Thursday, July 29, 2010

Refreshing

I just ran to Costco to get shampoo.  With my sister home for the summer I swear we go through it more than twice as fast as when it's just me.  In any case, we were basically out and I had a coupon so off I went.

The refreshing part comes when I was standing in the shortest line I could find.  As anyone who frequents Costco knows, the lines are horrendous.  It doesn't seem to matter what day or time of day you go.  The woman in front of me had quite a cart full of stuff and when she saw that I only had two things, she let me go in front and said that she knows how it is to wait when you only have a couple things to get.

It was such a simple gesture, and I'm sure everyone experiences it at one point or another, but when there are so many rude people out there - on the road, in a restaurant - it's really quite lovely when you run into a kind soul once and a while.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Girls in La Jolla

This weekend was the mini-vacation that Steph and I have been trying to take every since last October.  The fact that it took so long is a testament to how crazy and busy our lives are.  And to how impossible it is to find time when two crazy busy people are both free.  Technically I wasn't free, I had rehearsal.  But I said to hell with it because I'm going on my girl vacation, dammit!

And I'm oh so glad I did.

It may have only been a couple of days, but it was wonderful.  We laughed, we ate, we SLEPT.  We took pictures.  We walked.  We acted like dorks.  Ah, such good times.  It was one of the best vacations I've had.  And I've been to Europe, people.  And to Japan.  And Solvang.  And the East Coast (twice).  And the grand canyon.  San Francisco (twice). Damn I've been a lot of places.  I should stop complaining about my life.

In any case, it was a wonderful little vacation.  For the first time in a long time I allowed myself to just sit around and eat whatever kind of crap I wanted.  Am I feeling a little guilty about it?  A little worried that I'll totally regret it at ballet tomorrow?  Yeah, a bit.  But not nearly as much as I usually would.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  And was it worth it?  Heck yes.

At La Jolla Cove
In other news, I found out I get to teach three sections of Algebra II and two sections of Geometry this next year.  I met with the assistant principal on Friday afternoon (the supposed half an hour meeting with for almost two hours) and learned a TON of stuff about the school as well as my teaching assignment.  It has become more and more real every day and I'm getting very excited.  It's pretty awesome stuff, this being a teacher thing.

And with that, only one more week of MISS and then another vacation.  This time, the beach house with the family. And friends visiting here and there.  Good times.  Yes, missing more class and rehearsal.  Oh well.  Too bad.  I have a life and I want to live it.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Relief

Yesterday was one of those days.  I was perhaps the most stressed I've ever been.  Well, that's not exactly true.  One day every year, at this exact same time of the year, I'm this stressed out.  Without going into too many details, it has to do with medical tests and things.  Not my own, but someone very very close to me.  There's never any legitimate reason to worry, but because of some doctors with not very nice bedside manner, my family and I are very very nervous and anxious every year.  Everything ended up fine just like it always does, but getting to that point was horrible.

Add to that the horribly long and boring Church Council meeting of the night before in which I truly wanted to scream, and you had a pretty grouchy Melissa.  Not good.  I still don't know what I'm going to do about Church Council - if I want to quit or not.  I will figure that one out later.

The good news of yesterday was that I finally signed my job contract!  And, my salary is $600 more than I anticipated based on last year's salary schedule.  I assumed the salaries were either going to go down from last year or stay the same, but it appears to have gone up a bit!  Then, once I finish my Masters in October, it will go up again.  Very exciting!

And on the job note, the assistant principal called me today asking if I could go down to meet with him tomorrow at 2.  I should also get to meet the math department chair.  I'm hoping I'll be able to find out what I'm teaching also.  It would be great to get a textbook, but we'll see.

Steph and I are finally going on our vacation.  This has been in the works since my birthday last October when she gave me a trip as a present.  It turned out to be more expensive than she/we wanted, so I'm going to help pay and it will now be birthday and Christmas presents for both of us for this year also.  We're staying at the Marriott in La Jolla.  We wanted Santa Barbara, but it was either too expensive or totally booked.  It will be fun no matter what though.  We're pretty entertaining people.  I anticipate laughing more than I've ever laughed before in a single weekend.  And I'm missing more ballet and rehearsal.  Oh well, too bad!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Time for a Change

I'm seriously considering not doing Nutcracker this year.  I just don't think I can do it.  I want to have a life.  I want to have a Christmas.  I want to be able to celebrate Amanda's birthday on her actual birthday.  I want to go to Disneyland more than once during Christmastime.  I want to not stress out about when we'll go pick out our Christmas tree.  I want to go ice skating.  More than just once.  I want to have a Thanksgiving where I don't freak out about eating like a cow because I have rehearsal the day or two after and the show two weeks after.  I want to be able to go to Advent services on Wednesday nights.  I want to go to Christmas parties without feeling like I'll pass out from exhaustion.  Actually, I want to be able to go to Christmas parties period.  I want to go look at Christmas lights in super decorated neighborhoods more than just once and without having to cram it in between the shows finishing and Christmas.

Oh yeah, and besides all that, I want to devote the proper amount of time and energy to my new job.  I finally have what I've been working for for two years.  Heck, longer than that.  My job is not just a job, it's a career.  And a career deserves all the time I can give it.  I WANT to give it that time.  I don't hate ballet, but I don't think I can handle doing shows right now.  I'm already committed to the September 18th one, but that is only a few weeks into the school year so it shouldn't be too horrible.  But after that, I need time for lesson planning and BTSA and oh yes, sleep.

This all is happening at the same time that I'm attempting to retrain my brain in terms of exercise and food.  I have been so exercised obsessed for so long, and it's very hard to break that habit.  I have for quite a while now had a mindset of "oh it's ok if I eat crap because I'll just work it off."  I've always known that was unhealthy thinking, but am only now motivated enough to do anything about it.  And strangely enough, this new motivation comes from being just so dang tired.  Delayed reactions from the stress of looking for a job are really taking a toll on my body.

And then there's church.  I've taken on the job of Secretary of Church Council, and therefore have meetings once a month.  This means missing ballet.  I am working on consistently retraining my brain to not feel like I have to go to ballet no matter what.  It is difficult because ballet has defined me for so long.  All my life, really.  It's not an easy change to make.  But I'm trying.   It will be slow and require lots of baby steps.  But I'm trying.

I'm trying.

Monday, July 12, 2010

The Surprise

Naturally, immediately after creating this blog and vowing to keep it updated, I slacked.  However, I had good reasons to slack.  Last week was quite busy what with figuring out my job situation for next school year and all.  It ended up working out very nicely, but not without stress.  To spare you the details, I will be working in Santa Ana Unified...on a PERMANENT CONTRACT!  This is virtually unheard of nowadays, to get a permanent contract when you're a new teacher and new to the district.  Obviously, I'm pretty happy.  I'm nervous about it, of course, but that's to be expected.  I now am trying to get all my transcripts and things together so I can do all the paperwork.  I have to be fingerprinted for the 4th time tomorrow and will receive my new hire packet.  Once the fingerprints clear and I have my transcripts, I will be able to go back and actually sign the contract.  Hopefully it is all signed, sealed, and delivered by the end of next week!

Once the job stress ended on Friday afternoon, there was still the surprise party stress.  Let me tell you, I don't think I will be able to throw a surprise party again for a long time.  The party planning was easy.  It was the lies that were horrible.  I had to really think to keep track of which lies I had told and when and etc etc etc.  It just goes to show: honesty really is the best policy.  Let that be a lesson...don't ever lie!

Oh, the surprise party was for Mat.  He's turning 25.

He TOTALLY did not expect it.  There are some pretty priceless pictures as well as a video of him walking in.  It was quite a shindig, in the low key way.  We did have Thomas the Tank Engine plates, tablecloth, etc and a cake with a skateboarding kid and a party hat shaped pinata and trick candles.  Yes, he's turning 25.  Not 5.  I swear.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Something New

So here I am.  I finally have a blog going.  I've had a LiveJournal account for quite a while, but I haven't written in it in at least a year.  I'm not sure why that is, but I eventually just got out of the habit.  And then I noticed that when I wanted to read my friends' posts, nothing would show up.  That made me rather frustrated and I kind of just stopped checking it.  Perhaps I will delete it entirely now that I have this.  Or maybe not because deleting it would entail losing all the memories that I'm sure I will stumble upon should I ever go back and read through it.

In any case, here I am.  I'm not sure what this is going to become exactly, but I want the opportunity to explore the whole blogging thing and see where it takes me.  This is a quick post, just to finally get me started.  I am quite tired today and would like to get in bed and watch Friends and read my book before falling asleep.  Tomorrow promises to be another busy day with the MISS program at CSUF (more on that later), so the more sleep I get the better.  Oh yes, and I'm hoping to hear positive news from Whitney High School.  I interviewed there last Wednesday afternoon and was told I would hear from them whether I got a job or not by the following Wednesday or Thursday.  I didn't hear today, so that means I should hear tomorrow.  That also means that tomorrow my stomach will be tied in even larger knots than it was today and that my legs will be even shakier.  Should be fun.  I must remember though that either way I still have a job, because the offer from Santa Ana Unified is sitting in my inbox.  Life is good.  God is good.  Things will work out.

And with that, I go off to my TV and reading.  Please add your comments, suggestions, etc, and follow me on my blog!