August 23, 2004

Working it out

I think I'm finally starting to head in the right direction.

Which is good--I've been back for about five months now, working a little here and there.

But until fairly recently, no real direction.

But I did find something I was good at.

Teaching.

Or more specifically, tutoring (and even more specifically, people who've had difficulties learning).

It all started out when I began tutoring my younger brother (he's 11) at some of the religious studies he's having a little trouble on. That seemed to go well, and I made a connection with the right person here at the local Chabad school. Soon there was another student and then a third.

One of them wasn't religious studies, though, but rather Mathematics and English (both of which he needed a LOT of help with). This was (and currently, still is) my first 'official' (and hence tax-reported) job.

And...well...I know it sure doesn't sound modest, but I'm having some success at beating information into stubborn heads. (No, Lisl, I have not been using a mace! Although given the bone content of some of the heads, I likely should have...)

So right at the moment, I'm considering going into teaching in a more permanent way. (I even had one of my current collegues ask if I could possibly substitute for him at the end of the month--eep! I've got no classroom experience as of yet!) Fortunately, my years in Yeshiva and my Rabbinical Ordination are a BA-equivalent, just as soon as I can get the paperwork done on this side of the ocean. Then there's a convenient postgrad diploma (A DipEd, it's called over here--Diploma of Education. Dunno what the Stateside equivalent is.) which I can take for both techniques and official qualifications...

So...

Wish me luck!

P.S: Okay, Grissy, I've started posting again. Happy? ^_^

Posted by adam at 04:15 AM

August 16, 2004

Interesting creations

I met a character on the Hall, quite a while back now, by name of Glossaria. For a good long while, I puzzled at her odd habits.

Then, finally, I got pointed to the first Hall session she'd walked in on.

It kinda went like this:

::reads::
::blinks noncomprehendingly::
::finally gets it::
"She's a what?!?"

Now that I've been in the roleplaying scene a little longer myself...

...I've got my own little group of odd characters.

Lately, I seem to have specifically gone for the really odd ideas, too. So far my own personal menagerie includes:

Talia 'Deftwing.' Formerly a bat-winged tiefling, she was radically redone into a winged half-elf (Thank you, Aussiegamer!) after I realized that there was no way I could go past 8th character level without taking 20% XP penalties for mismulticlasing (::inserts an 'Oops!' here::). She's a Monk2/Fighter1 (formerly Monk3/Fighter1) and is kinda the groups all-around-girl. She can sneak, diplomaticize, good with a bow and can thump stuff up close too...

Lyle Teatopple. An evoker mage with a mage-or in mischief. He's a Strongheart halfling who acts far, far too much like a Lightfoot. A very mischievous one! And you wouldn't believe how much fun to play. This guy I certainly like--creative misapplication of destructive spells can be really fun!

Taran Brighthoof. A rather stoic (and rather multiclassed--fighter/ranger/tempest) centaur who I think I mentioned briefly in a previous post...

Shoeve Kismin. I pulled one again--this name literally means 'absorber of magic' in the Hebrew language, and that's exactly what he does. He's a spellfire channeller monk. Pretty new on the character roster, so I don't fully know how he'll be acting in the future...

There was a cat-folk bard, but the game she was in died of lack of interest...a shame. I liked the character...

This is excepting the odd cast of Evil Villains and NPCs I've got lurking around The Raven's Keep, too...there's a wereweasel I'd pay money to see Lisl facing! Not that it would be a real contest, but still worth a bowl of popcorn to see...

I'd love to bring one (or several) of these down on to the Hall (they kinda make Aeryn seem real plain and simple)...but somehow I just don't think that'll be happening anytime soon.

Besides, there's still no way I'd be able to match Gloss for oddest character concept.

Posted by adam at 09:53 AM | Comments (2)