On Submarines, Jackets, and Stupid Tests

This weekend saw a break in my mad rush of student teaching, and was a wonderful opening to what is so far turning out to be a nice relaxing week off from school. Sunday started off cloudy and warm from the storms and Santa Ana winds, even in San Diego. Even though during crew muster I didn't get picked to go down to the shipyards and work on the Surprise, I did get selected to work on the submarine. This is normally a dubious honor, but it beats getting stuck down in the engine room of the Medea, cleaning...as it turned out, it was quite lovely. I stood out on the tail of the sub, painting black over all the bird shit that had accumulated, making the sub look even worse (if that's possible) than usual.

We at the Maritime Museum have a kind of loathing for this big, black hunk of junk. We are constantly joking about ways to sink it without having a negative effect on the harbor. Yet there is still floats (barely) by the Berkeley, taking up valuable space. I guess it gives the tourists who visit our museum a thrill to force themselves through the cramped little spaces and hatches in that crappy Russian contraption. Looking at subs like that, I can only wonder why we considered the Russians such a threat for so long.

Anyway, standing on the tail end was quite pleasant because the weather had cleared, a nice warm breeze blew around me, and I had wonderful salt water all around me. Second great thing that happened was we got our jackets. The crew at the museum wear these nice, tough canvas Carhartt jackets, embroidered with the museum's logo and crew on it. We got to order some last month, and they finally came. Those of us who are new enough to the crew to not have our own jackets were overjoyed. Some of us even joked about sleeping in our jackets when we got home (not that I...would do such...a thing.....). So now I've been thoroughly enjoying my very warm, comfy jacket that marks me as a full fledged crew member of the Maritime Museum wherever I go. Yay!

Finally the best news, I passed the last part of the state test that allows me to get my teaching certification in June. This was a HUGE relief because if I hadn't passed it, I would have had to stop student teaching and waited till the fall of this year to start over, once I had passed it. I just have to say though, that I didn't study for this test. I didn't study for either of the two parts of the test (which is all about art, techniques and history). I mean, I know I should have studied...but just the fact that I didn't and still passed it....well. That just tells me how far the state has to go before they take Art Teachers seriously. And it tells me that I think I'm going to devote a significant portion of my future career in developing appropriate art education for California public schools. I just want people to take art seriously!

That's all for now! Ta!
L.