@Stephie You amaze me :)

My tutee did great today!

@Jolenealaska we left at 11pm. Kids got up at 6:30 and are already back at work. Rehearsals for the younger, more setup for the older.

It’s so cool to see minor 1 totally immersed in pulling cables and duct-taping odds and ends. And working together with the others.

How old are the cast members?

What's the play?

@Jolenealaska it’s written by the music teacher - great talent, incredible sense of humor and a knack for tongue-in-cheek jokes. Performed by a bunch of soloist grades 5-7, the junior school choir (dito), all 5th graders as background chorus and the youth symphony orchestra.

Wow! Quite the undertaking.

It’s huge!

Just the tech equipment they’ve been setting up over the weekend would put a small concert to shame.

The tech crew is headed by an older student that together with a buddy does DJing in his spare time. The last thing they did last night was finishing rigging up one of those cross-beams with light spots and speakers. The thing spanns the whole concert hall.

My kid has a new hero!

That impresses me a lot. Theater was very important to me from about 12 years old on. It warms my heart to imagine that. And who's the hero?

The older kid. Because he’s cool and has all that equipment (at least a significant part, the rest is borrowed), but mostly because he has all that knowledge and is a good team leader.

That's neat.

And it’s so good for minor 1 to socialize with kids across classes. Remember that school is different than a US HS - you have one class of 25-30 kids and except for a few specific subjects (e.g. chosen language) spend the whole school day together.

Not like in the US, where you take subjects like courses in college.

So Bob or Tim isn’t “the guy I know from Algebra 1”, he’s either your classmate or not. And there can be quite the rivalry between e.g. 7a and 7b.

And all the smart kids are grouped together, right?

@Jolenealaska in theory. Parental ambition may interfere in the first few years (sending their offspring there against the elementary school recommendations), but the poor kids either catch up quickly or drop out of they can’t keep the pace.

New Presidential tweets. Argh.

Trump just really laid it all out tonight. This is a deliberate strategy, he's firing off complete sentences without glaring grammatical error - that means that there is a grown-up in the room. He's just counting on the numbers supporting a white nationalist agenda.

twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1150381394234941448

I am sooooo not going there.

Ok

I had a brain and spine MRI last week. I wonder if they'll ID the SOB who snatched my right hand? I'll probably see the pictures tomorrow, but I don't expect the report to be done yet.

@Jolenealaska boop

@Stephie boop

Hey baby!

o/

how do

\o

Google Home says Hi too :)

lol

ALWAYS LISTENING

@ElendilTheTall o/

so the Cheeto Benito is going full on racist I see

@ElendilTheTall Yep

No pretense of deniability anymore

it boggles the mind how he's still in office

We are at ideological war.

and all because Obama made fun of him

Do you know of Stephen Colbert and his show?

yes

One of my favorite bits lately was Stephen pleading to Trump to thicken his skin:

"Mr President, I'm a late-night talk show host. You are the President of the United States."

"Making fun of you is quite literally my job!"

Duh...

indeed

well, we have our own problems

like waiting to see which multi-millionaire, privately educated man-of-the-people will be the next PM

something which the vast majority of us have no say in, btw

but hey, at least England won the (cricket) World Cup!

@ElendilTheTall btw., the current summer vacation plans are (roughly):

@ElendilTheTall :)

Fly to London, rent a car, drive west towards the coast for a few days, return to L., explore the city, fly home.

(No Brexit yet, after all...)

west as in South West?

@ElendilTheTall yep.

boo

:P

Flying to Edinburgh/Glasgow/... costs about twice as much.

but when you get there you're somewhere worth being ;)

And we wanted to limit the time on the road a bit.

didn't you do that area last time you were here?

or was that just a plan

@ElendilTheTall We will simply wait until the Brexit aftermath is over or Scotland comes back to the EU, then travel there.

@ElendilTheTall We didn't go all the way. That's roughly the idea for this time.

@ElendilTheTall Not farther than Stonehenge / Avebury.

so you're looking to get down to Cornwall?

@ElendilTheTall Technically... they literally drew

@JourneymanGeek who hoisted the cup?

@ElendilTheTall maaaaaaybe. At least headed that way.

@Stephie you wouldn't be missing much tbh

@ElendilTheTall Same score

like to the run ;p

@JourneymanGeek WHO. HOISTED. THE CUP?

@ElendilTheTall Same country that had pretentions of being an empire ;p

@JourneymanGeek pretty sure there was an Empire last time I checked...

@ElendilTheTall wasn't a british one.

@Stephie try and get to Bath

We decided only this weekend and now I am entrusted with the honorable task of mapping out a route and booking a flight, a car, places to stay... Maybe even a tourist pass for English Heritage / National Trust...

(I kid I kid)

@Stephie always a good shout

@ElendilTheTall Ah. Romans and literature. Good point.

@Stephie THis might... take a while

brexit has the most political value when its in doubt

English Heritage tends to be castles and ruins, National Trust more stately homes and gardens

so choose accordingly

@ElendilTheTall I know. We actually did both last time and still saved money.

@Stephie exactly. the baths are a sight to behold, and the town itself is lovely

for maximum Englishness, partake of a cream tea in the Pump Rooms

@ElendilTheTall who has the stately castles and ruined gardens then?

@ElendilTheTall Would be a good follow-up to the last trip along Hadrians wall.

@JourneymanGeek Scotland

@Stephie yup

@JourneymanGeek Aristocracy. Privately.

did you go through the Cotswolds last time?

@ElendilTheTall My kids still remember Betty's in York.

Betty's doesn't have string quartets

the Pump Room does :)

I watched the NYC ticker-tape parade for the Women's Fifa World Cup winners. That was very cool :)

@ElendilTheTall nah... unfortunately not. Has been on my list since I read a novel taking place there when I was a teen.

@ElendilTheTall I'll see what I can do.

Cornwall was just put on the "Please include this" list.

Maybe I can extend the time to ten days...

Cornwall is very touristy

I, personally, would do....

@ElendilTheTall I know. But for a day or so...

Oxford -> Bourton-on-the-Water (very posh and Cotswoldy) -> Cirencester (also taking in Chedworth Roman Villa perhaps) -> Bath -> Cheddar Gorge -> Exeter (maybe) -> through Dartmoor -> south coast of Cornwall (e.g. Mevagissey)

avoid Bristol (crazy traffic), Plymouth (horribly run down) and Truro (meh)

you could come back along the south coast (the Jurassic Coast east of Weymouth is nice), and break away to come back through Winchester (seat of Alfred the Great)

all that lovely relaxing driving on ancient road systems with far too many cars on the road is just what you need before a few days in one of the busiest cities in the world

:D

And maybe the HMS Victory on the way back.

if you're that way inclined

I wouldn't advise going into Southampton though

<shudder>

all those south coast cities are either brutalist nightmares (flattened in the war and rebuilt thanks to the wonders of CONCRETE!) or twee retirement communities

@ElendilTheTall Don't I know it...

But the back country is nice. I personally think the coast east of the Isle of Wight isn't worth the time.

Whatever we pick in the end will also depend on available B&Bs etc.

@Stephie correct

hence turning north for winchester :)

Great minds... ;-)

And I have "walks along the coast or on cliff paths" on my list.

great minds wouldn't go south of Sheffield

but there we go

I want a bit of exercise, not just sitting in cars and going from full breakfast to sandwiches to pub food.

and where better to walk than the rugged landscapes of the north? :P

it's all tearooms and chain pubs down south

indeed

oh, you mean there

@ElendilTheTall But that needs more planning. And insect repellant, iirc. For now, I am planning to use the touristic amenities and slightly more trodden paths.

Better than booking a week at a holiday resort in some mediterranean island, reserving a beach chair or pool seat with a towel before breakfast and spending the day sunbathing like a roast chicken - basting with sun oil and turning around regularly.

yes indeed

i'm not sure how much walking you'll get tbh... the Cotswolds yes, maybe Cheddar Gorge. Otherwise hmm

Well, the South West Coastal Path is over 1000km long. We should be able to fit in a small snippet.

Hello everyone! Can't stay too long but wanted to say 'hi'.

Including the mining areas in Cornwall (-> tick a box...) and Devon and the Jurassic coast (fossils!).

@Cindy Yay! How are you?

Hi Cindy!

@Cindy o/

@Stephie Hanging in. Been a busy few weeks. I finally got a mediocre part time job. Not many hours and not great pay, but okay for the level of responsibility. I really need to get back to full time. Hubby had two heart attacks 3 days apart just over a month ago. He's having to wear a defibrillator vest at least for a couple of months.

Hi @ElendilTheTall and @Jolenealaska!

So how is everyone doing?

@Cindy OMG! I'm so sorry to hear that. It must have been a hard time for you and Hubby. Hope he's feeling better now!

@Stephie He's back to work but cutting his days a bit short. He gets very tired, very easily.

@Cindy Still struggling with the new job, but loving it. End-of-school-year chaos and upcoming summer vacations. The usual.

@Stephie Then things are well. 😀

@Cindy In the grand scheme of things - most definitely.

@Cindy Fine here, mostly. Medical stuff is a bit stressful, but I keep reminding myself that I was diagnosed with MS 17 years ago. I'm doing great compared to the rest of the control group :)

Other stuff is actually fun right now.

@Jolenealaska Good to hear! You're a strong person!

meh, we're all as strong as we are that day. :P

True, we all have our days. But, to borrow Stephie's phrase, in the grand scheme of things.....

I'm dusting off old bookshelves of my brain to help a 40-year-old man earn his online degree. FFS. Algebra?!? He got an A :) Now it's Physics and Composition II.

He's the husband of a friend I've had in the building for a while.

Yes, I had seen some of your posts. So, you're enjoying tutoring him?

Otherwise, we would NOT be friends. He actually used the word libtard in my presence the day we met.

@Cindy Yep.

Ooh! Seriously?

I'm enjoying the intellectual challenge of the subject matter. On the other matter, we have a kind of tacit arrangement.

Sounds very workable.

Me: If my help is valuable to you (it IS, he says. Repeatedly. )

Lol.

Then this is what I want in return:

I want your full attention in lessons of my choosing to address Critical Thinking.

It will be my pleasure to help you join the ranks of the thinking.

Hostage Taking 101. (With good intentions, of course.)

I think I have a better than even chance of ensuring his anti-Trump vote in 2020 :)

477 days

Lol. Time is on your side.

Gotta run for now, a lot to do today. It was great to see everyone!

CYA!