The Joy of Gaming - Ray's Rate a Shelf #38

At the beginning of this year, my husband started a Twitter feed, posting a different part of our game shelves and rating the games that are on them. I was so impressed by this activity, I thought it would be great to share it on my blog.

Click the Tweet to see the rankings and the games.

Rate a Shelf: @czechgames @FFGames @PassportGames @LudiCreations @EpicSlantPress @HavokAndHijinks pic.twitter.com/aBtEHP3mLc

— Ray Bonilla (@OldManMerton) February 10, 2018

A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 8 (10/22 - 10/26)

What a week of dress-up! No hardcore theme or anything! Well, I guess towards the end we really turn into some gamers, but that's about it. We've got some Cancer awareness, spooky stories, kindness, Harry Potter, and then some games, games, everywhere. Sadly, I'm going to have to wait on some photos for the last day, but that's alright. I'll get 'em eventually.

Also, I've noticed that I've strayed from just teacher shirts during the week, but typically they'll be during the week, unless something is going on during the weekend that requires a shirt. For example, I'll probably post some Winter Break photos and maybe even some Thanksgiving outfits. We'll see. I am, though, trying to keep this focused on the shirts at school. Granted, this week I did have student club events and wanted to share.

Week 8: 10/22 - 10/26

Monday, October 22, 2018
As I said for last week, today was Pink Out Day! So I donned my outfit from Saturday to help bring attention to the need for more research (for all cancers).

Tuesday, October 23, 2018
GHOST STORIES! Enough said. I got this shirt from Shirt.Woot, but it is no longer available through them. Here is the page for the designer. If you REALLY need the shirt, maybe contact them?

Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Today was our Kindness Awareness Day. Our student council had sold a bunch of "Be the Kind Kid." I had these, though, from a fundraiser to help one of my daughter's classmates who is sick. The money would go to help with doctor bills and things like that. I also got them in the color of my daughter's school, so we decided to Twinsie today!

Thursday, October 25, 2018
We had parent teacher conferences for the first time. During the day I wore my zombie brains shirt. Then I had to change for the conferences. I like to call this... Teacher by Night and Day. My dress shirt I've had for years and have no idea where it came from. This shirt came from TeePublic.

Friday, October 26, 2018
NEW GAME! It has finally arrived and tonight was the first night where it was just gaming. You just show up and play whatever you want. It gets you in the gaming spirit. They did have some events planned this year, but overall it was just gaming. I spent the night playing games with a few of my students who came out for the event. I purchased this shirt through TeePublic.com. 

Saturday, October 27, 2018
This is the official day of NEW Game! Saturday. It's all about the games. Today, though, my kids are running their games to earn their keep and to also share with the community what we do in our game club. We're not just a bunch of kids who sit around gaming. The kids actually get involved in the community. I wore a shirt given to me by the people who run the event and I was thrilled! So sported that amazing shirt (and it is so comfy!).

Sunday, October 28, 2018
I had planned this costume for over a month. My husband never does family costumes, but here it is. I wanted to get The Base Game (husband), The Expansion (got married), and The Add-On (had a kid) shirts for the family. Then I wanted him to pick a game to use that we could dress up as for the con with our shirts. I wanted Shadows of Brimstone, because it had some easy-to-dress-as characters, but we ended up going the Dead of Winter route. We took home a medal, even though... the competition had a very small turnout. As usual, though, my husband received all the accolades, because I know how to make him awesome. What's the saying? Behind every awesome man is an even more awesomer woman? That belongs on a shirt. I purchased the t-shirts from Chris Corimiers Geeky Goodies. He upped the sizes so the little kid shirts could be purchased by adults.

The Joy of Gaming - Ray's Rate a Shelf #37

At the beginning of this year, my husband started a Twitter feed, posting a different part of our game shelves and rating the games that are on them. I was so impressed by this activity, I thought it would be great to share it on my blog.

Click the Tweet to see the rankings and the games.

Rate a Shelf: @EagleGryphon @days_of_wonder @mayfairgames @IelloUSA @BlueOrangeGames @LooneyLabs You might have noticed a lot of my collection is organized by color. Well I have a LOT of blue games for some reason. Here we go with them. pic.twitter.com/Bs9ZxRCxUR

— Ray Bonilla (@OldManMerton) February 9, 2018

A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 7 (10/15 - 10/19)

I don't know if you've gathered this information from anywhere on here, but I absolutely love zombies. It all started when I fell in love with zombie movies so very long ago. Since that time, I have watched movies from all over the world. I even saw Fulci's Zombi, which was influenced by Romero. Have you ever seen a zombie punch a shark? Zombi 2 (Island of the Living Dead) has some pretty epic zombie action scenes. To be fair, though, so many have argued that zombie and walking dead are different and yet the same. Either way, they are dead come back to life. The real argument is the rage virus style of undead versus, for example "walking dead." Boy did I digress. Either way, I love zombies and here are my shirts, continuing my Halloween theme.

Week 7: 10/15 - 10/19

Monday, October 15, 2018
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Stupid duplicate shirt. First one and I loathe it. Dislike sports dress-up days.

Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Ah yes... the life of a zombie. This one had no real merit, except that it was a zombie shirt. I got this one through TeePublic.

Wednesday, October 17, 2018
I also love my shirts that talk about brains. They are typically so cute. This one made me think of The Walking Dead, but I think it's just because Carol made cookies. I came home sick, so that's why I look so glum. I didn't get to wear the shirt for long, but oh well. I still was able to enjoy it a little bit. The shirt seems to be for sale from all sorts of places. I wish I could remember where I got it from.

Thursday, October 18, 2018
We had parent teacher conferences for the first time. During the day I wore my zombie brains shirt. Then I had to change for the conferences. I like to call this... Teacher by Night and Day. My dress shirt I've had for years and have no idea where it came from. My zombie shirt came from TeePublic.

Friday, October 19, 2018
We had our first field trip today. Then it was followed by District Family Game Night. I thought the shirt was funny to wear on the field trip, because field trips are always crazy and it just seemed silly enough. Plus some of the stuff we were learning might be helpful in a zombie apocalypse. We went to the local Technical College to learn more about some of the career options. Granted, we probably won't need marketing in the apocalypse (Welcome to Terminus. Those who arrive, survive!), but you never know. We learned about firefighting and how to rescue people with a drop harness. We learned about medical technology and the future of medical A.I. There was some fancy food stuff, for the culinary arts program. Finally there was one about... oh goodness... sadly, all I can remember from that is that the guy was irritated by the behavior of the previous groups... oh wait! I think it was about farming and the technological advances of farming. Regardless, my shirt felt fitting and wrapped up my week of zombie. (I forgot to post this on the day and had to find it to make sure there was a record of it.)

Saturday, October 20, 2018
I wore my pink Breast Cancer shirt, because we were part of a walk for Breast Cancer. We joined the team for my co-worker who was diagnosed. My daughter and I walked. I'll also have the shirt on Monday for Pink-Out Day.

The Joy of Gaming - Ray's Rate a Shelf #36

At the beginning of this year, my husband started a Twitter feed, posting a different part of our game shelves and rating the games that are on them. I was so impressed by this activity, I thought it would be great to share it on my blog.

Click the Tweet to see the rankings and the games.

Rate a Shelf: @StudioBombyx @policeprecinct @NauvooGames @IelloUSA @FFGames @AsmodeeNA @EagleGryphon @FFPGames @Cephalofair Another HUGE shelf! pic.twitter.com/9AfpTK7N7e

— Ray Bonilla (@OldManMerton) February 8, 2018

A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 6 (10/8 - 10/12)

I went full on Harry Potter this week. I had a few Harry Potter shirts and they're witches and wizards and it's October, so I figured it'd be okay to maybe channel that. I mean, especially since this past weekend where my family went all Harry Potter crazy and we all determined our Official Pottermore Houses and wands and pratonuses. It was quite a surprising weekend for all of us. Yet, therein lies inspiration and that is where my weekend of t-shirt inspiration comes from.

Week 6: 10/8 - 10/12

Monday, October 8, 2018
Our I didn't know what to wear at the beginning of the week. I found it incredibly difficult to not want to defer to another comfortable shirt and start duplicating. Since I had spent the weekend sorting my October shirts, I started sorting through them and found this shirt as my comfiest option that I could also theme out for the week. This shirt is so absolutely comfy and loose, so it made me feel happy on a Monday that I knew was going to be right. Since I had just had a Harry Potter weekend, I figured this would be great. It came from a Loot Crate box.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018
I purchased this shirt when I went to Universal Orlando a few years ago. They largest size they had was a 2XL and, at the time, there was no way I was fitting into that. It was so tight, it squeezed my arms. I, though, bought it anyways, knowing what was ahead of me. Last year I finally wore it and I didn't look like a sausage. So I was very excited to put it on today. I also love Sirius Black. You can get your very own version without even going to Orlando! They do sell it in 3XL on the website.

Wednesday, October 10, 2018
The Forbidden Forest.... sooooo spooookyyyy. I mean look at this thing? Soooo spooky! I totally realized on this day that all of these Harry Potter shirts are full body shirts and it makes it really difficult to take a picture. Awesome! I purchased this through TeePublic.

Thursday, October 11, 2018
I'm not gonna lie... I've never worn this shirt. Not ever. I have no idea why. I just never have. It was one of the shirts that was folded and never really came up in my mind to wear. It's an Art-Nouveau style shirt of Luna Lovegood. If I remember correctly, it was part of empowered women series from several years ago via TeeFury. Now it is available through TeePublic.

Friday, October 12, 2018
I Same story as above. I bought the shirt. I never wore it. Art-Nouveau Hermoine Granger. Was at TeeFury, now at TeePublic. MeganLara, who has these shirts available through her shop on TeePublic, has several of these style shirts for all your geeky loves and even more for Harry Potter.

That was an interesting week of shirts. I had one that I didn't get to wear, but it's more Harry Potter vs. Lord of the Rings. I'm disappointed that I can't wear a selection of my shirts to school, because they depict guns. It's my Supernatural shirts. There's always a gun somewhere on the shirt. I'm thinking, though, next week might be zombie shirts and then our short week will be N.E.W. Game shirts and then the week of Halloween I have a few choice shirts, I think. November, though, I am breaking out the Science and Sci-Fi shirts, because November is Sci-Fi month!

The Joy of Gaming - Ray's Rate a Shelf #35

At the beginning of this year, my husband started a Twitter feed, posting a different part of our game shelves and rating the games that are on them. I was so impressed by this activity, I thought it would be great to share it on my blog.

Click the Tweet to see the rankings and the games.

Rate a Shelf: @CMONGames @jameystegmaier @roxleygames A great shelf with some bonus Super Motherload that is currently lonely on its own shelf. pic.twitter.com/UFFhs4Zw7s

— Ray Bonilla (@OldManMerton) February 7, 2018

A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 5 (10/1 - 10/5)

It is all about Homecoming Week! Even though I'm in middle school, our Student Council wants to celebrate our feeder high school. Just like in high school, it is a week of themed dress-up. What made this week even more interesting was that my daughter's elementary school (we're not in the same district) also was doing a Homecoming Week! We have a small community, so the Homecoming game is one of the biggest events! There's a parade and everything. My district is quite a bit bigger and there's two large high schools. So this is what our first week of October was like. I'm hoping the rest can really channel from Halloween flavor.

Week 5: 10/1 - 10/5

Monday, October 1, 2018
Our first day was 'Merica Day. Um... so... I am already opposed to 'Merica... It's A-merica. America. Next time please just call it Red/White/Blue day. Anyways. I didn't feel like going traditional, so I pulled out my shirt from the 2016 election. If only. From TeePublic.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018
I really pushed myself with this particular theme day. I have very few sports shirts. It was sports apparel/jersey day. I dug out my X-Men jersey (a nod to 1963 and the originals) from LootCrate and tossed on my Timber Rattlers hat to represent some sort of sport. Plus it's kind of a Brewers throwback jersey and you know they're rockin' things at the moment. The reason this was a stretch for me wasn't that it was sports, but that it was yellow and I didn't have a shirt over the shirt. I had to double-up the shirt with a long sleeved navy shirt and I felt bulky. I mean... everyone knows I'm not a skinny flower, but my anxiety was high wearing this. I did it though. Go me! Come to think of it... maybe I felt a little bit like a mutant that day. Ha! This is from the Marvel Geat + Goods: Danger Room (April 2018) crate. You can find the shirt on ebay and other places if you google for it.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018
This particular day was Disney day. I failed to remember to wear my Star Wars Disney ears, because they're in my daughter's closet. Poor planning on my part, even though I did wear my WALL-E and Groot shirt. It's all good. I got to be unique. I don't remember where I got it, but it's currently available through TeePublic and Naolito. 

Thursday, October 4, 2018
I had a sick day today. My school had tie dye and my daughter's school had Red, White, and Blue day. She came downstairs saying she was going to wear her tie dye shirt, because it had red, white, and blue on it, even though it also had green. Since I wasn't dressing up, I took a picture of her to represent both of our theme days. Too adorable for words. This particular shirt was homemade at Girl Scout Camp.

Friday, October 5, 2018
I can't say I was feeling 100% better for this last day of the week, but I know I needed to tough it out and go in. Luck for me I was feeling great by the end of the day. Probably because my students are so adorably amazing! Our day was West Colors. West has this blue as their color (and white). Since we've been working hard on making sure our students are using proper writing conventions, which include capitalization and punctuation (we aren't in the business of writing texts up in here), I wore this shirt to remind them. Fridays are always Vocab Quiz day and they have to write a sentence that demonstrates their understanding of the word, so we started out with some fun to remember the expectations. This shirt is much loved by many. I, shockingly, bought it years ago when I first started teaching. Since I've been able to organize all my shirts, I finally had the opportunity to wear it and it fit me. That particular piece was thrilling. I bought it at Woot! Shirt. 

This weekend I'm going to try to get the rest of my October organized so that I don't miss out on cool stuff. I promise no Pumpkin Spice.

The Joy of Gaming - Ray's Rate a Shelf #34

At the beginning of this year, my husband started a Twitter feed, posting a different part of our game shelves and rating the games that are on them. I was so impressed by this activity, I thought it would be great to share it on my blog.

Click the Tweet to see the rankings and the games.

Rate a Shelf: @CMONGames @AsmadiGames @GTGamesLLC Sadly I can't give much commentary on this shelf :-( I just picked up Impulse in a trade, still haven't gotten GS to the table, and I don't have a separate rating for Black Plague. (certainly in the 9+ range like OG Zombicide tho) pic.twitter.com/sKveKyyrXN

— Ray Bonilla (@OldManMerton) February 6, 2018

Why I'm Doing A Nerdy Teacher's Closet

Why in the world would someone with anxiety subject themselves to taking a picture everyday, especially when they also have body image issues?

I've asked myself that frequently. This was especially a question I asked when I embarked on a 30-Days-Until-Star-Wars clothing challenge. I wore a different piece of Star Wars clothing everyday until Star Wars Episode VIII came out. Shockingly, I was able to watch my body change during that month, but I also started feeling good about certain aspects of the way that I looked. I took control of how I looked, but, sadly, it still doesn't handle the bigger issue of other people who have cameras and I find myself in those pictures.

My decision to do this, though, started over the summer when I was finally able to sort through and organize my entire t-shirt collection. I have a crazy amount of t-shirts that I've collected during my lifetime and now I could finally see them all! I had an idea to challenge myself to wear as many different shirts as possible throughout the school year. I wasn't going to photograph or blog anything, but I thought it would just be a fun challenge for myself.

Right before school started, though, I learned that one of my coworkers was diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer. With as much as Cancer has permeated my life and those I am close to, it hit me hard. She's the same age as me, super healthy, with two young girls... It's one of those ones that just knocks the wind out of you. She's on my sixth grade teacher team. We've "lived" across the hall from each other for seven years. It was just too real.

And that's where this blog series began. I'd sit in team meetings day after day, week after week, month after month listening to this idea about doing a teacher fashion blog. I remember at one point the group had joked about different teachers in our 6th grade team taking something focus on. Someone would focus on Target... I could do t-shirts (because HELLO!). I remember her talking about how to promote the blog and how to get it out there and all the work that goes into making it a success.

Now, I've been writing in the blogosphere for quite some time. It's a highly competitive world out there. I'm not an incredibly successful blogger, because I struggle with consistency due to my really fickle lifestyle. I figured, though, that this could be my opportunity to at least, in my own way, be some sort of personal tribute to something she'd always talked about. Yeah... I'm not a fashionista. Have you seen the pictures? I do have my own brand of fashion, sort of, and that's where I started this blog. She's on my mind everyday and everyday I take my picture, even on those days that I just don't want to make the effort to look anything other than the blah I feel inside, because I want to complete this challenge for her. It's like running a marathon... I can do this! I will do this!

Will there be other benefits to this endeavor? Sure! I'll chronicle my shirts and, hopefully, see more body changes, but it's my own weird way of doing whatever people do when they hear that level of news.

A team of us are walking for the cause and my coworker has shirts ready. Did I mention she loves designing shirts for our 6th grade team? Sponsor us if you can and thanks.

Donate to the cause by clicking the image.