May Days: The Heat is On

Sun Setting at the Dog Park

 April has passed us by in a blitz of birthdays and books. It was a good month for me, full of CST test prep for my students as well as a wonderful birthday bash; for Chelsea it was the winding down of her schedule as she prepared for finals. 

But now May is here and she hath come with a fury. The last two weeks it has averaged about 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit in the Sacramento area and as Chels reminds me it is just the beginning.

April sped by and early on I was finishing up Spring Break and working slowly down my “Honey Do” list. The next weekend we spent in San Francisco with some of our wonderful San Diego friends where we scavenger hunted, ate some astonishing food, and enjoyed the Big City. Our friend David, who recently moved to Chicago came in for a few days and it just so happened to line up with my birthday weekend, it was perfect and just tons of fun. I was so appreciative of all who came. The next week after the birthday I played catch up at school because if I take a weekend off I need to find the hours somewhere to correct papers, plan lessons, and organize the Spring Production. Another week passed and it was crazy for me because it was the California Standardized Test, a huge thing at our school. We had some crazy weeks where on the Wednesday and Thursday the kids were done by noon, but the other days we still had our 8-4 days. Since I don’t work with 9^th-11^th graders in my “Advisory Class” (the class where most of the tests take place) but rather work with 12^th graders to get them college and graduated, I was able to participate in some fun Senior day activities, and of course all the extra time we had after school I devoted to our school play (which opens May 24^th and 25^th!!!

The Chancellor of the Hunt put us in pairs. My partner, Groth, is swooping for a shot with David's ice cream. We didn't win, but it was fun!

In terms of Chelsea, at the beginning of the month she was participating in “Moot Court” competition where she had to research some cases in a hypothetical “closed-universe” (meaning they gave you all the cases to read), write a 5-page brief on the cases, and then argue an oral argument   in front of judges. She did really well out of 30+ contenders she was in the Top 4 which meant that on the second day of the competition she argued in front of REAL Appellate Court Judges. It was so great to watch her. She is so, so impressive and I am such a lucky guy to be married to her. Chelsea was the only female in the top 4 and the judges heaped tons of praise, not only on her, but on all the finalists. It was really inspiring to watch her. In addition, her brief that she wrote was one of the top 10 briefs that were submitted (I think hers was 6^th). So amazing.  Other than that she finished up her first year of Law School classes and has been diligently studying for finals. She has taken two already and is in the midst of studying up for her last 3 finals. I am sure she will write more once her craziness is done. 

Chels with the other final four and the Appellate Judges they spoke in front of.

The month of May is promising so far. School is pretty mellow for me, since the testing is done and we can really teach lessons that we want to teach rather than teach to the test. I am working on lessons for Macbeth which I am very excited to teach. Then before I know it, it will be finals and summer will be here (yay!!!). Moreover, the school play goes up on the 24^th and closes on the 25^th and once that is done it will be a sigh of relief. But I know it will be great.  Also I have purchased a road bike to ride around Sacramento so these last few weekends, Chelsea and I have been riding and running errands by bike.

Chelsea is done this upcoming Friday and is going to visit her mom and grandmother down the coast for a week or so, and then she starts her summer internship. So good things are coming, and even though it is burning out here, we’re burning too. We’re working hard getting things done and really enjoying life and all its craziness.

Reading Macbeth and prepping for this coming month. Nice times!