The saga has ended

My days as a summer school teacher have ended. As they should. The kids were predictable today, feigning the ambition to work for about 10 minute before falling into the familiar pattern of talking and glancing at a computer screen now and then. Out of the bunch, one student alone was finished with her paper. The others said they wanted more time to work on it, and I said they could, with 10 points off for being two days late.

Naturally, the extra time made virtually no difference at all. They just gave up and were done. Fine with me really; I had wanted the last day to be one of fun with games, movie, and some final reflections. Sadly, it wasn't too much of a blast with me having to get grades in that same day, taking each paper as it came to me, grading it, adding it into their cummulative score, and giving final grades. Class went by very quickly, and before I knew it, we were in the last ten minutes.

I handed out surveys asking the students questions regarding their feelings about the class, how it went, did they enjoy the class material, would they make any changes, etc. All VERY similar to surveys I had to fill out for nearly every professor I had at UWEC, except there were no tiny circles to fill in with No. 2 pencils. Their comments seemed honest enough, if a bit breif, but I enjoyed reading them anyway.

And then they were gone. I turned on some Pink and took down my decorations and packed up my supplies. That was it. A chapter of my life is finished. And now the chapter of unemployment begins. :P God I hope I don't have to just substitute this school year.

Oh yeah, gone home for the weekend, so I'll check ya on the flipside.

Have you seen this blogger?

Where has all my tracking gone?

So I look at my tracker that I've had for a good year and a half now, and what do I see?  No traffic since last week.  Awfully suspicious, eh?  Yeah, especially since it counts whenever I check my own site, so even if no one ever visited my site cuz they think I'm a loser, I'd still get hits.   Like anyone would who likes seeing that there may be a few people who are actually interested in their life and writing, I decided to remedy the situation.

First, I tried to figure out what was different about my old tracker.  I couldn't find any problems with it.  When I tried getting in to my account with the tracker, I found that not only did I not remember what password I used, but that every single password I could possibly think of or have ever used in the history of my online usage just didn't work.  What next?

I searched the web to find a new tracker, grabbed the first one that looked decent, and stuck it on my website.  It seemed straight forward and detailed enough, and I gave it some time to work.  I clicked on it and logged in and...sure enough, no one visited.  Hm...great. 

Now I have two worthless trackers on my website, and am no closer to figuring out how to go about changing that, other than eliminating them both and putting a new one on there.  But part of me doesn't want to let go of my long log of visitors (long in a relative sense of course).  Any ideas of how to fix things?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

And now the moment...answering the questions

1.  No job.

2.  Ambigious answer to the apartment.   First we have to check it out, and then we find out whether or not it's too expensive.

3.  One student is finished, the rest actually did SOME work or at least failed to bother me today, and I read only a little before class and more afterwards--I'm convinced that maybe it's not such a great book.

4.  Weather is fabulous.  Whether or not I choose to run...yet to be decided.

5.  Not that long, though I'm getting VERY sick of these every-night-wake-up-to-use-the-facilities routine. 

And the books...I just remembered to order them.  At least they're a lot cheaper online, so that when I'm out of a job and destitute this school year, I'll at least have my books to solace me.

Anticipation, precipitation, humidification

Tomorrow I find out a number of things:

1.  Do I have a job, not have a job, or do I have to go for a follow-up interview?

2.  Do Tricia and I have a chance at the 1st floor apartment, or is it too expensive, or does the landlord have someone else in mind for the place, or is he not home to answer Tricia's call at all?

3.  How many of my students are going to have their papers finished, how many students are going to talk and sit on their asses instead of working on their papers, and how many pages of Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging will I read out of complete boredom during class tomorrow?

4.  Will the weather finally cool down so that I may go for the run I so badly need or will I again be trapped in this sweltering house where sitting is enough exercise to neccesitate a shower?

5.  How long will it take me to fall asleep after a 3 hour nap this afternoon, laying in a warm room with an industrial strength fan blowing at me, while worrying about whether my career finally has a bright point?

Anything can happen, my friends.  Anything.  But one thing is for sure:
If I get the job tomorrow, I am going to celebrate by ordering the Dark Elf new hardcover trilogy from Amazon tomorrow.  If I don't get the job tomorrow, I am going to console myself by ordering the Dark Elf new hardcover trilogy from Amazon tomorrow.  It was a tough decision, but I think I'll be alright.

It's too darn hot...
 
Living without air conditioning isn't a big deal, no problem at all really.  That is, until you try to sleep in a room of muggy, stifling air.  Even with two fans going, the only thing I can sleep in is a sheen of sweat.  Not a pretty picture I would imagine.
 
In honor of the heat, I am again posting a picture that best describes just how hot it feels in my room right now:


Seeing me in jeans and a sweatshirt in front of that huge fire...almost enough to make me pass out right now.

Now the circle is complete...YAY! 
 
Check it--the blog is all put together, thanks to a small observation made by Tricia in my html.  Yay for friends who are also fellow geeks :) 
 
On a different note, I've been meaning to blog about an occurence from my running escapades.  I think this event is best expressed in the form of a Paint drawing:

I'm the spunky-haired blonde looking puzzled at the group of runners coming up. Notice anything strange about the group of runners passing by? I laughed my ass off.

The Only Drawback
 
I can't seem to get my comments up and working again, though I've followed the YACCS directions to a "t."  Any help here?
 
Hm....figured it out.  This blog template has comments built into it.   Not bad, but I'm not sure that's what I want, plus I'd really like to be able see my old comments, especially in the archives. AND I think YACCS does a better job with them.  Jenny, I'm guessing you had issues with it with your blog as well.  Any assistance you could give?

 

In Case You Failed to Notice


  
I decided it was TIME FOR A CHANGE!  I've had the same blog template for too long now, and the monohue pattern just had to go.  Hope you don't mind the unexpected change, but for me it's VERY refreshing.  It's still blue and greenish, but I think I'll have more options to change this one around, once I get the template figured out.   
 
Sadly, the template I had will no longer be available, I think, even if I want to go back to it.  The old one was cool, since no one really had one like it anymore, and I know this template is generic, but whatever.  It's the content that matters anyway, right?   
 
PLUS!!!  As you can see, the new template and new picture uploading system by blogger let's me FINALLY POST PICTURES!!!!!  So just imagine the fun I'll be having in my posting from now on ;)  That's all for now.  Time to tweek the template for a while!

MY VERY FIRST FALL JOB INTERVIEW!!!
 
Today I was suppose to receive a call from a school district telling me whether or not I successfully made it through the telephone screening interview yesterday and would be scheduling a real life interview.  After the GRUELING @#$%&*@! telephone interview yesterday, the principal told me she would call either later that day or the next day.  I waiting long hours with the phone right by my side from last night into this afternoon.  Did I receive any call at all? NO!  How fucking rude is that? 
 
However, this afternoon, I did receive a call from a DIFFERENT school district that is actually a bit closer to where I'll be living.  The principal had recently been handed my application and wondered if I was still interested in a part time English teaching position.  I said, "YES!!!!!!" with slightly more restraint than jumping up and down and pretending to hug him over the phone. 
 
He asked if it would be alright to schedule a time for me to come to the high school and talk more about the position (aka have an interview), to which I replied "That would be great!!!!" again holding back as much as a person would who hasn't heard any other really positive feedback since she started applying for jobs in April. 
 
Long story slightly shorter, I have an interview with a northern suburban high school principal next Tuesday, and the other school district can blow it out their asses (if I get a job somewhere else that is).  YAY For hearing something positive, whether it be part time or not, I'm still happy!  Not exactly a job offer yet, but even getting to the interview stage (one that doesn't feel like a NAZI interrogation over the phone) is far better than I was just two days ago.
 
I just hope that a couple other people I know start getting some good positive feedback too!!!  I'll be hoping for you! AND a bit more for me too, cuz there's still the issue of actually being hired.  Bleah, details.

Sometimes you just can't WAIT for them to fail

Okay, I know I'm a teacher and I'm supposed to be the supportive, go-get-em tiger, that's-okay-you'll-do-better-next-time coach for my students. A good teacher means not giving up on a student and trying to make sure they do their best. But you know what? Sometimes you just gotta say "Blow it out your ass."

Let me expound. There is a certain student in my class who started out doing fairly average work and had a pleasant/neutral attitude. Then he left for a few days because he decided he didn't want to go to class. Finally, he was talked into returning and has resumed a presence in my classroom. Good, right?

Um...no. As I painstakingly explained all of the assignments he missed and gave clear and detailed instructions for the major project the other students are already pursuing, he just sat there. He was barely responsively, except to say something on the order of, "Yeah, okay. Whatever." That attitude has remained with him since that time. I wouldn't care, except that well, it looks really bad to have one student just sitting with his thumb up his ass while the other ones, even the slowly motivated ones, are finishing their research, doing make up work, and beginning to write their papers. THAT wouldn't even bother me if it weren't for the fact that he is so DANG OBSTINANT.

Other students at least TRY to pretend like their doing some work when I ask them to, or they give me some ideas of what they will be working on next, but this one? He just sits there and tells me "It's just summer school. It's not important anyway." Thanks buddy, so me spending hours and hours planning and going over shit to get this summer school unit planned was pointless, hm? Yeah, THAT sort of attitude is going to get you in my good graces.

::sigh:: Sorry about that, but a kid like that, well, just makes me WANT to fail him. In fact, I can't WAIT until he gives me half-assed work and I can write that big fat "NC" on his grade report with a big sadistic smile on my face.

Oh come on, you know I'm going to grade everyone fairly, and they'll each have their chance to pass if they get enough work accomplished. And hey, some good news. The counselor that also works with the students talked aside to me for a moment this morning and told me: THE KIDS LOVE ME. In fact, they'd love it if I worked at the ALC full time during the school year (unfortunately, simply not possible--there are no positions currently available). But still...What a nice thing to say! and a sure way to warm up this cynical heart :) AND, my bosses say I'm doing a great job too, as they knew I would from the interview.

Now, let's see if I can keep this "good teacher" rep going until the end of the summer before dropping "F" bombs on them...

Happy Fourth to all, and to all a good fireworks display!!

Just spent a day at the beach with some homies, next we're off to a barbeque and then it's on to watching fireworks somewhere. We still haven't decided whether to go to the huge ass celebration called Taste of Minnesota--I went there last year with Tricia and Karin and it was...eh, pretty good for a festival--or we might see a smaller subsidiary of the city display somewhere by St. Anthony.

Hope that wherever you go and whatever you do, it's a total blast. Even you folks in foreign places--no reason why you can't have a sweet Sunday evening in July :)

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

Song from one of the funniest moments of Spiderman 2 (I suggest you get your ass to the theater if you haven't seen it yet). And, coincidently, it was pouring just a few minutes ago and I was out in the supremely wet weather. I'll tell you why, but you have to promise to brace yourself...and not laugh. I was RUNNING. Today I ran through a monsoon with Chris, but the first day I braved it alone.

Yep, two days ago I got fed up with always talking about going out and getting some exercise, and after Lee left to go running, I decided I would too. I couldn't just keep waiting around for there to be a good moment to grab a friend and go. I could do it just fine by me onesie.

First, I made sure I had on all the right gear: navy and tan Nike running shoes, cotton navy Aruba shorts with their motto "One Happy Island," gray sport bra covered by navy cotton tank top, and last but not least, a navy headband. Honestly, it truly was not my intention to match that pathetically well. Just so happened to be the most comfortable and sporty combination I could come up with. (At least it wasn't a nylon jumpsuit or something).

Next, I decided I would forgo the routine (and smart) concept of stretching or warming up and just took a few steps from the house and started running. Went around the block...and walked. So, I walked to the bridge and ran across it...and walked. Walked around a block, got back to the bridge and ran across it...and walked around the block to the house.

At that point, I realized that not only was I incredibly out of cardiovascular/aerobic shape, but that I had also only been out for fifteen minutes. Not enough. So I walked around the block, got the bridge, walked across it, then turned around and ran across it, and walked another block, and back to the house. I felt like I was pacing. Seriously, at no point was I further than about three small blocks from the house.

But hey, it's a start, right? I can't expect to be running circles around my athletic-assed friends after years of avoiding running unless chased, competing for shotgun, or getting out of the rain. Today was actually pretty cool, we were both soaked but it prevented us from getting hot and sweaty which is always a plus.

We'll see how long this spurt of energy lasts--I'm guessing maybe til the end of the long weekend, but I'll try. Okay okay, I hear you: I'll DO.