tired and stressed

Our district had exams every 6 weeks

Time for our second round of tests, and I'm extreamly stressed out about it. I have three tests to look over for the three different preps. There is SO much information we havn't gone over, and that is poorly written, I don't know what to do. Some of it seems SO complicated for a middle schooler to understand.

I am stressed out. and having a horrible panic attack.

I don't know if I'm doing this right, or how to change what I do,

I spend so much time just figuring out HOW to teach some information, I don't have time to go back and figuring out how to better my lesson, or differentate, or ask higher questions of blooms.

I hate teaching four preps. It's SO much and I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm tired All the time. I'm depressed and feel clueless and BEHIND all the time.

can I even do this?

How can I stay motivated?

I knew this was going to be dificult. but I guess didn't realise HOW dificult this would be.

blue, da bu de

Just finished up the first 6 weeks of school.

School is hard.

I am very homesick and depressed...

probably from not taking my pills because I can't get anything done when I'm on them...apparently I can't get anything done off of them either.

constatnly getting in trouble at school for not getting things done I had no idea that I had to do in the first place. Being out of the loop and new sucks.

some kids I do not like...and hate that i don't like them...then there are others I love so dearly and they are amazing and smart.

I go to bed at 8pm when ever i can

i have no idea what my coworkers think of me. because I only really talk to two of them.
I am always tired...and I've got the october burnt out blues...

but it can only get better right?

One of my Favorite Movie Lines

This movie is okay, but I just LOVE this conversation the mother of the main character has with her daughter about a chat Haru had with a kitten when she was younger.

Life IS Tough.

And I know it has GOT to get better from here. So I just need to take it one leg... one step...one day at a time while I figure out how to keep my head above water in all of this work that needs to get done.

10. I should not be aloud to touch to copy machine ever...I tend to break things.

11. Let students do projects for you that need to get done. Some of them actually enjoy helping you cut paper or prepare simple items for another class's lab. While sobbing in front of my principal, she suggested that I let some of my kids help me out during "Activity Period" or after school if they walk home or had time. And this worked well! While most of the students were writing a prompt I had given them about goal setting, I asked if any kids would like to help me with some projects instead which included cutting paper and plastic bag scraps for a lab I was going to do that day, and another group of students to look up some good quotes for me to put up on the board for my "Quote of the Day" Something my science teacher had growing up, and I thought it was a really cool idea. I wonder if they are aloud to use the copy machine? hmm

12. implement Seating Charts is a little more helpful than just letting them sit where they want. For my bio kids of 6 students...it's no problem... for my 8th graders of 15 kids...that is ALSO no problem... but all of my other classes have issues with talking, and being disruptive and not working. I tested one classes with a seating chart and it worked!...for a few days. Now I need to figure out a new chart

 

13 Classroom management is F><King key to everything, My management skills are awful at the moment. I am constantly making my way around the room stopping fires, getting students back on task, figuring out why the don't know a simple concept while I explained it to them in two different ways wit ha few examples of it no more than two minutes ago.

 

That's another thing I struggle with. What is the best way for students to understand that they can look up information for themselves and remember it better and feel so much more accomplished when they do so. I mean, obviously if they shoot me an answer about the topic we're talking about, I can (probably should anyway...lol) be able to get an answer to them in no time at all...but that loses value. They now know the answer to that one problem...they don't know how to solve it or one like it and challenge themselves with asking questions and researching answers and thus asking MORE questions. I want for ALL of them to get to a point where they are fascinating with what we're doing, and they'll want to learn more on their own. ... then again they're also 13.... so... I guess a girl can dream...and try and figure this out

 

I am a horrible person

Sometimes with my students I feel...

Struggling

Balled me eyes out today.

I feel like no matter how much work I get accomplished, I still get nothing done.
I have a pile of work I need to do tomorrow morning
and copies I need to make
and absent students I need to worry about getting their stuff done.

I am struggling with this whole new teacher bit.

Week One Down

Kinda sums up my week

One week in and my brain is already upside down and all sorts of insides out.

It’s a lot more difficult becoming this new teacher than I thought it would. Students are ALL sorts of differences.  They represent themselves so differently something that works in one class has the slightest change of working in another.

My management skills right now…are pretty suck. But I’m learning. I’m slowly coming up with a seating chart to figure out how to separate the talkers, and to bring the kids that force themselves in the back to the front to listen.

So crying and panic attacks.
I want to make sure these kids are getting the correct education they need to go above and beyond the next level of learning. Can I get them there? What is too dumb down information vs. too hard information? How do I explain myself to the class so that they understand  what is going on and what they need to focus on.

and some of the kids are great! and I always have to think if more things to do durring the day because they are organised and ready to go...then there are the other groups that I have to pull teeth to get even the first item on the agenda done

7. Asking a student, "Do you understand?"

8. Classroom competition...work REALLY well
9. The copy machine is evil...it always jams or runs out of tonor RIGHT when I need it)

Terrified

I am terrified

 

Tomorrow is going to look something like this

 

The Night before

6. Paper is Precious...use it wisely

My room is pretty much done! yay! I just have to put some things away...and figure out where to put copies of information I'll have to distribute to my kids throughout the week. I guess in folders in the file cabinet it keep it out of the way?

Still waiting for Mr. Bones to get here through the mail...I know he's not going to be here by the first day...which makes me sad but as long as I get him sometime this week!!

I'm meeting with the teacher who used to work in my position today! Luckily for me he's not that far away. I have a A LOT of questions for him.

School starts tomorrow...I will probably be in my classroom until late tonight trying to finish everything!

Laminating my Life

School starts on Monday, and I feel nowhere near ready. My room is still chaos… it looks like a tornado hit it! There are still three large aquariums I need to figure out where to put and what to do with them…the boxed dead dissection rats, and paper, packets I need to sort. I also need to clean the back of the classroom and put the desks where I want them…the trouble is my room is so awkwardly shaped, things have to go in weird places to fit right. Like the computer being right in front of  the good grease board and the projector being in front of the crappy one…which is really just the back part of a shower screwed into the wall.

My lesson plans are taking a long time to write too. How much time for activities is too much time? How do I make an assignment challenging enough to keep them focused but not make it so difficult as to lose them completely? I want them to learn something, and enjoy learning it! I hope that they take something away with them that they can use in their daily lives or own creativity. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge, not just because they have to learn it because they have to be tested on it… or have to chunk it the night before so they can remember just enough to sweep by on an exam.

My biology class is the smallest class I have with only 7 students. Seems like cake right? But they’re the most advanced learners I’ll have…and the only subject that I really teach on my own…and it’s MY subject…MY thing…MY baby! I want to make it exciting. ALL of it! But I have to figure out how I want to teach each unit in that many sections…. For example…the first unit for bio on the online lessons we have say it should talk 4 days to complete…which is exactly how long the unit is…which would be fine if it wasn’t the first day of school and the kids are learning all the rules, expectations, procedures, how to find the classroom, what supplies we have available, how to put together their notebooks…that part will take about 2 days…and then I have 4 days of information to put into to…but I want to take them apart and have them be even more exciting…

I am so scared.

I will probably be at the school all weekend long as long as possible to finish everything up before I cry alone in the teachers’ lounge on the first day of school.

OH but I am learning so much, I really am! There is so much about being a teacher that I didn’t know.

1.       Put your name on EVERYTHING

2.       Laminate EVERYTHING

3.       The lamination machine is the coolest machine ever

4.       Stealing is okay…and sometimes encouraged

5.       Learning to speak to your peers by their last name…and introducing yourself to others by YOUR last name is tough  

Cleaning and Rat Traps

Slowly cleaning up my room this week! I need to buy some raid to spray on the floor to try and get rid of some of the mouse. I also put up a clock (that shows humidity and temperature) and boarders around a white board today.

I also met some of the custodians and got to chat with them today. They’re really nice! One of them was super helpful asking me if I needed anything and never to hesitate to ask if I needed help or who to ask for certain things. Yay, he’s replacing the burnt out fluorescents for me so my room won’t be so dark!

Though cleaning my room today, I saw this weird black plastic thing in the floor in my room…It looked like the size of a license plate and wondered if something fell from the counter of ceiling or something. Anyway, I leaned down to pick it up…and the edge of it stuck to my finger…hard. I screamed and shook my hand vigorously before it eventually fell back on the floor. It was a rat trap with an extremely sticky side.  Haha. I can still hear them crawling around the walls...I want to pretend their just ghosts...why does that seem less creepy?

I also ordered a skeleton for my room today. Mr. Bones should be on his way. I need to find some fun sunglasses for him to wear… or a fun wig. I kinda want to decorate him during holidays…like with a Santa hat  :?

Lots of training this week for science. I’m learning a lot…but still freaking out. Especially learning about what supplies we can require for them and what we can’t. Also, how much paper we can use per semester…which isn’t a lot, and what book recourses we have… which is few and outdated. The bio book we use is the same one I used in high school. Lots of research to do.

New Old Classroom

Whew! What a stressful nerve-racking first day of work!

This morning started off fine. We all met in the cafeteria and listened to speeches from the principal and played a game. And then we broke off into our departments for lunch and to meet with our departments for the first time.

So I hopped in a car to carpool with a member of our department for our lunch time destination…when I felt a cold sensation on my lap. I didn’t screw the cap to my water bottle all the way together and water spilled out all over the contents of my purse and all over my crotch…neat.

We got to Pizza hut and ate the buffet pizza and chatted, but I was so nervous that I didn’t have much of an appetite and didn’t eat very much. I'm trying to remember the feeling of starting over and meeting new faces. It's silly, I try to act open and friendly and as soon as words come out of my mouth I'm super quick to judge what I've said.

We then met in my department head’s classroom to discuss our building procedures and the lesson plan skeleton and supplies and such. They all knew what they were talking about but I felt SO lost! I was panicking on the inside! Even when they explained some of it to me, I was still lost. I still don’t know what all supplies I need. I bought a bunch of pencils, calculators and rulers already, and they gave me a bag of scissors…but I still don’t know what else I need…lab supplies? Glue? Paper? Notebooks? This is absolutely frustrating…I KNOW I will probably need a huge box of tissues…for myself anyway.

Then I finally got to see my room and my mood didn’t improve much. It’s a big room, but it has awkward placements of items such as the dry-erase boards and the projector are on two different walls…so to use both I’m going to have to carefully position my seats, but that part of the room is small so the desk are going to have to fit awkwardly somewhere in there…and then there is my desk…well lack thereof. I don’t have a desk (as of yet…hopefully) and my DUSTY computer is in pieces on a stand with no chair…except for a high old stool.

The room is completely filthy too with dust and dirt everywhere…and it smells like dust and dirt. There’s stuff from the old teacher left behind that I don’t know what to do with or where to put (including 3 large dirty moldy fish tanks, and a fog machine) I also opened a box just sitting on a table full of dead rats…granted they were properly bagged in formaldehyde for student dissections…but still…was NOT expecting to find those.

Speaking of rats… apparently the whole science building is infested with them…AND ANTS which are ALL over the floor and countertops.

The walls are painted gray too, and ugly dull gray with dirt coated base boards. I know I should be thankfully that I have a ROOM at all and that I have a job…but it’s hard to look at Kati’s pretty clean bright room in her building and my drab gross one in the much older building.

I have a LOT of work to do. My room just creeps me out

I did put in a bid on a life-size model skeleton on ebay today for my classroom…and my posters that I ordered should be coming in the mail soon.

Sigh

Horror Dreaming

I’ve noticed that after completing my degree in biology, any nightmares I have had are way more vivid than they ought to be. Especially after taking a year of anatomy and physiology and having to know all body parts and how they work. Or taking Cellular and micro-biology where you see detailed pictures of diseases and infections.

For a horrible example: the dream I had last night. I had a dream that my brother and sister in law were completely decapitated. So thanks to some textbook knowledge, medical videos, surgery viewing, and my imagination I had a pretty grotesque (oxymoron, hey!)  anatomically correct bloody horror film playing in my head whilst I slept.

I think I woke up this morning more stressed out than when I went to bed. I t think Mitch Hedberg had the right idea, when he suggested than dreaming should just be watching yourself relaxed and comfortably sleeping instead of doing or seeing something crazy while your brain is revisiting and processing information.

I have my first unofficial first day of work tomorrow morning, and I believe I will finally be able to see my classroom and figure out what I need to do to get ready for the school year. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I’ve been having nightmares about school too, but thankfully they haven’t included any blood and gore, just blank walls and not knowing my lesson plan or my kid’s names.

Wet Bras and a Lack of Identification

So Stupid Ambian Ivy decided to wash all of her bras last night…which would have be fine…if she hadn’t left them in the washer and I hadn’t discovered them an hour before I’m supposed to leave for my first day of training!!! 

Today is starting out disastrous!

I realized I need my social security card for today too….which I don’t have…because it’s somewhere in VA DX SOMEWHERE as in I have NO idea where it is! I wonder if they’ll let me sign my contract with the promise of ordering a new one as soon as I can DX

JOB!

I GOT A JOB! I got called down by the beach one day last week and they offered me the 7^th 8^th TAG science position teacher at that school. So after screaming and jumping up and down like a little girl, I told the woman on the phone, that I would ABSLOLTLY take this job!

So now I have training on Friday! And lots more to go!!!

I bought a couple posters online today...there are so many more science posters I would like to dec my classroom out in though. Atoms, Space, Mitoses, RNA, Rock formations, motivational posters!

I also want a skeleton for my room...but they're SO expensive DX

ENTER FAMILY BEACH WEEK POST!

=====not ====here[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ yet

On the way to the beach!

Arrived in Alabama today after a LONG 12 hour car ride. TJ drove the WHOLE way and wouldn’t give up the wheel. I can’t imagine driving 12 hours straight. I want to drive on the way back to Texas though.

It wasn’t a bad 12 hours. Kati and I talked, and we listened to a book on tape called, “Sh#t my dad says.” Oh my goodness I absolutely recommend it. It’s TOO funny! I also played a neat game on my brother’s Kindle where you read a passage of a story and make decisions based on what you want to do after you read. Like a Roll playing game, I guess. You’re a pirate in fantasy world and you have to figure out how you want to fight and steal other ships, or interact with your comrades. I failed. I ended up being stabbed to death by the enemy...Kati told me that Gingers don’t make good pirates anyway. Haha, I’ll have to play it again.

We finally got an hour away from our hotel where mom, dad, and my little brother, John were staying and got off the interstate. There looks like a lot to do here. We turned the radio up, rolled the windows down and danced for the last bit of the trip. Kati and I also put our sunglasses on (at 10 at night) while we waved our arms to the music like bosses!!

Once in the hotel, we joined our other family members for a drink (that they had already gotten WAY into... it’s funny when you see your parents drunk) Our Hotel/Condo is really nice! We're on the 14th floor (which is REALLY the 13th... I honestly don't see why people have to make such a big deal about not having a 13th floor) with a large balcony with a view of the beach! I can't wait until we can actually see it.

Only adventures and lots of sun block await!

First Pedicure!

I had my fist pedicure today! My sister in-law decided she wanted to get one done and invited me along since we were headed to beach today. Oh my gosh was it amazing! We sat in massage chairs and soaked our feet in a mini Jacuzzi tube for a while- I would have been happy with just that! Kati and I discussed that the only thing that would have made it over the top would have been a glass of wine and a hot fudge sundae

So after the hot foot bath, we had the bottom of our feet sloshed off, and an oil and lotion rub down. I know I don’t deserve to be pampered, but I wouldn’t mind going through that again.

The Guy who did my toenails and fingernails was so much fun. He’s a marketing major with a very little filter of what he had to say, which made it more fun, because we could joke about whatever and no one would be offended and he very flirtatious which was also fun. Every time he got up to get something though Kati gave me these ‘hint hint’ looks and wound nudged her head in his direction. She’s so funny. It feels like she tries to set me up with anything that moves.

An Interview without a Wallet

I had an interview yesterday! WHOO!!! Actually…yesterday was pretty crazy as a whole!

SO I got a call in the morning from the assistant to the principal asking if I would like to interview for their math department at their school in Houston for Monday. Unfortunately I have a family obligation that I could NOT get out of so I asked them if there was ANY other time I could come. So she asked if I could come in this afternoon for an interview… A 3 1/2 hour drive away so of course I said, “YES! I’ll be there in a few hours!” Hung up the phone, got in the shower, got my stuff together and TOOK off in the mean machine for Houston! Yahoo! Adventure!

*insert batman time skip*

So I found the school easily when I got there. The drive was great! No heavy traffic, no scary drivers! But, I also got there really early, which gave me enough time to gas up the car before the long trip home and thankfully there was a gas station just down the road! So I pulled up the station and looked in my purse for my wallet…and looked for my wallet…and dumped everything out of my purse..and did NOT see the wallet…Oh crap I just drove 3 hours from home and I do not have my wallet. I was in Houston…a place I’d NEVER been before without my driver’s license and without any money (unless you count a coupon to chic-fil-a for a free breakfast sandwich). That funny thing is, freaking out wasn’t the first thing I did. I burst out laughing! This is the sort of thing I would do. My mother and a bunch of my friends call it, “Pulled an Ivy.”

Thankfully, someone I knew knows someone in Houston who came to the rescue! and brought a little (well… a LOT…more than they should have) bit of cash and offered a place to spend the night. But I felt bad, because they had already gone WAY out of their way to save me, so I declined and drove back after my interview driving WAY under the speed limit to get home.

The interview itself went swimmingly! The Principal talked with me for an hour in a very informal laid back way. Then he proceeded to tell me I would be a great fit for this school and would love to work with me. The only down side is the job I was applying for isn’t really open yet. They are waiting for the teacher to resign ... and the teacher is waiting for his contract with the high school who are supposed to hire him but haven’t yet. Hopefully I’ll hear back from the local school or the Houston school soon.

One down/

So one interview down and (HOPEFULLY) I will have more to go.

Everyone I spoke to were very pleasant, and nice.  Not stone cold poker faces. I believed I had an all right interview…but you really never know what qualities or little perks they want from you as you’re talking with them.

Before my interview there were two other science interviewees there with me and we had a chance to chat before we were each called in individually. One of them as her master’s degree in secondary teaching and has been teaching science 2 years. The other is bilingual in Spanish and English and has subbed at a known school for a few years….ughhh… They’re setting my bar so high!

When the other two had left and it was just me and this other man waiting for an interview on special Ed we had the chance to chit chat before I was called in. I told him about the other two people at were in there before me. He kind of laughed and said, “I Guess you’ve got some competition there.”

“I believe so,” I said pretending to pump up some weights, “Guess I gotta get up my game!”

Should find out next week

I was so NERVOUS before the whole thing! I ran all over the house today when I got up trying to think of goof phrases to say and making sure I wasn’t missing anything.  On the drive there my hand and arm pits were SO sweaty! So I drove part of the way with the AC directed right an my armpits and another part of the way driving so the AC was hitting my sweating hands.

… and then I got home, ate something terrible for me, and watched my DVR of America Ninja Warrior Final

Interview!

I have an interview tomorrow!

Oh my gosh. I'm so excited and scared at the same time! I got a call from a middle school in San Antonio. When I got of the phone I ran around the room at least for a good 5 minutes screaming while the dogs watched me look like an idiot.

Kati just helped me pick out an outfit… which was only between two…I need more clothes. She exclaimed that the one she liked was more professional, but ginger! Haha. Then I faked an interview response, “What I can bring to your school that others can’t? Have you SEEN my hair? Those kids are going to be whipped into shape and I’ll science the pants off of them!”

I hope they don’t mind cartilage piercings. I have one in my ear that I can NOT get out! I’m wondering how I ever got it in in the first place! I think I stood at the mirror for a good 15 minutes trying to unscrew that sucker off my ear. Guess I’ll have to just wear my hair down and cover it up until the interview is over. … unless the person interviewing me has one then I’m home free to tuck my hair behind my ear.

Applications and Motivations

Filling out lots of applications today and having trouble staying focused and motivated! You’d think the difference between having a job and not having a job would be motivation enough. When you have a lot you have to do, it seems like the best time in the world to learn how to do a back bend or balance a pencil between your upper lip and your nose.

Also, why is it that words and sentences in your head sound so much better than how they look when you write them all down on paper.

Yay!

I passed my exam! whoo!!! and I did a whole lot better than I thought I did. I only missed 10 questions. yay! So now I'm a certified middle School Teacher!

Now to take more exams and find a district that will take me!

I WANT A JOB!

bladder Control

After my exam today, I got onto the interstate to drive home

And then I realized it was 5pm on a weekday…
and that I don’t know the area well enough to take another route…
and that I had to pee really really badly.

I should really get to know the roads better...and remember when you should and when you shouldn't use big ones to get around.

On the bright side, I think I did okay!..THINK!

Studying

This is how I define today.

I have my first big exam tomorrow. I really need to study, but I can NOT focus for more than 10 minutes at a time on the material...so I waste SO much more time than I should and allow myself to become distracted by everything, like blogging, looking at stupid pictures of cats, and reading rage face comics.

I wish the fear of failure was motivation to study and do well. Instead, it makes me want to give up and believes that my goals are a distant delusional fantasy that I’ll never reach.  Like that horrible fight, flight, or freeze defense mechanism where my brain wants to leave me to fend for myself every time something somewhat difficult comes along.

Ugh. I need to get over this!

Baby, you're a Firework

San Antonio Fourth of July fireworks is nothing like I ever expected!

Back in Virginia, you can’t buy your own firework. They’re all pretty much illegal unless you’re a professional using them for professional events, like at fairs and amusement park, such like that. And I’m pretty sure you can do what you want with sparklers…within reason. 

So, we all went with our families to a bug invested packed park to find some okay ground seats and overprised any kinda of booz. The Bands that they play are sometimes quite pleasent to listen too, but getting to an angele in which you can actually see the stage in hard to find. Whileyou listen to twangy coutry guitar and men you, bless their hearts, can't sing all that well.

So anyway, one our way home from dinner last night, TJ and Kati decided that it would be a good idea for us to stop buy a display off the side of the road to pick up a couple here and there. Well not only was there more than just here and there of firework…but they also had SEVERAL firework display ALL over the place to choose whatever you want within a huge variety, such as a small sparkler to a large base you smash in ground and fire up giant louse balls of powder into the sky to explode.  My favorite out of all of these must have been the Lady Bug. Not only is it shaped like an adorable ladybug, comes in a bag that looks like a child’s play purse.  

I set up my little buggy buddy in the street and lit the fuse on fire, before sprinting just far enough away to keep my toes intact if something might go wrong.  Once a good bit far enough away to feel safe, I watched to fuse slowly make its way to the top of the back of the bug and seem to die for a second. Before any of us decided to retrieve it, all of a sudden, the lady bug started spinning and spinning and spinning until it was WAY up in the air flying down the street with a pretty red light following it.

My second favorite firework had to have been these long tubes called Roman Candles. These shoot out 5-10 rockets depending on the size rocket. These you could light at the bottom, light the top, and hold it away from the face and up to the sky. This felt like I was holding a magic Harry Potter Wand! I couldn’t d help myself from whispering enchantments and waving the wands in different directions.  

All of the neighborhoods around us had plenty of goodies to share too. Everyone brought something different to be run up and down the street and to be blown up several ways. Including sticking 10 sparklers together with duck tape and placing them dead container to shove all of them into. This kinda turned out to be a lesser good idea than previously hypothesized. :D Anyway, those where torches in sticks created from 10 sparklers tapped together.

I’ll have to upload the pictures that I’ve taken so far, but I need new batteries for my poor little camera, Ticktock. Before I abuse him again.

Hot Weather

Texas heat makes it so hard to sleep at night! I end up rolling around on my bed to find the cool spots like this:

headache

Ugh...woke up with the WORST headache this morning and it still won't go away. I havn't gotten much done because of it either. I feel so lazy today ):

Pictures!

Finally uploaded some of the pictures I took from the first weekend here

Down Town San Antonio!

My appartment...just kidding. But I really cool building down town.

                             A mother duck and her babies. I was surprrised she let us get so close!

                                                          Part of the Riverwalk.

       A palmtree!!! I was so excited to see some of these! TJ and Kati have a    little baby one growing in their back yard.

The Tower of Americas! I think there is a place to eat at the top, but I think it's expensive.

The Riverwalk! I wouldn't swim in it though, it's pretty gross up close. They do tours up and down the river all day long.

House Alarm!

My brother has an alarm set on their house to keep them safe with different settings on it. I totaly forgot about it this morning and when I went to let the dogs out was hit with a horrible surprise! I think I ran around in circles for a good 10 seconds before I remembered the passwork to turn the stupid thing off. It's SO much louder than I thought it would be too! I guess that makes sense so it can wake you up in the middle of the night.

Studying has been imposible today. I've been super distracted by everything! The cars going by, the notebook paper infront of me that I can't stop doodling on instead of taking notes, the dogs that keep doing weird things. It doesn't help either, that all the work I'm doing right now is online, so I have access to facebook and failblog DX Hopefully tomorrow will get better.

It's also freakishly hot today! When I let the dogs out I was hit with a rush of wicked hot air. The weather channel says the high for today was 106 F and I don't doubt it! Ughhhh.

Water Water!

I find that I have to drink more water here than I did back in Virginia. The first couple of days were difficult when it came to dehydration. I had a headache and felt SO thirsty in the mornings. It’s also slightly dissatisfying knowing your urine isn’t clear (maybe that’s more from a runner’s standpoint but…) Tee hee

I’m not much of a fan of water by itself either. I mean after a long work out, or first thing in the morning I like the crisp taste of cold water, but elsewhere when I want something to drink it’s so tempting to grab the bottle of coke.

So wondering around wal*mart the other day I found bottles of Mio they were selling. I know a friend of mine back home drinks them a lot and I’ve seen the commercials but hadn’t really tried it myself. … That stuff is freaking awesome. It’s like kool-aid

So here is to hoping if I can mix my water with yummy things, life will be less of a headache.

Last Day of Training

Today was my last day of in-class training for T.T

Now I have online training/classes to finish up, and my exams that I need to prepare for. LOTS to do.

Pink and Say

Our Speaker for class today read us a story, as an example of a social studies lecture, Pink and Say. I remember having class members read this story in the second grade for a book report, and one of the girls crying because it was so sad. I hadn't read it myself, but I remember it was supposed to be a sad story.

Hearing it today and discovering that it was a true story absolutely brought me to tears! Oh my gosh! I need to buy this book. It’s extremely well written too. Patricia Polacco is my hero of the week.

Mr. Backpack

My Mother and Sister-in-Law crack me up when it comes to my nonexistent love live.

(Though I also need to make a point clear- 1. At the moment, I don’t really care that my love life is nonexistent… just because  I see Mr. SmexyMc Smex pants walking down the street doesn’t mean I have fall’n head over heals)

I was shopping with TJ and Kati the other day and stopped at a store known for selling items to military men and families. Anyway, I was looking at sheets by myself, and saw one such young man walk by with a beautiful body and a backpack. We both kinda smiled and did the head acknowledge bump...what you do when you meet someone new but don't necessarily want to say anything.

So on our way out of the store I told Kati about my small run in with "Backpack" to which she promptly stopped walking, and started heading back into the store. I had to run after her whispering loudly, "Kati! What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for Backpack."
"You will NOT"
"I just wanna see what you like."
"Kati, no! Down! We're leaving"

And I drag her by the arm out of the store where my older brother has this look on his face...as if he wishes he didn't know either of us.

Training Day Two!

It's been a little over a week since I've moved to San Antonio to live with my brother and sister-in-law and their two awesome dog. SO far so good, we all seem to be surviving together. It's a bit different from growing up fighting with your siblings over who gets to watch what on TV or who gets the biggest piece of pie for desert. It's so nice that we can get along now. It's strange, I'm always surprised at how mature he is and it's hard to forget we used to run around in the back yard throwing mud at each other.

I had my second day of Texas Teacher training today. Class Management. It's going very smoothly and it's amazingly informative. I don't think I could write enough notes from the lectures if I tried. Even though it's a six hour a day course, it's not hard to listen to...and by the end I still think, "Teach me more, Master!"

Especially when we watch the video Lectures by Harry Wong, who I just found out is pretty famous in the teaching world. Opps, go figure I just learned about him yesterday, but now he's my teaching hero. I was so into his lecture on classroom management, when he told his videoed audience to say "OWN IT" I totally did out loud too! Ha ha XD

I haven’t applied for any jobs yet, but I'm working on my application for the same district that my Sister-in-Law teaches for. It's almost finished, but I'm too afraid to submit it DX So much pressure. I'm so afraid I'll make a mistake on it. I need two more references and I need to write a letter of Intent.

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO WRITE A LETTER OF INTENT.

OH! I also got to meet my neighbor for the first time today! On my way to school this morning I ran into her cute little yorkie that was running away from her as he game up to sniff me. We got to chat for a few seconds and she said how it was glad to have finally actually seen me, and didn't know if she ever would. I guess Kati told her about my arrival. I was to embarrassed to tell her I'd been inside with the AC cranked up, hiding from the sun...

Pre Texas

All these goodies will come a bit later because they are writen in differenet locations and days. SO for know...

I have a bunch of storries of my pre trip adventures...some juicy some dull, some painfull....