Shock and Awe

Monday was an exciting day in my room. One of my students almost killed them self and tried to kill the rest of us. Two of them, a boy and a girl, came up with a fantastic idea to put a gum wrapper in the electrical socket and see what would happen. What happened was a big burst of light came out and almost started a fire, there was a loud noise that brought other teachers running and my kids screaming and Daniel got a shock that knocked him out of a chair.

This was very scary but I had my calm teacher persona on and seemed very unrattled on the outside, inside it took me 2 hours to get my heart rate back down. Thank God no one was injured and nothing was damaged. Daniel learned a big lesson and now his mother is coming to school with him to make sure he is making sure he is behaving.


Today was another exciting chapter in my book as a student brought a joint to school and concealed it in her makeup case. Some students ratted her out and I tipped the police officer who searched her and found it. She was subsequently arrested and taken to juvenile hall where whe will be held until her parents pick her up. I won't be seeing her for a while that's for sure!

Animals Fighting

Yesterday Sarah and I went to get a pedicure. We only budget this in once and a while but it is a lot of fun and it is nice to have pretty toes seeing as though all we wear are sandals. There are many, many places to go in Yuma but we have our favorite at the mall. This is not that convenient because the mall is always packed and we inevitably see kids there but the people there are great and they know us so we go there.

Back to yesterday, we go in, choose our colors and sit down. Ready to relax from a long day of studying and homework from Sarah's online course. Just as my feet get wet the yelling starts. I am used to not understanding what is being said by the family. Everyone that works at the nail place is related, I have known them since they opened the shop. All of a sudden three people are screaming at each other and it just kept getting louder and louder. They didn't take it outside or in the back, they were standing right in front of us! Sarah later described the sound like animals fighting in the forest or something. It was awful. The women working on our feet just kept going like nothing was happening. Apparently they thought if we couldn't understand them it was OK.

Then this one girl starts crying and another has red marks on her arms. I recognize these marks because I have seen them when girls fight at school. There was obviously some kind of physical encounter before we arrived. The screaming lasted a couple of minutes and then it was very awkwardly quiet for a few minutes.

All the while a new person to the shop is sitting out in the waiting area. I have never seen him before but it is obvious he belongs to the family as he is Vietnamese and doesn't appear to speak English. The weird thing was that he started talking very quickly and didn't stop for about 20 minutes. He wasn't talking to anyone in particular. At first I thought maybe he was on a phone or ear piece. But no, he was staring into space speaking very loudly and the women helping us kept laughing at him. Although it is not clear at this point, since my Vietnamese is limited to a student we have a school that I have heard speak on two occasions and my time in the nail salons, I am led to believe he is a crazy cousin they have been forced to take in. This could be where the fight stemmed from.

It was a very surreal moment and we got out in a hurry. I felt like I was watching a "story" on Telemundo but at least there I can understand the plot because I can pick up some of what is being said.

Homesick

Today I found myself feeling a little homesick. This doesn't happen much since Sarah moved here because whenever I need a lift she's right there to be sarcastic in person:-) But today we went to lunch at Julies and had a great afternoon with her, her husband and her two kids. Now, I know this does not seem connected but it is. Some of my best memories are of sitting at my parent's or my grandparent's or a friends or relatives home and sharing a meal, conversation, laughter and checking in.

That old saying of when it rains it pours is really true. There has been so much going on lately and now to hear of a friend who has been going through a terrible couple of months on top of everything else, sometimes I really ask why?

It seems like the bad is never ending, there is always something worse coming our way. Someone else is sick, someone else has died. Someone has been fired, is moving, is is is....But then today on a quiet Sunday afternoon with friends. Sharing a simple meal and good conversation I was reminded that no matter how much bad is thrown at us it will never be more than the good because there is always someone to make you feel at home.

My homesickness will go away, it is only 8 weeks before I get to see everyone so that is helping. But beside that I know that God is taking care of things.

I know that was a bit rambly but it is what came out of my brain tonight. Have a great week!

A Monday to be remembered

This is a Monday that will not soon be forgotten. We have too many days like that now. Too many days that people do unspeakable things to other people for a bad, wrong, or no reason at all. The people who were sitting in class today didn't ask to be remembered but they will be. By cell phone cameras and recordings, by eyewitness accounts. By pictures we will undoubtedly see on television in the days that follow. These people will be remembered because one person wanted to be seen and heard. How sad. That the many should suffer at the hands of one.

We have become such a desensitized society that numbers don't haunt us like they should. The number of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan the last few years alone should be enough to incite riots and protests to bring those left standing home safely to their families. But those numbers are too big. We are used to the big numbers. Strange how it is the smaller numbers that get us. When the death toll kept rising today people got more and more upset and outraged and wanted action against the university. The fact is the university couldn't have stopped what had happened. It was tragic and it happened. I don't think placing blame and pointing fingers will help. The families need to feel love and support and to know that their child will be remembered however tragic this incident.

I thought back today to the night of the fire in my dorm in college and how we stood outside and watched it burn through the windows. We knew fear that night. But not life and death fear like the students today. That night, at 2 a.m. I called my parents collect to tell them what had happened and that I was OK. I have never heard more relief in my mother's voice than I did that night when I had made it to my aunt's safely. I kept thinking today how horrible it must have been for every single person who knew someone at Virginia Tech University today to have that moment, minutes, hour or hours of not knowing that relief.

My prayer tonight is that the families know where their children are and that this violence that seems to sweep across our world and desensitize us to horrible things will end. That it will become so intolerable that people won't stand for it anymore.

Summoned

I have been summoned to appear before the Superior Court Clerk because I did not return my jury selection form. I did. They say it must have gotten lost in the mail so I have to go on April 26th and fill out the paper work again. The good that came out of this was that I was forced to call the courthouse and ask them about postponing our month of service and they were very flexible. So now we can go home and then go to Texas to see the baby Brick #3 and the others Bricks of course! Now we are getting really excited, 8 weeks to go!

Wednesday

Today is a big day, the most important day of 7th grade for the students. We started the AIMS test. Today they are writing an essay to prove their writing skills. This is a challenge for many of them as they are second language learners and they have to sit still for 2 and a half hours to do it. But I was optimistic. Emphasize the WAS.

Because of new security regulations we have to have the students sign in each morning and I explained this and showed them where to sign in on the sheet next to their name. Then I passed around the paper. When I got it back every single student, all 21 of them had signed next to their name, under the right column the word Wednesday. I am no longer optimistic. I am sure one day I will look back and laugh. But today as I sit quietly pondering wether or not to return to this job in August I am not amused.

:-)

Vacation ended well, in fact so well I have been devising ways to not have to go back to work. I know it is inevitable but maybe just a few more days of fun... I finally got the insurance mess straightened out and they sent me my medicine, thank God! Grandpa's sickness has a name. We are all a little frightened about the future but I know God is taking care of him and I am remaining positive that the treatment will progress well.

We started taking Yoga and I sprained my wrist, not my fault really. It is the same one I broke last year when my bicycle was hit by a car. The urgent care Dr. said it is not broke and needs rest so I have a brace and it will be fine. Other than that I loved yoga and I only fell once. The instructor said I was flexible! I even bought a yoga mat to take with me. It has extra padding so my knees won't be so angry with me now.

Not alot of other news to share. AIMS test is this week so the kids will be on edge but lots of planning time for me! I hope everyone has a good week and those of you having bad weather, take solace in this. We are supposed to have a sand storm during golf practice Wednesday which is when we are supposed to take the team picture, see our weather isn't perfect either!

So you've had a bad day

I had a bad day. Yep, even on vacation it happens. Things have been going well but today I had to do real world stuff like deal with the insurance company and the fact that my right arm was going numb and hurting really bad all at the same time and other various unpleasant things like going to the post office for the second day in a row ( we all now how fun this is for me).

I got into my massage therapist who is recommending yoga and whatever else I can do to relax because she is afraid I am going to explode or something soon. Then I had to go to Walgreen's for a prescription that my insurance company is holding hostage. All the while I am calling the insurance company's special injection service to get my injections sent out that they are saying I can't have. This is all very stressful and before you know it I am in tears yelling obscenities at the Walgreen's pharmacist who doesn't speak English very well. Let's add that to the list of places I should no longer go without Sarah.

I know this all underlying stress because we are waiting, something we are not good at for my parents to call. They had a meeting with my grandpa's Dr. today to find out about the biopsy and the bone cancer and all that. I guess maybe I should take up yoga.

So now I am going to scrapbook some pictures that I have had since I moved to Yuma, that always de-stresses me. Love to all, keep the prayers going up.

What's New With You?

There is all kinds of news to share so I will share and then you share back!

- Palm Springs is perfect, I want to live there, as long as I can live at the Calla Lily Resort and be pampered everyday!

- Always take cold weather clothes on vacation. I know this from living in Michigan my whole life but I forgot. The lapse in judgement meant no trip up the tram in Palm Springs because they had 4 inches of snow at the top and it was 20 degrees.

- I ran over a sink with Sarah's car, thank goodness only the sink was damaged. Had we taken my car a very different outcome would have been likely. The guy was actually mad because the sink flew out of his truck and I ran it over instead of swerving into the other lane where there was traffic.

- There are way better malls in California than Arizona

- California also cares more about the environment than we do here in Arizona. In Palm Springs there is a large wind energy project that is a pretty cool and they have sun buses.

- We are cat sitting for our boss and we don't know when he is coming home and his pool has turned green. I am pretty sure this has something to do with the bad windstorm we had last week but I am choosing to ignore it and say my job was just to keep the cats alive. If they don't come home soon that could be in jeopardy as well. This is day 11 that they have been gone with no word.

- My massage therapist has found damaged nerves in my right arm and shoulder and if I don't do something I may end up with permanent damage. The Dr. has upped the anti-depressants and the anxiety meds and gotten me into the best Dr. around in Yuma (which isn't saying much) the appointment isn't until May though.

- We still have one week of vacation! Tomorrow I am getting a cavity filled and having golf team practice. The hot weather has started so there will be a lot of laying by the pool and sleeping.

- The insurance company is holding my injections hostage just because they can. Tomorrow I have to use my wiles to get them back:-) Or maybe just yell a lot at someone on the phone.

- We went to Trinity United Methodist Church this morning and it was a nice Palm Sunday service with good, old fashioned communion. It was nice to have a familiar service even if we were the youngest people there by 40 years. It was the 8:0 service and I am guessing it is not real popular with the young crowd.

- My grandpa is in the hospital with a blood infection caused by pneumonia and in diagnosing this found a tumor on his rib that appears to be bone cancer. We would appreciate any prayers you want to send up for him and our family.

Broken System

It's been a few days I know and I will get you caught up on the kids and the test scores but first I have to findmy soap box. Okay, there it is :-) Friday night Sarah and I went to Mexico to hang out with our friends and it was pointed out to us that there was a bus parked by the border. This is apparently the deportation bus. What happens is the U.S. government saves up a bunch of people who have been caught in this country illegally and then they bus them to a point of entry and drop them off. I was aware that this happened because my friend's husband was deported. What I was not aware of was the process.

There is a gate that the people get off the bus and walk through and then they walk through this long fenced in area to a turnstyle where they give a border patrol agent their name and they are released into Mexico. That's it. All they have is what they are carrying. No family, no plane ticket, no money, nothing.

Since moving here I have come to understand a whole new side of immigration and the debate over our borders but let me tell you, what I witnessed Friday night should make any American ashamed of our government that this is how we treat anyone, citizen or not. There were children in that line. Young girls. Who are now, this very moment at risk to be raped, sold, murdered and God knows what else. Border towns are dangerous places because people get left there without anything and will do anything.

I don't know the answer but I know treating people like they don't exist is not right. Next time you get a chance to vote on an immigration issue please think about all sides of it. There are two sides to everything and just because one side is expensive or difficult doesn't make it wrong.

Migraines I like

Believe it or not there are some migraines I like. I know that sounds weird coming from anyone, especially me being hospitlized and injected wit things and taking all the pills that I do. But it is true, I guess after all these years I have grow accustomed to the little guys. Yesterday I had one I like, very sharp pain in one place and the shot took care of it nicely.

Today however, is another story. Lots of pain all around, constant, makes me grumpy. I had bad dreams, didn't sleep alot and jsut want to go to sleep. It has to go away beause we are going to Palm Springs in a few days and vacation starts at 3 today. I think it is weird that I have some migraines that I like, what do you think?

Big Day

Today is a big day for me. I am an interventionist. What this means to the outside world is that I take kids who are two to three years behind in reading and writing and try to bring them to grade level in one year. What this means in my everyday life, chaos, referrals, nonstop talking and evergy, judgement and oh yeah, chaos. But today is the day.

My babies are taking the test. Not the AIMS test, that's after break. This is the test for the end of the level of intervention. To see if they have made growth over the months that they have been in my care. I think I was a little freaked out this morning about it. There is a mystery stain in my new shirt and we have conferences today. I actually ran in the building looking for somone and I have a migraine, tell tale signs that I was freaking out but I don't notice until after of course. I am nervous for them. They have worked hard to patch the holes and move up.

Now, they are nervously sitting there trying to take there test like it is the SAT's or something. I keep saying they are doing great, but are they really? Did I really do well by them. I took two leaves of absence and yelled at them alot. So many things that I could have done better are going through my head. Time will tell. I will update when I know.

Blood in Blood out

This is the title of a film that was released in 1993. You may not have heard of it, don't worry, I am not sure many peopl have. It is a 3 hour long epic of gang life in east L.A. set from the early 1970's to the late 1980's. It follows 3 cousins who grow up together and end up taking very different paths. You may wonder why I am telling you this. It has to do with lesson 489 of being a teacher. Never say yes to a student without knowing for sure what you are getting into. One of my students asked me if I had seen this movie and I said no, I had never heard of it. He raved about it and said I had to see it, it was great, his favorite movie. I figured this was the end. But no, he brought the DVD to school. The unrated directors cut. Fantastic.

This movie had some very bad acting, some very bad violence (but no worse than the Sopranos), and I was sure it was never going to end. There was one surprise at which I was mildly interested and Sarah (who watched in protest at first and then in the way that you can't stop watching something horrific because you might miss the most horrific part) wants me to bring it up at parent teacher conferences this week as to why they let their son watch this movie and if they want him to emmulate the behavior. The movie was pretty true to real life. Much of it takes place in San Quentin and I have seen several documentaries on it and it did not seem overly dramatic for the movie.

Anyway, my review is thumbs down because frankly it is depressing, especially if you have never been to L.A. and never spent much time with hispanic people, it only shows the negative side of gang life (no there is not a positive). It is late, I am going to sleep.

Morning Mayhem

Something fascinating happens every morning at our house. As we rush around getting ready, so do our neighbors. We have fallen into a very predictable pattern of getting dressed, making lunch and then eating oatmeal. While we are eating our oatmeal we usually see our neighbors going through their predictable morning routine. Dad comes out of house, runs down sidewalk with backpack in hand. If you count to ten slowly a young boy will follow (very slowly). He is usually carrying a glass of milk or eating on the run. If you then count slowly to five or seven you will see a teenage girl likewise with some sort of food and hurrying down the walk, trying not to get left behind. Occasionally a teenage boy is there as well but he manages to get out before the crowd most mornings.

This is fascinating because one, it gives us breakfast fodder and two, it seems crazy that so many people live so quietly nextdoor and are so late every morning!

Monday Funday!

Monday dawned early this morning. Not as early as it should have though! My alarm went off and Sarah said, are you getting up? and I said, yes. Then I promptly fell back asleep. Hard. for almost 30 minutes and evidently so did Sarah as I heard her stumble toward the shower later. We made it to work on time but it has been one of those days where you always feel behind. And seeing as those I didn't have my lesson plans done it was interesting. But now all is well. We have started essays and wrote odes.

Two more periods and then a parent meeting and then home for more sleep! Hope everyone had a good Monday.

Happy Thoughts

I usually blog about things that upset me or that are ironically not funny so today I'm going to blog about happy things instead (or actually Sarah is going to blog, I am dictating as my head hurts - but that is the only not happy thing I'll blog about now).
Happy Thought #1 - One of my students had an almost perfect essay after a whole year of behavior and academic problems. We were very proud of him!
Happy Thought #2 - My students were perfect for a huge observation yesterday therefore my observation was nearly perfect and my boss is very happy!
Happy Thought #3 - No one judged me last night when I chose to eat 2 chocolate milk shakes for dinner because I could not share in the alcohol that was being used to celebrate our great observations!
Happy Thought #4 - I am being recruited by the local high school to teach there next year. It will not happen but it's nice to be wanted and sought after.
Happy Thought #5 - I got up and cleaned the bathroom this morning and I may even fold the laundry later.
Happy Thought #6 - Today is a pedicure day and it's also going to be 95 degrees! Perfect weather for the pool party at 2pm!
Happy Thought #7 - Sarah gave me a shot of pain killers, saving me the trouble.
Happy Thought #8 - I got to sleep in this morning! (I put my sleep mask on so the sun wouldn't bother me.)
Happy Thought #9 - I lost 2 pounds this week!
Happy Thought #10 - I saw Little Miss Sunshine this week which was a really good film. It was the first independent I've ever liked, according to Sarah. It was very funny, I highly recommend it!

Random Thoughts!

* I have made marked improvement in my scorekeeping ability for middle school!

* Support groups are dangerous - I belong to one online for people with migraines and one of the members wrote today about wanting to commit suicide. I suddenly realized how much we can influence other people.

* My students are actually excited about writing poetry and making poetry books. Personally I think it is more about not wanting to write essays than anything but I will take what I can get.

* I spent over 14 hours at work this weekend and still didn't get all caught up - and people say being a teacher is easy, please!

* Good news on the tax return front, I came out about 600 dollars ahead which is great, now I can pay my car insurance next month

* I tried to exercise this morning and the same thing happened as the last time I went to the gym, my head almost exploded. Apparently I cannot handle the blood flow so I have to think of somehting much slower to make me lose weight, any magical tips???

* We are no longer boycotting Wal-mart, but our relationship is tense. Our grocery bill more than doubled when we stopped for a month so back to the large, horrible, noisy store we go. I went shopping yesterday all by myself and I wore Sarah's ipod. It helped cut out the noise and make the experience more tolerable.

* Only 3 more weeks until vacation and one more observation for the year, the last one was terrible, I really don't know why people bother telling you when they think you are bad at your job, I think they should just fire you. It would be easier. There is a new Wal-mart opening in Yuma, the 3rd one! I was thinking about applying, I thought it would be less hassle than my job but then I went there and remembered how much I couldn't stand it.

* Had a great time with friends Friday and Saturday, it was nice to kick back and laugh about nothing for a while.

Good night (it's only ten but I am sleepy!!)

Service with a Smile????

Today Sarah and I were out running errands and we stopped into Olive Garden for what we thought was going to be a quick lunch. It seemed like a no win situation, Sarah wanted salad and that is one of the only places around to get good salad. There was wait, even at 2 in the afternoon and then we sat...for almost 10 minutes before anyone came to see if we wanted water or anything. Then we waited some more and some more, we dodn't order much. Soup and salad and water and it took us like an hour to get it and eat it because of the very sloooooowwww waitress. By the end of the meal we were both pretty preturbed and I did something I have never done before, ever. I didn't leave a tip. I always tip, over tip even. I strongly believe in paying for good service. But not today. I left exact change for the bill and walked away.

As we were walking out I saw the manager so Sarah and I stopped him and told him what we thought of his service. He was very apologetic and offered us a gift card to come back and try it again sometime. We accepted. He gave us a card worth $40! That's alot of money considering our bill for lunch was only $15.12 we were pretty impressed and now we can afford to go out to dinner with friends some time. I don't like to complain at restaurants but this was truly bad service and I felit we were justified. So next time you feel like your service was subpar, make your grievance known, you never know what you will get!

Cupid's Craze!!!

School was crazy today! Down here Valentine's Day is the biggest holiday of them all, bigger than Christmas and Halloween put together. Our principal was out today and her office was used as storage for all of the bears, balloons and candy that were delivered to school. They couldn't be passed out until the last hour of the day because they are distracting in class, go figure! Her office was full, there were bears that were bigger than me!

The day went well, the kids were a little crazy but since we were all letting them eat candy I guess we had only ourselves to blame:-) I subbed for P.E., that was fun. We played Love Ball, otherwise known as dodge ball with the twist of whomever you hit is your Valentine. It was cute to see the boys try to hit the girls as hard as possible and then turn away sheepishly.

In other news, we were learning how to use our thesaurus' today to write descriptive essay's and I asked my class to come up with synonyms for the word hot. One student said pimping hot. I thought this was weird but we take all answers in my class so I wrote it on the board, it wasn't until later that I discovered the entry actually read piping hot which is entirely different and doesn't fit with the sentence we were working on at all. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I know I have been out of the blogger seen for a while but Sarah was sick, then I was sick and my headaches and anxiety are not cooperating. I am now taking adavan which is pretty heavy duty because I had a major panic attack last week and had to be relieved of duty from my room because I was having chest pains. I then spent the next 36 hours in bed with Sarah periodically giving me shots in my butt. My doctor wants me to get counseling I cannot imagine why.

Let's see...I have started taking Flintstone vitamins because Sarah's doctor said that was still good even if you didn't take real adult vitamins. I remember them tasting alot better. I am trying to give them to a person who has children but Sarah says I have to eat them, yuck!

Right now I am working on a presentation for Friday. There is a big professional Development Day on Friday that the whole county attends. There are lots of workshops and all the teachers show up and go to three. I am presenting at one with a colleague about vocabulary. We started working on it today, nothing like waiting until the last minute.

Jewel Qwest! If you don't have this game for your computer you have to get it! It is fantastic. My mom got it for Christmas and I loaded it on my computer here in Arizona and it is addicting. I love it, seriously you have to play it!

Tax Time!

It's that time of year again, the time that I have to collect every document to take to the tax people. Most people my age do short form but because I supposedly own a small business I have to itemize. This has its advantages because I can now file my school expenses and my medical expenses. This past year after insuarance I paid a total of $962.95 for prescriptions, that is out of pocket. And people thought I just didn't know how to manage my money, it turns out I don't have any to manage!

Yesterday I got this paper from the Michigan Department of Treasury inquiring about last year's refund, this makes me VERY nervous because last year all my tax documents got lost in the mail and I filed anyway so if audited I can prove nothing. Oh well, what are they going to do? Take my car that's not paid for?

It is Sunday night and it has been a crazy weekend, worked late Friday because I was behind on grading, class all day Saturday and the gym today. That's right we went to the gym today, our first time. I am so proud of us and it was fun. There is a weight room just for women and these fun machines that are like skiing. Tomorrow we are going to aerobics class. Then we went to Target and bought pedometers. Tomorrow is the first day wearing it, I will let oyu know how many steps I go, I am issuing a challenge to anyone out there to try and beat my steps so we can all be healthy together. They are fairly inexspenive, mine was 6 dollars. night!