it's a fish eat fish world

on saturday i went with my friend jim to buy some more fish for my fish tank. i especially needed a plecko of some sort to clean my fish tank, because i am unwilling to do it myself. i also bought numerous tetras in addition to the plecko, but the man at the store would not allow me to buy the tetras that i wanted to get, because apparently they needed softer water or something. so i ended up getting these teeny tiny little tetras that jim suggested. the people working at the fish store always ask what size of tank you have and what kind/how many fish you already have, and every time i go there jim instructs me to lie to them. apparently if i did not lie, then they would not let me get the fish that i wanted too. because of this i was unable to put up a fight about getting the teeny tiny tetras in front of the sales guy, so i waited til we left the general vicinity. i thought that perhaps these small tetras would get eaten by the big, mean yellow cichlids that i already have, but jim assured me that they would not. lo and behold within 5 minutes out of the plastic bag my male cichlid "Sid" had already killed off and eaten one of my tetras, while his wife "Nancy" sat idley by with those fishy eyes of hers.

hide and seek

i have always been awestruck by the magnifiscent beauty created as the moon and clouds play hide and seek with me.

Lighting it up!

So yesterday I had my first decent sized blunder in front of the class. In Ceramics we use a torch to dry the clay at a faster rate, and I was torching some of the students cylinders for them. Each clay cylinder that the students are making is wrapped around newspaper to help it hold its shape momentarily. Well while I was torching one of the students cylinders I accidentally set the newspaper on fire. The fire kept getting bigger and my students could be heard saying things like, "oh, this is going to make my day!" and thanking me before I could even put out the blazing inferno in the nearby sink. Needless to say I got the students attention.

the first class jitters

today, i taught my first class, drawing and painting. i even wrote my name on the board for the whole class to see, like you always see in the movies. it was a pretty low key lesson. there were the expected slight miscalculations on my part during the demo, but all in all i think that it went well. they listened when they were supposed to listen, and for the most part they worked when they were supposed to too... the students don't quite understand yet that they can ask me questions, but they'll get there. today was my third day and tomorrow i end out my first week. for me, things are going at a great pace and i'm working with a great cooperating teacher so i can't really ask for much more than that, right? right.

Splashing

I will be beginning my student teaching in an art classroom tomorrow, with high school students. I am entitled to be nervous going into such a venture. Will my students like me? Do I care if they like me? Will I stutter? Will my shoes be comfortable enough? Will I fall flat on my face? Will my students know more than I do? Will I make it to the school on time? Will I accidentally turn my alarm off and miss my first day?

There's no turning back now, it's simply a matter of whether I go in feet first or head first... but either way I choose, I'm still worried about the splash I'll make

Here's one of my favorite drawings