A strange looking building in Venice, west LA

Quintessential LA, in South Central looking down Figuroa Boulevard toward downtown. Like, whatever!

The Westwood Village cinema, near UCLA, which is a very cool old theater.

The Blue Bus is calling us. Made famous by The Doors.

Pauley Pavilion, where the UCLA basketball team plays. They are currently #1 in the country, and have won eleven National championships, more than any other school.

With the USC-UCLA game coming up on Dec. 1, the people at the UCLA campus took some precautions against potential USC vandals. USC and UCLA have one of the great rivalries in college sports. It's definitely a two way rivalry, as you can see...

............and Tommy Trojan was protected with duct tape from potential UCLA vandals

Charles White and OJ Simpson's Jerseys

National Champions, 2004

USC has won seven Heisman Trophies. Mike Garrett, 1965, OJ Simpson, 1968, Charles White, 1979, Marcus Allen, 1981, Carson Palmer, 2002, Matt Leinert, 2003, and Reggie Bush, 2004. Along with Notre Dame and Ohio State, USC has the most Heisman Trophies of any school in the country.

OJ Simpson's Heisman, at USC

This woman was enjoying the drum music quite a lot at the Venice Beach party.

Interesting people dancing and drumming on Venice Beach, west LA.

The walls of the Watts towers.

A closer view of the Watts Towers - those are bits of tiles, bottles, and so on.

Watts Towers. One of the most interesting Art works I've ever seen. Deep in Watts, the infamous LA neighborhood (Watts Riots of '67, anyone?)

The Traveler's Club, a bar in the middle of Muir woods where they serve high-quality German beer. Very nice.

The conquero's pose. You can see the ocean in the background.

Muir Woods, from above

Redwoods.

On my phone, at the Buddha Bar.

My old friend Bart with me on Grizzly Peak Road, which isn't too far from where I live. Not a bad view, eh?

Another shot taken by Bart. We were at my favorite coffee shop in the whole world (other than the gellato shop at the Bismarck Library, of course, where my loving mother works,) Cafe Boulange in San Francisco's North Beach area. They give you a delicious latte in a cereal bowl, and it's only $3! (It's $3.65 for a much smaller one that isn't as good at Starbucks.) Plus, the people watching is excellent.

A nice shot taken by my old friend from Japanese Days, Bart Green (he was my boss once upon a time!)

A blurry deer in front of my house.

New Job, New Digs.

Apologies to all for neglecting the blog for a long time. Allow me to explain what I've been up to in the past eight weeks or so. I've started a new job as a history teacher at a mental health/special education high school in Concord, California, called Alliance High School. The students have mild to moderate learning disabilities. For example, I have one kid who doesn't even know the entire alphabet! There are many who are really intelligent, but have problems focusing or reading. All have issues - more issues than Time Magazine. Three or four of my students have to wear house arrest ankle bracelets, and I frequently write letters for students to give to judges, explaining how they've been doing in class. There are six psychologists/counselors on staff, and a maximum of 11 students in a classroom. There is always at least one special ed. assistant in the room with the teacher. My longest class only goes 45 minutes, and the later classes go only 33 minutes. Class finishes at 1:17 pm every day. However, there are lots of meetings, with staff, parents, and students, so I'm usually at school until 4 pm or so at least.

Naturally, I was quite nervous when I started this job. Before the first day, when my assistent and I were setting up the classroom, there was a stapler sitting on a table. She told me to put it away, or else it could be thrown at me by an angry student! I started to wonder if I should show up at school dressed as a riot cop. However, I've been pleasantly surprised by my students. They are very curious about the world, and love it when I show them my photos from the past five or six years of my life. They've responded quite well to most of my lessons, and I'm really pleased that they ask lots of questions. In fact, they ask more questions in one 33-minute class period than my Thai students did in an entire semester. Pretty remarkable, really.

So, yes, there's drama. There are students who are defiant, and there seems to be at least two or three fights every week. However, it's never boring, and I like the freedom I am given. So, overall I am pretty happy with this gig. As special ed teachers are a difficult commodity to come by, after I have my credential, I have a pretty good guarantee of employment and will probably make pretty decent pay. More importantly, I have a chance to make a difference in the lives of very troubled kids. I like it. You can see my picture here.

In addition to this, I have a new residence, high in the hills in the Berkeley/El Cerrito area. The view is spectacular, and I have deer running through my yard all the time. However, the commute is far more difficult, as I have to bike 30 minutes up hill every day on my way home, and I have to leave the house at 6 am every day. Yesterday, it was pouring rain, which makes biking quite difficult. Thankfully, one of my co-workers was kind enough to give me a ride. I will need a car very very soon, especially before the rainy season hits. But, I like it - it's a peaceful sanctuary after a long day of dealing with less-than-peaceful students. Riding to the train station every morning on my bike is probably the high point of my day.

See the pictures here. Hail progress!