4 Things... Randomosity

I don't really feel like typing a real update. So instead I'm just gonna type 4 random things each about any random subject I can think of. Maybe you'll like it. Maybe you won't. But read it... you might learn something new about me or my life!

4 Things... Randomosity about:

MY JOB
1. I am known by what appears to be every student in my high school where I teach, though I know only about 1/2 of them (there are 950+ and this is only my second year, so give me some grace here).

2. Chaleese, a senior and in my first semester of teaching last year, claims this is because my reputation is for being a cool but good teacher.

3. I can't decide if that's true or if she's just sucking up for college recommendation letters ;)

4. My principal reprimanded me yesterday for not taking a day off to go to the doctor (I might have broken my foot, or at least fractured it, when I fell down the stairs; also, I have this weird either back pain or kidney thing going on. I'm not sure which. But I really just haven't dealt with either. I never really go to the doctor. Until my principal essentially rebukes me. And then I think about it a little more... and go, "Nah.")


My House
1. I'm pretty sure its worth is in the vicinity of $800,000+ ... and this is an economically depressed area.

2. My rent is only $280 a month.

3. That's almost $100 less than the (less than stellar) apartment I stayed in this summer. And I have my own room and share my bathroom with only one (very low-maintenance) roomie.

4. And I get a garage to myself. Yeah, life is good. Plus, we have a pool table, big screen TV, lake, beach, big back deck with furniture, huge double-decker dock with loads o' lounge chairs, really nice furniture, a big 10-person dining room table plus a five-person breakfast nook, and on and on. It's a blessing :)

MY ROOMMATES
1. This is perfect to do fours because I have four. So... let's start with Jenny. She has long red hair and is going to donate 10" of it to Locks of Love- how awesome is that? And she's from Pennsylvania.

2. Becca can read my mind. Seriously. Ninety percent of the time we are thinking the exact same thing about any given subject. The other ten percent we disagree with the other but still know her exact stance on ths issue. She's from New York (Rochester, to be more exact.)

3. Elise chews a gazillion pieces of gum a day. And her boyfriend is named Mac, but we all (ok, Liz and I) call him Mac-Attack. She's from New Jersey.

4. Liz's boyfriend Matt is going to circus college in Australia. I'm not even kidding. He's specializing in juggling. He's a rock star. She's very artsy and encourages my creativity to flow. And she's also from New Jersey (same basic town as Elise, actually.) And she went to the same college as Jenny (Bucknell... and don't worry, if you're from the West Coast no one else out there has heard of it either, though to speak to Jenny you'd think it's a huge deal and everyone's heard of it ;) That's just the split between East and West Coast for ya.)

MY CAR
1. It's an Acura. 1992 Vigor. It's a five speed (aka stick shift, because it is- and I am- awesome) with a five cylinder engine (yeah, I know that's not normal but I'm not making it up, and I know what I'm talking about.). It's luxury so it has all the ammenities- auto everything, leather, sunroof, sedan, etc.

2. I only paid $600 for it. Because Jesus loves me. And, despite having 240k+ miles it still runs really well. I love my car!

3. It has some sort of electrical problem. Things that have recently quit working (over the last couple of months) include: the inside dome light, the interim setting on the windshield wipers, the rear defrost, first the front and then rear passenger side windows, the dinging bell when you open the door and forgot to turn your lights off, the car charger (aka cigarette lighter but I only ever use it for my cell phone and will eventually when I get an iPod for the car hook-up) and... probably some other stuff I am forgetting.

4. Yeah, I know, I really need to get it checked out. I will. Eventually.

MY HOPES FOR THE FUTURE
1. I really, really want to call Seattle home.

2. Some of you assume this is because of a boy... yes, he's part of it, but my main reasons range from wanting to be closer to friends and family to love of the city (seriously, I've been to 25 states and many bigger cities and Seattle still is by far the best) to being able to watch my favorite teams (college and pro) on the local stations to loving the weather (hey, I don't really like the sun. So what?).

3. But, to be fair, yes, there is still the large curiosity about what God is going to do between a certain (wonderful and amazing) male friend and I once we live in the same place.

4. My hope is that I will be able to work in recruiting for T.F.@ in the greater Seattle-metro area at local colleges and universities. They take really good care of their employees (benefits and salary are among the best in non-profit organizations nation wide) plus it would fit my passion to see low-income and often racial-minority students receive a fair and equitable education.


That's really all I've got for now. But I hope you enjoyed it :) Someday I'll post some of the awesome and random pics I've been taking... I love taking random pics :)

I will be the wall when you fall down

[Renaissance, Mat Kearney]

My title lyrics are from a simply amazing song. Seriously. Go buy it. Right. Now.

In other news, I am ridiculously tired. I got home just before nine last night (aerobics and then back to school to see some of my boys in their soccer game) and then at 8:30 tonight (some of my girls had a volleyball game and then Bible study). I'm SO TIRED. It's ok. I just am finishing up prepping for tomorrow's bingo review game in third period and then I need to write a quiz and figure out what first and fourth period are doing. And it's ten pm. Ode to joy.

The good news is we get out at 1 tomorrow due to the fair. So that's happy. I was going to go but honestly I think I just want to come home. I guess we'll see how I'm feeling when school gets out. I need to write a 50-100 question Unit Test tomorrow and it will take some serious thought and time, so that's on my agenda. Not to mention that Friday I'm having a party for third period because they have the highest percentage of people earning an A or B and getting 3's (85-92%) and 4's (93-100%) on all assessments (their numbers are 71% and 51%, respectively) so I promised I'd make them cookies... and Thursday night I have aerobics and won't be home until 7:30 and I have to call all parents of students with D's and F's, and that's The Office / Grey's Anatomy night. Plus tomorrow I have to call all parents of students who don't return the progress reports I handed out yesterday (they have to be signed by their parents). Oh, and I had like 7 kids doing make-up work in my room today after school, which is awesome, but it meant that I accomplished nothing on my to do list.

I'm not really upset or anything. I'm not even in a complaining mood, I guess I just needed to take a break and write it all out. But five minutes are gone now and I really want to somehow be in bed by 10:30 if at all possible so my 5 AM alarm won't be quite so painful.

Hasta, lovelies.

PS False start count on the Giants... 2 and counting

[Update, 4:52 EDT: 3 and counting]

PPS I loves me some Deion Branch in a Seahawks uniform!

Are YOU ready for some football?

I'm sitting on the couch in my basement watching (my beloved) Seattle Seahawks. And we just got a touchdown!! Life is good.

The Bengals owninated the Stealers (intentionally spelled that way) on their own turf, the Pats are televised tonight, and I actually get to see the Hawks play on TV for the first time this year.

Sweet.

I love all the shots of the gorgeous city of Seattle, all the supa-dupa-crazy-loud 'Hawks fans in the loudest stadium with the BEST AND MOST LOYAL fans in the NFL! I wish I lived there. Perhaps in a year from now I will and I'll be AT the game! One can hope. I sure do.

Go Seattle! I heart you guys!

Long Live Living if Living's like This

[Miserere, The Cat Empire]

Today was lovely. I woke up around 11... well, that was the third and last time I woke up. Then I came up, made some (delicious) cookies and Liz and I agree they're seriously some of the best cookies EVER (chocolate chip, yay!), and cleaned the house. Then she was rockin' it hard in this super sexy straight from the 60's dress, and I decided I wanted to dress in a disguise.

You see, Liz has a box of disguises. Just all sorts of random hats and gloves and capes and wigs and dresses of utter randomosity. So I wore clothes I normally never would (still too tight... I can almost wear them comfortably but not yet so the normal me wouldn't ever wear them), did my make-up far more dark than normal, and donned a black wig and it was just sexy. We decided that this person's name is Miko and she's dark and disturbed. Here are some pics of Peggy (Liz) and Miko (me):


Dressing up was fun. So then I played around with the camera. These are my favorite two of "Miko":
I love my eyelashes in the top one. In the bottom one, isn't my right eyebrow (actually on the right since it's upside down) a thousand times better than my left one? I really wish my left eyebrow was smooth and didn't stand up straight, all one direction the way my right eyebrow is :)

So... after dressing up, we were invited to dinner and swimming at Carolyn's house (she lives with 6 other people but I'm too lazy to type 'em all out). That was quite fun. Then we were headed home but Josh called and convinced us to stop by their (the boys') house so we dropped in for an hour-ish. While there we were invited to dinner tomorrow night (word is that Corey's making manicotti- YUM!) so we said we'd come but only if everyone's dressed in disguises. So that's tomorrow's plan.

Once we got home Liz and I had a crazy dance party to some Jethrow Tull and Meatloaf on vinyl. That was sexy. We were just running crazy-like around the living room and being awesome. Then we ate some cookies to completely nullify working off all those calories. But my foot hurts like crazy... I feel that I may have nearly broken it. Nuts. Now we have Annie Hall on and I was gonna be artsy-craftsy and modge podge but I'm too tired. I'm gonna head to the esleepiendo zone.

But that reminds me- here are the promised pics of my non-spilled everything from when I fell down the stairs. Enjoy, and note the full glass of water not even spilled. Amazing, huh? :)


Ok, and since I'm in picture posting mode, isn't my room SO nice now that I make my bed everyday? Go me :)

You know all the right things to say

[Too Little, Too Late, Jojo]

Thursday... LIST DAY!!

• I. Love. The. Office.
  
  
• Yesterday I had to run a bunch of errands before Bible Study so I decided to set up shop and work at Subway for a little while. A girl (woman?) seemed REALLY excited to see me and hugged me and told the little boy with her (her son?) to say, "Hi, Ms. ^*." She commented on how great it was to see me, and I smiled and had no idea what to say because I had no idea who she was. Yeah.
  
  
• The other day at school a black teacher started talking (well, shouting) about how all white people are liars and thieves. He kept saying (to a white male teacher), "YOU went over on the boat!". [This was in reference to slavery; I am passionate against racism, and I am not justifying slavery. That said, I would just like to point out that it was the Spanish, not Anglo-Saxons, that started the transatlantic slave trade; also, once the United States was involved, it was not primarily white people that captured Africans- it was rival African tribes getting rich off the capture and sale of their enemies. Again, slavery was horribly wrong. But it's just as wrong to make ignorant and sweeping statements like accusing a person today of being part of the slave trade just because they happened to have been born with white skin. Grrr.]
  
  Anyway... back to the situation... I was just like, "What. The. Heck. Is HAPPENING here??". What do you do in that situation? Plus, it was in the cafeteria with kids all around. And the black teacher was really loud in his yelling about it. The white teacher pointed to a fellow T^F@ who is a white male, fresh out of college, and said, "What about them?". The black teacher said, "They are different! YOU are a redneck! Rednecks are liars and thieves." Now, there was some element of kind of a little bit of humor, but mainly it was just the most awkward situation of my life. Stinking N0rth C@r0lin@.
  
  
• The Office was HILARIOUS. And sad. And good. And totally not offering up resolution.
  
  
• Grey's Anatomy is good so far. It makes me REALLY wish I lived in Seattle. Well, I wish I lived there because of this show and... other things. :)
  
  
• Tonight I fell down the stairs. I'm such a freaking idiot. I refuse to turn lights on. So I had my dinner (a DELICIOUS salad made with spicy black bean burgers, romaine lettuce, black beans, salsa, onions, black olives, some cheese, and a little ranch) in a big bowl in one hand and a tall, full glass of ice water in the other. Because it was dark I thought I was on the last stair and started to take the last step and walk forward... and totally fell. Because it sure wasn't the last step. And by some miracle nothing spilled though I ended up laying on my back with some pain in my feet and calves from getting all banged up. Yet not a thing spilled. Miracle. I have a picture but my cord is at school. You'll see soon enough though.
  
  
• I'm SO glad tomorrow's Friday. So glad. I need some sleep.
  
  
• I really want an iPod. *sigh*
  
  
• I'm TOTALLY going home for the first time since June 5th of LAST year in a month!
  
  
• Plus... it's almost my birthday! Yeah, dude. Sweet :) Too bad I'll be FREAKING old. A quarter of a century. Ack.
  
  
• And... time to write tomorrow's quiz. Happy Almost Friday!
  

The phone call went really, really well.

:)

Looking for something I've never seen

[Trust Me, The Fray]

I wait so long between updates that I never know where to start. Then again, my life consists primarily of 16 hours a day committed to school and two hours for showering/Quiet Time in the Word/cooking/eating/driving to and from school/a random e-mail/etc. Then on a good night I get 6 hours of sleep.


So... let's see. I went to a soccer scrimmage Friday since a bunch of my boys play and there was no football game (it's our bye week). Then I came home and had a grading party with the roomies. We watched Empire Records as we worked, and Jen and I grabbed some (tragically sub-par) cheesesteaks from Andy's. Yesterday was a P*D^D (Pr0fessi0nal Devel0pment D@y) in Durh@m for T*FA so we went down around 11, got a little (mostly useless for me) training in Excel, then spent three hours doing random T*F@ stuff (all group meeting, then Le@rning Te@ms where you go with everyone in your content area to swap ideas, help each other out, etc).

After the P^DD we went to hang out at a local bar/restaurant called Tyler'$ Tapr00m. I had the BEST po' boy sandwich (shrimp... yum!) and garlic fries ever. We all joked about how there'd be no making out for us since we all ordered/picked off of other's fry orders. Then there was some pool, some hanging out, some football watching (um... WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO NOTRE DAME???). Then we decided to go to Franklin Street in Chapel Hill (yes, the same one where UNC-Ch@pel Hill is located). That's pretty much the street with all the bars, and not really my favorite scene, but I was in a car with three other people and Liz was a rock star and drove so it wasn't a huge deal. I mostly was tired/bored so I texted friends and tried to stay awake. The wine bar we were at was actually pretty chill... it had a great atmosphere and swell ambience. I happened to not mention the HOUR we drove around trying to find a place to park. But in the end it was fine. I drove home because A) I really like night driving and B) if I didn't drive we would have stayed with friends in Durham and I really like sleeping in my own bed so I wanted to come home. We got home at 2 am, and when my alarm went off this morning I was on 5 hours of sleep and made the lack of sleep-induced stupor based decision to turn my alarm off and go back to bed. And then I woke up later, fervently hoping it was like nine, but it was noon. Oops. I guess I probably needed the sleep, but it's still annoying.

Today I'm going to work for (hopefully) a solid 5-6 hours, then the boys are coming over at 6 for dinner, and then after that a guy friend is calling for the first time. There's a lot that could be said there, but really at this point it's on a need to know basis and those who need to know what's going on already know. It's all very low key and will be for a long time, but if ever there's a major step out of "friends with feelings there but waiting on the Lord to make His will clearly known" mode I'll tell the world. But at this point that's where we are.

Happy Sunday, and I hope everyone has an AWESOME week. There was an exciting development in what might possibly happen in my future per job and moving to Washington, but at this point it's all hypotheticals and I simply don't have the time at the moment to write it all out. When I think I do have time, however, I certainly will tell you all about it.

This could very well be my only post this week, so I hope it's plenty long enough for you ;)

PS Go Seahawks! Let's get like 6 touchdowns today to make up for last week! And the same to the Pats!

And that's why I love him

"... I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has. It is in order that each of you may have through this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise and intelligence ; that you may all have equal privileges in the race of life, with all its desirable human aspirations. It is for this the struggle should be maintained, that we may not lose our birthright..."
~~Abraham Lincoln, speaking to the 166th Ohio Regiment in 1864

Give a Little Bit of Your Love to Me

[Give A Little Bit, Goo Goo Dolls]

Monday is list day this week.

• The Seahawks signed Deion Branch!! Yippee!!
  
  
  
• Though I only got five hours of sleep and had to plan SUPER quickly last night and was pretty much uncertain how today would go, it was a great day. We actually needed an entire hour for logistical stuff, so that was super helpful.
  
  
  
• Today was the first time someone other than my roommates asked me if I've been losing weight. And I was able to say, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've lost like 50 or 60 pounds." Oh, happy day :)
  
  
  
• I went to aerobics and not only did I not hate my life but I ALMOST had fun. Not quite fun yet, but I at least enjoyed being there and enjoyed the routine it's allowing me to get into.
  
  
  
• I bought supreme unleaded gas (my preferred choice since I drive an Acura and Japanese engines run better longer on higher octane gas) for $2.59 today! Yeah, baby.
  
  
  
• My dinner was ABSOLUTELY delicious and ridiculously healthy. It included lots of salsa (instead of mayo on a black bean burger and a wrap... I couldn't decide between the two but both have so many vegetables that I didnt' really feel bad for eating both), tons of vegggies (tomatoes, leafy green lettuce, red onion, and something I'm forgetting) and pesto. Yay, pesto!! And yeah, weird as it sounds, pesto and salsa go really well together :)
  
  
  
• Thus far it seems the anniversary of 9/11 has been (praise God) rather uneventful. I'm very grateful for that answer to prayer.
  
  
  
• I had something else but it's gone now. Happy Monday that's nearly Tuesday which is just that much closer to Friday!
  

I don't really have time to say a lot. Other than that I'm not dead and hopefully I'll update tomorrow. Eighteen hour work days sort of start to catch up with you :)

Hurricane Day

So, for only the third time since 1999 my county closed schools today.

The reason?

ERNESTO!

I actually am sort of annoyed that there was no school because it utterly messes with my plans, but it's been a decent day. Crazy weather though. A tree blew down in our yard, our $800,000 house has sprung a leak or two, and when Jenny, Liz, and I drove into town to our respective schools (they teach at two different elementary schools, I teach at the high school) I had to be super careful because of downed trees in the roads and such.

Bec and I sang some duets on karaoke. I almost fell asleep singing so I went to lay down from 4:30 to nearly 6:30. That was mostly because Amy (TF@'er at my school) called at 5:30 to tell us school was cancelled, and Elise, Liz, Jenny and I all just stayed up. I made scrambled eggs at 6 am. Liz ate Oreos at 6:56 am. It was hot.

Now I'm trying to wake up and ignore the pain in my lower back and extremities (ok, and mainly my butt) from my first bout of aerobics last night. I think I may actually go work out on the elliptical in an hour or so once the Aleve kicks in just to help me feel awake. I really do have a lot- LOT- of work to do so I want to get goin' on that tonight. I know, what a nerd on a Friday night, but such is the life of a teacher :)

For anyone that did realize that Ernesto was headed straight for me and was stressed about it, don't worry- I'm fine. I'll post some pics for y'all later of the downed tree and Jenny and I acting crazy in the hurricane (ok, tropical storm, but whatever). But we've been blessed- the tree fell in the opposite direction of our house and didn't hit anything- not even the landscaping. And it was a big tree. And then our power only blipped for a quick second, but that's good too. It was a fun day :) I doubt anyone really noticed or was worried, but if you were, there's no need!

A'ight- lata killas.