braggin’

I’m was going to write about some auditions and crap . . . but I think I’m going to brag about my stepkids instead.
So there. :p
Ryan had this very complicated geometry project that was due last week. He had to take a set of shapes, solids, and whatnot, draw blueprints using them, and turn them into something “architectural.”
All year long, he’s worked with various groups on different projects for different classes, and he’s always ended up getting screwed by lazy kids who don’t pull their weight, so he asked his teacher if he could do this project on his own. The teacher told him that it was a very complicated and difficult project, but Ryan assured him that he knew, and it wouldn’t be a problem.
Over a few weeks, Ryan worked his ass off on this project, and he ended up with this amazing, functional, Art Deco lamp. My brother-in-law helped him use nifty tools that I don’t have to build it. (I’m not one of those “toolbench” dads . . . which is sad, I know, but I’m a “gamer” dad instead. Some dads have bags of nails, I have bags of dice.) It’s so cool, we’re actually using it in our house.
He got the highest grade in his class, and the highest grade across all the classes this teacher teaches. The group he pulled out of got the absolute lowest grade . . . pretty much the inverse of Ryan’s.
Rock.
Nolan had a creative writing workshop for his Humanities class (the same class I spoke to a few weeks ago) that accounted for a HUGE part of his grade. Normally, Nolan isn’t all that interested in writing, but he got very excited about this project. He worked on it before and after school, and read me his daily progress. It’s funny, and it’s got a fantastic narrataive thread that is very impressive, even if he wasn’t in 7th grade. I know that I’m not the most objective person in the world on this particular story, but I think it’s really awesome.
Apparently, his teacher thought it was awesome too, because he got 50/50 on the project, and his story was selected to be included in a “Best of” collection of work from the workshop.
Rock again.
My guys RULE!