Hi Everyone!
I really like long car drives. I tend to fall asleep pretty quickly if I haven't been properly caffeinated, but if I have, there is nothing better than cranking the music and driving alone. It is just so relaxing; my mind gets to process whatever is bothering me, and I am not worried about bothering other people. I can swear at the other cars if I need to let out some steam, and it is never a problem.
So tonight's ride back to Frederick was perfect. Until I hit Breezewood, I was really tired and not at all relaxed, but I got starbuck's from somewhere (Somerset, I think?) and that woke me up quite nicely. I started thinking about all the work I didn't get done this week for school, which worried me for a bit, but then I started thinking about how I will deal with next year.
For those of you who don't know, I have to completely re-apply for the job I have now. I've been really worried about how I would have to set up my drama classes for next year, since it is not something that I am really qualified for. So, anyway, I'm driving along, and I just get this really good feeling about next year. I have this whole plan in my head about how to work it all out, and it makd S e me really happy. On top of that, I remembered that I have a day next week where my mentor and I get to sit in the library all day and just plan for the rest of the year. This means that I might actually get some of my awesome ideas from last year to work in the classroom this year! Wheeee!
So, I'm happy for a little while. Pittsburgh was really fun, and I have some good plans for having fun for the rest of the year in Delaware. (Here's a hint: book clubs and game nights). I'm in Frederick for New Year's, and then I'm heading home to do all the work I didn't get done this week. Wohoo!
Happy non-denominational holiday season, ladies and gents!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Sadie hates me.
MY poor puppy! She got fixed today, she can't walk straight, and she just keeps looking at me like I'm the devil. The first thing she did when I set her down on the couch was try to jump off. The first thing she did when I set her on the ground? Look right at me, squat, and pee the longest pee ever. That's my girl!
So Melissa and I had an impromptu night out last night. We both had a lot of papers to grade, and we didn't think that we would get anything done if we went home. We went to Frasiers, a pup right by my house. We both got one paper graded in about two hours. It was a really relaxing, if not quite as successful as we had hoped, night.
I'm going to a Christmas Party on Saturday thrown by my department head. Apparently, she goes all out, and last year's got canceled because of snow, so it's going to be awesome this year. I'm excited.
So that's all for me, I guess. I'm watching Pixar's Short Films on ABC Family, and it's really making my night.
Happy Christmas, all!
So Melissa and I had an impromptu night out last night. We both had a lot of papers to grade, and we didn't think that we would get anything done if we went home. We went to Frasiers, a pup right by my house. We both got one paper graded in about two hours. It was a really relaxing, if not quite as successful as we had hoped, night.
I'm going to a Christmas Party on Saturday thrown by my department head. Apparently, she goes all out, and last year's got canceled because of snow, so it's going to be awesome this year. I'm excited.
So that's all for me, I guess. I'm watching Pixar's Short Films on ABC Family, and it's really making my night.
Happy Christmas, all!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Happy Saturday :)
Good morning all--although I guess it's afternoon at this point...
ANYWAY. I hope you all are doing well. Going home for thanksgiving was really nice, and I had a great time seeing the GPs and Walt from the street. I almost peed myself at Sean's on Thanksgiving Friday night, so clearly I had a fun time there. :-D Thanksgiving itself was lots of fun, going to see the Blumer's and Grandmas and having Grammy and Grandpap over. Grammy actually likes Sadie! On Saturday the rents and I went to Tracie's for Italian thanksgiving, and Marg (Tracie's mom) made this DELICIOUS food. There was this soup with balls of cheddar bread in it--omg. On Sunday we all got to watch the Steelers together. Auntie Tracie bought Sadie some cute sweaters and Steelers gear (see picture below) so now Sadie loves her for life. I really miss all of you from home, and it was so great to see you all. Can't wait till Non-denominational winter break to come home and see you all again!
So, the trip back was terrifying. I went over the Bay Bridge, and it was really dark, and all I kept thinking about was that, if for whatever reason the car goes over, Sadie was going to die. She was in her crate at that point, in the back seat, and I couldn't get to her very easily. That, of course, was not a good thought to have as I went over the bridge. I survived though, and Tracie tells me that there is a service where they will actually drive your car over the bridge for you; you just go up to the service building and ask for it. I vote YES for next time. I don't usually go over the bridge, but 95 was very congested, so we figured this would get me home faster.
Sadie has been weird all week; I think she misses the constant attention of all the people. She's still adorable and amazing, but she is whining just slightly, and she actually barked at me on Wednesday night! I was putting up Christmas decorations, and I guess she felt like I should have been petting her. She got right behind me and just went "BARK!" We got through it, though. I threw her bobo a few times, and then she got bored and curled up on the couch. That's my puppy!
School is going well. My class that used to drive me insane is now the class I look forward to the most; how weird is that? We have a lot of fun, and the kids that seemed to be giving me attitude and crap at the beginning of the year now say hi to me in the hall and apologize when they are talking over me. It's nuts! I've realized how much I miss teaching English, though; I enjoy drama, I really do, but I get inane comments like, "Why do I have to do research for my independent study class, when I am supposed to be finding out about character building techniques? This isn't English class." I've been told that twice this week--"This isn't English!" One was from my Independent study girl. She insists that there are no sources on her topic, and so she shouldn't have to write the paper, and anyway, they never had to do this in drama before, because "This isn't English." She's had since the second week of school to be working on this paper, and it is barely two DOUBLE SPACED pages long. Sigh. My other is just as frustrating. My stage tech is doing a small project on anything related to tech; they find out about it and are creating a poster. I told a girl she had to cite her sources, and she got so mad at me that she almost stormed out of class. It was ridiculous! Why don't people understand that "research" is just something you LEARN in English, and then you apply to the rest of your life? (That's kind of what I told them, and they both just gave me death glares).
I'm working on making my apartment warm. I had an INSANE electric bill last month, and so I'm trying to find ways to heat this darn place without losing all of my money to the city of Dover. It's been 57 degrees in my apartment every morning I've gotten up this week. Last night, I turned on my heat in my room, and it went up to 71 before I decided to turn it off and go to bed. When I woke up, it was 60. Mom sent me some heavy duty curtains, which I've hung on the windows in my dining room. I hung one between my sun room and my dining room last night as an experiment; will the sun room stay warmer if I'm not losing hot air through that doorway? So far, it's not making much of a difference. I'm supposed to be hearing from the city and my landlord about how they intend to fix this problem as there is clearly something wrong with my heating; I checked in with both on Thursday, and they said to wait until this coming Friday. If nothing is fixed, then call them again. I called/discussed with them on the Monday before Thanksgiving break. Rawr.
Other than that, my life is OK. I'm spending this weekend planning my next unit for English, and I'm having great fun. I might need to go shopping for office supplies later (binders and folders and a new flashdrive) and I think you all know how much I LOVE office supply shopping. (If you don't, it's a LOT. It's one of my favorite things to do. :-D) I slept until 11:00 this morning, and it was great. I might go take a nap right now, and then start up again later this afternoon. It's been a hard morning, making myself tea and taking Sadie for a walk and then typing all of this. ;)
I miss you guys! Have a great weekend, everyone!
ANYWAY. I hope you all are doing well. Going home for thanksgiving was really nice, and I had a great time seeing the GPs and Walt from the street. I almost peed myself at Sean's on Thanksgiving Friday night, so clearly I had a fun time there. :-D Thanksgiving itself was lots of fun, going to see the Blumer's and Grandmas and having Grammy and Grandpap over. Grammy actually likes Sadie! On Saturday the rents and I went to Tracie's for Italian thanksgiving, and Marg (Tracie's mom) made this DELICIOUS food. There was this soup with balls of cheddar bread in it--omg. On Sunday we all got to watch the Steelers together. Auntie Tracie bought Sadie some cute sweaters and Steelers gear (see picture below) so now Sadie loves her for life. I really miss all of you from home, and it was so great to see you all. Can't wait till Non-denominational winter break to come home and see you all again!
So, the trip back was terrifying. I went over the Bay Bridge, and it was really dark, and all I kept thinking about was that, if for whatever reason the car goes over, Sadie was going to die. She was in her crate at that point, in the back seat, and I couldn't get to her very easily. That, of course, was not a good thought to have as I went over the bridge. I survived though, and Tracie tells me that there is a service where they will actually drive your car over the bridge for you; you just go up to the service building and ask for it. I vote YES for next time. I don't usually go over the bridge, but 95 was very congested, so we figured this would get me home faster.
Sadie has been weird all week; I think she misses the constant attention of all the people. She's still adorable and amazing, but she is whining just slightly, and she actually barked at me on Wednesday night! I was putting up Christmas decorations, and I guess she felt like I should have been petting her. She got right behind me and just went "BARK!" We got through it, though. I threw her bobo a few times, and then she got bored and curled up on the couch. That's my puppy!
School is going well. My class that used to drive me insane is now the class I look forward to the most; how weird is that? We have a lot of fun, and the kids that seemed to be giving me attitude and crap at the beginning of the year now say hi to me in the hall and apologize when they are talking over me. It's nuts! I've realized how much I miss teaching English, though; I enjoy drama, I really do, but I get inane comments like, "Why do I have to do research for my independent study class, when I am supposed to be finding out about character building techniques? This isn't English class." I've been told that twice this week--"This isn't English!" One was from my Independent study girl. She insists that there are no sources on her topic, and so she shouldn't have to write the paper, and anyway, they never had to do this in drama before, because "This isn't English." She's had since the second week of school to be working on this paper, and it is barely two DOUBLE SPACED pages long. Sigh. My other is just as frustrating. My stage tech is doing a small project on anything related to tech; they find out about it and are creating a poster. I told a girl she had to cite her sources, and she got so mad at me that she almost stormed out of class. It was ridiculous! Why don't people understand that "research" is just something you LEARN in English, and then you apply to the rest of your life? (That's kind of what I told them, and they both just gave me death glares).
I'm working on making my apartment warm. I had an INSANE electric bill last month, and so I'm trying to find ways to heat this darn place without losing all of my money to the city of Dover. It's been 57 degrees in my apartment every morning I've gotten up this week. Last night, I turned on my heat in my room, and it went up to 71 before I decided to turn it off and go to bed. When I woke up, it was 60. Mom sent me some heavy duty curtains, which I've hung on the windows in my dining room. I hung one between my sun room and my dining room last night as an experiment; will the sun room stay warmer if I'm not losing hot air through that doorway? So far, it's not making much of a difference. I'm supposed to be hearing from the city and my landlord about how they intend to fix this problem as there is clearly something wrong with my heating; I checked in with both on Thursday, and they said to wait until this coming Friday. If nothing is fixed, then call them again. I called/discussed with them on the Monday before Thanksgiving break. Rawr.
Other than that, my life is OK. I'm spending this weekend planning my next unit for English, and I'm having great fun. I might need to go shopping for office supplies later (binders and folders and a new flashdrive) and I think you all know how much I LOVE office supply shopping. (If you don't, it's a LOT. It's one of my favorite things to do. :-D) I slept until 11:00 this morning, and it was great. I might go take a nap right now, and then start up again later this afternoon. It's been a hard morning, making myself tea and taking Sadie for a walk and then typing all of this. ;)
I miss you guys! Have a great weekend, everyone!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saturday Mayhem
There is no mayhem today. I just really like that word. :-D
So, some stories from Harvey. I can't remember what I wrote the last time, so I'll tell you all the stress inducing fun that I'm just laughing about right now. :-D
The day before the show, I was feeling like crap. I couldn't breathe, my nose was all runny, and my head felt huge. So, I went to the office during 6th period (last period) to ask if I could have an announcement to cancel stage tech for that day. It was only until 4:30, but I know these kids, and I would not have been out of there before 5:00. I asked several people, all who sent me to someone else, eventually getting me to the Principal. She suggested we just call the classes of the six students affected, and I said OK. Unfortunatly, I didn't know where they were--or most of their last names, for that matter. 15 minutes later, I'm back in her office with my program, and she starts looking up the kids (my PRINCIPAL, mind you; not a secretary. She sat down with me to help me out. What a trooper!). Unfortunatly! That was the day that we opened report cards to parents; they are all online these days, and the program used for scheduling was also the one with report cards. So it took us 15 minutes to look up two kids. I was running all over the office, asking anyone to look up a kid, but the site kept crashing...oh, it was a mess. Finally, 5 minutes before classes ended for the day, she told me I could make an announcement.
Our first show was on Veterans Day, last Thursday. I have always worked on a donation basis, so it wasn't until Thursday morning that I realized I would need money for our money box. "No problem," I thought, " because I have to cash some checks anyway. I'll just use that money for the change, and get it back at the end of the night." On Veterans Day. When every federal office is closed. -sigh-
So I called the former director, and left a message for him, saying "It's Veterans day and I need change. Help." His advice? Get out money and see if a store would change it for me. Well, that wasn't so much an option for me; thankfully, though, between my parents and myself, we came up with enough change to get us through the first night. The next day, the former director found me and made sure everything had worked, and we both had a laugh over the fact that he never thought to tell me about change, and I had never thought to think of change.
The first two nights of the show went fine. The final night, however, led to some fun. I went into the auditorium to tell the students that the house was about to open to find all of my techies on the stage, huddled up. Turns out that one of the student's iPods had been stolen. I told her that we would deal with it on Monday, but that the house was opening NOW. All was fine until after the show, when the girl called her mom, and SOMEONE called the cops.
Now, for those of you who don't know, schools have very different rules for searches than the outside world does. So, the regular police aren't allowed to search school students on school premises at school functions without an admin present. And there was no admin present. The admins took off about five minutes after my show ended each night. So I was essentially alone in the school, except for a very nice old Latin teacher and her sister--glorious people, both. Ever though they didn't have a clue any more than I did, they both refused to leave until I got in touch with an admin and got everything figured out. They were my lifesavers.
SO I called my AP (assistant Principal) and explained to him, and he was very nice, and then the police tried to get into the office where I was, but I accidentally locked the door behind me, so I was juggling the phone and the door and the keys, and the policeman didn't want to talk to the AP, he just said that he wouldn't be doing any searches and that the admin would deal with it on Monday (which I knew.) The Police left, the girl with the stolen iPod was sobbing uncontrollably because she thought I was going to kill her (I had TOLD them not to call the police, because they couldn't do anything), and I decided to never again host a cast party at the school.
By the way, they found the person that stole the iPod in the first 10 minutes of school on Monday. He had been stupid enough to take it when right in front of a camera. They had a clear shot of him reaching down, taking it, and putting it in his pocket, and then turning to face the camera and walking away. Ah, I love high school kids. :-D
So, that was Harvey. The music people have taken over the musical, so I'm done until the spring one-acts. Today, I made caramel. It was a first attempt. I need a thermometer that goes up to like 300 degrees; mine only goes to 220, and I am supposed to heat the caramel to 240. I tried futzing with the dial (you know, once it stayed at 180 few a few seconds, turning it back to 160 so that when it showed 220 it would actually be 240) but that didn't work at all. My caramel looks like caramel, though, so I don't think I ruined things too badly. It's still cooling right now, but it is really sticky. Once I get a better thermometer, I'll try again.
Sadie was so cute while I was cooking. She sat at the kitchen door and watched me the whole time, only leaving few a few seconds at a time. When I was done with the stove and everything, she finally went and sat on the couch. Either she just wanted to watch, or she thought she could get some food out of the deal. We went on a nice long walk this morning, so I think she is tuckered out. She's curled up on her little bed right now, just sleepin'. My Sadie is soooo cute!
Off to NaNoWriMo!
So, some stories from Harvey. I can't remember what I wrote the last time, so I'll tell you all the stress inducing fun that I'm just laughing about right now. :-D
The day before the show, I was feeling like crap. I couldn't breathe, my nose was all runny, and my head felt huge. So, I went to the office during 6th period (last period) to ask if I could have an announcement to cancel stage tech for that day. It was only until 4:30, but I know these kids, and I would not have been out of there before 5:00. I asked several people, all who sent me to someone else, eventually getting me to the Principal. She suggested we just call the classes of the six students affected, and I said OK. Unfortunatly, I didn't know where they were--or most of their last names, for that matter. 15 minutes later, I'm back in her office with my program, and she starts looking up the kids (my PRINCIPAL, mind you; not a secretary. She sat down with me to help me out. What a trooper!). Unfortunatly! That was the day that we opened report cards to parents; they are all online these days, and the program used for scheduling was also the one with report cards. So it took us 15 minutes to look up two kids. I was running all over the office, asking anyone to look up a kid, but the site kept crashing...oh, it was a mess. Finally, 5 minutes before classes ended for the day, she told me I could make an announcement.
Our first show was on Veterans Day, last Thursday. I have always worked on a donation basis, so it wasn't until Thursday morning that I realized I would need money for our money box. "No problem," I thought, " because I have to cash some checks anyway. I'll just use that money for the change, and get it back at the end of the night." On Veterans Day. When every federal office is closed. -sigh-
So I called the former director, and left a message for him, saying "It's Veterans day and I need change. Help." His advice? Get out money and see if a store would change it for me. Well, that wasn't so much an option for me; thankfully, though, between my parents and myself, we came up with enough change to get us through the first night. The next day, the former director found me and made sure everything had worked, and we both had a laugh over the fact that he never thought to tell me about change, and I had never thought to think of change.
The first two nights of the show went fine. The final night, however, led to some fun. I went into the auditorium to tell the students that the house was about to open to find all of my techies on the stage, huddled up. Turns out that one of the student's iPods had been stolen. I told her that we would deal with it on Monday, but that the house was opening NOW. All was fine until after the show, when the girl called her mom, and SOMEONE called the cops.
Now, for those of you who don't know, schools have very different rules for searches than the outside world does. So, the regular police aren't allowed to search school students on school premises at school functions without an admin present. And there was no admin present. The admins took off about five minutes after my show ended each night. So I was essentially alone in the school, except for a very nice old Latin teacher and her sister--glorious people, both. Ever though they didn't have a clue any more than I did, they both refused to leave until I got in touch with an admin and got everything figured out. They were my lifesavers.
SO I called my AP (assistant Principal) and explained to him, and he was very nice, and then the police tried to get into the office where I was, but I accidentally locked the door behind me, so I was juggling the phone and the door and the keys, and the policeman didn't want to talk to the AP, he just said that he wouldn't be doing any searches and that the admin would deal with it on Monday (which I knew.) The Police left, the girl with the stolen iPod was sobbing uncontrollably because she thought I was going to kill her (I had TOLD them not to call the police, because they couldn't do anything), and I decided to never again host a cast party at the school.
By the way, they found the person that stole the iPod in the first 10 minutes of school on Monday. He had been stupid enough to take it when right in front of a camera. They had a clear shot of him reaching down, taking it, and putting it in his pocket, and then turning to face the camera and walking away. Ah, I love high school kids. :-D
So, that was Harvey. The music people have taken over the musical, so I'm done until the spring one-acts. Today, I made caramel. It was a first attempt. I need a thermometer that goes up to like 300 degrees; mine only goes to 220, and I am supposed to heat the caramel to 240. I tried futzing with the dial (you know, once it stayed at 180 few a few seconds, turning it back to 160 so that when it showed 220 it would actually be 240) but that didn't work at all. My caramel looks like caramel, though, so I don't think I ruined things too badly. It's still cooling right now, but it is really sticky. Once I get a better thermometer, I'll try again.
Sadie was so cute while I was cooking. She sat at the kitchen door and watched me the whole time, only leaving few a few seconds at a time. When I was done with the stove and everything, she finally went and sat on the couch. Either she just wanted to watch, or she thought she could get some food out of the deal. We went on a nice long walk this morning, so I think she is tuckered out. She's curled up on her little bed right now, just sleepin'. My Sadie is soooo cute!
Off to NaNoWriMo!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
You know what bothers me?
All TV school teachers are interrupted by the bell right in the middle of their lessons. That is stupid. That is just bad planning, and doesn't happen in real life.
Anyway: HI! It's been a very long time, so I'm sorry. I finally finished Harvey, yay! Things went well. There was a lot of drama within the cast, and tons of stuff got stolen those last weeks, but we did really well.
Everything in my life has revolved around that for a very long time. I was coming home and just passing out more often than not. Mom came down the week before the show and helped take care of me and Sadie; she cleaned my house, and I'm actually one step closer to being unpacked! I got a haircut (pictures as soon as mom and dad send them to me, they are on their camera). It's very cute, as a boy in the store told me today as I was reading for some OJ. No "Hi" or anything, just "You're cute." I, of course, have no voice right now, so I just kind of smiled and croaked "thanks!" and walked away, forgetting my milk (which was pretty much why I went to the store).
So, I am assistant directing "Fiddler on the Roof" now, which is great. Originally, I was supposed to fully direct, and I was *freaked.* But now, the music people are doing it, and I'm helping out, spending this year learning how to put on something as big as a musical. I feel so much more relaxed now, and so much less pressure is on my shoulders.
I took today off of school because I have this headcold/sinus thing that felt like it was turning into strep. I had strep earlier this year, during the play, and I felt like I couldn't take off. Today was amazing. I slept until around 1:00, and then just sat and dozed. Sadie threw up, which sucked, but otherwise I love just sitting with her on the couch. She sits on my stomach and just chills. It' great. She growls at dogs and people on the TV; it's so cute!
So, I'm hoping to be back in school tomorrow, with or without my voice. Next week is a two-day week, and I'll be heading to Art's Tuesday night to go home Wednesday morning--I anticipate traffic for the ride home. Sadie is coming with, obviously, and I can't wait to introduce her to people back home.
Hope all is well with everyone!
Anyway: HI! It's been a very long time, so I'm sorry. I finally finished Harvey, yay! Things went well. There was a lot of drama within the cast, and tons of stuff got stolen those last weeks, but we did really well.
Everything in my life has revolved around that for a very long time. I was coming home and just passing out more often than not. Mom came down the week before the show and helped take care of me and Sadie; she cleaned my house, and I'm actually one step closer to being unpacked! I got a haircut (pictures as soon as mom and dad send them to me, they are on their camera). It's very cute, as a boy in the store told me today as I was reading for some OJ. No "Hi" or anything, just "You're cute." I, of course, have no voice right now, so I just kind of smiled and croaked "thanks!" and walked away, forgetting my milk (which was pretty much why I went to the store).
So, I am assistant directing "Fiddler on the Roof" now, which is great. Originally, I was supposed to fully direct, and I was *freaked.* But now, the music people are doing it, and I'm helping out, spending this year learning how to put on something as big as a musical. I feel so much more relaxed now, and so much less pressure is on my shoulders.
I took today off of school because I have this headcold/sinus thing that felt like it was turning into strep. I had strep earlier this year, during the play, and I felt like I couldn't take off. Today was amazing. I slept until around 1:00, and then just sat and dozed. Sadie threw up, which sucked, but otherwise I love just sitting with her on the couch. She sits on my stomach and just chills. It' great. She growls at dogs and people on the TV; it's so cute!
So, I'm hoping to be back in school tomorrow, with or without my voice. Next week is a two-day week, and I'll be heading to Art's Tuesday night to go home Wednesday morning--I anticipate traffic for the ride home. Sadie is coming with, obviously, and I can't wait to introduce her to people back home.
Hope all is well with everyone!
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