008 Thanks for the memories

So it was back to Springfield and back to work (Yes this does imply i worked last semester). Lots of work, in fact about 10-12 hours a day.

I got back and soon was enjoying my assistant coaching position. After an appalling record with the boys team i was hoping to do a little better with the girls. Four games in and my record had slipped to 0 and 20. Things weren't looking good, but at least they learned the Nutbush.

Comments like "thats the best footwork I've seen all season" may have had something to do with my losing streak.

After a week of matches washed out our first win finally came. By seasons end the teams record improved to 6-8, and the girls found themselves playing off against the top ranked team in our district for a spot at state. It was fairly close but we got sent back to Springfield with 4th place in our district. A pretty good effort.

Mid season, our team hit stardom at an all day tournament when they appeared on KY3 local news who were covering show court. I took a starring role cheering on from the stands. The team is now a household name. At least in the households they come from.

It was an absolute pleasure coaching these ladies but i don't know whether i would do it again, at least not with a full teaching load. It was a little too much which i have decided will be one of my biggest problems in life. Getting too busy and over involved.


Back to the news desk

Now onto the living situation where Lorimer spotted some vacant floor in a living room at 2828 S Nettleton which he has claimed as his own. Sources believe this floor actually belongs to Bruner and Stocker who both agree this nuisance feral must go. Complaints about hygiene were surprisingly low but multiple threats have been made to evict this homeless bum. Up to this point all have failed as he somehow managed to get a key cut. Expert detectives tracked the trail of this sponge to the apartment complex where Lorimer was found and later evicted on the 21st of October.

Here is the site of the eviction


Here's 'Whitey' who would take up two car spaces every time, without fail.

Living life as a high roller has its perks as Lorimer found out a while back when he had his wisdom tooth removed. Growing completely sideways, the problem tooth was identified and soon taken care of at half price $321, due to a 'professional discount' given by the surgeon who recognized Lorimer from a Friday night party. Lorimer would like to thank his dreads because without them his presence at this party may have gone unnoticed. To dreadlocks critics Lorimer would like to point out that even after the cost of getting them done he is still up $281 dollars.

Now showing A.L's inconvenient tooth!

The procedure left him in a giggly state unable to stop himself laughing and later making a fool out of himself by saying the alphabet backwards (thanks mum) to prove he was 'sober' from the effects of the anaesthetic. For the next few days he was taken care of by his surrogate family, the Chiles'. Making an hasty decision he returned on Friday to teach 7 classes with a 'dry socket' he didn't know about at the time. The socket is no longer dry and Lorimer has weaned his way off the remaining painkillers which he noted, 'come in handy for a good nights sleep.

$281 up, but now for long. That balance was soon to be reduced as Lorimer was caught speeding up and down the hills toward a tennis match in Rogersville. If ever there was a perfect time to try evading the long arm of the law, this was it. Acknowledging his guilt, Lorimer immediately pulled over and only later had thoughts of driving away from the officer who was headed in the other direction. The nice officer handed him the fine and went on his way.

A very expensive lesson in pateince would have been missed if Lorimer had taken up the offer of those around him who, 'knew someone on the inside' that could make things like this dissappear! As much as it pains him to hand over the completely wasted $208 he feels that this is the best way to take responsibility for his actions and to reflect on why these actions happen in the first place. A sheer lack of patience. (more about this in next Spiritual update)

A father to many

Responsible for none!

Stoopid Americans

"Alright 1st graders, can you guess where i'm from?" England the first kid guessed. "No, not from England" i said. Jamaica, "No, not Jamaica" "America", the answers started flowing now. "No not America" Africa "Not Africa", "China" "No, i said trying not to laugh and then realizing they weren't going to get it. "Ok, heres a clue we have animals that go like this", i said as i bounced up and down. "Kangaroo", they said excitedly as i nodded. "Mexico" one kid shouted out joined excitedly by most of his class! Through all the noise i finally heard someone else calling out Australia. Thank goodness for that.

As punishment all students under my care had to culture themselves by learning the "Nutbush"

Now here are some funny things I came across in the Math classroom.

One student unintentionally wrote down 'Absolut vodka' as an answer instead of 'Absolute value'.

When discussing inverses i asked what negative 5 and positive 5 were. Someone yelled out "Addictive inverse" which should probably have been "Additive inverse"

Do you speak Australian?


Stoopid Australians

One day I told a student to stop being cheeky, who then replied "whats cheeky" which is exactly what you'd expect from a cheeky kid! I said something like "don't be dumb, just stop it" and then their friend chimed in "Hey, they seriously don't know what it means, I've never heard it either"

In the first week i was left to hold down the fort at the start of class which saw a bunch of kids run into the storeroom which i put a stop to. "Mr Taylor lets us play with basketballs for the first 10 minutes of class" a few kids shouted to me. "Hahaha, sure he does" i replied, "I may be a student teacher but i'm not stupid" i said. Knowing kids are always trying to take advantage of you i was pretty proud of myself for exposing their fraud. But soon coach Taylor came in, out came the basketballs.


I started to really enjoy teaching the little kids. Especially kinder and second grade. Maybe i could be a primary school teacher after all. Maybe i'll end up in a k-12 school. It was a shame because the principal came in an saw the worst class i taught. My first attempt with Kindergarten which i used every known HIGH SCHOOL discipline technique!! Let me just tell you now, staring to embarrass them doesn't make them quiet! After that the principal gave me some good advice and from then on things went really well. I don't think she came in and saw any of my classes after that. Oh well.

I like younger kids because they are easy to impress, easy to please and they still have a desire to learn which alot of older students didn't have. It seems they know it all and i am just there to play fun games for them! I did enjoy the overall experience and know i learned a bunch but it would have been good to have time to scratch myself and at least reflect on a plan some good lessons.

Sometimes the kids listen

Sometimes they don't, even when you tell them not to!! (Yellow hoodie)

One thing i noticed and continued noticing was that alot of the students from Greenwood come from extremely affluent backgrounds. I definitely had my ideas about what people in that socio economic bracket would be like but alot of my stereotypes were broken, especially by the tennis team. Their generosity, kindness and the majority of their behavior was a good reflection on people with a privileged background. Thumbs up to the parents i spose.

I repeated roughly this to the Springfield Newsleader who were covering the 100 year Greenwood celebrations but somehow it the article ended up saying. "Lorimer has had a bias toward teaching in this sort of setting due to his previous experiences in low socio economic settings" What??!! I wonder how people who are really famous feel? As for me, i was just glad to be in the paper.

One thing i did notice while teaching was that alot of students refused to take responsibility for their individual behaviour. As long as someone else was doing it apparently that made it ok. "Can you stop talking", "but he was talking as well" "Well i saw you talking, worry about yourself and as long as you are doing the right thing i won't be pulling you up" I don't know if that got through but all the best to em.


A lady invited me over to her house one Friday for a staff get together telling me it would be good for me to meet other people in the Greenwood community. She told me it was pretty low key and i decided to come. So i showed up to what i consider a gated community of Castles. I have never seen houses that big or that lovely. As i drove past the address she'd given me i noticed some people in black suits. I parked the car a bit up the street and walked down to the house closely followed by what i then realised were people dressed in black suits valet parking peoples cars! I got inside and there were waiters, horsdouvers and people downstairs serving drinks. Not being much of a high roller i talked to a few parents and then hung out with the kids that were there. They took me for a bit of a tour and I commented "This is such a nice house, it's huge" "Thanks, how big are houses in Australia?" I was asked and i estimated that ours would fit inside the middle of their three floors. "Wow, does everyone in Australia live in houses that small?"

So i stayed till the end of the night and found out this lady was wanting me to coach her son tennis and help out with math for a year or so. I told her about my plans with England so she gave me a bit of paper and said to look her up on the net, which i later did and found that she has been in charge of distributing 2.7 billion dollars through the Red Cross and holds some very prestigious volunteer work positions both in the U.S and overseas. One of which is being on the board of directors of an after school program (AfterSchool AllStars) with Arnold Swartzenegger who i may have recently declined speaking to, because i thought it would be better for the person like her on the phone to give my details in an american accent! Oops. It's probably for the best coz i could really see myself asking him to say "I'll be back" just before he hangs up.

I was supposed to hear from this organization a while ago and since i haven't i am now on my way out of America headed first to Seattle and Vancouver to have a look around. Germany to do much the same and then England to get a job casual relief teaching. I don't know where i will end up or what i will end up doing.

Which is why this picture is perfect

So i decided i cant wait forever and booked some flights and got ready to go. But before i left i found time over the last couple of weeks to get in.

My last church service at CCC

My last meal with SuperKev the minister (Soo's Korean, man it was good)

A volleyball match.


My first and last "football" game


And an Ice Hockey game with the most co-ordinated group cheer i have ever been a part of.

My last week has been spent cleaning, packing, slacking and stacking. It was fairly rushed and hasn't really hit home that i may not see a lot of these people again which makes me sad. I always wonder what a proper goodbye would look like. I still don't know, so today on the bus to Kansas City Airport i wrote a poem for everyone, people in Australia included.

Gate 43

People burst into my life
Bubbly, beautiful, brilliant, bright
But soon those bubbles burst in two
Leaving me wondering what to do
This makes me sick, i want to spew
Gone just after we had started
Developing a friendship, now departed
Sometimes its me that leaves them to hang
By moving on even though moving on stang
Move on we must, although there is loss
Otherwise we'd all grow a layer of moss
I now think ahead, sometime next week
Your presence i long, your company seek
"Lets meet over by that great big bear"
But i'm over here and you're over there
Its sad, in a moment we part ways, and thats it
We'll still communicate i'm sure, a bit
What a privilege it is to shed all these tears
That show what good friends i've had all these years
This cruel, depressing system of the departed
Emails and calls help us think we've outsmarted
But deep down inside i know what is true
I wish i could again, just spend time with you.



Goodbye Greenwood, Goodbye Springfield...for now.
Thanks for the memories.