What the hell is a teaching philosophy and where do I get one?
I already pooped out on writing everyday! But, that does not mean I have been slacking off ...
On Tuesday, I went to FedEx to make copies of my resume in preparation for Wednesday. I studied a little, but not enough to really get anything done. I'm kind of at the point now that if I don't know it now, I'm not going to be able to cram it in to my head by Saturday. All I can do is pray I have a good enough foundation to pass.
On Wednesday, I went with Mlifford (remember, names changed to protect the innocent!) to the SA Teachers Job Fair, or what I like to refer to as one of the circles of hell ... not sure which one, but a circle of hell none the less. Seriously, there were about 15 districcts and charter schools there, each having maybe two positions open. And of course, those positions were for High School math or science! So, the circle of hell opened began at 9 (Mlifford and I met at Starbucks to make sure we had coffee breath for any potential interviews) and I rolled on out by 10. The lines for the two districts everyone wants to work at snaked up and down stairs ... I refused to stand in them ... like they were going to hire an uncertified teacher when they have everyone and their grandmother trying to get in to their districts ... sure ...
But, as if that were not enough, I got called for an interview! One of the charter schools I applied to called on Wednesday and I went to an interview today. The job would be solely for high school, which is exciting and scary all at the same time (11th grade US History and 12th grade economics freak me out), but I have no doubt that I can not only do them, but do them well. I think the interview went well, but who the heck knows for sure. The principal and the human resources lady sat on opposite sides of the table with me in the middle, so it was a little awkward. I kept swinging back and forth to answer whomever was asking me the round of questions. The seemed to be writing furiously, and it seemed like they were nodding to everything I said, but you never know with interviews ... and you definitely never know with charter schools!
Anyways, the job search continues ...
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Not a lot
A break is needed ...
I didn't do a whole lot today, other than cook a really good dinner. My Sunday of watching the Food Network was useful for dinners this week.
Otherwise, I searched online for a little bit and found a job to apply for on the workforce site, but you have to be an exact match to see the info. So, I e-mailed my workforce guy to see what I needed to do to be able to apply.
Also, I keep checking the alt. certification site to see if UTSA's transcripts made it. I tried to call, but after 10 minutes of holding, I gave up. I'm going to call as soon as I get up tomorrow, but I fear that I put in the wrong address. So, I just requested another one be sent and was extra careful on the address. One day, I will find out.
Anyways, Family Guy makes me laugh ... the news people crack me up all the freakin time ... "And when we come back, we'll talk about that big yellow thing in the sky and what you can do to please it!" Hilarious!
So the job search continues ...
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
I didn't do a whole lot today, other than cook a really good dinner. My Sunday of watching the Food Network was useful for dinners this week.
Otherwise, I searched online for a little bit and found a job to apply for on the workforce site, but you have to be an exact match to see the info. So, I e-mailed my workforce guy to see what I needed to do to be able to apply.
Also, I keep checking the alt. certification site to see if UTSA's transcripts made it. I tried to call, but after 10 minutes of holding, I gave up. I'm going to call as soon as I get up tomorrow, but I fear that I put in the wrong address. So, I just requested another one be sent and was extra careful on the address. One day, I will find out.
Anyways, Family Guy makes me laugh ... the news people crack me up all the freakin time ... "And when we come back, we'll talk about that big yellow thing in the sky and what you can do to please it!" Hilarious!
So the job search continues ...
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
Little Spikes of Depression
"He just wants to be left alone ... talking on his phone ..." - as written by Miju ...
I'm blogging early today, so you have to trust that I am actually going to do what I'm saying I'm going to do ...
It's about 10:30am, and I've gotten 5 phone calls. Over the last several days, every time the phone rings, I anxiously run to the phone to see who is calling. It has yet to be a possible employer ... Never in my life have I been more depressed by a ringing phone. Every time it rings and isn't a school calling for an interview, I get a little punch in the gut of depression.
I'm not saying don't call me, because I the little spike lasts only a second. It's just a weird feeling.
Anyways, today's list of things to do: 1) Find a school to send a resume to. 2) Go to Barnes & Noble to screw XAM.
So the job search continues ...
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
59
Attending Barnes and Noble daily ...
So, I was semi-productive today. I say semi because I filled out an application, but since we don't have a printer at home, I asked Mana to print it and bring it home. She is going to re-print it tomorrow (since I apparently lost all sense of grammar when writing my personal statement) and will fax is to the Academy of Careers and Technologies.
In case you did not know, this blog has been brought to you by the number 59. The reason is because that is how much the TeXes study guide by XAM costs ... Seriously ... $59?!?! So, I'm going to stick it to the man for the next 9 days: I will be attending the school of Barnes & Noble daily to study. For real ... taking a notebook, sitting in one of those comfy chairs, and studying like my life depends on it ... for free! Take that, XAM!
Anyways, the job search continues.
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
So, I was semi-productive today. I say semi because I filled out an application, but since we don't have a printer at home, I asked Mana to print it and bring it home. She is going to re-print it tomorrow (since I apparently lost all sense of grammar when writing my personal statement) and will fax is to the Academy of Careers and Technologies.
In case you did not know, this blog has been brought to you by the number 59. The reason is because that is how much the TeXes study guide by XAM costs ... Seriously ... $59?!?! So, I'm going to stick it to the man for the next 9 days: I will be attending the school of Barnes & Noble daily to study. For real ... taking a notebook, sitting in one of those comfy chairs, and studying like my life depends on it ... for free! Take that, XAM!
Anyways, the job search continues.
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
The Beginning of Preparation
Test-prep is never any fun ...
So, my unemployment activity of the day was not really related to the job search. I am taking the Social Studies TeXes exams in order to be "highly qualified" for all social studies and eventually become a fully certified teacher.
On the TeXes website, there were study guides for the exams and sample tests. I will be taking 2 exams on June 21: Social Studies 4-8 and Social Studies 8-12. The only part I did today were both of the practice exams, which although were not full practice exams, they include the types of questions that will be on the exam.
I went to Starbucks to take the practice exams and tried my hardest. I went ahead and graded them, but just taking the tests was nerve racking! I definitely, before even grading it, know what areas I need to study. I had almost no trouble with the world history stuff, but Texas and US history were subpar and the economics was flat out scary. I did reasonably well, scoring an 84 on the 8-12 and an 89 on the 4-8.
I now am armed with the information of what I need to study. I am going to do that over the next week.
As for the job search, I will be applying to another school tomorrow.
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
So, my unemployment activity of the day was not really related to the job search. I am taking the Social Studies TeXes exams in order to be "highly qualified" for all social studies and eventually become a fully certified teacher.
On the TeXes website, there were study guides for the exams and sample tests. I will be taking 2 exams on June 21: Social Studies 4-8 and Social Studies 8-12. The only part I did today were both of the practice exams, which although were not full practice exams, they include the types of questions that will be on the exam.
I went to Starbucks to take the practice exams and tried my hardest. I went ahead and graded them, but just taking the tests was nerve racking! I definitely, before even grading it, know what areas I need to study. I had almost no trouble with the world history stuff, but Texas and US history were subpar and the economics was flat out scary. I did reasonably well, scoring an 84 on the 8-12 and an 89 on the 4-8.
I now am armed with the information of what I need to study. I am going to do that over the next week.
As for the job search, I will be applying to another school tomorrow.
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
Journey to the Unemployment Office
I officially hit rock bottom.
This day is depressing. Not a whole lot of activity, which means I have time to sit around and regret.
I went to the workforce commission so I can start to get unemployment benefits. I've heard that the movies are known as the "great equalizer." I would argue that the unemployment office is closer to that. I spied every type of person: from a lady in braids drinking a canned coke from a straw, to a businessman in a suit and tie, and everything else in between. I guess this unemployment thing can happen to anyone. The class leader got yelled at by this classy lady who brought her infant and two year old for not knowing just how secure the application website was. She gave him a stern talking to and continued to berate him from the back row for the rest of the hour. Upsetting ... yet mildly entertaining.
I checked my alternative certification website. They have received the transcripts from SFA, but not TCC or UTSA. I find this infuriating since I requested SFA's a day after the others by fax rather than electronic request. you would think an electronic request would be faster than a handwritten fax request that happened a day later, but that just shows how much SFA rocks. I just want to be in this program already! When I do, I can start applying to school districts rather than just charter schools. I'm not expecting that a district is going to hire me, but it would at least give me some more forms to fill out so I feel like I'm doing something.
I understand that I have only been unemployed for less than 5 full days, but I want to find a job already. I'm impatient. I now have a new version of hell.
Well, I think that's it for today.
Cross our fingers, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle, and/or say a little prayer.
I will get a job.
And so goes the life ...
This day is depressing. Not a whole lot of activity, which means I have time to sit around and regret.
I went to the workforce commission so I can start to get unemployment benefits. I've heard that the movies are known as the "great equalizer." I would argue that the unemployment office is closer to that. I spied every type of person: from a lady in braids drinking a canned coke from a straw, to a businessman in a suit and tie, and everything else in between. I guess this unemployment thing can happen to anyone. The class leader got yelled at by this classy lady who brought her infant and two year old for not knowing just how secure the application website was. She gave him a stern talking to and continued to berate him from the back row for the rest of the hour. Upsetting ... yet mildly entertaining.
I checked my alternative certification website. They have received the transcripts from SFA, but not TCC or UTSA. I find this infuriating since I requested SFA's a day after the others by fax rather than electronic request. you would think an electronic request would be faster than a handwritten fax request that happened a day later, but that just shows how much SFA rocks. I just want to be in this program already! When I do, I can start applying to school districts rather than just charter schools. I'm not expecting that a district is going to hire me, but it would at least give me some more forms to fill out so I feel like I'm doing something.
I understand that I have only been unemployed for less than 5 full days, but I want to find a job already. I'm impatient. I now have a new version of hell.
Well, I think that's it for today.
Cross our fingers, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle, and/or say a little prayer.
I will get a job.
And so goes the life ...
Umemployment
Cringe-worthy ...
S
o, I open my mouth to ask questions and I get fired. Well, not exactly ... I get my contract offer withdrawn. Whatever actually happened, I am officially unemployed. Enough to file for unemployment and take a little bit of my tax money back ...
But, rather than groan about what happened, I'm going to chronicle my adventure in my blog. There unfortunately is not a whole lot I can do to get back at the dumb dumb that decided I wouldn't be needed, but I can start the search for a better job.
Sadly, I am not quite sure I am going to have a whole lot to write about over the next couple of months, but I'm definitely going to write every weekday. If nothing else, I will write who I applied to, what I did for unemployment, or how I was productive on the job front ... just to keep me really working towards the next great job.
I have been productive already. At the very least, this setback has pushed me into action. I have signed up to take the certification tests. Although I can't get certified through them yet, they will make me highly qualified for all social studies, rather than just history. I also applied for a teacher certification program. I'd been putting it off due to the high price, but there is no time like the present. I screwed myself over by not having done it already, which significantly cuts down my options for possible employment.
I have already applied for two teaching positions already: one at Brooks Academy of Science and Engineering, the other at Southwest Preparatory Academy.
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
S
o, I open my mouth to ask questions and I get fired. Well, not exactly ... I get my contract offer withdrawn. Whatever actually happened, I am officially unemployed. Enough to file for unemployment and take a little bit of my tax money back ...
But, rather than groan about what happened, I'm going to chronicle my adventure in my blog. There unfortunately is not a whole lot I can do to get back at the dumb dumb that decided I wouldn't be needed, but I can start the search for a better job.
Sadly, I am not quite sure I am going to have a whole lot to write about over the next couple of months, but I'm definitely going to write every weekday. If nothing else, I will write who I applied to, what I did for unemployment, or how I was productive on the job front ... just to keep me really working towards the next great job.
I have been productive already. At the very least, this setback has pushed me into action. I have signed up to take the certification tests. Although I can't get certified through them yet, they will make me highly qualified for all social studies, rather than just history. I also applied for a teacher certification program. I'd been putting it off due to the high price, but there is no time like the present. I screwed myself over by not having done it already, which significantly cuts down my options for possible employment.
I have already applied for two teaching positions already: one at Brooks Academy of Science and Engineering, the other at Southwest Preparatory Academy.
Keep your fingers crossed, do whatever pagan ritual you can think of, light a candle (or seven), and/or say a little prayer ...
And so goes the life ...
Clothes and Reason
The positives outweigh the negatives ...
I've been telling myself the preceeding statement all week. The positives of teaching at the school I do outweigh the problems that I would face in a public school district. Although I'm not completely sure that its true, its nice to embrace that fact.
In order to "get over" the week, I went shopping. Everyone knows that when I am upset, sad, depressed, or anything to that effect, I want to shop. Whether its at the grocery store or at the mall, I want retail therapy. I'm not sure how I ended up with this, but its a family issue. Mom, Dad, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, cousins, everyone! Almost all of do it. And its the physicality of picking something up and putting it in a basket or hearing the register ka-ching.
Whatever it is, it helps.
Thankfully, Mana wanted to go to a store she heard about on Oprah (I heard about it on Project Runway). Steve and Barry's is the best place in the entire world. I am a convert and if you are near one, you should as well! Everything in thier store was $7.98. They are the exclusive carriers of the lines by Sarah Jessica Parker, Venus Williams, Amanda Bynes, and (for guys!) Stephon Marbury. Best place ever! I got three work shirts, a sweater, a pair of work pants, and two pairs of tennis shoes (yes, the shoes were $7.98 too!). I felt so much better.
Anyways, the shopping and trip to Golden Corral made everything seem a little bit better.
Which is nice.
Now, I'm sitting at the Starbucks with free internet (since a spa next door has it for free!). I went to the school website and randomly looked at the comment section. Every once in a while,
I remember one of the reasons I got into teaching:
Posted on 1/10/2008:
hi!I'm Junelyn! i woulg just want to add a comment and want to say that I Love STT it is a verygood school and has the best,cool,awesome and strict (in a very good way!) teachers. For all the teachers i would like to thank them for their hard work and for all the fun that they brought to me and to all of us. I also would like to thank espacially my math teacher "Mr.Kaharaman",my science teacher"Mr.Yurtseven,my social studies teacher"Mr,Pawkett,and my Turkish teacher"Aydin Bey" and the rest, for really trying your best to teach us great stuffs!!!! .....I LOVE SCHOOL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY.....
And so goes the life ...
I've been telling myself the preceeding statement all week. The positives of teaching at the school I do outweigh the problems that I would face in a public school district. Although I'm not completely sure that its true, its nice to embrace that fact.
In order to "get over" the week, I went shopping. Everyone knows that when I am upset, sad, depressed, or anything to that effect, I want to shop. Whether its at the grocery store or at the mall, I want retail therapy. I'm not sure how I ended up with this, but its a family issue. Mom, Dad, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, cousins, everyone! Almost all of do it. And its the physicality of picking something up and putting it in a basket or hearing the register ka-ching.
Whatever it is, it helps.
Thankfully, Mana wanted to go to a store she heard about on Oprah (I heard about it on Project Runway). Steve and Barry's is the best place in the entire world. I am a convert and if you are near one, you should as well! Everything in thier store was $7.98. They are the exclusive carriers of the lines by Sarah Jessica Parker, Venus Williams, Amanda Bynes, and (for guys!) Stephon Marbury. Best place ever! I got three work shirts, a sweater, a pair of work pants, and two pairs of tennis shoes (yes, the shoes were $7.98 too!). I felt so much better.
Anyways, the shopping and trip to Golden Corral made everything seem a little bit better.
Which is nice.
Now, I'm sitting at the Starbucks with free internet (since a spa next door has it for free!). I went to the school website and randomly looked at the comment section. Every once in a while,
I remember one of the reasons I got into teaching:
Posted on 1/10/2008:
hi!I'm Junelyn! i woulg just want to add a comment and want to say that I Love STT it is a verygood school and has the best,cool,awesome and strict (in a very good way!) teachers. For all the teachers i would like to thank them for their hard work and for all the fun that they brought to me and to all of us. I also would like to thank espacially my math teacher "Mr.Kaharaman",my science teacher"Mr.Yurtseven,my social studies teacher"Mr,Pawkett,and my Turkish teacher"Aydin Bey" and the rest, for really trying your best to teach us great stuffs!!!! .....I LOVE SCHOOL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY.....
And so goes the life ...
Bandwagon Day
I will totally jump on with you ...
I was not in the best of moods today. The kids were awesome and have been since we've gotten back from the break. It's nice to know that my students still remember how to behave in my class, even if they don't in others.
I have to say that I am not particularly in a bad mood. And its not that I am more easily annoyed than usual either. I have decided to call it my "bandwagon mood."
This school year has not been bad, but it wasn't as good as last year (which of course makes it seem worse than it actually is until you think about it overall). I'm not exactly sure how to describe the "temperature" of the school, but it seems less ... happy, for the lack of a better adjective. We seemed to have lost the doe-eyed optimism that was so prevelant last year.
I consider it to be like a relationship. All the minor things that you dislike about a significant other but think you will get used to start to become more and more annoying.
So, why is considered a "bandwagon day"? Well, nothing particularly bad happened to me today. Annoying things happened to other people while I was in the room and decided I should be as equally angry as they were.
One of the English teachers submitted her semester exams to administration. A part of the test asked the students to brainstorm ideas and write a thesis as if he/she were going to write a persuasive essay. One of the topic choices was "Should your school have school uniforms?" The administrator e-mailed back that the test must be removed because students should not be allowed to criticize something that already happening in the school. God forbid we ask them to be able to support their ideas with persuasive arguments!
Another anger bandwagon I jumped on was that the other 6th grade social studies teacher and I submitted virtually the same semester exam. She received an e-mail saying she needed to add 3-4 essay questions and I was told mine was fine. I felt bad for her!
Then, our music teacher was accepted in the Masters in Ed, Alt. Cert. Program at The Lake. They offered to pay over 75% of it as long as she would enter to teach science. She said absolutely and only has to take about 14 hours of science to be fully qualified. She told our principal about the program and how she would need to teach at least 3 science classes next year. His response was that he would have to see because teaching science is so much harder than music. Now, some may disagree with me, but I feel I can make a strong argument that all classes are equally as hard to teach, but in different ways. Social Studies and English can sometimes be amazingly boring. Science and math hard and some students just have a mental block. Yet, electives are sometimes seen as the "easy classes to teach." Since I taught speech this year (and Geography Bee last year), I found it just as hard to teach the electives. The students tend to not take them as seriously and are much more prone to behavior issues. I felt angry for her too!
Over the Winter Break, we were asked, as a homework assignment, to reflect on our first semester, how we thought behavior in our classes was, and any comments, concerns, or suggestions to improve the school. Yesterday in the staff meeting, the homework assignment was discussed by the VP of Students. I can sum up the 25 minute discussion in one sentence: "Thank you all for so much for the constructive criticism, but we are not going to change a damn thing." The reason this angers me so much is not so much that they aren't going to change a damn thing ... Its that they made me waste my time giving them at least descent ideas and not give a damn about them. It was a waste of our collective time if they had no intentions of actually listening. I understand that most of those "sugesstion box" assignments are pointless, but at least lie to me!! Make me think that you are going to implement some new and improved ideas! Even if you don't actually plan to, sometimes a little white lie can shut me the hell up.
With the exception of the homework assignment, none of these issues really happened to me, yet I seemed to be just as angry as the people it actually affected. It is important to note that I still feel that the positives heavily outweigh the negatives, which is nice to focus on. But the negatives are becoming more noticeable, recognizable, and aggravating ... which is less nice to focus on.
And so goes the life ...
I was not in the best of moods today. The kids were awesome and have been since we've gotten back from the break. It's nice to know that my students still remember how to behave in my class, even if they don't in others.
I have to say that I am not particularly in a bad mood. And its not that I am more easily annoyed than usual either. I have decided to call it my "bandwagon mood."
This school year has not been bad, but it wasn't as good as last year (which of course makes it seem worse than it actually is until you think about it overall). I'm not exactly sure how to describe the "temperature" of the school, but it seems less ... happy, for the lack of a better adjective. We seemed to have lost the doe-eyed optimism that was so prevelant last year.
I consider it to be like a relationship. All the minor things that you dislike about a significant other but think you will get used to start to become more and more annoying.
So, why is considered a "bandwagon day"? Well, nothing particularly bad happened to me today. Annoying things happened to other people while I was in the room and decided I should be as equally angry as they were.
One of the English teachers submitted her semester exams to administration. A part of the test asked the students to brainstorm ideas and write a thesis as if he/she were going to write a persuasive essay. One of the topic choices was "Should your school have school uniforms?" The administrator e-mailed back that the test must be removed because students should not be allowed to criticize something that already happening in the school. God forbid we ask them to be able to support their ideas with persuasive arguments!
Another anger bandwagon I jumped on was that the other 6th grade social studies teacher and I submitted virtually the same semester exam. She received an e-mail saying she needed to add 3-4 essay questions and I was told mine was fine. I felt bad for her!
Then, our music teacher was accepted in the Masters in Ed, Alt. Cert. Program at The Lake. They offered to pay over 75% of it as long as she would enter to teach science. She said absolutely and only has to take about 14 hours of science to be fully qualified. She told our principal about the program and how she would need to teach at least 3 science classes next year. His response was that he would have to see because teaching science is so much harder than music. Now, some may disagree with me, but I feel I can make a strong argument that all classes are equally as hard to teach, but in different ways. Social Studies and English can sometimes be amazingly boring. Science and math hard and some students just have a mental block. Yet, electives are sometimes seen as the "easy classes to teach." Since I taught speech this year (and Geography Bee last year), I found it just as hard to teach the electives. The students tend to not take them as seriously and are much more prone to behavior issues. I felt angry for her too!
Over the Winter Break, we were asked, as a homework assignment, to reflect on our first semester, how we thought behavior in our classes was, and any comments, concerns, or suggestions to improve the school. Yesterday in the staff meeting, the homework assignment was discussed by the VP of Students. I can sum up the 25 minute discussion in one sentence: "Thank you all for so much for the constructive criticism, but we are not going to change a damn thing." The reason this angers me so much is not so much that they aren't going to change a damn thing ... Its that they made me waste my time giving them at least descent ideas and not give a damn about them. It was a waste of our collective time if they had no intentions of actually listening. I understand that most of those "sugesstion box" assignments are pointless, but at least lie to me!! Make me think that you are going to implement some new and improved ideas! Even if you don't actually plan to, sometimes a little white lie can shut me the hell up.
With the exception of the homework assignment, none of these issues really happened to me, yet I seemed to be just as angry as the people it actually affected. It is important to note that I still feel that the positives heavily outweigh the negatives, which is nice to focus on. But the negatives are becoming more noticeable, recognizable, and aggravating ... which is less nice to focus on.
And so goes the life ...
Musings
Be vewy quiet ... we're huntin' witches ...
It's been a long day! And, quite honestly, a lot happened. Let's just go ahead and have a run down of the day's events:
* I was a little bit hungover this morning at work. Immediately after the first day back at work for the semester, two other teachers and I decided that we needed to drink. And drink we did! I'm not saying I was hungover like crazy headache, screaming at kids, and the overly bright flourescent lighting blinding me, but it was a little rough getting out of bed and starting the day (I was fine by the time I actually had a class, since my first two periods are conference everyday ... so the kiddies were not affected in any way). Although, I would like to give a great shout-out to the awesome folks that "partied like it was the first day back after a two-week break and we need a drink after dealing with kids-ty nine!" Martsell and Morton rule!
** Speaking of Martsell, she is at the center of a shake-up at the school. If you would like just the jist of this section, skip to the last line ... it pretty much sums it up. Anyways, Martsell is taking over Special Ed, since the special ed teacher left in the middle of last semester. Because of this, she needs to have another period off during the day in order to work with the sped. kids. So, they are giving the awesome Mantusa another World Geography class and giving me one of Mantusa's 6th grade classes (while closing down my Speech class ... it won't be offered next semester). It's a bit of a shake up, but it actually creates less planning for me and so is therefore much less work. The only thing I have to worry about is catching the class up because although technically they are a higher level group, they are a chapter behind my lower level classes. (Note: This is mainly because my classes were never interrupted due to TAKS practice exams). So, jist of it is: Big Shake Up = Less Work for me = Happy me ...
*** The WGA strike is really effing with my world. Because of the strike, my favorite awards show is now cancelled. Yes, the champagne-filled, drunken actors-lovin' Golden Globes is cancelled. There are two main reasons the GG's are my favorite: 1) They include both movies and TV. 2) Drunk presenters, winners, and losers. When presenters are so drunk they can barely read the teleprompter, its awesome. When winners are so drunk they have no idea what award they are accepting, its awesome. When the losers are so drunk they aren't able to hide that pissed off they lost face, its awesome. In the words of a certain red-headed comedienne, the GG's "are like a hug from baby Jesus." And now they are cancelled. Don't get me wrong, I support the WGA ... but seriously. For those interested in knowning how both the AMPTP and the WGA have f'ed up this strike, read the column at ew.com "Writers' Strike: Why Is It Dragging On?" by Mark Harris. Another reason why I love Entertainment Weekly.
**** Without her knowledge or stated permission, I stole Mana's toothpaste tonight. I would like everyone to know that her Crest ProHealth Night Toothpaste has changed my life. That's pretty much all I have to say about that ... Other than it features a nice minty flavor that tinngles all over, only requires one minute of brushing instead of two, is approved by the American Dental Association, is all around awesome, and yeah ... pretty much changed my life.
So, yeah ... that's pretty much it.
And that is just about all the musings I have time for.
Thank you and come again!
And so goes the life ...
It's been a long day! And, quite honestly, a lot happened. Let's just go ahead and have a run down of the day's events:
* I was a little bit hungover this morning at work. Immediately after the first day back at work for the semester, two other teachers and I decided that we needed to drink. And drink we did! I'm not saying I was hungover like crazy headache, screaming at kids, and the overly bright flourescent lighting blinding me, but it was a little rough getting out of bed and starting the day (I was fine by the time I actually had a class, since my first two periods are conference everyday ... so the kiddies were not affected in any way). Although, I would like to give a great shout-out to the awesome folks that "partied like it was the first day back after a two-week break and we need a drink after dealing with kids-ty nine!" Martsell and Morton rule!
** Speaking of Martsell, she is at the center of a shake-up at the school. If you would like just the jist of this section, skip to the last line ... it pretty much sums it up. Anyways, Martsell is taking over Special Ed, since the special ed teacher left in the middle of last semester. Because of this, she needs to have another period off during the day in order to work with the sped. kids. So, they are giving the awesome Mantusa another World Geography class and giving me one of Mantusa's 6th grade classes (while closing down my Speech class ... it won't be offered next semester). It's a bit of a shake up, but it actually creates less planning for me and so is therefore much less work. The only thing I have to worry about is catching the class up because although technically they are a higher level group, they are a chapter behind my lower level classes. (Note: This is mainly because my classes were never interrupted due to TAKS practice exams). So, jist of it is: Big Shake Up = Less Work for me = Happy me ...
*** The WGA strike is really effing with my world. Because of the strike, my favorite awards show is now cancelled. Yes, the champagne-filled, drunken actors-lovin' Golden Globes is cancelled. There are two main reasons the GG's are my favorite: 1) They include both movies and TV. 2) Drunk presenters, winners, and losers. When presenters are so drunk they can barely read the teleprompter, its awesome. When winners are so drunk they have no idea what award they are accepting, its awesome. When the losers are so drunk they aren't able to hide that pissed off they lost face, its awesome. In the words of a certain red-headed comedienne, the GG's "are like a hug from baby Jesus." And now they are cancelled. Don't get me wrong, I support the WGA ... but seriously. For those interested in knowning how both the AMPTP and the WGA have f'ed up this strike, read the column at ew.com "Writers' Strike: Why Is It Dragging On?" by Mark Harris. Another reason why I love Entertainment Weekly.
**** Without her knowledge or stated permission, I stole Mana's toothpaste tonight. I would like everyone to know that her Crest ProHealth Night Toothpaste has changed my life. That's pretty much all I have to say about that ... Other than it features a nice minty flavor that tinngles all over, only requires one minute of brushing instead of two, is approved by the American Dental Association, is all around awesome, and yeah ... pretty much changed my life.
So, yeah ... that's pretty much it.
And that is just about all the musings I have time for.
Thank you and come again!
And so goes the life ...
For Millie ...
Ah, the end of the Winter Break ...
Yeah, its time to start back to school. And I'm not particularly ready this time. Hopefully by the end of the day I will be. I'm going with a friend of mine to write lesson plans and semester exams. Should be an thouroughly enjoyable day.
The start of a new year is bringing about some interesting feelings. I'm not exactly where I thought I would be. Not that I am at a bad place, by any means, but I guess I thought I would be further along. Not really sure what further along is, but I thought I would be it.
I'm also having some different ideas and thinking it may be time to do some things that I have never done. I wouldn't say I'm going through a quarter-life crisis or anything, but the situation I am in is opening my eyes to certain things.
And I don't particularly like them ...
And so goes the life ...
Yeah, its time to start back to school. And I'm not particularly ready this time. Hopefully by the end of the day I will be. I'm going with a friend of mine to write lesson plans and semester exams. Should be an thouroughly enjoyable day.
The start of a new year is bringing about some interesting feelings. I'm not exactly where I thought I would be. Not that I am at a bad place, by any means, but I guess I thought I would be further along. Not really sure what further along is, but I thought I would be it.
I'm also having some different ideas and thinking it may be time to do some things that I have never done. I wouldn't say I'm going through a quarter-life crisis or anything, but the situation I am in is opening my eyes to certain things.
And I don't particularly like them ...
And so goes the life ...
Tampa (Part Dos)
I can't believe I'm here again ...
So, I'm back in the Tampa airport ... this time on my way to West Palm Beach, rather than on the way back from WPB. And again, my flight is delayed. I pretty much hate the luck associated with this place.
But there are some upsides to this little voyage already:
? The line for ticketing at Houston-Hobby Airport sucked. I got there super early (thanks to Mobin and Meah for letting me stay with them and taking me to the airport so freakin early!) and was told the line was about 30 minutes long. I waited for about 10 minutes, till we rounded a corner ... and there it was, like a flashing beacon ... literally, cause there was a guy standing there with a flashlight ... the "No Baggage Check Lane" with no one in it. It called to me and I bypassed what would eventually be a 1.5 hour wait according to the guy behind me that actually had to wait in it.
? I heart Southwest Airlines! I got not one, but two Diet Cokes ... and I didn't even have to start a jihad for them. How 'bout them apples, Continental?!?
? I played "Spot the Tranny" on the plane here and I totally spotted one! If only Mana and a bit of alcohol were with me, the game, I feel, would have picked up.
? As much as the luck associated with this place sucks, the one thing it has going for it is the free wireless internet that is making this blog possible. It was also brought to you by the letter "H" and the number "3.14"
? The airport (like every other one in the world) also has a bar. Praise be to Jesus, Allah, God, Yahweh, Vishnu, and whatever other divine spirit had a hand in it. I'd pour a little beer out for you, but the lady with the mop might frown upon those types of actions.
And that about wraps up the positives of the trip thus far.
I'm now going back to the bar, since my plane has been delayed another 15 minutes. (Seriously... Jesus, Allah, God, Yahweh, Vishnu, and whatever other divine spirit ... where were ya'll on that one???)
Merry Christmas to all ... and to all, a good day!
And so goes the life ...
So, I'm back in the Tampa airport ... this time on my way to West Palm Beach, rather than on the way back from WPB. And again, my flight is delayed. I pretty much hate the luck associated with this place.
But there are some upsides to this little voyage already:
? The line for ticketing at Houston-Hobby Airport sucked. I got there super early (thanks to Mobin and Meah for letting me stay with them and taking me to the airport so freakin early!) and was told the line was about 30 minutes long. I waited for about 10 minutes, till we rounded a corner ... and there it was, like a flashing beacon ... literally, cause there was a guy standing there with a flashlight ... the "No Baggage Check Lane" with no one in it. It called to me and I bypassed what would eventually be a 1.5 hour wait according to the guy behind me that actually had to wait in it.
? I heart Southwest Airlines! I got not one, but two Diet Cokes ... and I didn't even have to start a jihad for them. How 'bout them apples, Continental?!?
? I played "Spot the Tranny" on the plane here and I totally spotted one! If only Mana and a bit of alcohol were with me, the game, I feel, would have picked up.
? As much as the luck associated with this place sucks, the one thing it has going for it is the free wireless internet that is making this blog possible. It was also brought to you by the letter "H" and the number "3.14"
? The airport (like every other one in the world) also has a bar. Praise be to Jesus, Allah, God, Yahweh, Vishnu, and whatever other divine spirit had a hand in it. I'd pour a little beer out for you, but the lady with the mop might frown upon those types of actions.
And that about wraps up the positives of the trip thus far.
I'm now going back to the bar, since my plane has been delayed another 15 minutes. (Seriously... Jesus, Allah, God, Yahweh, Vishnu, and whatever other divine spirit ... where were ya'll on that one???)
Merry Christmas to all ... and to all, a good day!
And so goes the life ...
A Long Time Gone and Other Dixie Chicks References
I've been a long time gone ...
It again has been a long time since I wrote a new blog. And since I have nothing better to do, I'm not really sleepy, and I just beat Bloons Tower Defense 2 (on easy), I decided I might as well update this thing.
Not Ready to Make Nice
The house situation is not really any better than last time I talked to anyone. I thought this would have been such a great idea. I probably would have never agreed to it had I not thought Mana really was leaving. We would probably still be in our apartment, crappy as it was, yet happier. She has come up with one of the best nicknames for the illustrious roommate (MLC). And I will not write what it means on here, but know that it contains a word that I hate with a deep passion. I still feel bad about getting Mana into this crappy situation. I understand that it worked out that had a place to turn to and all that jazz, but the situation sucks so much. It created so much drama that was completely unneeded.
I think what makes me most angry about it is that I actually dislike, possibly hate, someone. I almost never hate anyone. I can get along with almost anyone and everyone. Its, I think, one of my best qualities. And to know that I can't make it work either proves what a horrible person she is or that I am not as good a person as I thought I was. I choose to blame her, since it couldn't possibly be me.
April cannot come soon enough.
There's Your Trouble
So alcohol has gotten me in to trouble lately. And not even good trouble. I managed to make a complete ass of myself at Ren Fest, which is highly embarassing. I get it that everyone can laugh about it and its not like my friends would stop being my friend because of it, but its not like me to let go and get totally wasted. I'm not the biggest fan of it. I'm a much bigger fan of taking care of other people than being the one taken care of. I don't like it and hopefully will be a long time before it happens again. Still embarassed!
Oh yeah ... and I went to work with a giant hangover on Saturday ... Happy Birthday, Mauren!
Somedays You Gotta Dance
It's true. Work is hard this year. Not hard in the sense that the kids are bad or anything to that effect. Thank the heavens for my students' ability to behave (I'm hoping that my amazing classroom management skills has something to do with it, but I might just be lucky). The hard part is simply keeping up. I'm teaching 4 different subjects this year, so it is a little bit taxing. I am teaching 6th grade Social Studies, World History, AP World History, and Speech Communications. The class that is kicking my ass is AP World History. We have to move at breakneck speed in order to get done with the book by the AP examination. I still have not figured out how to teach them to be better writers. It is amazingly frustrating to know how to write a paper and how to answer a question, yet not be able to figure out how to relay that information. I'm not a freakin English teacher!!! I'm a little scared that they are all going to fail the AP exam and I am going to look like an awful AP teacher. I know we will get there ... they had to have picked me for a reason, right???
Also about work, this year has a totally different atmosphere than last year. Ortega is gone, which bums me out still. The new teachers are all really sweet and nice, but overly professional. I know that I should expect that and we are all in the real world, but I was spoiled by last year. It doesn't help that MLC sucks the life out of any room she walks into, but most of the people are that "professional nice". There are exceptions, and in reality, there are more exceptions than those that follow the rule, but everyone knows the rule: If 19 things go right in a day and 1 thing goes wrong, you will focus on that 1 thing that went wrong. Anyways, there are several new folks that I enjoy (and of course the oldies that I love!).
Don't Waste Your Heart
So I'm not exactly the happiest with where I am right now. I'm happy that I'm in San Antonio. I'm happy that I have great friends. I'm happy with my job. Yet there is something missing. And I know its my fault that its missing. I'm just not quite sure how to go about fixing that. Not being a big, giant pansy might help matters, but I don't see that happening in the forseeable future. So, I will probably stay right where I am ... at least in that department.
Wide Open Spaces
I see alot of choices ahead of me and I'm not exactly sure about what I should do. I want to go to grad school ... I'm just not sure if I should go for Ed. Lead. or C&I. I'm scared to death that I am going to go to grad school to become an administrator, then get in the job and absolutely hate it. I would be so upset if I wasted time and money for something I hated. But, I know I have to go get my masters. Everyone's getting (or got) them, so gotta keep up with the jones's! Not the best reason in the world to get one, but if it lights a fire under me, it can't hurt.
I also don't know if I should get my teacher certification with my masters or get that first, then do the masters. If I get it with my masters, I'm definitely going to have to get my degree in C&I. If I don't, I have the option of getting it in Ed. Lead.
I don't like not knowing what to do.
The Long Way Around
I'm sure I'm going to figure everything out. I just have to make decisions, which I always either make last minute or end up choosing all the wrong ones in order to take the long way around to get the right one.
The important thing to remember is that I always get to the right one. Just gotta be patient.
And so goes the life ...
Still ...
I wish I wasn't so angry ...
It happened over a week ago, and I still am up at 1am writing about it, talking about it, and crying about it.
I wish I could understand ... maybe even empathy would help ...
And so goes the life ...
It happened over a week ago, and I still am up at 1am writing about it, talking about it, and crying about it.
I wish I could understand ... maybe even empathy would help ...
And so goes the life ...
Shock and Awe
This is not who I am.
I hate it when I get forced to be someone I'm not, and I feel like I am being pushed into a corner where I have no choice but to be prepared to be petty, aggressive, defensive, and stubborn.
Now don't get me wrong, there are times when I can be these things (especially stubborn if I think I'm right ... I'm aware of some of my flaws!), but I do not feel these are dominant characteristics of my personality ... or at least I hope not.
I am in a living situation that is not the best. I should have forseen this problem, but as usual I attempt to see the best in people. Again, stupid Mames is right: I'm too nice for my own good.
In the last couple months, I have been accused of: watching TV too loudly, stealing a towel, parking in someone's parking spot, not cleaning the lent trap of the dryer, and more, I'm sure.
The parking issue is what led to a fight tonight. Yesterday, when I got back from Austin I parked in the driveway. It is where Mustin usually parks his truck, but they were out of town. I didn't go anywhere last night or today. I'm tired and poor, so staying home seemed like a good plan. Anyways, when the roommates arrived home, my car was parked in "the spot."
Now, me being who I am, would gladly move my car, since its a damn Ford Focus ... what the hell do I care if its parked in the street. All the roommies would have to do is come ask.
Unfortunately, Mr. No-Balls would rather be pissy and park his truck behind not just my car, but in front of the whole driveway blocking everyone in but himself. So, I let it go for several hours.
I decide I should go downstairs to ask if Murch and I should ride to work in the morning. She says sure but there will have to be reshuffling of the cars. I ask why. "Because [M]ustin is parked behind the driveway." So, I ask when is [M]ustin going to move his truck. His response:
"I don't know. When are you going to move your car?"
Not the best response to give me. I respond that the parking spot is not his. He launches into an explination that his car is worth $50000, not $3000 like mine and blah blah blah. I explain that his car is not worth that, since as soon as you drive it off the lot it loses half of its value, and my car is not worth $3000, no matter what it is. He replies about how he has something in his truck that he can move my car. I replied "But you won't."
He decided to get up and explain that from now on we should take out our own trash and take care of the yard from now on. Petty, right?
Petty is not the fight anyone wants to have with me. Especially if Mana and I have been talking about responses to this fight that we knew was coming. My response:
"Oh, ok. You don't want to have a petty fight with me. But, ok we will. We have no access to the garage since you guys use it, we should pay less rent. You also have more space than us, we should pay less rent. You have two TVs hooked up to cable, we have one: we should pay less on cable. I promise you, you do not want to have a petty fight with me. I will win. Now go move your car."
And I walk upstairs, leaving shocked silence in my wake. 10 minutes later, we hear a truck getting moved.
I know that this fight is not over and that I probably just opened up a can of worms that is going to be really hard to close, but I will not be forced to back down by Mr. No-Balls.
And although I will not be forced to be someone I'm not, I let myself be things I choose not to be normally.
And so goes the life ...
P.S. I have not been the nicest person to be around lately due to stress incurred by my present address. One of the worst things I can do is take things out on someone who doesn't deserve it. I apologize. I also apologize for the future arguments that I will probably result for the same reasons.
I hate it when I get forced to be someone I'm not, and I feel like I am being pushed into a corner where I have no choice but to be prepared to be petty, aggressive, defensive, and stubborn.
Now don't get me wrong, there are times when I can be these things (especially stubborn if I think I'm right ... I'm aware of some of my flaws!), but I do not feel these are dominant characteristics of my personality ... or at least I hope not.
I am in a living situation that is not the best. I should have forseen this problem, but as usual I attempt to see the best in people. Again, stupid Mames is right: I'm too nice for my own good.
In the last couple months, I have been accused of: watching TV too loudly, stealing a towel, parking in someone's parking spot, not cleaning the lent trap of the dryer, and more, I'm sure.
The parking issue is what led to a fight tonight. Yesterday, when I got back from Austin I parked in the driveway. It is where Mustin usually parks his truck, but they were out of town. I didn't go anywhere last night or today. I'm tired and poor, so staying home seemed like a good plan. Anyways, when the roommates arrived home, my car was parked in "the spot."
Now, me being who I am, would gladly move my car, since its a damn Ford Focus ... what the hell do I care if its parked in the street. All the roommies would have to do is come ask.
Unfortunately, Mr. No-Balls would rather be pissy and park his truck behind not just my car, but in front of the whole driveway blocking everyone in but himself. So, I let it go for several hours.
I decide I should go downstairs to ask if Murch and I should ride to work in the morning. She says sure but there will have to be reshuffling of the cars. I ask why. "Because [M]ustin is parked behind the driveway." So, I ask when is [M]ustin going to move his truck. His response:
"I don't know. When are you going to move your car?"
Not the best response to give me. I respond that the parking spot is not his. He launches into an explination that his car is worth $50000, not $3000 like mine and blah blah blah. I explain that his car is not worth that, since as soon as you drive it off the lot it loses half of its value, and my car is not worth $3000, no matter what it is. He replies about how he has something in his truck that he can move my car. I replied "But you won't."
He decided to get up and explain that from now on we should take out our own trash and take care of the yard from now on. Petty, right?
Petty is not the fight anyone wants to have with me. Especially if Mana and I have been talking about responses to this fight that we knew was coming. My response:
"Oh, ok. You don't want to have a petty fight with me. But, ok we will. We have no access to the garage since you guys use it, we should pay less rent. You also have more space than us, we should pay less rent. You have two TVs hooked up to cable, we have one: we should pay less on cable. I promise you, you do not want to have a petty fight with me. I will win. Now go move your car."
And I walk upstairs, leaving shocked silence in my wake. 10 minutes later, we hear a truck getting moved.
I know that this fight is not over and that I probably just opened up a can of worms that is going to be really hard to close, but I will not be forced to back down by Mr. No-Balls.
And although I will not be forced to be someone I'm not, I let myself be things I choose not to be normally.
And so goes the life ...
P.S. I have not been the nicest person to be around lately due to stress incurred by my present address. One of the worst things I can do is take things out on someone who doesn't deserve it. I apologize. I also apologize for the future arguments that I will probably result for the same reasons.
Tampa
I've been somewhere new ...
Ok now ... I've been stuck in the Tampa Bay airport for a long freakin time. I arrived here from West Palm Beach at 5:30 for an hour layover. It's now 11:05pm and the plane is now scheduled to leave at 12:55am. All I want to do is get home and sit on MY couch and watch MY tv and MY dvds and sleep in MY bed (or at least on MY couch!).
I may never actually get to leave Florida.
And so goes the life...
Ok now ... I've been stuck in the Tampa Bay airport for a long freakin time. I arrived here from West Palm Beach at 5:30 for an hour layover. It's now 11:05pm and the plane is now scheduled to leave at 12:55am. All I want to do is get home and sit on MY couch and watch MY tv and MY dvds and sleep in MY bed (or at least on MY couch!).
I may never actually get to leave Florida.
And so goes the life...
Generation Gap?
Does 7 years make a generation gap?
It is currently 4:51am Eastern. I was woken up at 3:30am by the phone incessantly ringing only to hear that my sister (whom we will call Mshley to protect her identity). She was trying to leave CityPlace to go somewhere else with her friends but locked her keys in her car.
In my humble opinion, there are several things wrong with this situation:
1) It's 3:30 am! I am almost 25 years old and I generally don't even stay out that late! And I think I have a fairly active social life and hit the bars quite a bit. What the hell is a 17 year old doing out at 3:30 am!
2) She wasn't even trying to come home! It's not like she was like "Wow, its late, I'd better go home". NO, she was heading off to the next party.
3) She locked her keys in her car, and the simplest way to get them out was for me or Mom to take her the spare key ... BUT, Mshley apparently got mad and didn't want Mom to have the spare key, so she's had it in her car. So, because she's a ... well, bitch ... it cost Dad the money for AAA to get her door open.
4) Now, last time we talked to her she had gotten her keys out, they stopped at Taco Hell, then were bringing her car back here and then she was going with her friend to take her boyfriend home.
Ok, seriously folks. I do have to say that when I was a teenager, I had a curfew for one week only, and that was because I had gotten in trouble. So, as long as I called to check in and gave a time that I would be home and the parents knew where I was, I was allowed to stay out. I still don't think I stayed out that late. What the hell is there to do? Especially for a freakin teenager!
I can't say that I don't stay out this late every once in a while, cause lets face it ... sometimes I do. But there is a difference ... I'm 7 years older. I live on my own, I pay my own bills (granted, there are two that I don't ... so not fully independent yet, but I'm working on it), so I'm allowed to.
And she's mean. She's horrible to my Mom and uses my Dad for money. She attempts to be mean to me, but I'm much better at it when I need to be. She knows that she can walk all over them and get away with it. So, I guess when you are a 17 year old girl that knows she can get away with murder, you go ahead and do it.
This all leads me to the biggest question: How do two kids with the same parents end up so different?
And this is just Mshley. Don't even get me started on Mrystal.
And so goes the life ...
P.S. It's 5:10 and she's still not home.
It is currently 4:51am Eastern. I was woken up at 3:30am by the phone incessantly ringing only to hear that my sister (whom we will call Mshley to protect her identity). She was trying to leave CityPlace to go somewhere else with her friends but locked her keys in her car.
In my humble opinion, there are several things wrong with this situation:
1) It's 3:30 am! I am almost 25 years old and I generally don't even stay out that late! And I think I have a fairly active social life and hit the bars quite a bit. What the hell is a 17 year old doing out at 3:30 am!
2) She wasn't even trying to come home! It's not like she was like "Wow, its late, I'd better go home". NO, she was heading off to the next party.
3) She locked her keys in her car, and the simplest way to get them out was for me or Mom to take her the spare key ... BUT, Mshley apparently got mad and didn't want Mom to have the spare key, so she's had it in her car. So, because she's a ... well, bitch ... it cost Dad the money for AAA to get her door open.
4) Now, last time we talked to her she had gotten her keys out, they stopped at Taco Hell, then were bringing her car back here and then she was going with her friend to take her boyfriend home.
Ok, seriously folks. I do have to say that when I was a teenager, I had a curfew for one week only, and that was because I had gotten in trouble. So, as long as I called to check in and gave a time that I would be home and the parents knew where I was, I was allowed to stay out. I still don't think I stayed out that late. What the hell is there to do? Especially for a freakin teenager!
I can't say that I don't stay out this late every once in a while, cause lets face it ... sometimes I do. But there is a difference ... I'm 7 years older. I live on my own, I pay my own bills (granted, there are two that I don't ... so not fully independent yet, but I'm working on it), so I'm allowed to.
And she's mean. She's horrible to my Mom and uses my Dad for money. She attempts to be mean to me, but I'm much better at it when I need to be. She knows that she can walk all over them and get away with it. So, I guess when you are a 17 year old girl that knows she can get away with murder, you go ahead and do it.
This all leads me to the biggest question: How do two kids with the same parents end up so different?
And this is just Mshley. Don't even get me started on Mrystal.
And so goes the life ...
P.S. It's 5:10 and she's still not home.
For Miranda
Because Miranda said I must ...
You've Been Tagged
Here's how you play, once you've been tagged. You have to write a blog with 10 weird, random things, facts or habits about yourself. At the end you choose 10 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them to be tagged. Don't forget to leave them a comment 'You're It!' and to read your blog.
So here it goes ...
1. I think snakes are the scariest things on the planet ... honestly, things without legs should not move ...
2. I don't understand when people get mad when they hear that someone was talking about them behind their backs ... I would take it as a compliment (it means I'm important enough for you to talk about!)
3. I apparently eat my sandwiches upside down ... I wasn't aware that there was a correct side, but according the the family, I have been doing it wrong for years ...
4. I will always shop hardcore on December 24th because of December 23, 2000 ... And I'm still sad that he couldn't make it to my graduation
5. I am fiscally conservative, and socially liberal ... if Libertarian was a viable option and could possibly win, I would totally vote for that candidate ...
6. I will probably never leave the house again on Super Bowl Sunday ...
7. I heart okra ... pickled, fried, in soups, whatever ... its awesome ...
8. I don't believe in having one best friend ... if you aren't someone I can trust, you shouldn't be my friend ...
9. Have you ever seen someone and immediately not liked them, even though they haven't talked to you yet? I do that ... then feel guilty ... I always give at least one chance ... but ususally I'm right ...
10. I still believe in Santa Claus, because my parents told me I would get socks and underwear forever if I stopped believing (also, I got in a fight on the playground when a kid said SC wasn't real ... I totally kicked ass for Santa) ...
The 10 people I choose are:
1. Robin Robin - Remember: Never stop touching me!
2. Tisha - My oldest friend in the world ...
3. Leah - Woo *leg kick*
4. Sarah - "Sweetie, that's my cell phone ..."
5. Jayme - "They can't take away my destiny!" (Sang by Caitlin ...)
6. Jess M. - My Sexy-Mexi
7. Liju - I saved your life once in my ghetto truck ...
8. Barbara - Since you bailed on homecoming (sure you were sick, but still ...)
9. Jason - My present to you, since you are giving me a free ticket to Fiesta
10. Jennifer - Yorkie! Mostest Blondest! I haven't heard from you in forever!
And so goes the life ...
You've Been Tagged
Here's how you play, once you've been tagged. You have to write a blog with 10 weird, random things, facts or habits about yourself. At the end you choose 10 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them to be tagged. Don't forget to leave them a comment 'You're It!' and to read your blog.
So here it goes ...
1. I think snakes are the scariest things on the planet ... honestly, things without legs should not move ...
2. I don't understand when people get mad when they hear that someone was talking about them behind their backs ... I would take it as a compliment (it means I'm important enough for you to talk about!)
3. I apparently eat my sandwiches upside down ... I wasn't aware that there was a correct side, but according the the family, I have been doing it wrong for years ...
4. I will always shop hardcore on December 24th because of December 23, 2000 ... And I'm still sad that he couldn't make it to my graduation
5. I am fiscally conservative, and socially liberal ... if Libertarian was a viable option and could possibly win, I would totally vote for that candidate ...
6. I will probably never leave the house again on Super Bowl Sunday ...
7. I heart okra ... pickled, fried, in soups, whatever ... its awesome ...
8. I don't believe in having one best friend ... if you aren't someone I can trust, you shouldn't be my friend ...
9. Have you ever seen someone and immediately not liked them, even though they haven't talked to you yet? I do that ... then feel guilty ... I always give at least one chance ... but ususally I'm right ...
10. I still believe in Santa Claus, because my parents told me I would get socks and underwear forever if I stopped believing (also, I got in a fight on the playground when a kid said SC wasn't real ... I totally kicked ass for Santa) ...
The 10 people I choose are:
1. Robin Robin - Remember: Never stop touching me!
2. Tisha - My oldest friend in the world ...
3. Leah - Woo *leg kick*
4. Sarah - "Sweetie, that's my cell phone ..."
5. Jayme - "They can't take away my destiny!" (Sang by Caitlin ...)
6. Jess M. - My Sexy-Mexi
7. Liju - I saved your life once in my ghetto truck ...
8. Barbara - Since you bailed on homecoming (sure you were sick, but still ...)
9. Jason - My present to you, since you are giving me a free ticket to Fiesta
10. Jennifer - Yorkie! Mostest Blondest! I haven't heard from you in forever!
And so goes the life ...
Over a Week
Still ...
So I am officially celebrating my first spring break as a teacher. Really exciting and all that jazz ...
Except for one small thing ...
I've been sick for over a week.
I have a persistant cough and have absolutely NO voice. I haven't been able to talk for three days now. And there is no end to this in sight.
I hate being sick!!!
And so goes the life ...
So I am officially celebrating my first spring break as a teacher. Really exciting and all that jazz ...
Except for one small thing ...
I've been sick for over a week.
I have a persistant cough and have absolutely NO voice. I haven't been able to talk for three days now. And there is no end to this in sight.
I hate being sick!!!
And so goes the life ...
Double 0-7 and More
Is that really ...? No way ... I thought he was dead ... OH! He is dead ... so that's an actor ...
I wanted to write a blog to tell everyone to go see a movie. The movie is called Infamous. Mana and I went to go see it because a family friend (and by family, you know I mean my family of people who drink heavily together) was in it. She has a small part, but it is a speaking role. And the new James Bond (Daniel Craig) is in it.
Please watch for Leticia Trejo in the killer's flashback. It is a movie about Truman Capote, but this movie is different. It really is a good movie, cause otherwise this would say the movie was horrible but Let was great.
So, in conclusion, please go see the movie Infamous.
And so goes the life ...
I wanted to write a blog to tell everyone to go see a movie. The movie is called Infamous. Mana and I went to go see it because a family friend (and by family, you know I mean my family of people who drink heavily together) was in it. She has a small part, but it is a speaking role. And the new James Bond (Daniel Craig) is in it.
Please watch for Leticia Trejo in the killer's flashback. It is a movie about Truman Capote, but this movie is different. It really is a good movie, cause otherwise this would say the movie was horrible but Let was great.
So, in conclusion, please go see the movie Infamous.
And so goes the life ...
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
It's official ... my favorite time of the year ...
Yes, it's that time again. The time when we all sit at home with our hopes and dreams. And we pray to the TV gods (also known as Network Executives) that this season's new TV offerings were not as bad as the last.
I mean seriously people. We can only deal with so many bad ideas. For examples, I direct you to Out of Practice. Oh yes, I said it.
Now many of you may be scratching your head, saying to yourself "When did Out of Practice come on?" It was a CBS show with so much "promise," since it had not only Stockard Channing (Rizzo from Grease), but also Henry Winkler (the FONZ!). Poor, poor Christopher Gorham. Another show that lasted an entire 3 episodes. The show's concept was awful. The laugh-track was used on the most unfunny one-liners. And you could honestly picture the writers praying they actually weren't named in the credits.
Then there are the wonderful world of spin-offs. Case and point: Joey. You loved Friends. I loved Friends. My friend, who we'll call Miju, thought Friends really were his friends. But Joey, without his other Friends, is not a good idea. Joey, at best, was the loveable goofball. The loveable goofball can never, not ever, handle a show on his/her own. They shall always be relgated to be comic relief during a "serious" moment in a sitcom. (By the way, sitcom means situational comedy, in case you did not know). If at anytime you see/hear the following, please assassinate Jeff Zucker (NBC Executive):"From the producers of Will & Grace, comes Jack & Karen. Now they'll bump bellies in LA."
As always, TV Executives have promised that this season will kick the hell out of every other TV season. And there really is some glimmer of hope. Dick Wolf has not put together another Law & Order. Jerry Bruckheimer did not decide we should learn about CSI: Topeka.
So, tune in, fellow TV viewers.
I know I will.
And so goes the life ...
About to Lose Another
Another one bites the dust?
I've been so angry at him. So upset. The tiniest little thing sets me off when it comes to him. And I don't know what to do. But I'm tired of always trying to be the better man. I'm sick of being the one that has to start the uncomfortable conversation.
I'm about to lose another friend and I don't know how to stop it.
And so goes the life ...
I've been so angry at him. So upset. The tiniest little thing sets me off when it comes to him. And I don't know what to do. But I'm tired of always trying to be the better man. I'm sick of being the one that has to start the uncomfortable conversation.
I'm about to lose another friend and I don't know how to stop it.
And so goes the life ...
Musings on a Quote from Oz
"Oh, you caused me grief. And I want to thank you for it. You know, most of us tumble into our lives. We become who we are almost by accident. We try very hard not to look backwards, afraid to find out that maybe we shoud have done something else. But you forced me to look backwards; to question every element of my identity. But I discovered I am who I am. And all of these parts of me are not on accident." - Sister Peter Marie, Oz
I love this quote.
I have been thinking alot about the past year. I am finally not President anymore, and as sad as it is, I feel relieved as well. I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to and I didn't manage to bring the everyone together as one big happy family like I wanted, but I know in my heart that I did the best job I could.
And I know that I made the organization a better fraternity for the people that really wanted to be there. I love the fraternity. And I absolutely love those that helped me through one of the hardest semesters I ever had.
I will never be able to thank my friends enough for helping me though the Fall semester. Those that were in the organization may not have always agreed with me, but they listened and were there for me when I needed them. Those that were not in the fraternity, were there to pick me up when I was down. And my family listened and helped in any way that they could. When I thought there was no way out and I doubted myself and everything else, I knew that there were people there to do whatever they did to make me realize I had to be strong.
And I was.
And I still am. I survived. To make it to the Spring semester. When everything was supposed to be better. And thank God that it was. The Spring only proved to me that sometimes good does prevail. It reminds me that good things do happen. It reminded me that there are some people that I can count on.
And I'm not saying anyone is evil. I might be saying that certain actions were less than civil or good-intentioned. I'm still not quite sure what brought them on, or what brought about such ill-will and hatred towards me when I not once (NOT ONCE) did the same to them.
And I wanted to. Oh, believe me, I wanted to. I so wanted to sink to levels of unbeknownst anger and vengence. And even if I didn't do that, I at least wanted to air my feelings. I wantd to write and post and tell everyone what I went through. I kept telling myself that if I made it through the entire year, I would finally be able to tell everyone about the horrible and terrible things people put me through.
But I didn't. And I still won't. I did it. And I'm proud of myself. "I discoverd I am who I am," and I like that person.
And I'm proud of the fraternity as I am leaving it: happy and hopeful.
I truly believe that the actives of the Spring semester, the pledges of the Dana Duncan Pledge Class, and the new officers are going to do an amazing job. And hopefully they will let me help and bask in their glory.
Again, I thank each and every one of my friends and family that listened, that told me when I was wrong, that argued with me to prove a point, that pulled me up when I felt lower than I ever had in my life, and that were there by my side when I needed them most. Thank you for all your support.
And so goes the life ...
I love this quote.
I have been thinking alot about the past year. I am finally not President anymore, and as sad as it is, I feel relieved as well. I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to and I didn't manage to bring the everyone together as one big happy family like I wanted, but I know in my heart that I did the best job I could.
And I know that I made the organization a better fraternity for the people that really wanted to be there. I love the fraternity. And I absolutely love those that helped me through one of the hardest semesters I ever had.
I will never be able to thank my friends enough for helping me though the Fall semester. Those that were in the organization may not have always agreed with me, but they listened and were there for me when I needed them. Those that were not in the fraternity, were there to pick me up when I was down. And my family listened and helped in any way that they could. When I thought there was no way out and I doubted myself and everything else, I knew that there were people there to do whatever they did to make me realize I had to be strong.
And I was.
And I still am. I survived. To make it to the Spring semester. When everything was supposed to be better. And thank God that it was. The Spring only proved to me that sometimes good does prevail. It reminds me that good things do happen. It reminded me that there are some people that I can count on.
And I'm not saying anyone is evil. I might be saying that certain actions were less than civil or good-intentioned. I'm still not quite sure what brought them on, or what brought about such ill-will and hatred towards me when I not once (NOT ONCE) did the same to them.
And I wanted to. Oh, believe me, I wanted to. I so wanted to sink to levels of unbeknownst anger and vengence. And even if I didn't do that, I at least wanted to air my feelings. I wantd to write and post and tell everyone what I went through. I kept telling myself that if I made it through the entire year, I would finally be able to tell everyone about the horrible and terrible things people put me through.
But I didn't. And I still won't. I did it. And I'm proud of myself. "I discoverd I am who I am," and I like that person.
And I'm proud of the fraternity as I am leaving it: happy and hopeful.
I truly believe that the actives of the Spring semester, the pledges of the Dana Duncan Pledge Class, and the new officers are going to do an amazing job. And hopefully they will let me help and bask in their glory.
Again, I thank each and every one of my friends and family that listened, that told me when I was wrong, that argued with me to prove a point, that pulled me up when I felt lower than I ever had in my life, and that were there by my side when I needed them most. Thank you for all your support.
And so goes the life ...
Reflections in History Class
Russian History ... blah!
I'm sitting in Russian History class and I am amazingly bored. Like boredom that I have never ever experienced (except for the last class period, and the one before that, and the one before that ...). And sadly, the information could have been interesting. Well, interesting to a history major.
My professor is Dr. Mavies (names, as always, are changed to protect the innocent). This man is one of the most brilliant that I have ever met. During a presentation on gypsies I made in his Historical Methods class, he refuted nearly every piece of information I had. Apparently, everything I researched was wrong. And yet, he gave me a B.
So, since I had successfully avoided European History until my last semester, I figured I take Mavies in hopes of the B. Thus far, I have it. We've got one grade, and I managed an 85.9 (can anyone explain how I lost one-tenth of a point ... on an essay test??). But this "B" is costing me a little bit of my life, twice a week.
For being so brilliant, this man is not the best lecturer. He floats around topics and doesn't follow any outline or general direction. The chalkboard at the end of class is either completely blank or a jumbled mass of random Russian words and dates. And no one is quite sure which part of the lecture is important and might end up on the final.
I've talked to Mavies outside of class before to get information ont he paper that's due someday soon. It is here (and in class, too, if you can manage to stay awake) that you realize the man is one of the smartest you will ever meet. His ability to recall large amounts of information and somehow link it to events in some other civilization, or "not be an expert" on something you've researched but talk for 30 minutes on how he can see how you got that, "but no."
And here is where it occurs to me what a friend once said to me: "You can't be good at everything." Such a simplistic statement and one that everyone has heard. But, I've lost sight of that lately. I've always tried to be the best at everything I try. If I'm not, I just won't do it anymore. It's not the best policy, but it is one of self-protection: If I don't do something I'm not good at, no one can make fun or joke about it.
I have to remember that I can't win everything. I have to accept that some will be better than me at some stuff. I have to realize that I excel at things as well.
I'm awesome and you should consider yourself lucky to know me! :-) (cause I am lucky to know you)
And so goes the life ...
P.S. In response to a certain Millie's blog, I have killer calves. And word on the street is I've got a nice ass too.
I'm sitting in Russian History class and I am amazingly bored. Like boredom that I have never ever experienced (except for the last class period, and the one before that, and the one before that ...). And sadly, the information could have been interesting. Well, interesting to a history major.
My professor is Dr. Mavies (names, as always, are changed to protect the innocent). This man is one of the most brilliant that I have ever met. During a presentation on gypsies I made in his Historical Methods class, he refuted nearly every piece of information I had. Apparently, everything I researched was wrong. And yet, he gave me a B.
So, since I had successfully avoided European History until my last semester, I figured I take Mavies in hopes of the B. Thus far, I have it. We've got one grade, and I managed an 85.9 (can anyone explain how I lost one-tenth of a point ... on an essay test??). But this "B" is costing me a little bit of my life, twice a week.
For being so brilliant, this man is not the best lecturer. He floats around topics and doesn't follow any outline or general direction. The chalkboard at the end of class is either completely blank or a jumbled mass of random Russian words and dates. And no one is quite sure which part of the lecture is important and might end up on the final.
I've talked to Mavies outside of class before to get information ont he paper that's due someday soon. It is here (and in class, too, if you can manage to stay awake) that you realize the man is one of the smartest you will ever meet. His ability to recall large amounts of information and somehow link it to events in some other civilization, or "not be an expert" on something you've researched but talk for 30 minutes on how he can see how you got that, "but no."
And here is where it occurs to me what a friend once said to me: "You can't be good at everything." Such a simplistic statement and one that everyone has heard. But, I've lost sight of that lately. I've always tried to be the best at everything I try. If I'm not, I just won't do it anymore. It's not the best policy, but it is one of self-protection: If I don't do something I'm not good at, no one can make fun or joke about it.
I have to remember that I can't win everything. I have to accept that some will be better than me at some stuff. I have to realize that I excel at things as well.
I'm awesome and you should consider yourself lucky to know me! :-) (cause I am lucky to know you)
And so goes the life ...
P.S. In response to a certain Millie's blog, I have killer calves. And word on the street is I've got a nice ass too.
Spring Break
I snorted cocoa today, what have you done?
This would be just one of the many quotes that I have from Spring Break. It seemed amazingly short, since I actually did something for once. I almost always sit at home or have to spend it at work, so this was a nice change for my last semester of college.
I went to work at a Spring Break Camp for kids. But it couldn't just be any camp for kids. It was called Camp Rays of Hope, for kids who had someone in their lives pass away. It was being hosted at a Mile's summer camp, and although he didn't not specifically invite me (he invited all of APO), I took him up on it.
And I'm glad I did. I learned every kid's name (all 60 of them). I fell in love with every one of them (even the one's that drove me up a wall).
What happened during the days was they had grief counseling in the morning and the afternoon was spent with us, the fun guys. We worked different activities, like Low Ropes, Climbing Wall, Disc Golf, Zip line, and Horses. The better part of working these is that I got to do all of them :-)
But, I got to see these kids go through amazing transformations. We had a little boy who at the beginning of the week wouldn't leave his counselor's leg. By the end of the week, he had become an expert Elbow Tag player (by the way, if we were not playing some sort of the game Tag, the day was wasted). We had a girl conquer her fear of horses (cause her sister had died because of one). I had a kid tell me about his brother passing away, when all week he tended to avoid talking about it. I had kids conquer their fear of heights to make it to the top of the climbing wall (girls are really good at that!).
These kids were amazing. I learned so much from watching them play, have fun, and succeed.
It sounds so cliche or sentimental, but it was.
My co-workers were amazing and, all-in-all, an interesting bunch. As much fun as waking up to the theme song from "Saved By the Bell" was, I actually kind of miss it (Thanks, Mrett). And if I never hear the song "MMMBop" again, I would be happy. And I'm very glad Mcott sent us all a certain video of a certain someone doing a certain scene from a certain movie. Only those of you that were there know what I'm talking about ... but it was awesome!
I had a great Spring Break! Mile, I owe you one.
And so goes the life ...
P.S. Was also in a wedding over the first weekend of Spring Break ... just want to shout out to the bridesmaids!!! YOU GIRLS ROCK!
This would be just one of the many quotes that I have from Spring Break. It seemed amazingly short, since I actually did something for once. I almost always sit at home or have to spend it at work, so this was a nice change for my last semester of college.
I went to work at a Spring Break Camp for kids. But it couldn't just be any camp for kids. It was called Camp Rays of Hope, for kids who had someone in their lives pass away. It was being hosted at a Mile's summer camp, and although he didn't not specifically invite me (he invited all of APO), I took him up on it.
And I'm glad I did. I learned every kid's name (all 60 of them). I fell in love with every one of them (even the one's that drove me up a wall).
What happened during the days was they had grief counseling in the morning and the afternoon was spent with us, the fun guys. We worked different activities, like Low Ropes, Climbing Wall, Disc Golf, Zip line, and Horses. The better part of working these is that I got to do all of them :-)
But, I got to see these kids go through amazing transformations. We had a little boy who at the beginning of the week wouldn't leave his counselor's leg. By the end of the week, he had become an expert Elbow Tag player (by the way, if we were not playing some sort of the game Tag, the day was wasted). We had a girl conquer her fear of horses (cause her sister had died because of one). I had a kid tell me about his brother passing away, when all week he tended to avoid talking about it. I had kids conquer their fear of heights to make it to the top of the climbing wall (girls are really good at that!).
These kids were amazing. I learned so much from watching them play, have fun, and succeed.
It sounds so cliche or sentimental, but it was.
My co-workers were amazing and, all-in-all, an interesting bunch. As much fun as waking up to the theme song from "Saved By the Bell" was, I actually kind of miss it (Thanks, Mrett). And if I never hear the song "MMMBop" again, I would be happy. And I'm very glad Mcott sent us all a certain video of a certain someone doing a certain scene from a certain movie. Only those of you that were there know what I'm talking about ... but it was awesome!
I had a great Spring Break! Mile, I owe you one.
And so goes the life ...
P.S. Was also in a wedding over the first weekend of Spring Break ... just want to shout out to the bridesmaids!!! YOU GIRLS ROCK!
How Hard Is It?
Really? That's how you're gonna be???
How hard is it to be a friend? How hard is it to talk to a friend? How hard is it to be honest? How hard is it to not talk behind someone's back? How hard is it to tell your friend the truth, especially when they ask for it? How hard is it to be loyal? How hard is it to answer a question? How hard is it work together? How hard is it to not say hurtful things? How hard is it to notice someone is mad at you? How hard is it to apologize for making someone upset? How hard is it to actually be a friend?
Now, the harder questions ...
How hard is it to be my friend? How hard is it to talk to me? How hard is it to be honest with me? How hard is it to not talk behind my back? How hard is it to tell me the truth, especially when I ask for it? How hard is it to be loyal? How hard is it to answer my question? How hard is it work with me? How hard is it to not say things that you know would be hurtful to me? How hard is it to notice I am mad at you or upset? How hard is it to apologize for making me upset?
How hard is it to actually be my friend?
Apparently, amazingly difficult.
So goes the life ...
How hard is it to be a friend? How hard is it to talk to a friend? How hard is it to be honest? How hard is it to not talk behind someone's back? How hard is it to tell your friend the truth, especially when they ask for it? How hard is it to be loyal? How hard is it to answer a question? How hard is it work together? How hard is it to not say hurtful things? How hard is it to notice someone is mad at you? How hard is it to apologize for making someone upset? How hard is it to actually be a friend?
Now, the harder questions ...
How hard is it to be my friend? How hard is it to talk to me? How hard is it to be honest with me? How hard is it to not talk behind my back? How hard is it to tell me the truth, especially when I ask for it? How hard is it to be loyal? How hard is it to answer my question? How hard is it work with me? How hard is it to not say things that you know would be hurtful to me? How hard is it to notice I am mad at you or upset? How hard is it to apologize for making me upset?
How hard is it to actually be my friend?
Apparently, amazingly difficult.
So goes the life ...
Finally Free
That's Quest Diagnostics, my friend ...
So, I finally quit my job last Tuesday. I have bee waiting for this day for a very very long time. To finally be free of that 8 to 5 job, so I can graduate. To finally be free of stupid patients that try to ruin my day. To finally be free of co-workers that have nothing better to do than gossip. To finally be free of bosses that think their underlings can't be trusted. To finally be free to just be free, before I have to start real life.
Finally free.
But, not that I'm finally free, all I want is to go back to work.
I forgot that I get amazingly bored if I am by myself and have nothing to do. I get bored, lonely, and overall lazy. I did much better in school when I had a job than when I didn't, which scares me because I have to graduate.
I forgot that along with the bad and stupid patients, some (even most) were great. Sometimes, patients had the ability to make a so-so day become great, just with that short 5 minute encounter. A short and quick conversation can change your day.
I forgot that as much as we phlebotomists gossiped, I really really enjoyed it. Not because the gossip was particularly good or anything like that, but it was harmless and dramaless. It was completely almost always about work stuff, which honestly, let me focus on meaningless drama than the real stuff that I have to deal with in other places. I already miss the people that I work with. I've talked to a couple since I left, but that is probably going to slow down soon. And its upsetting, because I really liked my co-workers. They are a great group of people, and I really am going to try to keep in contact.
I forgot that my bosses weren't all that bad. They actually listened to me when I needed them to. They actually let me vent and be angry when I needed to. And they put me in my place when I needed to (not all that often ... I knew I was low on the totem pole!). They really did (do) try to do the they can with what they are given. I realized that most people are in the job they do trying to do the best they can do. That knowledge makes you feel a little better when supervisors are shoving policies down your throat that you don't like. They probably don't like them either.
And lastly, I forgot that, although my job in phlebotomy wasn't going to be my career, I had kinda entered the real world when I started at 16. I worked at a real hospital with real nurses, Med Techs, therapists, unit secretaries, and doctors. I worked at Quest Diagnostics, a real international company that I might have been able to make a real career if I wanted to. I worked with people that were in their career. And liked it.
So maybe I had already entered the real world and not even known it.
And so goes the life ...
So, I finally quit my job last Tuesday. I have bee waiting for this day for a very very long time. To finally be free of that 8 to 5 job, so I can graduate. To finally be free of stupid patients that try to ruin my day. To finally be free of co-workers that have nothing better to do than gossip. To finally be free of bosses that think their underlings can't be trusted. To finally be free to just be free, before I have to start real life.
Finally free.
But, not that I'm finally free, all I want is to go back to work.
I forgot that I get amazingly bored if I am by myself and have nothing to do. I get bored, lonely, and overall lazy. I did much better in school when I had a job than when I didn't, which scares me because I have to graduate.
I forgot that along with the bad and stupid patients, some (even most) were great. Sometimes, patients had the ability to make a so-so day become great, just with that short 5 minute encounter. A short and quick conversation can change your day.
I forgot that as much as we phlebotomists gossiped, I really really enjoyed it. Not because the gossip was particularly good or anything like that, but it was harmless and dramaless. It was completely almost always about work stuff, which honestly, let me focus on meaningless drama than the real stuff that I have to deal with in other places. I already miss the people that I work with. I've talked to a couple since I left, but that is probably going to slow down soon. And its upsetting, because I really liked my co-workers. They are a great group of people, and I really am going to try to keep in contact.
I forgot that my bosses weren't all that bad. They actually listened to me when I needed them to. They actually let me vent and be angry when I needed to. And they put me in my place when I needed to (not all that often ... I knew I was low on the totem pole!). They really did (do) try to do the they can with what they are given. I realized that most people are in the job they do trying to do the best they can do. That knowledge makes you feel a little better when supervisors are shoving policies down your throat that you don't like. They probably don't like them either.
And lastly, I forgot that, although my job in phlebotomy wasn't going to be my career, I had kinda entered the real world when I started at 16. I worked at a real hospital with real nurses, Med Techs, therapists, unit secretaries, and doctors. I worked at Quest Diagnostics, a real international company that I might have been able to make a real career if I wanted to. I worked with people that were in their career. And liked it.
So maybe I had already entered the real world and not even known it.
And so goes the life ...
The World Really is Ending ... I think
No seriously ...
Ok, I wasn't really feeling all that well last night. So, I went to bed early, but I woke up around 1100pm. I head out to the living room and check up on a few things.
It's at this time I really realize that the world is going to end sometime quite soon.
The first sign of impending world doom is that before I started feeling bad, I actually cleaned the apartment and hung up the pictures and stuff we bought at Garden Ridge the night before. If you don't know me, you don't know that my apartment cleaning habits are less than stellar. So the fact that something happened could be a serious sign that the end is near.
The second sign is that both Marla managed to stay on Project Runway for another week and Santino won the challenge with the ugliest dress I've ever seen. I love Marla, which usually is the kiss of death for any reality tv contestant. And I absolutely hate Santino and think all of his stuff is ugly, which probably means he'll stay till the end. Damn it. Stupid other-Hilton girl (I can only remember Paris's name ...). God bless the DVR, so that when I did wake up, I could watch the drama unfold!
The third sign of the looming apocolypse is that ... TEXAS WON!!! And freakin VY just had to do it himself in the last seconds of the game on 4th & 5. And then, does the 2-point convesion on his own! I can't really handle that much suspense when I'm not feeling that great. Losers shouldn't have kept it close the whole freakin time (and by "losers," I should say winners, but they made me pace around the freakin living room!). But they won the big game ... which, really, I'm surprised hell didn't just freeze over right then and there.
With all those divine signs telling us the fate of Earth ain't lookin to good, you should consider yourself lucky that you are alive to read this.
And so goes the life ...
No Different
He filed ...
I've tried to write this particular blog entry for a week-and a-half. I've tried to start with backstory. I've tried to to open witha joke. I've tried to be overly emotional or sentimental. None of it has worked.
My dad filed for divorce from my mom.
The reason its taken me so long to write is that I don't know what to write. and I don't know what to write because I can't figure out how I feel.
Of course I know how I should feel. I should feel upset or angry. Or I should feel emotional and sad. Or I could feel happy and relief, since its been so long. That's a big range of emotions that I have to choose from, I could even pick all of tem; this is a big deal and I don't think any of my friends woudl blame me for being an emotion basketcase for the time being.
The truth is I don't feel anything. Out of the entire array of feelings that I have to choose from, I either can't decide or won't decide.
Now although I am pretty bad at multiple choice tests, I know this is one that there is no real chance of failure.
Or is there?
Divorce is so commom now that its pretty much an everyday thing for people. Chances are that you know several people that have gone through this before or you have gone through it yourself. It's gotten so old and so overly dealt with that it would seem that the words of sympathy anyone could give me are actually pretty well rehearsed!
I felt the same way before 11th grade. When my parents first seperated, I didn't tell anyone. Not my friends, not my teachers, not my co-workers. I didn't want faux sympathy. I knew it would have been real from those that care about me, but I didn't really need it. It didn't change me as a person, so why should anyone know?
Now, I don't care if people know. But I still don't want or even need the sympathy. It's merely a fact.
You might ask, "If you don't want sympathy, why are you posting this?" To be honest, I needed to write. I am a little confused about how I feel, hence why it took me so long to write this. I tried each and every one of the options of emotions I had. None of them fit. For some reason, this does.
It's more of a statement of fact than anything else. This entry is just fact.
And its taken me several rough drafts and this two-and-a-half page (handwritten!) post of badly
strung together paragraphs to figure out how I really feel:
No Different.
And so goes the life ...
I've tried to write this particular blog entry for a week-and a-half. I've tried to start with backstory. I've tried to to open witha joke. I've tried to be overly emotional or sentimental. None of it has worked.
My dad filed for divorce from my mom.
The reason its taken me so long to write is that I don't know what to write. and I don't know what to write because I can't figure out how I feel.
Of course I know how I should feel. I should feel upset or angry. Or I should feel emotional and sad. Or I could feel happy and relief, since its been so long. That's a big range of emotions that I have to choose from, I could even pick all of tem; this is a big deal and I don't think any of my friends woudl blame me for being an emotion basketcase for the time being.
The truth is I don't feel anything. Out of the entire array of feelings that I have to choose from, I either can't decide or won't decide.
Now although I am pretty bad at multiple choice tests, I know this is one that there is no real chance of failure.
Or is there?
Divorce is so commom now that its pretty much an everyday thing for people. Chances are that you know several people that have gone through this before or you have gone through it yourself. It's gotten so old and so overly dealt with that it would seem that the words of sympathy anyone could give me are actually pretty well rehearsed!
I felt the same way before 11th grade. When my parents first seperated, I didn't tell anyone. Not my friends, not my teachers, not my co-workers. I didn't want faux sympathy. I knew it would have been real from those that care about me, but I didn't really need it. It didn't change me as a person, so why should anyone know?
Now, I don't care if people know. But I still don't want or even need the sympathy. It's merely a fact.
You might ask, "If you don't want sympathy, why are you posting this?" To be honest, I needed to write. I am a little confused about how I feel, hence why it took me so long to write this. I tried each and every one of the options of emotions I had. None of them fit. For some reason, this does.
It's more of a statement of fact than anything else. This entry is just fact.
And its taken me several rough drafts and this two-and-a-half page (handwritten!) post of badly
strung together paragraphs to figure out how I really feel:
No Different.
And so goes the life ...
Mama Cass's Serious run in with a Ham Sandwich
I don't care if the Ham Sandwich was just NEAR her ... my version of the story is much better!
Everyone does it. Most comedians, since Bill Cosby perfected it, use it. Some authors have to master it. My mother is a freakin genius when it comes ot it. Come to think of it, its more of a family trait, seeing as how none of us would be able to communicate without it. And what is this "it" I'm discussing?
Exaggeration.
I tend to do this alot, and I've noticed it recently. It's nothing major or anything like that; just a common quality I think most of us have. And its not necessarily a bad thing.Think about this: If I told you a story about how a patient was rude to me, it wouldn't be very interesting. But if I told you there was screaming involved, I threatened to call security, and the patient walked out in a major huff, that's a much better story. (This really did happen once, but go with it!)We have a family story from when I was a kid that my mom loves to tell. When me and my older sister were kids, we as a family went to the beach in Galveston. It was one of those really rare years when the sting rays come into the gulf. Now, picture us out in the water and my mom sees those beady red eyes. Its all true up to the point that I saw the world literally sideways as my dad picked me up by the side and ran. Its also true that my mom grabbed my sister and ran towards the beach. The part that gets distorted is how close those evil water creatures were to us. And the story gets better and better each time its told as the sting rays gradually get closer and closer to us over the years. And this story is from when I was about 5, so the sting rays by now were literally upon us!Personally, I tend to exaggerate things in my head to astronomically bigger things than they really are. I can stress myself out without really trying. If one thing happens, I can exaggerate it into a million possibilities of things that could result. Or I can focus on that one thing and all the little things that don't normally matter can compound and way-lay me. I do exaggerate while telling stories, but the exaggerations in my head are far worse than the stories I tell everyone. But,the exaggerations I make out loud are pretty good, if I do say so myself ...Just think about it all: How many times do people say "It was the funniest thing that has ever happened" or "Seriously, it was the biggest fish in the entire lake" or "No really, it was the worst day of my life"? How many times have you stretched a story just a little to make it so much better? How many times has someone told you about their day at work and there seemed to be a spike in the number of things they did or people they saw? We all exaggerate, and its not such a bad thing.We do have to keep each other entertained.And so goes the life ...
Everyone does it. Most comedians, since Bill Cosby perfected it, use it. Some authors have to master it. My mother is a freakin genius when it comes ot it. Come to think of it, its more of a family trait, seeing as how none of us would be able to communicate without it. And what is this "it" I'm discussing?
Exaggeration.
I tend to do this alot, and I've noticed it recently. It's nothing major or anything like that; just a common quality I think most of us have. And its not necessarily a bad thing.Think about this: If I told you a story about how a patient was rude to me, it wouldn't be very interesting. But if I told you there was screaming involved, I threatened to call security, and the patient walked out in a major huff, that's a much better story. (This really did happen once, but go with it!)We have a family story from when I was a kid that my mom loves to tell. When me and my older sister were kids, we as a family went to the beach in Galveston. It was one of those really rare years when the sting rays come into the gulf. Now, picture us out in the water and my mom sees those beady red eyes. Its all true up to the point that I saw the world literally sideways as my dad picked me up by the side and ran. Its also true that my mom grabbed my sister and ran towards the beach. The part that gets distorted is how close those evil water creatures were to us. And the story gets better and better each time its told as the sting rays gradually get closer and closer to us over the years. And this story is from when I was about 5, so the sting rays by now were literally upon us!Personally, I tend to exaggerate things in my head to astronomically bigger things than they really are. I can stress myself out without really trying. If one thing happens, I can exaggerate it into a million possibilities of things that could result. Or I can focus on that one thing and all the little things that don't normally matter can compound and way-lay me. I do exaggerate while telling stories, but the exaggerations in my head are far worse than the stories I tell everyone. But,the exaggerations I make out loud are pretty good, if I do say so myself ...Just think about it all: How many times do people say "It was the funniest thing that has ever happened" or "Seriously, it was the biggest fish in the entire lake" or "No really, it was the worst day of my life"? How many times have you stretched a story just a little to make it so much better? How many times has someone told you about their day at work and there seemed to be a spike in the number of things they did or people they saw? We all exaggerate, and its not such a bad thing.We do have to keep each other entertained.And so goes the life ...
Tears, Damn Tears
Shut up! Boys aren't supposed to have feelings!!!
I broke a guy rule.I'm a guy and as a boy, we are supposed to hide emotions and feelings at all costs. Especially in front of other guys. And under no circumstances are boys allowed to cry in front of other guys unless:
a) Someone important in your family dies or
b) The guy you are crying in front of is dead. 0r
c) You best friend (i.e. dog) dies.
Pretty much, death is the only allowable reason. And it has to be someone/thing important. It can't be your third cousin twice removed from your sister's best friend. So, knowing all of these rules and regulations regarding emotion, I broke them.I absolutely hate to show emotion in front of people, especially my friends. It makes me feel like a sap and it shows weakness. The one thing I don't want to show is weakness. I worked too hard and feel too strong to show any kind of weakness, whether it be physical or emotional. Anyways, the story ...Being the only one of a certain group of friends to be over the age of 21, I was asked to go to the store to pick up a few items. I recruited a couple friends, whom we will call Mason and Mannah, to head out with me. We jump in the Fucus and I'm backing out of my horrible parking spot in the fire lane. Focusing on not hitting the cars around me, I apparently missed the fact that a fire hydrant could be equally damaging to the Fucus. My bumper has a huge dent in it and the brake light cover is broken (the bulb still works). We hopped out to check the damage and all I can do is look at it. I still have a mission to complete, so we get back in the car and head to the store. Poor Mannah and Mason ... they sat in stunned silence, waiting for me to say something. When Mason finally tried to speak, I kinda cut him off saying that "Talking would be bad right now."We get to the store and I take my orders. I'm looking around for the order I have to fill and trying to decide if I want something myself (and by this time, I realize I'm going to need an extra little something). Of course, I have to run into someone I know, our friend's, whom we'll call Mhristina, boyfriend. We talk for a seconds and he points me in the direction of the Capitain Morgan girl, who is giving out free shots of some new product (Tattoo, which is a spiced rum and something else liquor). Don't you see ... God does have a master plan! He knew what I needed then and there was some hot girl handing me a shot of free liquor. Let's not dwell on the fact that they were handing out shots to people that had to drive there ... Moving on ... we head back to Mile and Mason's and the two with me head up to the apartment, while I call a parental unit. God love my mom ... she calmed me down and told me not to worry about it. We'd figure it out later and I had bigger things to worry about, like how not to work next semester so I can graduate. I thank the heavens above everyday for a family that can handle me and my stuff ... So, I head up to the apartment and walk into Mason's room. They don't even look at me, so I assume they are waiting for me to say something so I walk to Mile's room, where he is on his computer. All I can do is stand there, because I know its coming (my mom may have calmed some stuff, but its still my Fucus!). He asks if I'm ok and how bad it is. Again, I know its coming, so I ask if he wants to see it. We walk downstairs and as he's looking at it, my roommate calls. As I'm telling her what happened and looking at my once non-broken Fucus, I break. My face started to leak and Mile is standing only a few feet away. I can't really make a run for it, so I just sit down. Now I've started and I can't stop. Tears, damn tears! And let me go ahead and say this: I am not a pretty cryer. No, I was not blessed with that gift that make TV people look good even when crying. Of course not, I am butt ugly when crying. So, my roommate is calming me down and when I'm done crying (with my face hidden so Mile can't see me ... If I can't see you, you can't see me!), I realize that Mason and Mannah are on my other side, to which I react with an "Oh crap, don't look at me!," and get up to run back into the apartment. If you hadn't caught on to that part, let me break it down. Now, two people have calmed me down about the car, so now I can devote my entire attention to the fact that I cried in front of two people that I hang out with on a regular basis (I think I should pay rent there ... but no) and a girl. And here begins the stress out (mind you, that can last days ...) realization that I not only cried, but did it in front of people. In your mind, you may not see this as a big deal. And I'm half-certain that they don't particularly care, but I do. I know that my opinion of a friend would not change based on that, but I don't know that about everyone. I think it is fairly obvious that as much as I don't want to care what other people think about me, I do.And as much as I want to believe that the tears were all for the car, I know that was just a catalyst. Now, I have to figure out everything else.
And so goes the life ...
Bad News, Good Show
POLE ON FIRE ... more at 10 on KSAT ...
The news is very rarely good. Newscasts never focus on anything good that happens. Something is always wrong and something bad is always about to happen. The President is always saying something stupid or he is launching some investigation into his administration's response to *insert chaotic moment here*. The weather is always there and someone in sports is always being busted for drugs or some other problem that they know is wrong.
I haven't actually sat down to watch the news in an extremely long time. Nor have I checked a news website. This may seem odd in a world where any information is just a click away, whether it be a remote control or a mouse. It seems as though the world is crumbling around us and the newscasts serve as that crazy guy on the corner with that "The End is Near" carboard sign.
Things cannot be as bad as they sound. Yes, a hurricane hit New Orleans and another is on the way towards Texas. But where are the stories of good heart and good humor. As much fun as hearing that "There's SLIME in the Ice machine!!!" catch phrase of a loveable Marvin Zindler in Houston, I want to hear the stories that tell a good one. I want to hear about how my friends are serving at shelters or working at Habitat for Humanity. I want to hear about how people my age are out there, changing the world for the better. I want to hear about how my sister is teaching dance to younger kids.
And here is the one of the only times I can think of to praise the movies over TV. This summer, the movie theaters gave us feel-good documentaires, such as Mad Hot Ballroom and March of the Penguins. They gave us an inspirational documentary in the form of Murderball. They gave us the story for your heart in the Cinderella Man. They gave girls a shot of confidence in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Yes, the local movieplex gave us all the option of getting a good heart-warming story or two.
Too bad I didn't see any of them.
And so goes the life ...
Self-Actualization through the Financial Aid Office
You can catch more flies with honey ...
As most of my friends know, I can tend to be a little too nice. So much so, that I dedicated a blog to a friend telling me I am too nice. All the people I am close to know that I will do whatever I can, whenever I can for them. All they have to do is ask.
But today I realized I have a limit. Yes, there is a limit to my kindness. And its not about my friends ...
I have a short fuse with customer service representatives. And I do mean short. And I didn't realize this until today.
My mom is here visiting, mainly helping me to get motivated to go pay outstanding tickets and finish up some financial aid stuff (that she actually needed to be here for).
First, the lady at the Financial Aid Office was not helpful at all. She asked if I had an appointment. I told her I specifically called on Friday to ask if I needed one and they said no. She pretty much said "That sucks, you aren't getting seen today." Now, here is where I should have realized my short fuse, because she didn't say it like that at all ... but it's what I heard.
I paid attention to myself the rest of the day, because I was talking to my mom while we were driving all over the city on our day of errands. I told her about the issue I had with SACU on Saturday, in which I was so upset that I made everyone in the branch stay 45 minutes past closing until I got what I wanted. I told her about the fit I threw at work because I keep getting screwed over as far as scheduling goes (since I never get help even though I should be getting it every morning). Then, I told her about the time they wouldn't cash a check for me at HEB and I talked to the supervisor, the supervisor's supervisor, and then the Store Manager until they cashed the freakin check.
During about the third story is when I realized, I'm not all that nice to customer service people. I eventually get what I want, yes, but I probably go about it the wrong way. Mom was right, saying its always better to kill them with kindness.
What really gets me is that I work in customer service. Granted, I work in the healthcare field, so the customer is definitely NOT always right, but I do work in a situation where I interact with 40 patients a day. And when they get angry, I get ticked off that they would treat me like they do. I'm no better than them.
So, hopefully with this self-realization, I can do a little bit better with customer service people.
Or at least until they don't give me what I want.
And so goes the life ...
As most of my friends know, I can tend to be a little too nice. So much so, that I dedicated a blog to a friend telling me I am too nice. All the people I am close to know that I will do whatever I can, whenever I can for them. All they have to do is ask.
But today I realized I have a limit. Yes, there is a limit to my kindness. And its not about my friends ...
I have a short fuse with customer service representatives. And I do mean short. And I didn't realize this until today.
My mom is here visiting, mainly helping me to get motivated to go pay outstanding tickets and finish up some financial aid stuff (that she actually needed to be here for).
First, the lady at the Financial Aid Office was not helpful at all. She asked if I had an appointment. I told her I specifically called on Friday to ask if I needed one and they said no. She pretty much said "That sucks, you aren't getting seen today." Now, here is where I should have realized my short fuse, because she didn't say it like that at all ... but it's what I heard.
I paid attention to myself the rest of the day, because I was talking to my mom while we were driving all over the city on our day of errands. I told her about the issue I had with SACU on Saturday, in which I was so upset that I made everyone in the branch stay 45 minutes past closing until I got what I wanted. I told her about the fit I threw at work because I keep getting screwed over as far as scheduling goes (since I never get help even though I should be getting it every morning). Then, I told her about the time they wouldn't cash a check for me at HEB and I talked to the supervisor, the supervisor's supervisor, and then the Store Manager until they cashed the freakin check.
During about the third story is when I realized, I'm not all that nice to customer service people. I eventually get what I want, yes, but I probably go about it the wrong way. Mom was right, saying its always better to kill them with kindness.
What really gets me is that I work in customer service. Granted, I work in the healthcare field, so the customer is definitely NOT always right, but I do work in a situation where I interact with 40 patients a day. And when they get angry, I get ticked off that they would treat me like they do. I'm no better than them.
So, hopefully with this self-realization, I can do a little bit better with customer service people.
Or at least until they don't give me what I want.
And so goes the life ...
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Wow ... that's the kind of irony you can't find in an Alanis Morrisette song ...
Isn't that always true ... life has a way of coming full circle when you least expect it.
To begin, I really am going to start updating this thing again. My roommate, God love her, decided while I was on a camping trip, to get us dsl. Granted, we're both going to pay for this investment, but we've had it for not even a full day, and its my favoritest thing in the whole wide world. Even better, I have a whole host of new things to write about ... which brings me to the beginning of the new story.
As you can read from the former entries, I had a definite fall from grace in the fraternity. I managed to escape with my closest of friends, but I still was hurt by the ones who had decided I was more of a pariah.
But, luckily, my fall from grace was followed, no matter how gradally, by a rise to grace again.
Not quite sure how it happened, but it involved me coming out and into the social side of the fraternity again. I had managed to receded into the background and was only interested in the business and service side. Although me and my opinions had not slid into the scenery, I had from the fellowship side until a great group of pledges from the Fall rescued me and a great group of pledges from the Spring took me in. I'm not quite sure why they did so, but they did. So, I came back to life as far as that was concerned, and soehow managed to show not just them, but everyone that I actually knew what I was talking about and was really a good source of information and skill as far as the fraternity went. I managed o convince so many, that I was elected President for the coming year. Hence why I'll have much to write about.
But, of course, the fraternity is not all I have to talk about. Work is work, and it's been a rollercoaster there too. I was working in a doctor's offce as a kind of contracted employee. I wasn't a contractor, though. I worked in a doctor's office, but I didn't work for the doctor. It's wierd and hard to explain, so just know that when I was asked to leave the office by the office manager, who we'll call Mancy, I still had a job and was by no means fired. I moved to another office, and then another, and then in February (on exactly my one year anniversary with the company ... ironic?) my big move and break finally came. I was offered a Patient Service Center. I was to be the sole worker at an office in the Medical Center. I am completely in charge of that office, from the ordering of supplies, the reception, the phlebotomy, the processing, and everything else. It's great and I love it. But, hopefully, my next (and bigger) break is coming soon. I applied for a promotion that would not only put my in charge of an office, but also the other two employees that work at it. Crazy, huh?
And although the fraternity drama seems to be my only source of friends, its not true. My friends outside of it have been amazging. They keep me sane. And they are the ones that I know that will be there no matter what. They are great and I should call them everyday to thank them. I don't, but they hopefully know.
So, all in all, my life has rebounded quite well, even though it was never really bad. It's on an upswing, but who knows. It could end at anytime.
My life ... the never-ending bouncing ball.
And so goes the life ...
Isn't that always true ... life has a way of coming full circle when you least expect it.
To begin, I really am going to start updating this thing again. My roommate, God love her, decided while I was on a camping trip, to get us dsl. Granted, we're both going to pay for this investment, but we've had it for not even a full day, and its my favoritest thing in the whole wide world. Even better, I have a whole host of new things to write about ... which brings me to the beginning of the new story.
As you can read from the former entries, I had a definite fall from grace in the fraternity. I managed to escape with my closest of friends, but I still was hurt by the ones who had decided I was more of a pariah.
But, luckily, my fall from grace was followed, no matter how gradally, by a rise to grace again.
Not quite sure how it happened, but it involved me coming out and into the social side of the fraternity again. I had managed to receded into the background and was only interested in the business and service side. Although me and my opinions had not slid into the scenery, I had from the fellowship side until a great group of pledges from the Fall rescued me and a great group of pledges from the Spring took me in. I'm not quite sure why they did so, but they did. So, I came back to life as far as that was concerned, and soehow managed to show not just them, but everyone that I actually knew what I was talking about and was really a good source of information and skill as far as the fraternity went. I managed o convince so many, that I was elected President for the coming year. Hence why I'll have much to write about.
But, of course, the fraternity is not all I have to talk about. Work is work, and it's been a rollercoaster there too. I was working in a doctor's offce as a kind of contracted employee. I wasn't a contractor, though. I worked in a doctor's office, but I didn't work for the doctor. It's wierd and hard to explain, so just know that when I was asked to leave the office by the office manager, who we'll call Mancy, I still had a job and was by no means fired. I moved to another office, and then another, and then in February (on exactly my one year anniversary with the company ... ironic?) my big move and break finally came. I was offered a Patient Service Center. I was to be the sole worker at an office in the Medical Center. I am completely in charge of that office, from the ordering of supplies, the reception, the phlebotomy, the processing, and everything else. It's great and I love it. But, hopefully, my next (and bigger) break is coming soon. I applied for a promotion that would not only put my in charge of an office, but also the other two employees that work at it. Crazy, huh?
And although the fraternity drama seems to be my only source of friends, its not true. My friends outside of it have been amazging. They keep me sane. And they are the ones that I know that will be there no matter what. They are great and I should call them everyday to thank them. I don't, but they hopefully know.
So, all in all, my life has rebounded quite well, even though it was never really bad. It's on an upswing, but who knows. It could end at anytime.
My life ... the never-ending bouncing ball.
And so goes the life ...
Vance Jackson's Sweet Revenge
Never has a street been so vengeful ...
I had an interesting weekend, full of ups, downs, and a hangover. My friend from Brownsville, whom we'll call Mucy, came up to visit the San Antonio crowd this weekend. The San Antonio crew, especially me, is very happy to see Ms. Mucy. We decide to go to Hooters to start Saturday night off. Afterwards, after a zig-zag trip around the Northwest side of town to buy liquor, a guy, whom we'll call Mile, and I were on our way to a friend's apartment for a little get together, which we all know is code for party, but you call it a little get together to kid yourself into thinking it won't get that crazy.
On Mile's and my way to the "little get together," we are having a conversation that was apparently rapturing or captivating. So captivating and requiring all of my concentration that driving became a background thing. So rapturing that I decided it would be fun to not pay attention to driving at all.
Since I apparently decided that driving was an issue of little importance on this street that I had never been on before, I subconsciously decided it would be even more fun to run into a curb at full speed. So fast that I popped not one, but two tires. Yes, you read correctly, Popped Two Tires.
Luckily two friends, whom we'll just call Mhristina and May, were close by and able to come to our aide. Mhristina was my lifesaver and called AAA to get a tow truck. Obviously this was a once in a lifetime thing, because a AAA guy WITHOUT a tow truck came just to see what happened. When he arrived, he promptly pointed and laughed at the situation and asked who was the driver. When May quickly pointed to me, the guy just laughed some more.
So, he leaves and we're waiting for the AAA guy WITH the tow truck. Being the geniuses that three boys are, while supervised by Mhristina, we decided to help the tow truck guy and change one of the tires, because, thanks to Merry (read previous entries), I now know how to change them. Unfortunately, we changed the front tire. When the AAA guy WITH the tow truck arrived, he quickly told us that it was front-wheel drive car and needed two tires on the back in order to tow it.
So, as the AAA guy WITH a tow truck took my beautiful Fucus to Wal-Mart, our little group departed to meet up at the "little get together." As a stroke of pure genius, I decide to consume my weight in vodka, with a splash of a Tequila shot.
Needless to say, I had a small hangover on Sunday, with which my lovely roommate took me to get two brand spanking new tires.
And so goes the life ...
I had an interesting weekend, full of ups, downs, and a hangover. My friend from Brownsville, whom we'll call Mucy, came up to visit the San Antonio crowd this weekend. The San Antonio crew, especially me, is very happy to see Ms. Mucy. We decide to go to Hooters to start Saturday night off. Afterwards, after a zig-zag trip around the Northwest side of town to buy liquor, a guy, whom we'll call Mile, and I were on our way to a friend's apartment for a little get together, which we all know is code for party, but you call it a little get together to kid yourself into thinking it won't get that crazy.
On Mile's and my way to the "little get together," we are having a conversation that was apparently rapturing or captivating. So captivating and requiring all of my concentration that driving became a background thing. So rapturing that I decided it would be fun to not pay attention to driving at all.
Since I apparently decided that driving was an issue of little importance on this street that I had never been on before, I subconsciously decided it would be even more fun to run into a curb at full speed. So fast that I popped not one, but two tires. Yes, you read correctly, Popped Two Tires.
Luckily two friends, whom we'll just call Mhristina and May, were close by and able to come to our aide. Mhristina was my lifesaver and called AAA to get a tow truck. Obviously this was a once in a lifetime thing, because a AAA guy WITHOUT a tow truck came just to see what happened. When he arrived, he promptly pointed and laughed at the situation and asked who was the driver. When May quickly pointed to me, the guy just laughed some more.
So, he leaves and we're waiting for the AAA guy WITH the tow truck. Being the geniuses that three boys are, while supervised by Mhristina, we decided to help the tow truck guy and change one of the tires, because, thanks to Merry (read previous entries), I now know how to change them. Unfortunately, we changed the front tire. When the AAA guy WITH the tow truck arrived, he quickly told us that it was front-wheel drive car and needed two tires on the back in order to tow it.
So, as the AAA guy WITH a tow truck took my beautiful Fucus to Wal-Mart, our little group departed to meet up at the "little get together." As a stroke of pure genius, I decide to consume my weight in vodka, with a splash of a Tequila shot.
Needless to say, I had a small hangover on Sunday, with which my lovely roommate took me to get two brand spanking new tires.
And so goes the life ...
In a World with Freedom Fries
We got Him!
This was the message I read on Time, Newsweek, and an old newspaper I found in the break room. Although I know that fact (thanks to a 7:30am wake up call from my non-military, possible left-swinging father), I did not know any of the specifics. I had already been currently reading two and three month old news magazines (mostly the people sections) only because the doctor's office I work at quit taking Entertainment Weekly. I realized today, a week later, that I, a Junior in college, a 21 year old boy, a fairly well-educated soul, am vastly underinformed about current news events.
But is that really my fault? Am I to blame when I live in a world of 5 24-hour news channels, the internet, and 7 channels with live, local, late-breaking news?
Of course not. While I do live in the aforementioned world, I also live in the one with MTV, VH1, Cartoon Network, and Fox. I live in a world of The OC, Road Rules, and Sex and the City. I live in a world where Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood get better ratings than World News Tonight and Sunday Morning with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts.
So realistically, I could not be blamed for my own miseducation, when clearly The Weekenders were on Toon Disney. But my malinformed self is not something to be proud of. I know we are at war on two major fronts, but I was much more interested in the Dixie Chicks scandal a few months back. I could sit and debate about my stance on Natalie Maines' comments, but couldn't defend my stance on the situation that led to those very comments.
And to think I almost voted in the last election! To think that I might put myself behind someone by November 2004! But I am interested. I have the want to know. I have the want to have the information that will lead me to an informed opinion. I have the want to be able to defend my views with my Republican mother and my Democratic roommate.
But, when more than half of the United States population boycotts the Dixie Chicks one day, but gives them a sold out tour the next, it doesn't look to get better. And when Freedom Fries and a Michael Jackson scandal make bigger headlines than the African AIDS crisis and the Suicide Bombers, the chances of me paying attention are still low.
Besides, I think new episodes of Everwood and The Real World'Road Rules Challenge come on tonight.
And so goes the life ...
Confessions of a Monkey of All Sorts (Part 2)
Then came Ryan. Ryan was gay. Ryan did not know he was gay. Eric did not know Ryan was gay until he decided to live with him. But, in my world, this is not a problem. I could really care less that this boy is gay-er than Big Gay Al. Ryan is an all around good guy, but decides to figure out his sexuality while I was his roommate. Luckily, that never happened in our room. Wilson Hall would not have been able to withstand the noise that would escape me if I walked in on that. But, Ryan moved out during Spring Break (without completely preparing me for it) and my friend Eric moved in (yep yep, Eric living with Eric). All was good. Eric and his girfriend Amber were good friends with me and my girlfriend Julie. The two girfriends were always in our room and spent the night pretty much every night of the week (our RA would help us sneak them in ... thanks Robbie!). Three weeks after this glorious move in, Ryan moves back in. But I can't make Eric move back to his other room. And Ryan did move out on me and took all of his stuff. So, the roommates were Eric, Eric, Ryan, Amber and Julie. We had this arrangement for about half a semester. It was one of the best times I've ever had. It absolutely ruined whatever GPA I had recovered from my first semester. And I learned things about myself that shall only remian in Wilson Hall.
But all of these roommates only lead up to the best one to date. After moving back home for a year, I decided I was going to move to San Antoino to live with a girl that I had spent less than 10 entire days with. We had met at fraternity conferences and at a trip to the Renaissance Festival. This was going to be interesting. My first apartment. Living with a girl. Who I didn't really know. We, together, have faced many a problem. We faced the loss of her mother. We faced the crap that she dealt with from her friends. We faced (are facing) the drama that is a jobless roommate. We faced the daily struggle for the chaise lounge. Etc, etc etc. And, through all these problems, I have found a true friend. I have found a person that I can talk to about absolutely everything. I have found someone that I can sit and watch all of my weird TV obsessions and have them shared by someone else. I have found someone that will let me have my Christmas tree and decorate it too. I have found someone that will talk before all major events. I have found someone that will talk in the middle of the night, during all major events. I have found someone that will talk after all major events. And I am grateful. So is Bebe, the titanium-legged monkey. And even BuBu, the two-legged monkey the others make fun of.
And not only am I grateful for Dana, I am grateful for all. I don't know if I am just that great of a roommate, but I have had the most understanding, most caring, most hilarious group of people to live with that I could have ever wished for. These people, Nathan, Lane, Ryan, Eric, Amber, Julie, and Dana, have helped to shape who I am today. And although I wouldn't be proud to admit that if I were them, I am proud to admit it as myself.
And so goes the life ...
Confessions of a Monkey of All Sorts (Part One)
Many have heard tail of Bobo, the three-legged monkey ...
The idea of a roommate is scary. If you are like me, you were vaguely aware of this fact when moving away for college. It wasn't exactly something I was worried about ... that is, until I was faced with that fact upon recieving my Roommate Assignment in the mail from SFA. When that small piece of postcard came in the mail, it occured to me that I was going to be sharing a room much smaller than my room at the parents with someone I did not know at all. Was I going to be that guy with the awful roommate?
So, being the high school senior that I was, I figured out a list of what type of roommate this guy called Christopher could be, or any roommate for that fact. He could be several options: a) a cool guy that would never hang out with a loser like me; b) a fraternity guy that would come home at all hours of the night, drunk, and throwing up so I would have to take care of him, but still not be seen hanging out with a loser like me; c) a studious freak that got all A's in classes, friends with all the geeks, that wouldn't be caught dead with an idiot like me; d) a freak with friends from all kinds of backgrounds, but could not be seen with someone as average and normal as me. I had my roommate already fit into a multiple choice test. And sadly, these were not all the possibilities that I could come up with!
When move in day finally came, I had been prepared for the worst. I got to the room first with my parents and sister, and we moved my stuff in. Since I was first, I got to pick which side of the identical sides I wanted. After all my crap was moved in, here comes this roommate character that my postcard said would be Christopher. He walked in with his mom and looked around. His mom introduced herself and Nathan and all five of us stood in silence for about a ten seconds (and I'm not one to exaggerate, but it was the longest 10 seconds ever). Nathan and his mother went to go get his stuff, and I proceeded to wonder if I was in the right room, if my postcard had lied to me, and many other possibilities. I mean, I had prepared myself for a Christopher, not a Nathan. Think of all the other possibilities that could come with a Nathan that I had not prepared for!
The parental units left us and it was our first night as roommates. I only knew two people in Nacogdoches and I had only met them at orientation. I was really starting new. He knew no one at SFA really. So, we talked and all that stuff. He, I realized shortly, would be the most anti-social person ever. He wasn't too interested in school, he wasn't too interested in going out, he wasn't too interested in just about anything. But, he was nice. He was a guy that I could talk to if I needed to, and if I didn't want to talk we could watch tv and not say a word. This would be fine.
And I realized that I couldn't prepare myself for friendships and relationships with people I didn't know. I could not characterize people into one specific group. Because, after thinknig about it, I ended up fitting in to a, b, and d of my multiple choice test (and although I was definitely friends with some geeks in option c, I didnt come close to all As) but with major changes ... I liked hanging out with Nathan. He wouldn't exactly fit into my group of friends, but I wouldn't exactly fit into his (although he did go out with us if it was me and my friends Rhea and Alice and I would go out with him and his girlfriend Kim). And these facts were good. We could have our friends but still be cool roommates. He was there for me when I decided to pledge a fraternity. He was there for me when I had to call for him to come pick me up from a party. He was there for me when I decided I was going to get almost the exact opposite of straight As. All around, he was there. In Hall 14, Rm 325. 5 days a week (cause he went home on weekends). For me. When I needed someone that was not a part of whatever kind of drama I found myself in.
After my first year, my grades were less than good. So, I went to Summer Session II at SFA to bring up my GPA to above 2.0 (yes, it was well below that). I took one class and lived with the Sean and Tiffany, two of my pledge brothers and a couple. This was interesting, because all three of us managed to live in a one bedroom apartment. Oddly enough, it was a great summer, even though we were a bit cramped. My first college birthday was spent with them and it was the first time cops had ever been called to a party I was at. Although their relationship didn't last, and I don't really talk to them anymore (Sean at all, Tiffany every once in a while) they hold a very special place in my list of roommates. And I owe Sean alot, since he basically let me live rent-free.
My next roommate was quite cool. Lane was a theater freak (and I say freak with utmost respect, cause all of us are freaks about something ... we'll get to all of mine throughout this blog). As a theater major, the boy was never ever there. He had night cast calls, he had paint crew. He had all kinds of crap that one day will be useful to him on Broadway. He was a Raver too. And it gave me the perfect opportunity to talk about going to one. I had every intention of going to one, and finally there was to be one in Lufkin. And oddly, several of my friends in my circle were going. So, when he was in the room, we planned to meet each other there. I went to a party that night before the rave and told my friends that were going that I would meet them there with other friends. What a good thing I didnt go. Somehow, it got found out and Lufkin police were outside waiting for people to show up and check for drugs (not that I would worry about that). No one even made it inside the warehouse. Lane was cool for planning things I would never do.
Continued in "Confessions from a monkey of all sorts (Part 2)"
The idea of a roommate is scary. If you are like me, you were vaguely aware of this fact when moving away for college. It wasn't exactly something I was worried about ... that is, until I was faced with that fact upon recieving my Roommate Assignment in the mail from SFA. When that small piece of postcard came in the mail, it occured to me that I was going to be sharing a room much smaller than my room at the parents with someone I did not know at all. Was I going to be that guy with the awful roommate?
So, being the high school senior that I was, I figured out a list of what type of roommate this guy called Christopher could be, or any roommate for that fact. He could be several options: a) a cool guy that would never hang out with a loser like me; b) a fraternity guy that would come home at all hours of the night, drunk, and throwing up so I would have to take care of him, but still not be seen hanging out with a loser like me; c) a studious freak that got all A's in classes, friends with all the geeks, that wouldn't be caught dead with an idiot like me; d) a freak with friends from all kinds of backgrounds, but could not be seen with someone as average and normal as me. I had my roommate already fit into a multiple choice test. And sadly, these were not all the possibilities that I could come up with!
When move in day finally came, I had been prepared for the worst. I got to the room first with my parents and sister, and we moved my stuff in. Since I was first, I got to pick which side of the identical sides I wanted. After all my crap was moved in, here comes this roommate character that my postcard said would be Christopher. He walked in with his mom and looked around. His mom introduced herself and Nathan and all five of us stood in silence for about a ten seconds (and I'm not one to exaggerate, but it was the longest 10 seconds ever). Nathan and his mother went to go get his stuff, and I proceeded to wonder if I was in the right room, if my postcard had lied to me, and many other possibilities. I mean, I had prepared myself for a Christopher, not a Nathan. Think of all the other possibilities that could come with a Nathan that I had not prepared for!
The parental units left us and it was our first night as roommates. I only knew two people in Nacogdoches and I had only met them at orientation. I was really starting new. He knew no one at SFA really. So, we talked and all that stuff. He, I realized shortly, would be the most anti-social person ever. He wasn't too interested in school, he wasn't too interested in going out, he wasn't too interested in just about anything. But, he was nice. He was a guy that I could talk to if I needed to, and if I didn't want to talk we could watch tv and not say a word. This would be fine.
And I realized that I couldn't prepare myself for friendships and relationships with people I didn't know. I could not characterize people into one specific group. Because, after thinknig about it, I ended up fitting in to a, b, and d of my multiple choice test (and although I was definitely friends with some geeks in option c, I didnt come close to all As) but with major changes ... I liked hanging out with Nathan. He wouldn't exactly fit into my group of friends, but I wouldn't exactly fit into his (although he did go out with us if it was me and my friends Rhea and Alice and I would go out with him and his girlfriend Kim). And these facts were good. We could have our friends but still be cool roommates. He was there for me when I decided to pledge a fraternity. He was there for me when I had to call for him to come pick me up from a party. He was there for me when I decided I was going to get almost the exact opposite of straight As. All around, he was there. In Hall 14, Rm 325. 5 days a week (cause he went home on weekends). For me. When I needed someone that was not a part of whatever kind of drama I found myself in.
After my first year, my grades were less than good. So, I went to Summer Session II at SFA to bring up my GPA to above 2.0 (yes, it was well below that). I took one class and lived with the Sean and Tiffany, two of my pledge brothers and a couple. This was interesting, because all three of us managed to live in a one bedroom apartment. Oddly enough, it was a great summer, even though we were a bit cramped. My first college birthday was spent with them and it was the first time cops had ever been called to a party I was at. Although their relationship didn't last, and I don't really talk to them anymore (Sean at all, Tiffany every once in a while) they hold a very special place in my list of roommates. And I owe Sean alot, since he basically let me live rent-free.
My next roommate was quite cool. Lane was a theater freak (and I say freak with utmost respect, cause all of us are freaks about something ... we'll get to all of mine throughout this blog). As a theater major, the boy was never ever there. He had night cast calls, he had paint crew. He had all kinds of crap that one day will be useful to him on Broadway. He was a Raver too. And it gave me the perfect opportunity to talk about going to one. I had every intention of going to one, and finally there was to be one in Lufkin. And oddly, several of my friends in my circle were going. So, when he was in the room, we planned to meet each other there. I went to a party that night before the rave and told my friends that were going that I would meet them there with other friends. What a good thing I didnt go. Somehow, it got found out and Lufkin police were outside waiting for people to show up and check for drugs (not that I would worry about that). No one even made it inside the warehouse. Lane was cool for planning things I would never do.
Continued in "Confessions from a monkey of all sorts (Part 2)"
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