We Didn't Start the Fire

This is absolutely insane. Almost all of Southern California is on fire. Smoke has been filling the skies all over for almost a week now. The sun is often hidden behind large clouds of this smoke, appearing as a small, insignificant orange ball. There's ash floating around and there are times when it hurts to breathe. I guess this is what life must be like during a nuclear winter.

Aside from the inconveniences of not being able to see the sun and from coughing continuously as my asthma acts up, my life is remaining relatively unchanged. My apartment building is really not in any danger, as there are no fires anywhere near me...at least not yet.

There doesn't appear to be an end in sight for that San Bernardino fire, which has just crossed into the mountains and is threatening to destroy the communities of Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear. My friend Katie's parents live in Big Bear, so hopefully their house survives.

Authorities have released a sketch of the possible arsonist. He actually looks quite a bit like the character that Eric Stoltz played in the movie Mask. Apparently they also arrested a man who was attempting to set another fire tonight, but there's no indication yet of whether or not he set the others.

One thing that has been pissing me off is the extent to which some people are already politicizing this tragedy. I've heard conservative talk show hosts complaining that this happened because Clinton prevented the clearing of brush in National Forests. I read a ridiculous letter to the editor in the Los Angeles Times in which the writer purported that if the members of the U.S. Army Reserves who normally worked as firefighters had not been sent to Iraq by President Bush, then these fires could have been stopped sooner. And, during a press conference today, Governor Davis tied the tragedy in with his tripling of the car tax...saying that money from the tripling of the car tax would provide for more firefighters but the people have spoken on that issue and Governor-elect Schwarzenegger has made clear that he will repeal the increase.

Couldn't all these people have at least waited until the tragedy was gone before pointing fingers?

In other news, tonight was the night for which I have been waiting since May. The season premiere of 24. If tonight's episode is any indication of how this season is going to be then all I have to say is, wow. Tonight's episode was fast-paced, well-written and did quite a good job of filling in the things that have happened over the last three years. Now, hopefully there won't be any cougars this season.

A Day Late...

Well, since I said that there would be something new today, here it is.

In all honesty, I don't really want to write anything at the moment. It's late, I'm tired, and I'd rather be in bed. But, here I am writing so that I will have kept my word about doing it.

Some of you might be wondering, "Where has Matt been? Why hasn't he posted anything?"

Well, the reasons for this are twofold. First and foremost, the past two weeks have been incredibly exhausting for me. As you have seen from my last entry that has been up for nigh unto twelve days, I have been sick with a case of something. I'm not sure- maybe it was the flu, or maybe it was West Nile Virus. On top of being ill, I have had to be "on the go" for pretty much everyday. I did stay home from Kennedy for one day last week, because I was too sick to move. However, later that night I had to go turn in six papers for one class, and take a midterm for another class. So, there I sat taking my midterm with something like a 102 degree temperature...feeling dizzy, coughing, sneezing, extremely sore throat and so on. Incidentally, I still got an A on the midterm, because I am incredibly brilliant.

And then I had to come home from that and type another paper that was due the next day. And that Thursday was when I was doing my How a Bill Becomes a Law lesson for my Government class at Kennedy. Then, this week, I had a paper and a midterm. Fortunately, there's no lesson. However, I do need to start getting my stuff together in order to take over the class starting November 10. So, what I'm saying is that I have been too busy in order to post...that's the first reason.

The second reason is that I have honestly had nothing to say. So, since I really don't like posting one sentence entries, I have had no reason to post anything. I'm still not sure I have any reason to post anything.

Will all of the school work and stuff going on, my social life has been almost nonexistant for the past few weeks. The only friends I've seen at all have been Shane Ross and Ryan, whom I saw this Tuesday night. So, all I would really have to post about is how I have gotten up, gone to the high school, gone to CSUN, come home, spent the weekends doing homework and recovering from the busy week.

Oh well...that's enough about that. In other news, I was quite happy to see the Marlins pull out another victory against New York tonight. Penny's pitching was not exactly stellar, but it was enough to get the job done. Overall, I'd say it was an entertaining game.

So, for those of you who live elsewhere other than Southern California, let me tell you what you have been missing out on. For the past week and a half, the temperature here in Los Angeles has risen above 100 degrees everyday. It has been miserable, particularly in the Valley. This Tuesday, it was about 106 degrees in Northridge...nevermind the fact that it's the end of October.

*Cough, Cough*

I have been feeling quite ill all day. This is not a good thing. I mean this is REALLY not a good thing. Of all the weeks that I had to get sick why did it have to be this one? As I mentioned yesterday, I have seven papers and a midterm due this week, as well as a lesson on How a Bill Becomes a Law™. There's no way that I'll be able to get my much needed rest. I am currently in the middle of writing the second of my seven papers, and am hoping to finish the majority of them before going to sleep tonight.

This morning I woke up at about 7:00 with a rather painful sore throat that has remained consistently painful throughout the day. I took some Nyquil and then went back to bed and slept until about 2:00 in the afternoon. I've done my best to remain somewhat immobile throughout the day, although I have also been doing my best to try to get some of my work done. I finished one paper at about 8:00 tonight, just in time to watch this new show called 10-8. I've actually become quite enamored with that show, and am wishing that they would move it to another time since I am not normally home at that time and Tivo is normally busy recording something else.

I've often heard that during a teacher's first year in the classroom, he catches almost every disease imaginable due to the large number of germs and sick children floating around him. I'm beginning to think that there might be some truth to this, as I am just getting over a rather nasty case of pink eye and am now passing into whatever kind of illness this is. I'm sure that my immune system will eventually get caught up in order to defend me against the continual onslaught of infectious diseases. No doubt, once I have fought back malaria, ebola and juvenile diabetes, I will be safe from all afflictions. Until that time, however, I have just have to learn how to deal with it.

No Rest for My Weary Soul

I had an incredibly exhausting and busy week. In addition to all of my school work, I also presented my first two lessons this week on Wednesday and Thursday. My first lesson was on reapportionment and gerrymandering. I was convinced that all of the preparation that I put into it would carry me through until the end of the period. But, wouldn't you know it...everything I had planned on doing finished about twenty minutes early. Fortunately, it was the day after the recall election, so I was able to turn the topic toward that in order to finish out the period. Seeing as it is a Government class, it was related to the course.

On Thursday, I presented a lesson on Congressional leadership. I was convinced that it had gone horribly, until one of the students told me later that day, at the Back to School Night, that I had done a good job. Granted, he is one of the better students in the class who always pays attention. I think that a few of the students had mentally checked out. Here's part of my problem...I'm teaching Government. Government in high school is, by its very nature, a boring class. Nobody likes to take it and it's made even more difficult by the fact that most of them are afflicted with some form of senioritis.

Well, next week I'm supposed to present the ever-popular "How a Bill Becomes a Law." That seems to be the defining moment in any government class. It's the one thing most people refer to when mentioning U.S. Government. So, I am trying to think of a way to present it that won't bore them to tears.

This week promises to be just as busy, if not busier than last week. I was so tired from last week that when I got home from Kennedy at noon on Friday, I laid down and ended up sleeping until about 5:00 in the evening. I have quite a bit of work due next week. There are seven papers due and a midterm, as well as my How a Bill Becomes a Law lesson. I honestly don't expect to get much sleep until next Friday again.

Tonight I joined Shane Ross and John Lin for a night out at the Red Lion Tavern near Silver Lake. It's one of the better German restaurants in the area and my outing at Oktoberfest last weekend had me hankering for some bratwurst and sauerkraut all week.

After leaving there, we went to this coffee shop on Vermont Street in Los Feliz, near Sunset. I honestly can never remember the name of this coffee shop. I was trying to figure it out tonight, but couldn't...they seem to hide it. All I know is that it is green, and is right across the street from the Los Feliz 3 theater.

So tomorrow I'll be pretty busy doing all my school work...trying to get it all finished before Monday evening so I can just focus on studying for my midterm on Tuesday. You'll have to excuse me if I don't post anything again this week.

Stop the Shenanigans

Like most residents of the Golden State, I, for one, am tired of hearing about the recall. I'm tired of Gray Davis, I'm tired of Arnold Schwarzenegger, I'm tired of Cruz Bustamante and you can damn well believe that I am sick and tired of Arianna Huffington. I'm not normally an advocate of violence but, my God, somebody needs to bitch-slap that woman.

I'm hoping that it will all be over come Tuesday. Whether the recall passes or not. Whether Schwarzenegger, Bustamante or even Gary Coleman becomes our next governor...I don't much care. Just let it go away. It has been the leading story on every news broadcast and in every newspaper since July.

I have this fear, however, that it will not go away after the election. No doubt, there will be some type of court battle similar to the 2000 election in Florida and then we'll have to hear about it for several more months. It will drag on and on and on, just as it has been doing thus far.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope that, when Wednesday comes, the matter will be settled. Then Davis or Schwarzenegger or even Larry Flynt can just get on with running the state into the ground.

I should have thrown my hat into the ring. Seriously...I should have launched a campaign for governor. I'm sure that everybody who reads this would have voted for me, and that you would have encouraged all your friends to do so as well.

I had plenty of time on my hands toward the end of the summer. I could have spent that time getting my name out there. Expressing my view on all the important issues. Then people all over would be asking me my opinion about illegal immigration, Propositions 187 and 227, gay marriage, worker's compensation and the tripling of the car tax.

I'd be making appearances on Fox News, CNN, Good Morning America...maybe I could even get on Letterman or Leno. Then my affable personality and lack of a controversial past would be enough to carry me all the way to Sacramento where I could spend my days fixing the state's problems.

Yesterday Shane Ross, Ryan and I went to the little local Oktoberfest celebration that was held two blocks from my house. We were also joined by another friend of theirs whose name escapes me at the moment. Naturally, it paled in comparison to the real Oktoberfest that Shane and I attended last year. There were no huge tents filled with 10,000 or more people. And there was also no German beer there at all. They had Budweiser...but I'd sooner drink dishwater filtered through my dirty socks. The only beer they had that was even slightly decent was the Widmer Oktoberfest brew that was imported all the way from Oregon. It was actually pretty good.

The bratwurst and sauerkraut were fairly decent, but nowhere near the quality of the fine Bavarian vittles I enjoyed last year.

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur. Actually, technically, it began at sundown on Saturday. That means that all of my observant Jewish friends are in the midst of fasting and will not be able to eat until sundown tomorrow. Kennedy High School is closed in honor of the holiday, so I don't have to report there tomorrow. I still have to attend class at CSUN, though. I have a paper due tomorrow that I was planning on working on today. I just couldn't bring myself to do it, though, as laziness overtook me. Instead, I spent the day reading, watching Young Guns and playing Grand Theft Auto III. The paper isn't due until 4:00 tomorrow, and it's only a three page deal, so it shouldn't be too difficult to pound it out in the morning.

On Wednesday, I have to present my first lesson to my class at Kennedy. I'm covering the topic of gerrymandering. For those of you who either failed or can't recall your U.S. Government class from high school, gerrymandering is the practice of creatively reorganizing Congressional districts in order to give greater leverage to a particular constituency. It'd be nice if I could just say exactly that and have my students understand it...but that isn't likely.

Anybody who has any ideas as to how to get that point across to a group of twelfth graders, please feel free to leave a comment.