You did it — high five!

Manhattan
Mattie periodically takes it upon herself to teach her grandmother to Korean. This is totally awesome and really fun to watch. Mattie comes over with one of her books (she's got the Korean letters down and is putting them together into words now — obviously) and then she'll have mom repeat after her to put the sounds together into the word. It sometimes takes a few tries, but when mom gets it, Mattie says:

You did it! followed immediately by High five!

She is really freakin' cute. I'm so proud of my blossoming little teacher!

R.I.P. Sid Salinger

Hawaii
My Scoutmaster from my Boy Scout troop just passed away at the end of last week. I haven't spoken to him in ages, but he was a good man and I miss my time with him. He made scouting good and respectable and something worth doing. The one story that keeps coming to my mind when I think of him isn't really being tested by him for various merit badges or being taught how to properly hold or use a knife. He did those things, but more than that he oversaw and was there for you when you needed him. I didn't mind peeing in the latrines or even in the woods on camping trips — I was a little boy and could do it standing up, so it was no big deal. Pooping, on the other hand, was a completely different story.

Depending upon the condition of the latrines available, I used to try to avoid pooping for entire camping trips. This meant I sometimes held it for an entire weekend, and I don't think know that a little boy's body is not meant to do that. One such trip they had a wooden outhouse that was dark and it must have been April or so because I remember there being spiders inside and when the door closed it was dark and scary. In the day time, I kept thinking about going in the woods and covering it up with leaves or something, but that just wouldn't do, so I held it… and held it… and held it…

…until I couldn't.

I couldn't sleep that night because of a certain discomfort and I knew that I couldn't hold it any longer, but everyone was asleep. I crept outside, but now it was cold, dark and scary. Naturally, Mr. Salinger came outside at that moment — I know I didn't wake him, so he must have simply been aware — and he brought the toilet paper. He wasn't disappointed or upset that I had got him up out of bed. He just walked me over to the latrine and sat outside while I did my business. He wasn't angry and didn't joke about it. He was just there for me when I needed him. Later, I would recognise that his son, Joel, was there for me, too (I only knew one of them well).

Mr. Salinger, you and your wife were truly good people and you raised your sons to be just as good. Even though I haven't seen or spoken to you in ages, you are and will be missed.

Mattie eats vegetables — amazing!

Manhattan
I find it amazing that, although she doesn't love her vegetables, Mattie does eat them. She does so because we'pointed out to her that when she doesn't eat enough vegetables, it is very uncomfortable for her when it comes time to poop. Maybe it's not that impressive to anyone else, but to me it really is.Misun and I don't have to fight with her to get her to eat what's good for her because she sees why it's important and does it herself (she does need to be reminded sometimes, though).

Having passed why do I feel less?

Kimchi
For some reason, even though I passed my 3rd dossier review (i.e. oral qualifying exam) and have been nominated to candidacy (pending a sequence of signatures), I feel worse than I did before the review. I can see just how much I have still ahead of me and there's still so much uncertainty and doubt on my part. I don't know how I'm going to manage to get through all of this. Fortunately, I do know that I will.

I need to get started on the changes I need to make.

Is that what 'Manhattan' means?

Micah Gideon Modell
So I'm listening to this How Stuff Works podcast on the Dutch sale of Manhattan and they offered an alternative definition for my daughter's name, Manhattan. I hadn't heard this one before and it bothered me, so I checked Wikipedia (again) and found:
The name Manhattan comes from the Munsi language of the Lenni Lenape meaning island of many hills. Other theories contend that it comes from one of three Munsi words. "Manahactanienk" meaning "place of inebriation". Other possibilities are "manahatouh" meaning "a place where wood is available for making bows and arrows" and "menatay" meaning simply "the island."
I knew about the first, but the Manahactanienk version is disturbing. Apparently the Dutch were having trouble finding something the natives were willing to trade for it and then thought: hey! have you ever had alcohol? They all went up to the island and the natives had such a good time they called it we all got inebriated there.

I'm still going to go with island of many hills.

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I'm so proud of my sly little one!

Manhattan
I just went in to check on my daughter, who went to bed about half an hour ago and I found her lying on the floor in the doorway reading one of her favorite books. Naturally, I told her that that was not OK and that she needs to be in bed, sleeping, and she did not protest. However, inside my pride was overflowing! I remember both of my sisters and I sneaking over to any source of light to read long after bed time while growing up and now my daughter is doing the same thing!
Micah Gideon Modell

I am finally finished for the semester! I got all my grading in on Sunday, I turned in my draft of my proposal two Thursday's ago and this past Thursday I finished up my dossier in preparation for my third review! I am now taking a much needed break of a week away from schoolwork and it feels nice to remember what sleep is like. This morning I took Mattie to Wonderlab with her friend, Soyul and then we came home and took a nap. Life is good.

Next Friday I'll have my third review and the result will be more work either way, but until then I am going to relax a bit and try to get my body healthy again.

This is my vacation — such as it is.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Micah Gideon Modell

In the past month I've noticed that I'm getting a whole bunch of job solicitations. Now, I'm sure that this is because many of the resumes I have out there promote my skills as a software developer — particularly enterprise Java. However, those resumes are also quite old and outdated as anything current (i.e. within the last five years) focuses more heavily on instructional design and the fact that I'm a full-time student who is currently employed. They are obviously running out of options with existing names and resorting to (Google?) searches.

To me, this is a clear indication that the economy is seriously picking up. Yay!

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Micah Gideon Modell

I am so glad I made the decision not to teach again next year back in February, because I don't think I could do it again now — I'm going to miss it too much. On the whole I have a fantastic group of students this semester and that makes it tough, but I love the classes themselves and how they've grown and changed during my time with them. Don't get me wrong, the reasons I chose not to teach next year still apply (diminishing responsibilities on campus, lack of it me availability and, most important, the impending arrival of Mattie's new brother or sister), but I know how much I'm going to miss it next year and that makes me a little bit sad. It's definitely for the best, and I'll be thanking myself in the fall, but still…

I'll relish the coming week (especially since my grading load is so light)!

Thank you to all my students!

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Micah Gideon Modell
Lately Mattie has taken to telling me that she missed me. When I pursue this further, she expands and tells me that she missed me when she was in Korea. Sometimes, she goes further and tells me that she missed me every day when she was in Korea. This is very sweet, and she tells us this three or four times a day, every day. I think it's basically her way of saying she loves me (which she does more rarely). I've gotta' say though, that it's getting to be quite repetitive, but that's fine.

However, recently she seems to have started gaining an understanding of death. At night, when it's cold, I'll cover her with one of the blankets that she sleeps with — one that we inherited from my dad, her grampa Marty. A few nights ago, she asked me a bit about him and how he died and I explained that his heart stopped. She asked if mommy and I would die when she got bigger and I tried my best to separate her growing up from the inevitable fact that Misun and I will one day die. Ever since, she has been talking about the fact that grampa Marty died and saying that one day we will die.

I hope that she accepts this fact and moves on quickly because it's a little bit depressing to be reminded of this inevitability by your 3-year-old who seems a bit upset by it.

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