heart and soul

naming this thread as such 'cos it kind of bookends my week thus far....wednesday's assignments included the annual heart and lung dissection project at an elementary school - but, first, there was a morning assembly in which kindergartners performed songs and skits celebrating their first 100 days of school....which actually was a bit of a misnomer, since given the recent snow days, they've really only completed 98 days of school - but who's counting, eh?

it wasn't anything super cool visually, but the kids were cute, and these are a couple frames that i liked - after it ended i went on the hunt for id's, which is the bigger challenge of covering these events

later that afternoon was the dissection assignment...shot this last year, so i pretty much knew what to expect and probably what i'd be looking for - which is simply, the good face or moment - which will be either the kids cracking up and getting all nuts over the gore or being completely grossed out by it, or, as more likely happens, a combination of the 2 - being so grossed out that it's hysterical...still, i tried not to preconceive or go there looking for the same photo i made last year - but, a good moment is a good moment is a good moment....

and i think this pretty much qualifies - got in the cafeteria where the 5th and 6th graders gathered for the project (which is really pretty gross in and of itself - i mean, you gotta do this in the cafeteria?!), scoped out the tables and saw this group of girls trying to cut into their set of lungs - just loved this moment that came together - that one girl was an absolute goldmine of expressions!

next day was a pool renaming dedication at 4:30, then hoops for the league title at 7 - got to the pool, and it turned out they were actually going to have a meet, so i figured they were doing it before the event, and i wait, and nothing seems to be happening, so i track down a guy from the school and ask what the plan is - he says, "where did you get that time? we saw that in the paper, and no one can figure out where that info came from...we're not gonna do that until after the diving events, around 6ish." hmmm, really, so i call my boss, cos, even though i could make it to the game on time (though the towns are probably about 45 minutes apart), i now have an hour and a half out there with nothing else to do, and given what this is (a couple people will talk, and then they'll take down the large swath of paper covering the new sign), it just doesn't seem like the best use of time, and it's a stand-alone foto to boot....so he tells me, it'd be better to feature hunt than just sit there waiting, so i leave - try looking for something in that town first - cos if that takes up enough time, then i could just stop back to the pool, but i'm coming up empty, so i head back into monroe, drive into a neighborhood that i rarely go to, but decided i was gonna try on a whim, and eventually i spot 2 brothers out playing on the remaining mound of snow alongside their driveway, so i work that for a bit, and then it's off to the north for hoops

as it turns out, i get there on time, but the JV game has just ended, so now it's warm-ups before game start, but it's also parent night, so before that, they have to introduce all the players and their families and hand out the roses - and not just for the varsity, but for the JV and the freshmen teams, so after being there almost an hour, it gets started....good game, long night, didn't get anything too great, just kind of decent daily

this morning, got into work - nothing going on, so i looked through our community calendar, and the only other thing going on besides the very long list of AA and NA meetings is a rummage sale/soul food dinner at a small eastside church - so, that doesn't sound too awesome, but maybe there'll be a cool moment, so off i go....made these 2 pix, which are really just okay, but i'm glad i went because it was a cool little church - one of the oldest (maybe the first) Black churches in Monroe - Rosa Parks actually visited there in the 80's - and the people were very nice

so, that's been the week - tomorrow, it's a dance rehearsal, maybe another feature hunt and then the night desk duties...if i get something cool (and hopefully i will), i'll have to add on to the week's work