The One Where I Embarrass Jamie. (a late addition)

Jamie has been cracking me up lately.  Either he's funnier these days or I'm just way more tired.  It's probably the latter.

1) Last night when he got home I hid downstairs.  Actually, I was not really hiding, I was just tucked in a corner and he didn't see me and then I decided to jump out and say "boo!"  So he gets home and starts putting his bike away.  After about a minute I jump out from behind the couch...

...his immediate reaction?  Pure and utter happiness and joy at seeing his wife.  It was very heartwarming.  Mere seconds later the huge smile on his face melted away and he screamed in terror in what I have deemed the MOST HILARIOUS DELAYED REACTION EVER.

I am still laughing at the thought of it.  And while I'm sure you needed to be there to see it for yourself and probably don't find it funny at all, I am enjoying the opportunity to relive it by typing it out.

I loved that his first reaction on seeing me was joy and that that is his instinctual response to seeing me.  I also love that he blames the one beer he drank before coming home for the fact that his brain didn't process being surprised right away. Don't worry, I made sure to surprise him from an arm/leg's length away in case he had a karate reflex.

2) Today I was listening to my voicemails on speakerphone while Jamie was in the room.  I saw that my dad had called and announced that he was back from his trip through the South and Central Americas.  As I played the message, Jamie started to smile broadly.  

Immediately after it was done, Jamie cooed: "Your dad is so adorable.  He has the cutest little voice!" It was my mom.  Hilarious.

Don't hate your son-in-law, mom and dad.  He is overworked and underslept...and so silly these days.

Short-Lived (OR, The One With the Cherryblossoms)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I finished up my Saturday duties two weekends ago.  In other words, this past weekend was the first time in a long while when I was able to sleep in on a Saturday.  In effect, I had two whole days to recharge my battery from the week rather than the usual one day.  

This was glorious.  I woke up on Saturday feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world.  Or, at least host a couple dozen friends at a BBQ.  Sunday was similarly grand.

The problem didn't come until Sunday night.  When I got into bed with a full battery...and proceeded to toss and turn for near FIVE hours.  Granted, for some of those hours I was in a state of miserable half-sleep.  In the end, according to my sleep monitor, I had logged in a whopping total of 2 hours and 22 minutes of sleep for the night.  Grand. 

So much for recharging the battery.

Another thing that was short-lived, but wonderful nonetheless were the cherryblossoms in D.C.  Sure, these are a few weeks too late, but like I said: I'm catching up.  One day, way back in early April, Jamie and a couple of our friends got up bright and early to take pictures of the blossoms without the crowds.  It should be noted that the reason that I did not go wasn't because it was too early.  No, dear reader, it was because that would make me LATE for work.  On a Saturday.  But, at least I got to enjoy the pictures that Jamie took...(and now you do too!)

Weekend Round Up (the 2nd).

All of the sudden it's like, 90 degrees in D.C.  I'm not prepared.  

Despite the fact that it is beautiful and sunny outside now...and yesterday was more of the same...it did not fail to rain on our BBQ.  It never fails...if Jamie and I plan something that will take place outdoors --> it rains.  Yesterday was less disruptive than usual, in that, by the time it started storming most of the festivities had moved back indoors...but still.  We are cursed.  Or blessed, depending on how you look at it.  

We are now left with so much more alcohol than we can drink in a year.  Probably more like two years.  Fortunately, I'll be having company over again next week and we will probably be able to make a little dent in the beverages I have as well as some of the food.  Because there is SO. MUCH. FOOD.  

And, while I would love to update with pictures from the party, I will refrain as I do not want to embarrass any friends.  Yet.

Instead, I give you a pitbull with no short-term memory:

Wow. Just Wow.

When I saw this little headline on CNN.com, I thought there must be some reasonable explanation.  Perhaps it was unclear what it was.  Maybe, another kindergartner put it in the backpack as a trick.  There is no way that a teacher put it there maliciously.

I think she did.  As someone who has had a student poop on the carpet before...and someone who knows many people who have had a student poop on the floor before, I think that picking it up, putting in a bag, writing a note about it, and sending it home in the child's backpack would be the last thing I would do.

Wow.

Not the Best Ever...

...but worth mentioning because of its pertinence.

And, they acknowledge the greatness that is Shawshank.

Test Time.

Anyone in the world of education is very familiar with those statewide tests that decide the fate of the schools.  When I was in Baltimore, it was the MSA.  In D.C. it is the DC-CAS.  Well, today was the first day of the DC-CAS.

It was so great to see our students excited to show their stuff on the test today.  Anthony wasthe first one through the doors at 7am.  His first words were: "Is it time to take the test??"  My Joevontae practically jumped into my arms when he first saw me he was so excited.  I am so proud of these kids.

I think the best story came from Kayla though.  We had given our students some mints to suck on during the test to help perk them up when they were getting tired.  It's also supposed to stimulate memory (although I think it's more of a recall thing through association -- if you're eating mints when you learn something blah, blah, blah.)  Kayla then overheard Anfaney talking to himself (I hope that if Kayla ever reads this post, she is able to correct me...I know I have this wrong):

Anfaney: Those mints sure were good!

A: That BCR was hard, but then I got that mint!

A: And it did the trick!

Anfaney is getting an extra mint tomorrow...

Oh!  And for you Traffic Light Boy (TLB) fans out there.  I got an update who says that he is doing very well!  Next stop, Department of Transportation (or whoever handles traffic lights.)

Weekend Update. (Or: The One Where I Hiked 17 Miles)

This weekend has been a fun one!  In fact, I haven't been able to post because of all the fun.

Friday was Emily's (a teacher friend) birthday and so Jamie and I headed over to her place after work.  While there, I realized how long it has been since I hung out with my friends...too long.  I am now inspired to have a BBQ and enjoy this gorgeous weather next weekend.

Saturday was good for two reasons.  First, it was the last day of Saturday Academy which means that starting next week, I get to seize my Saturdays back.  No more getting up at 6:45am on a Saturday morning!  No more early Friday nights!  Actually, who am I kidding, there were still be many early Friday nights.

Also, we got to see our friends Ben and Ragan and their adorable son.  Better yet, they brought him to our house which makes it the first time we have had a toddler at our house!  Of course, Junior hid for the duration of the night, but Cody and Carter became fast friends.  They even shared a head bump (Cody's favorite display of affection.)  Good to know that Cody likes babies.  Or at least, tolerates babies.

Last weekend, Jamie and I made the trek to our favorite old haunt Shenandoah National Park.  A couple Christmases ago, we had gifted each other camping gear.  Him: new hiking boots, Me: a new backpacking pack.  Since then, we had not yet ventured out into the wilderness and were long overdue.  Our plans for winter camping in February were foiled, and work and life had gotten in the way of subsequent plans.

So, we planned our hike, made GORP, and packed our packs.  The rain didn't deter us...in fact, it gave us more motivation because it meant that those other, less hardy, campers would not crowd our hike.  And we set out into the misty woods.

We chose a 17-mile loop that took us along a ridge, down a mountain, along a river, and back up the mountain.  Despite the wetness and the mistiness -- it was actually perfect backpacking weather.  We were motivated to keep on trekking since we would get cold if we stopped.  By the time we were getting ready to stop for the night it was sunny and gorgeous.

One thing that kept the hike exciting was that there were 14 "stream" crossings.

I say "stream" in quotations because it was more like "river" crossings.  I'm guessing Spring is actually when the water is at its higher levels and so we had to brave the cold water throughout the day.  I resigned myself to walking through the water, but Jamie showed off by hopping from moss-covered rock to moss-covered rock.  He paid the price when he fell a few feet from a waterfall, but aside from that was definitely drier than I was for most of the walk.

All-in-all it was a great hike and I would actually love to do it again.  Not too easy and not too hard.  Good views too.

Sadly, despite the fact that we slept in a tent in 30-degree weather, I was better-rested after that night than I had been all week.  Go figure.

The One Where I Met My Hero. (Maybe)

Tire dilemma fixed.  Hooray for husbands with flexible work hours.

So, "The One Where I Met My Hero."  This actually happened a few weeks back on my way back from San Francisco (after visiting my nieces).  

Now that airline companies are nickel-and-diming everything, there are various lines to enter the plane.  I was in the normal person line and next up to board the plane when a woman hurriedly walks through the important person line (a.k.a. Premier Class).  Through the magic of peripheral vision, I had seen her coming from behind me and I hesitated before handing my ticket to the attendant because I figured they would take her first.  

He had actually taken my ticket and began to tell the lady to wait, when he looked at her and the gentleman with her, and then handed back my ticket and took hers instead.  The woman continued her hurried pace onto the gangway, while the man sheepishly followed.

It took me a while to realize who he was.  My heart believed it, but my brain couldn't.  

As I walked behind my hero on the gangway he turned to me and apologized for cutting in front of me.  MORGAN FREEMAN apologized to me. Red!  My favorite character from the best movie of all time.

The Shawshank Redemption (Trailer)
Uploaded by Tower-of-Dark

"That's okay!" I say, "we're all ending up in the same place anyway"...and while I meant the airplane, MORGAN FREEMAN smiled at me and said -- in a way that only Red can (with that life-weary, all-knowing, March of the Penguins voice): "That's what I always say."  And I knew that he was talking about life and death.  

This moment was too good to be true.  So, afterwards, my brain kept telling me that it couldn't really be MORGAN FREEMAN.  It had to be someone who looked and sounded uncannily like him. After all, wasn't he supposed to be filming some movie far, far away?  Still, I'd like to believe that Red and I shared a moment on that gangway.

And, while Morgan Freeman may not actually be my hero, he's still pretty darn rad.  Much better than Danny Baldwin or Jimmy Fallon.  (Apparently, I am destined to sit near famous people on planes...I finger-quote famous for Danny.)

Edited to add: Incidentally, after I had posted this, I went back and did another random rereading of my blog...and I saw this post where my love for MORGAN FREEMAN was evident all they way back in March of 2004.  To the point where I actually wrote his name in all CAPS then too. 

Hold Me To It.

TWO posts in one night??  

Let me tell you why: firstly, the last two posts have been downer posts.  Secondly, while my life is boring, it is not without pockets of excitement.  Sure it's mostly manufactured excitement, it still counts for me.

So, after taking a little time to go back and revisit my blog circa May 2004 (the blogiest month in the history of this blog -- 48 posts!  It is clear that my primary method of procrastination during finals was through blogging.) I have decided that I am going to blog more so help me.  No matter how nerdy, and cringeworthy I will feel down the line when I look back at it.  To make sure that this renewed sense of urgency does not go by the wayside, I will now list a few "pockets of excitement" from the past few weeks of my life so that later, when I feel like I don't have anything to blog about...I can at least blog about one of these stories:

• The One Where I Met My Hero
• The One Where I Hiked 17 miles
• The One With the Attack Cats
• The One With the Cherryblossoms

These were all moments when I actually thought to myself, "I should really blog about this!" but then got too busy to think about.  I'm taking the moments back!

Starting tomorrow.

Flat.

It was a later night at work today.  My car was the last one on the street and generally-speaking, past a certain hour it is not a good idea to be alone on a dark street in certain parts of D.C.  Unfortunately for me, when I got to my car today my front tire was flat.  Not completely dead-flat, but enough to make my car tilt heavily to one side and question the ride to the nearest gas station.

I weighed my options: 1) change the tire in the dark, rainy, not-crime-free street, 2) take my chances getting to the nearest gas station, 3) tempt fate further by getting to the nearest gas station in a less sketchy area, or 4) call and beg my husband to save me by coming to work and changing my tire for me.

After further consideration, I realized that despite watching and helping Jamie change flats before on several occasions, I had absolutely no idea where to start.  Also, it was RAINING.  Option #1 was out.  While I really wanted to do #4, I knew that would never actually work...so I opted for a hybrid of #3 and #4 which was to call my husband and whine about it a bit, then drive really slowly to the farther gas station.  

The gas station did not change the fact that I still didn't know how to change my tire or that it was RAINING.  Nor was the service shop early because it was late.  So, instead I pumped my tire with air and made the rest of the trek home without incident.  Jamie graciously agreed to change the tire with me once he got home.  Crisis averted?  Let's hope.  Of course, Jamie just got home and it's still RAINING and now it's also kind of late...

Breathe.

A little over a year ago I burned out.  Despite the fact that I loved being in the classroom, that I loved my students, and that I loved teaching...I burned out.  It was to the point where my teaching was suffering and I knew that the next thing that would suffer would be my students and I couldn't have any of that.

Fortunately, I had a way out and other opportunities came up and I got a job that I could love just as much but that removed me from the daily stress of the classroom.  I could still work with students!  I could still devote my life to the mission that I truly believe in!  Life was good!

However, I was quick to learn that this new job was actually more work than my previous one.  Sure, it's a different kind of stress.  It's not the obvious, physical, emotional, daily stress that comes with being a classroom teacher...but rather a more subtle, chronic and acute stress.  One that sneaks up on you but leaves you with your head spinning and debilitated because you don't know where to begin attacking what must get done.

The camel is many straws past the broken back, but despite all this, I still love my job.  Funny how that works.

All this to use as an excuse for not posting regularly.  I do intend to keep this blog going...I am proud of keeping it as long as I have (although, yes, I realize there are some years that have very few posts).  I just need to find a way to sustain the blog along with other things (aka: work).  

Also, when one works all the time, there is very little interesting content to blog about as most of one's time is spent thinking/dreaming/worrying about work.  Add to this the fact that one actively tries not to blog about work to avoid any dooce.com-esque loss of job stability.  Incidentally, if anyone from work is reading this: I LOVE MY JOB AND ALL OF MY COLLEAGUES ARE WONDERFUL PEOPLE.  

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  

I will post again tomorrow with adventures from our most recent journey into the wilderness!  How very exciting and not-work-related!