The Michael Swayne Story V: King of his Castle

Today was alright. Let's start with the good stuff and work our way down to the not-so-good-but-still-kinda-good stuff.

I am sitting comfortably in 10th Place in Gaming King. I am 80 votes ahead of 11th Place, and my sister has 25 bonus votes saved up in case I fall back below 10th. I have the feeling that I will finish the election in 10th Place, and that's great! It would take a miracle to get the votes needed to go even higher in rank. So, I would like to thank everyone who helped get me there. Thank you all so much!

I am starting to learn American Sign Language. The kid I am tutoring, Joey, his sister is deaf. And since she comes over to play while I am tutoring, it's best if I learn some to communicate with her. Right now, I only remember what I was taught in elementary school. Thank you, the letters of the alphabet, yes, no. Other than that, I got nothing.

So, this was my fourth session with Joey. Today, we played Hangman. Since school is out until Tuesday, he didn't have any homework because we did it yesterday. I also would draw pictures on my dry erase board and have him spell what I was drawing. And he would have me spell words and than he'd write them. He definitely isn't the standard learner.

After having been one-on-one with him, it seems that he learns more when his mom isn't in the room with him. She is too gruff when she talks to him about what he's doing. He was on the computer playing a game about what items would make a super dog, and she would snap at him if he would get the questions wrong. And not once did she give any positive reinforcement.

But I can't just blurt out to her that she isn't doing the best job at encouraging him to learn. First, I am not qualified to give that opinion of someone (even if it is right). Second, just because it isn't the way I prefer to teach, it doesn't necessarily mean it is wrong (though it is). Third, I am getting paid to do this. And it's fine with me how I earn the money. If she wants me to play word games with him to help him learn to read and spell, that's cool. Today's session was basically babysitting anyway. He did think it was neat that U's name is U.

And then there's work. It was rough. Though I left the house earlier than last week (about 5:15am), I didn't finish my route until 1pm. That is because we had an insert this week that was very difficult to fold into the paper. These inserts were thicker than the actual newspaper. And to add to that, the owner called the office and asked if I had finished the menu. I said that I would look at it when I finished my route. Later that day, her husband comes to the office and asks if I had finished it. I was still folding the papers, and told him that I hadn't done it yet. So, after finishing my route, I stayed and finished the menu's 2nd Draft. Whether there are any changes or not, I don't know. I think it looks fine, but only time will tell. If everything is approved, I will start on the next menu on Monday. Yay. That is just what I wanted to do.

It isn't necessarily bad. What could be considered bad is the chance that I won't get paid for working in the office today. I wasn't scheduled to work. I volunteered to stay. So, I may have volunteered to forfeit pay. Not that I can do much with $10 anyway.

And finally on the topic of today, Dad spent his anniversary with his girlfriend. His anniversary to his wife. Yeah, of the millions of things he could have done (like worked and earn money, planned to be a better father and husband, worked, apologized for the years of horrible treatment toward a specific first-born son, worked), he decided to spend his day cheating on the person that is half the reason for the anniversary in the first place. One day, that's all I can hope for.

Moving on to better things...

Tomorrow's plan is to deliver in Sinking Spring. After that, play video games. Lots of hours playing video games. Lots. Other than that, nothing is crossing my mind. Anyway, I am rather tired. I hope to see you around the forums, and until then...

Later!

Michael