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.

A Nerdy Teacher's Closet: Week 4 (9/24 - 9/28)

This week's theme was exhausted. I was operating under a constant cloud of physical and mental exhaustion. I had been preparing for our District Family Game Night since the summer and, what I thought I would have help with, I was doing 95% alone. Between the promotions and wrangling up raffle prizes, to organizing permission slips for my club kids and fielding questions from parents... I don't know how I survived. I even had another mental slip-up day where I forgot to wear one of my planned shirts. But things came together to provide a unique week of dress-up.

Week 4: 9/24 - 9/28

Monday, September 24, 2018
Today my students were going to start to investigate how to create a better energy source to help emergency respondents when they go into rough situations. Why worry about their battery running out? Since we had used the Because Science video on the how Captain America's shield works, I decided to wear my blueprints shirt. This shirt came in a Loot Crate.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018
I can't remember exactly why I chose this shirt. Maybe because of our small moment stories and mine has to do with Peter Pan? I was too tired to try to figure out the connection. Maybe I wanted to take a trip so that I didn't have to deal with all the stress building on my plate. You can purchase this shirt through WootShirt!

Wednesday, September 26, 2018
I was extremely exhausted from prepping for the district game night alone, to finding out I was duped by a coworker regarding co-curricular support, then all the normal kid stuff, and also my outside of school. So I felt I needed to remind myself that Goonies Never Say Die. This shirt came from a Loot Crate.

Thursday, September 27, 2018
This day ended up representing how I was feeling, which is reflected in my pathetic face. I felt like I had been broken down into pieces and being hauled off for scrap. I just had so much going on and the exhaustion just doesn't get any easier. Sadly, I also forgot to wear my "literal" shirt, because I was so stressed the word wasn't on my mind when I got up. Oh well.  I got this shirt through WootShirt!

 The Rainbow Dash headband came from the Target $1 area. I was just trying to brighten my day and contemplated a look for Picture Day.

Friday, September 28, 2018
Today was Picture Day, so I had to get at least a little bit fancy. I packed a few shirt options, though, because this was the night of our first District Family Game Night. I had to have a shirt to wear for the event and I wans't sure if I wanted to wear my club shirt or a different game shirt. But before all of that, I had to rectify the mistake from Thursday. I wore my "literal" shirt in honor of the quiz. Sadly, I never changed my shirt and wore my "literal" shirt for the rest of the day. I got the shirt from Snorgtees.com 

#IggleDailyJournal February 4th

Boy... do I want to feel ashamed or excited that today's post of "Latest Movie." I was in a movie-watching mood yesterday. Saturday is designated as my "me-recharge" day. Sadly, the two movies I watched were so epically disappointing for so many reason. Attack on Titan changes so much from the anime that it really is disappointing. It's slow moving and, at times, rather confusing to deal with. One is subtitled, while the other was dubbed (for reasons). It was just frustrating all around. I wouldn't recommend them if you enjoy the anime. It really is an example of trying to make it the most live action anime, complete with over-the-top performances.

What St. Nick Brings to the Geeks

St. Nick was something I grew up with. It's a December holiday celebrating one of the origins of the Santa Claus mythos. St. Nicholas was a Bishop in Turkey who used to secretly leave coal or coins in the shoes that children would leave out. It wasn't because you weren't naughty or nice, it was a way for this man to help poor children who didn't have money for food or coal to keep warm by. At least, this is how I was taught the story. There are so many legends and myths about this man, it's hard to know if you were taught the correct one or if there is mass confusion. I suppose if I were a scholar on all the saints, I could have a better list of information, but oh well.

St. Nicholas died on December 6, which is why the Catholic Church dubbed December 6th the feast day of St. Nicholas Day. So on the eve of December 5th, St. Nick fills your stocking and on the morning of December 6th, you will see what was left to you. The mythos has been bastardized to encourage children to behave. Coal would be left if you were naughty or presents/toys would be left if you were good.

As I moved out of my central location in South-Eastern Wisconsin, I learned that not everyone knew about St. Nick or the importance stockings had. See, I didn't have my stocking filled on Christmas most of the years. Stockings were reserved for that special day in early December. As I started celebrating the holidays with families from different parts of the country, as well as abroad, I learned that the tradition of celebrating St. Nick was a very German-Central-Midwestian thing. Throw in the Lutheran thing, too, and I think it makes it an even more interesting story. With the people I met, I had to constantly look up the story and explain it to those around me. Some just chalked it up to being extra greedy during the holidays. Others thought it was interesting that there was this kind of sub-culture of celebration.

What always made days like St. Nick's Eve and Valentine's Day special for me as a kid was knowing about the story behind the day. I was taught the St. Nicholas story and I was taught about St. Valentine, which allowed for a deeper appreciation for the days beyond the commercialism. Yet, how do you explain the difference between St. Nick and Santa Claus? Well, first of all, St. Nick isn't supposed to be a naughty or nice thing. It's a recognition of giving and sharing with those who are less fortunate than you, so when you share in that day, you are sharing the gift of appreciating others regardless of their status as good or bad.

And while St. Nicholas was the inspiration for the jolly ol' St. Nick we've come to know and love as Santa Claus, there are other stories that filter into the creation of our renowned Santa Claus. Here is not the place for me to go into this. I merely wanted to share what our little geeky household did on this wintery celebration of sharing and gift-giving.

I've mentioned in previous entries that I've taken it upon myself to add a little geek to my Christmas this year, because, quite honestly, it makes me beyond happy. I smile and laugh and it's not an attention-seeking thing. It's something that literally makes happy. So this year for St. Nick I had up my Chewbacca stocking, which stands out greatly against the other three VERY Christmasy stockings.

I filled both my daughters and my husband's stockings. For my daughter, I loaded her up with books for the winter season. The crowning item was her very first "graphic novel." We purchased her the My Little Pony Graphic Novel compilation of the first set of comic books to be released. She also received a Rainbow Dash keychain. Already at this young age, I'm exposing her to all different types of reading material and I can't wait to read over the comic book compilation with her!

Next, I filled my husband's stocking with ornaments. I know I've talked about my husband's growing issues with my geek-ornament purchases, but I HAD to get him these. See, a few years ago I bought him the mini-hallmark Boba Fett and Frozen Han set. I remember he kind of was like "meh" at that point about them, because they weren't CHRISTMAS (he doesn't like to mix his geek with his Christmas decor). This year, though, they had released a Jabba the Hut and Boushh ornaments that would build the perfect scene with his already owned ornaments. I had to get them! Then, they also had the ewok ornaments and I needed to get those for him.

Sad to say, he was a little irritated with his stocking, but I hope deep down he really did like the thought I put into the gift. I mean, heck, they're even all from my favorite movie, Return of the Jedi!

My stocking was almost completely empty, because, well. . . St. Nick's gifts weren't ordered fast enough. I got a copy of Just Dance 2014 when it went on sale on Black Friday through Amazon and I had gotten myself a Bilbo Baggins ornament to hang in my classroom (since it's not an offensive item that I can use to show my love of literature and geekism). Luckly, but the time I arrived home, St. Nick had made a round-about turn and deposited my gifts in my stocking. I got three geek charms for my charm bracelet. All from ThinkGeek! How did he know?

And that's how we geeked out our St. Nick! W00TS all around! 

The Pixar Timeline Theory

I don't know what brought this up or how it made its way to me only now, but Ray decided it was time to enlighten me on the interconnectedness and the timeline that is PIXAR (written by Jon Negroni). Maybe after my little gushfest about Kubrick and our frequent discussions about the interconnectedness of Belly's cartoons, he finally remembered long enough to get me at the computer to read the article.

One of the problems I run into frequently with all this is ensuring I am in a state of mind where I can appreciate everything I am doing. I'm still suffering from the backlash of tons of personal issues in my life. So even though I am loving this blog and recording my adventures, sometimes I can't get myself to do the necessary entry, even though I am still geeking out.

Well that was a bit of a digression. Let's move forward.

I've been a huge PIXAR fan from the beginning. A good time back I remember the threats of PIXAR closing and I was beyond devastated. I think Cars was supposed to be the last Disney-PIXAR movie, but I for some reason have a completely different view of the situation looking back and being kind of in-the-mix of the film industry at the time. According to my resources, in 2006, Disney picked them up and "saved" PIXAR, but still allowed them to be liberated and an individual studio, which is why they are not just "Disney" or just "Pixar" films, but "Disney-PIXAR" films. I do have to say that my favorite movies are Toy Story 2, Up, and The Incredibles. The funny thing is, I LOVE pretty much all the PIXAR films. I am not partial, though, to Finding Nemo and A Bug's Life. I can watch any of the others on repeat, all day, until I pass out. How do I know this? Because I have a three-year-old who has invested herself in the wonder of Disney-PIXAR animation (including the shorts).

The article that my husband passed along to me describes in only so much detail, the interconnectedness of all the films, arranging them into an almost bleak view of the world. This timeline (click to see his timeline on his site) creates a vision of a world without humans, but lots of talking animals, monsters, bugs, and robots/machines.  This view of PIXAR relates heavily to the PIXAR mascot, of the bouncing light. If machines are coming alive to eventually rule the planet, then the opening credits are a prime example of machines "procreating" and be animate. How do these opening titles relate to the timeline? I would love to know!

I can honestly say I was mentally geeking about this. Have I mentioned I love INTERCONNECTEDNESS!!! My webs are spinning and I'm seeing this whole thing unfold in my mind!  And then. . . it hit me. . . where are all the shorts? How do the shorts fit into the timeline? The article seems to be edited with comments and other things people have contacted the guy about. It makes me want to figure out how all of these tiny things fit into this greater timeline. All of a sudden I can't help myself from wanting to scour the internet for all the information I can get, watch all of the films and examine an extensive visual graphic of the universe. It gives credence to Brave and Monster's University, and might also explain the transportation A.I. advancement of Planes (which are not on the 23 Years timelines).

An incredibly interesting read. An amazing piece of work, but now I want more.

This is the full timeline, it's just a bit too big to have as the right size, but click and enlarge.