Top Ten on a Tuesday

Top Ten Things That Happened (or didn't happen) on Tuesday

10. I scheduled a parent meeting with a problem student, all his teachers, the vice principal and his parents. Guess who showed up? The kid and his teachers. Fantastic!

9. We got a notice that someone is impersonating maintenance men at our apartment complex and we're to be on alert - and it made the local TV news. Lovely!

8. No one at school was arrested. Yesterday they caught 2 girls with pot, last week it was 2 of my boys. Apparently pot is the drug of choice for preteens.

7. There were gang-related shootings in town. However, they did arrested 4 people on Friday in connection with the Valentine's Night shooting and in the process, 2 elderly people were shot. No idea how that happened. Also, we're still on high alert for gang activity after school bathrooms were damaged by girls claiming revenge for their gang. And we're talking over $5000 worth of damage. Nice.

6. My kids seem to already know there spelling words and it's only Tuesday, I have no idea how this happened.

5. I graded tests from when I was out sick and realized when I was out sick, my kids were out to lunch. Not good.

4. I worked ten hours today and was not wearing ten hour shoes. Ugh.

3. The chicken spinach lasagna we made last night was even better tonight.

2. I decided I am officially sick of both Hillary and Barack. And it's no where near November.

1. We watched "Gone Baby Gone" - the movie co-written and directed by Ben Affleck, starring Casey Affleck and Boston. I thought it was great but then again, I usually like movies. I'm a big fan of most films. It had great acting, some plot twists and can I just say, Casey is an fantastic actor in my opinion. If anyone's asking.

Oh - and here's a bonus:

On Saturday I got a summons in the mail. I was to appear for jury duty next Tuesday. While I've always always always wanted to serve on a jury, it was going to be a big hassle right now with school and arranging for sub, etc. But I was going to suck it up and serve my county! And then I got another summons yesterday, telling me my trial had been canceled. Ah well, better luck next time!

A bunch of wild and crazy girls!

We're home from Vegas, and as much as I anticipated and enjoyed the weekend, I'm glad to be home. Even if we have had 2 earthquakes this afternoon/evening. We had a 5.0 quake while I was still at school, the chalkboards shook but nothing came down thankfully. Then there was a little 2.0er tonight while we were eating supper. Gotta love livin' on a fault line!

So back to Vegas. There were 6 of us who went, our friends Caroline, Becca, Julie and Christina, Angela and I. We left Saturday at 10am and got there about dinner 5pm. It shouldn't have taken so long except we got a bit mixed up on the drive and ended up on the back side of Joshua Tree, not where we wanted to be. But the trip there is always fun and we sang along to the radio, watched a movie, got a little car sick, ate at McDonald's (even though I really didn't want to and surprisingly, I did not enjoy it at all), and finally got into the city. We checked in to the Excalibur and headed up to our rooms to relax and get ready because we were going out on the town.

We donned our best duds and cutest shoes (they were cute at 7pm, not so cute at 4am) and hit the walk way to New York, New York. We had Scililian pizza and then walked across the street to buy our bus passes ($5 for 24 hours, much cheaper than the limo we wanted to take). Then we loaded onto the bus with every other Vegas tourist and headed down the strip.

Caroline had a friend who's an accountant at a casino so he was able to get us on to 2 VIP lists for the night. First we went to Tao, in the Venetian, which is the hot spot of the moment. We were told to go early so we got there before 10pm. Once there what happened was very cool. We inquired as too who's list we were on (there are many VIP lists come to find out) and waited while our names were located. Then we were whisked past the 100 or so people already in line. You're herded in almost like cattle, the restaurant on the bottom was so full, and stamped on the inside of your wrist with an Asian symbol that glows in ultraviolet light and shuffled up the stairs. That's where the club is. It wasn't completely full yet and we were able to get to the bar very easily. Julie and I were served by a female bartender who charged us $12 for a vodka and water. Angela and the rest of the girls were served by a male bartender who charged them $10 for the same drink. Disgusted, I stuck a matchbook in my pocket. But what I loved was later when Becca went to order another drink she got the woman and before being told a price, she stuck a ten on the bar and walked away! You go Brit Girl!

So here's the low-down on Tao. It was kinda dark, with a crowded dance floor, really crowded. The music which came from the walls, we never saw a DJ or band, was Asian in theme and loud but not bad. Also, woman from the crowd were pulled up to dance with women who worked there on what looked to me like a big curb at the front of the dance floor. We danced for a while but we decided to leave pretty early because it kept getting more crowded and warmer, and because someone was letting off toxic farts. Seriously. It was horrible, you'd be dancing away and this horrible smell would come over you. A cool place that I was so glad to get to experience but would not have paid $50 to get into and so would not have waited in line for hours (when we left there were hundreds circling the club waiting).

So we decided to head over to the Bellagio, to their new club The Bank. This is the other happening spot of the moment and after a few moments our names were located and we were whisked up the escalator right into the heart of the club. Immediately we liked this place better. We recognized the music and it was just very cool. Exactly what I had imagined. We paid for our drinks ($15 for a vodka and water here - yep, the cooler the bar, the more you pay) and found a spot over looking the dance floor. While most of us never made it down to the floor, we did plenty of dancing right where we were and the music was awesome. A mix of old, new, hip-hop, rock, very cool mixes by a DJ with a MacBook (Ang now thinks she can rule a club!). Let's see, what else - oh yes, there is no free water at the Bank, just an FYI. You can't get tap and a glass bottle of about 4oz of Evian runs 7 bucks! And a plain soda is $6. Guess we now know why it's called the bank! But they do some cool things, they light sparklers and do a little sparkler parade every time someone orders a bottle of champagne. Which is surprisingly often. We stuck to cheaper drinks and were not shy when the older British guys next to us offered rounds of Bud Light. I didn't want to be rude so I held my bottle for a long time before switching with one of the girls. Beer's just not my thing. But it was a sweet gesture and they seemed to enjoy buying them!

Oh, and another note - there is no seating at these clubs. Unless you are willing to shell out a few hundred bucks to buy at least 2 bottles of alcohol, that'll get you a couch and a table. Maybe next time....though I still can't imagine throwing out 50 bucks just to get in the door! It's much cooler to be a VIP and leave everyone else in the dust!

We ended up staying until about 3am which was 4am our time and then we had to find the bus stop and walk a few blocks back to our hotel. This would not have been so bad except for the fact that we all had cute shoes on. And by this point, blisters and pain beyond our capacity to bear. So we had some girls without shoes and some girls laughing at those girls. What a night! Needless to say, when my head hit the pillow around 5am, I had never been so happy!

Sunday we found our way to the Zappos.com outlet and Fashion Show mall, much to the chagrin of my feet, and the got dressed up again for dinner at Chin Chin's in NYNY. This is also the night I learned how to play roulette. No, I didn't win, in fact I lost my 20 bucks in 2 spins but it was fun! And next time I'll look for a smaller buy in!

Monday we hit the Cheesecake Factory in Caesar's after a return trip to the mall (Ang's newly purchased iPod case was cracked and needed to be returned) and then headed home, driving into Yuma about 8pm. Home sweet home! Never thought I'd say that about Yuma:-)

Quite a week

Whew, it feels like this has been a very long week and it's not even finished yet. I'm trying to think back to what has happened and while some of it seems a blur, certain moments stick out like a bruised toenail. (Not that you'd be able to tell on my freshly pedicured toesies, they're purple!)

- I missed 4 days of work: last Friday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I managed to go on Tuesday, mostly because I was expected to present a writing lesson to my first hour class and eight of my fellow teachers/bosses. They were all evaluating me and while I wasn't necessarily nervous, I wanted to do it and do it well. I went and I presented and then somehow read the final 2 chapters of The Outsiders to each of my 3 classes before collapsing in bed for a 2 hour nap. The good news is I passed my evaluation with a perfect score.

- The major highway between Yuma and San Diego was shut down for 24 hours yesterday due to SNOW. Yes, that's right, SNOW. In sunny southern California. Mother Nature's gone looney.

- I have read 2.5 books this week and every magazine in the house. This is terribly exciting to me. I finally got through Prep which was very good, just like the New York Times said, and then read Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble which is addictively good, and now I'm almost done with Kristen Gore's Sammy's House (a follow-up to Sammy's Hill which was great and so is this one, a great comedic peak at the White House and Capitol Hill from someone with insider knowledge (she's Al Gore's daughter) and the comedic chops (she won an Emmy for writing on SNL)).

- There was a shooting last night, at the Yuma Palms Mall. The mall Ang and I frequent on a weekly basis. It happened about 8:30pm, outside the movie theaters, on Valentine's night (tons of restuarants right there) when there was no school today. It's a wonder only one person was killed and another injured. Apparently a 16 year old shot an 18 year old. Gang-related. Yes, I feel safe in my own backyard.

- Ang and I attended Yuma County's Professional Day for Teachers today, which really wasn't a good use of an in-service day. I could have been developing lesson plans, lessons, putting in grades, figuring midterms, reading sub reports, mapping curriculum, ANYTHING else. But no, I was there. Listening to grand ideas and things I already knew. Yep yep.

- Oh yeah, did I mention the writer's strike ended?!?!?! (Yay!)

- Ang and I treated ourselves to pedicures today, which is the best 20 bucks ever spent can I just tell you. It's so relaxing to sit there reading, having someone pamper you so. This signals 2 things. One, summer is near in Yuma; it's sandal season! And two, we're heading to Vegas tomorrow morning! There are 6 of us going and word on the street is we've got our names down on the VIP lists at several hot clubs which essentially means we pay for drinks but not a cover (which I understand can be 50 bucks and up). We're so money baby! We'll be back Monday (assuming we don't hit the jackpot!).

- Happy long weekend everyone!

100 long days

That's how long the Writer's Strike lasted. Although in ways, it seems like it's been going on a lot longer. I've mostly forgotten what good broadcast television looked like (thank goodness Lost brought us out of that reality TV hell that had been festering). But it's over!

This LA Times article offers a good summation of what came from the agreement. It's not the perfect resolution but a lot of ground was made and the contract, which will be voted on at the end of the month, will last three years. That's good news for me because within the next three years I'll hopefully be a lot closer to being a member of the Guild.

The good news for all of you is that many of your favorite TV characters will grace your screens with new dialogue come April and May and certainly next fall. Some of the bigger shows (i.e., CSI, Grey's, etc.) will be back sooner but the most important part is they'll be back. And Hollywood is back to work today.

Wish I could say the same for me. I'm down and out again with this darn cold, and according to the Physician's Assistant at PrimeCare, I have an upper respiratory infection. All I got was some decongestent and nose spray (that burned when I used it, nice). Here's hoping a few days of rest will have me back on my feet for Saturday - Vegas baby!

Apparently we're overdue

2nd UPDATE: at about 9:45pm we had another aftershock although really, it just feels like another earthquake. This one was a 5.0 and Ang and I just stopped and looked at each other. It lasted a little longer than the other ones and as soon as it started, the birds in the tree outside our window flew away. The door shook this time, and the TV table and I still felt like I was shaking a minute or two afterwards. We have yet to come up with an emergency plan but figured we should because we were both sitting here on the bed and I was like, should we be here, should we go downstairs or something? Ang thinks we're supposed to go into a room without windows but I think I'll do some research tomorrow to figure out exactly what to do. It doesn't seem to be a good idea to stay on the second floor during one but by the time I had decided to move it was over. Man, at least with tornadoes you have enough warning to get to safety. This is crazy!!!!

UPDATE: We've had about five aftershocks since this morning's earthquake, only one of which I've felt - it registered a 3.6. We're shaking here in Yuma!!!

I have survived my first two earthquakes in three days. Yes, I know, it's weird to me too. I grew up hearing about earthquakes as things that happened on the other side of the world, in far off places I never imagined I'd live in. But now there's a different reality - I live in the southwest which is prime earthquake territory. Go figure, something else I didn't see in the brochure...

Friday night I went to bed early, before 10pm. I read for a few hours and around 12:15am, the wall next to my bed shook. My bed is right up against the wall so I felt it, for a few seconds and thought it must have been a semi-truck or something, read a while longer and fell asleep. It wasn't until Ang asked me the next day if I felt the earthquake did I connect the dots. I grew up on a busy street in Howell, Michigan and that street had semis going down it frequently. Our house shook at times because of these trucks and because of how close we were to the road. Our living room has cracks in the walls and paint because of them, and I remember lying in bed at night, feeling them go by. So I didn't realize that this wasn't a truck.

It was an earthquake. A 5.1 earthquake that left 400,000 people without power and 1,200,000 people without cell phone services - mostly in Mexicali, Baja, Mexico where the quake originated. Mexicali's just over an hour southwest from Yuma. And then this morning, about 11:30am, I was lying on Angela's bed reading and all of a sudden, I felt it. Another 5.1 earthquake.

At first I heard the vase on her bookcase shake and then the bed started to move and it continued to move for maybe 20 seconds. It was weird, there was no noise, just the movement that was strong enough to move me on a queen-size bed, on the second floor of a condo. At first I thought, no, it can't be, I'm hyper-sensitive now. But then I thought, maybe, what else could it be. Five minutes later when Ang called it had been confirmed, I wasn't the only one who felt something - her desk and computer shook and other teachers noticed it as well.

You can check out this article to learn more but apparently we're, as in Yuma, is overdue for a larger quake. I'm not terribly excited by this news. That shaking was more than enough for me. I wasn't scared but I began thinking about all the things in my house and whether or not I should move them off their perches or maybe pack them away. I won't because I realize this is the first tremor I've had since I've moved here but it got me thinking. Yes, I still plan to move to L.A. and yes, I realize they are more prone to quakes over in sunny California, but I guess earthquakes are really no different from the snow and cold or tornadoes we have back in Michigan. Weather is crazy, it's scary and it's dangerous. I'm just thankful all that happened was a little shake this time.

Sick Day

Turns out I wasn't overreacting on Monday, I did get sick and then sicker. By Thursday I was losing my voice which wouldn't be too big of a deal except for the fact that I have to talk all day long. And we were reading the climax of The Outsiders and my kids really love it when I read it to them so of course I did which means by 1:35pm I had no voice left. Then I had to sit through an hour and 20 minute parent meeting. Needless to say, I put in for a sick day today. And of course, there were no subs.

But some of my fellow teachers are awesome and they came to my students' rescue and gave spelling tests and retaught point of view and figured out what a heater is in our novel (a gun, if you were wondering). And I stayed in bed.

I am feeling better, not great but hopefully I am healing. I slept ten hours then watched 2 and 1/2 movies (half of Bridget Jones' Diary, Shall We Dance, and A Walk to Remember) and 20 minutes of an infomercial before I realized it wasn't just a long commercial. I ate soup and crackers, drank camomille tea and had 3000 mgs of vitamin C (a co-worker who's husband is a doctor said these were the best remedies), pushed down as much water as I could handle, drank Airborne three times, and stuck to a regimine of Mucinex. Here's hoping we kick this cold's butt!

Not much else is happening. I am going to lay low this weekend, sleep and read and watch movies and rest. We finished the final season of Arrested Development tonight (and did you hear about the potential movie!?!?!?! YES, they're really talking about it!!!!!) and have some Netflix to catch up on. What is everyone else up to?

Odds and ends

I haven't posted in a few days and feel the need to communicate, even if it's just a briefing. So here goes:

- I am getting sick/sick/maybe over-reacting about sickness. I have pains in my chest, my throat hurts and I stuffy. Also my voice is getting weird.

- I have a formal observation tomorrow, my second in two weeks, and I am determined to get EVERY SINGLE box checked this time (I missed 2 last time and while that still equals an excellent observation - I need perfection!).

- I am one-twelfth of the way through reading the Bible.

- I am getting my taxes done Wednesday afternoon at H&R Block. And while getting all my stuff together I found out I spent $510.27 on school supplies last year. That's gotta count for something...

- I am all caught up on my Entertainment Weeklies and Newsweeks. Thank goodness, they really were starting to pile up.

- I have all of my outfits figured out for our President's Day trip to Vegas. It was a real dilemma figuring out what was "club" wear, etc. but I think I've got good options, all of which have been photographed to ensure that I don't look horrible.

- I am effectively addicted to online Facebook scrabble. And thank you to all of you who support and encourage this habit.

- I have not read any of the seven new books sitting next to my bed and this saddens me. Someday...

- The Writer's Strike may or may not be close to settlement. If it settles in a week or so we'll get the Oscar's and possibly some hour-long new dramas this season. If not, the rest of the season's a wash. Thank goodness for DVDs. We've been going through Arrested Development again, all three seasons, and the commentaries. If you haven't seen this show or heard the commentaries, run to Target and buy the DVDs. Best. Show. Ever.

- I am going to bed now. I am tired and achy and feeling blah. And I need to shower in the morning and get to work on time and I already know that'll be a struggle. Wish me luck!

There are these moments...

do you ever get them or am I alone? When your chest starts to feel tight and burn and the tears are there, right inside the rims of your eyes but not quite falling because you will them not to but they want to come, they really do. When life seems just a little too much to bear. It's just hard. And yes, I know, everyone has their burdens and their crosses to bear and I should be grateful, oh so grateful I have a roof over my head, I have a job, I have people in my life who love me but sometimes it's just all a little too much.

It's paying the bills and the budget and the checkbook NEVER EVER EVER seem to match. As many times as I hold the calculator and the pencil and try with all my brain power, it never matches. And to add insult to injury, there's never quite enough money when it gets to days like this, days before the next month's paycheck. Days when you go to the grocery store and you buy all the healthy food you are supposed to be eating and the whole grains and the vegetables and the organic milk and you end up putting it on credit, someone else's credit to boot, and you know that come Friday you can write that check but still. it's just a little too much.

And the tears start to spill. And work is hard and there's never enough time to sit with the kids who need to be sat with and there's not enough energy to plan the really cool lessons because the problem kids suck the life right out of you. And then just a little more, and a little more, and just a little more is asked of you until you break and you snap at an undeserving child. And it's just more than you can bear so you go home and leave the tests ungraded and the room messy and the boards unerased.

And you wonder what's the point? And you wonder why you ever think you're special enough to do something more. And you watch a movie that is everything you've ever wanted to write and work on and be a part of and you get excited to write and be a part of it and then you get to thinking. And that little voice reminds you that it will be hard. Really hard. Harder than all of this life right now combined and you wonder, what makes me think I can ACTUALLY do this? What makes me think this is more than a pipe dream? What makes me think I deserve to do something as frivilous as this when there are people in my life and in all of life stuck in jobs they hate just trying to make ends meet, and my ends too for that matter? And you think, if it's hard now, it will be impossible later. Impossible.

And then you think, should I erase the ranting, now-soggy blog and just go to bed or should I post and let the world know that at this moment, it's rough. I think I'll take a page from one of my favorite rockstar's blog and put it up there for all to see. Put myself out there. Because there are these moments...

Circles

I feel a bit like I've just been going in circles lately. Definately at spin class, which is the good kind of circles but in other areas. At work - I have been doing some paperwork, the team leader part of my job, and I feel as if I just go in circles. Fill out this, no this, now do this, no do this instead. And I feel like it's circles here too - I am just holding, treading water waiting for something else to happen.

But I think it's okay too. I've been reading my bible a lot lately and relearning some great lessons. And I'm trying new tactics at work - tough love with my kids that so far is getting the results I want (BETTER BEHAVIOR!). I need to write more but it seems like by the time I go to work at 6:30 (and try as I might I just can't get up any earlier) then get home after 3, go to the gym, come home, eat, read my bible, catch up on Newsweek or do one scrapbook page, boom it's done - the day is over! Ah well, hopefully the circles are leading me somewhere. (As I write this I feel it circling too - maybe I need sleep!).

And yet, I am looking forward. I've started collecting boxes at work. I'm getting my kids ready for their big AIMS test. I'm thinking ahead to the move and school and a job and what it would be like to work on an amazing television show (although, as Ang reminds me Arrested Development was canceled a few years ago so I can't work there even though I really really want to).

So I guess the good thing is circles can break, they can join, they can become circle eights, squares, triangles, all sorts of things. And that's a very good thing.

A weekend of movies

That's right! On this, my three day weekend I saw 4 movies! So here's a little bit of a review for those who care.

Friday night we watched Sicko - Michael Moore's documentary about the United State's healthcare problems. It was heart-wrenching and terrifying and yet, funny and somewhat upbeat. I think everyone should watch this movie if for no other reason than to spark conversation and debate. And to help Angela raise money to move to France (she's been lobbying for Cuba but I told her she's probably better off trying for France but you never know!).

Saturday we caught a matinee of 27 Dresses, the new romantic comedy with Katherine Hiegel and James Marsden. I had heard not so great reviews of this movie but thought it looked cute so we gave it a shot. Low and behold, it had a great plot, great dialogue, and great acting. Really, a fun way to spend an few hours!

Then we watched two movies Saturday night - We are Marshall and The Ex. The Ex was okay. I love love love Zach Braff and Jason Bateman. But it was only a so-so movie and I was glad I only Netflixed it. But We are Marshall, that was an amazing film. I remember wanting to see this when it came out in theaters and never getting the chance but let me tell you, it had me crying from the beginning, gave me chills, a few laughs, and left me satisfied. What a great story, such great acting from the cheerleader to the coaches and wives, and players. And it was very cool to see the backstories at the end. A must see in my book!

Not a lot else happened this weekend. There was grocery shopping and scrapbooking and catching up on some reading and online scrabble playing and some cooking and baking. Also, I've decided to vote for any candidate who promises mandatory three-day weekends. I think they are essential to our human condition!

Not in a million years...

would I have imagined that today I'd inadvertently eat some clams. Yep yep. It happened. At school. During the reward activity.

So here's the difference between every other school I've ever been to in my thirty years and the school I teach at: rewards here do not constitute popcorn or ice cream but raspados and some weird concoction served in a glass. First the raspados - they are basically homemade snow cones. Which would be fine except they were running low when my kids got to the front of the line so they got the weird concoction. And because the line was taking too long, the other teachers and I started handing out the concoction and low and behold, I got some of it on my fingers. Thinking it was tomato juice, I licked it off. No big deal. Right. Famous last words.

But here's what was in the concoction - they take a cup and fill it with fried tortilla strips that are rolled and dipped prior to serving. They're kinda like churros, which I see people mostly at Sam's Club. Anyway. They fill the cup with these churro/cheeto looking things and pour in what I thought was tomato juice. But no - it's clamato juice. And then they top it with diced cucumber. And that's called a reward here. In my book it's called gross but to each culture their own....

The kids seemed to really like this, at least the Mexican kids. I'll find out more tomorrow as this was the end of the day. But after I licked all the clamato juice off my fingers I realized what it was. And then it dawned on me, I'm allergic to clamato juice (all shellfish technically). And I started to freak a little. So here's Ms. Knapp, abandoning her children to go get Benadryl from her purse and buy a diet coke and chug it in front of the kids (a big no-no). So yeah, that was fun today.

I was fine, and probably would have been without the Benadryl anyway since it was so little an amount. But never in a million years would I have guessed they'd serve my kids ground up clams as a reward. It's seriously like I live in another country:-)

I can't sleep...

It's 11:30 and I am wide awake. Which was not the case two hours ago when I fell asleep watching "A Daily Show" (I love that they renamed "The Daily Show" until the writers' strike is over - which for the record, will not be anytime soon). I fell asleep hard, after getting home close to 7, making dinner and watching "Grey's". It was a long day and I know I am exhausted but my mind won't shut down. So I now for a little while it's not worth lying there beating myself up about it.

We had a bit of excitement here today - I ran home to change for the gym and Ang went to the mailbox and she called and told me I had a letter from Cal State Northridge that said "Important Admission Information Enclosed". So we met in the parking lot and I tore open the envelope only to find a username and password to track my application online. But I also received my first email from UCLA today telling my they've received my completed application packet (which is good since it was mailed over a month ago), so I guess we still just have to wait and see. Fingers and toes crossed!

School is crazy right now. We're in the middle of the Mock AIMS which is supposedly helpful to us teachers - letting us know what our kids don't know so we can prepare them for the real AIMS in April. But it's been disorganized and quickly thrown together and I don't know, just insane. I was running around the school this morning - literally running - trying to find supplies and extra tests for my teammates. Just one of the perks of being team leader someone forgot to mention.

But the day had bright sides. I had a parent meeting where both parents showed up (score!) and over and over again said they were backing us, the teachers. They got their kid to admit his bad behavior and problems and I am hoping for some real progress. It's so nice to have parents who don't blame us, the teachers, for their kid's misbehavior or low grades. So that was a great way to end the school day.

Then I ended up staying after school with Ang and her two boys who are staying for extra help on a regular basis. We're becoming friends: I feed them granola bars, they laugh at my jokes, I help them with their tests. It's great to get one-on-one time with kids, it reminds me of what it is we're really doing inside those walls. It's very cool to interact and see them learn. Today one of the boys learned what the word concerned meant. Ang used it in a sentence directed toward him and he said it was cool she used such a big word. When asked, he didn't know what it meant and he's a 14 year old 8th grader. But we practiced using it and I think he'll remember it which is pretty cool. Such a small step but an important one.

I think I'll try sleep again. I have to get up in just over 5 hours and I know that will not be pleasant. Nothing like a 10-hour workday, an hour and a half at the gym, and some good TV to kick the day. I just wish sometimes we could squeak a few extra hours in there.

His sly smile

Isn't it crazy how you can be going along, having a normal boring day and all of a sudden - WHAM! a brick hits you in the gut. That happened this afternoon as I was laying in bed, watching tv, surfing the internet and got an email that a friend I had in college, while attending the Wesley Foundation, had died. Twenty-eight years old and he died Saturday night. He'd been on MySpace the day before. I'm still trying to find out what happened, emails have been flying back and forth across the country but it doesn't matter in the end.

What matters is that this funny guy I once hung out with on a pretty regular basis is gone. He had gone to CMU to be a youth pastor. While we were all at WMU we'd all been very active at Wesley and I remember most of all his sly smile and how he liked to talk movies. I also remember a pretty vicious game of volleyball:-) I remember his little sister visiting once.

I guess that's good, to carry those memories with me. I am saddened by this news and more so by what the world has lost. But I know that God has another child by His side now. Tonight I pray for his family and for my friends.

It's another year and I'm still in Yuma

Yep, the ball dropped in NYC, and another year dawned. I wonder how people celebrated before that sparkly ball because that's always our go to for New Year's Eve. It was a good year but I for one am mighty excited about what's to come this year.

Today I'm starting the new healthy me project. I've been struggling to be a Weight Watcher for the past month (basically I haven't been, I know this and while I am not proud of it I enjoyed all the cookies, the good food, the chocolates Santa left me, etc. and I realize that no one had a gun to my head and made me eat any of it) so I am getting back on the horse. It's not a diet I have to remind myself (and reading WW Magazine on the plane helped yesterday - they have full page ads saying Diets are mean!) but a healthy way to live. After a while of eating poorly and not moving nearly enough (I did enjoy some quality couch + book time) I start to feel physically gross. So here we go - I have a journal I'll write in (food and all!) and see how it goes. I am glad a lot of you are on this healthy lifestyle journey with me too. I need all the help I can get!

Also, as we flew into Yuma yesterday I got excited thinking about how by this time next year I'll be somewhere else doing something else (hopefully done with one semester of film school - fingers crossed everyone!) and that's pretty cool. Yuma's not a horrible place but gosh, after being in Michigan and Chicago - it doesn't hold a candle. And it would be completely unbearable if it weren't for such awesome friends so I am blessed in that way. Oh and the fact that I have the most amazing massage therapist ever!

I've been up for a couple of hours already though it's only 8:30 here in Yuma. I went to bed around 9:30 last night - I think this thing they call jet lag has set in. But the good news is that my spin class isn't until 4:30 so I don't have to hurry to go anywhere!

I wish you all the best and remember - only 6 more months to come visit me in Yuma (because I know you are all dying too!).

Enjoying Myself

Yes, yes, it's true. I haven't been on the computer much (a few of you have noted this!). But don't fear, I am alive and well and enjoying myself, my family, and my vacation. So far I've read an entire book in 4 days and am almost finished with another I started yesterday. The first was "Julie and Julia", a memoir about a woman named Julie approaching her 30th birhtday who decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 1 in one year. I highly recommend it, a great read. I constantly wanted to share tidbits with my family, and occassionally did. She talks about politics, living in NYC, chopping up a live lobster, eating entire sticks of butter in one recipe, just great stuff. Now I'm reading "Big Boned" by Meg Cabot which is the third in a cute chick-lit mystery series I am enjoying. Both gifts from Ang! Also, I am beginning Stephen Colbert's "I am America and So Can You" - again, great reading.

In addition to all that literary stuff, we've seen a few movies notably yesterday's "Juno" which features an excellent screenplay and equally excellent actors. Allison Janney, Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, J.K. Simmons, Jennifer Garner, and in the title role Ellen Page who can I just say is too beautiful. One of those girls who is ridiculously beautiful like Mrs. Affleck. The story was so good, so well written, one of those that makes me want to do that for a living, for my life. Makes me just want to be a part of GOOD movies, good stories, good stuff. Go see it!

We also saw Shrek 3 last night and can I just say, I hope they're putting the other Shrek's on a hold for a while until they find some new, good story to tell with these characters? It's sad that the best parts of this movie were the gingerbread man's life flashing before his eyes and a few lines by the minor characters like Puss in Boots? So went downhill from the last ones. Glad I only Netflixed it. We're in the middle of Harry Potter 4 right now, we're going to finish it tomorrow when everyone's wide awake and we're hoping to see National Treasure 2 uptown tomorrow too, big plans people!

So yeah, I'm enjoying myself. Another week left on vacation, family to enjoy, another Christmas to celebrate, good times to be had. And yes, I'm loving wearing my cuddle duds under my new hood WMU alumni sweatshirt! I like being cold (well not Kalamazoo cold but this cold is okay!).

Christmas Day, Christmas Day, Time is Drawing Near

That's a line from a song Angela and I picked up somewhere during our childhood that we sing on occasion, all year long because really - it's always coming no matter if it's the day before Christmas or the day after - technically!

But it is drawing near today and we're about ready. Looks like it will be another brown Christmas. We had that glorious snow last weekend and flurries last night but it's all melted and we're back to cold and wind. Alas, it's Christmas anyway! Ang said it's official because I got up and started playing carols on the piano this year. It was great - my dad came in and sang along for quite some time, the perfect way to start Christmas Eve!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday. Our vacation has been good so far, Chicago was a whirlwind but good. Wicked was wonderfully funny, so well done! I think I need to go back and watch the Wizard of Oz now to appreciate more of the story. But check it out if you get the chance, well worth it!!!

I am full of anticipation, this is my favorite feeling of all. We have one Christmas dinner in a few short hours, then church tonight. Singing Silent Night in the candlelight is one of my favorite traditions by far. Then it'll be Christmas morning. And I'm still a big kid because I love opening gifts and even more so, watching those I love open their gifts. We get to go extra slow this year because dinner isn't until 2:30pm tomorrow so that'll be nice! Maybe Santa'll bring a few surprises!!!

Merry Christmas all - may your celebration of that little baby's birth be the great beginning of another new year! I love you all.

It's beginning to feel A LOT like Christmas...

Angela and I have arrived in Michigan, our plane was only about thirty minutes late last night and it was a slow drive to Howell from Detroit - 30 to 45 miles an hour but we made it by 9:15 and my mom had meatloaf on the table which was wonderful!

This morning we awoke to over 5" of the cold stuff and it was officially declared a snow day. Which meant no church and no going anywhere, even to the Knapp Family Christmas (which has been rescheduled for Jan. 1st for all of you who were worried!). It's still snowing and blowing with a wind chill in the single digits and even though it's a pain, I LOVE IT! It finally feels like Christmas. We're going to wrap presents and sit by the tree and just enjoy the season! I wish the same for all of you today!

A flood's a comin'

It is, I can tell. How you ask? Well, it's been raining for almost five hours now. That's about four hours and fifty-five minutes more worth of rain then we've had in the past six months, maybe longer. It doesn't rain in the desert, hence it's name: the desert. So yeah, I am guessing tomorrow all the trailer parks and the grocery store parking lot will be under water. It's kinda like when it snows up north.

The kids were so excited for rain today, my curtain rod is broken in my classroom so they could see outside and they kept watching for drops. Rain is a big event down here. It's so weird. It feels normal to me. I have my window open right now listening to the patter on the roof. I love it!

However, something I noted today that makes my heart sad. The rain seems to bring out the homeless in Yuma. We saw more than one man walking today, near our apartment complex and around town, touting belongings in plastic bags, trying to get out of the rain. We have shelters here but they're a few miles from us so I hope they get there tonight as it's getting cooler at night. But it just makes me sad.

It's been a busy week. We are on the downslide before Christmas break at school, ten school days and counting left. I am excited, the kids are excited and we are all ready for it. But things are going really well inside my four classroom walls. Outside the door is another story. Word to the wise: don't go to work for a school that is in year four of a school improvement plan and about to be taken over by the state/federal government (worse-case scenario but a real possibility). The politics are nightmare-inducing, literally, just ask Ang.

Today we read and analyzed the poem "The Highwayman" about a stage coach robber in England in the 1700s who's love kills herself to warn him that the Redcoats are waiting for him. It's really a heavy poem, tragic and full of symbolism and unfamiliar language. But guess what? My kids loved it! I can say it's really the first selection from the text that we've read in fifteen weeks that they've gotten excited about. They asked questions and discussed theme and just totally rocked this poem! I loved it. And I was observed today (surprise!) and my kids and I were complimented which is very cool. So all in all, a great day to be in room 109!

Thanksgiving Weekend

It's almost over but it's been good. Not the same as being home in Michigan in the cold, visiting friends, watching the Fantasy of Lights parade, but it's been a nice weekend.

Wednesday we got out of work early, before 2pm which was great (the kids leave at 1pm on Wednesdays normall anyway) so Ang and I went out to lunch (we are calling it lunch because if we call it dinner at 4pm Ang insists were worse than the snowbirds). Then we went downtown and to the mall Christmas shopping. It was great, there was no one around and there were a lot of the same sales we saw Friday when we went back (yes, I know, a lot of shopping but mostly browsing, what else is there to do on Black Friday?!?!).

We also saw the movie "Dan in Real Life" which was great. We snuck pumpkin ice cream in from Coldstone and laughed and cried and enjoyed ourselves. A great movie - really, it's nonviolent, there's no swearing that I can recall, and no sex, just a good family movie! I give it an A+ (and so did EW and a lot of other critics, which is awesome).

Thursday we had Thanksgiving with our friends the Phelps and some British folks they know who are stationed here with the British Royal Army and their parents. It was quite the group. We ate good food, drank good wine, played apples to apples for over four hours, laughed at the kids (ages 3, 1.5, and 1) and just enjoyed the day.

Friday Ang and I made a quick trip to Mexico (under an hour, in and out) for vanilla that was being requested from up north and then hit the mall. And promptly left the mall. We didn't have a problem finding a parking spot at Kohl's but when we got inside (we were just looking for the $2.99 bath towel sale for Ang) the check out line was literally all around the store. Insanity!!! But we did get a few gifts at Target (surprisingly, not at all busy) and Sam's and then headed home to rest and shower before heading out Friday night with the girls, Julie and Christina. And guess where we went for Girls' Night? Yep, right back to the mall! Ah well, such is Black Friday!

Oh, and we also decorated for Christmas. Ang made the executive decision that we would not have a tree which is fine, I understand. But I also miss getting all Christmasy. So I put up our decorations anyway. And bought a super smelly vanilla candle and have been lighting candles all around the house every night and playing my new Charlie Brown Christmas music. (Yes, we have to open the windows because it's so hot but the cool breeze helps me think of snow).
Check it out:

A Quickie

I'm tired. Exhausted, physically and well, just physically. I have been at the Y 3 out of the last 3 days. Ang commented tonight that we aren't at home much anymore and I guess that's a good thing. I am really trying with this exercise thing but it's kicking my butt so far. And yes, I know that's a good thing.

Other than that things are normal. School is good. I feel caught up and am getting stuff done for the next few days. Including tomorrow we only have 19 more school days left until Christmas break. I am way too excited. I'm dealing with a few discipline problems and a few Fs but other than that it's great really. We made these really great projects after we finished our last novel - Tangerine - and I thought they looked so cool so here's a peek:



I'm still fretting about the Writer's Strike which is nearing week three. Here's an interesting take on the issue if you're so inclined and wonder what's going on (it might not seem like a big deal but if you are a fan of any nonreality show, it will or already has affected you): http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20159387,00.html

Oh, and I'm really homesick. I miss everyone and I can't wait for Christmas break. I am just really feeling the need to be around family right now. So yeah, Thanksgiving will be interesting:-)

Ok, off to sleep - 5:30 comes awfully early! Hugs and kisses all around.

P.S. - My email is not working properly which is ticking me off! I can read all your messages but can't reply. So I'll try from work tomorrow or from Ang's computer tomorrow night. So don't think I'm ignoring you all. Ang has decided my PC is just angry about the new Mac in the house. Whatever:-)