Good Weekend

For running and at camp.

Yesterday and today I was up at 7:30 to work in the kitchen during meals. We had a belly dance camp and I did dishes with Kim and Will. It feels really good to work at camp.

Saturday I did a 1600m time trial. I ran a 4:45. Pretty good time considering my training  and running alone. I just wanted to break 5.

Today I did 20 miles @7:30 pace. Legs were a little tired but it felt easy and I was able to pick it up at the end instead of bonking.

Also, the men's 4 miler, my goal race is happening on December 15th and the course is in town instead of UVA. So that kinda changes things. I think I'll sign up for the Richmond 8k on 11/10. It's gonna be great!

Another Day

Haha! Safely made it through another day. I guess you aren't supposed to talk about things like being safe because that's supposed to increase your risk of danger. Like you can only be safe if you aren't actively thinking about being safe. Or rather, if you aren't constantly reminding yourself that you're safe or PROUD that you're safe, as if you've gotten away with something.

You ever look at your hands right now and think 'woah, is that what my hands look like?'. I guess you're supposed to know things like the back of your hand but I kinda surprised myself with the back of my hand just now. There's new lighting in the Annex and I think it's making my hands look old.

Woops, better not talk about having old hands or I'll jinx it and wake up with tiny smooth baby hands. Wouldn't that be terrible.

Would not that be terrible? Would it be terrible? I can't tell.

card #140

sneaking past the door troll

sweet talking the door demon

taking out the door guy

Things are going well

I let the auto suggestions on my phone make the title.  And it's true!

Having a good week this week. The last time I worked at afterschool, in 2016, I would have been very nervous to have groups of 15 to 20 kids entirely by myself. Now it's just normal and they're a great group. I'd take more. Occasionally I'm spread too thin but more often than not the kids choose the right thing on their own. So that's great.

Qnxious

I'm worried about doing enrichment at after school. Mostly because I like the program being more of a chill after school hang out than an enrichment focused program.  But without programming I feel like a fraud, in a way. Or guilty.

I also know it's going to be an uphill battle to get the kids together as a group and get them to listen and be engaged in something and I'm having a hard time convincing myself why they should care. I don't know. I think for now I just need to focus on having some positive experiences and not get too focused on what's constraining me or what isn't going perfectly. I think it's that point of the year where we're settling in and storming a little and some kids are starting to push back and push limits.  And that's okay. There's no rush to get anywhere.  We're after school.

Trying to Better My Smoothies

Fall Break, Byrtle Meach 1945

Today I left my phone at work because when I was leaving work I thought I had left it at home. So I went back to work to look for it and talked to Rigobert and he had found it and put it in his office and the unique experience of driving back to the school at 8:30 and listening to new radio programs and different songs and the joy of finding my phone after thinking it was lost and getting to talk to Rigobert who was very nice---all of that was way better than the stuff I waste my time with on my phone.

So, go figure. 

wednesday, spetember 91 twony18

my fish is broken.

analyzing the crumbstacean

buying a new computer

going to the market

servicing the soda machine

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I'm trying to think of ways to make enrichment fun at after school. The major challenges are making it different than school and also the kids are pretty content and have gotten used to a schedule where we don't ask much of them. It's gonna be an uphill battle of getting buy in and figuring out how to keep them off their computers or get them off their computers and be engaged. 

The enrichment runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday so I need to fill 3 days a week.

For Tuesdays I made this giant grid out a 5'x3' piece of paper with 540 two inch squares. I'm going to call it the Kingdom of After School and it's going to be this ongoing project where they make characters in the world and react to things that are going on. On Tuesdays when we meet we'll talk about what's going on and what people want to do with their pieces. That could last for a while.

And then on Wednesdays I had this idea for a weekly competition where they design a plant, like a tree, bush, flower, whatever, and every week different weather and environmental effects are going to occur and based on how they've set up their plants preferences and stuff they'll earn different points and there will be a leaderboard and stuff. And then every week they will get the chance to modify their plant and adjust how it's doing. So Wednesday will be presenting those results and giving them the chance to make changes and stuff.

Thursday I was thinking that some of them already really have projects that they like doing so Thursday could be about checking in on what projects they are doing. Some of the kids are really into making a play. Some of the kids like to craft and make things. Some like to do reports and present things. There a few that just want to play games and beyond that they're sticks in the mud but I bet I can find a project they might enjoy. The focus is on ownership of something and presenting it to the group. And then maybe I'll build in some sort of incentive to it to entice the recalcitrant ones.

yeah yeah yeah!

Tryna Make Stuff

I have to caption like 60 images for a game. And then also make 120 more images and then caption those. But the idea is that the titles would be an action that you would do in an RPG style game like Dungeons and Dragons. Or just whatever.

slaying the hydra

or something like that. But also I have a compulsion to post things on a daily basis so this long term project can be fueled by these daily posts. And I'll just spitball some ideas and you can vote in the comments or suggest your own.

-making the fighter do all the work

-training the pupil

-fighting some dumb monster

-attacking the chuckle-headed beast

-fighting an underwhelming boss

Y'know stuff like that.

running is going good. shout out to 2.0. Hope his foot recovers soon. He's the best post-college bike pacer I've ever had.

a diagram

the kids said they wanted to make a game that simulates them escaping from after school. this is a plot diagram I guess.

At each event they need to make a roll of the dice to see if they succeed in doing that thing. They have three stats: physical (PHYS), mental (MNTL) and sneak. If they mess up more 5 times then they are stuck at after school until they get picked up. I'll use actual pictures from the school. Should be pretty easy to put together.

Tonight I expanded the monster dungeon one. It has 20 creatures now and I changed around how the stats work and things.

I still want to finish the Cave of Doom and also do an adventure based on At the Mountains of Madness and one based on going through the digestive tract and a nonsense-absurd surrealism one. 

Then at some point I'll make the card game I've been trying to make. eventually.

cave of doom notes

The Cave of Doom

intro to the game(?)/ slideshow I'm making for after school

The Third of the Birds

Mostly long story about zombies but best article is definitely Cassiar Memekio's impassioned plea for us to cut the mississippi in half!

RUNNING UPDATE

Last Week- 660 minutes! Hooray! I met the ambitious arbitrary number. Great success.

Last Wednesday: It was extremely hot. I was sweating everywhere only halfway into the warm-up. The workout went well though. I ran 3 x 10 minute segments around a ~2 mile neighborhood loop, not going the full 2 miles but 10 minutes worth and then jogging the rest as recovery. The first loop felt good and fast. The second one was faster but effortful. The third one I wanted to give up because my legs felt dead and I thought for sure I was falling off the pace. But then I didn't fall off the pace and it ended up being the fastest owing to last some second sprinting at the finish. Just like a race. So that was a great workout.

Saturday: I ran in Richmond and my friend Chris showed me some cool spots and it was a good run.

Sunday: 2 hours long run. Because it was about 30 degrees cooler and raining, I was able to do that workout that I did on Wednesday in the middle of the long run with out any rest in between. I was feeling good so I started running hard and comfortable hard in 60 degrees was the equivalent to all-out in 90 degrees, I mean. So that was cool and encouraging.

Yesterday Workout: I was supposed to drive out to Jarman's Gap to do an uphill tempo. Well, driving requirements are kinda awful and until I start waking up earlier that probably won't happen. But I did some hard running in the Reservoir Trails that felt really good. It was 7x 3 minutes running FAST/ 1 minute running easy. My legs were pooped!

All of the days I've been skipping over have been 100 minute days. They don't vary much from day to day. Pretty slow. Pretty easy. On Monday I ran with my roommate Kim. That was good. I was really tired from Sunday. Tuesday I also considered not running as much but then got into it and didn't want to stop. Overall it's still going very well. Good to be out of the heat. The train rolls on.

Some ideas I had while I was running today

Things I'd want to make

-for the month of October I'd like to do an audio book club where I listen to audiobooks of HP Lovecraft and try to summarize them every day. The major conceit would be that every story stars HP Lovecraft himself and he's constantly obsessed how much he's scaring you and how scary everything he describes is

-I'd like to make one minute songs where at the very beginning I say a short phrase about what the song is called and why

-I'd like to draw gnarly pictures of cells doing cell things and then describing them as if they were pirates or trainrobbers or in love

-I'd like to make alternative audio commentary to track and cross country races. Heightening the drama and tension to the utmost degree. My first race would be Jakob Ingebrigtsen winning the European Championship 1500m and his nickname would be Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius

Yeah, any of those could be really fun to do.

It's not perfect but here's the slides to the choose your own adventure powerpoint

Issue #2 Volume 3

They're Back!

free write: word of the bird articles

if you want a job writing for the word of the bird, a newspaper I make for a bunch of elementary school kids in an after school program, leave an article in the comments.

We are now acceptable articles for news, weather, sports, nose reviews, listicles, ratings, advice, point/counterpoint, stories, jokes, puzzles, riddles, brainteasers, riddles, opinions, and much more.

I'm gonna write as many articles as I can in 10 minutes.

Ready.

Go.

Week in Review:

This week will be remembered as another ridiculously hot week. It was so hot and humid that a lot of the playground was melting. Some people thought it looked like ice cream and they licked it. But it wasn't ice at all. It was scalding hot plastic. We had to call in an oral surgeon who successfully transplanted pig tongues onto the tongues of about half the kids in one second grade class. They're all better now accept from some reason you can hear a lot more oinking from the hallway when you walk by that class. Oh well.

List: Top 5 Ways to Stay Cool in the Heat

#1- Tape bags of ice all over your body. Tape a bag to your legs, arms, stomach, back, and FACE!

#2- Live underground like a worm.

#3- Stop wearing oven mitts all the time. You are not a baker!

#4- Stick a thermometer in the freezer for about 20 minutes and then shove it in your earhole!

#5- Humans sweat. Dogs pant. What do cats do? Seriously. WHAT DO THEY DO TO NOT BE HOT?!

Interesting Profile: Argentina

Argentina is a county in South America. The official language of Argentina is Spanish. If you go back in time in Argentina, you will still be in Argentina, it will just be 1905. Argentina is in the Southern Hemisphere. Argentina is so big that if it were a person it could eat a million hamburgers in one bite. Some people think Argentina is not real and that people are just looking at a bear or something. People from Argentina find this view offensive.

After School Tip #2: Some times at after school and during regular school and in real life, we have to do things that are boring or not as fun like lining up or cleaning up an area. Some people use the strategy of complaining or being distracted. This not actually a very good strategy because it just makes these things take WAY LONGER. If you do things right the first time, you will actually have way more time to do things you WANT to do. And if you need to talk to someone or get help, then just ask. Plus! If you do a really good job then you will get a crap ton of praise and more awesome things will be able to happen at after school because everyone will trust you so much!

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Training Update: Adjusting

Thursday 8.31- Ran the tempo up and down camp road. It was really really hot. I thought going into it that I had a really good chance of breaking 30 minutes. Then the hills came and my focus was to not give up and make it a good effort. I think I accomplished that. A snazzy time would have been nice but effort is enough for now.

Sat 9/1- Went to a field with a friend from camp, Tanner, who goes to UVA. We did some barefoot X's for ten minutes. Felt snappy and good. I needed some more distance after running with Tanner so I stopped on the drive back and found a good 20 second hill on camp road. I did 8 reps of that and was pretty kaput. It felt good though. I miss hill sprints. Tanner also led some yoga that felt good. My hips and hamstrings should be taken better care of.

Week 1: Well, after forgetting how long the very first long run was supposed to be, I fell 20 minutes short of the weekly mileage goal. I'm not too upset by it. 600 minutes is still quality and I think the 100 minutes I did made more sense in the moment. It was a hot and humid week. I'm not super excited to go on my runs and 100 minutes still seems like a lot. It doesn't seem like the baseline yet. But I didn't get injured and I ran a lot and that's really all that matters in this first week of the comeback trail.

Sun 9/2- Broke 2 hours! Woo. Haven't done that since May. It was a pretty slow run on trails. All about getting time on the feet. Again, I'm not sticking to my aggressive long run schedule. I definitely did not cover 20 miles in that time. It probably wasn't too much longer in distance than the 100 minutes run from the first week. I felt good though.

Today and yesterday-- The work from the weekend catches up to me. Felt very slow to start today but got in a good rhythm about 30 minutes in. This week is about getting used to long daily running. Oh, yesterday I got to 93 minutes and was running by the pool at camp and instead of running for 7 more minutes I turned that into swimming in the pool. Hooray. 

Tomorrow is a workout! I'm going to go to a hilly residential loop and do 3 x 10 minutes hard with ~5 minutes jogging rest. It's going to be extremely hot and humid again so this is about effort. 

Things are starting to come a little bit easier. It's still a task to get through the week but I expect that once the mileage peaks I'll start to enjoy running a little more and feel a little better about racing and workouts. We'll see. I also don't want to over think it and just appreciate running as my favorite thing to do. I <3 p="" running.="">

free write: choose 'em challenge

I had this idea of a game to try at after school. It's like an old school, text-based adventure game mixed with DnD storytelling.

I looked up how to make non-linear powerpoints so that if a person is presented with a screen full of options, they can choose an option and the slideshow will immediately go to that corresponding slide instead of the next slide in the order.

So the idea is that the kids will create a character, either a fighter, wizard, or rogue, and then they have 9 different encounters to choose from.

Imagine a 3x3 grid, each labeled with a vague idea of what the encounter will be. They'll choose one and then that will take them to the choose 'em screen where they'll be presented with info about what they've encountered and they'll choose from 3 options to resolve the encounter. Each option is geared towards a respective hero's class. So like fighters will have an advantage if they choose a combat option or a brute force option. Wizards will have advantage with magic and studying or observing. Rogues will have advantage with collecting things or laying traps or using items.

They choose their option and then depending on what their class is and what they choose, they'll go to a screen describing what they do and how their success is determined.

So, for example, let's say you choose the encounter LOOK FOR FOOD.

Then you would go to the choose 'em screen for YOU ENCOUNTER BLUEBERRY PIE.

Your character is a wizard.

Your options for blueberry pie are DEVOUR, STUDY, POISON. or something like that.

Devour would be the fighter. Just mindlessly eating food. Study would be the wizard, trying to figure out the recipe and maybe enchant the pie or check for any curses or poison. And poison would be the rogue option, turning the pie into a weapon.

If you choose study, as a wizard, then you would get advantage and go to a screen that says:

You use your carefully honed powers of observation and quickly ascertain the key ingredients of the pie. You also attempt to detect if there is anything unusual about the pie or how it was made.

Roll d20 x 3, if 1 or more is +10, you succeed!

If not, bad stuff.

And so you would roll a 20 sided dice three times and if you can get just one of those rolls to be above a 10 then you would succeed and you would gain the ability to make a great pie and you would also realize that this pie is loaded with laxatives.

That's like a basic explanation. I'm hoping to have my first version, about the rainforest, finished by the end of the week and then I'll throw a link up here for people to check out.

I think the kids might like it and then I can also sneak in facts and stuff to make it relevant to our unit theme at after school. Mildly educational/trivia pieces.

my swampy domain

To pass through the Gate of Hivid, one must be an expert at

_________________. The downfall of all great heroes.

__________________ is worth more than a hundred screaming horses.

____________________. The thing that will make you wish you never grew up.

"You have to help me. I'm in danger of ____________________"

You hear a rumor that the mayor of the town is planning on ___________________

You are arrested for the crime of ______________________

Someone in the party shows clear signs of ___________________

You encounter a large brick wall. You try________________

When you wake up, all your items have been stolen. You try________________