ramblings

i really don't have all that much to write about. i just have over an hour before i have a class in here (hooray for block scheduling), and i don't feel like summarizing the birth of the republican party, the election of 1856, the dred scott decision, lincoln/douglas debates, john brown's raid, the election of 1860, and secession for my overhead notes that i'm using tomorrow. as you can tell, we are quickly galloping our way toward the civil war. i kind of feel bad for my kids, because we are zooming through this information at light-speed. in fact, we've surpassed light-speed. we're now at ludicrous speed. (bonus points for those who can identify that particular pop culture gem.) but, here's the thing. i have 29 chapters to cover in 18 weeks. some stuff is going to get rushed through. and which would they rather skim over: boring stuff in the early 1800s, or the cool stuff that happened in the 20th century? hamilton's financial plan v. wwii? the american system v. the civil rights movement? the rise of the whig party v. the birth of rock'n'roll? yeah, that's what i figured, too.

school is going pretty well. monday was inservice all day - what a drag. i feel like the county's money would have been much better spent had they just let us work in our classrooms all day. then yesterday was a half-day, with inservice all afternoon. inservice consisted of the faculty watching a movie, glory road, which i really liked, i was just confused at the fact that i got paid to watch a movie. which really had nothing to do with education. oh well, i guess i shouldn't complain. some people have to dig ditches for a living. but you know what. i work 15 hour days. i deserve a break every now and then.

i've started making some friends. i talk to ashley, my cousin, a lot. it's really nice being able to hang out with her and get to know her better. she's three weeks older than me, and other than the phase from age 10 - 24 months, where we had an ongoing disagreement about who got the green sippy cup, we've always gotten along. it's just that when we were little i was a complete tomboy and she actually cared about whether her hair was brushed, so we were never that close. didn't exactly share the same interests. she cared about what she looked like in preschool. i wore boys clothes. she did cheerleading in elementary school. i was trying to dig up my backyard. you get the idea. my mom has gotten the biggest kick out us teaching together. she can't get over remembering us as babies. this is what happens when you move out, the middle sister goes to college, and the baby of the family gets her driver's license. mom gets real sentimental.

i've made a few other friends around my age, all people from work. jennifer has the classroom next to me, and kellie teaches computer somewhere in the deep recesses of the vocational department. they're both real sweethearts and have really tried to include me in stuff. we go out to eat a lot. yesterday at lunch, we made a list of all the restaurants in the county, i think with the intention of rotating through all of them. we got over 50. i didn't realize a county this size could eat that much food.

i am loving having the internet again. there's nothing like a 3.5 month deprivation from the internet to make you appreciate it again. i also am liking the satellite t.v. we didn't have anything but broadcast channels from the time i was in kindergarten, and around freshman year of college we lost those too. i'm proud of myself, though. i don't waste all my time watching t.v. just csi every night, project runway (love, love, love that show) on wednesdays, and the occasional law and order episode. i need to figure out what the deal is with gilmore girls.

overall, i'm pretty happy with life right now. my job is hard, but i just keep thinking to myself that i could be pulling all-nighters at college, studying for tests, and researching papers. and it all gets pulled back into perspective.