* Tired. I slept badly last night; woke at a bit before three with racing mind about all the things I need to get done. Part of it was worry about item 2:
* I "judged" a science fair at one of our primary schools today. I was assigned the 3rd and 4th grade groups - the older of the two groups (my colleague who went, who has children in the younger age range, but not at this school, volunteered to do K-2nd, which I was just as happy with
I have a hard time talking to children that small. I don't know why; I guess it's that I'm very rarely around them. My main contact with my niece is on "group" phone calls where everyone is talking and it's hard to hear. And also - I am perhaps too formal around children; I don't think I enthused enough over their projects. Oh, I wasn't MEAN or picky - I just didn't gush. I did say things like "wow, you did your graphs well" (yes, a couple kids even had graphs of their data) or "that's a really interesting question" or similar things but overhearing the other judges, I may have been too low-key.
Ah well, if they didn't like me, I don't get asked back next year.
They did give me a t-shirt from their school (usually volunteers and parents get them). I'll probably use it as part of pajamas; I don't want to wear it out around here and have someone assume I have a kid or grandkid in the school.
There were 22 posters which were a LOT. most of the projects were fairly simple because these are little kids but there were a couple kids who grew bacteria on petri dishes (one was looking at how many were in dog vs. cat mouths, and the other was testing various antibacterial things against bacteria gathered from a shopping cart handle vs. those on a shoe. That one was genuinely pretty interesting - the shopping cart handle ones were WAY more susceptible to being killed than the shoe ones. Though I suppose it's possible some of the shoe gunk was mold; I didn't look all that closely at the dishes). There were also a couple potato batteries, which is a very common project. And this year there's the slime fad still, and a fad for "lava lamp style" stuff with mixing colored cooking oil and water - actually, that's more like the old, old tabletop wave machines I've seen. I remember them from the 70s; the pediatrician we went to when my brother was a baby had one in his waiting room. Odd that I remember that - we changed pediatricians when I was like 7 - but I suppose the trauma of going in for immunizations or yet another ear infection sort of cemented it in my mind)
I did my best to be fair and not too harsh in the grading, but I doubt the kids ever see the sheets, and anyway, there was nowhere for comments or anything - if I had thought they'd get them back, and that we could make comments I'd have tried to come up with something genuinely complimentary for each one.
They did all get a little medal as a memory of the day. No, I'm not going to rail against the "trophies for all" mindset - not all the kids did this, only some chose to. And it's extra work and I'm sure it's scary to talk to strange grown-ups who come to your school and ask you questions about what you did (I did ask everyone "so what was the most fun part of the project?" as an ice-breaker). And yeah - we didn't do science fairs when I was in primary school but if I had done it I would have liked to have gotten something for participating, even if I didn't win. (There were ribbons for the winners - the ones who got the highest score, and I guess this evening their parents can come to see their projects)
Anyway, kids will have the whole rest of their lives to do things largely unthanked and unrecognized; let them feel special for at least once in their life.
* Tomorrow is three Zoom interviews for job candidates but luckily the chair of the committee is going to do most of the talking so I can just listen and evaluate. And Thursday is my hardest class day (though I am giving an exam in my gnarliest class so that will take up most of the time) and then it's AAUW in the evening.....by Friday (PT day) I will be a crispy critter.
* I finished the secret project but - womp womp - it's because I ran out of the ribbon yarn. I briefly considered trying to quickly do an alternate thing (maybe something sewn, that's a bit faster) but I just finished it off and will try weaving in the ends and seeing what I can do to block it and maybe it won't look so bad asymmetrical? I hope. I feel bad but sometimes when you experiment you fail. I just wish it hadn't been on something that was going to be a gift.
* But tonight? I am knitting for me on something. Despite the fact that I have a blanket square to make for a blanket for someone who is bereaved (lost their mother). I am "on hold" with that because I have to find out from the project manager if it has to be 100% washable wool or if a blend with acrylic is OK. If it HAS to be wool.....well, ruh-roh. I forgot to look for something last weekend at Quixotic Fibers and I'm not sure I have a washable 100% wool worsted weight in the colors specified in my stash (that wouldn't be stealing a possibly-needed ball from a future sweater). So maybe I have to mail order from somewhere that sends fast, and just hope I can get it made in time?
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