Ankles swallowed by metro doors.

Last night was fantastic. I mean, a completely necessary girls only danceyourassoff sort of fantastic. Scarlett and I began the evening watching the new Angelina movie, Salt. This is a great action flick if you can suspend your belief system temporarily. Anorexic women looking like skin and bones couldn't possibly kick that much booty, but I'll admit it was a perfect beginning to our ladies' evening.

After such an exciting, heartpounding "woah, did she just take down three dozen Russian spies!?" movie, we promptly decided to have a few and catch up at our favorite Irish pub, Fado's in Chinatown. Spotting two empty seats at the end of the bar, Scarlett and I spent hours catching up on life - you know, the usual (i.e. men, dating, drama, more men). Oh, and by the way- Magner's is cider for the soul.

Meanwhile, the currentboyinmylife (007) began the persistent texting ritual called "where are you can I come and join you please?". I was unamused. This is a girls night! Never crash this sort of night, boys. It's just not a good idea. Back and forth we texted, me hinting in my usual subtle way NO DON'T YOU DARE COME HERE and his oh ok fine, then i guess i'll just go home. the perpetual dance got old quickly, and i caved in to the guilt trip. You know what's crazy? I didn't even KNOW he was guilt tripping me at first! Of course I figured it out and the Jersey in me surfaced immediately.



Here's one thing I won't do. I will not apologize for my decisions. I will not apologize for what I choose to do, and with whom I choose to do it. Especially, above all- to men. It's just not worth the sacrifice.



Anyway, he chose to arrive two ciders and a douchebag comeon later. I chose to not attack the guilt tripping issue. Instead, I grabbed my girlfriend's hand and started dancing. Of course, 007 danced along behind me, doing the typically unattractive bump and grind, hands on hips and violently swaying to and fro. I didn't mind, though. His dance was of a completely unaware, goofball nature that made me laugh the rest of the night. Besides, my dear friend found herself a fabulous dance partner, so what could spoil the night?



2 a.m. and I was ready and rarin' to catch the metro home. I said my goodbyes and walked with 007, allowing his arm to wrap around my waist with the promise of seeing me home safe and sound.



You know, I always end up injured when my clumsiness and the metro mix. I've broken my foot twice running for the metro in flip flops. However, I never miss my metro stop- no matter how tired I am, I always recognize when it's time to jump the platform. However, this time was an exception. It took me several seconds too long to walk through those metro doors and guess what? My ankle was nearly severed by the heavy crush of those doors. Luckily, I was able to pull my ankle out with a mere bruise and alas! A broken sandal.





So, the moral of the story is this.



Men, never crash a ladies night.



And women, unless you want to lose a perfectly good sandal, don't run for those metro doors. they will not stay open. Just wait for the next metro stop and your limbs are more likely to survive.

2008 already?

New Year's Resolution
#1: work out more. eat out less.
which leads to
#2: cook more at home = spending less money.
i'm not exactly the typical girl who makes resolutions and breaks them once per year. actually, i'm a believer of making/breaking any resolution at any time of year.
#3: make resolutions throughout the year.


so last night i made homemade pea soup with ham. i just had some during my lunch break and it is now doing terrible things to my stomach. i feel sorry for my 1:00 class. i should have left out the ham.
i just realized how much i hate ham.





i can't believe i'm a teacher, sometimes. children urk me.

I nearly wept.

Dear Anne,

2009 GCC Touring Choir Alumni /Italy Concert Tour-CANCELLED

June 28, 2009

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!!

chuckle.

a silly memory from college

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thanksgiving? what?

is it seriously already thanksgiving? the insanity of work, class, and life causes time to fly. i hardly have a clue what's going on anymore and that kinda bothers me.
but. here is a photo of my crazy fourth grade class. they truly are insane. oh no, do not be fooled by their cute poses, smiles, and occasional 'gangsta' signs. sometimes i wonder if the teachers of my school are here to tame wild beasts or teach small children. the line bordering the purpose of this career seems to blur wayyy too much.

my classroom smells like doo doo.

ahhh yes. hand sanitizer, air freshener, clorox wipes and febreze are all my best friends these days.
but nothing tops a first grader poo-ing her pants in my class.
at first, as they all filed in i thought i smelled something rather odd. I pushed the thought aside and continued teaching our new songs for this week. About five minutes passed and i realized the odor was becoming even worse. so i had the children stand up and i walked around the classroom pretending to observe but really, i was sniffing for the culprit. i finally realized it was a girl standing right in front and looking rather uncomfortable.
so i approached the girl and whispered "Faith, do you need to go to the bathroom?"
she looked confused at first until finally, a look of overwhelming realization spread across her face. she nodded ferociously, and i told her to go immediately.
she was literally gone for 20 minutes.
i was beginning to worry by the end of class. i realize these nuisances can be messy for a 6 year old to clean up, but 20 minutes? i thought maybe she went to te nurse.
she finally appeared and i asked her "Is everything alright?"
she grinned and said a little too loudly "Yep! I just had to wipe my butt!"

and thus, my air freshener's dying breath was used simply to kill the leftover doo doo odor wafting through the classroom.
lovely.

of frustrations and small triumphs.

i've had nothing of any substance to say, lately. the number of fistfights i have had to break up in the past three days alone are beginning to trouble me. i know these kids have rough lives at home, but how do i get through to them?

my fourth graders thought the capital of the united states was capital heights. DC happens to be right next door, and they had no idea.

i spent class with my sixth graders discussing 9/11 because they had no idea that it happened. why is no one telling them these things?

meanwhile, i've been working twelve hour days running on coffee and diet coke. not a good combination, but i don't know how to stop.

but the highlight of my day yesterday:

we talked about latin music in my fifth grade class yesterday.

they had no idea who gloria estefan was (yes, i totally went off track from the original lesson plan, as usual).

I decided to not play the pathetic demonstration of latin music the curriclum chose, and played the original video of gloria singing the song "Reach" while showing the 1996 olympics.

[they had no idea what the olympics are, by the way]

we then talked about music in spain, cuba, portugal. i taught a little salsa step and they danced themselves out the door.

their classroom teacher asked them:

what is wrong with you? why are you dancing?

one serious fifth grader: because we learned to follow our dreams.



HAHAHAHA. where do they get this stuff? we talked about gloria and latin music and this is what they took from it?

alright, i'm not going to argue that one.








yesterday. was absolutely horrifying. i had my fourth grade class, and several of them apparently not only have ADHD, but ODD. Oppositional Defiance Disorder? what a load of crap equalling bad parenting and disrespect for everyone including themselves. How exactly am i to prevent three fights breaking out at the same time? How do you control 30 kids when all they do is scream at each other. about six of them could not care less, and that turns my class into "recess time".

UUUUGH.

i realize that these kids require constant positive reinforcement, particularly since they never respond to yelling or negativity. HOWEVER, i don't have TIME to do that in only 30 minutes, only once per week. that time goes by feeling like a second. and now i've nearly lost my voice

unbelievable. i've never seen kids this bad. not in a single other class.

now how in the world do i win them over? clearly fun and activities do not work.

sigh.

you win some and you lose some.

but i am so grateful to have a day off. i need a breather.