Hello everyone...
If you haven't checked your Punahou email or I haven't put you on the email accidentally and you check this more than your email, you might not know I am trying to wrangle us Academy Koalas to do some kind of Summer gathering and practice after summer school. (Phew, that was a long sentence) Please email me if you are in the academy or an incoming freshman and you are interested. And Mr. Wagenseller, you're invited as well :)
Bye,
Nat
Friday, July 4, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Seal you soon.
I'll be back on island July 2nd. I plan to hang around town for a bit, so if you've got the time, I'd love to meet a few of you for coffee or tea — or a non-caffeinated beverage of your choice. Email me or send a note via Facebook.
--Mr. W.
--Mr. W.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Charlie Sheen For President
Today in KOALAs we had a record breaking meeting attended by 12 people (including Teava)! So, 8th graders, never fear because KOALAs will be here and we'll have lots of fun and eat pizza and all.
Can't wait :)
Nat
P.S. Spoons!!!
Thursday, January 23, 2014
"Fate is a cruel and efficient tutor."
So.
This seems to be the place of nothingness currently.
So I'm gonna fill it with my own CLS opinions and going ons, and some ramblings that I have thought of as of late.
Don't worry, it's not a 'I HATE MY LIFE KILL ME' type of rant. It relates to CLS.
We had our auditions today. It went okay. JaeYun was our undercover judge. He had to audition again, but test the auditionees. (Yay! Made up words.)
So, as time goes on and the coming of the Troupe grows near, I've thought of something. It's probably the same as down below, as the club was our safe haven, etc. But, I've never really thought of how impacting it has been. I mean, it's a literally SAFE HAVEN. Nobody judges you on how weird they are, or how good/bad your grade is. It's more like, if you're nice to me, I'll give the same.
It's going to be hard. We've never actually done anything on our own, without at least SOME guidance from Mr. Swag. We're going to have to figure out how to schedule a performance, or do something. This is going to be the roughest waters yet. We're not even sure if the 7th graders can work together. They don't click as well as we did. We're going to have to teach them. Something I don't think we did too often.
8th/9th grade is halfway over for all of us. Us 8th graders will move on to 9th grade, where the non-existant KOALAS (or so it seems from the outside) will die out. Unless we can do something. It has come to my attention that it's been harder to run things without Mr. Wagenseller. And I also thought of how much we need this. We'll be forced to socialize with the OtherKids without it. I want some sanity in my life. I want some improv. (Contradictory statements, I know.)
I'm not sure how long the Koalas will last. We're working our butts off to make CLS last.
And you can bet your stars that I'm gonna try to make Koalas work, too.
"Fate is a cruel and efficient tutor."
Tutors teach me what to do; so I will sing in the rain and not weep in it, to play music when sports have been cut away from your life, and to survive.
And that's what I'm planning on doing to the CLS troupe.
-The injured Turtle
This seems to be the place of nothingness currently.
So I'm gonna fill it with my own CLS opinions and going ons, and some ramblings that I have thought of as of late.
Don't worry, it's not a 'I HATE MY LIFE KILL ME' type of rant. It relates to CLS.
We had our auditions today. It went okay. JaeYun was our undercover judge. He had to audition again, but test the auditionees. (Yay! Made up words.)
So, as time goes on and the coming of the Troupe grows near, I've thought of something. It's probably the same as down below, as the club was our safe haven, etc. But, I've never really thought of how impacting it has been. I mean, it's a literally SAFE HAVEN. Nobody judges you on how weird they are, or how good/bad your grade is. It's more like, if you're nice to me, I'll give the same.
It's going to be hard. We've never actually done anything on our own, without at least SOME guidance from Mr. Swag. We're going to have to figure out how to schedule a performance, or do something. This is going to be the roughest waters yet. We're not even sure if the 7th graders can work together. They don't click as well as we did. We're going to have to teach them. Something I don't think we did too often.
8th/9th grade is halfway over for all of us. Us 8th graders will move on to 9th grade, where the non-existant KOALAS (or so it seems from the outside) will die out. Unless we can do something. It has come to my attention that it's been harder to run things without Mr. Wagenseller. And I also thought of how much we need this. We'll be forced to socialize with the OtherKids without it. I want some sanity in my life. I want some improv. (Contradictory statements, I know.)
I'm not sure how long the Koalas will last. We're working our butts off to make CLS last.
And you can bet your stars that I'm gonna try to make Koalas work, too.
"Fate is a cruel and efficient tutor."
Tutors teach me what to do; so I will sing in the rain and not weep in it, to play music when sports have been cut away from your life, and to survive.
And that's what I'm planning on doing to the CLS troupe.
-The injured Turtle
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Yo, SEALS & KOALAS,
Just a quick note to let you all know that I love reading your posts -- even the ones that make me wish I'd stuck around to keep the old group going and help get the new group started -- and if I hadn't been so busy myself trying to make drama work over here in Kuwait, I'd have written a lot more than I have and said just how much I miss you all.
I don't laugh as much over here as I should. You guys were very good at making me guffaw, sometimes with embarrassment (need I mention Ian & Teava?), but always with great heart, wicked wit, and support for one another.
Cherie just sent me a long note filling me in on what she's been up to, so she's inspired me to write a bit about what I've been doing.
The school drafted me to be one of the Forensics coaches this fall. Forensics is their way of saying "speech and debate" -- it doesn't have anything to do with bones or dead bodies. Not much, anyway. We had our tournament this past weekend and did all right. Two of my actors in the Serious Duet category took first place overall with a script that one of them had written. Two other duets in that category made it into the finals as well, but didn't place. And I had one Comic Duet make it into the final round. They were cheated out of a place, I think -- they were very good and very funny -- but I won't tell them that. (One of the judges was from the winning school. Go figure.)
On Thursday, tomorrow, I am going off to see a "pantomime" at a local theatre with about a dozen of my colleagues. This is not "mime" but is a musical comedy at Christmastime in the British tradition. Pantos (as they're called) are musicals usually based on fairy tales, made contemporary with references to society, new lyrics, and with the tradition of a guy dressing up as a woman: sort of Variety Show meets Mother Ginger from Nutcracker.
On Friday, I will be playing the choice role of Santa Claus for our faculty Christmas party. As I told Cherie, the Santa suit that they gave me to wear must have belonged to someone the width of Carter Nakamoto. When I put on the shirt, I look like Shaka Santa down at Honolulu Hale. Gotta go buy a red t-shirt for underdressing, otherwise I, and a whole lot of impressionable children, will be scarred for life.
On Saturday, off I go to the races! What races? Camel races! And the cool thing about that (as if it isn't already cool enough) -- they use itty bitty robot jockeys. They used to used children, but apparently the kids kept falling off and getting trod upon and someone thought better of doing that. Here's a picture of what they use:
The little robots, I'm told, actually spur the camels onward with miniature whips. Now there's something for our robotics teams to consider!
Lastly, for Winter Break (we don't do Christmas over here in Kuwait, of course, but we do have Christmas trees, Christmas parties, and bad Santa suits), I will be heading to Thailand. Of course, things have been a mite exciting in Bangkok of late, but then, it won't be much different than a SEALS Leadership Meeting, I suppose. I go from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and then back to lovely Kuwait -- where the temperatures have been below 50˚ this past week. In fact, right now at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning, it's only 7 degrees F. above freezing.
Brrrr!
Keep in touch, you guys.
Uncle Steve (or Mr. Swag or what you will)
Just a quick note to let you all know that I love reading your posts -- even the ones that make me wish I'd stuck around to keep the old group going and help get the new group started -- and if I hadn't been so busy myself trying to make drama work over here in Kuwait, I'd have written a lot more than I have and said just how much I miss you all.
I don't laugh as much over here as I should. You guys were very good at making me guffaw, sometimes with embarrassment (need I mention Ian & Teava?), but always with great heart, wicked wit, and support for one another.
Cherie just sent me a long note filling me in on what she's been up to, so she's inspired me to write a bit about what I've been doing.
The school drafted me to be one of the Forensics coaches this fall. Forensics is their way of saying "speech and debate" -- it doesn't have anything to do with bones or dead bodies. Not much, anyway. We had our tournament this past weekend and did all right. Two of my actors in the Serious Duet category took first place overall with a script that one of them had written. Two other duets in that category made it into the finals as well, but didn't place. And I had one Comic Duet make it into the final round. They were cheated out of a place, I think -- they were very good and very funny -- but I won't tell them that. (One of the judges was from the winning school. Go figure.)
On Thursday, tomorrow, I am going off to see a "pantomime" at a local theatre with about a dozen of my colleagues. This is not "mime" but is a musical comedy at Christmastime in the British tradition. Pantos (as they're called) are musicals usually based on fairy tales, made contemporary with references to society, new lyrics, and with the tradition of a guy dressing up as a woman: sort of Variety Show meets Mother Ginger from Nutcracker.
On Friday, I will be playing the choice role of Santa Claus for our faculty Christmas party. As I told Cherie, the Santa suit that they gave me to wear must have belonged to someone the width of Carter Nakamoto. When I put on the shirt, I look like Shaka Santa down at Honolulu Hale. Gotta go buy a red t-shirt for underdressing, otherwise I, and a whole lot of impressionable children, will be scarred for life.
On Saturday, off I go to the races! What races? Camel races! And the cool thing about that (as if it isn't already cool enough) -- they use itty bitty robot jockeys. They used to used children, but apparently the kids kept falling off and getting trod upon and someone thought better of doing that. Here's a picture of what they use:
Lastly, for Winter Break (we don't do Christmas over here in Kuwait, of course, but we do have Christmas trees, Christmas parties, and bad Santa suits), I will be heading to Thailand. Of course, things have been a mite exciting in Bangkok of late, but then, it won't be much different than a SEALS Leadership Meeting, I suppose. I go from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and then back to lovely Kuwait -- where the temperatures have been below 50˚ this past week. In fact, right now at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning, it's only 7 degrees F. above freezing.
Brrrr!
Keep in touch, you guys.
Uncle Steve (or Mr. Swag or what you will)
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Swimming Through Rough Waters
Hey Everyone,
The Academy club is going through a bit of a tough time at the moment, so I thought I'd post something here.
---------------------
Dear Koalas,
I know we don't have an advisor, despite my looking for one. I know that my father's after school schedule is erratic and so we never consistently have a room. I know that we've lost some members. I know that we're always finger-pointing and scolding.
But hey. That's not going to stop us, no way. If anything, that's just a little turbulence in our seafaring (seal-faring?) voyage. So, cheer up, everyone. Mr. Swagenseller has always said that WE are the club, and I wholeheartedly agree with him on that. If anything, our only true impediment is our self-maintained defeatist attitude.
Every one of us wants the same thing: for the club to be fun.
I may have founded this club alongside a handful of you, but frankly, it doesn't really matter all that much whether you're a longtime seal or a new recruit. Every one of us has helped make this club what it is, ups and downs. I know that we're all worried about what lies ahead of the club, but enough blaming. Less work, more play. Less speaking, more listening. Less worrying, more improv. We're trying to hard to live up to what the club was last year, in middle school, but we may not have to.
Do not stress about living up to an old legacy. Let us create a new one.
I love you all,
Michael
P.S. Teava, get back in the club. I/we miss you.
The Academy club is going through a bit of a tough time at the moment, so I thought I'd post something here.
---------------------
Dear Koalas,
I know we don't have an advisor, despite my looking for one. I know that my father's after school schedule is erratic and so we never consistently have a room. I know that we've lost some members. I know that we're always finger-pointing and scolding.
But hey. That's not going to stop us, no way. If anything, that's just a little turbulence in our seafaring (seal-faring?) voyage. So, cheer up, everyone. Mr. Swagenseller has always said that WE are the club, and I wholeheartedly agree with him on that. If anything, our only true impediment is our self-maintained defeatist attitude.
Every one of us wants the same thing: for the club to be fun.
I may have founded this club alongside a handful of you, but frankly, it doesn't really matter all that much whether you're a longtime seal or a new recruit. Every one of us has helped make this club what it is, ups and downs. I know that we're all worried about what lies ahead of the club, but enough blaming. Less work, more play. Less speaking, more listening. Less worrying, more improv. We're trying to hard to live up to what the club was last year, in middle school, but we may not have to.
Do not stress about living up to an old legacy. Let us create a new one.
I love you all,
Michael
P.S. Teava, get back in the club. I/we miss you.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Marching to the beat of the Harlem Fake
So hi guys it's Nathalie...
Anywho I remembered that this blog was also going to be a way to tell Mr. Swag what's going on in our lives. And I really wanted to tell Mr. Swag (I'm sorry, I don't think I'll ever be able to call him Steve) that I SURVIVED MARCHING BAND. And it was so fun. I mean, my outlook towards marching band has changed quite a bit, as I was put off by (okay not happy with) the idea we were forced to do in freshman year. (Seriously super fun!)
**Nostalgia Alert** I remember being a little skeptic about CLS in the beginning. But I eventually found a family with you guys and had a blast. Sure we didn't get along all the time and were super dysfunctional but that what family's for right? In marching band, I similarly now have a (sorta) family within my pitlets and my drumline people. Even though I embarrass myself almost daily in front of those guys.
So (I guess) what I'm trying to get at here, is that the good comes along with the bad. And you might struggle up a mountain but at the top you'll find that it's better up here and you're glad you came. I seriously miss the good old days (I almost teared up looking at those photos, Erica) but I have KOALAS now. And it's not necessarily better or worse, it's just different.
So Mr. Swag, next year if you happen to find yourself hearing the marching band rehearsals, listen for a clumsy and awkward bass drum/cymbal. That (hopefully) will be me. :)
(Wow)(Iusedparenthesesalot)
Anywho I remembered that this blog was also going to be a way to tell Mr. Swag what's going on in our lives. And I really wanted to tell Mr. Swag (I'm sorry, I don't think I'll ever be able to call him Steve) that I SURVIVED MARCHING BAND. And it was so fun. I mean, my outlook towards marching band has changed quite a bit, as I was put off by (okay not happy with) the idea we were forced to do in freshman year. (Seriously super fun!)
**Nostalgia Alert** I remember being a little skeptic about CLS in the beginning. But I eventually found a family with you guys and had a blast. Sure we didn't get along all the time and were super dysfunctional but that what family's for right? In marching band, I similarly now have a (sorta) family within my pitlets and my drumline people. Even though I embarrass myself almost daily in front of those guys.
So (I guess) what I'm trying to get at here, is that the good comes along with the bad. And you might struggle up a mountain but at the top you'll find that it's better up here and you're glad you came. I seriously miss the good old days (I almost teared up looking at those photos, Erica) but I have KOALAS now. And it's not necessarily better or worse, it's just different.
So Mr. Swag, next year if you happen to find yourself hearing the marching band rehearsals, listen for a clumsy and awkward bass drum/cymbal. That (hopefully) will be me. :)
(Wow)(Iusedparenthesesalot)
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