Bully Project

I am currently having my leadership students make videos relating to the Bully Project after having watched the documentary Bully.

Here is one of the videos.

New EC Leadership Design

One of my students has been working hard on a new design for our Leadership sweatshirt/T-shirt. Please share an opinion. The left top design is the front and right top design is taken from the yearbook to be used on the sleeve. It's to go along with the Inspired campaign.

Opening Night/ Drumline Battle #7

The Giants are starting to stress me out. I survived a crazy opening day. If you want details, you'll have to talk to me in person. But I am a masochist, so I went back for Tuesday night. I suppose I am too loyal, but I cannot give up on my team--no matter how many of my friends think I'm being an idiot.

I brought 45 leadership students to the game tonight, and it was really cold. Most of you who know me, know I rarely get cold. I had 4 layers on tonight. Way too cold. So of course, the night I bring my class, the game goes into extra innings. However, I can't think of too many more exciting things to see live at any event than watching a walk-off home run, especially when your team is considered to be the underdog. Bengie Molina homered for the first run in the 2nd inning and won the game in the 11th... such a warm pleasant feeling to cast away the cold sense of dread. And to celebrate, the Giants did something even more rare... they won a game on Fireworks night. Special thanks to Moller, Sanguinetti, and Sidhu for helping out with the chaperoning duties and freezing their butts off in the process.




So for this next response to the Drumline war... I've decided on Rocky III... mostly for the great pump you up music and reminder that the underdog can come back to succeed.... just like the Giants will this year. Can't get much better than "Eye of the Tiger" and "Training Montage."




Woo hoo! I got another wedding invitation today. That's five weddings so far this year. I'm ahead of last year's pace of 4.

Season's Greetings

I hope you all are having a happy holidays.
Cheers to a better new year. Season's Greetings
from Santa and his elves!

Scavenger Hunt Weekend

I'm currently in the midst of another Leadership Final scavenger hunt. Only one day in and it appears the final is doing its job of forcing the students to study clues and become more organized while working together to solve problems.

This year's theme is Disney. Thanks to all of you who helped out, especially my family at their candle sale today. I hope you all had a chance to attend it.

I'm getting too old for scavenger hunt though, or maybe, it's because we had a winter rally and winter ball last night. I'm falling asleep as I'm distributing clues.

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Midnight Madness

I always here sports talk radio hosts comment that "only bad things can happen when you're out after midnight."

So late last night I left work after watching an amazing production of City of Angels (a musical noir). After cleaning up and gathering my papers, I went to exchange some dvd's at Blockbuster which closes at midnight. I got there just in time. I was exiting their door right at midnight when this guy slammed up against the other side of the door. He started screaming and I didn't know what he was saying. Then our eyes met and recognition was made. He happened to be a former student of mine that graduated about three years ago. He was the kind of kid who was smart but always in trouble and barely graduated. His senior year in creative writing he was working hard on a hip hop cd and was hoping to crack the business somehow. Apparently, his life has taken many twists and turns since I saw him cross the stage.

I get outside and scream his name and he just grabs me in a huge bear hug. Now, I'm not easy to grab. He starts talking but I can't make out what he's saying because he starts crying. This is your stereotypical guy who you'd think would never let a former teacher see him cry. Evidently, he's had no one to turn to lately in life. He proceeds to remark how he tried to leave his bad friends behind and began hanging out with people he thought would be a better influence. He was trying to join the sheet metal worker's union and live a regular life. Yet, somehow, these new friends let him down and caused trouble for him with the police for something he allegedly had nothing to do with. He was passing Blockbuster having come from Orange Park just a bit too drunk.

I offered to bring him to Starbucks and get him some coffee to sober up and talk out his problems. But he refused, and just thanked me for always giving him a chance and not just failing him when he acted like a bum in my class.

When we parted, it looked like he wasn't ready to go, but I did end up bringing him to a friend's house, where hopefully he wouldn't be getting into trouble. He said he was going to visit me at school and I can only hope that he does find his way in life.

It was truly a surreal moment.

Nostalgia

Last Thursday, I happened to have to cover another teacher's class and it was in my former classroom. Although the room is drastically different (the office has been taken out of the room), I felt this nostalgia overwhelm me. Looking at the same trees out the window and going off on one of my mini-digressions to express my thoughts on students who say they're bored by reading, I remembered what it was like to be a new teacher again. Those early years seems far away now, especially since I've been attending the weddings of those former students. But as I eased into this nostalgic attitude, I recalled how much harder I was then and how my standards were more often met than they are now. The curriculum that I gave my first junior CP class when I student taught was handled more easily then the same curriculum now with the junior honors students. It makes me wonder about the state of education and all the various points a breakdown could occur in one's own learning process.

El Camino Staff Softball Team Game 1

psychoverse: bay area sports edition april 2007

the past week has been a godsend for bay area sports fanatics like myself...

golden state went on a magnificent run to make the playoffs and played an amazing game 1 against the Mavericks in Dallas last Sunday

the Sharks finished off Nashville and are off to Titletown Hockey USA in Detroit...

and the Giants, whom many wrote off after the first week of the season, have righted the ship and are now 9-7 after starting the season 1-6... i went to the first 7 home games until game 8 was a day game and my job interfered... though I was sorely tempted with BART across the street and an afternoon prep period...

last saturday night was prom and that felt a little like a sport as i spent the waning hours hunting for college frat guys who kept trying to sneak in and seduce our young female students... thankfully, no major problems of which I'm aware...

but now for the most important sporting news:
April 24, 2007 began a new era in El Camino High history. The staff softball team, GOT WHAT?, played and should have won our first game.

We were the home team so the opposing team got to bat first and it started a little rocky as i think there were some nerves in a few of us, including me. I pitched a few wide and what apparently is considered deep to the umpire we had (more on that later). They managed to score two runs, but our defense played well for the most part. Strategy #1 in my pitching, get them to hit it to Will at shortstop.

Bottom of the 1st: I have to admit that I really didn't know what to expect from our offense. After all, this was our first game together. Truly, I believe having two practices in the past month with at least half the team there helped because we all enjoy getting sweaty and eating BBQ afterwards. Particularly, last Sunday... due to the muddy field all we really were able to do was work on hitting, which we had yet to do... So, of course, I believe we scored three runs in the bottom of the first. I even had to sub in for Vinski. Unfortunately, our team's first home run turned into a triple because Vinski pulled his quad and he had to sit the rest of the game, but that didn't mean he wasn't part of the team as he coached from the first base box.

The middle of the game went rather smoothly. I think it was the third & fourth innings when I helped make 4 of the 6 outs. The first inning a ball was hit just beyond my reach. The middle innings, our team defense held solid (and remember, we're a rookie team). Two balls were hit directly back at me and I caught them on the fly. Scared the hell out of me. I had flashbacks to when I took a shot to my leg two batters into our championship game over a year ago. That hit to the leg led to my vein bursting 3 months ago. A slow bunt like hit dribbled in front of the plate and I missed it at first but bare handed a throw to first just in time... love my first basemen, especially when they make me look good. The best part about all this for me is that I was worried about my leg at the beginning of the game. The first hit right back at me helped me to focus on the game and clear my head of anything else.

Their clean-up hitter happened to be a former ASB vice-president of mine back in 1999. He was able to get on base in his first at-bat, but while running to second, Vinski tried to throw it to Will covering and the ball hit Phil square in the back of the head. Their team even claimed we tried to take out their best player (although I give that to what of their other guys who realized I was trying to get him to hit it to short and he still managed to knock over it to Sanguinetti at second base--I took the challenge personally and I didn't get my pitch inside enough). Anyways, the odd part of the night is I struck out my former student twice... I think he was being nice by letting me look good... it helps also that i've played with him and know his style a little (he played on my Sunday night team two or three years ago). The second strike out was the first out of the sixth and that was huge.

Unfortunately, I think it was the 5th inning in which I lost some control. Here's the scouting report on me... after running the bases, the tendonitis and arthritis in both my feels and ankles flares up so much that I can barely walk. Tomorrow at work trying to teach will be painful. But you know, after having survived a kidney stone in January and a vein bursting in February, I'm OK with the pain. The batter I walked that led to them tying the game at 6 really pissed me off. The pitches were barely deep and I'm not really sure how the batter laid off them.

Now a word about my team. for the most part, we kicked butt. Considering it was our first game all together and not knowing how each other plays and scrambling to put a lineup in just before game time, the game was great. All I really imagined last August when Lipman and I (with an assist to Jusiak) said we were going to put this together was the opportunity to hang out. So maybe we didn't go to Molloy's after tonight's game, but we had fun. I think we all benefited from this, especially with the unknown status of our contract negotiations and a volatile English department meeting earlier in the day. A lot of played great. Marciano holding onto a ball at second to end an inning was key. Macapinlac, my battery mate (catcher) bats like she's a professional and I don't worry about her making a play to catch a relay in from the outfield to home plate. What can I say? Everyone is just awesome. Jusiak and Will fortifying the left side of the infield. I even made sure after getting two balls hit straight at me to get it hit to Bellar playing short. My outfielders get much action, but were sure-handed when they needed to be with only one ball getting hit hard enough by any of them. Team Momager Lipman got kept the lineup in order. The fans in the stands were loud and hilarious. There were alumni, students, parents, and co-workers all there to support. I just wonder what the video tape is going to look like when we watch it back. Maybe we'll even get some highlights into the DVD yearbook... wow... something to stand up to the greatness of our lip sync routines...

I look forward to Tuesday nights. And the season ends after graduation, and I love the idea that when school ends that it won't be the last time I spend with these friends. In the 10 years I've taught at El Camino, I have made wonderful friends and many have left over the years and I miss them all, but I am lucky enough that the people who've replaced them are just as amazing and now we all have something new to share together. I think I'm even going to be sad in two weeks when I'm sitting on the beach in Waikiki knowing that I won't be playing by their sides and instead have to stress over what to say in my best man's speech for my brother's wedding on May 11...

We may have lost game 1 and I did walk back into the dugout pissed giving up those final runs. But we played with fight and determination in the last inning and scored one run back. We don't give up and that's what makes us teachers.

taking a moment to reflect

so Saddam is convicted and it's announced just prior to our elections
as soon as the republicans lost... gas prices beginning to soar back up

SNL: Weekend Update:
in an ironic turn of fate, Iraq has caused a regime change in the United States

i've been blessed of late having friends near me... actually going out nearly every weekend to rediscover what makes life so worthwhile

and here's why it should be appreciated

i just found out a former student of mine who graduated in 2002 just passed away...
22 years old from a heart attack...
his funeral is tomorrow
it seems like a student at school or one i've taught has passed away each year for the past few years...

in a moment of respect & prayer
here's a bit about him



Peter Justin Manubay

MANUBAY, Peter Justin, born June 28, 1984 in San Francisco, to Dorothy Jeanne de Castro of Sacramento and Numeriano B. Manubay of Quezon City, Philippines. Peter passed away peacefully in his sleep in Berkeley on November 7, 2006 of a heart attack.

Beloved brother of Michael (Rian) Manubay. Devoted grandson of Meneleo (Nel) and Fe de Castro of San Francisco and Rosario B. Manubay and the late Pedro Manubay of Utah. Loving nephew of Imelda de Castro, Eymard de Castro, Rafael de Castro and Susan Anderson, Jocelyn and Alex Quintana of the Bay Area, Jeremias and Susan Manubay of San Diego, Generoso and Jenny Manubay of Las Vegas, Ponciano and Marieta Manubay, Ignacio and Julie Manubay, Pablo Manubay and Victoria Manubay of Utah, Ruben and Luningning Manubay of Idaho.

Peter is also survived by his adoring cousins, Isabella de Castro, Alexi Quintana, Kim Manubay, Ever Manubay, Arra Manubay, Julius Manubay, Samantha Manubay, Jasmine Manubay, Jeanine Manubay, Genson Manubay, Troy Manubay, and Tara Manubay.

A graduate of El Camino High School in S. San Francisco, he earned a coveted Gates Millenium Scholarship and was a senior at U.C. Berkeley. Peter was devoted to his family, cherished friends and fellow members of the UCB Asian American Association. A creative soul, talented writer and poet, he also played the saxophone and flute. Peter loved gaming, anime, and monkeys.

Loved ones are invited to join the family at a Viewing and Vigil Service on Monday, November 13th from 3:00 pm - 9:00 pm at DUGGAN'S SERRA MORTUARY, 500 Westlake Avenue, Daly City (650-756-4500). Please plan to briefly share a happy, memorable moment about Peter. A Rosary Service will be held at Duggan's at 7:00 pm on Monday. Duggan's is a few blocks from the Daly City Bart station.

A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, November 14th at 11:00 am at MATER DOLOROSA, 307 Willow Ave., S. San Francisco, (650-583-4131) followed by a Committal Service at HOLY CROSS CEMETERY, 1500 Mission Road, Colma. Please contact the family for donations in lieu of flowers.