The Eve of the 2008-2009 School Year.

For many of you Monday will be the start of the 2008-2009 school year. I want to wish each of you success as you battle the dragon of ignorance. Remember, teachers are not your enemy. At times we can really irritate you and make life difficult but that is not our intent. We are academic coaches. A good teacher will teach you how to learn and where to obtain the best information.   You must do the learning!

The amount you learn is up to you. A teacher can lead you to the fountain of knowledge.  Do we teach you how to drink as well?  I don't think so.   Learning is an inborn trait.  Whether you like it or not, you are programmed to learn. Your brain wants to see and hear it all! There will never be enough hours in life to satisfy this thirst.  This means that learning is lifelong.   Get use to that - and for some of you - stop fighting it!    

Success in life comes directly from learning so - Love to Learn.   I love to learn. I love to apply what I learn to life. I have a causal interest in most things and a carnivorous appetite for a few things. They tend to be things I'm good at. It is the way all of us are wired. What are you good at?  Learn everything you can about it. Read every book on the subject. Apply what you learn. I urge my students to let their talents and interests guide their lives. Your talents and interests are like a compass, pointing the direction you should go. Those talents and interests will lead to a life of fulfillment. Ignore them, and you'll find life more difficult as you try to take a round ball and  shove it into a square hole. You understand my meaning.

I encourage you to give education the highest priority during the next nine months. School is your work. It is a vital link in the chain of civilization. Education will give you the tools necessary to take responsibility for this world when my generation retires and passes on to our reward. It is part of the great circle of life.

Take a minute and set academic goals for this year. What grades will be acceptable? Set your goals high enough to reach realistically. Let' s take life one step at a time. After each step, pause and get your footing and bearings. Realize where you are. Look behind to marvel at how far you've come and then look forward. Set the next goal and move on.

What about the bumps in the road? Ask any adult about bumps in the road. Anyone with gray hair has survived multiple pot holes and bumps in the road.   We have the aches and pains to prove it!   We've learned that life is an awesome teacher - it has been for me. I call it LIFE 101. Don't expect sympathy from LIFE 101. The tests are the tough and they usually come unannounced. Handle LIFE 101 seriously. When the bumps come, lean heavily on your family and friends for support. Remember, they can't take the bumps for you but they can help keep you steady and on a straight course.

Don't forget your faith. Understanding the broad picture has a very calming influence when faced with trials. Faith is the best shock absorber I've encountered.

Well Troops, That is all. I've given you the talk I wish someone would have given me when I was `getting' by in school. Do your best - what more can we ask and expect? Thank you for including the Space Center in your life.

Mr. Williamson

OBSERVATIONS ON LIFE

Hello Troops,
The Space Center staff are on vacation and the ships are shut down. So how about a few observations on life? Which is your favorite and why? I'll share mine and the reason at the end of this post.

Here we go......

1. I read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and think, "Well, that's not going to happen."

2. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

3. The other night I ate at a really nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.

4. Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder in the car these days, no one talks about seeing UFO's like they used to?

6. You know when you're sitting on a chair and you lean back so you're just on two legs then you lean too far and you almost fall over but at the last second you catch yourself? I feel like that all the time.

6. According to a recent survey, men say that the first things they notice about a woman are their eyes. And women say that the first thing they notice about men is that they're a bunch of liars.

7. Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

8. All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

9. Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents?

10. I'm not 40-something. I'm $39.95, plus shipping and handling.

11. In the 60's people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world IS weird and people take Prozac to make it seem normal.

12. Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

13. There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

14. How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

15. Doctors can be frustrating. You wait a month-and-a-half for an appointment, and he says, "I wish you'd have come to me sooner."

16. You read about all these terrorists -- most of them came here legally, but they hung around on these expired visas, some for as long as 10-15 years. Now, compare that to Blockbuster; you are two days late with a video and those people are all over you. Let's put Blockbuster
in charge of immigration.



Well Troops,
My favorite is #7. Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
Feeling blue usually means feeling sorry for oneself. Feeling Blue is not to be confused with depressed. Feeling blue is like a mostly cloudy day with sneezes of sunshine speeding along the ground as clouds pass overhead. Depressed is a tempest of billowing dark clouds, teeming sheets of rain and a wind able to blow the 'ust' out of Gust.

Depressed is a seriously over used word. We use it to describe everything from the feelings your get when your favorite TV show was preempted by a speech from the President to walking away from the dentist chair after hearing you've got 4 cavities and need a root canal with a couple of bridges thrown in for good measure. My friends..... Feeling Blue is the correct word for these situations. Leave the word Depressed for something major like death, near death, or a tax audit.



So, when you're feeling 'blue' (sometimes referred to as 'under the weather') follow the advise learned from today's post - Start Breathing! Get up, be thankful you're alive, remember there are many that really do have it worse than you, and start walking. Don't stop until you feel better. Get that blood pumping and oxygen moving and before you know it your Blue Period will pass and you may be a pound or two lighter as an added benefit.

Now, be good and make it a great day.

Mr. Williamson

The Joy and Pain of the Space Center.

Well,
Here you have it. Two captains from this summer's camps. The captain of a Voyager mission seems a bit upset. Could the mission be lost? Could his crew be driving him crazy?
The other is a captain from a Magellan mission. Do I detect success written in his expression?
These pictures, in a way, represent the Space Center where every mission is different. Missions can end is success or failure. Where else do you get this kind of an interactive experience that relies on you for its success?
Movies? NO. In a movie you are a captive audience. You watch what's put in front of you.
Amusement Parks? NO. You ride the ride. At the end you say it was great or it wasn't. If you're happy you say they built a great ride. If you're not you say they wasted their money building the ride.
Here at the CMSEC your actions decide the results. Work hard, think carefully through all problems, work well as a team, listen to comprehend and you may be successful. That is the joy of what we do at the Space Education Center. We take you out there, step back, and see what you do to yourselves.
Live or die, sink or swim, succeed or fail - it is all UP TO YOU.
There is no place like this in the world.
Thank you to all that participated in our summer camp programs. Now get ready for there is lots more to come!

Mr. Williamson