Friday Forum, from the Daily Meme

Because I am such a lame writer at times, I was excited to find this site with prompts and things. Now we can get to know each other better. Woo! This one jumps right in.

1. Starting with your head down to your toes, what health/beauty products have you used/applied to your body so far today? [For example, shampoo, toothpaste, makeup, cologne/perfume, nailpolish, etc.]
Let's see. Dove shampoo and conditioner, Suave kiwi bodywash, Suave toner, Oil of Olay moisturizer, some eyeliner, Maybelline mascara, Cherry Ice lip balm, and Hawaiian Ginger body spray. I do my best to be minimalist.

2. Do you have a ritual when you take a shower, such as washing your hair first or maybe even brushing your teeth in the shower? If so, what? Do you prefer baths or showers, usually?
I always wash my face first, then shampoo and rinse. Then put in conditioner, let it sit while shower gelling, then rinse. Then I'm done! Wow, that's exciting. I almost never ever take a bath; maybe one or two in the past three years or something. I like to take showers at night so that I can sleep more in the morning.

3. How do you get yourself up and going in the mornings? Coffee? A hot shower? Breakfast? Would you consider yourself a morning person at all? When do you usually get up?
I have never been a morning person, nor will I ever be. I don't ever drink coffee, though sometimes I wish I did so that I could have a caffeine rush. I can't stand the taste of coffee and I can't afford it either. In college I realized that caffeine gives me a headache, so I stopped drinking soda as much as possible. To "wake me up," I just wash my face. During the second round of AmeriCorps, we stayed in a cabin in the woods. It had no heating or hot water, but it did have running water. So I washed my face every morning in ice-cold water, got used to it, and have ever since used it as a natural pick-me-up. Man, that sounds cheesy.

4. Do you normally eat breakfast? What do you usually have? Do you usually make it at home or go out for breakfast, or do you prefer not to eat breakfast?
As stated above, sleep is always more important in the mornings. So I take the least amount of time necessary, and breakfast is not a necessity, at least not at home. In previous jobs, I brought food to snack on when I got to work, like granola or an english muffin. Lately I've mostly ignored breakfast, which sucks because I get hungry pretty early. So, I'd like to eat breakfast, but I can't afford to go out, and besides I'd like to be healthy-ish. If I ever get my act together, I'll bring a cup of cereal for the morning before school starts.

5. What does your alarm clock sound like? A buzzer, music, or something else? Do you ever set your clock fast so that you push yourself to get ready sooner? Are you usually on time, late, or somewhere in-between?
I noticed way back in elementary school that alarms have a way of getting in my head. Music would become part of whatever dream I was having, not wake me up. And buzzers just irritate the shit out of me. So what I do is basically jolt myself awake with loud music/radio. I've never really seen the point of setting the clock ahead or back or whatever, because I just calculate what time it actually is. I'm pretty good at being on time, though I have a tendency to let time go and be almost late. Just cause I'm so tired and sometimes want to stay in bed.

Funny things

More interesting stuff that I found when pawing through my myriad belongings.

The "Important Safety Instructions" for some electronic appliance I bought a couple years ago:
1. Read these instructions.
2. Keep these instructions.
3. Head all warmings.
4. Follow all instructions.

HEE!

And an old comic from the Western Washington University newspaper that cracked my shit up:
"Excuse me, how do I get to Parks Hall?"
"Go straight until you see the giant orange mosquito, turn left, go past the beastiality sculpture. Don't let it scare you. When you come to the lump of rusted metal, turn right. It's past the cube, and past the UFO crash site. When you get to the bowling ball people, it's right in front of you."

Funny 'cos it's true.

My Ox is BROKEN!

Bwah! If you haven't been watching The Amazing Race, watch the season finale next week.

I have a new twitch. It's in my right eyebrow, and feels like a tremble/tremor thing. Oh, so fun. And get this, my quads and outer thighs have been super sore. The only possible explanation I can come up with is that the first day especially, I kept crouching down to talk to the new kindergartners on their level. Like a day full of squat lunges. OW, it hurts. Especially when I'm about to walk down a flight of stairs, I wobble a bit like an old lady. Very weird.

So now there are four days stretching out before me. What shall I do? I would love to get a library card...they require all kinds of crazy ID and stuff, so wish me luck. How I miss free books. And this local branch has a shitload of DVDs too. Ooh, I'm all excited and can't wait to go to the library. What a nerd.

I wish I could try and prepare for next week. I feel like I should go shopping for supplies, but...I don't know what to get, and I still don't really have the money yet. I did get a tiny paycheck today, made to HULIE. Assuming that the next one will be a real-sized one, I should be able to start getting back on my feet, financially. Mostly I want to get ahead on my credit card payments. The past six or seven months, I keep charging as much I'm paying off, so the principal hasn't changed much, which means as time passes I'm paying interest on interest. Grr. My only solace is that this is a recent and desperate measure; I wouldn't have been able to live on the meager income otherwise.

Hurrah for Long Weekends

I am so thrilled and relieved to have such a long recovery period from the first week of school. And I'm not even a real teacher yet!

I was in the hallway with the girls from this class. I was 'quizzing them' on hand-washing (it was more interesting than it sounds, especially to five-year-olds), and actually taking an authority role. In the middle of it, one of the girls goes, "I love you." Aw. Usually that kind of thing takes a little more time and more personal interaction, but it feels nice all the same. Figures, because...

On my way home today, I got a message to report to a junior high in Jamaica (the part of Queens, not the island) on Monday. Sadly, that's not a permanent position either, but it will most definitely be educational! I'm trying to think of other classroom management, because in early elementary it's cheesy things like "One, two, three, eyes on me!" or "Stop, Look, Listen." Which I've never been able to bring myself to do. I like the idea of a hand signal, but that seems a bit juvenile too. Not to mention the fact that I'll probably just be subbing around the school or something. Dude, it will be tough.

The first days of school

So, remember, I'm a not-really-para in a kindergarten classroom at my temporary school. Yesterday the children came to school for the first time, for a very short day. All the parents brought them up to the classroom and helped them settle in. Many took pictures and/or video. Crazy technology craze. I helped welcome them, put on name tags and start an activity. After that, I didn't really do anything of much value to the classroom, just errand-type things for the teacher. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't teaching.
In the afternoon, I went over to a first-grade classroom to help out. Again, I did errand things. Tried to help out with managing the kids during "independent practice." Some responded to me, some kept on being hyper six-year-olds.

School memories

Tomorrow the children of New York City begin school! The ones in public school, anyway. Like I said, I'll be working with kindergartners and first graders this week. Do you remember your first day of school? I don't. Sadly, I don't have a lot of specific memories about being in elementary school. Let's see what I can conjure up.

First of all, my parents applied to get me in to kindergarten early. Since my birthday is in November, I wouldn't be able to start until the year that I was already five. But when I was four, they were all, hey, she's smart, let's get her in school. That must have been...1984? Yeah. Anyway, so they took me to the University of Washington for testing by the psychology or sociology department. I know all of this because I have the report about it. The tester's description of me is a little depressing--a quiet, sad-looking little girl with dark hair. I had just moved, so I didn't know my address. Jeez, I was a toddler with newly-divorced parents--you can bet your ass I was confused about a lot of things on the home front. Anyway, they administered the Wechsler scales! We just learned about those this summer. I scored a vocabulary IQ of 106 (but the tester noted that I appeared to be having a bad day and that I was probably much better normally), and performance IQ of 123, and an overall IQ of 115. Neat! So I made it, my scores averaged higher than my age, up to six years in one or two categories. On I went to school.

I know that in kindergarten I was a big ol' knowitall (some things never change!), and I was always telling people how to spell things. I remember the big swing next to the giant cherry tree in the playground. I believe that we tried to learn how to use chopsticks. I did most of a second year in kindergarten because I was so young. Actually, I just found the 'report card' from my first K teacher, and she wrote that even though I was advanced for the level, I was too young, and recommended that I stay one more year. My parents must have been okay with that. But I remember that in the spring of the second K year, they asked me if I wanted to move back up to first grade. I was like, okay.

Suddenly going to another classroom was weird. I believe that I felt out of place, because I didn't know how they did anything, they were already set in their routines and I was clueless. For example, there was a class loom, and all the kids were on a list for when they would have a turn on it. Obviously, I never had a turn. And I think once we made donuts. Those were really yummy.

Second grade, I definitely remember spelling-related things. That's the year I decided to memorize the spelling of "chrysanthemum." I'm not sure why. In any case, to this day I can recite the letters, all quick-like. I also remember losing the class spelling bee to stupid Jorunn Grobey. I spelled the word "stomach" as "stamoch." I knew that it was kind of a funny word, and had both an "a" and "o" and just took a guess. Dang it. Jorunn was also the other fast girl in class. For some reason, the big thing at recess was to have races among the girls and boys, perhaps even between girls and boys. I believe that I was second-fastest among the girls. In fact, I think once I even beat Jorunn to win the temporary honor. Woohoo. Let's see. I remember that we had a lot of homework. I had a bright yellow plastic notebook binder that I recorded homework in. I think I did a report about dogs once. Oh, and when I was at home, I found a book I wrote in second grade, called My Dinosaur. It was short, sweet, and very weird. Here is what I wrote, punctuation and grammar and all:
"Dedicated to My whole family and MRS MOORE
"If I owned a dinosaur, at school I would pop him then shove him in my desk.
""I would feed him banana-berry and strawberry-cherry splits.
"I could take him to any movie any time.
"I would always take him to "Little Shop of Horrors," and he would like it!
"He would let me ride him on the way to school.
"He would be a magician. Like say I said "I want a thousand dollars" he would just clap his hands and there it would be!"

"About the author
"My name is Julie C. I am 7 yrs. old. I wrote this book because I like the movie Little Shop of Horrors."

Whee! Clearly I was a little short of attention span, and had strange ideas. The dinosaur was inflatable, a magician, and had hands. Okay, seven-year-old me.

Anyway. Third grade we learned to write cursive. I so wanted to be perfect at it. We also adopted an orca whale named Nugget, and as a big class project, made a life-size chicken-wire whale. When it was done, it hung from the ceiling by our room the rest of the year. That was cool. Ooh, and we had computers in the classroom for the first time! There was one Apple IIGS.

Fourth grade was long division, ugh. I struggled with that. And one time, the teacher asked a question about 5x5. I knew the answer, but my brain confused it with 5+5, so I said 'ten' instead of 'twenty-five.' I was very embarrassed.

Fifth grade, I began playing cello. We had rehearsal every day before school started. There was a big group project we did, called Pioneers. It was like a role-playing game version of The Oregon Trail. And there was a Commodore computer in the back of the room, that the boys always hogged. Harrumph. That was the year that Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U came out; I remember some girls discussing it in the cafeteria.

My school experience was unusual in that academically, I did well. Socially however, it was not so pretty. I had no friends at school. Interestingly, I had a whole host of them out of school, but no school chums. Especially fifth grade, I was totally alone. All the pictures of me from the class 'yearbook,' I'm by myself. Really quite depressing, looking back.

That lowers the value of the diamond, you know.

So said a dude talking on a cell phone as he passed me on the street tonight. I often hear interesting tidbits from passersby.

Anyway, back to real life. Right now I am a little depressed and anxious about my life. At work I feel like a temp, when I should be feeling like a new teacher. But I have no teaching duties, I'll probably just be observing and wiping noses. Supposedly the region is supposed to let me know when there is an opening for me to get my own classroom. That could take a week, or it could take all fall. Who knows. My life will be in an ongoing state of transition, I won't be able to settle down and focus. God, what if I never get a classroom? Because now that I'm in the reserve, I'm on my own. The region can place me wherever they want, in a high-needs school, in a posh school, even in another region. I joined the Fellows program to work in a high-needs school, but now I guess that won't happen, at least not this year. Obviously, I realize that I did not make an effort to find a placement, so a good portion of the blame is mine. That's fine. The city has been having trouble, though, placing all the people it promised to. So some of the blame is there. Apparently Region 3 is especially difficult to get hired this year. Excellent.

Next, I have a sub-par social life; I have yet to make a real friend here in New York. I feel lonely and alone. (Yes, those are different.) I have spent the vast majority of weekend evenings at home, watching television. Not like I was so busy when at home; I was kind of lonely there too. But I did have friends at home that I could go hang out with, even if just sitting around their house instead of mine. Better with people than alone, right? God, I really just suck. I SUCK.

Rocks and Hard Places

Did anyone watch that special on NBC last night, about Aron Ralston? He's the climber that got pinned by a boulder and eventually had to cut through his decaying arm in order to get free. Oh my, it was such an intense show! He and Tom Brokaw climbed right back down into the canyon where it all happened. It was the first time Aron had been back, his blood was still on the canyon walls, the epitaph he'd carved himself with a knife was still visible. The way he talked about it, you could really feel the isolation and desperation he went through. When he demonstrated the final sawing through his right arm, he fell back, demonstrating his sudden freedom. His face registered this expression--surprise, shock, disbelief at the sudden fortune, uncertainty...man, I could feel it too. It was an incredible story.

Deep thoughts by someone way more eloquent than I

"So how do I write, paint, and create at the times when my dear [cat] Jupiter is lying still and hot and quiet?I can give myself permission to stop and be fully present to what is REAL in my life right now.
Our real lives are full of these kinds of challenges and living creatively is the best way to live fully with the "real stuff" of life which sometimes can feel hard, chaotic, and overwhelming."
---
"I am confident that we must flail and stumble as often as we are called to. I propose that we surrender any big, proud ideas and inch along whenever inching is called for. Surrendering also involves accepting the gloriousness of ourselves and living in that glorious light.Out of the ground of not-knowing will come new growth."

from planetSARK.com
If you haven't read any of her books, go buy one.

I am listening to one of my playlists, called, Soothing, Etc. My favorite song is one that I just added. Sometime in the last year or so, I watched the weird-as-f*** movie Mulholland Drive. The scene in the theatre really struck me, and stayed with me, because of that haunting and beautiful song. Awhile ago, I finally bothered to take a look at the soundtrack to find out what it was called. Just tonight, I remembered that I can download crap again, and successfully acquired the song, "Llorando (Crying)" (I put in the translation and parentheses because the song listed without them is completely different). Man, what an incredible song. It forces you to listen and think. I just realized that this song is an a capella Spanish cover of Don McLean's Crying, which is also a fabulous song. So in the spirit of crying, the words of SARK hit home, especially with this crazy summer I've had.

I remembered a list I made a couple years ago. This is not surprising because I am always making lists. But I'm not actually Type A or OCD, I swear. I just like feeling productive. And crossing things off a list is one hell of a high, for just a simple swipe of a pen. Anyway, this list was about the last six months or so of 2001. In that six months or so, I did the following:
--Graduate from college (!)
--Travel in Europe
--Travel around Italy on my own, knowing no Italian, having no hotel or train accommodations
--Bought a new car (a used one)
--Quit my job at Starbucks (which I'd been aching to do for quite some time)
--Drove down the Pacific Coast by myself
--Moved to Los Angeles
--Three weeks later, made a decision to move back home (and made the drive in half the time)
--Got accepted from AmeriCorps (from which I'd been waitlisted and completely forgot about)
--Moved all the way across the country to join AmeriCorps

Holy crap! Talk about productive, and accomplishing a lot. I am still really impressed with that, with myself.

Now, here is a list of the things that I have done in these most recent six months (You know, this is really just a recap of this entire blog. Hmm.):
--(Nine months ago, I went to Paris, just because I wanted to. Froze my ass off but had a fabulous and wonderful and excellent time. I really wish I could count that in this list.)
--Quit my job (!)
--Moved out of my own place, back home
--Went to New York for a week and froze my ass off
--Got accepted to NYCTF
--Found two part-time jobs to earn money
--Packed up all my stuff and moved all the way across the country
--Endured seven very intense training weeks for teaching
--Moved into a new apartment in Queens
--Unexpectedly went home for a visit
--Faced the school year blind, and now am placed at a small school in District 25.

Yeah, the first list is way more impressive. But this second isn't too shabby, either. This one is more gutsy, I think, looking at it objectively. Definitely more cerebral.

Take the time to think about what you do, what you have done, and what you will do. It is important to reflect on where we've been and what providences have brought us to where we are now. Things really do happen for a reason. But only if you leave your house; this I know from extensive experience.

Holy torrential rainpour!

Stupid East Coast weather patterns...it poured most of the day. Traffic was disgusting. It took me two full hours--a train and two buses--to get from my place in Forest Hills to my school in Bayside. Good lord. Thankfully, many others had problems too, so I wasn't conspicuous or in trouble when I came in late.

The day got better after that. There was a staff meeting in the morning, and in the afternoon I helped with random tasks here and there. I felt more welcomed today, people were friendly.

And thankfully, it was a quick trip home--less than an hour, and only one bus and train. Let's hope that tomorrow is not a repeat of this morning.

Back to work

First of all, I could not sleep all night. That really has to be one of the biggest pet peeves of all time, because you can't force yourself to sleep! Man, it sucked. Anyway.

Getting to the address in Flushing took an hour, which isn't bad, but it felt like forever. I hate the Q25 bus. The address was the Region 3 Operations Center, and I sat in a room and signed the sheet. I figured I'd be sitting there all day long, because hello, bureaucracy much? But my name was called about an hour or so later. I was assigned to PS130 in Bayside.

It took awhile to get there, two buses. Coughed and struggled not to openly gag when standing on a street corner near a bunch of smashed fish. Blech. I arrived at the school around 11.30. Of course, no one knew who I was or what I was doing. I felt overdressed in my nice new professional suit, but that's okay. I felt like a grown up, and now I know that I can tone it down a bit. I helped a couple teachers with preparing math materials.

It was a pretty quick day. I expected to feel overwhelmed, but mostly I was just confused and a little disappointed. See, I'll be at this school, doing who knows what, for who knows how long, until someone from some office calls me with a classroom assignment of my own. And this school is apparently a really good magnet primary school. I was all taken aback and confused at that, after all of the talk about working in high-needs classrooms. The staff seemed pretty nice, and fairly welcoming, even though most of them assumed I was a student teacher. Oh well.

Um, let's see. After school (which gets out at 2.50!), I took the F train all the way through Queens and Manhattan and then into Brooklyn, for another citywide placement fair. It was my first, but just as frustrating as I'd feared. No schools from Region 3. Thankfully, the bigwigs knew that we were having problems finding opportunities, let alone jobs, so we were cleared to look in other regions, as long as it was in the same borough. I talked to two people, both in Brooklyn, and they were nice and marginally interested, but nothing solid. And I don't think I'd be cool with signing up to teach somewhere on the spot. Although, after today, maybe I would. So while I am glad for the experience, it was fruitless. However, I did very much enjoy catching up with some of my classmates who were also there.

Okay, I am tired now and The Amazing Race is on. Later.

We went to see Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz. He was fantastic! Afterwards, we joined the throng at the stage door for autographs and photos. We were successful. Woo! 

Back in Perry Point

A lovely example of a sunset from the Point.

This a group picture from the AmeriCorps weekend way back in June. Setsuko, Rachel, Roko, Val, me, Dave.  

WOOHOO!! I'm back online!

Today I broke down and bought a wireless adapter, so that I can get online at home. Hurrah, it works!! I am so relieved. I'm just hoping that when the cable modem is installed sometime soon, this thing will still work.

Anyway, yesterday I got back from a few days back at home in Washington. I was there about four nights, and got to hang out with family and friends, and relax too. I really enjoyed it. Didn't go anywhere terribly special really, just the same old places. I loved driving my car again. I spent a lot of time going through all the stuff I'd put in boxes in the barn. I found all the Paris/travel stuff that I'd wanted to. Altogether, it felt wonderful to be home and with familiar folks. Coming back to New York wasn't exactly a thrill.

So anyway, here I am back home in Queens. Yesterday after I got in, I went shopping and finally got some school shoes. They will go with the new school clothes I got last week. Woo! I haven't bought clothes in who knows how long. And they are good! Yay.

Happy Labor Day. And for me, happy last day of nothing to do. Tomorrow, I start to work! I'll be reporting somewhere in Flushing...I forgot to write down the address but have a map of the intersecting streets. The website that had the address stopped working. So wish me luck that I find this place. I'm planning on taking two buses to get there, and I'm giving myself at least an hour. I'll be crossing my fingers.

New home!

Yesterday I moved! I was lucky to get help from a schoolmate, so it went quickly and painlessly. I set up my stuff as much as I could, like the computer and bed. Figuring out how to store clothes will be difficult, because the closet is teeny and I have no car to transport a shelf unit if I buy one. Hmm. And I won't have internet until next week sometime, because I refuse to spend $60 for a wireless adaptor to use for eight days. That means I have to come to the library or to QC for computers. Both are quite easy to get to from this new place.

It feels strange and surreal to live in a new place. It's exciting, though, to know that I can settle a bit, put down roots, get used to things. Also a little unsettling, because I'm not used to all that. I hate moving. I really hope it all works out, because I love to be at this place at least a year.

On Friday night, I wasn't sleepy even at 1.00am, so I got up and watched tv. I found a Frontier House marathon on PBS, and watched that until 6.30. It was fascinating! Look it up and have a look if you haven't already. Could you have made it as a homesteader in the 1880s? At the end of the 'project,' the kids and grownups who returned to their modern lives all talked about having too much space, being lonely even in their occupied house, and how there are so many shiny and distracting things, that it's quite boring and silly. I totally related to that, even though I do have some of those shiny things (but hardly any), and I found myself wishing that the rest of the reasonably-well-off Americans could get a taste of that idea. It's truly depressing to think about how many people are becoming obsessed with money, new toys and technology, but know nothing about how the earth works, or have weakened family/social relationships. It spells disaster for this country, albeit in very small letters. Because more and more, it's money that runs this nation, not individuals fighting for rights for themselves and others.

Oops, done politicking now. Sorry about that.

Saturday was fun. I saw Garden State for the second time, which I definitely recommend to everyone to see. It's a moving yet melancholy coming of age in your 20s drama. Later in the evening I met up with some AmeriCorps friends and bar-hopped into the morning. There was even some dancing, and not to that rap stuff either, it was oldies. Hurrah for oldies! I haven't been out on the town in New York all summer, so it was strange. I disliked the crowds and the smoke (yes, we went to several places that inexplicably allowed smoking. Blech.), I felt uncomfortable sometimes. I never know what to do in a bar. I don't drink that much, I don't even drink beer, I suck at pool, what am I supposed to do? That's why I always liked going to Dante's in Seattle, there is foosball and air hockey and more.

welcome to dullsville, population me

Howdy. This has been a seriously lame week for lame old me.

My mom was visiting all last week, and there were all kinds of adventures. There are great pictures that hopefully I will be able to post next week. I should be able to post them because I am moving! And I will finally have internet access. Right now I have to go because I'm at the library. Bye.

No really, it's over!

Today was the last day of real Fellows stuff. The last day to wake up early, to see the kids, and to see my Fellowmates. Well, except that tomorrow is a final day at the Intrepid museum. They're making sure we all show up because that's when they're handing out our second stipend checks. Woo! Let's see how fast Julie spends it.

Yesterday was our field day. We actually had to do FA 'workshops' but we were all in a park under tree shade, so it was kind of informal. Then we played games, FA group against FA group. First my group played some dodgeball. We won, even though the other group were rather sore losers. Next we played some kickball. That was fun, even though the other group was kinda wishy-washy about everyone adhering to the same rules. We won that too, by one run. I actually made a catch! Excellent job, me. Our last fun activity was touch football. We totally lost that one, and the other team was normal and nice. All in all it was a fun time. Man, was I worn out though. By 9pm I was having trouble keeping my eyes open, so I went to bed at 9.45.

I CAN'T WAIT TO SLEEP IN TOMORROW, AND THE DAYS AFTER THAT. I CANNOT WAIT. I AM ALWAYS TIRED.

Wow, it's all over. That's weird. I hope I don't get bored the rest of the month. And I still don't know where or when I will be moving. Ha.

Last Monday

I mean, it's the last Monday of working, not something about a week ago Monday. Yeah.

On Friday afternoon, TPTB emailed the unofficial scores from the June 26 administration of the LAST and CST tests. Both are scored out of 300 and you need 220 to pass. I scored 293(!) on the LAST and 276 on the CST. Woohoo! I am so smart. Phew.

This weekend was nice, not too eventful. I read a lot, and slept a lot, saw a couple friends, and had a couple drinky- drinks. I finally cleaned the yucky bathroom--what an improvement. I even forgot about my homework until about 7pm on Sunday. Heh. Stupid homework. Actually, it ended up being kind of fun, if overwhelming. We had to come up with a classroom culture and overall blueprint. I decided, in a flash of true brilliance, to name my classroom Paris. Because obviously, I love Paris and everything Parisian. But here's the brilliant catch: PARIS will stand for Positive Action Results In Success, which will be the class motto. Is that not awesome? I'm quite excited about it. I'll have maps and pictures and street signs (how I wish I was at home to get all my cool relevant souvenirs!), and I will name places like the art center the Louvre, the listening center the Opera Bastille, the reading corner the Cafe. Ooh, fun.

Today I finally emailed some responses to craig's list postings for apartments. Will look for now at sharing with a random person. I've got a bit less than three weeks to find a place. Rrr. I hate moving!! Though this one should be fairly painless, since I have so little stuff with me. Just my suitcases, two boxes of clothes, and my computer. I don't believe I've acquired much of anything beyond that, just a few books and the sheet set. Hurrah for me for not being too broke to be materialistic.

WOO-HOO!!!!!!

We did it! Classes at Queens College are finished!

I just came from the psych/dev final, and that went just fine. Before that was the Lit portfolio/presentation, and that was peachy too. Woo!

It's over!!

Well, not really, because we still have summer school and FA until next Thursday. But the hard stuff is over! The weekends are FREE!! No more homework! Well, for now anyway.

Gotta run to FA. See ya.

Blah blah blah

Totally procrastinating right now. Am uploading pictures to an online storage site instead of studying for my final on Thursday. Hee hee, I am a bad student this week. I got all my good habits exhausted last week.

Last night I did a tiny bit of reading/reviewing for the final, but then I went to bed. AT 9:15 PM. That's right. Woo! And it would have been so much better if some asshole wasn't playing loud music from 11-2AM. Selfish bastard. There was way loud music playing all Saturday night too, it was like a nightmare for me.

So today is Tuesday. Two more days of class! A week and a half left of summer school and FA! Wow!

Today I did some teaching, about swamps. It was kind of fun. The kids got all into it. I 'taught' about the difference between turtles and tortoises, and blurbs about black bears and reptiles. One student was like, "it's like you're a science teacher." Heh.

I'm sure that I should talk about more stuff, or more interesting stuff, or be all introspective and shit. I've actually gotten back into the journaling habit, now that so much is going on. Not that like writing is any more revealing or gripping. Now I just have a place to complain about what an ugly loser I am.

I have to get working on finding real housing. Which brings me to the question, do I go the expensive and lonely route, finding a studio or 1-bedroom? Or do I bite the bullet and take a chance on sharing with a complete stranger but saving money? Either way, I pray that I have enough money for it all, and I absolutely cannot WAIT until I have internet access all the time. Also, I am trying to not worry about having hardly any possessions or furniture or other important whatnot.

Oh, and the weekend? Really, I am a loser. I did leave the house, but only to the library on Saturday morning, and to do some errand/walking on Sunday. Saw no one, left a lot of voice mails for friends. I have no social life. I have to keep reminding myself that it's supposedly normal for new transplants to NYC. Plus, this coming year, there will be no time for socializing. But I really wish I had a social life to neglect, instead of no social life to miss, you know?

One more week!

Of classes, at least. Two more of summer school and Fellow Advisory. Woo!

Yesterday we turned in a big project called a literature log, where we accumulated different kinds of 'touchstone texts' that will help us teach pieces of literacy in the classroom. My author study was on Roald Dahl; I read "The Twits," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," and "The BFG." They were all great, I highly recommend them.  That's one excellent thing about teaching--a free pass to read fun children's books!

Let's see, what else? So next Thursday we have a final exam in our child psych/development class, and in literacy class we have a presentation of all the sample work we've done that will be units in our own classrooms.  Like a report (I wrote mine about the ocean), a narrative account (a picture book; I think mine will be about the night we went to Starlight Express and two British strangers helped us get there and get home), a narrative procedure (a how-to; mine is "How to ride the subway"--it's pretty clever), several kinds of poetry, and that's mostly it, I think.  Lots to do in the next six days.

This weekend I have no plans really. I need to do laundry, and I keep telling myself I will clean the bathroom. We'll see how long it takes me to actually do it.  I'm doing fairly well keeping the dishes washed and that sort of thing, and I'm containing my clutter a little better.

Things are a little lonely. I like my classmates, but it feels like there are some little cliques and of course I don't belong in one. I do my own thing and walk at my own pace, literally.  Many people stroll between classes together, but they go way to slow for me, so I just steam on ahead. Tra la la.

Hm, I can't really think of anything else. I'm beginning to feel pretty helpless and clueless; there is so much information shoved down our throats, not to mention all the paper thrown at us, that there is no way I know it all. I am hoping that it will go slowly and that I can get help implementing all these complicated teaching strategies. This morning we went to a "new teacher induction," but it just talked about the mentors the city is now giving all new teachers. I'm pretty relieved and excited about that.

More interesting spam

Subject: Free Natural Dog Treats. WOOF

But this was a long road, and should I walk down it, I might never come back. What is the answer? I'd thought it was sad to hate the forest the way she'd done. I can never describe the walk back to my truck.This was a place without the internet, without email, without the rush of business meetings and untapped desires. (I'm loving the way you walk with me so quietly, contentedly.) Can you tell me the answer? she asked. I'll tell you what happened next. Don't do that, the cat pointed out. Hi, I said to all the animals. (Things were looking worse.) That could well be the answer.There were many examples of animals all around. I wished so deeply for the change to come about. We're going to regret this, my friend said. Just tell me your answer, even if it sucks. That could well be the answer.

And another:
Subject: Free IPOD
How embarrassing. This is what I like, I'd tell myself. He extended his hand by way of introduction. That could well be the answer.I'll tell you what happened next. What is the answer? This is what I like, I'd tell myself. Suddenly, he disappeared. It was time... Can you tell me the answer? she asked. I was just thinking. But this was a long road, and should I walk down it, I might never come back.I'd seen many of the same things I've seen before. I can never describe the walk back to my truck. He wanted to know more. There's something I should tell you. But under the circumstances, I'd do it again.

I think I can, I think I can...

Yesterday was not my happiest day. I felt frustrated and overwhelmed and annoyed and unimportant and probably some other things too. I didn't participate in class and I did no homework at home.

Today was better. I didn't necessarily participate much and we'll see how much homework I get done, but I don't feel as helpless and hopeless. That's mostly because I'm doing my best to just forget those feelings so that I can actually accomplish all of the stuff that we're supposed to be doing. Time is going way faster than I'm used to. Which is good, I hate when the hours just crawl by. But it means there's a ton of work that has to get done in just a few weeks. Yikes!

I bought a printer over the weekend and am so excited. I still have no email access at home, which is a real liability/handicap in this program, but at least I can print out my papers at home now. And on decent paper and with plenty of ink! Woo!

Man, I'm hungry. It's a quarter to eight right now, that means I won't get to eat dinner until nearly nine. Great.

Check out the new links to the right for more information about where I am and the New York school stuff. Let me know if there's anything interesting there; I haven't had much time to look around those sites myself yet.

Three weeks!

It is already Friday of the third week of summer preservice training. Only three or four left to go!

So let's see. I was placed at an elementary school in St Albans, Queens, near Jamaica. I've been in a third-grade classroom. The first two days were testing and other boring things. Yesterday was actual instruction. Though some of the kids seem pretty bright and eager, the class still didn't get through hardly anything. They just kind of sat there. It was sad and frustrating at the same time.

I'm tired a lot, from getting up before 6.30. Today I got to sleep in until almost 7.30, because we have workshops that don't start until 9.30. Yay. After they are over, I'm going to the library on the way home. I am really excited about that. I just finished the third novel that I borrowed last Friday. Have I said lately how much I adore public libraries? I LOVE libraries. If more people embraced the idea of public libraries, I believe that the country would be a better place. Hello, free books? Knowledge there for the taking? Not to mention entertainment, with VHS and DVD movies. So I think that little trip will be the highlight of my weekend.

This week's homework load has actually been considerably less. It helps that I did all the reading that I was supposed to over the weekend. But I spent several evenings hardly doing anything productive. I don't watch nearly as much TV as I did when I was at home or first here. But now, since there are so few channels and so little time to actually watch it, I watch more silly shows than I ever have. And that is depressing.

Mm, sleepy. I should go get a beverage to tide me over during the workshops. Later, dudes.

A very full six days since the last post!

Hi, all. Look at me, pretending I have an audience. How precious.

So. It's been a busy week. Actually, it started with the weekend. Friday was indeed very productive, and I'm still proud of that. The rest of the weekend I had vowed to be a good girl and do my homework and get caught up, and not do it all the last minute. Which I sort of accomplished; I worked on papers and some reading on Sunday and finished up on Monday. But early Monday, no late night frantic finishing of things. So good for me.

I got to be social over the weekend, sort of. I hung out with my former teammate and a couple of his friends. I had a really good time. Especially when we played frisbee in Central Park, and also watched the fireworks from the rooftop terrace in Battery Park.

On Tuesday, New York public summer school began. We Fellows began our new schedule, reporting at our summer placement school at 8-noon, and then doing our courses in the afternoon/early evening.

I have to go now, the library is closing, those insensitive bastards, but I will add more tomorrow I think. Hope you all had a nice Independence Day, etc.

Hurrah for public libraries!

Today is Friday. It is the end of our second week of pre-service training. I have a list of things to do and errands to run today. So far I am almost finished.

Did you know that the post office will only keep domestic parcels for ten days? I know this because it has been eleven days since my box of books arrived in New York. Now it is on its merry media-mail way back to Renton. I hope that when it arrives at my mom's house, she will send it out here again. Someday I will see that box again.

I visited the infamous 65 Court Street in Downtown Brooklyn after the post office adventure. It is a large, intimidating structure housing the entire Department of Education. Or maybe it's the Board of Education. I had thought that the latter was the newest name for the former, but perhaps they are indeed two separate bureaucratic entities. Who is John Galt?

And most recently, I found the Leonard branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. The Marcy branch is closer but according to the website is also closed for renovation. This one is still an easy walk. I found 'regular' books to read, plus a children's poetry book for my literacy assignment due on Tuesday, and another children's book called "Punctuation Takes a Vacation," for another assignment due on Tuesday.

Last night was wonderful. Once I got home at 7.30, I just sat in front of the TV with a book and the A/C going. I did no homework. No reading of a boring textbook, no writing. I enjoyed it. And this morning I slept an extra hour, all the way until 8.30.

It's 2.45 now. Once I am done here, I will pick up my three rolls of film at the Walgreen's down the street from my place. I shall also find some food, as I have only consumed a fruit/granola bar so far today. My stomach is telling me to eat up. Yum, yum.

Going under

Good lord, it's been a week since all of this started in earnest. And already it's getting to me.

I just feel completely out of it--unprepared, forgetful, anxious, bored, sleepy. There's so much to do, even more to remember to do for later, and as the summer progresses ever so slowly, the time available to do these things keeps shrinking.

There is a poem assignment due next week. I have no poetry books here. I had a decent selection at home, but of course they are sitting in boxes in the barn. I'm sitting in a library right now, but it's not like there's tons of free time to look around. I had thought of using Poe's Annabel Lee for my analysis. But the prof just told us that this assignment is to be a model for our future classes, and thus needs to be appropriate to share with small children. Poe is definitely not appropriate. So apparently now I have to find a poem that I can relate to in a happy manner. Happy? Me? Are you kidding? Are you sure I should be here? I'm beginning to think I won't make it to the fall.

Last night was a big placement fair, open to the entire city. I went, but didn't even make it to the building because I met some classmates on the street. They are assigned to the same region I am, and there was only one school at the fair from that region. There was already a long line and they weren't accepting resumes anymore. So that was a bust. I don't know how to get a placement. I know absolutely nothing about Queens, so it's not like I can just walk around the area (which is freaking huge, by the way, and not all easily accessible by public transportation) looking for elementary schools that are hiring. I know I'm the only one in this situation, but I'm just feeling so lost. And it's just getting worse.

I've been assigned to a school out in the middle of nowhere, Queens. Actually in a place called St Albans. On the map it's really close to the eastern border of the city. WAY out there. Sigh. I may have a pretty hellish commute this summer!

One of the hardest things is not having internet access at home. Such a pain in the ass. All of the correspondence from the Fellowship is through email. All of the Advisor sessions require downloaded and printed forms from the Fellow website. I'm making best friends with my copy card.

I think that the way things are going, I'm going to start crying any hour now. I feel myself getting myself more desperate and lost and unsure of everything. I don't even have anyone to talk to! No roommate, no good friends in New York that know what's going on with this stuff, no real friends yet in the program, nothing. Fuck fuck fuck. Yeah, crying any minute now.

Out of my element

I am beginning to feel silly for being here at all. At the moment it's not because I have no idea what I'm doing, because it's clear the rest of my fellow Fellows feel exactly the same. That is a big relief, by the way. And a Fellow spoke to us at Orientation and said that he'd felt that too, but by the end of the summer he was prepared; the staff and everyone else had taught him all he needed to know. There is hope.

No, I'm feeling silly because I am really out of the loop. The majority of my classmates already live here, have apartments and cars and ideas where they want to teach--like somewhere near their place. They looked at me funny, practically laughed, when I asked about recess. Apparently no one in the New York City area got recesses. I remember morning and afternoon recess, but they just get a lunch one here. Plus, not many people seem to have the big-ass commutes that I do. They're just going about their business. I'm going about it like AmeriCorps--that we're all in this new adventure together. But it's totally not like that. I feel like I'm working harder than I should, just in terms of logistics, not classwork. I don't know my way around the city, I don't even know the names of the areas that these people live in or are from. I know Williamsburg, but just my street, none of the cute or trendy or interesting parts of Williamsburg. My area is dirty. There's lots of kids around, which means it's not actually dangerous. I'm intimidated because I'm a lone white girl who doesn't speak Spanish. Tomorrow I hope to get out and explore so that I don't have to be so scaredy-cat.

I'm really excited for the weekend though. I've got plans to see friends. My packages are here; the big boxes will be delivered Friday morning, and after they arrive I'll go pick up my book box at the post office (which apparently is right around the corner--see what I mean about exploring?). That means I'll have all my stuff! Like my clothes and my sneakers and my blankie! Hurrah!

Also, the big certification tests are on Saturday. I keep almost forgetting about that. Which is dangerous, because I think I need to report to the Sheraton somewhere in Manhattan at like seven a.m. on Saturday morning. Ugh. This morning on the trains I reviewed the vocabulary so that it will start to become familiar so that I can use it on the CST. I can't wait to get all that over with. I'm totally not studying; if I don't pass one of them, I'll worry about that later.

Rrr. I should go because the afternoon boring class will start soon. I'm freaking hungry, I do not have enough food at my disposal. Plus it's super expensive to buy a snack on campus, so I'm all cleaned out. And guess what? I now have about two thousand dollars of debt on my credit cards. I HATE that.

Oh holy crap

So now it's really begun. I'm trying not to freak out.

First things first. I've been here for a whole week now (well, including the weekend away). It feels like much longer, partly because being "home" is so lonely. It makes me sad to be so quiet in the evenings. Television is only so interesting. Not having a computer is really tough right now; for school there's all this homework and downloading we're supposed to be able to do. My boxes are in New York but I'm not at home to get the delivery. I suppose it will have to wait til Friday or Saturday.

Monday afternoon the welcoming event was at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. Pretty impressive. There are two thousand Fellows this year, chosen from over 17,000 applicants! (This is the time when you say to yourself, 'boy, that Julie, she must be pretty good!' Heh.) There were a series of speakers, including past Fellows and their students, and some performances too. It was a nice event. After that we met in our small advisory groups. I really like my advisor, she's really no-nonsense but has a great sense of humor too. My group is mostly people older than me (not by too much, but altogether varies pretty widely; most of them are what I'd call real grown-ups) who come from completely different backgrounds--a lot from law and finance. They are all interesting and friendly. Whew!

Yesterday was an orientation-type day at Queens College, where I was assigned. Those of you in AmeriCorps know what it was like--a lot of boring talk about important things that still somehow didn't satisfy the need for real details. Paperwork. Lots of new faces, staff from the Fellows program and staff from Queens College. I'm not really sure exactly who belongs to what institution, but I'm trying to be patient. Not sure if it's working. I find myself getting frustrated when I don't get enough information. That seems to be all the freaking time lately.

Today was the first real day. We bought our textbooks for the two courses we're taking this summer. For the next two weeks, I have a literacy class all morning, an hour for lunch, a child development class all afternoon, a half-hour break, then the Advisor session for an hour and a half. Nine to six. The commute is just over an hour from my apartment in Williamsburg (which I am now saying with a New York accent)--two trains and a bus. There is a ton of reading. There are a few papers and projects scattered pretty well. Mostly it's reading. I really like the literacy class so far, it's very hands-on and fun, and interesting. This morning we sat and the teacher read us a story. Later we paired up and read stories to partners. I love it, and am excited to get more familiar with children's books. The child-development class is just like a traditional college course--lecture and note-taking off power point-type overheads. Boring! But the teacher does try to have us participate.

So anyway, back to the freaking out. There's no time for anything! Commuting, going to class all day long, going home, not having any real food in the house and no time to go buy any, who knows how I'll find time to get everything done. I'm still too intimidated by my neighborhood to walk at night, so I hope to get home by 9 each night. I'm going to be so boring this summer. And so tired. It's hard not to sleep with all my blankets and stuffed animals! It sounds juvenile, but it's true. At least the weather has calmed some, it's not sticky and disgusting like it was last week. It's still warm and a little humid, but much more 'acceptable' than last week.

And now I better get to work. There is a paper due in the morning, one to two pages reflecting on how I learned to read, write and talk. I hardly remember anything, and I only talked briefly to the parents, who don't have too many details either. I hope I can do okay on it. I think at this point I just want to get through it. I should be able to get some reading done on the long-ass ride home. I don't know what I'll do for dinner. Money is going ridiculously fast, even worse than I anticipated, I can't believe it.

Must get to work.

Back to the city

Hi all again.
This past weekend was truly a great one. I had a lot of fun with new and old people, seeing all our old haunts, taking pictures of the sunset at the Point. A bunch of guys live in my old house on Fourth street, one of whom is friends with Brodie from back in Bellingham. Crazy small world, eh?

Hey, speaking of small world, get this. I've been getting nervous about whether I'm doing the right thing, and nervous about getting my bearings in this huge place, etc etc. When I checked my email this weekend, I'd gotten a message from igougo.com, a travel site where people put up travelogue type information. I've got a few entries from a couple trips I've done in the past. Anyway, this particular message was a Community Update about New York, with member notes spotlighted. And the first one in the email is MINE! I felt all famous and excited to be noted in this space. And like it was a sign, reminding me how incredible this city is. Reading it in my own freaking words kind of brought me back to my senses about this whole thing. How can this not be the right thing to be doing?

Yesterday evening I met up with my cousin who moved here earlier this year. He's working in theatre, the lucky bastard. He found a loft apartment near the WTC, that's cool but teeny. Anyway, it was really nice to see a familiar face, and it was fun to catch up on stuff.

Later in the evening, back in the apartment, I was sitting around, chatting on the phone, when this giant roach scuttled out from behind another chair. It was huge-like two inches. I've only seen small ones before and was really hoping I would not experience this kind of them...god it was so gross. It freaked me out, especially when it started crawling up the walls. They can CRAWL UP THE WALL. TO THE CEILING. Not to sound like a typical scaredy-cat girl, but EW EW EW EW. Absolutely gross and icky and disgusting. Blech. I sucked it up with the extension on the vacuum and then stuck the extension up against the wall in the hopes that it wouldn't be able to crawl back out. YUCK.

Anyway. This afternoon the fellowship officially begins. I've got a little over an hour to get up to Lincoln Center. I'll probably find a bookstore to chill in for a bit. Fuck, I need to find some study resources for the tests I have to take this weekend. Eek!

Yesterday and today were considerably less humid and sticky. I am terribly grateful. Keep it up, weather.

Pardon my french

But holy fucking shit this is crazy. I'm sitting in the computer lab in Perry Point right now! It still has the same smell to it. And the computers are slow as ever. Nothing has changed!

I keep exclaiming how crazy and weird and awesome it is to be here. Thankfully there are others who share the sentiment (thank goodness). I am loving it, having so much fun with other alumni and current corps members. Even hearing the local accent!

It's been a really great weekend so far. I'm so happy that I came to this. To my absent teammates, you suck! Just kidding, I really wish you guys were here to share this crazy deja vu type stuff. Hey, speaking of the Rendez-Vous, it's still the happening place. We played shuffleboard last night! I also got the recipe for a sweet tart, my favorite drink that no other bar has even heard of. Hurrah!

I will write much more at a later date.

Go volunteer!

Welcome in New York!

I am here. So unreal.

My flight went just fine, even though it took off nearly an hour late. I slept the whole time, which is unusual for me. The satellite tv didn't even tempt me, and I didn't pack a book to read, so I just tried to sleep like normal. Could have been worse.

When we landed at 8.40AM today, it was already 77 degrees. Blech. It took me a long-ass time to get to the apartment in Brooklyn, like over two hours. Dragging those suitcases up and down stairs added to the heat-driven sweat, plus heated up some calluses on my hands. But eventually I arrived, and it was good. I put down all my stuff and went right for a cool shower. Ah, so refreshing.

Interestingly, my hair is like fifty percent bigger than usual. Super attractive. I have been shopping for shoes and for market food. There's still more I need to buy but I don't know where to go for them. I hate that, feeling unsure and lost. That feeling won't go away, living in a place like this.

I still can't believe this is happening. That I'm in New York. That I've *moved* to New York. This morning I got a call from the dentist's office that I visited in January; my next appointment was to be tomorrow. So I told her, well, I've actually just moved to New York, today, so I won't be able to make it! Crazy shit.

Ok I think I have to go. But I am easily reachable, mostly by cell phone which is still the same. Hurrah for technology.

Ciao, my babies!

Oh my!

I leave in approximately thirty-six hours. [Insert a frustrated, nervous wail here.] I have sort of 'packed' for my trip, but I am nowhere near done packing up all of my room. [My brother is moving into this room, so I must get all my crap out of here. Again.] Either this morning or this afternoon I will ship my computer. I'm pretty nervous about that. I'm still working tonight, 6-10. I hope that gets my mind off of this. Tomorrow I have nothing scheduled, so I'm pretty sure I'll be a nervous, panicky wreck all day, trying to get everything done.

Clearly, this isn't really happening. I can't believe I'm doing this. What in the world will happen?

I love this picture. That's the Pont Neuf in the foreground (you can sort of see the faces carved on it), and the 17th-century houses of the Ile de la Cite. Beautiful, no?  

Here is another sunset from my window. There's no color alteration there--that's what it looked like. Wow.  

This is the view from my window in Perry Point house 1103. That's the Chesapeake Bay right there, just past the point of the Susquehanna. The Aberdeen proving ground and Havre de Grace are on the other side of the water there somewhere.  

Well, it was sort of sunny there for a minute

But now it looks like it's graying over again. Oh well. Summer schmummer!

Yesterday I did end up making a little progress on the packing. Or at least, throwing some things on my suitcases. Anything is better than nothing. Hurrah.

The rest of the day I was bored. That bored where you're too bored to do anything to avoid the bored-being. So in the evening, I semi-reluctantly went to the Bodyflow workout. They were doing a new routine, which I suppose is nice. It went okay. It's been a few weeks since I worked out. Mostly because I was working at the times when I normally would go. Although this week I could have gone, but I just didn't. So there. Anyway, I could definitely feel the workout. At the meditation, I was thinking for some reason about my old team. (Most of the time, I don't really have 'thoughts' while at the meditation, so this was a little unusual. I totally wasn't paying attention to the instructor. Hm.) It's amazing that I can still picture things exactly. I wish I remembered more things, but there were so many things happening all the time that's it like they all crowded themselves out of my head. But I can remember just what living in the Bridgeport house was like--that we never had enough dishes, that we never had any group dishes, how sleeping on the floor on little folding mats really wasn't too bad. And just Perry Point itself was incredible. What a location! The mornings I remember as always sunny and chilled. I remember the spiders and cobwebs in and around the houses, and the giant crickets too. I remember the easy jaunt to anyone else's house. The way we all were right there, but had our very own government houses. Ah, the Klein's trips! In the summer, there was a place right off the road behind the little post office that had a swamp-like area of giant warm puddles.

Anyway, there was something magical about that whole experience that I just can't help but remember a little too fondly. There was certainly a dark side. In any case, that's why I am thrilled at the chance to go back to the Point and see it all again. And a little heartbroken that my teammates won't be there to share it with.

Whew. Okay, done with the waxing sentimental, for now anyway. Heh, just watch.

Later in the evening I joined some friends in watching movies at their house. We watched Miracle. It was nice. I always enjoy a good sports flick. Then two of us stayed up to watch Something's Gotta Give. It was cute and funny, like everyone said. But man, it went on for-ever! The middle felt like it should have been the end. Anyway. The loneliness that the main character felt really resonated with me--that she felt completely undesirable and so better to stay alone. But the best part of the movie was the very end, in Paris. I figured there was no way they'd actually film in Paris and would have some cheesy set replacement or whatever. But no, that was the real thing! The first thing I saw that was true was those poles on the sidewalks. They're sort of parking meters but without the meter part, set at intervals down the sidewalk, and painted a dark purply color. The street that connected the Place Monge and the Rue Mouffetard had those. I walked that street several times a day to get between the hostel and the Metro. Then, of course, they're standing on the bridge in front of the Hotel de Ville. And the Conciergerie was visible in front of them. Oh goodness, how that made my heart ache! Though I've vowed to myself not to go back there until I've seen the many other places in Europe on my list, something about Paris will always call me, will always be home to a little part of me. I just love Paris! There's a part of me that's always thrilled at being in a big city, especially so in a foreign city. But for Paris, that thrill is exponentially magnified. Every time I go I find something new to love. It seems so cliche and trite, but god, what an incredible city! The sights, the sounds, the smells, the tourists...the central area on the river at night alone is breathtakingly gorgeous.

I must stop, I'll depress myself! I'll let you in on a little secret--I've been thinking about another perk of living in New York. Airlines like British Airways and others often run fabulous specials to Europe from NYC/JFK. Hm, vacation!

Well, now.

I was awake a little after 9 this morning, but I stayed in and read until noon or so. I also continued to work on my homework. Just have to finish question 4 and then polish everything.

I retrieved some boxes from the garage, but that's all the progress I've made so far today toward packing/sorting/whatever. Meh. I did call about my car insurance. One more tick on one of my lists. I'm feeling a little lethargic, or just lazy and bored. Blah! See, I can't really do a thorough pack because most of it is everyday stuff--clothes, bedding, the computer. I've got four whole days left, I don't know what I'll need before next Tuesday. I suppose that in theory I've got plenty of time, what with only two shifts left and a couple other things in my schedule.

I'm so bored I don't even want to watch tv! Now that's dangerous.

Heaven is...not having to get up at the crack of dawn.

Oh, the wondrous joy of a lazy lie-in! I basked in sleep until nearly 11. Last night I allowed myself the luxury of staying up late, til 12.30. And guess what, I don't have to get up early ever again! Or, at least for the rest of the week.

I was a good girl and worked on my homework first thing. A tiny bit, but still. It counts. I got dressed and went into town. I went shopping! I haven't done that for a really long time, because I've been good about watching my money. I stocked up on toiletry staples and some junk food, too. Bad me.

Then I came home and tidied my room and did some laundry. Good me. I began rooting around the boxes I have in here from my most recent move, to weed out things I want to take to New York. Then I tried to sort stuff. And throw it into my old bag from Europe 93, before the advent of rolley-bags. (Honestly, is there an official name to those things? I always call them rolley-bags.) I need boxes so that I can ship stuff. Help!

Holy crap, I am leaving in...five days. Will I be ready? Happily, I got some information on the fellowship kickoff event. Exciting! Oh god, I hope I am doing the right thing. And I really hope I don't suck.

Hallef***inglujah

I have two beautiful, glorious days in which I do not work!! Hurrah!

I am really excited about not returning to the temp job. The people were friendly, but the stupid filing that just went on and on, ugh. And one of the people who directed me kept saying, oh I thought you might not come back today! And I kept thinking, dude, don't give me any ideas! Anyhow, now I get to sleep in, ooh for the rest of my week.

I leave in less than a week! This time next week I will be sound asleep in Brooklyn. How weird.

So work tonight was a disaster. Literally. For the first solid half-hour, everything went wrong. I spilled things, knocked things over, made drinks wrong, etc etc. It was awful. I should have cried. My coworkers were very patient and supportive, though, which was lovely. They are a good bunch.

Oh, I can't wait. To sleep in! To check things off my numerous lists! To go shopping! Eee!!

Ho Hum.

Today, in the car about to get on the freeway, I was listening to the radio. "Come On Eileen" was playing. I glanced in the rearview mirror and there was a woman and her son singing along with the same song. It was pretty neat.

Welcome to Day 13. Happily, this will only continue to 16 days in a row of work; I have decided to take Thursday and Friday off. I really need to sleep and relax, so that I can begin preparing in earnest for this next adventure. I had a dream about taking one of the certification tests, not having enough time to finish it. Eek! I better look over some information about those, and I have to complete the homework questions.

This past week, though busy, turned out to be some fun too. On Wednesday, some friends invited me to join a pickup game of kickball in Fremont. It was a blast. I did pretty decently, too. Sort of. Late on Friday night, I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was pretty good. Not to sound cliche, but the books are just so good that no movie would really be able to stand up to them, in my biased opinion. I heard from a guy at the grocery store that the sixth book may be coming out this fall. Woo!! Then, last night, we had a get together with the old college friends. We went to Shari's for a bite and then went back to the house. Instead of being boring and watching movies, we made our own fun. After coming up with a list of improv games and some prompts/suggestions, we played. We did Freeze, and Party Quirks, and Whose Line, and a couple others. It was so much fun! We laughed a lot. Oh man, it was awesome. I hope we can do it again some time.

Quirks

When I first worked at the mortgage company, I had no trash can. So all of the junk I accumulated at my desk, I had to keep in a pile. Then I found a plastic cup to put it in. I used a two-hole punch with all the papers, so you can imagine that as the time wore on there was a good lot of little paper holes from the bottom of the hole punch. I stored them in a separate plastic cup, because I thought that it would be a nice physical representation of all the work I did. And, because I'm weird. That silly practice stayed with me even after I obtained a trash can, and so I had cups full of paper holes (un-holes?) in my desk drawers, that then spilled over and other people saw and wondered what was wrong with me. So eventually I found a jar, and put them in there. Much later, at some point someone wanted to have some confetti, so my little jar of holes came in handy. But several people made fun of me regardless.

Last week I found myself playing a game with staples. With the mail/invoices that come in, I have to remove the staples and then rearrange the papers and restaple. So after awhile I tried to 'catch' all of the staples that I took out on the side of the staple puller. The side actually filled up with staples, and then I had to end the game before I could see if the other side would fill up with staples.

If I'm sitting on the floor cross-legged, I always end up rocking either back and forth or side to side, without even knowing it. And it's impossible to stop.

I love Little Debbie Nutty Bars (who doesn't?), but I can only eat them layer by layer. It's just a waste to do otherwise.

There is no shame in our humanness!

Finally some real sunshine

I am at day nine of 15 to 20 days in a row working at one or the other, or both, of my short-term jobs. I am tired. Every morning I hate my alarm. Then, for a good four hours I feel like a drugged zombie. But in the afternoon I start feeling normal, then I go to my other job, and by nighttime I am wide awake and wish I didn't have to go straight to bed. Oh well. Remember, like The Donald says, it's not personal, it's business. Not sure how that applies...something about money is my guess.

Anyway, this morning was the first time that I didn't feel half-dead on my commute northward. The sun is actually shining for the first time in at least a week. I've been on a couple walks up here in Totem Lake, and even found the eponymous lake. Pathetically enough, I never knew there was a Totem Lake. Did you know that it used to be called Lake Wittenburg or some such, after a bigwig settler of the area? In the 1970s, they built the Totem Lake mall next to the lake, and then changed the name of the lake, to match the mall. Is that back-asswards or what? I love little backstories like that.

I leave in thirteen days. Two weeks from yesterday. I am not packed or ready in any sense of the term. Yesterday I visited a shipping store to inquire about shipping my computer and all its paraphrenalia. I have made a list of things I want to pack and things to ship, but who knows when I'll actually start sorting those things. I don't even know yet which bags I will be packing those things in. I am half done with the homework assignment about the classroom observation. I need to call about my car insurance. I need to find a ride to the airport.

Whew.

That's all I have to say. Whew.

I feel like ass. Last night, I went to a party for my friend and her fiance. I got lost driving there and very nearly gave up to go home and sleep. But I finally made it to the house, up in Lakemont, very posh. And I had a really good time. So much so that I just stayed there until this morning. I met some great new people, visited with people I already knew, and generally had a good time. I came home about seven-thirty, and went to sleep about nine-thirty. I passed out, like jet lag. Like, so tired you have no idea where or when you are and you can hardly bear the thought of getting up. At 2, I made myself "wake up." I work tonight at five, only for four hours, and right now I just want to get through it so that I can come home and pass out again, only to get up at six tomorrow morning.

Happy Holiday Weekend!*

*Except for me, because I work. Back to the old college-days grindstone, when nary a holiday was actually a holiday for me. On the other hand, one always enjoys extra cash.

I have been working all week, it's going very nicely. The folks here are very friendly and have welcomed me. The work isn't demanding, and I have time "free" if I've finished my work. I'm having trouble with the early wake-up call, but I suppose that's only natural. It helps me appreciate the weekend that much more. My assignment has been extended through next week and probably more after that. Hurrah!

Yesterday I drove straight from the job in Kirkland to my job in Burien. It took a long time; there was even more traffic than usual. (It takes forty-five minutes to get here every morning! On the way home, it takes that or more.) I worked til 10.30, so I had a fourteen-and-a-half-hour day. I have another fourteen-hour day today. I am just about to leave work here in Kirkland. I work several days of the week next week, I hope I can get rested enough to get through it all.

Gotta run!

DECISIONS!

I had a great talk with Kel about, among other things, my move to New York, specifically how to get there. We discussed my pitiful finances,the time constraints, and the nightmare of having a car in the city, and she pointed out that driving that whole way so fast would be silly. She reminded me that on my other trips, I went just because I wanted to, so I could/should take the time to do a real cross country road trip, when I will have time to visit lots of people and would be able to stop to look at interesting things if I want to.

I figure that if I were to drive, gas would cost around $250. Motels would cost $30-50 a night, for at least four nights. Tolls would cost maybe $30-50. Food would be at least $100. That's $600, plus the costs for the weekend in Maryland (hotel, food, transportation, fun stuff), not to mention money to park in New York City, gas, insurance, and an overall pain in my ass.

Flying one-way to New York is about $150. It would take one night. I would have to ship my computer, books, and clothes, which would probably be kind of expensive and also a bit of a pain. I looked at the commute between New York and Maryland, because that was half the reason I wanted my car. Amtrak goes to Aberdeen several times a day, and it's sixty bucks one way. Greyhound also goes to Aberdeen, takes at least twice as long, for thirty dollars each way. It's also possible that I catch rides with people already going, which would definitely be more fun and hopefully a bit cheaper too.

Anyway I spin it, it's at least twice the cost to drive than fly. And my huge concern right now is money. The rest of that money, assuming I have it somewhere, will go to rent for the summer. And, you know, food.

So I took the leap of logic and MADE A DECISION to fly. Hoo boy. Bought the ticket to New York. Emailed people about trip details. I'm gonna do this!

Mom and I continued making the plans for her trip to New York. We are going to stay in a hotel with a pool near Central Park for at least two nights! Very swank. We'd talked about taking a day trip out to Wallingford to visit the river and the labyrinth, which is something I'm really excited about doing. Not having my car to take that trip will either mean we won't do that, or it will cost even more money (for a train/bus or to rent a car). I figure if she's not up to the expense and extra time, I'll do it on my own some other time.

Ooh! This means that I will have more time to go see Movin' Out! Hurrah! And a few more days to work and see people. Altogether it's pretty clearly the right decision.

I am not graduating from high school

So I was back at the high school subbing yesterday and today. Yesterday I was in the same classes from last week, and today I was all over, doing a little of everything and nothing. This morning there was a Senior Tribute assembly for the wee ones that are graduating. It was cute, they had some speakers (one really reminded me of Don), singers, a time capsule (with DVDs in it! These kids are rich!), and a slide show. The slide show was way long, it had pictures of all four of their years, and the last section featured two pictures of each student (there are only about a hundred seniors), one as a baby and one as a senior photo. That was really cute. Not to sound too shallow, but a lot of the girls seemed a little indistinguishable..they all have fake tans and highlighted hair. The very end featured a candle ceremony, where the seniors stood in a circle facing outward with lit candles, and the juniors came to stand in a circle facing them, and the seniors handed off the candles and then the juniors proceeded out. It was a nice Tribute Assembly, even though it was an hour and a half long.

Anyway....I have been warmly welcomed by other teachers and staff at the school, it's been wonderful. They fully understand my struggles in dealing with the students and we laugh. They completely agree when I tell them that the sophomores are monsters. I feel a bit of an imposter, so young yet, too young to really be on the same level of the teachers that I was frustrating just a few years ago. (Although, I was a good decent student that didn't misbehave or really stick out in any way.) But at the same time, these kids make me feel old and prudish. All the girls wear either really short skirts or really low pants that lets their belly and back fat hang out for the world to see. Ugh. The boys wear loose saggy pants and sweatshirts. And don't get me started on the way technology is invading the classroom. Kids come to class with iPods or walkmen on, cell phones ringing and texting all over the place, and protest when I tell them to put it away. The bloody cheek!

I don't go back to Starbucks until next Thursday. Which is just fine because this afternoon I got a call for a temp assignment. Yay money! It goes all next week and a couple days the week after that. What a relief. Even though it's in Kirkland. Hurrah, now I will be plenty busy for the next week and change!

Oh man. The night before last, I had this crazy succession of dreams, or one long and really convoluted dream. First I was taking a math test outside a dorm I had just moved in with that was like the Americorps housing I dreamed about a few weeks ago. While I was taking this test, I fell asleep and dreamt of being shoved down a street. Then I woke up huddled against a young Brad Pitt who was trying to work on his test. Then I was on a train in France, that sort of turned into a bus. I was having one of those dual-language conversations with the driver; she was practicing in her English and I was practicing my French. Just chatting until on the side of the road I spotted a group of ducks. Not the usual kind of ducks, though. These ducks were really fluffy, like chicks, but the coloring of grown-up ducks, like red and black or black and white. And these ducks were giant ducks. Not even unusually large ducks, GIANT ducks. They were the size of large dogs, two or three feet tall and two feet wide. GIANT DUCKS.

I worked out tonight for the first time in at least two weeks. I really could tell the difference, I got tired sooner and my body felt all jumbled. I am hoping to work out tomorrow and next Tuesday, and then who knows. I have to make them quit me before the June billing, so maybe I won't even have the option much sooner.

Then my mom and I sat down at my computer. She will be at a conference in North Carolina in August, and we figured that would be a good time to come visit New York. Even though it will be August in New York. My mom has been all over the world, has been on different continents each New Year's for the past four years, but has never been to the Big Apple. So instead of just flying with a regular ticket, we played around with frequent flyer miles and got it all arranged. It was fun! It should be a good trip. What will make it better is the possibility of getting a hotel in Manhattan with said 'frequent flyer' stuff. Ooh, Manhattan. I realized that every time I've gone to NYC, I've only stayed with people, I've never stayed in a hotel, motel or even hostel, and never have I stayed in Manhattan. So this would be a first for me, too. Fun!

It's hard coming up with titles everyday, you know

Last night I watched tv and then read. And just kept reading until I finished my book, The Dive from Clausen's Pier, which was about 3.30. It was a good book. Sort of quiet, and definitely mildly melancholy. But good.

This morning I was up around 9.30 or so. I fully meant to go out and run some errands, but I didn't. I actually took a nap for about 45 minutes. Later I went to work. It went well. There was even a small "rush." After tomorrow, it looks like I don't work again until next Wednesday or Thursday. Hm, I wonder how I will fill the time? Anyway, this store has a lot of genuinely nice folks working there, so it's usually pretty fun to be there.

SWD etc

I've had a really good weekend so far. Hurrah, I'm normal again!

Yesterday was Seattle Works Day. Though I was disappointed that no one else I knew signed up for the event, it was still a lot of fun. There were about eight of us from the team, and we went to Helplink, in the International district, to paint some of their rooms. The paint was gorgeous, bright and colorful and so much better than the dingy white it was before. I worked with two others in the computer lab and we had to use the three colors that the kids had chosen. We decided on a stripe of the darker color in the middle to bring the two brighter colors together. It was a process. In the end we did the stripe/three colors on two walls, and then one full wall of each brighter color. It took a long time, there wasn't quite enough equipment to maximize the time. Everyone stayed an extra hour and a half to get the job done, though, which really impressed me. It turned out really nicely, we were all proud and the sponsor was thrilled. I took a bunch of great pictures with their digital camera too, so we all can have before, during, after photos, cause those are the best.

When we'd finished and cleaned everything up, five or six of us headed to the afterparty at South Lake Union Park. People had already cleared out some (probably partly because the weather was nowhere near the predicted 70 degrees), so we just sat in the beer garden and talked. It was really nice. We discussed work/unemployment, travel, random things. I really enjoyed it; they are genuinely nice folks.

I drove my painty self to Issaquah and went to see Troy with my dad and Bill. The movie was okay. It was certainly very epic, but it wasn't quite the incredible film I'd heard it was supposed to be. Later I told my dad that I was starting to really second-guess myself about driving to New York, with the cost and wear on the car and pain to park...but he said that I should stick with the driving plan. So that made me feel better, to hear unbiased advice. Now I really need to think about how fun the drive will be and what I want to do.

Today I got up and had the time to eat breakfast and read before heading in to work. It was a good shift, it went quickly and was pretty fun. It was a lot busier than the evening shifts I worked the rest of the week. I stopped at Costco before going home, and now I've got the rest of the evening to relax and do nothing!

Spider!

No, not an actual arachnid (thank goodness! I hate spiders!), it's a solitaire game that I discovered on my computer yesterday while forced to be offline. It's a combination of FreeCell (which I suck at) and regular solitaire, and is quite addictive. Good times.

Last night was my second day at Starbucks. Most of the shift was spent off the floor, which is fine. I go back tonight and tomorrow night too. It's kind of fun being back in a store like that. It's hard to not be perky. And you all know that Julie =/= perky. But apparently I do still have a very social side to me, and this kind of job really forces it out. As the last few weeks have shown me, I really need that. To know that I can feel like, and actually be a normal person who can be friendly and effecient.

I was just watching the Travel Channel (I love their top ten specials). This one was the top ten superstructures or something, spotlighting places like the Eiffel Tower, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and the Parthenon (there were others, but I hadn't personally visited them). Watching it I could remember being at those places, the incredulous wonder, or boredom, depending.

The Colosseum was my first stop in Rome, the same day that I arrived by plane from Athens. I found a hostel, dropped my stuff, and had to head out again (damn lockout). It was SO hot, there seemed to be no shade in that area, I was really thirsty, but not enough to spend seven dollars on a bottle of gatorade. I got in and saw the place, and was like, okay, now what? Since it cost money to get in and to get the audio guide, I stayed as long as I could, but frankly I was kind of bored. It's hard to get really interested in something visiting alone, no one to talk to, no tour guide to explain the interesting bits.

Now, the Parthenon was a whole different story. Athens in general was just awesome. Literally, awe-inspiring. You can see the Acropolis from everywhere in the modern city. God, it was so incredible. Walking up the winding, slippery path to get to the plateau was an experience in itself. And then getting up there, seeing the buildings, blinding white in the bright sunshine. Even though there were tourists milling about everywhere, I was so awestruck and giddy and in disbelief that I was actually seeing the Parthenon! It was unreal and satisfying and mesmerizing. I wish I was better at finding words to describe sensations like that, that I could paint a picture for you to feel like you were there too.

A new look!

Woohoo! Only a couple months old and already my blog needed a makeover. Isn't it pretty? Last night I was SO proud of myself for figuring out how to manipulate the HTML to add the extra sidebar stuff. Anyway, enjoy!

Glad that's over

Whew! My second day as a substitute has finished. It went okay. The freshmen were relatively great today. The sophomores had a writing test and they took forever to settle down and stop talking and actually do the test. Several still managed to be extremely rude. Both classes totally thought I was a total bitch. I don't have a problem with that, though, because even though I acted tough, they still pretty much ignored me. Anyway, we all survived. What an eye-opening experience!

I really meant to go workout...I got dressed and drove down there, but I didn't make any big rush and oh darn, I got there too late. I feel really exhausted this evening so far. I was wide awake an hour before my alarm went off, but since I'm lazy, I didn't get up, so the alarm was an especially nasty wake-up.

I am a little crazy

Today was a big-ass day. I went to the high school (a private, religious one, mind you!) for my debut as a substitute. It went alright, overall, but holy shit, some of those kids were a disaster.

First of all, I was wide awake at 4am (not up doing stuff, just in bed pretending to be asleep as I so wanted to be)(this happens to me all the freaking time if the coming morning is a big one), trying not to freak out. Trying to reassure myself that the students wouldn't laugh and walk all over me.

I taught three classes of freshmen and two of sophomores. Now, the teacher had left lesson plans and everything, but they were really boring. Sitting and reading or writing. Clearly, that sucks. The freshman were definitely on the rambunctious side, but for the most part they behaved and quieted once I called them on it. The sophomores just blatantly disregarded what I said. One class "defended" themselves by saying, well, we're never quiet, the teacher probably left you a note. I responded, I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm still going to ask you to read quietly. They finally did, a little bit, before slowly building up the noise level. The other class was completely out of fucking control. NONE of the students brought their books to class, claiming they only did if the teacher notified them ahead of time (almost all of the other class had their books with them, so this defense was bullshit). I dismissed random pairs of them to retrieve them. They proceeded to return to the classroom (I guess I have to give them that, they did come back), throw the book on their desk, and join right back in the conversation with their friends. I was at a loss. For the first half of the period, there were only a couple books in the class. I had nothing. They ate me for lunch. God.

I'm going back tomorrow. In one sense, it's not as scary as today was, because I was completely clueless this morning. Tomorrow I'll know what I'm going into. I'm not sure if it's even more intimidating. Right now it sure feels like it.

The good news is that the teacher's prep period fell at the end of the day, so I got to leave early. Which was nice, because tonight was my first day back at Starbucks. Dude, it was weird...everything came back straightaway. It was very surreal, like I was the Julie of three years ago. It went well, people appreciated that I was new but knew exactly what was going on. The four hours went fairly quickly, though my legs and especially one knee are achy. I've got three more shifts this week, Saturday off for Seattle Works Day, and then three more shifts. Hurrah for money!

Thank God it's the Weekend?

I am so tired. The last couple days I have slept really soundly and been very unhappy to wake up after even eight hours of sleep. Last night I dreamt that I tried to attend an MC Hammer concert (it was cancelled and refunded) with family people, and then later broke a bracket off my braces. So I was all freaking out about what to do since I don't have insurance, and then I found my mom and said, what's going on here? I don't HAVE braces anymore! It was the weirdest thing. So I pulled off all the little white rubber bands around each bracket and piled them together, and then pulled out the wire connecting them all.

The night before, I was a Charlie's Angel. I think I was Drew Barrymore. I mean, I was me, but I'm pretty sure than Cameron and Lucy were there, so that leaves me as the Drew. We were fighting three dudes, and then we liked them. There was a cliff. Possibly also dancing.

You can't make this shit up, man.

When I woke up this morning, I felt like I'd worked out really hard. (You know, that body tiredness, weary muscles that feel kind of weak) Except I hadn't. Well, I did on Tuesday. Which doesn't exactly explain the feeling on Friday morning. All day yesterday my stomach was misbehaving, so perhaps that distracted the rest of me from feeling achy. But man, I feel worn the fuck out. Plus, I banged my elbow region on a cabinet right before leaving work, and it hurt really bad. Then I tried to work out and couldn't put any weight on it. It hurts to bend my elbow past ninety degrees and to straighten it all the way. Waah for me. Anyway, I think I'm going to revert to lazy bum mode this weekend.

I actually did pretty well this week. I worked four days. (However, I am watching "Best Week Ever" and have no idea about any of these references. Hm.) Next week I have three days already full. It's possible that the Bellevue office might request me to temp again, to which I respond in an inner monologue chant of "four hundred dollars a week, four hundred dollars a week, would solve all my problems, four hundred dollars..."

An irritable day

I definitely made the right decision to leave the mortgage industry a few months ago. Yesterday I started temping again at the Bellevue office from a couple weeks ago, and I'll be there at least through tomorrow. Some of the people are really nice, plenty have introduced themselves and been plenty friendly, but some are just...not. And demanding. The work is silly, which obviously I can handle, but since I know it from before, and I spent WAY too much time doing this silly work, it's more difficult to while away the hours doing it now. Grr. Plus, everyone keeps their cell phones ON, so they ring all over the place, even when they're not at their freaking desk, so the rest of us have to listen to the goddamn thing RING and RING. That is so incredibly rude, people. If you absolutely must have your phone on while AT WORK (which you shouldn't, because IT IS RUDE), put it on silent or vibrate, or on 'ring once.'

So. Work was dumb. I like money.

I am planning on leave for my road trip five weeks from today! That will leave me seven or so days to get there, which is good because I'm planning on five and so there will be some wiggle/delay room. Sometime soon (how soon?) I'll have to start thinking about what to bring and what to leave. So far I'm thinking about a couple bags of clothes, the computer but not the stereo, bath stuff, some important bedding (ie, my favorite blankets and all my stuffed animals), and, that's pretty much it. Just the very basics, or as basic as I can get without getting too desperate.

I'm watching Friends. Are you? I hate saying goodbye. Not like these are real people or anything. But it reminds me of saying goodbye to real people, which I've done and which is really really hard. Aw, I miss Fire 4.

Hurrah!

My car is back! My lovely, shiny car. They washed it and vacuumed it and somehow unearthed the last two pairs of sunglasses that I had lost. It drives really differently than my mom's Focus; for one, the brakes don't squeal heavily (although I think they might squeal a little bit), and also, it sits much lower. In my car it feels like I'm practically sitting on the road. But it's MINE! Bwa ha ha! And I'm going to drive it three thousand miles in five days six weeks from now!

Saturday night I went out, on purpose. Joined a group of people at a karaoke bar in Federal Way. (The people that I know apparently only hang out at karaoke bars. Weird.) It was okay, if really loud at times. I don't understand how I can simultaneously be hard of hearing and oversensitive to noise. Anyway, and then I stayed up really late, having a fun nice talk with Rae. I woke up grudgingly at noon on Sunday and then went back to my old apartment for a really late brunch with Stacey and Raegan and Dan. Mm, food. There was bread and chocolate pudding pie. Like, not all in one dish, but two separate, tasty courses. Two mere hours later I went to the buffet place in Factoria with my dad et al. Could not eat much, but I did have a nice salad and some pickles. Mm, pickles.

Monday was not bad. I went to Burien for the health food card class...REALLY lame. In the evening I played some catch with some of the Bellevue gang, and then went for Thai food with others of the gang, where I discovered the lychee fruit, which is very tasty. We watched the conclusion of that stupid earthquake miniseries. In the scene with a TEN POINT FIVE earthquake going on, people are RUNNING all over the place. Obviously this "film" was riddled with lame-assedness, but that's one that really sticks out. If the ground is moving so hard that Los Angeles becomes a freaking island, there is no way that people, especially, a huge mass of them, would be able to stay on their feet at all, no less to run away from the incoming ocean. Puhlease. I guess it's my fault for deciding to watch it; I won't make that mistake again. No more cheesy sensationalist tv miniseries for me!

Today I went to a job, for about six hours in Fremont, on Julie's Landing. It wasn't bad work, the day went quickly. I got a call to work the rest of the week at the Bellevue Countrywide, and later I got a call to sub at Eastside Catholic for tomorrow. I also set up a classroom observation for next week at a nearby elementary school. And I got my car back and went to work out. Good, productive day!

The lady in the office where I temped and I had a nice conversation about travel. She was a military kid and lived all over Europe and the US. We compared stories; it reawakened my travel bug. It's not nearly as thrilling as traveling overseas, but I'm hoping the road trip will satisfy the craving at least a little. I think it will. Maybe I'll happen across a giant ball of twine or something. Who needs an Eiffel Tower?

A lucky day

Why is it a lucky day? Because I found a four-leaf clover, of course!

I found it at Snoqualmie Ridge, while volunteering at Habitat. I hadn't been at that site in quite a few months, and the other one was full, so I went. It was nice. The weather was gorgeous, it was quite warm. I helped with some painting in the morning, and worked on filling insulation gaps during the afternoon. Sneezy and sweaty. I enjoyed it, though. It's nice to feel useful; it helped get the community center more ready for inspection, plus most of us donated our hours to Abby, a future homeowner.

I definitely am a wimp though, my legs and knees are rather achy. Ai. I came home, snacked on edamame, nachos and a brownie, and watched tv. SVU is awesome. Now watching Speed. Keanu is so pretty.