Back by popular demand. Sort of. My sister's Stacey and Ilana encouraged me to continue with this blog, in some cases daily. Jen's sister Natalie, (Frances), asked me at breakfast the other day when there would be more entries. She said she checks daily. I haven't even been doing that. Yikes. Jen had the most accurate prediction in that she stated that most peoples blogs don't last a month. Mine lasted 2 posts and then went on a month long hiatus. No one complains when a show like Lost or Battlestar Galactica does the same thing, though the latter probably have a greater fan base, hard as that may to be believe.

So what has occurred in the last month? Most of it amounts to abject writing laziness. I'd claim writers block; but anyone who has known me for any amount of time knows I almost always have something to say, much to their chagrin.

When last I posted I had finished rambling about an awesome interview for a first grade teaching position. Well after much fretting and going out of my mind and thinking the worst I was offered a teaching position at the same school on June 4th, 2008, (ironically my first anniversary of being employed with Mary Kay). Now I'm not teaching first grade. The position is 5th grade science. I took it! I can't recount accurately how grateful I am for the opportunity. I think I called everyone on my call list. I have to say that I am particularly grateful for the reactions of my family. I could hear the happiness and pride in the voices of my father, mother and sister. I think some of it may have been relief on their part that there son and brother would not continue in this self imposed role as prodigal screw up. Seriously I could feel the outpouring of love in their voices for me over that phone. It was very moving. I just want to say how much I love the three other people that make up my immediate family.

My father, who's relationship has been tenuous, is now one of my closest confidantes. I have learned to trust his wisdom that was acquired the hard way. I use to think that he didn't have too many redeeming qualities when I was growing up, but as I listen to him now I hear many of the things that I was missing, largely because of anger. In the last few years I have grown to see him in a different light. My father is a fighter! In his profession as an attorney he is highly suited for this role. He isn't afraid to roll up his sleaves and get into an old fashioned street brawl. He has a strong sense of justice and advocacy. He also has a strong sense of family. This is a quality that I have seen more of over the last few years. The generosity that he has demonstrated towards my siblings and I has been nothing short of amazing! If my father has it, then it is his joy to share it.

My mother has been a rock over the years. I would describe her as steady. She isn't a fighter in the way my father is. Hers' is a quiet strength. I remember as a kid how we didn't always have enough money. I think of the pressure's I have felt being a single adult and not having enough money. I can't imagine being in my mothers shoes, having to raise two children and dealing with the pressures of not having enough income and wondering how to make ends meet. She did it though. This grace is a quality that I am growing to appreciate more and more as I mature. Life hasn't always been fair to her but you would never hear her lament about it. She is usually too busy working, watching golf, or playing golf. She is also too busy in the fact that on top of a quiet strength she demonstrates a quiet generosity, be it an encouraging word, baking a an amazing cake for a co-worker, or letting her son stay in her home long after he has worn out his welcome.

Sometimes I wonder how my parents came together. Their personalities couldn't be more different. This was clearly a case of opposites attracting. My father is emotional and my mother is not easily rattled. My father comes from a Jewish home where emotions are worn on the sleeves for all to see. At dinner no topic is off limits no matter how truthful or outrageous it may be. My mother is WASP. Comments and opinion weren't off limits either, as long as the person being discussed was elsewhere. Some may say that behavior was somewhat disingenuous but knowing my mother it was more to temper responses and not come from a place of raw emotion, and to maintain peace.

My sister Stacey is simply amazing! She has been more than a sister to me. She has been a best friend, a source of strength, a source of wisdom and the embodiment of kindness and generosity. Sometimes I think of how hard we fought as children and am amazed at our closeness. I am grateful that it is this way. Watching and listening to her, one sees the humor and the zest for life. You see the devotion to family and friends. It's not unusual to hear someone say, "I/we love Stacey." She to touches so many lives, whether at work as a dough specialist for Nestle', or duh specialist as I'm apt to tease her about, helping and planning my surprise 40th birthday party, or simply some random act of kindness, that with her isn't so random.

This is my immediate family. These are the people who over the course of 40+ years have helped me to understand the qualities of love, courage, determination, grace, and generosity. A man couldn't be luckier to have such gifts passed along to him from those he loves and calls family.

So today I had an interview for a first grade teaching position at a school that I like a lot. It's located in The Colony,Texas. Strange name for a town. So I have to say that this has to be the best teaching interview I've ever been on. The principal and her assistant asked plenty of great questions, to which I had plenty of great responses. In some cases my responses came before they asked the question. How's that for damn good? I did feel like I knew what I was talking about. I had it all, different learning modalities, (auditory, visual, kinesthetic), multiple intelligences, Harry Wong's setting up for procedures, setting high expectations, teaching to mastery, and it doesn't end there. I talked about increasing children's strengths, improving weaknesses, and helping them find their confidence. I made mention about presenting a positive male role model by having dress up Mondays. The latter was just an excuse so that I could wear a suit. Did I mention I looked good. Real good! Guys, piece of advice if you want an ego boost. Go somewhere that at your best you dress business casual and throw on a power suit. In the school where I was at and substitute on a regular basis the response was gratifying. Many of the female staff were very impressed. The phrase "you clean up nicely" came up often. Of course I may want to take this as a hint to "dress" up my style a bit. My friend Jen would not only agree but would add that I am being very generous by just saying "a bit." The cherry on top was when I went to my gym to get a smoothie for a late breakfast, (don't worry it's budgeted), one of the hottie personal trainers, who's never uttered a word to me in the year that I've been going there, told me I looked good. Yes my ego was sufficiently stroked.

Back to the interview. The success of it had more to do with the confluence of a friendly and interested principal and her assistant asking the right questions, with genuine interest in my answers. I have been on scores of teaching interviews, (okay a score and a half plus, but that's still over 30!), and I have had the priviledge of sitting there with principals who could have cared less. This tends to occur when they have predetermined who they will hire long before I show up, and are thus going through the legal motions of interviewing someone because there is a certain number they are required. My favorite was the principal who hired a social studies teacher to coach. What was the guy doing prior to being hired? You would think that as an educator, brand new with certification, and no job he would be punching the clock in the trenches, substituting or tutoring, or maybe working as an aid at said school to get his foot in the door and gain valuable experience working with students. However he didn't have time to do any of these things. He was too busy tending bar to trouble himself by learning an aspect of his craft. I know I sound bitter. Not what I want. It's not one of my possibilities. Bitterness being a first cousin to anger. That get's you far.

I guess it just accentuates how grateful I am for the opportunity for this interview. That it turned out as well as it did. Now I am waiting to find out if I will be one of the two or three candidates asked to come back for a second interview with the first grade team. if I do that power suit will be ready to go pronto! I didn't meet any of them yet, but I think they would be powerless against the awe of my suit. I must remember to use this gift only for good.

In truth I feel that teaching is the way for me. I don't fight it anymore. And when I take stock in who and what I am it feels right. It feels natural. All these years of wanting to help people and the culmination of my life experiences is to help children reach their own potential and believe in themselves, their abilities, and their talents. I hope that G-d helps me wield this responsibility well, because to some degree I am doing His work, (just a very tiny small part, afterall He creates universes in his spare time, but important nonetheless). I can live with that. Amen.

Okay heard a funny joke today, (to me any way);

Comedian: "I've lost 68 pounds! Yeah, I've been stalking a jogger."

Welcome to Slings And Arrows. This is my first attempt to expose my thoughts, ideas, and desires to public ridicule and derision. In it I will share my thoughts and reasonings about why and how the world should revolve around me and how all would be happier if this was the case. Along the way I will try to present questions that will provoke deeper meaning and introspection, like why do they need three holes on the bottom of Twinkies to get the cream in? (Stace feel free to chime in). Really though it will just be the random rantings of a syphilitic madman, (not really since the latter would conotate that I'm having sex and thus exposed to said risk, none of which is the case), masqueraded as logic and reason. Don't worry it will be deluged with HUGE doses of perception and emotion run amok. Some of it may be kind and thoughtful. Nearly all of it pretentious.

So here goes:

It is Saturday and I was at my Iaido class. It is properly called Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido, (there is my first official act of pretentiousness).This is a 450 year old martial art teaching classical Japanese swordsmanship (there are scores if not hundreds of different styles of swordmanship). I started practicing about six years ago and then stopped, (this by the way will be a running theme with many things from my past). I decided to pick it back up last November. Having turned 40 in July I started prioritizing things in my life. One of those things was the serious pursuit of this martial art for a minimum of five years. The art stresses slow movement as you practice waza (forms) that are all defensive in nature, and prior to the Meiji restoration of 1868, (my second act of pretentiousness), were used in combat between samurai and their enemy, usually each other. Stace referred to it as "yoga with a sword." That's close. Now-a-days the art is taught as a means of character refinement, thus it may take me two or three life times to master it. Thank G-d for karma.

I do like it a lot on many levels. The age of the art is one of them. I feel connected to something historic and at the same time preserving its lineage. Secondly I like the small classes we have. It affords a lot of individual attention by my sensei (teacher). This is very important because at it's heart Iai is about paying attention to detail. I struggle greatly with this. Each movement in a single waza (form) has to be done in a precise manner perfectly. The emphasis in Iai is the draw, cut, and resheathing. Later I will give you the Japanese names for these terms to add yet another layer of pretentiousness, while trying to pretend to be worldly and interesting. Like anything Japanese, each waza, (form) is highly ritualized, meaning there are dozens of opportunities in each form to screw up royally. Oh and by the way there are over 60 waza in this style of Iaido. I am presently accountable for about 22 of them.

Fortunately I have a great sensei (teacher) named John Ray. He has practiced martial arts for 40 years, 20 in Iaido, 10 of them in Japan. He is 7th dan with a renshii (sword instructor certificate). For those not in the know dan in laymans terms means blackbelt, with 1st dan being the beginning level, (I'm not even one of these yet), and tenth usually the highest level. In the U.S. and North America there are four 7th dans or above, my sensei, another on the west coast an 8th dan, in North Carolina, and another 7th dan in New England. Most caucasians will never reach 6th dan, while in Japan there are more 8th dans than there are Starbucks in this country. Of the four instructors, my sensei has been training the longest, with the most time in Japan and with his (renshii) so even the 8th dan in North Carolina defers to him. In a nutshell I am geographically fortunate to live near this level of instruction. To emphasize this more we have people come from Houston, Baton Rouge, Oklahoma, and as far away as Kansas City that will come to train with us. Personally I am very fortunate to have Ray Sensei as my instructor. He demonstrates the patience and humility of a person who has trained for decades with the wisdom to boot, combined with humor and grace. He isn't Yoda or Mr. Miyagi. He is just quietly confident in the ways of a man who knows some dangerous stuff. He doesn't flaunt it and he certainly wouldn't say anything about himself as I have written. He's just a good guy. Everything I have written so far is a lead up to this. I was at class today and it was the first class that he instructed in over a year due to an illness that beset him. I was so happy inwardly when he started the instruction today. There was no fanfare, just a simple return to teaching, as if there hadn't been a pause at all. It was great to have him observe me and correct my techniques, (there's a lot to correct). Even better was watching his demonstration of technique and knowledge, all movements clean, done with a very high degree of knowledge and technical accuracy. I was told that when Sensei does this he actually sees opponents in front of him and is "cutting" them down. He does it with a calm face and a dispassionate intensity. Still put simply it was just good to have him teaching again and sharing moment in his inauspicious return as instructor.