacher in the school because of my age, and that I can relate to them. Just last week he got kicked out of Art class, so instead of him going to the office, I had him come to my room so we can chat. I really don't want to leave this school, almost the same feeling I got when I was at Edmonson earlier this year. I really miss my kids at Edmonson and I wonder how they are doing in the 5 grade now. This job is so rewarding and I love all my kids, although some of them are good friends to me too because we have our own handshake and stuff.

Show Me Your Soul

Respect Mah Authoritay! - So the thought of the day was, do I challenge our prof in his thinking bout being born gay? After last week's incident, who had the guts to challenge the prof the way Michelle did? I shared about the incident to C.Lip and he wouldn't even go up against a prof. So I figured what they hey, might as well make it exciting because of my lil prob with authority figures. However, I had to talk to Michelle first because she felt so discouraged as she described as "being slammed" by the prof. I brought the subject up today in class, and I believe our prof, had a sense where I was going with it. So rather than battling it out like he did with Michelle, he asked if I could save it for another time with him. He sensed that I was more prepared in the argument bout homo's because he kept giving me the look of "which point am I going at." Defending the faith, bout P-2 too, whether it is a prof or not, I ain't scared. Grades is one thing, faith, hope, and love is another. Don't try this with your higher ups either ;)

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