Yes i am Mean Mr. Heida

Well, i had another post in mind, but this happened today and I can't pass up writing about it. I have a 2nd grade class and they are wonderful. I mean yes, they are 2nd graders whom all seem to have the attention span of a gnat, but when ever i have a sub i am always left with notes that say, "Great Class". I do have some challenging students, one of which has provided me with a few early gray hairs. We shall call him Daniel for the sake of this blog.

Daniel has given me more than a few stories which i will blog about later, but today i could pass up this story. Daniel has a hard time paying attention, like all young boys and well, seems to hear things much differently than all the other boys and girls. So we were doing centers today, when the students get into groups to re-read our last story in a group, do flash-phonics cards etc. The group Daniel was in had this assignment; to read a short story 2 times and then find the words with, "ee, ace, or ea" in it and WRITE a sentence using those words. I was with the flash cards group so when Daniels group was done i asked them what they were suppose to do next, and they said, "write sentences..?" I said yes, and I re-explained the directions. They all went down to their seats and started working, except Daniel. I called Daniel and said, "Daniel, i want see you start writing your sentences with the words from the story" He looked at me and said ok. i continued working with my original group until recess time came. So I started to dismiss the students by with work groups making sure each student had done their assignment, the only student who had not finished was Daniel. I asked Daniel where his sentences were and he said, "Ohhhhh....i thought you said write them in your head!" ending with a smile.
I said, "When have we ever just wrote them in our head?"
"Ummm....never?" he replied
"Correct, i want you to take your folder and finish your sentences at recess"
Tears started forming (yes i am ok with this). Daniel can also get a bit of an attitude, which came out at this point and he lost the rest of his recess for the rest of the day.
After recess Daniel hands me his paper and there are 3 sentences there
"I have a face. I like bees. You are mean."

Yes it is true, i am Mean Mr. Heida.

Hope you enjoyed this blog. I do have more to come.


In Christ,
Allan

new post coming soon

yes a new post is in the works......

In the mean time i hope this video makes you laugh and/or cry...........





Allan

A little something

So i haven't written in a little while and wanted to make just a little post about this past Valentines weekend. I did not spend it with Kelly, rather with 20ish jr/sr high kids in big bear. It was the Hilltop youth winter retreat. I was up to lead worship and be a chaperon (aka - dude to make sure kids don't die) It was a blast being in the snow, but getting there wasn't exactly quick. What is normally a 1.5-2.5 hour drive, turned out to be a 7.5 hour ride. I was riding up with 2 people that I didn't know very well, but by the end we were telling our lives stories. I really had a good time driving up with them and I am glad we got to hang out.
Besides the drive up, everything went really well. I got to go bowling and shopping with 7/8th graders, lead worship and well, just have a good time.

More to come later.

Allan

Beer and wine

From Vin de Pays xmas show

I have been wanting to blog about my new come obsession with beer and wine for a while now and well, i have a 03 Napa Merlot in my glass and the Elliot Smith channel on Pandora so i don't know how better it could get to write.
A little history
I grew up with parents that didn't really drink. I saw my dad with a beer only on occasion. My mom has never really liked anything with alcohol so i never saw her drink. I saw other adults drink here and there, but it never had an automatic appeal. All through high school i knew kids that drank, but i never really wanted to drink with them because they just did stupid things while that drank and I didn't want to do that. In college it wasn't until i was spending sometime overseas in Germany that i found a taste for wine. I was in a little restaurant in Monterroso, Italy. I ordered a carafe of the house wine because it was cheaper than ordering a glass of water. It was great! A white, but it just was great. I told the people around me at the time, "yeah i could get used to this." That summer i had a Guiness with a buddy and i thought, "ohh...now that is good" and thus starting me off toward the pursuit of the better tasting beer.

Over the next couple of years i started to find out what i liked and didn't like. In wine i started in liking whites more, chardonnays were good, but i was still learning the different names. In beer i like Heineken and Guinness (total opposites i know). I never liked anything of the big 3 American beer (Miller, Coors and Bud), they all tasted like someone had poured some beer in water and tried to pass it off as something good to drink. Then as i started to try more beer/wine i found my tastes changing but i still didn't know what i was tasting.
When i moved to China I basically let go of the idea of having anything good to drink. Chinese beer sucks and well.........really sucks. I found a place or two to get a bottle of wine, but i all but gave up hope of finding any beer that didn't look like yellow water or any wine that didn't taste like it had fermented with a nickel in the bottle.
Coming back to the states i started off right back where i left off, not knowing much but willing to try anything. One day my sis (who is really becoming a wine aficionado) and i decide to go wine tasting. We do a little search on the internet and find Vin de Pays. We take the metro and head down to Long Beach. It is a small place with a beer wall and a flight of 8 tastings for 13.99 (good deal). It was here that i started to learn about beer. I found out that there were beers beyond what they had in the super market and it absolutely thrilled me! They were unfiltered and non-pasteurized. They were not yellow, but caramel or deep golds. I could taste hops, chocolates or spices in them. The wine had feeling. It wasn't just red or white now, but Merlot and Chardonnay. In it was cherry, oak, vanilla or berry. The world of beer and wine was now something to explore, not just look at from afar.

Today
Now beer and wine are a regular part of my life, but not dependants in my life. I have always told people, that i like beer and wine in the same way that i like art. I taste and see what there is to offer me in that sip. What is being expressed in that glass. What did the brewer or vinter try to show you in the glass that you have in your hand? Its not just because there is alcohol in the glass that i like to drink it. I really don't like being drunk. I have been drunk once in my life and i really don't ever plan on that ever happening again. When i do drink, i drink because i like or love what i have drinking. I am drinking because i want to know more about beer or wine, not because i want to mask pain or get away from it all. I will admit, there is something about a Corona on a hot summers day, not because it taste amazing, but because it is cold and refreshing. At the same time, i am never going to finish off a six pack because it is a hot day.

Now I am working out details to start playing regularly at Vin de Pays and am looking forward to being the house musician at a wine bar. I am also making my own beer, and if i may, the batches i have made have turned out really well. But i will blog more on that later.

Allan

Last nights gig

So last night I played a little gig at Vin de Pays, it is a wine bar in Long Beach. I love playing there because it is such a relaxed atmosphere, the staff is really friendly and well, when I play there they give me a free beer. (mind you this ain't no Bud either) While the atmosphere may be relaxed, the task of playing for 2+ hours can be a bit daunting. I have a set of songs that I can do off the top of my head and play, atleast i think, well. On the other hand that takes all of 45mins, the rest i have to practice and practice and practice. I have started to try new things with tap guitar, which is a blast, but there is the danger of losing the auidence with songs that have no words. So I have a stack of tabs that I rely on to help me out. All those years of playing guitar at camp has really paid off. (please note the link)
Another great things about playing there is that I am background music. The best thing about being background music is the fact that you are exactly that.....background. It is a a great feeling, at least for me, to know that I am helping the make someones night out a little better. I look at the crowd and see people lightly wording the lyrics as they sip their wine and talk with their friends, its good.
Well, at the end of the night, i am cleaning up and counting my tips ($8 yahoo!) when i started talking to some of the staff. They said they wanted to know if i wanted to start playing there regularly. I was taken back! It was something that I have wanted to do, and here was my chance. They asked for me to play once a week! I wanted to say yes right away, but I knew i couldn't. Having a girlfriend in Thousand Oaks I spend everyother week or so over there and I am involved with my church. So I have yet to work out the details, but i think I am going to start playing at Vin de Pays on a fairly regular basis, hopefully once a month. If this works out it will really be a kinda small dream come true, so we will see.

Alright that is it for now, i will post details as they come.

In Christ,
Allan

Listening

When i was in high school and even most of college, i was always the group leader. In high school this was mainly because i was the only kid willing to speak in front of the class or willing to ask the group a question. It was during this time that i found out that i actually liked being the leader. This would show as i would do all of the big "leader" things with my youth group and later on, small groups in college. I wasn't the most talkative nor did i always have something to say, but i usually lead, asked questions and then waited for a response. The SoCal retreat was especially good for me as it allowed me to direct a group of my own peers in a group discussion on the various topics of the weekend retreat. Then in college i started being part of different small groups on campus. My freshman year, prior to the wheelchair, i was involved in way too many. Service group, Groovy Guys and a few others. It was in college i started to learn about leadership through service. It changed my perspective on what it meant to be a leader. Rather than telling a group what to do, it is being the guide and more importantly, a servant to those who are in the group you are trying to lead. The Spiritual Life Advisor program at Pepperdine really shaped this idea in me.
Graduating and getting into missions and full time ministry as a new lesson. I had to learn how to speak up in my beliefs, but also i had to re-learn how to listen. I was having to listen with more intent on not only what some one was saying as in words, but what they were really trying to convey in idea and emotion. I knew about this through practice in other times in my life, but now it was a daily part of my life, almost survival, especially when someone doesn't event speak the same language. (yeah i am really good at charades now)
Now, in my life i am finding that i am listening more in group settings. I am part of a weekly Bible study and I noticed that I don't say much during the discussion. I don't know fully why this is. I mean, i love the conversation, and have things running in my head, but i don't say them. I am not ashamed or scared to say them, rather i am finding that i love to listen to other peoples thoughts so much more than my own. I am not a loner in the group (atleast i don't think so) and i have kept up with the reading, but as soon as i sit down with my cup of coffee, my ears turn on and tune in to what is going on around me with intent and I love it.

Allan