It's like ...Serenity....

(yes, I know I'm missing some posts..I'm looking at writing them back in this week)

"Attetion passengers, we are currently experiencing turbulence. Please strap yourselves in as it will be a bumpy ride before we all explode and die"

I got into the Serendity premier tonight :). I won't spoil the movie, but it was a very good watch. For those unfamiliar with the Firefly TV series, It's a scifi/western mix about a crew of ex-rebels who do odd jobs both legal and illegal in the border worlds. The action is very oriented towards western-style shootouts and some great lines. The whole attitude of the show is a lot of fun and I've been a fan of it for a while now.

Some great lines from the movie:

"You don't really expect us to live through this do you" - Kayla

(pouts) "Well I was kinda hoping I would" - Jayne

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"Don't worry captain....You can talk freely, I am unarmed" - Assassin

"Good" - Captain Mal, who then pulls a gun out a blows him away

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"How bad is it?" -Mal
"Oh God, Oh God We're all gonna die?" - Wash

I'm going Hulme.....

Today was the first day of outdoor camp. Mr. Slatterly and I rounded up 11 of the fifth/sixth grade boys and a couple girls for a week of outdoor learning and worship. The mood was pretty cheerful as the students chatted about how nice a week without homework would be(the fools!) and how Mr. Slatterly was still unfound in the "hunt the Consouler" game. We drove up to hulme in early morning, tranversing the Kings Canyon national forest to get to the private christian campgrounds at Hulme. The campground itself was pretty amazing and a testment of just how mauch resources have been gathered for it over the years. THere is a huge builfing called the 'Ark' which is supposdely built which same width and length as the real thing and contain 1 skating rink, 4 fousball tables, 2 bumbper pool tables and 4 ping png ball tables as well as a snack bar. THere is also a 40 foot climbing wall, a 49 foot bungee jump/swingline, and a skate park. The Shotgun range and Snowboard run were down, though . The Cabins are all heated with attached bathroom/showers. I was kinda hoping for a rougher enviroment, but oh well...

I'm in a cabin with 6 fifth grade boys...what have I gotten into?

Guilded Truffles.....

Spent time with the guild today, getting ready for the Hanford RenFaire. We hung out and discussed the entry ceremonies for Byran and John, who will becoming full members at this renfaire. I will be watching this event closely as it will provide clues as to what may be planned for my entrance ceremony. As the solo Jesus Freak and one of the few moral members of the Guild, I am carefully gauging how the Guild handles my faith and making certain that the respect my wishes in regards to woman, drinking and other such issues. If any of these are involved in the ceremony it wil become a definte issue when I 'promote' to a full member. All that aside though, I am defintly looking foward to a new round of acting and fighting. If the Galloglas flag is still avaible, I am dead set on obtianing the honor of carrying it into battle myself. I was the first one to ever walk that thing in a fight and Intend to be the main one.

Which brings me to the Galloglas issue. With our number already delpleted and our unit leader taking a sabbitical, we no longer have the numbers to be an independant unit anymore. After some discussion, we decided to become Lord o"Niall's personal bodyguard until numbers improve. Which means being a lot more active and acting doing some acting :P

After all that talking we were a little bored, so we decided to see the the new A-Frame tents the guild bought were any good. They were built in the viking style, which means that unlike the Civil War A-frames, these can convert into sunshades by flipping on side of the tent up and letting an extra pair of llegs drop! It's such an amazing design, that it's a really pity it was lsot for so many centuries. Oh well, hostory's loss is our gain :)

Scottish Higland Games!

What a big day. I started out with the usual stint at work, but the left to Cobb's ranch for the highland games. The 2 mile path up to the games had bagpipers ever few hundred yards to sernade passer-bys and the local Rotc was directing traffic. The fair itself featured a number of intresting places, including the MacDuff both, where I was finnanly able to pick up a clan application. I also found Bryan and David, two buddies of mine and my GUildmate Rob, who was as wild as ever. We toured the shops, checking out the tartans and kilts(which were very expensive) and watched the hammer toss. The hammer toss consist of a single highlander trying to wing a sledgehammer as far as possible. There was a couple of almost whacked judges and at least one hammer head that few of during the wind up. Allof us were having a blast watching it. I think the winning record was 135 feet...We then got together and dissuced what's beeen going on in the guild. Evidently Ali is on a year long sabbatical, which left my Galloglas unit leaderless...we've been folded into the bodyguard :(. I guess they needed my presence after all. I told Bryan I'd see what we could do to stay an independant unit until Ali comes back.

I also found a bonnet! Huzzah !

Well, that was just some of the fun today wish me luck tomorw as I wish my grandma devear a happy birthday and the head out for a guild meeting :) I'm also gonna try to get my waster back.

Scottish Music festival :)

Wow, what a day. I got home from work in time to drive my grandmother to her house after a hospital trip. She's still trying to convince the doctors she wants a heart transplant, but niether the family nor the doctors think she needs one. I spent a hour or two with her, hanging out and discussing things that need to be done around her house or details that need to be figured out now that Grandpa has passed on.

After that, I mdea it home just in time to make t to the scottish music festival :) The Fresno Scottish thisle band put on a great show with dancing, bagpipes and drums . The show was great, altough scottish dnacing looks very painful on the toes. Next was the scottish rock band MacLear, who took traditional medolies and tranformed them into a Rock Ballad. As always in scottish tradition, there was a 2-3 monolouge between songs so that we would know the bacjground of eacj song and why the singer chose it. The best singer, tough was the famous Alec Beaton! I guess he knows some of the scottish society memebrs cause he he was willing to come down and sing so tunes for us. He finished with "The Scotsman", which is always a crowd favorite. (it's a joke about a drunk scotsman and his kilt :) )

It was really a fun night and I look foward to the scottish festival tommorow. I have'nt got anyone to come, but I'm hoping to see Tim or Ali there as I can't belive they would'nt show :)

Thursday night meetings

Made it home from work in time to goto the bible study :p

Bible study tonight was at the Jett's, which naturally means I accidently showed up at the EHlerts.....Ah well. The topic of the night was anger and resetment. Scott pulled up the story of the once leader of Act Up! and how he had been angry during his last days. This naturally spawned a huge discusion of Righteous Vs. Natural anger and what the fin line between justified anger and hateful anger. Throw AIDs into the mix and well, you can guess how active the discussions were. On the plus side, I was discussing Scottish hsitory and found how that nick is meber of the McDonald clan...that was pretty neat. I also got to discuss the upcoming festival and hand out a few invites. I doubt I'll get any takers on such short notice, but it's worth a shot:)

First day of class

Had my first group of students today:) They were pretty active and I think they got the lesson, even if it was a little over their heads. I'm rewriting some of the other lessons to match what I've learned. The kids are pretty adept at following instructions, but are pretty fustrated if they can't immediately grasp the subject. All in all it was a very exciting experience and it helps me to look forward to the rest of the year .

I also had a chance to view a fellow schools lab and curriculum. It was a public Jr. High and had a huge lab with roughly 60 computers, with 2 classes being taught in the same room. They had a lot of good ideas I can apply to the after school program. Especially in the realm of computer tutoring. The only hitch is software, I am trying to figure out what I could do to obtain some tutorial software, but I am uncertain of the policy.

All-in-all there have been a lot of exciting possibilities today and I am really looking forward to the rest of the school year. Although, winter and spring break look good too:)