I just came across this piece of art at work, and it was too interesting not to scan and ask y’all what it means:

I was sitting with a 12 year old this afternoon and we were talking about some Dia de Muertos stuff and he was telling me about his Grandma that passed away a couple of months ago.  This is what he told me verbatim:

“My Grandma died in June.  She always ate unhealthy, and she had clogged ovaries in her heart.”

The kid just poured it out for me.  This was a recent death, and he was still dealing with losing her and he was talking about making an altar for her because he missed her so much.  And when he looks over to me, I can’t stop smiling.  I’m a jerk.

I work with kids.  And I witness kids doing the craziest things all the time.  This really happened:

I’m sitting in the room watching children do a lego-building project.  Out of the corner of my eye I see two five-year-olds fighting over blocks.  One of the kids was a female named Addie, and the male’s name was Santiago.  Addie is African American, and Santiago is Hispanic.

It was a pretty minor fight, and I knew that both of the kids were mild-mannered so I wanted them to work their beef out on their own.  After a few minutes, Addie decided that she was going to come get an adult to help (she’s kind of a tattle tale).  She ran up to me to tell me about the fight with Santiago and said, “Mr. Mike, Cinco De Mayo took a lego from me and won’t give it back.”

After laughing about the Cinco De Mayo stuff, I helped her find another similar lego.

Classic!

I have a bunch of toys on my desk.  And you might think, “well he works with kids, so that’s understandable.”  Right?

Well yes and no.  Yes, the “collection” of toys (which includes a slinky, a homemade rubber band ball, and a Mr. Potato Head to name a few) started as a something that the kids enjoyed seeing and talking about.  But it’s kind of blossomed into something very different.  Now, I’m super-possessive of these toys.

“Can I play with the slinky, Mr. Mike?”

“No.  They get stretched really easy.”

The only toy I let kids play with is my Rubix cube.  And I even offer a prize.  I’ll buy lunch to any kid that can solve the cube in an hour.

And through the years I’ve also collected a very impressive collection of children’s books.  And I’ve only paid for five or six of them.  And just like my toys, I’ve become very possessive about these books.

“Can I read The Dumb Bunnies book, Mr. Mike?”

“Only if you promise to return it when you are done.”

It’s bizarre that I’ve started collecting these childish things, and then I don’t want to share them with children because they may muck them up.

At work I’m teaching a digital art class, and members are asked to recreate different types of art using computers and digital cameras.  We started with some still life and I was super-impressed by the different perspectives taken on Warhol’s Campbell’s Cans.  Which is your favorite?

This weekend I’m taking a bus load of angsty teens to Southern California…more particularly to Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.

I got roped into the deal since I’m one of the few salaried employees that can drive the club bus.  And it’s super difficult and super expensive to work out the payment of hourly employees for a weekend trip.

We leave late Friday night.  Arrive Saturday morning.  Depart Sunday morning.

Should be easy, right?  Oh and to save cash on lodging, we’ll be sleeping on the floors of a club in the area that was nice enough to give us weekend access.

I only wish I had time to meet up with some of my California friends when I was out there.

At work, a6-year-old told me that he had written a joke and wanted to share it.

“Why did the woman cross the road?” he asked.

“I don’t know,”  I said.  “Why did the woman cross the road?”

“Because she had to poop,” he said through his laughter.

Kids.

Fortunately, some of our members do actually have more refined senses of humor.  For instance, today a member shared this video with me from YouTube.  You’re going to thank me.

Today is the first day of Summer Camp!  Hooray for getting off work before 6pm.  And hooray for getting some quality time to do some really meaningful activities with the kids.

During our after school program our time to work with the children is really limited because (a) they don’t get to our club until 3 on most days and (b) our club closes at 7pm during the school year and (c) parents come and pick their kids up whenever they get off work.

So I’m excited.

Summer is more work.  From the moment I arrive until the moment I leave I’m with children…but it’s fun.

The activity I’m running today is a gameshow and I have this elaborate presentation prepared.  I’m going to be projecting the .ppt onto a big screen.  Here’s one slide:

And I stand in the center there where it looks like a spot light is on me, and I hold a microphone that isn’t connected to anything.

On Wednesday I have to dress like a cartoon character for the weekly dress-up day.  Any suggestions?

I wore an old pair of Converse to work today, and a five-year-old named Cameron came up to me and said, “Hey Mike, I like your Converts.”

I smiled and thanked him.