Tuesday, May 22, 2007

so busy!

There are so many things I need to do before I leave this town forever on SATURDAY!!!

these include, but are not limited to:

  • having lunch with my friends
  • finish packing
  • sell my car (Luckily, several of my students are interested, so this may not be as hard as I thought!)
  • re-paint my apartment
  • clean my apartment
  • grade 62 lab reports
  • clean out my classroom
  • attend the end-of-year faculty party
It doesn't look like much when it's all written down. That makes me smile.

Friday, May 18, 2007

last day

Remember how on Monday, teaching was not good for my self esteem? So do I.

Today teaching was good for my self esteem. Mostly because it was the last day of school.

And because my fifth period class hung signs all around the room telling me they loved me.

And left me a note telling me how happy they are that I've found a place to move that I'm so excited about, but they will miss me and learned so much and asked me to promise that I will never love another class more than theirs.

I promised. Mainly because this is the class:
Notice how there are only ten of them? Yes, that is the whole class. And that is what we call a dream come true.

Monday, May 14, 2007

sometimes teaching is good for my self-esteem

And other times it is not.

Today it was not.

shopping profile

Because, as shallow as it is, I love clothes.

Favorite item to shop for:
shoes. (Or plane tickets, if we're talking outside the realm of clothing.)

Least favorite: jeans. They're either too expensive or don't fit right.

Most difficult to find: dresses. I want one I am madly in love with, but it remains elusive.

Favorite time: whenever there's a sale.

Something I refuse to do while shopping: pay full price. Ever. This is non-negotiable, unless it's a very special occasion, or something that just doesn't go on sale (like makeup).

Favorite Purchase: cream-colored (fake) snakeskin shoes from Ann Taylor. $20, thank you very much.

Items I rarely shop for: Bras. Music.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

i am DONE

So today was my last real day of teaching.

Depending on how you look at it. And since I've always been a glass half full kind of girl, I'm looking at it as my last day teaching. Even though we still technically have a week and a half of school left. But that's pretty much not the point.

The point is, today was my last real day of teaching.

Because tomorrow we have mandatory silent reading, which does not involve teaching, and then Thursday and Friday we are watching The Incredibles, which also does not involve teaching, but merely involves eating Chelsea's famous chess cake. (Which is to die for, by the way.) And making notes of the physics mistakes involved, which, considering there is an invisible girl in the movie, should not be too hard.

So yes, today was my last day of teaching. Unless you count the two days we are spending learning about Einstein's theory of relativity. (The special one.) Which I do not count, being the glass is half full kind of person that you now know I am. And because my students begged (yes, begged) me to teach them this unit, and teaching kids stuff they want to learn about doesn't count as work. It's a good thing that my one superpower is the ability to make teenagers like physics.

Monday, May 07, 2007

9. 9. 9. 9. 9. 9.

This is the number of days of school left this year.

Which is about all I can take, considering today a student stuck a paper clip in the power outlet and nearly caught the classroom on fire. And then told me he was just tying his shoe, and the outlet threw a spark at him for no apparent reason. Right.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

how to be happy and have fun


Step 1: Attend Happy Fun Day. (Formerly known as "Positive Attitudes Day" before we realized that the one surefire way to invoke negative attitudes in teenagers is to force them to attend an event called "Postive Attitudes Day".)

Step 2: Challenge your students to the Bungee Run. Beat them all. Ignore the fact that you are supposed to be the mature adult and gloat for hours. Then go home.

Friday, May 04, 2007

placing bets

Who thinks I can survive the next three weeks on $40?

Because that is exactly how much cash I have at the moment, and what with the moving and the exorbitant price of living in DC, and the exorbitant price of moving my furniture up to DC, and my upcoming trip to Costa Rica and whatnot, I'm trying to not spend money. That would throw off my carefully planned budget, the one that I created based on the amount of money I actually have in my account at the time.

Based on the fact that my freezer is currently stocked with corndogs and chicken nuggets, and that my school is feeding me more than once in the next few weeks, and the severe lack of shopping in this little town, and the fact that I can be alarmingly stubborn when I so choose, I'm pretty sure I can make it.

Who wants to place bets?

Thursday, May 03, 2007

overbearing parents

Sometimes make me laugh. Especially when they try to do their child's homework for him, and do it wrong.

Apparently having a college degree does not ensure that you can pass high school for your kid.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

craigslist

There are so many reasons that I love craigslist. So many.

There are so many reasons, in fact, that I spend my hour-long "planning period" every day perusing craigslist. And posting items that I might want to sell.

And then, just when I think that this might make me lame, because I do not want to be the sort of person who peruses the same website for hours on end when she clearly has other, more productive ways of spending her time, I get an email from a guy named Lee who wants to buy my washer and dryer for the price that I asked.

And then I get another email from a girl named Rachel who wants to sublet my apartment for the summer for the price that I asked.

And then, after a full month of believing that any location within 15 minutes of my new school is way out of my price range, I find an apartment in the basement of a very nice house in a very nice area just five minutes from my new school, which is within my price range. And this basement apartment happens to have its very own washer and dryer, so Lee can go ahead and buy mine from me.

And then I realize that maybe perusing the web for hours is not such a waste of time. Except when it is.