Almost There...

The best news of the week is that my bike is up and running again. At full force. I finally got it together and just brought it in to the local bike shop for a tune-up. I guess I was extra motivated because my roommate Amanda bought a sweet brand new Gary Fisher and has been riding it around every day. I couldn't continue to let my red dragon sit on the side of my house and rust.

Now it runs beautifully. On Friday I drove straight from work to the bike shop, picked it up, left the car there, and rode home. Yesterday I took it out to Ka'ena Point and had the best ride of the year. The weather was perfect and we were there a little later so it wasn't overwhelmingly hot. I tore it up a little on the trails and then went for a quick swim at Hidden Beach, which was packed with local families who had driven their 4x4's out there to spend the day drinking Heinekens and enjoying the sun. We rode out to the point and then cruised back down Farrington Highway as the sun went down.

I'm starting to get back into the active lifestyle now that the year is coming to a close. I'm finally done with IEP's and all I'm preparing for now is the end of the year exam, so I have a little bit more time to take care of myself and get out and play. Now that the bike's fixed, that's another outlet. I'm also running a little bit more and trying to get in better shape for summer. The only bad news is that I lost a fin yesterday morning boogie boarding. I was at Ali'i Beach, just down the road in Haleiwa, and the waves were perfect. I was about to catch my third wave of the day, another perfect one, when my fin came right off. Long gone. Just another expense to add to the book. Oh well.

Last weekend was a good one as I had a chance to take four of my top students to the Waianae side for Teach For America's Student Achievement Picnic. I took Patrick, Matthew, Michael, and Ekim, four who have been some of the hardest workers in my class. I picked them up on base around 10:15 and the first thing I told them was that "the number one rule when going somewhere with Mr. T outside of school is that there are no rules." Well, I don't know if that was the best idea, but they didn't abuse it and we all had a blast at the picnic. Their favorite part was the water fight at the end where they got to pour about 20 gallons of water on their teachers. At least it was hot outside and I dried quickly. We headed back up to Schofield worn out from a day of fun. It was such a valuable experience because things in my class have gotten pretty overwhelming and I'm just stumbling to the end of the year. All sorts of curve balls have come my way recently, including a few new students (up to 22 now) and countless new behavior problems. I thought the end of the year would be the easiest, but it's opposite. I'm hoping that next year, with a more evenly distributed classload, things will work out better. Because right now, these last days are simply battles to gain control and I can barely teach anything. It kills me. But with the most optimism possible, I know that it can only get better.

At the Student Achievement Picnic with my favorite students

With the Sixth Grade team...I'm going to miss being part of it next year!