Mike's Craphouse
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
New Blog Address
I'm trying a new blog platform. I don't know if I'll like it or not, but I'm gonna give it a shot. Here is the address. All my other posts are there, but some of the pictures don't seem to have made it. I'll see what I can do about all that.
Enjoy. The site is below
www.burns105.wordpress.com
Enjoy. The site is below
www.burns105.wordpress.com
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
New Internet
I've finally entered the world if Broadband Internet. I used to have it, then moved to good old Malakoff and wasn't able to get it. Now, not only do I have it, but I set up a wireless connection throughout my entire house. I'm living large. So perhaps my blog will come back to life since it won't be such a pain in the butt to log onto the internet anymore.
Anyway...it's offically Spring and that's a great thing.
Anyway...it's offically Spring and that's a great thing.
Bam
This is Bam. He's a senior at my high school, and this is VERY funny.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
My Blog Sucks
I have not posted in many days. Does anyone out there actually still read this blog? If so, please comment...it might motivate me to write.
Happy Spring Break
Happy Spring Break
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Something I wrote -- VERY ROUGH DRAFT
“We’re moving,” my father told me on a fall Sunday afternoon during my Sophomore year of high school. “You’re new school is going to be much smaller than Union.”
The news was cause for excitement. I hated Union High School. The place was huge and I was simply a number…someone who wouldn’t be missed. It was the kind of place that even if I did something drastic, like hang myself in the auditorium just to get noticed, I wouldn’t get noticed. Of course I would never really hang myself, or hurt myself in any form or fashion. I’m just saying that the place was huge and not too many people knew who I was. The idea of moving to a small school made me happy. I had visions of being the big fish swimming in the little pond, and I liked it.
“I’m going to miss you Chuck,” said Mr. Johnston. Johnston was my English teacher and probably the only member of the faculty who actually knew my name. My grades weren’t great, although I never failed anything, but in Mr. Johnston’s class, I always managed an A. I don’t think it was really that hard to earn an A in his class…he was one of those touchy, feely teachers (and I don’t mean physically) who most students made every effort to try and get in his section. Looking back, I think just about everyone made an A in his class, so I guess I didn’t really have anything to be proud of after all.
“Thanks Mr. J,” I answered. I always called him Mr. J. I don’t think he liked it all that much, but he never corrected me and I just got in the bad habit of calling him that, so we both just pretty much accepted it as the way things were between the two of us. Mr. J was younger than most of the teachers, but not young enough that we mistook him for a student. I’m guessing he was around 30, although I’m not very good at guessing ages. I always admired those guys at the fair who could guess someone’s age. A couple of years ago, I watched a guy correctly guess the ages of about 15 people in a row. It was fabulous and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I imagined having that kind of power and it made me jealous. But back to Mr. J. He was probably around 30 and he was cool. We just got to sit around his class all day and write, and talk, and write some more. We pretty much got to write anything we wanted in his class and if we were stuck, he had this cool book that gave us ideas to write about. Some kids just wrote lists, and at first I thought that was coping out, but the more of the lists I read from my fellow students, the cooler I thought they were. Mel Martinez wrote a cool list during the last grading period that I thought was so cool that I wrote it down:
Shit I Like
Chicks with big tits
Tits
Long legs
Catherine Grace (big tits)
Beer
Recess (Deeply missed in High School)
Melanie Harper (legs that won’t quit)
Pizza
Mrs. Kellogg (nice tits for an older chick)
3:20 pm
Me
For this assignment, Mel earned an A from Mr. J. Some of the other kids in class were kind of pissed that Mr. J would give someone an A for such a shitty list, but if you really stopped to think about it, it was a pretty good list…especially for Mel, which was short for Melvin, and did I mention that Mel was kind of retarded? He wasn’t really retarded, but he was slow. His parents had him tested and he qualified for Special Ed, but I think he faked it. Mel was smarter than he let on and I think he secretly liked making lists, and I think he secretly liked English class. I know this because I told him once, and then he proceeded to punch me in the nuts. It hurt, but I guess I sort of had it coming. You don’t accuse a kid like Mel of liking school, unless it was the part of school where you got to beat other kids up, because that’s all Mel would admit to liking to. But sometimes, when he was writing up a list, I would look over at him and see a little smile on his face like he was enjoying himself. Only Mel and I, and probably Mr. J. knew the real truth.
“You know Chuck, if you don’t like your new English class, I’ll be happy to e-mail you some writing prompts.”
“Thanks Mr. J. That would be awesome.” I answered. I knew I wouldn’t ask for any, but it would be cool to know that I could get some prompts from far away if I needed them. I wondered if Mel ever secretly asked for any prompts from Mr. J. I bet he did, and I bet his work was really good. Mel was no retard.
As for me, well I’m an entirely different story. I’m not a retard at all. In fact, in the second grade, my parents put me in a GT program at my school. They thought I was really smart because I could read in Kindergarten. It wasn’t really a big deal, I just watched lots of Electric Company on TV and figured out how to put sounds together. Anyway, they thought I was a genius and bragged to all their friends and I would go over to people’s houses and read from different books. I remember one time a friend of my dad’s didn’t believe me…he figured I had just memorized the books, so he went up stairs to get one of his wife’s prayer books and I started reading a bunch of crap about staying positive every morning and remembering the Lord. I read it word for word and my dad’s buddy just thought it was hilarious. I didn’t really understand what the big deal was.
GT was lame. We just drew a lot, and made things. We did get to go on a lot of field trips, which was cool. I went to the Museum of Science and Industry once. It had cool stuff in it, like airplanes and spaceships. I liked it, but most of the time in GT we were stuck in the classroom doing lame artsy stuff. One time we made tie-dyed t-shirts…now tell me, I know I’m only in high school, and I’m not supposed to know these things, but what on earth could possibly be educational about learning how to make a shirt that a bunch of acid heads in the 60’s used to make to show that they were radicals?
The news was cause for excitement. I hated Union High School. The place was huge and I was simply a number…someone who wouldn’t be missed. It was the kind of place that even if I did something drastic, like hang myself in the auditorium just to get noticed, I wouldn’t get noticed. Of course I would never really hang myself, or hurt myself in any form or fashion. I’m just saying that the place was huge and not too many people knew who I was. The idea of moving to a small school made me happy. I had visions of being the big fish swimming in the little pond, and I liked it.
“I’m going to miss you Chuck,” said Mr. Johnston. Johnston was my English teacher and probably the only member of the faculty who actually knew my name. My grades weren’t great, although I never failed anything, but in Mr. Johnston’s class, I always managed an A. I don’t think it was really that hard to earn an A in his class…he was one of those touchy, feely teachers (and I don’t mean physically) who most students made every effort to try and get in his section. Looking back, I think just about everyone made an A in his class, so I guess I didn’t really have anything to be proud of after all.
“Thanks Mr. J,” I answered. I always called him Mr. J. I don’t think he liked it all that much, but he never corrected me and I just got in the bad habit of calling him that, so we both just pretty much accepted it as the way things were between the two of us. Mr. J was younger than most of the teachers, but not young enough that we mistook him for a student. I’m guessing he was around 30, although I’m not very good at guessing ages. I always admired those guys at the fair who could guess someone’s age. A couple of years ago, I watched a guy correctly guess the ages of about 15 people in a row. It was fabulous and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I imagined having that kind of power and it made me jealous. But back to Mr. J. He was probably around 30 and he was cool. We just got to sit around his class all day and write, and talk, and write some more. We pretty much got to write anything we wanted in his class and if we were stuck, he had this cool book that gave us ideas to write about. Some kids just wrote lists, and at first I thought that was coping out, but the more of the lists I read from my fellow students, the cooler I thought they were. Mel Martinez wrote a cool list during the last grading period that I thought was so cool that I wrote it down:
Shit I Like
Chicks with big tits
Tits
Long legs
Catherine Grace (big tits)
Beer
Recess (Deeply missed in High School)
Melanie Harper (legs that won’t quit)
Pizza
Mrs. Kellogg (nice tits for an older chick)
3:20 pm
Me
For this assignment, Mel earned an A from Mr. J. Some of the other kids in class were kind of pissed that Mr. J would give someone an A for such a shitty list, but if you really stopped to think about it, it was a pretty good list…especially for Mel, which was short for Melvin, and did I mention that Mel was kind of retarded? He wasn’t really retarded, but he was slow. His parents had him tested and he qualified for Special Ed, but I think he faked it. Mel was smarter than he let on and I think he secretly liked making lists, and I think he secretly liked English class. I know this because I told him once, and then he proceeded to punch me in the nuts. It hurt, but I guess I sort of had it coming. You don’t accuse a kid like Mel of liking school, unless it was the part of school where you got to beat other kids up, because that’s all Mel would admit to liking to. But sometimes, when he was writing up a list, I would look over at him and see a little smile on his face like he was enjoying himself. Only Mel and I, and probably Mr. J. knew the real truth.
“You know Chuck, if you don’t like your new English class, I’ll be happy to e-mail you some writing prompts.”
“Thanks Mr. J. That would be awesome.” I answered. I knew I wouldn’t ask for any, but it would be cool to know that I could get some prompts from far away if I needed them. I wondered if Mel ever secretly asked for any prompts from Mr. J. I bet he did, and I bet his work was really good. Mel was no retard.
As for me, well I’m an entirely different story. I’m not a retard at all. In fact, in the second grade, my parents put me in a GT program at my school. They thought I was really smart because I could read in Kindergarten. It wasn’t really a big deal, I just watched lots of Electric Company on TV and figured out how to put sounds together. Anyway, they thought I was a genius and bragged to all their friends and I would go over to people’s houses and read from different books. I remember one time a friend of my dad’s didn’t believe me…he figured I had just memorized the books, so he went up stairs to get one of his wife’s prayer books and I started reading a bunch of crap about staying positive every morning and remembering the Lord. I read it word for word and my dad’s buddy just thought it was hilarious. I didn’t really understand what the big deal was.
GT was lame. We just drew a lot, and made things. We did get to go on a lot of field trips, which was cool. I went to the Museum of Science and Industry once. It had cool stuff in it, like airplanes and spaceships. I liked it, but most of the time in GT we were stuck in the classroom doing lame artsy stuff. One time we made tie-dyed t-shirts…now tell me, I know I’m only in high school, and I’m not supposed to know these things, but what on earth could possibly be educational about learning how to make a shirt that a bunch of acid heads in the 60’s used to make to show that they were radicals?
It's been a long time....
Man. I haven’t updated my blog in a long time, in fact…this is the first post of 2006, so let me be the last to wish you a Happy New Year…even though it’s almost March.
2006 has been pretty uneventful. Not too much has been happening. I’ve been busy with the job and that’s been about it. I spent some time in Frisco and the rest I spend here in good old Malakoff.
The Malakoff Hoops teams both did well this winter. The girls were bi-district champs and lost a good game to the number 6 team in the state last night. They had a good year, a season like they should have been having the last 4 years. It’s too bad they weren’t able to do more with the talent they had but this year was fun watching them.
Our boys are doing extremely well. They only lost one district game and are entering the playoffs on a roll. They play their first playoff game next week and it should be a good one.
TAKS is this week. I don’t know how we are going to do on TAKS this year. I don’t really want to talk about it.
I started Mtn. Biking and working out on a regular basis again. So far I’ve lost about 20 pounds, but it’s not good enough. I need to lose about 20 more and I think I will this time. I really seem to actually be making some lifestyle changes this time around which is really good. I hope I can continue to make them a part of my everyday life.
That’s about all I have to bring to the table. I took my ELA Teacher Certification test yesterday. I think it went well and I should be officially a certified teacher from here on out. This is good since I would also like to move on to another school sometime in the near future. This certification will allow that to happen.
That’s it. I hope to start posting more, but looking back at previous posts, I’ve said that before. Perhaps if I ever get DSL and I’m always connected to the Internet this will change. Who knows. Have a good day.
2006 has been pretty uneventful. Not too much has been happening. I’ve been busy with the job and that’s been about it. I spent some time in Frisco and the rest I spend here in good old Malakoff.
The Malakoff Hoops teams both did well this winter. The girls were bi-district champs and lost a good game to the number 6 team in the state last night. They had a good year, a season like they should have been having the last 4 years. It’s too bad they weren’t able to do more with the talent they had but this year was fun watching them.
Our boys are doing extremely well. They only lost one district game and are entering the playoffs on a roll. They play their first playoff game next week and it should be a good one.
TAKS is this week. I don’t know how we are going to do on TAKS this year. I don’t really want to talk about it.
I started Mtn. Biking and working out on a regular basis again. So far I’ve lost about 20 pounds, but it’s not good enough. I need to lose about 20 more and I think I will this time. I really seem to actually be making some lifestyle changes this time around which is really good. I hope I can continue to make them a part of my everyday life.
That’s about all I have to bring to the table. I took my ELA Teacher Certification test yesterday. I think it went well and I should be officially a certified teacher from here on out. This is good since I would also like to move on to another school sometime in the near future. This certification will allow that to happen.
That’s it. I hope to start posting more, but looking back at previous posts, I’ve said that before. Perhaps if I ever get DSL and I’m always connected to the Internet this will change. Who knows. Have a good day.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
The Miracle of Christmas Break
It’s times like these that I’m sure thankful for being a school teacher. I’ve had the last week and a half off, and I’m still of until Tuesday. This is a much needed break, and I’ve spent it doing basically nothing.
Well, I haven’t actually been doing nothing…just not doing much. Last week, I decided to do something that I haven’t done in 11 years. I bought a new car, or more specifically, a truck. It’s a 2006 Ford F-150 and it’s loaded. In truth, it’s more car than I need, but I was able to keep the payments low and plan on keeping it for a while, so it will be nice to have. Now, when I go out to my garage and see a Corvette and a F-150 sitting out there, I kind of chuckle to myself and wonder how I got so lucky.
Christmas was good as usual. I spent the holidays with family and some with friends. It was a good time. Christmas was good again as usual.
The rest of the week I will spend resting before I get back to school and begin TAKS prep. I’m not excited about this, but it must be done, so I will do it. Only about two months until the TAKS test. I hope these turds are ready.
Monday, December 05, 2005
TAKS Benchmarks
TAKS Benchmarks
Today I graded my TAKS benchmark tests. Essentially this was a practice test for the real one that comes up in February. My students didn’t do too hot. Only 66 percent passed my practice test. This isn’t good. We have lots of work to do and I’m now officially nervous. If they don’t do better, I’m gonna be shit out of luck this year.
We had our Christmas party tonight. It was ok. Christmas parties for work are always kind of an ass whip. While you have friends and people you are close with but they aren’t exactly your BEST friends. This one was pretty good though. We ate lots of food and I won a $25 gift certificate at Wal-Mart. All and all a decent night.
Tomorrow I get high definition TV. I am pretty excited about this purchase and can’t wait to play with it tomorrow night. It’s gonna be sweet. I will update tomorrow or Wednesday in more detail.
That’s it. Texas is playing for the National Championship. That’s sweet. It’s gonna be a great game vs. USC. Can’t wait to watch on Jan. 4th.
Bye
Today I graded my TAKS benchmark tests. Essentially this was a practice test for the real one that comes up in February. My students didn’t do too hot. Only 66 percent passed my practice test. This isn’t good. We have lots of work to do and I’m now officially nervous. If they don’t do better, I’m gonna be shit out of luck this year.
We had our Christmas party tonight. It was ok. Christmas parties for work are always kind of an ass whip. While you have friends and people you are close with but they aren’t exactly your BEST friends. This one was pretty good though. We ate lots of food and I won a $25 gift certificate at Wal-Mart. All and all a decent night.
Tomorrow I get high definition TV. I am pretty excited about this purchase and can’t wait to play with it tomorrow night. It’s gonna be sweet. I will update tomorrow or Wednesday in more detail.
That’s it. Texas is playing for the National Championship. That’s sweet. It’s gonna be a great game vs. USC. Can’t wait to watch on Jan. 4th.
Bye
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Shit Again
I didn’t write a damn thing. I’m a failure.
Shit
Writing….It’s a tough thing to get a hold of. I would love to be a writer…but I just have trouble getting started. I try and teach kids to write, but I end up having a bunch of the same problems they do. Sure, I can give out assignments and I’m sure I could do well if I was in a writing class, but the truth of the matter is that I can’t seem to get anything done myself. I wish I could think of good ideas to write about, but none ever seem to get inside my head. I try and find interesting characters, but I don’t do very well with those either.
I just read a small blurb in last month’s Texas Monthly about writing. It was a brief interview with a writer and a teacher at UT. He said the key is writing every day and not worrying about plot, but what your character is going to do next. I know that it makes complete sense, but I still have trouble getting started….frustration.
It’s not 10:20 am on November 26, 2005. I will start writing right now and won’t stop for exactly one hour. I will post what I write, even if it sucks. Then you be the judge.
I just read a small blurb in last month’s Texas Monthly about writing. It was a brief interview with a writer and a teacher at UT. He said the key is writing every day and not worrying about plot, but what your character is going to do next. I know that it makes complete sense, but I still have trouble getting started….frustration.
It’s not 10:20 am on November 26, 2005. I will start writing right now and won’t stop for exactly one hour. I will post what I write, even if it sucks. Then you be the judge.
