Who is your favorite Beatle? Which Rocky Horror Picture Show character do you secretly wish to be?Ā If you could only listen to the music of either Rush or U2, which would you choose?
Why did you decide to become a math teacher?
What’s it like eating every meal through a feeding tube?
Even though you can’t walk any more, do you still have feeling in your legs?
If ever you wanted to know something about me, either pre- or post- ALS, this is the perfect opportunity to do so.
Basically, you may ask all the Q’s your heart desires and I’ll (do my best to) provide you with all the A’s that I can in as timely a manner as possible.
Just submit your questions in the comment section below and I will answer them on a first come, first served basis right underneath the original question itself.
I thank you in advance for the combination of both serious and not-so-serious questions.
And for lots of them.
Who is your favorite Beatle? Which Rocky Horror Picture Show character do you secretly wish to be? If you could only listen to the music of either Rush or U2, which would you choose?
John Lennon, Riff Raff, and neither. I prefer not to listen to either of those bands. That was a trick question. Give me the Marcel Marceau live album instead.
When will we get to see some music videos of you in action? Who decides how often caregivers change?
How much does Emma like the music of They Might Be Giants?
Have you read the picture book Math Curse?
Hi Cyndi! How did I know that you’d be first in the queue with questions? š
While there is not a lot of video of me performing on stage, I do have in my collection a whole ton of audio recordings. They are being digitally converted and I plan to upload some of them asap.
When you say change, do you mean shifts or do you mean fired? Shiftwise, the day caregivers leave at four and the night ones arrive at nine. Their hours were a mutual decision between each of them and Fehmeen and my dad. If it ever comes to terminating services, I would lobby pretty hard to be able to say, “You’re fired!” on my Dynavox speaking machine, just like the Donald.
She’s only ever heard the song Istanbul. I don’t think that it had the time to sink into her head when Fehmeen asked that I change it because the song was “annoying”.
No I haven’t. What’s it about? š
Jas,
You break my heart…I can understand U2 but HEY MAN!
What’s your shirt size?
Sorry about the Rush bashing, Dan. For what it’s worth, I did enjoy their Beyond the Lighted Stage documentary when I watched it with a couple of Rush fans last year. I even thought they were awesome in I Love You, Man.
As far as shirt sizes go, I am a large.
Thanks for giving such opportunity.
Can u please answer:
-What does your blog mean for you? Is post writing a creative activity for you?
-Do u do some other writing activities for example writing a book or a dairy?
Thanks forehead.
Hi Toma! Thank you for the questions. I really appreciate it.
As for what this blog means to me, writing on it every couple of days represents one of the few remaining creative outlets that I am still able to do on my own. Before I got sick, I used to write and draw and play the piano and sing in my spare time when I wasn’t teaching math to my middle school students.
Now that I’m unable to do any of those things any more, I am extremely fortunate to have found a place where I can express myself in a way that is interesting and fun for my readers as well as myself.
I hope that answers it for you.
Thank you for the answer š I think u write very good and it is a joy to read your posts š
Have u heard about PianoFX Studio 4.0. ?
p.s. forgot to ask
Is it ok to cite your answer as a the reference for my rapport? I am writing about the blog writing as a creative activity.
thanks.
Of course you can. Anything to help out!
forgot to write non serious question š
Which is your favorite fairy tale character?
Right now it is a tie between Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Rapunzel from Tangled because Emma and I watch one of those two movies every evening before her bedtime. š
When you were to hear someone say, “Wow Emma, that reminds me so much of your dad!”…
What do you hope she’s doing/saying?
What do you fear she’s doing/saying?
This is a deceptively difficult question to answer, iRonE. Thanks a lot for posing it. Maybe it’s revenge for all those Problems of the Week I used to assign your kids.
I would have to say that I hope she would be doing or saying something that is right in my cultural wheelhouse like watching baseball or rocking out to a song from my old 80’s metal hit parade.
If she ever gets bitten by the collection bug — like I did when I was a little bit older with baseball cards and comic books — that’s the point when you will see me start to get nervous.
Are you writing any songs?
While music is never far away from the forefront of my consciousness on a day-to-day basis, composing original songs has really never been my thing per se. I do, however, consider certain posts that I’ve written for this blog to be kind of like songs without the traditional instrumental accompaniment.
Cool question, Gloria. Thanks.
Wow, great questions, I can’t wait for the answers!
What do you most miss about your Mom?
I miss a lot of things about my Mom, AN. I miss her eternally optimistic attitude about just about everything. I miss talking baseball with her and virtual high fiving with her whenever the Giants would hit a home run and talking smack about players who weren’t living up to their hefty contracts. But most of all I miss her being here to watch Emma growing up.
What is your best Sigma Chi memory?
Also…RUSH RULES!!!!!
š
Wow, man, tough question!
Between the epic parties (Jungle Night, LAGNAF, The Red Light District to name but a few), a memorable pledge quarter, the extra credit earned in botany lab, and the general camaraderie one feels when one belongs to an organization like a fraternity, my number one greatest memory was the summer a bunch of us lived at the house and played cards, off-road croquet, and frisbee golf every day.
Truly good times, Brother Sean.
Ah, yes. Off Road Croquet…amongst the “Foilage”.
š
That was a great summer. Especially when the construction guys forklifted that car on to our front lawn while we were…uh…..gone exploring through the doors of perception.
How about our trip to my parent’s house? The monkey will get you every time….
I know that you were raised Catholic, but wondered about your current spirituality; where does your inner strength come from?
While organized religion didn’t necessarily stick in my case — due (facetiously) in part to the priest who confirmed me was busted for looting the church’s coffers several years later — I have always maintained some degree of spirituality within myself.
That being said, however, I draw my strength from those around me, particularly from my closest family members and friends.
Thanks for the question. And by the way, Carmela, how’s the effin’ ziti coming along? (;
There are some fabulous questions here! Can’t wait for more answers!
Inquiring minds want to know:
What’s your favorite movie AND least favorite movie, and why?
Favorite book?
Best Cap High memory?
And most importantly, when the house-call-tattoo-artist comes to visit, what (and where?!) will he be inking?
So many good questions here, Traci. Where to begin, where to begin?
For the longest time, Martin Scorsese’s After Hours was my favorite movie. I initially saw it accidentally when it came out as the second film in a double feature and I couldn’t get enough of it. The amount of crap that the protagonist had to go through in that movie is legendary. Plus I knew after seeing it I needed to go to New York City at some point in my life.
However, when I caught Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in the theater, there was a new number one in town. I’m a sucker for a good love story told in a unique and creative way and this one fit that bill to perfection. I still vividly remember a couple of blue hairs exiting the theater in confusion about forty minutes into it. If they could have made it ten minutes more, they would have had some of their questions answered.
As far as my least favorite movie, I’ve managed to avoid seeing Titanic for all these years — mostly just on stubborn principle on my part, I suppose. Of the ones I’ve actually seen, I recall sitting through the JLo/Richard Gere star vehicle called Shall We Dance just to see if it was as lame at the end as it was in the beginning. Spoiler alert: It was!
When it comes to books, my favorite authors include Paul Auster, Nick Hornby, and even Mickey Spillane. But when it comes down to my favorite book, that honor goes to The Blade: Shellville High School Yearbook by Don Novello. For reasons still unknown to me, my grandma gave it to me when I was a kid. It is the most hilarious book I have ever read, period. Copy and paste this url into your browser to get more information on this work of genius:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1500241.The_Blade
My best Capuchino High School memory was being part of the school’s production of Grease. Someone I knew recruited me to play piano for vocal auditions and the next thing I know is that I’m part of the six piece band playing for the show. Thanks Traci.
Finally, my new tattoo is going to be located on the top of my right wrist (so I can see it) and will include both Emma’s and Fehmeen’s names. I am still working on the actual design.
Now that I know you’re a g(r)eek (and as the mom of a prospective Man of the House):
Why did you rush?
When? (Freshman? Sophomore?)
What is the best/worst thing about being affiliated with a fraternity?
Did your views about it change over time?
and re: the blog:
Do you ever regret the exposure?
Hey there, Marty!
Ten days into my freshman year at UCD, I was a pledge at Sigma Chi. I knew absolutely nothing about fraternity life except for the movies I saw (Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds) and the two or three frat parties I’d attended with my older friends that Spring while still in high school. I accepted their bid to become a member because everyone that I’d met during rush (and even before) was cool. And they threw some kick ass parties.
Regarding your question about the best and worst thing about being affiliated, to me, it all depends upon the person and the house and the campus. Houses have different reputations on different campuses as do the prevailing attitude towards the greek system in general. As for the individual, I can only speak for myself, but I think that it’s important to have outside interests as well.
On a final note, a lot of people who know me now can’t believe that I was a frat-boy. While most of my brothers are either Facebook acquaintances or out of contact with me, I did cultivate a handful of lifelong friends. And for that reason alone, I’m happy I joined.
About the blog, I’ve always been rather forthcoming about my life in public forums like in my classroom and on the internet. My only (semi) regret is that I have to tone it down enough for younger eyes to read. š
Well, I guess if the kid wants to emulate the iconic math teacher rock star writer (did I mention that he’s playing keyboards upon occasion?), I shouldn’t complain.
onward! thx Jason!
Here’s a post about my frat brothers
http://alsucksobservationsfrommylifewithals.blogspot.com/2011/05/weekend-report-2.html
What food(s) do you miss eating the most?
How do you and Fehmeen communicate? Does she normally know what you’re wanting to say with your different facial expressions or do you have to type out what you want to say?
(It would be interesting to read a guest blog from her.)
Who is a terrible actor but is still inexplicably popular?
It’s crazy that the foods I miss eating most aren’t particularly the ones you would imagine. I don’t miss steak or prime rib or teriyaki chicken or even chicken parmesan — all favorites from when I could eat conventionally. These days I have some serious hankerings for a turkey sandwich from Togo’s, a Costco hot dog, movie theater popcorn (with real butter flavoring), and a glass of Dr Pepper.
Out of all the people with whom I communicate on a regular basis, Fehmeen is definitely the most fluent in the Jason Picetti dialect of ALS-ese. Most of the time, she figures it out by asking me a couple of questions. On occasion, we use a laser pointer and big board of words and letters to spell out my request. I also text her from the eye gaze as well.
As far as the guest blog is concerned, I can only promise to work on that for you.
Julia Roberts is the first one who comes to mind in the popular bad actor sweepstakes.
Thanks Whitney.
These are awesome questions. Being one of your favorite students (obviously), I’m wondering, what got you into teaching math? How did you come up with all the awesome games we played in “Math games and puzzles” – I think that was the class name.
The uncomplicated answer as to what got me into teaching math is that it has always been a subject I’ve easily understood and after years spent tutoring students privately I decided that I had gotten fairly good at it.
Unfortunately, I had neither the proper paperwork, credentials or maturity level needed to mathematically mold the minds of the future. Once I got squared away in each of those categories — around my thirtieth birthday — that was when I entered the classroom.
As for some of those awesome games we used to play in Math Puzzles and Games — without a doubt the coolest class in the history of education — most of the credit goes to Ms Mary Lou Holding. I took over teaching the class for her when she got a new assignment. The structure of the class was all hers as were some of the games. I found the rest of them in books and online.
The Everybody’s a Winner corner was all mine, though. š
Thanks for the questions, Trey.
I want to know about your tattoos. I know each has a significant meaning. Thanks!
Howdy Miss Oakley
I will cover the seven tattoos briefly here. I will reveal the full stories in my book.
Peace sign – Lots of my fraternity bros were getting the letters but I opted for a peace sign with a swoosh.
Comedy and Tragedy masks on eighth notes – For my love of theatre and music, duh!
Egyptian ankh – Didn’t we all go through an I’m indestructible and most likely likely will live forever phase?!?
Sanzai in Japanese Kanji – I got the word for existence to symbolize my new life as a non-smoker of tobacco products.
A triskelion and a snake eating its own tail – A reminder that keeping the thirty-five pounds off that I had gained as a result of quitting smoking will be for me a work of eternal progress.
Sun and Moon – This was me exiting the private business sector and entering the public education business.
A green star with nine lines emanating from it – Representative of the first nine students I taught in room 9 before I got hired to teach full time in the Fall.
What other blogs do you read regularly?
How long does it take you to type your entries?
When it comes to typing an entry for this blog, a typical post usually takes me between two to four hours to complete. That figure includes time spent being distracted by Facebook, email and celebrity gossip sites, finding new songs to rock out to, and about six to eight times getting suctioned.
As for other blogs that I keep up with, while I have an entire folder dedicated to housing Other Ppl’s Blogs in my Bookmark tab, it has been way too long since I visited any of them. ):
Are there any blogs that you would recommend I check out, Kevin?
Thanks for the answers, Jas. I should’ve known a Charlie Kaufman screenplay would top the list. Brilliant! (And I love After Hours, too. I wish Marty would do another comedy one of these days!) Never heard of The Blade, but Don “Father Guido Sarducci” Novello is a comic genius, so I’ll have to track it down.
YW for Grease — we couldn’t have done it without you!
And I have just ONE more question (I know, I’m over my quota!) — of all the concerts you’ve been to, which was your favorite?
how long does it take you to write a blog entry?
Great idea Jason!
Favorite concert you’ve ever attended and why (or top few)? Maybe even break it down, best overall show by music, best overall performance and best personal memory?
Can you name a few things that living with ALS has taught you about yourself that you did not know before?
Did you ever think of being a music teacher instead of or in addition to being a math teacher?
Was the Giants world series win last year your best ever sports memory?
What WAS in the bag????