I also write novels in my spare time, and I take it seriously; I'm committed to writing 1 novel each year. Here are the novels I wrote in the past 3 years and the cover illustration for my next. My nana painted the cover for me when I was in middle-school; I will finally use it.

Another hobby of mine is playing guitar! My dad got me into it when I was 9. I didn't get good until around 2030. I brought my guitar on the last week of school, but instead my students showed off how much they'd learned in mariachi! I'll record some songs this summer with Dad.

If any CISD teachers need interesting class pets, another hobby of mine is raising isopods. Did you know that isopods (aka roly-polies, pillbugs, sowbugs, woodlouse) are actually crustaceans and not bugs at all? They come in a wide variety; only armadillidium roll into balls!

As a parent, my boys consume most of my time at home! Frederick is almost 3, yet he is beginning to learn guitar, can play Minecraft and other games, and is always fun and polite. Falcon is inquisitive of his world and has the temperament of a sage.

This school year was a fantastic year for the Creative Writing club! There were 6 writing contests hosted throughout the year! I plan on continuing the writing contests in the fall. Students who entered all 6 contests earned a special writing champion trophy! Irma Marsh Middle School

River Oaks fam, I just discovered the greatness that is the Boulevard Brew café. Teachers get 10% off, it has game night on Tuesdays from 6-8, and it's way bigger on the inside than it looks. The owner, Manny, is a great guy. They even play hits from the 60s and My Fair Lady.

I have gotten hooked on the Dall-E craze. It has massive potential for generating profile pictures, art references, and album covers. Now to decide which squirrel drinking coffee picture I wanna use. huggingface.co/spaces/dalle-m…

In my language arts class, every student is encouraged to bring their unique voice to their writing. When students can share their own thoughts, they will feel a stronger sense of belonging. #IMMSLions

The proof copy for my 4th novel, Thief Kids, has arrived! Couldn't have done it without my younger self, who brainstormed everything, my Nana, who painted the cover when I was in 6th grade, and Boulevard Brew, where I typed this 100k word novel this summer. Time for a final edit!

Best birthday ever. Sarah made an amazing abuu cake, and I wore my custom abuu tie. And classes are going brilliantly. We've done more reading and engaging activities in class than ever. I'm getting art to put into my next novel. 27 is cool. Life just gets better over time

Another year, another wall covered in a parade of stick people staring at us with their googly eyes gleaming hopefully for the future. #IMMS

Don't feel discouraged when a friend or family member doesn't vibe with your story/art. Think about the thousands of food items at the grocery that you walk past without a second thought. People have wildly different tastes in things.

There's a gorgeous jungle gym park at Westworth Village City Hall, and there's an adorable lemonade stand open right now if you're nearby!

I received the most special Christmas gift: a floppyfish. I designed the pattern, and my wife, mum, and Nana stitched it masterfully. I got to witness Nana's expert sewing. The end result isn't perfect due to my mediocre pattern we started with, but it's a treasure for the ages.

One of the perks of rearing isopods is you can selectively breed for certain traits. The hoffmannseggi isopods (dark gray) are being bred for a bronze color, and today I found a few pruinosis isopods (previously copper) are showing white or albino pigment, so they'll be bred now.

There's a fantastic sense of satisfaction anytime I achieve a new mechanic in coding. Today I thought of a creative solution in Unity to read notepad scripts to create and compare variables while executing the notepad script line by line in a fashion similar to RenPy script.

This year's novel, The Floundering of the Floppyfish, is about four fish who flee their home in flight of a sea monster to find the mythical Paradise Waters. It's a friendly children's book that contemplates life and death. sknudsen.net/the-flounderin…