Students leave a mark on you that words cannot describe, a new life experience each and every day you step into the classroom. I really enjoyed my experience student teaching, and was verbally offered a job by the school system where I worked, but we had already decided to move closer to family in order to start our family.

But then August came and went with no teaching job offers for myself, something that is both very disappointing and frustrating since moving to Wake County almost two years ago. Now that another school year has started without any job offers, with word that Wake County, “hardly ever hires anyone without anything less than 2 years experience”, I find myself looking elsewhere.

August was a fun month despite the lack of job offers, with trips to Topsail Beach to visit Rachel’s family, a trip to Kinston for my niece’s 1 year birthday party and a trip to Louisville, KY at the end of the month to visit friends we met while living in Charlotte. Rachel has posted about all of these events, but I wanted to say that it was a lot of fun and look forward to more of the same next summer, though maybe it will be a little cooler in Louisville the next visit.

I have been trying to find time to read again when I am not hanging out with family or friends, or playing Rock Band or (released yesterday) Rock Band 2 with friends via my Xbox 360. I read the Watchmen graphic novel while at Topsail Beach and was blown away by the story and artwork; the movie (coming out early next year) looks to be amazing by early accounts. Kevin Smith saw an early viewing and said, “I saw Watchmen. It’s f*%@ing astounding.” ‘Nuff said, indeed.

I have also started to re-read book 11 of the late Robert Jordan’s ‘Wheel of Time’ series, A Knife of Dreams, a book I started when it was released in October of 2005. I could never find time to finish it with graduate classes, student teaching, moving and eventually the birth of Gwyn. I am looking forward to the last book of the ‘Wheel of Time’ series, to be written by another fantasy author named Brandon Sanderson, handpicked by Jordan’s widow. Sanderson will have Jordan’s detailed notes, audio recordings from his hospital bed and a ton of help to fill some very big shoes in tying up a great series that started over 16 years ago!

I mentioned gaming and politics, one being easier to talk about with friends and family, but both interests of mine as a 34 year old self proclaimed geek. You might be saying, “No, Brian… you aren’t a geek!” but then you would see our computer desk fitted with a Star Wars desktop daily calendar, a Spider-Spud Mr. Potato Head, Troll the Skull from PvPOnline.com fame and a Star Trek coffee mug full of pencils and comically nod to yourself.

A couple of weeks ago Rock the Vote! started a very interesting campaign that allows, “Xbox 360 owners to register to vote, participate in presidential polls and voice their opinions to the presidential candidates.” Xbox 360 owners can download a “gamerpic” of their candidate of choice, or even one that says you are undecided.

You can see my gamertag here, my candidate of choice should have been obvious to most, but I am not one to beat you over the head with the why and how of who I support, but I do suggest that if you think something being said is questionable on both sides of the campaign, to go here and read for yourself: http://www.factcheck.org

I think this is remarkable, and if I were actually teaching right now I would use this in one of my lessons. The 2008 election is not only historical in that we are guaranteed either a female Vice President or a black President; it is reaching out to people in new and exciting ways to get them to be a part of the whole election process. Something I believe is far more important than a “Power of Pride” bumper sticker or a ribbon car magnet made in China.

Finally, what you truly came here to see and read about is Gwyn, and I will not disappoint what small readership we have here at our little blog. Gwyneth is getting bigger every day, still giving “kisses” with a gentle headbutt and still having trouble with separation anxiety when we put her to bed at night. She is starting to cruise more along the couch, ottoman and cabinets in the kitchen, and has recently started to “dance” when listening to music (80s channel) or when Scott and I play Rock Band here at the house.

Tonight she was crawling around the floor when Rachel got home from work, and I was lucky enough to catch her having a grand old time when she set her sights on the cats in the kitchen. (I apologize for the quality – this was taken with my cell phone)

Make sure your speakers are turned up to hear what has become my favorite sound of all time…

Gwyn and the Cats from Brian Brassine on Vimeo.

Add to that a full day of playing with Gwyn, and my daily ritual of trying to find a teaching job, and the week seems to fly by from my point of view.  Rachel helped me put together a new cover letter yesterday and she faxed over that and my résumé to yet another school.  Time is slowly running out as the new school year approaches.  Keep your fingers crossed!

The big news between updates this past week is that after a trip to the vet, Keegan is okay. (some of you may not have noticed my update about Keegan in Rachel’s post last week)  The vet took a sample of the lump on his chest with a needle, and after examination, it turns out he has a “fatty tumor” – something that should not be a problem for him unless it starts impeding his joint movement when walking/running.

Here he is playing his newest game – “Wait until Gwyn drops banana puffs and/or Cheerios on the floor.”

This past Friday night we went to Ryan’s (Rachel’s cousin) soccer game vs the Montreal Impact with Ryan’s sister and Rachel’s aunt.  Ryan plays for the Carolina Railhawks and the games are always a lot of fun, even if they don’t win as much as we would like.  Gwyn loves watching the crazy soccer (futbol) fans wave their flags, beat drums, and basically be as loud as possible.

Saturday morning Rachel and Gwyn had their second-to-last swimming lesson and I tagged along to watch.  Rachel’s aunt Bonnie (Ryan’s mom) came to babysit Gwyn Saturday night so that we could go out to dinner with some of Rachel’s friends from work.  Sunday was supposed to be a day for disc golf with Scott, but it rained and I ended up going shopping with Rachel and Gwyn instead.

This week has been another fun and exciting week for Gwyn.  She is a fast learner (like her mother) and has started to learn how to cruise about on the couch (usually for the remote), and more importantly, her crib.  Here she is standing in her crib, something we see every time she wakes up from a nap or in the middle of the night – the problem?  She hasn’t figured out how to sit back down!

And here she is after she has realized that you fell for it and have “sucker” written on your forehead.  I call this one the “Damn straight!” look.  I have to admit that this is one of the few things in life that can instantly melt away any of my non-morning person grumpiness.

I will wrap up this week’s update with a few more pictures that we have taken in the past week.  I start with Gwyn posing for me in her pretty dress… until she realized that Amos was on the back of the couch.

And here she is standing up and slowly moving towards an increasingly nervous Amos. (you’ll notice that his left ear is turned toward her, even though he is pretending not to look at her)  You can also tell that Gwyn is smiling from ear to ear if you look at her eyes.  Moments like this make me glad Gwyn has so many four legged friends.

The next one is another example of one of Gwyn’s new habits – the turn her head to the side and inspect something look.  I am guessing she has watched Keegan and Tess do this to her?

And finally we have a picture of Gwyn in her GeezerGamers.com shirt that I bought for her back in January.  Rachel surprised me with her wearing it this past Monday morning, and I had to take a few pictures to share with you all.

The back of the shirt reads, “My dad has mad Halo skilz”.  How cool is that?