Blonde Story Short

My last night on "Thanksgiving San Fran Roadtrip 2009" was a difficult one. "Okay you're going to go up that hill for about 16 blocks, then over the Golden Gate Bridge.Once you're off the 101, turn right, then left then left again, then right. You'll know what it looks like." Ok. Quick pep talk to self. Map of strange city riding shot gun...always helpful (when you have the where with all to look down while driving crazy roads and can read maps). A sweaty, shaking version of me made it off the freeway. The lefts and rights began to blur, especially without street names. Once in the residential of the destination I was at a loss. Areas like this one tend to have that every-house-looks-identical appeal. I know they have a mini-van in their driveway. There was definitely a fence. And there was trim around the roof and an American Flag hanging...or maybe a festive turkey flag? Mission Accomplished. Arrival at 7pm, ready for screaming children an...

It is Friday which means only one thing. I am enjoying my lunch of left-over buffalo wings (yes, I'm a man) and Diet Coke with the students of VG Comic Club. "VG Comic BOOK Club" is not the name, I learned today, because they are not just working on books, but also videos . This is a no-nonsense club. My job as the club sponsor, is to sit in the corner of the room, listen, and on occassion throw in a courtesy laugh for the kid who hears crickets after the punch line of his comic book related joke. He happens to be one of my favorites, I mean, teachers don't have favorites! How silly. Truthfully, the statements that fly out of these four boys' mouths make about as much sense to me as the a jean skirt paired with Uggs. I will attempt to document some of their priceless interactions in this post... "We're working on a video, that'll probably come out after Christmas since I'm asking for a new video camera, one that doesn't suck." ...

I can be a bit of a creep sometimes. Unfortunately, being a teacher gives me more than enough opportunities to hone this talent. One of my sixth graders had In-School Suspension for calling one of her classmates "witch, but with a B." She is the student who others refer to as "CooKoo." I've seen her in action. When a student didn't honor her request to open the door one day she made what others call her "evil eyes" from outside the window. "Uh oh. She's making her evil eyes! That means she's gonna try to kick one of us!" I could feel the genuine fear in the room. In fact, I started to sweat a little bit myself. Last week I walked into an administrator's office to find "Jungle girl" camped out there for her suspension. She had her evil eyes on. I asked her about it. "Hey you, what's goin on up there?" (Referring to her very interesting mind) "It's a jungle up there." ...

As I pack up the last few boxes in my kitchen, I realize a few things. 1) I have a freakish amount of lunch pales and 2) I'm insanely good at having a bazillion (notice the really large fake number for emphasis) things happening all at once. In other words, I'm the queen of overcommiting. I've gotten better. Years back, in the days of high school I was pretty much out of control. Snow boarding club? Yea I should definitley be a part of that, and the VP of it as well! School musical? Why not? FBLA? Sign me up! At least now I keep my commitments limited to things I'm interested in! Until last week. One of my very interesting "case-load" kids, you've heard of him before-he's the one that talks of video games and comics that he creates in his head and on paper during class, has a hard time socially. A wise man once said, "Sure, I could be first chair jazz flute in the band, but is that gonna help me climb the social ladder? I think not." Con...

As planned, Monday morning I reinstated my "Triple A," and got 'ol Wanda the Honda back to the shop. Although I am absolutely dense when it comes to space, time and therefore directions, I am very much aware of the distance from my house to the mechanic since 7 miles was this morning's limit on "free" roadside assistance. The total distance was 7.67 miles actually. I don't feel great about it being called "free" since I'm pretty sure I had just read the numbers off my Visa to an agent for the grand total of $67. What are ya gonna do? After checking out some OBcean apartments, I decided one was adorable and the other a dump. I was later dropped off at home by my dear friend who happens to also be a dear mama. My new theory: The only way to house hunt in between jobs one and two on a humid Monday afternoon, to do so with two precious babies in the back seat...mostly because they laugh at your silly jokes and facial expressions. I sti...

For some odd reason every area of life seems to be hectic at the same time. A friend of mine had the nickname "Hectic" for a season of her life. This was mostly because she often found herself out and about (code for getting drunk downtown), where chaos seemed to find her. In the last month I've had my car in the shop (driving rental PT Cruiser of course), been the "squeaky wheel" at work to obtain a bigger and better position (they heard my squeak!), a move approaching in two weeks to which the area of the city I am not even certain, a sick grandmother, and wedding festivities where I will share my professional bridesmaid skills approaching in the next week. So much. No other word can describe it, but hectic. My current roommate was gradually taking her goods and is officially moved out, along with our sofa and kitchen table, as of today. After house hunting online all morning, okay after 11am when I woke from my slumber, I found myself sitting in a beach ...

I've recently been making efforts to get more involved in my church. For real, it's hard to even go to church for me, let alone go AND be involved in some other capacity like a mid-week gathering! However, for the past two weeks I have been attending a "Community Group" with like-aged people. It turns out there are actually some pretty nice human beings that are a part of this community. Not to mention, my "Ace Hardware" theory... if you want to buy tools, you go to Ace Hardware. In other words, go places where you'll find what you're looking for ie. you want a Christian man...go where there are a whole bunch of them (said the skeptic) otherwise you might just continue finding real tools ! So am I going there with a bad motive you ask? No. I am going there with good motives, hoping for the possibility of some great perks ;) I'll try to wrap up my thoughts in a few short sentences, or maybe a semi-long paragraph? I have mentioned before that ...