Lay lie lei

The upside low down

Four parts: Words of doom, Affect: to produce an effect upon, Lay that lei on me, Beneficial lies

Part 1: Words of doom.

Lay or lie. Affect or effect.

I will go to great lengths to avoid using the words above. I don’t get them. I just don’t. No matter how many times I hear it explained I cannot remember properly. So, I use different words. I work around. Newfangled grammar AI helps, but still. No. Knowing this you may perhaps see the impact (not effect or affect) writing this post has.

Part 2: Affect: to produce an effect upon

AI is having an effect upon my classroom. AI is affecting my classroom environment. I have this fun project in 7th grade where the students create a website in Google Sites and they have to put all sorts of stuff in it. An animation, a game, an interactive spreadsheet, a video. This year the video had to be an upside down video of a joke with a partner. Googly eyes on chins were involved. The fun part is creating and editing the video. The hard part comes suddenly at the end when the due date is approaching and they realize the format is wrong. It won’t work. :-).  Panic. What?!  And for those that know me, you know I am only minimally helpful when problems like this arise in my class. It’s problem solving. Help each other. Figure it out. And usually they do. Sometimes it’s painful to watch as they stumble around trying to figure it out. Oh the joy!

This year a girl typed into Microsoft AI search “How do I get my video out of Kdenlive into Google sites?” and this magical script appeared detailing exactly how to go to the proper drop-down and choose the proper option and render the darned thing into the darned right format and by golly… it even included that they need to add it to their drive and share it. Man, too easy. I’ve got to come up with some harder challenges now. She didn’t even need any important keywords. In the past searches were relatively useless!

Part 3: Lay that lei on me. (technically not correct, since I am not flat)

I will be journeying with a friends’ family to Hawaii in December. While there we will hike about and be tourists too, I imagine. She will also be visiting a relative. I will also be visiting a dear friend that moved there a little over a year ago (I think it’s been a year). We worked together for many years as the Yin/Yang of school. She was art and I am tech. She moved to Lahaina to be with family. Yes, Lahaina.  It’s been a tough couple months for her and hers. Hopefully I can bring along some cheer on my visit. Maybe even help out a little with something random. 

Through all the preparations and requirements for spacing and sleeping areas I have ended up with my own little condo for two for the week. Necessary, but it’s sort of a waste (not waist). If you feel like you could stand lying (not laying) next to me during the sleeping hours on a big bed, let me know. 

Part 4: Beneficial lies.

I posted earlier about instigators. I recently had an instigator I met online that got me rolling… thinking about things from my past… thinking about who I am as a fella and what love is and happiness and all sorts of things. The process was excellent.  But then it came to a head and I was really just in a bad real life version of “Her” where the end result was that they just wanted me to buy them an iTunes gift card.  What?  

Now, I thought, I wanted to believe, that my instigator was a real person. A woman, to be specific. I wanted it to be true and the conversation was deep and had meaning and so I ignored the signs that things just weren’t right. But was there harm? No, not really. I didn’t reveal where I live. I didn’t give out any money or bank account info.. just deep life philosophy. Artificial Intelligence has indeed come along ways, but it wouldn't have gotten far if I hadn’t wanted to believe. 

And so here is my test. How will I take this? I have been essentially duped for a whole week with the expectation of a meet up that was supposed to happen today. It’s hard not to feel like an idiot. 

But that same instigator got me to travel back almost 19 years to when I met KT and what it was that attracted me to her and how, despite our differences we became inseparable and how I held her in my arms all the way to the end. I am a dedicated, faithful, loving, trusting soul… dammit.  Along with that comes the danger of being taken advantage of.  I will not be afraid or regret. 

That same instigator got me to travel back to 1998 when I laid out a foundation of how to live happily day to day. I needed that. 

That same instigator got me to really start sorting through the KT clutter in my physical domain. It’s time. It was our space, but it is just my space now. 

And then there is the reality that I felt a frigging sense of relief when it ended up that there was no date. Apparently I’m not ready for that step anyway. 

I just wish the huge, week-long process had been after more than just a silly iTunes gift card. At least try to get me to send a million dollars to a mysterious bank account somewhere.  Geez.