Thursday, February 26, 2009

Battling an Addiction

So... I learned something new about myself today. I hear all the time that you could live with someone your whole life and still be learning new things about him/her everyday. Try living with yourself and learning new things everyday...

Since starting my internship 5 weeks ago (and what 5 long weeks it has been!), I have settled into a daily routine that has become predictable and sometimes comfortable. When something comes up and drives a wedge in my plans, it irritates me.

Every week like clockwork, I start to feel myself getting tired and worn down by Wednesday morning. I guess it mainly has to do with going to bed late on Tuesday nights. By Wednesday afternoon, I'm slightly irritated. By Thursday morning, I am desperately in need of coffee to be able to function. Well, guess what? Today, I went out the door and forgot my coffee. Yes, I forgot it. How? I'll never know.

My name is M and I have a problem. I am addicted to coffee. When I don't have my coffee (especially on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday morning), I am not a happy camper. I'm irritated by everything and exhausted of being alive. Of course, there's a simple solution to this. I could simply just get into bed earlier each night. Ha. It'll never happen. I just have way too much on my plate. Definitely do not have enough hours in the day....

All I can say right now is ... Thankfully, it'll be Friday tomorrow and I will NOT forget my coffee!

"I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee." Author Unknown

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Improvising at its worst

This week looks promising to be a bad week. Or at least a bad start to the week. Where to start? I don't consider myself addicted to the computer. I don't think I'm addicted to the Internet. It's an extremely nice "luxury" to have and to kill time with. Many of us don't realize that we literally have the whole world at the tip of our fingers when we access the Internet.... until we don't have access anymore.

I lost my Internet connection for two whole days. TWO days! That's a mighty long time for me, especially when everything is riding on the Internet. I do lots of planning and rely heavily on the Internet to supply me with ideas, pictures, and worksheets. Of course, I also use the Internet as a fact checker. Imagine teaching a few adults that "dog" is a verb. Ok, maybe not that extreme but you get the idea.

Apparently, my computer decided to go off the deep end and start acting crazy. It was spamming the servers so the DSL company shut me down. I fixed the problem so I am back up and running now (obviously) and am trying to catch up on two days worth of checking emails, websites, and news.

Loss of Internet at home brings Improvisation Number One: Working at school during lunch and later, in an office frantically printing my GED lesson 10 minutes before class (I decided to revamp it, I wasn't happy with what I did a couple weeks ago). Doing stuff at the last minute is NOT fun and stressful. J and P - WHY do you do it!? You're both crazy.

What else has happened to me? Well, the projector at school decided to break too. That put a crimp in my math lessons. Improvisation Number Two: I decided to use the SmartBoard instead and have my students work off that. THEN the next day, the laptop connected to the SmartBoard decided to block us out and refuses to accept any logins and passwords. That gets rid of my plans to use PowerPoint too. What next? Improvisation Number Three: The teacher whose class I'm teaching has paper, posters and junk plastered all over BOTH chalkboards - so guess what? I had to write on a teeny tiny chalkboard that's about 8x8 inches. Fun.

Today, I had to go to an appointment at 8am which meant I would be late for school. I figured about an hour and half of wait time and meeting time which would get me back to school by 10 at the latest - which would allow me to teach my Language lesson at 10:15. Right? Wrong! The stupid office made me wait TWO hours before they even saw me. Needless to say, I was pretty annoyed. This also meant I arrived too late to teach Language. Which comes.... Improvisation Number Four: My teacher is insistent that I cover Deaf Culture for 5 days (bummer) so I couldn't bump up Language today. Yesterday, the teacher wanted to finish an old lesson she started but never finished. So - I have three days to teach them a week's worth of Language. It'll be fun cramming and modifying my lessons!

After my appointment, I had to stop for gas. I was in a hurry and cars were lined up, so I grabbed the first available pump I saw. I stepped out and guess what. Stepped into a very sticky puddle of spilled gasoline. Yay! My shoes were sticky for a while after that.

AND - I had a bad hair day today. If any of you saw me today (and P did), you'd frown. I learned my lesson - I'm not going to bed with my hair wet without brushing it. It.doesn't.look.good.

GED class went very smoothly tonight, thankfully. I'm hoping tomorrow brings a new beginning and ends the not-so-fun week I've been having so far. Wish me luck!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

An Intern's Experience

I went on a field trip on Thursday with my students. We went to a ranch south of Houston to show the kids how people in Texas lived back in the 1800's through early 1900's and how life was hard for them. Specifically, we learned about the cattle ranchers and the cowboys that brought their cattle up north to be sold. Very Brokeback Mountain minus the gayness. I ate a homemade biscuit that was made from a recipe dated back to the early 1800's. Pretty good.

I experienced a huge deja vu in the morning when I got to school. Instead of my purse and my lunch sack (because of the field trip), I walked up to the school with a dark blue backpack slung over my right shoulder, cranberry juice in one hand and a cookie in the other. This is exactly what I had every morning when I went to high school. If I didn't have cranberry juice, I had chocolate milk.

Stepping on the bus was weird for me as well. It was the first time I stepped on a bus in 10 years. Nothing has changed except for two security cameras that were installed on the bus. One up front and one in the middle. I guess that's a good thing. Not good for students that like to pick their noses and eat the boogers or pick at their butts. There's an audience now.

On the way there, it was a slow drive because of the traffic. We have 8 students. Three of them wanted to sit together so that left one student alone, so I decided to sit with her. She's a new student that just moved from Africa a few weeks ago. She kept pointing out the window asking me what the names (specifically, signs) were for everything, so we worked on improving her vocabulary. She was in awe of everything. Last week, I had taught the class what solids, liquids and gasses were. As we traveled down the highway, we passed a couple of houses, creeks and factories. She beamed at me and called them out - solid, liquid and gas. This is why I want to be a teacher. Very satisfying.

I love working with her. She's always smiling and has an enthusiasm for learning new things. Although, just like any other student, she gets tired of working and gets restless in class. No student is perfect, I suppose... but she's pretty close. We continued to work on her vocabulary all the way to the ranch. Coming from Africa, her reading ability is quite low and some of her signs are different from ours. However, she excels in Math and is a quick learner.

Once we got to the ranch, I paired up with another student of mine. She has Cerebral Palsy and struggles with keeping her balance while walking. The ranch is a pretty big place, so this student was given the courtesy of riding a golf cart around the place. The teacher stayed behind with the other 7 students while I rode around on the golf cart with my student on my lap (who's very small and weighs about the same as my 2 1/2 year old). Because of her special crutches, she couldn't carry around her lunch or anything that she received that day. Guess who got stuck with carrying them all? I stuffed them all in my backpack. Good thing I decided to bring a backpack with me.

Most of the land was grass so my student struggled with dragging her crutches across. I carried her around piggyback style and had fun with her. She's so adorable and sweet - but like any other student, she has her flaws. She's SO slow with her assignments! While I think it's cute, it's definitely annoying - often, she'll stop whatever she's doing and get into a giggling fit. I wonder what goes on inside that mind of hers.

So far, my experience as an intern has been a good one. My students may drive me crazy and I may like some more than the others, but I know one thing for sure. When I finish my internship there in four weeks, I'll miss them.

My Daily Morning Commute

I started my internship for my MA degree three weeks ago. I work (or should I say intern?) at a magnet school. It's very different from a regular public school and sometimes I find myself still adjusting to the environment. I am majoring in Deaf Education so I am working with deaf children, specifically 2nd graders. This magnet school has three types of students. Talented and Gifted, Mentally Impaired and finally, Hearing Impaired. Everyday, I see lots of students with disabilities. Some are minor while others are pretty severe. There are good days and bad days. On the bad days, I leave school feeling depressed and feeling sad for the students who have severe defects. I won't go into detail here - but imagine seeing a small child that is practically a vegetable who sits in a wheelchair all day long, stares into space and drools on their bibs. Now multiply that by about 20 to 30. Pretty depressing.

Anyway, I have been driving to the school for three weeks now. I leave my apartment at 7:00am and arrive by 7:30. Some days, I don't leave my apartment until 7:05 or 7:10. I take the same route everyday. I go through the same morning routine 5 days a week. It can get pretty boring. For many of us, we have our daily morning ritual - and even if we leave our homes on time, we probably don't see the same cars on the road, right?

On my drive to work, I go through a fancy community. During my short drive in this community, I find myself feeling strange. I get this eerie feeling of being in a movie. Why? Well, you know how in some movies, people in small towns go through their daily routines and always pass the same people on the road or on the sidewalk? That happens to me.

On one specific road, I see the same people almost every single morning like clockwork. First, I see a middle-aged man that looks like he's built to be on a football team. He is always wearing a dark blue jogging suit. He comes out of his gated townhouse community with his middle-sized grey schnauzer and waits at the street corner. When he receives the signal, he crosses the street and starts walking his hyper dog down the road.

I see a woman with long blonde hair in a ponytail wearing a white jogging suit. She runs weird. Whenever I see her, I think of men training in the military. In the usual military obstacle course, you will see two rows of tires lined up. The recruits are seen running as quick as they can through the tires, picking their knees up and balancing back and forth. This particular lady runs like she's going through the tires. Her hair swishes back and forth wildly. I'm not sure if her running style is intentional or if she just runs weird.

I see a couple of senior citizens walking their dogs. Once in a while, I will see the same people stopping to chat with each other on the sidewalk as they pass each other. There are lots of dog walkers at this time of the day. Sometimes, I will see two people with their trainer (I'm assuming) going through a workout routine on a tennis court.

Whenever I go down this road, I am always reminded of movies and television shows that have their characters meet and greet the same people every morning on their way to work. I always think to myself that it isn't realistic. There's far too many people in the world and there's tons of factors to consider. Just how often do you see the exact same people every single day down to the exact minute? If I am a few minutes early or late on my drive through this community, I see an entirely different group of people. Most of them are dog walkers and some of them are business people walking down the sidewalks. If I am a little bit early in my drive, I usually see a lady sitting down in the grass next to a bus stop waiting for her bus to arrive.

I find it fascinating and somewhat comforting to see the same people every morning. My internship at that school ends in four weeks. I'll be starting a new morning routine and a different commute. I wonder what that will bring me.

The Deal with Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day, obviously. In (dis)honor of the holiday, I thought I'd write a little something about it and what my opinion of it is... some of you may agree (I'm betting that it's the men who will agree with me more than the ladies), and some of you may not agree. For the last 15 years, I can count more Valentine's Day when I had a special someone than the ones when I was single.   In fact, for the 15 years, I can count the number of years I was single on just one hand.  I won't even need the whole hand.  Even when I had a special someone, I've always requested that he not make a big deal out of it. For the romantic types (and I've had one or two), they were rather disappointed. However, for most of the others - they were relieved. I'm a low maintenance girl for a low maintenance boy. My distaste for Valentine's Day isn't due to my being single this year. The fact that I've almost always had someone on Valentine's Day is proof.

Tonight, thousands of couples will go out on a fancy-shmancy date (for the benefit of the women) and spend all night professing their love for one another. They may buy and trade expensive gifts. Depending on the couple and what income bracket they're in, they may try to buy the most expensive gift they can afford to show just how much they love each other. For others, a sentimental gift will say it all. And for the millions of single people out there tonight, they may be trolling the bars to find that special someone (or probably a one-night stand so they don't feel insignificant) or they may be sitting at home right this minute being grumpy and hating the world.

I have never understood the holiday. I guess with all the national holidays we have, it probably wouldn't make sense to not devote a day to couples being in love with each other. Whoever thought of it anyway? Why do I hate the holiday? To me, it just sends a signal that you must treat your significant other extra special that day. Depending on what kind of couple you are, you might feel stressed out about finding the perfect Valentine's Day gift. You may be stressing out about where to take your special girl to dinner. For ladies, you may be stressing out over what dress to wear and whether you should shave their legs in case something happens later on in the evening.

Sure, it's nice to get that extra special attention from your sweetheart for a day. But what about all the other days of the year? Why must this day be extra special? To me, if you're a couple and you really like each other (or deeply in love with each other), why not express how you feel for the other person everyday? If you're really comfortable with each other as a couple, shouldn't staying home and spending a quiet evening together be good enough? The point of the holiday is to be with each other - not to outdo yourselves, be stressed out over stuff and shop yourselves broke.

Valentine's Day is just a creative holiday to make single people feel bad about themselves. Those who are happily single - good for you. But for those who are still searching for that special someone, those who longs to be touched, held and kissed, Valentine's Day is just torture. On the other hand, I suppose all the card, candy and flower companies are rejoicing in the holiday. I wouldn't be surprised if Hallmark invented the holiday. They're sentimental and weird like that.

My biggest complaint about Valentine's Day is that guys may feel pressured to buy jewelry, flowers or candy. If you're pressured to buy a gift or take someone out - it doesn't come from the heart. You don't do it because you want to, you do it because you feel you must. Why would anyone in their right mind want that? To receive gifts that probably doesn't really have any meaning from the other person?

First off - candy... why? Why buy a $20 box of candy in a heart-shaped box that will end up in the trash when you can buy a $2 bag of M&M or your favorite candy? Honestly, it really does not make a difference.  Think of all the calories!

Flowers... why? Why spend $50 or $60 on a dozen roses (which is beautiful, yes) that will only last a maximum of a week then to be tossed in the trash? Men - save yourselves time... just throw away a $50 bill and get it over with. If you want to give your special lady roses, buy her a rose plant and plant it in a garden. Let it grow year after year and admire it from your window.  If it was me and if you must give me flowers, I'd prefer freeze-dried ones.  Blue.  OK?

Jewelry... uhm, why? Ok, I sort of get it. For ladies who wear jewelry all the time - alright. They last forever and they're certainly pretty (if you buy the right kinds that suits your lady). But don't go all out and buy hundreds of dollars worth. Right around Valentine's Day, I see all the local jewelry stores advertising a necklace and earring pair for $299 or so. I honestly think that if men buy their ladies jewelry, it's because they feel pressured to. After all, if they don't get their lady something special, they're losers, right? Whatever.

My point is... if you're a couple and happy, don't wait until Valentine's Day. Do it when the time's right and when you WANT to. Don't do it because you HAVE to.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Quotes of the Day

Came across these two quotes and thought I would to make record of it...

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow."

"You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."

Makes you think, don't they?