I may have been getting a little melodramatic in the past few days, and I don't want to alarm anybody, or give them the idea that I'm working in some kind of post-apocalyptic urban hell. I did in fact receive a paycheck today, had a lovely time teaching Vowel-Consonant-E, and enjoyed a pleasant walk home from the bus stop.
Perspective, it's all about perspective.
So, I came home from California last night at, oh, say about midnight. By then I was already acclimated to west coast time, and therefore had a terrible go at actually falling asleep. And then, since I had experienced a blissful three days sans alarm clock, the Beep, Beep, Beep at six am was truly a frightening experience. I rousted myself out of bed nonetheless and managed to make my way to work, where I discovered an email inbox full of contradictory, nonsensical, incomplete and ungrammatical emails regarding the administration of the Test.
Now, I knew the Test was coming up and had already carefully constructed a schedule that would allow me to simultaneously teach and administer the test in IEP-mandated small group environments. Well, not at exactly the same time, but in such a way that the learning part of school could continue, at some degree anyway.
However, it seems that some people had other ideas about it. I didn't really feel like investigating to find out who was responsible for this, but suffice to say, I was feeling pretty cranky about the new testing schedule.
Administering a bubble test to kindergarten students is pretty amusing though. Basically we are trying to figure out if they know how to count to a hundred, write the number twenty, identify a square, etc. But in order to do this in a nationally-normed way, you must give them four choices with accompanying bubbles. The best part was that the test questions are not numbered, but instead have a key picture, such as a cat or a boat. I say, "Put your finger on the cat," and then I'm supposed to read the question, which might be as simple as the word "Triangle", which would then cue my students to shade the bubble under the three sided object. Theoretically at least. However, since they were all staring at the picture of the cat, I was hearing audible, "huh?" sounds coming from their little heads, and immediately knew, this would be a very long day.
Other favorite parts of the day included when my second graders (who have been doing bubble tests for ages and were not confused by the format, but, regardless, are still very small children and cannot sit for 60 minutes to do any sort of task with out a break) requested that we do Yoga, and then led me through a posture-perfect Sun Salutation. And later I let them color instead of going straight back to class and we had a marvelous conversation about our favorite places (For me Big Sur, CA, for them Dave and Buster's in the Waterfront).
And of course, there was not getting paid. I am in the habit of working for money, but I am also in the habit of not spending very much money, so pay day is not that big of a deal to me. However, I am still cognizant of the fact that money should be flowing into my bank account on the 15th and 30th. And there was no such flow today. I know you are screaming, "Walk away from that place, you idiot!" and any remaining pity you might have harbored for me is vanishing before my very eyes, but sometimes it just seems easier to continue doing what you are doing, even if it is really, really terrible. And I know I am not the only American in that boat.
But in general everything is ok, as I sit here spinning records (Akron/Family, Okkervil River), and Mark soaks in the tub to soothe the poison oak he got in Big Sur. But I'm gearing up for tomorrow when I will either teach with a paycheck or come home with nothing, but I sure as heck am not planning to teach (or administer bubble tests) for free.
Well, Matt and Sloan finally did it. They tied the knot in Carmel, CA on Saturday! Here is a photo of the happy couple. We started off with a fairly relaxing morning at Treebones, then a gorgeous drive up Highway 1 to Carmel. The ceremony was in a tiny chapel at the mission. After the ceremony, we traveled up the coast and went on a whale-watching cruise. I hope to post some videos of the whales we saw, because it was pretty darn impressive. I have never been to a "destination wedding" before, and it was really nice to just hang out with Matt and Sloan and their families for a few days. We ate great food, drank great wine, and had wonderful views of the coast and hills at every stop. I am completely impressed that Sloan organized the entire event from 3,000 miles away!
The weather was absolutely perfect the entire weekend. M and I arrived in San Jose just before noon to sunny, clear skies. After waking up at 3:00am, getting caught at check-in behind 200 high school band members, and flying for what seemed like forever (Central California is REALLY far away), the sun definitely cheered us up. We picked up the rental car - a little silver Beetle - and headed down towards Highway 1. Pittsburgh seemed a million miles away.
The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
We're off for California for Matt and Sloan's wedding! Matt and Sloan are great friends and a wonderful couple and we are so happy that they are tying the knot this weekend. Think happy thoughts on Saturday afternoon.
M told me about some kind of internet game that Jack knows about. You lose as soon as you think about it, or something like that. This is not that game, but another game...a game of internet tag, and I have been tagged by my friend, Amy.
Here are the rules:
A. Post the rules at the beginning.
B. Answer the questions about yourself.
C. Tag 5 people and let them know in a comment on their blogs that they have been tagged.
1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Getting over my working class hero phase and deciding that going to college may be better than working night shift at the Giant Eagle and day shift at a printing shop. Also, I am pretty sure I had never heard of the internet before.
2. Snacks I enjoy: Peanut Chews, kiwis, wasabi peanuts, juice.
3. Five Things on my To-Do List Today: print out directions to Pittsburgh Mills so that I can get my nails done with Loren and her mom (yes, as out of character as manicures are for me, that was really on the list), rewrite an IEP I messed up, edit the mission statement for our upcoming Uganda trip, call my Aunt Mary to find out if we can meet up while she is in town, and put away the laundry.
4. Things I would do if I became a billionaire: Move to New Zealand, quit my job to finish my novel once and for all, totally fund the Uganda mission, hike the PCT, pay off my student loan. Actually these are things I will do even without the billion dollars. Never mind
5. Three bad habits: taking on jobs I do not really want, obsessively thinking about my job in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, and overreacting* to said job instead of just chilling out.
6. Five places I’ve lived: Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Atlanta, Houston and out in the woods for six months on the Appalachian Trail.
7. Jobs I have had: program coordinator, night stock clerk, preschool teacher, cemetery landscaper, literacy specialist, special education teacher, receptionist, vagabond
8. Things people don’t know about me: I have a secret inner-punk rock self that is just about to burst forth
I tag the Butlers, Stan, and Leah, and they are the only internet people I know, so I cannot do five.
Earth Day is coming up on April 22nd. You can find out more atthis website, who claims They are cleaning the air, promoting land conservation, and improving water quality, or this website, who claims They are not.
Yes, environmentalism can be a complicated political issue.
I am trying to avoid being preachy here, while at the same time sharing some of the ways I am trying to be a more conscious Earth-dweller. So don't take this post as a sign that I will soon show up at your house with a gang of eco-terrorists and slash the tires on your SUV.
Responsible Citizen Effort #1 - Gas is expensive and I hate sitting in traffic, so I bought a bus pass. Hopefully I am also causing less air pollution, although with the Port Authority, you never know. I like to sit on the bus and grade papers, read, or just stare out the window and try to get my blood pressure back under control before arriving home. As a result of riding the bus, I am also walking about 4 miles a day to and from the bus stop. This is not a great amount of exercise, but it's something, and I feel better already for it. There is also a direct fiscal benefit, as a bus pass is cheaper than filling up my car with gas four times a month, to say nothing of the other auto-related expenses (insurance, registration, car payments, maintenance, etc.). So, hopefully this is actually an earth-friendly gesture, but if not it is a K-friendly one.
For all the years I was car-less, I yearned to have wheels of my own. I thought, boy, wouldn't it be great to transport myself around town in a protected environment, and not ever to have to sit next to a crazy or smelly person? Wouldn't it be great to get everywhere faster and on my own schedule?
I finally got those wheels when I was in Phoenix and it has been the curse of me ever since. For some reason, with the car, I think that I will be able to get errands done in a more timely fashion. But having easier access to Target has not greatly improved my quality of life, I am sad to say. Not to mention that fact that just by living in a neighborhood where I have easy access to several groceries, a drug store, dry cleaner's, restaurants, banks, clothing stores, shoe stores, dollar stores and coffee shops, once I get home I have no reason to drive at all, save for traveling out to the suburbs to work (good Lord, what was I thinking taking that job?). And while I truly appreciate a roof over my head in rain, wind, sleet or snow, I now have a very nice raincoat, that accomplishes the same thing. And maybe the grass is always greener on the other side, but I think I'll be spending my time and money in an effort to drive even less over the next year.
There is a matter of that 6:18 am bus to catch, though. So when you are tucked cozy in your bed at 5:30 am this week, think of me trekking to the bus stop in whatever weather is falling from the sky. I will be doing it joyfully.
Well, my kindergarten classroom was broken into last night, and they broke the pencil sharpener. Made for an interesting writer's workshop this morning. While we were trying to figure out how to sharpen pencils, we put some aerobic alphabet music on. After a few songs, one girl turned to me, with her hand pressed up against her chest, and said, "My heart is beating!"
She looked quite concerned. I explained that our hearts are pretty much always beating, unless we are dead, but that the harder we work our bodies, the more we can feel them beat.
We have some plans in place for an awsome supper club extravaganza. Stay tuned.
Indulging my Slow Living side, I find myself at 10:30 in the morning, still in my pajamas, sitting alongside Rosie the Cat, reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It's an uncharacteristically sunny day in Pittsburgh, and my apartment gets fabulous morning light. I highly recommend this book by Barbara Kingsolver.
M and I have made some choices about food and living habits in an attempt to be more healthy for our bodies and less harmful for our planet. But around every corner appears another environmental dilemna. We've been eating vegan for a while, but if we aren't careful about buying local, our grocery bags might as well be filled with oil, for all the energy spent on transporting out-of-season, organic produce from California to Pittsburgh. I started to be much more aware of recycling all newspaper, plastics 1-5, glass, cans, and metal containers, but it would be even better to reuse these items a few times first, before recycling. M and I are aiming for a car-free life, but yesterday, while fixing up an old bike, I had to use mineral spirits to get the chain clean (Simple Green wasn't going to cut it), but how am I supposed to get rid of that? And is pouring it down the toilet a more serious pollution sin that driving my car to dispose of it at the Home Depot? Hmmm...decisions, decisions.
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